What the HELL are all the veterans and their advocates complaining about?

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

(SARCASM)

We have a presidential election race going on. We are going to have one of the most important elections in our lifetime in ten months. We have many other major issues including ending the Iraq war. Our economy is a mess. We have 47 million uninsured Americans. SCHIP didn’t get through. We have 2 million homeless in our nation. We have a President and Vice President that should be impeached.

With all of this and more, I keep reading about veterans having problems here and there, things like malpractice suits for inadequate medical care and suing because of hearing loss due to defective 3m earplugs, and a bunch of their advocates complaining about every little thing. There is even a web site completely dedicated to bitching about problems the veterans have. http://sanchopress.com/

I have compiled a list of their complaints for comparison to all the major issues going on in our country. Take a look and this and see if these people should quit there gripping and help with the big issues. I have numbered each supposed problem and you don’t even have to read the whole issue, you can just scroll down and read the main title of what they think is a big problem.

THE FACTS ABOUT VETS PROBLEMS

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1) TBI, Traumatic Brain Injury

The silent epidemic & “signature” injury of the Iraq war

A traumatic brain injury is usually the result of a sudden, violent blow to the head. Such a blow can launch the brain on a collision course with the inside of the skull. The skull itself can often withstand a forceful external impact without fracturing. The result ia an injured brain inside an intact skull is known as a closed-head injury.

Laymans terms for TBI in Iraq. TBI can be caused by the concussion from several forces. It can be from an actual object. In Iraq, most TBI’s are from the immense force of air exiting an explosion & it hits our Vets so hard, their brain collides with their skull. IED’s are the cause of TBI to Vets of Iraq. Many in the blast raidius of an IED receive no physical injury but still have TBI. The symptoms vary greatly. It is similiar to what happens to a boxer over a long career but is usually not as obvious as it is when you hear a long time boxer speak in his later years, but it can be. TBI from an explosion concussion is similiar to what happens in shaken baby syndrome.

House Addresses Traumatic Brain Injury, Week of July 23, 2007

Members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee met recently discuss ways to provide treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI), which is considered by many to be the signature injury of the war in Iraq. Among veterans and servicemembers from Iraq and Afghanistan treated at Walter Reed for injuries of any type, approximately 65 percent have TBI as a primary diagnosis or simultaneous injury. Medical doctors, neuropsychologists, researchers and family members attended the symposium to discuss the health care needs of our returning servicemembers. This symposium continues the series of roundtable discussions that the Committee will hold throughout the 110th Congress.

http://www.military.com/vetera…

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2) PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Numbers and statistics in videos below.

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3) Care at VA facilities poor, inadequte, understaffed and long waits and often for vets who are sucidal. FAR FAR underfunded.

HAMILTON – U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told veterans Friday that while some good work has been accomplished, much improvement is still needed in the way this country treats those who’ve served.

As a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Tester also pushed for legislation that added $6.6 billion to the VA budget.

“It was the largest increase in the history of the VA,” Skinner said. “It’s still about $12 billion short of what we need.”

$12 billion short of what they need? Then why didn’t they fund it fully? What is wrong with these people?

Feb. 7 Update: VCS Testimony – President Bush Slashes VA Spending as VA Expects 333,000 New Iraq and Afghanistan War Veteran Patients to Flood into VA Hospitals

VA’s budget does not address what we believe are VA’s four highest current priorities for veterans: ending homelessness, reducing suicide, providing free medical care to Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and eliminating VA’s claims backlog.

NPR.org, January 28, 2008 · Investigators say the surgical unit at a southern Illinois veterans’ hospital was in such disarray that doctors were allowed to perform operations they weren’t qualified to perform and that hospital administrators were too slow to respond once problems surfaced, leading directly to the deaths of at least nine surgical patients and as many as 19.

Veterans have no legal right to specific types of medical care, the Bush administration argues in a lawsuit accusing the government of illegally denying mental health treatment to some troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. (redacted) The plaintiffs say that the department has a backlog of more than 600,000 disability claims and that 120 veterans a week commit suicide.

Clearly, VA’s troubling court filings are an admission by the Administration that VA lacks the funds or veterans debt relief to provide care for our newest war veterans, including those who are suicidal. This Thursday, Feb. 7, VCS will be testifying before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and expressing our outrage that VA would rather fight against veterans than ask for more money to treat our veterans

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4) Tremdous backlog of diability claims and wait times. Having to go through two processes for filiing disability, both with the DOD and the VA.

over the past four years, many returning

Soldiers and Marines-a good number having lost arms

or legs or suffered from traumatic brain injury (TBI)

or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-have run

into a bureaucratic nightmare. Confusing regulations

have mandated separate physical examinations by the

Department of Defense (DOD) and the VA, often with

differing outcomes involving a servicemember’s disability

rating. The waiting time for VA compensation

checks and other benefits frequently has ranged from

six months to two years-and appeals can prolong the

process even more. The VA’s own rulings have sometimes

been inaccurate or inconsistent. And veterans, some of them unable to battle the bureaucratic dragons, have often come out the losers. Not surprisingly, the “seamless transition” problem, as it has come to be known, has exploded into a major controversy

VA struggling to reduce backlogs in disability claims from Iraq war veterans. by Hope Yen

WASHINGTON – Outgoing VA Secretary Jim Nicholson acknowledged Tuesday that he’s struggling to reduce backlogs in disability claims from Iraq war veterans, saying current efforts won’t be enough to cut down waits that take months.

Nicholson, who took office in early 2005, said the department has hired 1,100 new processors to reduce delays of up to 177 days in processing disability payments. But he predicted another rise in compensation and pension claims this year, citing the additional applications pouring in during “the midst of war.”

Even with new staff, the VA can only hope to reduce delays to about 145-150 days – assuming that the current level of claims don’t spike higher.

For remainder of article see here;

http://www.veteranstoday.com/m…

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5) Soldier who attempted suicide on the battlefront faces Court Marshall.

Washington, DC, January 30, 2008 – (CBS) CBS News broke the story of the epidemic of suicides and attempted suicides among veterans in November.

And tonight, new Army figures illustrate how serious the problem has become among active military servicemembers. It’s part of an exclusive report that will appear in Thursday’s Washington Post and on washingtonpost.com.

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin has one soldier’s harrowing story – and her struggle to get help.

Lieutenant Elizabeth Whiteside was admitted to the psychiatric lockdown ward at Walter Reed Army Medical center after trying to kill herself earlier this week, Martin reports.

“She took two weeks worth of medicines – four different medications… and she took them all at once,” her father, Tom Whiteside, said.

He holds a note she left, reading in part: “I’m very disappointed with the Army.”

He says her suicide attempt was brought on by the stress of waiting to find out if she would be court-martialed for an earlier attempt to kill herself.

“It became so distressing to my daughter, it just drove her over the edge and, um, she attempted to take her own life,” Whiteside said.

Lt. Whiteside is the latest in the epidemic of attempted suicides and self-injuries by soldiers.

According to internal Army documents, the number has gone from less than 500 in 2002 to more than 2,000 last year. The number of actual suicides is also climbing, and the Army’s suicide rate is higher than at any time in the past 25 years.

But Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside is more than just a number. Hers is a shocking story of how the Army dealt with one case of mental illness.

She first tried to kill herself a year ago while serving in Iraq.

“I had a psychotic break and shot myself,” she said. “I also … discharged my weapon twice and put two bullets in the ceiling.”

She told her story to Washington Post reporter Dana Priest, who was the first to report that the Army wanted to courtmarshall Whiteside for brandishing her weapon.

Said Priest: “Her commander said in the charges that he brought, ‘I realize that people have said that you were mentally ill, but this is an excuse for your actions.'”

The hearing officer dismissed the charges, but that ruling had to be approved up the chain of command, and the Whitesides were left dangling.

“I want them to make a decision,” Tom Whiteside said. “They have driven my daughter into suicide. I would like to get this issue resolved.”

Minutes after the interview ended, Whiteside received a call telling him the charges against his daughter have been dropped.”

“But what a God damn shame that we had to go to this extent,” he said into the telephone.

He left immediately for the hospital to give his daughter the news – although he won’t be able to see her because she’s still in lockdown

“The individual has got to take personal responsibility. They have got to take responsibility for themselves and realize that they can save their own lives. It comes back to the individual.”

-Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, Commanding General at Fort Campbell.

February 4, 2008: The stress of repeated trips to combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan is having an effect on the troops. This can be seen by the increase in U.S. Army suicides. The rate in 2007 was 17.5 per 100,000 troops. The rate in 2006 was 12.8, and for the last decade, has fluctuated between 10-13 per 100,000. The suicide rate for troops in Iraq has always been about 40-50 percent higher than for soldiers stationed elsewhere. The suicide rate for the entire U.S. population is about 11 per 100,000.

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6) Inferior equipment provided for soldiers and manufacturers not properly vetted and often rewarded after poor performance.

Deficient Kevlar in Military Helmets

Twelve days before the settlement {note:$2mil} with the Justice Department was announced, the company, Sioux Manufacturing of Fort Totten, was given a new contract of up to $74 million to make more armor for helmets to replace the old ones, which were made from the late 1980s to last year.

For remainder of article see here; http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02…

With a $400 billion defense budget you might think U.S. troops have everything they need to fight the war, but that’s not always the case.

Correspondent Steve Kroft talks to a general, soldiers in Iraq, and their families at home about a lack of armored vehicles, field radios, night vision goggles, and even ammunition – especially for the National Guard and reserve units that now make up more than 40 percent of U.S. troops.

For remainder of article see here; http://www.truthout.org/docs_0…

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7)Suicde after being discharged from the military

CBS News’ investigative unit wanted the numbers, so it submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense asking for the numbers of suicides among all service members for the past 12 years.

Four months later, they sent CBS News a document, showing that between 1995 and 2007, there were almost 2,200 suicides. That’s 188 last year alone. But these numbers included only “active duty” soldiers.

CBS News went to the Department of Veterans Affairs, where Dr. Ira Katz is head of mental health.

“There is no epidemic in suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem,” he said.

Why hasn’t the VA done a national study seeking national data on how many veterans have committed suicide in this country?

“That research is ongoing,” he said.

So CBS News did an investigation – asking all 50 states for their suicide data, based on death records, for veterans and non-veterans, dating back to 1995. Forty-five states sent what turned out to be a mountain of information.

And what it revealed was stunning.

In 2005, for example, in just those 45 states, there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That’s 120 each and every week, in just one year.

That is 17 veterans committing suicide EVERY day. 17 lives lost EVERY day from war but not counted in the toll of war. 17 families shattered and broken EVERY day. Probably 50, 75, 100 or maybe more human beings EVERY day that will live with the torture of “why didn’t I see it”, “why didn’t they talk to me”. It would have been easier on those people around the 17 that committ suicide EVERY day if they had been killed in actual military combat rather than the combat of the mind.

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8) Difficulty in getting employment often taking years to find a job after getting out of the military. On average when they do find jobs they pay far less than the national average and not enough to survive on.

WASHINGTON – Strained by war, recently discharged veterans are having a harder time finding civilian jobs and are more likely to earn lower wages for years, partly because of employer concerns about their mental health and overall skills, a government study says.

The 2007 study by the consulting firm Abt Associates Inc. found that 18 percent of the veterans who sought jobs within one to three years of discharge were unemployed, while one out of four who did find jobs earned less than $21,840 a year.

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9) Military officials ORDERING VA personnel NOT to assist troops/veterans with the filing of disability paperwork. Part of the VA’s job is to HELP troops/veterans.

Morning Edition, January 29, 2008 · Army officials in upstate New York instructed representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs not to help disabled soldiers at Fort Drum Army base with their military disability paperwork last year. That paperwork can be crucial because it helps determine whether soldiers will get annual disability payments and health care after they’re discharged.

(redacted)

The official said the VA used to help soldiers with the paperwork, but Army officials saw soldiers from Fort Drum getting higher disability ratings with the VA’s help than soldiers from other bases. The Army told the VA to stop helping Fort Drum soldiers describe their army injuries, and the VA did as it was told.

(redacted)

She says the officers who asked the VA to stop helping Fort Drum’s soldiers were part of what the Army calls a “Tiger Team”- an ad-hoc group assigned to investigate, in this case, medical disability benefits.

According to Army spokesman George Wright, the Tiger Team thought the VA should not be helping soldiers with their medical documents. The Army delivered that message to VA officials in Buffalo, N.Y., who went along with the request, even though the VA’s assistance complied with Army policy.

The Army declined to provide any information about the Tiger Team members’ identities or their motivations in asking the VA to stop reviewing the soldiers’ paperwork. However, private attorney Mara Hurwitt points out that the Army has a financial incentive to keep soldiers’ disability ratings low.

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10) Military returning from combat being told to vacate housing so new soldiers can take it.

Schweinfurt soldiers back from Iraq are facing eviction

By Mark St.Clair, Stars and Stripes

European edition, Thursday, January 24, 2008

SCHWEINFURT, Germany – They just got back from Iraq, and now they’re being evicted from their homes.

Seventeen infantrymen from Company B, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment who returned from Ramadi, Iraq, in November have been living in barracks normally occupied by soldiers who are currently deployed in Afghanistan.

All of the soldiers, who are scheduled to leave Germany next month, said the Army told them they had until Feb. 1 to vacate the barracks.

But they found out Tuesday they had have to move out of the rooms Thursday afternoon, according to Sgt. Joseph Walker, 23.

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11) Va collects money from DEAD soldiers families.

VA COLLECTED OVER $56,000 FROM DEAD SOLDIERS FAMILIES

First they charge wounded soldiers for their meals in the hospital. They charge them for any equipment they dare to get wounded with and not return. They charge them if they are wounded and do not live up to the time they promise to stay in when they get a bonus. Now this!

Hutchison is asking Senate leaders for quick passage of the bill, hoping to bypass the normal process in which new bills are sent to committee for consideration.

She could get high-level support. VA Secretary Dr. James Peake is expected to write a letter to the Senate endorsing her call for expedited passage of the bill, according to Senate sources.

VA officials said they supported the bill but did not confirm that Peake would write a letter.

Waiving normal procedures would require the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, on which Hutchison serves, to allow the bill to proceed without its involvement. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, the veterans’ affairs committee chairman, would have to approve the move. Akaka aides said the committee staff would study the measure first.

Few people die owing VA money, but Hutchison aides found that VA has collected more than $56,000 from the families of 22 deceased soldiers, mostly National Guard and reserve members called to active duty who received overpayments of GI Bill education benefits.

go here for the rest

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12) Charities intended to help veterans are being bilked, used for organizers & “celebrities” “freebees” and ridiculous “consulting” and advertising.

Greed, Arrogance and War Profitteering are Not Charities

There have always been Con men and women who have started, what they term, Charities. Ripping off donors and targeted recipients/causes to only enrich themselves!

Charities started to help the Nations Veterans have always been around, many running on the legit, while many fall under the ease of the Profits Wars Generate, especially Wars Of Choice, they join their breathern the War Profitteers, with No Shame!

On Thursday, the Committee held a hearing to examine whether all the charitable groups raising money for the purpose of helping our nation’s veterans are genuinely serving that need. Concerns have been raised that some charities are conducting high volume mail and telemarketing campaigns that enrich the organizations and fundraisers but fail to provide meaningful assistance to veterans. The hearing will include a discussion of what Americans can do to ensure that their contributions to veterans’ causes are being responsibly used.

on the same day another House Committee held hearings for further Investigation into Veterans’ Charities Continues

The Committee held a hearing entitled “Assessing Veteran’s Charities – Part Two.” This hearing focused on charities operated by Roger Chapin, who failed to comply with a subpoena compelling his testimony at the December 13 hearing. Over the past 40 years, Mr. Chapin has established and operated more than 20 charitable organizations, including a number of veterans’ and military-oriented charities. Questions have been raised about the practices of his current charitable organizations.

Charity groups claim to support troops but don’t fully deliver on promises.

Gen. Tommy Franks Paid $100,000 To Endorse ‘F’ Veterans Charity

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, was paid $100,000 to endorse a veterans charity that watchdog groups say is ripping off donors and wounded veterans by using only a small portion of the money raised for veterans services, according to testimony in Congress today.

Now in all fairness to Gen. Franks:

Chapin testified he approached Gen. Franks in 2005, and he agreed to let his signature be used on mass mailings seeking contributions to his charities.

“He helped us raise millions and millions of dollars more than we would have,” Chapin told the hearing, chaired by Congressman Henry Waxman, D- Calif.

Congressman Waxman said Gen. Franks had since disassociated himself from Chapin’s charities and asked that his name be removed from the solicitation.

“General Franks was paid $100,000 to lend his name. We understand he developed misgivings and asked that his name be taken off,” Congressman Waxman said.

But one wonders, where did the 100grand go, back to this charity?, to another Charity, that is legit, or was it ever even given up!

Chapin also revealed that his charity paid $5,000 a month for the endorsement of retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Arthur “Chip” Diehl.

Contacted by ABCNews.com, Gen. Diehl said he had “no comment.”

Luxury for Charity Officials, Budget Cuts for Wounded Vets

Black-Tie Dinners and Luxury Suites at Football Games for Company Officials Top Charity Foundation’s Agenda

Entrepreneur Accused Of Mismanaging Charities He Started For Vets And Enriching Himself

The head of a California-based veterans charity rebuffed accusations of mismanagement and self-dealing at a raucous congressional hearing Thursday, shouting over lawmakers to declare himself “the most honest person in this room

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13) Troops being infected by “resistant” bacteria with little being said or done about it.

Acinetobacter baumannii brought back from Iraq and Afghanistan

New Bacterial Infection Linked to Military

Report: Troops Transmitted Mysterious Bacteria That Has Killed 7 And Affected Military And Civilians Alike

By JOHN HENDREN

Feb. 8, 2008

Troops arriving home from Iraq and Afghanistan have been carrying a mysterious, deadly bacteria, according to a new magazine report.

Doctors have linked the bacterium acinetobacter baumannii to at least seven deaths, as well as to loss of limbs and other severe ailments, according to the report, which found the bacterium has spread quickly since the war in Afghanistan began in the fall of 2001

Acinetobacter baumannii has been found in military hospitals in Germany, the Washington, D.C., area and Texas — the primary destinations of wounded service members from the two war zones. And it has now spread to civilians, according to the report.

“The outbreak began traveling with patients or nonpatients from Iraq all the way back to Walter Reed,” said Dr. Rox Anderson at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Timothy Endy, a retired Army colonel now teaching infectious disease medicine at the Upstate Medical University of the State University of New York, said the outbreak might be the largest of its kind to spread through hospitals in history.

Doctors quoted in the magazine article agreed. “Of the infectious disease problems that come out of the conflict, it is the most important complication we’ve seen,” Dr. Glenn Wortmann, acting chief of infectious disease at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, said in the February issue of Proceedings, published by the U.S. Naval Institute, a professional organization focused on naval issues. The report was released to subscribers of the magazine this week.

I’ve been posting on this for a couple of years now but it all gets ignored. When I posted this recent report, one of my readers, Marcie Hascall Clark, who has been working on this since the beginning left this message. (NamGuardianAngel)

Marcie Hascall Clark said…

Thanks Kathy for keeping tabs on this bug!

Acinetobacter baumannii is neither new or mysterious. This ABC story is a cut and paste from a real story by Chas Henry for a naval publication, which is a pretty move for them considering the extent to which the DoD has tried to keep this under the wire.

The real story can be read at www.chashenry.com along with some television work his has produced on Ab.

Since we last spoke Acinetobacter baumannii strains from the military evacuation system have spread to hospitals all across our country and have killed many people.

This could have been contained.

Marcie Hascall Clark

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14) Female soldiers being harrassed, violated and raped.

When reports came out about women being raped by Halliburton/KBR employees, which is a crime, being treated as an arbitration dispute, you would have thought the women in this nation would be screaming so loudly the government wouldn’t dare ignore them. You’d also be wrong. It happens to women in the military all the time. Here is another report I posted today.

Sen. Patty Murray Seeks Help For Survivors Of Military Sexual Trauma

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., says women in the military return home traumatized because, in addition to the pressures of living in a war zone, they have been living in close quarters with men and, in many cases, report that they had been sexually harassed, assaulted or raped.

Senator Seeks Help For Survivors Of Military Sexual Trauma

Published on 2/10/2008

Washington – Scurrying back to her Army barracks in the dark after her shift at the hospital, Sally, a 21-year-old medic, was grabbed by a man who dragged her to the woods and raped her at knifepoint.

When she reported the attack, Sally, of Kirkland, Wash., who asks that her full name not be used, was brushed off by her superior officer at Fort Belvoir, Va., who dismissed the rape as a spat with a boyfriend.

Her story is alarmingly like that of hundreds of other veterans who have suffered sexual harassment, assault and rape in the military, according to Susan Avila-Smith, a Seattle-based advocate who has helped hundreds of women veterans get VA benefits and treatment for military sexual trauma (MST).

Avila-Smith says she also was a victim when she served in the Army, having been sexually assaulted in a hospital recovery room after sinus surgery at Fort Hood, Texas.

The pressures on women service members, who now comprise about 7 percent of all veterans, are escalating:

• According to the Veterans Administration, 19 percent of women who have sought health care in the VA were diagnosed as victims of military sexual trauma.

• Cases of military sexual trauma increased from 1,700 in 2004 to 2,374 in 2005, according to the Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention Response Program.

What kind of a nation are we now? Are we a nation of laws or have we become a fraud? Women in the military raped, yet it is passed off and ignored, or worse, the women who report it face harassment instead of justice. Hallibuton/KBR employees are raped and yet when they report it they face retribution. Instead of turning it over to law enforcement, they only allow the victim to be heard in arbitration. What are we now?

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15) 23 military bases with tainted and unsafe water.

While searching I also came across a reminder of news that never really got much attention at all. There are 23 military bases with contaminated water, more with contaminated soil and a long list of them with depleted uranium contamination.

23 military bases have tainted water

Lejeune, Barstow on contamination list

By Kimberly Johnson – Staff writer

Posted : Monday Jun 18, 2007 21:53:40 EDT

Congressional lawmakers who were examining extensive drinking water contamination from the 1960s through the 1980s at Camp Lejeune, N.C., now say that the problem extends to 22 other bases throughout the country, to varying degrees.

In 1980, military officials at Lejeune discovered the presence of trichloroethylene (TCE), a volatile organic compound used by the military and by civilian businesses, such as dry cleaners, said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce’s subcommittee on oversights and investigations. As a result, 10 wells at the base were shut down by 1987 after their TCE contamination was found to be 1,400 parts per billion, well above the government’s maximum level of 5 ppb.

“TCE is the most widespread water contaminant in the nation, and almost every major military base has a Superfund site with TCE contamination,” Stupak said.

At least 850 former residents of the base have filed administrative claims, seeking nearly $4 billion, for exposure to the industrial solvents

How none of this makes any of the 24 hour cable news stations is very telling. They used to say that “if it bleeds, it leads” but now it has to involved someone sexy to get any attention at all. You would think that since we claim to be so gratful of the service the troops do for us, we would give them at least a fraction of the attention we give Britney Spears.

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16) War crimes encouraged and unofficial policy.

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17) Veterans for Common Sense realeses DOD Fact Sheet released with disturbing figures.

This week Veterans for Common Sense releases updated versions of our popular VA and DoD Fact Sheets. The statistics are very disturbing.

The Pentagon officially reported 72,043 battlefield casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan through Jan. 5, 2008

VA hospitals and clinics have already treated 263,909 unplanned patients from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars – PDF. On top of that, VA reported 245,034 unanticipated disability claims from veterans of the two wars.

VCS issued warnings about this growing problem. On Veterans Day in 2007, VCS posted an editorial about how we believe VA and DoD mask the true costs of the two wars.

To assist you with making sense of the new Fact Sheets, a VCS analysis shows that between June 2007 and November 2007:

* The number of PTSD claims approved rose 80 percent (from 19,015 to 34,138), while the veteran population rose only 16 percent. The incidence of PTSD is dramatically rising, or VA is finally starting to take this problem more seriously, or both.

* 100 PTSD claims were approved every day. VA can expect tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands more PTSD claims from our new war veterans as more service members deploy to the war zone and then begin to return home.

* Veterans who served in the National Guard or Reserves were nearly three times as likely to have their VA disability compensation claim rejected (14% compared to 5%). VCS remains concerned about the apparent unequal treatment faced by our veterans who were ordered to active duty in the war zone from the National Guard and Reserves. If this is something that has happened to you, then it might be a good idea to check out these va lawyers who should be able to help you.

While the PTSD claims situation may be improving slightly due to intense pressure brought about by the VCS and Veterans United for Truth lawsuit against VA, there are still nearly 18,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans diagnosed by VA with PTSD who are not yet receiving VA disability payments.

VCS believes that VA is still not properly reviewing and approving PTSD claims for veterans already diagnosed with PTSD by VA doctors. This means VA continues to deny and delay essential disability payments for our veterans that could be the difference between paying the rent or becoming homeless.

Wounded Warrior Update: Last week, the House voted to include the “Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act” (formerly S 1606 and then HR 1585), in the new Defense Bill, HR 4986. Now we are waiting on the Senate to approve the bill. Sadly, the provision allowing our Gulf War veterans tortured by Iraq to sue the new Iraqi government was watered down.

Please share the critical information in your VCS Update with your friends, reporters, and elected officials so that they know the facts about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Please donate generously to VCS so we can keep reporting the accurate and complete facts about the human consequences of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. We appreciate your support so we can provide the policy advocacy that all our veterans need.

Thank you,

Paul Sullivan

Executive Director

Veterans for Common Sense

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18) Soldier pulled from hospital to be sent back to front lines.

Fort Carson Soldier Pulled Out Of Hospital To Redeploy

Fort Carson Forcibly Removed Soldier from Mental Hospital and Deployed Him to Iraq War

Erin Emery

Denver Post

Feb 10, 2008

Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, was outraged. “If he’s an inpatient in a hospital, they should have never taken him out. The chain of command needs to be held accountable for this. Washington needs to get involved at the Pentagon to make sure this doesn’t happen again. “First, we had the planeload of wounded, injured and ill being forced back to the war zone. And now we have soldiers forcibly removed from mental hospitals. The level of outrage is off the Richter scale.”

Ill GI says he was deployed from hospital

Februray 10, 2008 – A Fort Carson soldier who says he was in treatment at Cedar Springs Hospital for bipolar disorder and alcohol abuse was released early and ordered to deploy to the Middle East with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team.

The 28-year-old specialist spent 31 days in Kuwait and was returned to Fort Carson on Dec. 31 after health care professionals in Kuwait concurred that his symptoms met criteria for bipolar disorder and “some paranoia and possible homicidal tendencies,” according to e-mails obtained by The Denver Post.

The soldier, who asked not to be identified because of the stigma surrounding mental illness and because he will seek employment when he leaves the Army, said he checked himself into Cedar Springs on Nov. 9 or Nov. 10 after he attempted suicide while under the influence of alcohol. He said his treatment was supposed to end Dec. 10 but his commanding officers showed up at the hospital Nov. 29 and ordered him to leave.

“I was pulled out to deploy,” said the soldier, who has three years in the Army and has served a tour in Iraq.

Soldiers from Fort Carson and across the country have complained they were sent to combat zones despite medical conditions that should have prevented their deployment.

Late last year, Fort Carson said it sent 79 soldiers who were considered medical “no-gos” overseas. Officials said the soldiers were placed in light-duty jobs and are receiving treatment there. So far, at least six soldiers have been returned.

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19) Soldiers who were medically unfit or considered borderline have been sent to the Middle East to meet Army goals for “deployable strength.

Report: Troops to war despite broken leg, torn rotator cuffs.

DENVER – Soldiers who were medically unfit or considered borderline have been sent to the Middle East to meet Army goals for “deployable strength,” The Denver Post.

Quoting internal Army e-mails and a Fort Carson soldier, the newspaper said that more than 50 troops were deployed to Kuwait en route to Iraq while they were still getting medical treatment for various conditions. At least two have been sent home.

Capt. Scot Tebo, the surgeon for Fort Carson’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, wrote in an e-mail obtained by the newspaper that “We have been having issues reaching deployable strength, and thus have been taking along some borderline soldiers who we would otherwise have left behind for continued treatment.”

Master Sgt. Denny Nelson said he was sent to Kuwait last month despite a severe foot injury. He was sent back to Fort Carson after a military doctor in Kuwait wrote that he never should have been shipped out.

Maj. Harvinder Singh, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team’s rear detachment commander, said he did not believe medically unfit soldiers have been sent to Iraq. He said soldiers with medical problems are deployed only if they can be assigned to light-duty jobs and if medical services are available at their destinations.

Fort Carson spokeswoman Dee McNutt said she knew of no Army policy defining “deployable strength” levels that Army commanders must meet.

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20) Infectious Bacteria rampant at Walter Reed. This issue and numerous others reported by Lt Doug Connor. Instead of problems being fixe Lt Connor has since been harrassed.

Encouraged by the firings of top military officials as a result of the problems at Walter Reed, Connor spoke out about the dilapidated conditions at Walter Reed. He sent a letter to Gen. Gregory A. Schumacher with recommendations for improving conditions in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where there were equipment shortages and outbreaks of infectious bacteria, including extremely dangerous drug-resistant forms of Acinetobacter baumannii, a bacterium that has been ravaging injured soldiers in Iraq and in domestic military hospitals.

The infection problems caused other units within the hospital to lose faith in the ICU’s ability to care for surgical patients. Because of the infections, “the kidney transplant team will not recover their patients in the surgical ICU anymore.”

“Nothing has changed [at Walter Reed]. Same facility. None of the recommendations that I made have been implemented and to my knowledge they really aren’t working on it.

“I thought he would thank me for letting him know where there were areas that needed to be fixed …I have been retaliated against because of the letters that I have sent out. It is pretty transparent… Everyone that has seen what happened around me is just like ‘yeah, they’re going after you.'”

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21) Soldiers medicated with sleeping pills and other meds to mask mental/emotional problems on the front.

Ambien links need to be investigated

The Iraq War: On Drugs. Soldiers in Iraq routinely given various narcotic and addictive sleeping medications by medical staff

“Soldiers I talked to were receiving bags of antidepressants and sleeping meds in Iraq, but not the trauma care they needed,” says Steve Robinson, a Defense Department intelligence analyst during the Clinton administration.

Sometimes sleeping pills, antidepressants and tranquilizers are prescribed by qualified personnel. Sometimes not. Sgt. Georg Anderas Pogany told Salon that after he broke down in Iraq, his team sergeant told him “to pull himself together, gave him two Ambien, a prescription sleep aid, and ordered him to sleep.”

Other soldiers self-medicate.

“We were so junked out on Valium, we had no emotions anymore,” Iraq vet John Crawford told “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross. He and others in his unit in Iraq became addicted to Valium.

“It concerns us when we hear military doctors say, ‘It’s wonderful that we have these drugs available to cope with second or third deployments,'” Joyce Raezer of the National Military Family Association told In These Times.

“But that statement makes military spouses cringe,” she continues, “Soldiers are saying ‘we don’t have time to recover.'”

Marine psychiatrist Cmdr. Paul S. Hammer confirmed to San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Rick Rogers that Marines with PTSD are returning to Iraq.

In many cases, their problem is labeled stress. “Army docs have told me that commanders pressured them not to diagnose PTSD because it would cut into combat power: the ability to project men and women into war,” says Robinson. “The docs admit that the decision is unethical, but are unwilling to take the huge career risk of becoming a whistleblower.

When you look at the non-combat deaths with vehicles, there are many of them. The question is, how many were given Ambien before they happened? Is anyone looking into any of this?

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22) Less Doctors and Nurses in the field than during Desert Storm with far more wounded.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

More wounded, less doctors and nurses than during Desert Storm

Shortages could be hurting Army health care

By Laura Ungar – Gannett News Service

Posted : Saturday Jan 12, 2008 7:52:09 EST

Injured in a roadside blast in Iraq, Sgt. was assigned to a new medical unit at Fort Knox, Ky., devoted to healing the wounds of war.

But instead of getting better, the brain-injured soldier from Westfield, Ind., was found dead in his barracks on Sept. 21. Preliminary reports show he may have been unconscious for days and dead for hours before someone checked on him.

Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., linked his death in part to inadequate staffing at the medical unit. Only about half of the positions in the unit were filled when Cassidy died. The Army is investigating the death and its cause, and three people have lost their jobs.

“By all indications, the enemy could not kill him, but our own government did,” Bayh told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Not intentionally, to be sure, but the end result apparently was the same.”

As more wounded soldiers return from war, critics say staff shortages and turnover have affected the quality of health care at Army posts across the nation.

Overall, the Army’s Medical Corps has downsized significantly since the Persian Gulf War in the 1990s, dropping from 5,400 to 4,300 physicians and from 4,600 to 3,400 nurses.

According to the Department of Defense, more than 29,000 service members have been wounded in action in Iraq or Afghanistan in the last six years, compared with fewer than 500 in Operation Desert Storm.

go here for the rest

This is what I’ve been screaming about since before the invasion of Iraq. No one was ready for any of them and they started to care too late for too many. I often wonder what would have been happening if the media didn’t report on any of this. Then I wonder what could have been done if they reported on all of this sooner.

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23) Millions of dollars being spent on public relations firms to “spin” the war.

Report: DOD may award PR contract for America Supports You

By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes

Mideast edition, Sunday, February 10, 2008

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Defense Department could award a contract of up to $6.5 million for a public relations firm to promote America Supports You, according to the magazine PR Week.

The move comes as the Defense Department Inspector General’s Office is conducting an audit looking at how Stars and Stripes was used as a conduit to transfer money from American Forces Information Service to a public relations firm hired to promote the newspaper and America Supports You.

American Forces Information Service and Stars and Stripes fall under the purview of Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for internal communications and public liaison.

Barber also runs America Supports You, a Defense Department Program that gives publicity to nonprofit groups that support U.S. troops.

Do you think that kind of money would be better spent maybe opening some veteran’s centers across the country TO GIVE THE WOUNDED SOLDIERS WHAT THEY NEED TO REALLY BE SUPPORTED? $6.5 MILLION AND HOW MANY LIVE IN AREAS WITH NO MENTAL HEALTH HELP AT ALL? HOW MANY HOMELESS VETERANS WITH NO PLACE TO SLEEP? $6.5 MILLION FOR PR WORK? ARE THEY NUTS?

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24) 22,000 troops diagnosed with personality disorder (PD) instead of PTSD. PTSD entitles them to benefits, PD does not. Those 22,000 were often told to vacate the base within 10 days. They were also given less than honorable discharges.

Thousands of military personnel have been dismissed for “personality disorders” since the war in Iraq began.

The military says the soldiers had pre-existing mental conditions that it is not responsible for treating. But soldiers, their families and veterans’ groups counter that the mental condition is post-traumatic stress disorder caused by their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Daniel Zwerdling says if a soldier’s medical unit diagnoses him with PTSD, the treatment could last months and make the military liable for the soldier’s disability benefits. But if the soldier is diagnosed with a personality disorder – a condition that predates his military service – then the treatment would only last a couple weeks and the military would not be liable for the disability benefits.

For remainder of article see; http://www.npr.org/templates/s…

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25) Base housing has been outsourced (like many things). It makes it more difficult to get problems fixed. Example; Family of four in Texas who had a mold problem so bad that they were all getting illness’. It took six months to finally get temporary quarters while their housing was fixed.

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26)All in the combat areas have been ordered not to blog.

Army Squeezes Soldier Blogs, Maybe to Death

Noah Shachtman 05.02.07 | 2:00 AM

The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops’ online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.

For remainder of article see here; http://www.wired.com/politics/…

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27) All communications leaving combat areas are supposed to be read by your superior.

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28) After returning and while filling out required “exit” paperwork, families are waiting across the gymnasium. It clearly states on the paperwork that if you believe you have PTSD, TBI or a mental health issue you will be immediately taken to an inpatient facility. Go home with your wife and kids who you have not seen in a year or 18 months or go to an inpatient facility??? Tough decison.

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29) Taliban forces do a “bait and switch” to get our troops to call in air strikes which result in many of the civilian casualties you read about. They shoot from houses and areas with civilians and then leave knowing American troops will call in an air strike with the coordinates.

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan – The U.S. military on Wednesday defended an airstrike earlier this week on a southern Afghan village that killed at least 16 civilians, saying its troops had the right to defend themselves against incoming fire. Meanwhile, a new fire fight in southern Afghanistan, also involving coalition airstrikes, killed at least 24 Taliban militants and five Afghan soldiers Tuesday evening, officials said.

U.S. military spokesman Col. Tom Collins apologized to the families of the civilians killed late Sunday and early Monday, saying “we never wanted this to happen.” He said the coalition has offered assistance but didn’t disclose any details.

“The ultimate cause of why civilians were injured and killed is because the Taliban knowingly, willfully chose to occupy homes of these people. We do everything we can to prevent killing civilians,” he told reporters in Kabul.

For remiainder of article see here; http://www.michaelmoore.com/wo…

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30) Some wounded and disabled troops were asked for their signing bonus’ back because they did not finish their tour of duty.

Army Spc. Tyson Johnson III of Mobile, Ala., who lost a kidney in a mortar attack last year in Iraq, was still recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center when he received notice from the Pentagon’s own collection agency that he owed more than $2,700 because he could not fulfill his full 36-month tour of duty.

Johnson said the Pentagon listed the bonus on his credit report as an unpaid government loan, making it impossible for him to rent an apartment or obtain credit cards.

“Oh man, I felt betrayed,” Johnson said. “I felt, like, oh, my heart dropped.”

Pentagon officials said they were unaware of the case until it was brought to their attention by ABC News. “Some faceless bureaucrat” was responsible for Johnson’s predicament, said Gen. Franklin “Buster” Hagenbeck, a three-star general and the Army’s deputy chief of staff for personnel.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable. It’s intolerable,” said Hagenbeck. “I mean, I’m incredulous when I hear those kinds of things. I just can’t believe that we allow that to happen. And we’re not going to let it happen.”

The Department of Defense and the Army intervened to have the collection action against Johnson stopped, said Hagenbeck.

“I was told today he’s not going to have a nickel taken from him,” he said. “And I will tell you that we’ll keep a microscope on this one to see the outcome.”

‘Not So Good’

Hagenbeck also pledged look into the cases of the other soldiers ABC News brought to the military’s attention, including men who lost limbs and their former livelihoods after serving in Iraq. (My Note; But he dropped the ball! What a shame we have such incompetent officers in the service today!)

“When you’re in the military, they take good care of you,” said the 23-year-old Johnson. “But now that I’m a vet, and, you know, I’m out of the military – not so good. Not so good.”

Johnson had been flying high last September, after being promoted from Army private first class to specialist in a field ceremony in Iraq. Inspired by his father’s naval background to join the military after high school, Tyson planned a career in the military and the promotion was just the first step. But only a week after the ceremony took place, a mortar round exploding outside his tent brought him quickly back to Earth.

“It was like warm water running down my arms,” he said. “But it was warm blood.”

In addition to the lost kidney, shrapnel damaged Johnson’s lung and heart, and entered the back of his head. Field medical reports said he was not expected to live more than 72 hours.

With the help of exceptional Army surgeons, Johnson survived. As he recuperated, however, Johnson faced perhaps an even greater obstacle than physical pain or injuries – the military bureaucracy.

Part of the warrior ethos, the soldier’s creed of the U.S. Army, is to “never leave a fallen comrade.”

“And it doesn’t just pertain to the battlefield,” Hagenbeck said. “It means, when we get them home they’re a part of the Army family forever.”

But Johnson now lives in his car. It is where he spends most of his days, all of his nights, in constant pain from his injuries and unwilling to burden his family.

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31) Austin VA researcher alleges mismanagement: Van Boven says superiors have hindered research into traumatic brain injury.

February 11, 2008 – When the Department of Veterans Affairs announced last year that it was starting a brain injury research program at the University of Texas, Dr. Robert Van Boven predicted that his program would become “the birthplace for new standards of treatment” for wounded troops.

Now, seven months after he was hired, Van Boven said his VA bosses are responsible for “gross mismanagement, waste and possible fraud” concerning the program. Van Boven said program money is being used for research unrelated to brain injuries and that peer reviewers found that the work had no merit. After raising complaints, Van Boven said, his bosses threatened to further cut his research time. He filed official grievances with his Central Texas bosses on Feb. 1 and with the VA’s Office of the Inspector General on Tuesday.

See remainder of story here; http://www.veteransforcommonse…

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32) DoD Report – 1,000 Battlefield Casualties Per Month Flood Into Military Hospitals

February 11, 2008 – When Pentagon planners first proposed consolidating military hospitals in the Washington region, it was aging infrastructure, not casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan, that drove the decision.

But the outcry last year over conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has forced the Pentagon to rethink how it will care for troops in the Washington region, the hub for wounded service members returning to the United States.

See remainder of the story here; http://www.veteransforcommonse…

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33) G I Bill falling short of college tuition costs.

February 10, 2008 – WASHINGTON – Halsey Bernard made it through a tour in Iraq as a machine gunner. The question for him now is will he make it through the University of Massachusetts.

It isn’t a question of academics for the 24-year-old Boston resident. It’s about money – and about the obligation of a nation to its fighting men and women. Bernard, who served with the Second Battalion Eighth Marines in Nasariyah, Iraq, in 2003, is one of thousands of veterans who have returned from combat service only to find that their GI Bill college benefits fall far short of actual costs

See remainder of story here; http://www.veteransforcommonse…

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(SARCASM)

Now tell me, do these people really have a bitch? Are there really that many “big” problems listed here? They need to quit whining and man up and deal with it.

(FACT)

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