VETERANS AFFAIRS OFFICES AROUND THE COUNTRY FOUND SHREDDING DISABILTY APPLICATIONS
BUSINESS AS USUAL AND NO SURPRISES, WE ALWAYS KNEW
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER
After 15 years as a VSO (Veterans Service OFFICER) hearing people talk about how surprised they are to find the VA has been destroying mail, files, applications and such sickens me. It was one of the first things I learned as a veteran and part of the life of every one of the tens of thousands of VSO’s who have served veterans for decades.
If shredding doesn’t work, they simply have “fires” like the infamous St. Louis fire that destroyed the service records of tens of thousands of vets.
The VA throws away or shreds mail as a rule and always has. Its what they do and nothing can be done about it. The lives of thousands of veterans and their families have been destroyed by this universal process that has always been part of a hidden VA agenda. Now people are acting shocked. There is no excuse for hypocrisy.
As much as I would like to blame Bush, I can state, for certain, that things weren’t a single lick different under Lyndon Johnson. No American president, no Veterans Administration or Veterans Affairs executive has every addressed this problem and none ever will. Veterans are famous for being rubes. Veterans are decent and trusting. Throw away their documents, lose their medical appointments, falsify their cancer tests, give them wrong medications or simply turn them away. If you have a problem, you always have armed security guards to have them thrown out, police to arrest them or psychiatrists to declare them insane.
The VA will say they have your application when you call them then a week later say they never got it and ask you to mail another one. For some veterans, this “peek-a-boo” dance goes on for years.
Now we are hearing that first one then another office has thrown away 50 documents, then 500. What they don’t say is that it is that the total number of documents that “went missing” is in the millions, not dozens.
Long ago I was told that it was an unspoken VA policy, much as it is with Social Security, to discard applications and to deny disability benefits, hoping the applicant will simply go away. I heard this from a dozen long time professionals, from lawyers, from medical professionals, from prettymuch everyone “in the know.”
This dark and dirty little secret that has been hanging over the head of every veteran, perhaps from WW2 or Korea onward or even before, has been the real policy of the VA.
If we are going to screw veterans, why don’t we simply have the guts and do it publicly. All of this sneaking around, this pretending to investigate things is sickening.
Kicking vets in the teeth is one thing. Pretending that things are going to be fixed is something else.
Being the progressive I am, if there were ever proof that government can’t be trusted to run something, the VA is that proof.
As a disabled vet, I will offer this disclaimer. I have some great doctors who do their best to see I am treated for a variety of problems. They are, however, unsuccessful at that task even with their best efforts. X-rays, test results and records are all now on computer but seldom lead to treatment unless a patient is willing to fight for medical care.
There are alot of sick vets, very sick vets. I can take solace in the fact I can still walk into a clinic or hospital, for awhile at least. Many others can’t. Why is it that the most vulnerable, the ones with the most need and the ones who deserve the most care and respect have to fight for compensation, for medical treatment and for respect?
Tomorrow is the “real” Veterans Day. Newspapers will print stories about heroes, medical care and VA scandals. A day later those same papers will be in the trash. Whether you are seen as “welfare trash” by Senator McCain or forgotten by President Elect Obama, it won’t matter. When fixing corruption victimizing veterans is the issue, people seem to lose attention very quickly.
What is government really about? Do I have to spell it out to you?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gordon Duff is a Senior Staff Writer for VeteransToday.com. He is a U.S. Marine Vietnam Veteran and regular contributor. He is a specialist in banking and economics and holds a United Nations diplomatic post.
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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