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Gentlemen. I'm going to ask you all to do something? Yesterday in another post, Britgun asked how I was doing with the VA. Not very good. But after seeing and hearing what is going on in the VA hospitals. Our men and women returning home deserve better. I would ask that you all write or call your representatives and senators. My case with the VA is nothing compared to what's happened now. This is a national shame. Our Congress is as much to blame as anyone. They will not fund the VA adequatly, and they even had Walter Reed hospital on the list to close. Thank you. George Phyle(oldhunter).

Your case is just another example of the inadequicies of the system. A hundred million small things = one big thing if you ask me.

I'm sure you're not the only one having problems with the VA - keep plugging at it and keep us posted.

Member Joined: 25 Jul 2006 Posts: 781

So, Dick Cheney just went to the hospital, right? Did he go to Naval Medical or Walter Reed? NO. Dick went to George Washington University Hospital.

My wife worked at Walter Reed and it's clear to me that the blame does not belong to Congress. The military decides what and where to spend the money a lot of the money they get. Blame the leadership of the military for the issues at WR not the congress.

The guys who were ignoring this ignored a lot of things that are coming back to haunt them. Fish stink from the head first starting with Rumsfeld and some change is long overdue. There are some good guys in the military that may be able to speak up and get a response now that there is some attention to the results of bad management.

By the way, Walter Reed was scheduled to close the old facilities and new ones are being built elsewhere in the DC area. The old (prime) real estate is worth a lot of coin so it's going to be sold.

Jeff. I did not want to get into namecalling. All I asked is that people let their congressman know how they feel about this. Yes Walter Reed is a military hospital. But all veterans affairs come under the veterans administration which is a seperate cabinet post. I do not want these men and women coming home to be treated the way myself and a lot of other veterans were treated. It's kind of ironic as I recieved another letter in the mail today. I guess I wasn't really injured. I still have the scars in my eye. I can not see out of that eye well and they cannot get it even close to 20/80. I don't care about me. All of my treatment and was done by civilian doctors. Then all of the sudden one day they said you're through. All handled by civilians. All i thought is that it's time to let the guys holding the purse strings enough is enough. The people coming back from Iraq deserve better.

Old Hunter...

I agree with you and others that we don't want to let this thread turn into something political or to do any name-calling or finger-pointing. However, I would couch this important matter not as a political issue but a "human caring" issue.

In other words, we must all do what we can to see our veterans get the best care we can arrange as a nation. This includes our kids coming home wounded every week as well as all those brave and deserving folks who have stepped up to defend our country in past wars. And I can tell you as a former DC "lawyer/lobbyist" that enough mail and phone calls will eventually get attention on Capitol Hill resulting in directives to the Pentagon and Veteran's Affiars Department to do a better job. All bureaucracies of government can become complacent, but it seems really shameful that we would see how our veterans sometimes get treated and not rally to their help.

I have faith in the American People that enough pressure on our elected lawmakers will be put forward to bring about a change for the better in our veteran's care system! Hope I am not let down...

OSL

PS I am not a veteran and do not stand to gain anything personal from the improvement of veterans' services...except the satisfaction in knowing we are doing the right thing for good people who have sacrificed for the good of us all!

Member Joined: 25 Jul 2006 Posts: 781

I think were all in lockstep about getting the best possible treatment for our Vets, all of them.

Jeff

you got it, George, it is just plain WRONG.....

Duncan (britgun)

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

The VA system has a long history of inadequecy Embarassed