THE "NEW VA" MAY ACTUALLY BE WORSE THAN THE "OLD VA"
THE WAR ON DISABLED VETS CONTINUES UNABATED AND THE VETS ARE STILL LOSING
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER
I am a disabled vet and have been counseling diabled vets for pushing 20 years. Only having survived "the system" qualifies you to understand the system. I hear myself saying this but "understanding" and "surviving" are not the same thing. With veteran suicides at record levels and with new wars looming around the corner, all the big talk at the VA, and they do talk big, seems to be just that.
The new "public relations" friendly VA is spending billions on programs to help vets. They tell us that every day, over and over but some of us are not believers. I am not talking about medical care. I get VA medical care and think I have the best doctors in the world. I am talking about the "system" that handles disability compensation.
I have to call it a "system." I can’t talk about any individual or group of individuals as using the term "monster" and "blood sucking freak" in such a public forum in reference to individuals who are not public figures is both tasteless and unacceptable, no matter how correct it might be.
I am angry. I am working with a decorated Vietnam combat vet who has, AGAIN, refiled his compensation claim. I had him send it via CERTIFIED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED AND THE VA LOST IT. THEY THEN ASKED HIM TO FAX IT AND THEY LOST THAT TOO. I CAN THINK OF NO METHOD OF GETTING A DOCUMENT TO THE VA, BE IT COURIER, REGISTERED MAIL OR PERSONAL DELIVERY THAT WILL KEEP THEM FROM THROWING IT IN THE TRASH CAN.
If someone is wondering why veterans might be killing themselves, could this possibly be the answer? This is not an unique experience. On my own claim, it took 5 filings, to get my dependents registered with compensation. However CHAMPVA had them in the system for years already and they have to verify dependent status thru Comp and Pension. SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN DENMARK.
Currently the VA owes me $9000 in back dependent payments and has for years. Even Marcie Kaptur, my local congressman, has been unable to get a response from the VA with 3 years of letters. Processing my disability claim itself took 12 years. Filings were repeatedly lost there too. We were told things were changing but I suspect that they may actually have gotten worse.
The game that the certain party in congress has been playing, offering benefits only to "new" veterans, not Vietnam vets, is the same old divisive "bull" they use in the elections. It is assumed all of us are already dead. If we are, we know who to thank. If "new vets" think they are going to get a smooth ride thru the worst bureaucracy in America just because they get lip service from the Chickenhawk brigade in congress, they may need more than a suicide hotline and PTSD meds to bring them back to reality.
The idea that Vietnam vets are now, officially, 4th class citizens, having moved back from our former status of "fear crazed" to "invisible", seems to have caught on here in America. We have been bashing vets for well over 200 years, why stop now. Even the veterans of the Revolutionary War were treated like pariahs once the treaty was signed and the British had packed up and gone home. When the Brits showed up a few years later to burn down the Whitehouse, many of the same vets were the only ones to fight. The "money boys" sat out that war. Little is new in the world.
40 years ago, when Vietnam vets were returning, fresh from a war today’s vets should be thankful they missed, World War 2 vets running service organizations shunned them and withheld services in many cases. The term "baby killer" came from the VFW, not the "Black Panthers."
I am wondering who I could talk to. I can’t write anyone because the US Government doen’t accept mail. After writing this I probably won’t be welcomed if I want to talk to someone. Newspapers don’t care except on Veteran’s Day. The NY Times wanted me to do a "tame veteran" interview and found what they thought was a "raging veteran nutcase." Could we have the freaks in Washington without a gutless press to cheer them on? I wonder.
If we are going to spend billions to run a circus, then we should get some tents and elephants and call it a circus. We already have clowns. If you don’t think the Bush Administration and congressional leadership are a pack of clowns you are simply not paying attention.
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Gordon Duff is a Marine Vietnam veteran and regular contributor on veterans issues.
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
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