"It's pretty much a slap in the face," Anderson said. "I think it was a scheme to save money, personally. I think it was a leadership failure by the senior Washington leadership, once again failing the soldiers."
We covered the same issue back in July, via the Strib. Leadership in Washington has been failing our Veterans for decades.
Whether it's our Atomic Era Veterans who were exposed to nuclear blasts out in the deserts of Nevada and New Mexico, Vietnam Vets exposed to Agent Orange, Gulf War I Veterans exposed to Sarin Gas, Depleted Uranium munitions, and multiple non-FDA approved vaccinations, and our soldiers coming home from Iraq now, Veterans have been getting shortchanged on their benefits for decades.
Regardless of the political party in power I might add.
Al over at deadissue has a post from the Daily Kos that adds that 22,000 soldiers will be denied access to mental health care as they have been deemed having a "preexisting condition".
“The Pentagon has informed thousands of American soldiers in Iraq that their Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was a pre-existing condition from before they ever joined the military. In other words, NO TREATMENT, NO INSURANCE, NO NOTHING!
More than 22,000 soldiers serving in Iraq have been kicked out of the US military entirely – booted from a war zone straight to the streets – for seeking treatment for the psychological effects of combat and brain injuries. Now, they’re jobless, without medical coverage, and in immediate need of medical treatment that Bush’s Pentagon/VA absolutely refuses to provide.”
Are we all Rush Limbaugh "phony soldiers"? Appears to me, there is a lot of phony leadership out in Washington.
Both Senator Klobuchar and Senator Coleman are looking into the matter. It's also noted that 6 Congressional members from Minnesota are looking into it.
Anyone want to bet me that the two that are AWOL are Michele Bachmann and John Kline?
Now six of Minnesota's members of the House of Representatives have asked the Secretary of the Army to look into it.So have Senators Amy Klobuchar (D) and Norm Coleman (R).
2 comments:
Not that I want to take away from our Iraq veterans but my dad is an "Agent Orange" vet. I put it in quotes only because the US government has yet to aknowledge (sp?) the fact that it truly affected our troops. They will admit that he was exposed but not that it did any damage. I could go on but I think we all know that our troops have been fed the cool-aid for far too long.
Agent Orange, Gulf War Syndrome...two of the reasons I'll advise my sons to stay as far away from the military as they possibly can.
This has been a continuous effort to shortchange military people since the war began. Only now the mainstream b-media is finally helping to publicize these stories.
Awesome post!
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