A Letter to Senator Richard Burr

I urge all Veterans and their supporters to contact Senator Richard Burr, Senator Jim Webb and all the other politicians that want to balance the budget on the backs of Veterans. We need to remind politicians that never served in the military like Richard Burr, to stop trying to “change the rules” on Veterans after we have completed our honorable service to this nation. We felt the need to complete military service to the United States Of America when she called regardless of the outcome. Let Richard Burr know we wore the military uniform and ask for nothing that we have not already earned! This is a copy of my letter to him.

Senator Richard Burr
217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Richard Burr,

I share your concerns about the budget and even about some of the criteria for service connected compensation from Agent Orange exposure to Vietnam Veterans but where will your apprehension and apathy end with the ENTITLEMENTS earned by Vietnam Veterans and guaranteed by this country? With about 850,000 Vietnam Veterans still alive out of 2.7 million, and dying at a higher percentage rate than any other group of war veterans, whatever we receive will not be a burden to the government and nation that ignored us for years. The Department Of Veterans Affairs is finally giving the Vietnam Veteran the benefit of the doubt when it must be proven we are eligible for compensation claims and you, along with Jim Webb and others, want to continue the stalling tactics with yards and yards of red tape and illogical and impossible verification used by the DVA to prove our claim, hoping the veteran will die before his/her claim is resolved. Quit trying to balance the budget on the backs of those that willingly went to fight for this country in South Vietnam when so many others dodged, ducked, weaved and hid to avoid fighting in Southeast Asia. Don’t you think we have been “dumped on” enough by the politicians and bureaucrats of our Federal Government?

So now with the Iraq War winding down and a pullout for Afghanistan in 2011, is the theme on Capitol Hill to once again “change the rules” for those that have faithfully served in the United States military? When we were young and able to do the killing and dying for this country we are assets, once we become older and in need of help from the government that swore they would not desert us for our service connected health problems, have we become liabilities? Is that what we are to you, Sir, a liability? We have sacrificed already enough for this Nation, and continue to sacrifice with a loss of quality of life because or our service connected disabilities and health problems, so do NOT talk about sacrifices to those of us that served in the military, especially those of us that faced death in combat or from other hazardous duty, no matter what war we fought in. Sacrifice for the country, why don’t we start with lowering the salaries of the Senate and House members, along with the bureaucrats that feed at the public trough and reduce the number of people working for each politician. By building a subsidized public housing complex with 535 units, Senators and Representatives could all live in one area and that would eliminate the need for a second residence in the Washington, DC metro area and your salaries could be lowered substantially without any hardship. Living together in a housing complex would also make it easier for the Senators and Representatives to use public transportation to get back and forth to work which would also slash gasoline consumption, exhaust pollution and help with the traffic on and within the beltway area. Living in clean subsidized public housing is certainly much better than the tents and shelters are troops must reside in while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and think what an example Congress would be setting for the rest of the nation. We can also take a look at the retirees of Congress and slash the lavish retirement benefits they receive. What, we cannot take away from the pensions earned by those in Congress, they worked for them and earned them? What do you think we earned on the battlefields of South Vietnam, Korea, World War 2, Afghanistan and Iraq and all the other places politicians and bureaucrats have sent us to fight and die. Let’s take a look at the defense contractors and clean up the corruption and over cost runs that run amuck with those that provide weapons and other services to our military. I know who they are and so do you, Sir.

I looked up your biography on the Internet and on your official website and I did not see any military service for you, Senator Burr. The date of your birth is November 30th, 1955, you reached 18 in 1973 and although the draft ended, you could have still volunteered to serve. Did you not think it was important enough to serve your country in the military? There is no greater sacrifice, Senator Burr, then taking the oath of allegiance to, and wearing the military uniform for the United States Of America. Those of us that wear and have worn a military uniform were willing to die for this country if needed but it seems to matter little to those in Washington, DC.

I am writing a book and I am sending out letters to all the baby boomer politicians still in office that did not serve and to those that did. I would like to know the reasons on both sides of my question, why for those that DID NOT serve and why those that DID. I will include everybody in my book and will also include those that fail to reply. My book is being written in a quest to continue putting the Vietnam experience into perspective, not only from the combat itself, but the disrespectful treatment received from many citizens of this country at the time but mostly from the politicians and bureaucrats on Capitol Hill then and now. My book is truly a book of healing and if I am lucky enough to find a publisher, ALL PROCEEDS with go to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. As I stated, my book is about healing and NOT about putting money in my pocket. If a publisher is found, I will make the contract public so that anyone can have access to the records to make sure not one dime goes into my pocket. There might be some responders that did not serve because they were a sole surviving son, well, I was the only son in my family with the last name and I volunteered for the United States Army and for combat in South Vietnam. When your country calls you to duty and one is physically able, why would they use that for an excuse. I imagine there will be a few conscientious objectors in the group but I saw real, conscientious objectors serving in South Vietnam as medics and hospital personnel. They were real CO’s but they still felt the need to serve their country and did not use their status as a way to avoid military service. So, Senator Burr, why no military service in your biography?

In closing, Sir, do not balance the budget on the backs of Vietnam Veterans or any other veteran of this country, we deserve better from those on Capitol Hill, especially from those that never served a day in the military. Vietnam Veterans also demand considerable consideration from those in the Senate and House that were physically able to fight in Vietnam but used draft deferments to avoid doing so even when our country called us all to serve. We went to Vietnam in their place and ask nothing of them but to keep the promises made to us by the government if we survived and were lucky enough to call ourselves Vietnam Veterans, and there is no dispute of that fact, Sir! What we receive as disability compensation, medical and education ENTITLMENTS have already been earned and we will march on Washington, DC, if need be, to demand we be treated with the same dignity, respect and loyalty we gave to our country. The Federal Government needs to keep the promises and guarantees it made to us when we signed our service contract and took the oath to defend, and if need be, die for this country.

Joe Tarnovsky

Joe "Ragman" Tarnovsky

Joe is a Vietnam Combat Veteran, having served 26 months in the Republic Of South Vietnam, 10 months with Company A, 27th Combat Engineers, 28 August 1968 to June 1969, and 16 months as a crewchief/doorgunner with the 240th Assault Helicopter company on UH-1C Hueys, the Mad Dog Gunship Platoon from July 1969 to 22 October 1970.

Joe graduated from Cuyahoga Community College in 1982 with a Associate Of Arts Degree and from Cleveland State University in 1986 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology; he also accumulated 12 hours of graduate work at Cleveland State. He lives with his best friend, his wife, and they have 34 rescued cats, 7 rescued dogs.

Joe has spoken at high schools and colleges for 25 years about PTSD, war and how not to treat returning veterans when they come home to America after fighting for their country.