Thoughts on the VA

So what's up with the VA that hasn't been up since WWII? Not much.

    Unless you've been living in a cave on the other side of Gilligan's Island and the professor's coconut powered laptop stopped working you know the VA is under fire for dicking veterans around with secret waiting lists, an insane backlog of unprocessed claims, piss poor outpatient care, vets dying from neglect in VA hospitals, an antiquated filing and charting system and just about anything else you can think of a Medical treatment service can screw up. It's a sad, sad state of affairs for veterans and their families and it says quite a bit about how America feels about her Veterans once we put down our rifles, come home and ask "Where's the vodka, weed and crack at? I don't feel so good." 

    The truth is the VA has consistently jerked veterans around since the Vietnam days in large part by being overwhelmed by severely wounded veterans who would have died on the field in previous conflicts. Vietnam introduced the use of medical air EVAC on a huge scale to the first modern, well equipped field hospitals that were often close to the action. For the first time in armed conflict badly wounded men could be on the operating table within an hour of being hit. This had a huge impact on the rate of severely wounded GI's coming home needing a great deal of long term medical care.Vietnam was unusual psychologically in the respect that US forces were facing an elusive, intelligent and determined enemy that didn't where a uniform, could be anywhere, strike anytime and employed unusual and effective forms of psychological combat. Iraq and Afghanistan were the same in this respect. (Constantly having IED's, snipers and ambushes at the forefront of your mind is exhausting. When any middle eastern male between the ages of 10 and 70 could be an enemy combatant it doesn't take long to get wildly paranoid and you just as soon watch everyone through your rifle sites as look at them.) The American psychiatric association didn't officially recognize PTSD as a treatable diagnosis until 1980 and the VA didn't set up the National center for PTSD until 1989. Severe, life debilitating PTSD was left untreated in tens of thousands of veterans that had no where to turn except self medicating and the streets when they came home to a hostile public that made the tragic mistake of blaming the vets for an unpopular war many of them were drafted into and paid a high price for. The plight of the Vietnam vet is an embarrassment to American history and a massive failure of our culture. The war on terror vets have fared better with public perception than the nam vet did. (The support our troops campaign was wildly successful. I was a regular rock star when I came home after my deployments to Iraq. That was pretty cool.) Problems with an overwhelmed, dysfunctional VA tragically persist though. Both Republicans and Democratic leaders have a history of blocking and cutting funding to veterans programs while spending wildly on defense programs that are often obsolete and unnecessary. Since the end of WWII US foreign policy has been brutally hawkish. First with the cold war then the war on terror US foreign policy has utilized enemies, both real and imagined to further US interest abroad. The full fruition of "the industrial Military Complex" President Eisenhower warned America of back in the 1950's.

   So what of the current "Va Crisis." Beyond the usual political posturing and finger pointing my prediction is a big stink will be made about it in the press for a few weeks until the next crisis du jour comes along and it'll be forgotten about by the wider public. If congress does anything at all it'll likely be a band aid fix over a the gapping shrapnel wound that's the VA's tragic saga of being overwhelmed and underfunded. So the next time you meet a vet and he doesn't seemed particularly enthusiastic about your gratitude and doesn't want to talk about his experience remember that in our ears what we're hearing is lip service and empty promises. Such was our bullshit homecoming. Thank you for reading. Baby Ricochet.

    

Author's Note

Happy memorial day. I'm getting shitfaced. Later

Reviews

[Lyn Anderson]

The treatment of veterans in Canada is not much better, I am afraid. I don't know about the rest of the world. I have never met a veteran who is bitter against the average citizen who is kind, but many who are less than thrilled with what has happened to them since their service.

[Baby Ricochet]

In the 1960's the anti war protest's fury over the war in Vietnam turned on vets, spitting at them and calling them among other things "baby burners." So besides the horrors and hardships they endured in Vietnam they were spurned by the Nation that sent them. Many nam vets are still bitter and angry over their treatment by the antiwar movement and the VA that wanted nothing to do with them when they started getting sick from Agent Orange. Agent Orange was a defoliant used heavily in Vietnam that turned out to have serious long term health hazards to Americans exposed as well as future generations of Vietnamese children born of women exposed to the spray. Vietnam vests often possess a degree of bitter resentment my generation of veteran was thankfully spared and for that I am grateful. America owes the Vietnam vet a big apology.

[Lyn Anderson]

Yes, for sure. I agree.

[Mark]

The VA's funding has actually increased faster than the number of new patients since Obama took office. It's not all about the funding always... You've done a good job of researching though. The New Republic has an article that suggests the only reason we are seeing focus on these wait lists is that the VA is the only medical services sector that tracks such things. The article pretty much suggests that these waits are not uncommon compared to waits for medical services in the public sector. I just throw that out there, I'm not inclined to agree with their assumptions, but it is something to think about.

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you Mark. I appreciate your thoughtful input.

[Cody Williams]

Happy Memorial Day to you too! I like to see strong opinionated people lay down their thoughts and tell it like it is. There's no sugar coding it here...and that's the way it should be!

Thanks for sharing!

-CW

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you Cody

[Rita L. Sev]

The gratitude from the average American is real... it's just that we are powerless unless we are millionaires, and the millionaires are too busy counting their money, and living their American dream that was secured by the soldiers... What a sad state we have allowed. Peaceful Memorial Day to you, Mark.

[Baby Ricochet]

We know your appreciation is genuine and we are grateful. Thank you Rita

[Marie]

Happy Memorial Day to you, Baby r. My father, my uncle, and my husband all served in WWII.

[Baby Ricochet]

The WWII boys are some tough old birds. I've known a few well into their 90s. They just slap refuse to die.

[Marie]

Forgot to mention I also have a stepson who was wounded in Viet Nam.

[Draven]

He lives in the shadow of the flag.
He bleeds for our freedom to live.
He dies in the arms of the angels.
We weep and solute to his honor,
then we bury all that he bled for.

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you Casanova

[A. Amos]

Happy Memorial day buddy, this was amazing!

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you Amos

[Vidya Bacchus]

Happy Memorial Day Baby.This is the harsh realities of today's world.People who should be appreciated for their sacrifice and service coming up last in the world's list of priorities.

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you Vidya

[Vidya Bacchus]

You are welcome :)