[Vision2020] Our Troops Deserve Better Support When They Come Home

[Donovan Arnold]

"McCain supports outsourcing VA functions to private companies, but some of these measures have been dismal failures.  One such firm, Corporate Health & Wellness, went out of business within two months after receiving a government contract.  Generally, as one analyst concluded, 'every veteran who moves from the VA' to private care 'will find it more dangerous and more costly.' " --Nick Gier
 

 
As someone who has transported many veterans to medical appointments, I disagree. The majority of veterans that I take to private hospitals are contracted for the reasons that the VA is not able to handle the volume of patients, or because they are specialists that the VA won't hire because of the rarity of the need or just cannot get them to work at the VA. 
 
The biggest problem with VA hospitals is that they are not in enough locations and that they do not service all Veterans. 
 
I frankly, don't believe we should have VA Hospitals. Instead, any US Veteran should be able to walk into any clinic or hospital, and visit any doctor and get any necessary treatment they need. The hospital and doctor should gladly take any insurance payment the veteran is able to offer, whether it be Blue Shield Plus or the last piece of gum melted in the bottom of his pocket. 
 
Best Regards,
 
Donovan

--- On Fri, 6/20/08, lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:

From: lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Our Troops Deserve Better Support When They Come Home
To: nickgier at adelphia.net, vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Friday, June 20, 2008, 1:38 PM

Nick
I am normally in favor of reducing government programs. The VA and also the FDA
are two exceptions. This in one conservative who thinks a person can be both
against a war and if favor of supporting our troops. A few years ago, Bob
Carver who some of you know went to both the anti-war rally and the support our
troops rally.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: nickgier at adelphia.net
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:40:05 -0700
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Our Troops Deserve Better Support When They Come Home

> Good Morning Visionaries:
> 
> This was my radio commentary on KRFP for this week.
> 
> Nick Gier
> 
> OUR TROOPS DESERVE BETTER SUPPORT 
> WHEN THEY COME HOME
> 
> By Nick Gier
> 
> I'm always annoyed when people criticize my stance against the Iraq
war by charging that I don't support our military men and women there. 
With very few exceptions our soldiers and sailors are the best trained and best
behaved in the world, but they should be sent into battle only when the nation
is truly threatened.
> 
> Our troops are particularly vulnerable when they find themselves in
situations where they are not wanted. In such instances the psychological
pressures of an unpopular war are added to the physical dangers of
unconventional war.  Our soldiers in Iraq were also not given the body and
vehicle armor that they needed.
> 
> Tens of thousands of those who served in Vietnam under similar conditions
are still suffering the effects of this unfortunate mixture of circumstances. 
We should be glad that Iraq War veterans are receiving much warmer homecomings,
but we should be ashamed of what has happened to some after the parades are
over.
> 
> Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense calls the Iraq and Afghan wars
"360-365 combat," incoming fire coming from all angles and for one
full year.  This term was obviously coined before the Pentagon extended duty to
15 months.
> 
> One of the most alarming figures is the estimate of 1,000 suicide attempts
per month by our recent war veterans.  This figure was quoted in an e-mail by
Dr. Ira Katz, mental health chief for the Veterans Administration.  At a
congressional hearing last year Katz had reported only 790 suicide attempts for
all of 2007, and he assured legislators that there was no problem. 
> 
> Most of the causalities have come from road-side bombs, and even with 
Kevlar helmets, the blast can still rattle the brain so intensely that subtle
but serious internal injuries are the result.  There is growing evidence that
links these brain injuries with high suicide rates. 
> 
> A recent RAND Corporation study estimated that at least 300,000 vets are
suffering from post traumatic stress (PTSD), and 320,000 have serious brain
trauma.  Only 43 percent of interviewed had been evaluated for possible brain
injury and that only 53 percent had asked for PTSD treatment. The failure to
seek treatment is partly the result of soldier machismo, but there have been
far too many cases of officers and military doctors ignoring clear signs of
mental disorder.
> 
> In 2007 Ryan Lecompte, after finishing two tours in Iraq as his
platoon's "best soldier," was diagnosed with PTSD. At home he
displayed all the signs of this illness: withdrawal (sometimes into a fetal
position), heavy drinking, and fits of anger. Lecompte went to anger management
classes and was given some drugs, but he did not receive proper treatment.
Lecompte's superiors claimed that he was a drunk and that he was just
faking his symptoms.  The commander at Fort Carson supported that opinion, and
Lecompte was demoted and received a pay cut.
> 
> Some of these soldiers are so deep in denial or so dysfunctional that it
is their spouses that take up their cause for them.  Tammie Lecompte was one
such wife. She wrote many letters to Washington and finally aides to Senators
Christopher Bond and Tim Johnson forced the general at Fort Carson to send Ryan
Lecompte to Walter Reed, where his condition was described as "major
depressive disorder . . . with catatonic features."  
> 
> Lacompte is now back home in South Dakota where is receiving treatment at
a local VA hospital.  The VA, along with Medicare, now provides the best and
most cost efficient medical care in the nation. When Navy pilot John McCain
returned from 5 years of brutal captivity in North Vietnam he received
excellent care at two military hospitals.  But from 2004 to 2007 McCain voted
against every bill to increase VA budgets.
> 
> McCain supports outsourcing VA functions to private companies, but some of
these measures have been dismal failures.  One such firm, Corporate Health &
Wellness, went out of business within two months after receiving a government
contract.  Generally, as one analyst concluded, "every veteran who moves
from the VA" to private care "will find it more dangerous and more
costly."
> 
> Conservatives who try to shame us with the slogan "Support Our
Troops" should themselves be ashamed of Bush administration policies that
have failed our troops not only at home but on the battlefield itself.
> 
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