[Vision2020] On the Homefront: VA Isn't Meeting Its Obligations to Veterans

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (December 9, 2006) Spokesman Review -

Loyalty to our troops does not end upon their discharge nor when POWs/MIAs
are no longer accounted for.

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On the home front
Our View: VA isn't meeting its obligations to veterans

December 9, 2006

In a troubling report, National Public Radio's Daniel Zwerdling recently
told about the obstacles that stand between U.S. soldiers returning from
Iraq and the mental health care that many of them need.

According to Army studies, between 20 and 25 percent of them show signs of
psychiatric problems including depression and post-traumatic stress
disorder. Yet Zwerdling found, in exhaustive interviews with returning
servicemen, their families, some of their superiors and others, that those
with urgent, service-related troubles could not get timely help. One GI in
the midst of a serious emotional struggle asked for an appointment with a
counselor and was told to come back in a month.

Having mustered the courage to recognize their problems and seek help, many
found themselves shunned and harassed by their peers in uniform, making
matters worse. 

Zwerdling's findings mock the nation's widely shared conviction - one that
transcends political differences over the war - that we owe thanks and
respect to those who risk their lives on behalf of the nation.

With that conviction in mind, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
adopted a strategic plan in 2004 to increase spending on veterans' mental
health needs by $300 million over the next two years.

Approving a plan is one thing, however, and carrying it out is something
else.

The General Accountability Office this week released a report noting that
the VA was unable to spend the full amount allocated, and, moreover, failed
to track what was spent well enough to assure that it went for the purposes
intended.

Americans are divided over the political rationale for sending young
military personnel through the nerve-racking ordeal of combat, but there is
strong accord that those who accept that role as their duty are entitled to
appropriate care for the wounds they suffer, both physical and emotional.

Part of the reason given for the VA's failure to spend the full $100 million
added to the 2005 budget was that officials ran out of time. Amazingly, that
was still part of the explanation for another shortfall in the extra $200
million for 2006.

The 5 million veterans who receive care through VA facilities each year
deserve the comfort of knowing the agency is fully dedicated to meeting
their legitimate needs. 

Some Americans will be slow to fault a federal agency for not spending tax
dollars. But war is an enormously costly enterprise. Those who face the
peril up close pay a much higher price than the meager monetary toll
assessed to the national treasury. The public and the government must
discharge their own obligations just as faithfully.

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Pro patria,

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.