As Memorial day draws near I can well imagine those souls it
honors spinning in their graves in unified outrage; as the list of scandals at
Veterans Administration hospitals grows ever deeper with the latest in a long
list of disgraces.
In a recent post I made reference to the current
ever-deepening VA scandal involved with VA personnel cooking the books so it
would appear they were setting appointments in a timely and efficient manner;
while veterans died waiting to be seen by their doctor. I didn't want to write about it in any depth
because of the great negativity and frustration it generates, what with me
being a disabled Vietnam Vet.
I really tried to take the advice of Joseph Campbell
when he said "We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to
live in joy." It goes hand in
hand with another nugget of wisdom I assimilated along the way: True wealth
is measured by how many things you can just leave be. Far from ignoring the problem, one may elect
to instead focus their energy &
thoughts on more positive pursuits, and that felt fine to me.
Unfortunately, this current debacle just keeps mutating into
a deliberate bureaucratic failure of monstrous proportions by the day. What began as "A few isolated
incidents" is now at 28 states, 40 deaths ... and growing. That's right, I said deliberate, as
intentional & willful. Unfortunately the government of this country
has a disgraceful historical habit of turning on it's veterans. So I am cornered between Memorial day and the
Muse, and find I have something of a duty to write about this subject.
This is something I can write about from personal experience
with the VA system; and it's not a pretty picture. When I came home from Vietnam
with an honorable discharge and all my parts intact; my dad picked me up at the
airport. It was hard to spot him at
first thru the buzzing crowd of protesters harassing any man departing the
plane in uniform. Lucky for me I was
dressed in street clothes so nobody bothered me directly as I stood there in
disbelief, the anger welling up inside me...suddenly a vice like hand grabbed
my elbow just as I heard my old man's voice saying, "I've seen that
look on your face before - time for us to go." We claimed my bags and made it to the car in
silence, and I needed that time to calm down after seeing people spitting on
returning servicemen.
With the airport falling away behind us in the rear view
mirror, my dad looks at me and said:
"Listen to me...what you did, what you went thru over there for
this country; just remember that nobody owes you anything for that - just put
it behind you and get on with your life." His words were quite surprising considering
they came from a decorated WWII infantry captain. I guess maybe he'd seen for himself, some of
the historic times when this nations government betrayed it's veterans. Maybe he was trying to spare me some
disillusionment & disappointment down
the road...like when the VA suddenly stopped paying the vocational trade school
I was attending 20 years ago, after promising to pay for my continuing
education with the GI Bill. Broken
promises, a sad habit indeed! I had to take on two part time jobs to keep the
school paid, and graduate; and the sting of that betrayal has never been
forgotten.
I decided back then to not pursue getting my benefits from
the VA, despite seeing other vets I knew who did, and were getting very nice
compensation. Had no reason to ask for
benefits because I was young &
strong, and determined to make it or not on my own merits rather than depend on
handouts from the government which I already knew could be cut off without
reason or notice. The Navy takes care
of it's own - Balderdash! It took a
few years, but I eventually came to understand my father's words at the airport
that day.
Fast forward 40 years to 2009, I'm forced to reconsider my
aversion to dealing with the VA by a surly mob of health issues which are
impacting my life negatively. Having
pretty much worked for myself the majority of my adult life; my retirement plan
sucked, leaving the VA the only game in town.
The one good thing I can say about the VA health care system is that you
can still receive medical care before your benefits claim is finally determined. Good thing too, because it took them a full
year to finally consider my claim; and then they summarily denied and dismissed
it categorically. I filed an appeal with
the VA, which ten months later was denied also, they said I took too long to
file my appeal.
Another year goes by and a fellow veteran asked me if I had
gone thru the DAV, (Disabled American
Veterans) when I submitted my previous claims. I had not, for whatever reasons, and soon
learned they can be a powerful motivating force upon the VA system, especially
with getting benefits approved. So, I
began the process again, with all the exact same data & information, letting the DAV advocate on my behalf. Almost a full year later my claim was
approved. Nearly 4 years after I first
requested the benefits guaranteed me by federal law. In that time I have seen firsthand the
staggering incompetence and Orwellian bureaucracy that is the VA health care
system.
To begin with, no VA computer is allowed to have any data
transfer device attached to it, such as a flash drive with X-rays and medical
history on it. The VA also prohibits
doctors and veterans communicating thru email, or other electronic means except
telephone. Has a way of really slowing
the whole works down to a crawl, like I said, intentionally. My first VA doctor was from India ,
every time I saw him he was on crutches & looking sicker than me. He died.
My next VA doctor was a young fellow from Pakistan
with who I had what can only be described as infuriating language barrier
issue; he didn't speak English as far as I could discern, and consistently gave
me the wrong medications. After six
months of that insanity I went to the head of the clinic and insisted on being
assigned to a new doctor, one who spoke English! They did exactly as I asked and assigned me a
new primary care physician...five months later! That's five months of being told I must wait
to be assigned a new doctor each time I called for an appointment, or to renew
medications. That's just childish, and
vindictive. Whatever happened to "first,
do no harm?"
While I'm on the subject of my local VA clinic, it will
perhaps help to gauge the sheer scope of the insanity there to see a couple of
pictures of the place. It is a nice,
newly built place with a couple acres of beautiful parking right in front
of the main doors; which is vital for those with wheel chairs, walkers and
crutches - which is most of the traffic on most days. The trouble is that all that unpaved ground
was used to make the veterans peace garden or some shit, which is by the
way, roped off and off limits to veterans!!
Meanwhile those with mobility issues, and everyone else must first park
in the undersized space allowed alongside the building and garden; then
make their way thru the parking area, then down a long sidewalk that resembles the
Bataan death march, just to reach the front door!
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Wanna know why so many veterans are in wheel
chairs & powered scooters? It's because the VA health care system put
them there with repeated botched surgical operations. Many VA hospitals are designated as training
hospitals such as the San Francisco VA
You see; it isn't just the scheduling of appointments, and approval of claims that is backed up and stagnant...it's pretty much the case with the entire VA health care system. Three trips to the VA hospital for major surgery have made me a veteran of a whole other war being waged against the veterans this country creates with such total disregard. I have yet to see a nurse call button that actually works, I always have to make them bring one in and show me the thing actually working. You have a finite number of people trying to provide medical services; (most of whom don't really know what they're doing) to an ever increasing tsunami of injured, traumatized veterans. The demand for those services grows greater with each passing week, yet with no additional staff to cover the workload, so the system is constantly in a state of near gridlock on some days...and that's just one hospital. Some are much worse, such as the Walter Reed scandal from a few years ago.
This over-run and swamped medical system is just a breeding ground for mistakes, incompetency, and malpractice. No oversight, no accountability; just make the numbers line up right on paper. There is a certain look a soldier gets when he's been too long exposed to combat, and the horrors it devastates you with...they call it the thousand yard stare; you expect to see it on the returning veterans but it's downright scary to see that look on your hospital staff. Leaves you with the feeling you need a cab ride back home pronto. What it all comes down to is compassion and dignity. With the VA health care system failing systematically nationwide; compassion & dignity are the first casualties. After that each new veteran is just another numbered piece of meat to process & oppress. The recruiters lie to get you to join up, the commanding officers lie to get your obedience, and they lie when they say the GI bill will pay for schooling. They lie. Keep that in mind if you are someone considering joining up.
I said this debacle, this neglect is intentional, and it is. Combat veterans have a very exacting skill set, and are plagued with many issues upon returning home. They know the things that have been done that the powers that be wish to keep secret. If organized, veterans could represent a very powerful voting block in every election, one which could perhaps bring about serious change. If outraged, those same veterans could represent a most powerful armed force within this country; if pushed too far. So you see, on every level it is in the interest of the power elite, the one percent, to keep these vets heavily medicated, and totally neglected, until they all just finally die. Like I said, deliberate and intentional incompetence.
You see; it isn't just the scheduling of appointments, and approval of claims that is backed up and stagnant...it's pretty much the case with the entire VA health care system. Three trips to the VA hospital for major surgery have made me a veteran of a whole other war being waged against the veterans this country creates with such total disregard. I have yet to see a nurse call button that actually works, I always have to make them bring one in and show me the thing actually working. You have a finite number of people trying to provide medical services; (most of whom don't really know what they're doing) to an ever increasing tsunami of injured, traumatized veterans. The demand for those services grows greater with each passing week, yet with no additional staff to cover the workload, so the system is constantly in a state of near gridlock on some days...and that's just one hospital. Some are much worse, such as the Walter Reed scandal from a few years ago.
This over-run and swamped medical system is just a breeding ground for mistakes, incompetency, and malpractice. No oversight, no accountability; just make the numbers line up right on paper. There is a certain look a soldier gets when he's been too long exposed to combat, and the horrors it devastates you with...they call it the thousand yard stare; you expect to see it on the returning veterans but it's downright scary to see that look on your hospital staff. Leaves you with the feeling you need a cab ride back home pronto. What it all comes down to is compassion and dignity. With the VA health care system failing systematically nationwide; compassion & dignity are the first casualties. After that each new veteran is just another numbered piece of meat to process & oppress. The recruiters lie to get you to join up, the commanding officers lie to get your obedience, and they lie when they say the GI bill will pay for schooling. They lie. Keep that in mind if you are someone considering joining up.
I said this debacle, this neglect is intentional, and it is. Combat veterans have a very exacting skill set, and are plagued with many issues upon returning home. They know the things that have been done that the powers that be wish to keep secret. If organized, veterans could represent a very powerful voting block in every election, one which could perhaps bring about serious change. If outraged, those same veterans could represent a most powerful armed force within this country; if pushed too far. So you see, on every level it is in the interest of the power elite, the one percent, to keep these vets heavily medicated, and totally neglected, until they all just finally die. Like I said, deliberate and intentional incompetence.
I find myself of two minds on this latest VA scandal: on the
one hand I certainly empathize with those who are being forced to wait for
months just to get an appointment; yet on the other, knowing the kind of
hellish nightmare they're attempting to gain access to ~ I want to warn them
not to do it! It's not just that VA employees are gaming the
system to look good on paper, the VA is gaming all of us...going through the
motions with talking heads and bullet points to give the appearance of giving a
shit. They don't. They never have.**
The VA modus operandi is to deny, delay, discourage;
dragging their feet and obstructing the process whenever possible, to keep from
having to pay out benefit checks. They
want to keep that money, oh how they hate to give it away! Remember that this is the same
government that exposed WWII soldiers to
atomic radiation just to see how it would affect them. The same government that sprayed Agent
Orange (known carcinogen) on it's own troops as well as the Viet cong;
then denied it for years until at last they could deny it no more. Just like everything else they do.
The lies are the greatest insult of all. For Obama to stand there pretending to be mad
alongside the expressionless head of the VA who for some insane reason still
has a job, lying through their teeth with every word they say. It really makes sense that the government
wants to wipe all us veterans out - after all they taught us how to fight, to
kill without compunction when necessary.
They don't want us coming for them in the night, they fear us...and
we've all seen what they do when scared.
Like I said, it isn't pretty!
How vile and disgusting are all the corporate scumbags to
use Memorial day as an excuse to have a "sale." Honor the fallen soldiers of all our wars by
running out and buying a new Toyota America 's
fallen heroes. But the honor of the
worst memorial day commercial goes to the makers of The Kraken black
spiced rum who filled the screen and evidently their bottles with a black,
slimy concoction that looks like it was scooped out of the gulf of Mexico. Americans; they'll buy anything!
We shouldn't really be so amazed at the monumental failures
at the VA that keep surfacing. Just look
around you, everywhere the wheels are coming off, the facades are falling, no
longer able to support the lies and illusions that have kept us sleepwalking
through this incarnation. How much more
has to collapse before our very eyes before we realize it's already too late to
"save" it, as if it was worth saving to begin with? Did you notice that faint vibration underfoot recently, don't worry it's not an earthquake this time, just those old dead soldiers restless in their graves.
I want you to all stop and ponder this for a moment or
two...Seeing how the government regards and deals with it's veterans, do you
really believe you'll be treated any better?
If the answer is yes then I suggest you may be in for a very rude
awakening just any time now. An excellent
example is this abomination they call ObamaCare. After all the childish, vindictive and
pointless hysteria some version of it gets passed into law. Not only are Americans now legally
required to participate in this charade, (even though it doesn't work)
but the government cannot even find anyone competent enough to design a website
that works for shit.
Congratulations America ,
ObamaCare is VA health care for civilians!
May the Source be with You!
Jon Stewart exposes historical gov't betrayal of Veterans
Politicians JOKE about dead servicemen and children
More Jon Stewart on national VA disgrace
A Veteran speaks out about his ordeal with the VA
Related Augureye Posts:
Other Voices:
http://www.activistpost.com/2014/05/the-future-of-socialized-healthcare.html
http://www.activistpost.com/2014/05/the-war-on-americas-military-veterans.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/18/exclusive-v-a-scandal-hits-new-hospital.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Reed_Army_Medical_Center_neglect_scandal
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/peopleevents/pandeAMEX89.html **
http://www.dailypaul.com/97314/federal-troops-attack-veterans-marching-in-dc **
http://collectivelyconscious.net/articles/how-monsanto-annihilated-a-paradise-turned-it-into-an-island-of-illness/
http://www.activistpost.com/2014/05/the-future-of-socialized-healthcare.html
http://www.activistpost.com/2014/05/the-war-on-americas-military-veterans.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/18/exclusive-v-a-scandal-hits-new-hospital.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Reed_Army_Medical_Center_neglect_scandal
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/peopleevents/pandeAMEX89.html **
http://www.dailypaul.com/97314/federal-troops-attack-veterans-marching-in-dc **
http://collectivelyconscious.net/articles/how-monsanto-annihilated-a-paradise-turned-it-into-an-island-of-illness/
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