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Reader on Cloned VA Yes-Men with Government-controlled Minds
The VA Yes Man Says 'No' to Disability Claims
- The DAV, VFW and American Legion over the years have been as useful to combat veterans as tits on a boar hog -
By Bill Smitts
I have been involved with veterans’ issues for over 30 years.
Strange as it seems the same crap was discussed in 1981 as now. Such as stressors. My impression always was PTSD was much more scary to the bean counters in congress then Agent Orange.
Not sure why but it sure seemed that way. Maybe they thought it might scare away recruits because of the fear of combat? Take the macho away?
It was then and I am sure now easier to write PTSD off as another illness, such as drug and alcohol use.
Back then the VA was run by morons. Oh, I am sure the VA had sprinkled among the morons some good people.
The VA was mostly ran by former Vet organization hacks like national commanders and retired generals. Today, as back then they had to be cloned yes men with government-controlled minds. That is why the DAV, VFW and American Legion over the years have been as useful to combat veterans as tits on a boar hog.
If you kept your mouth shut you might get a good government job or work at national headquarters of some vet organization. Some of these jobs are very well-paid.
Today, it is ran by educated civil servants who for the most part do not use their brains or common sense when dealing with claims.
Today, in the better-paid jobs in the VA and government you are not paid to think deeply about anything.
[This is a slightly edited version of a comment from a reader appearing in Veterans Today.]
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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=42661
Posted by Yanira Farray on Jul 31 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Benefits, Vet News, Veteran Service Organizations, Veterans Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Some one said to me earlier that I was “sucking in the public tit”. Prefaced by “there’s nothing wrong with you!”. So I sat for a while, kept quiet. Thought about how I really felt about it. I went through the idea that maybe he’s right, maybe there’s nothing wrong with me and I am all the implications that go along with the statement. Lazy fraudulent sycophant? I said ”that was derogatory statement”. He insisted that it was “descriptive”. Stirred me a little. I thought back to an honorable time in my life. A time when men stood up when I entered the room. I thought about all the sleeplessness during the conflicts overseas, worried sick with imminent doom. The horrors of it all and the wonderment of which of these I would befall at any moment, would I be burnt alive, blown to bits, shot, captured, beheaded or raped? Everyday, all day, every night, all night. zzz.
I thought of the time I spent away from communicating with anyone who new me as an adolescent or anyone who cared enough about me to want my remains should I fall. I thought of saluting my commanding officers and the American flag as I pass them by, I thought of taps playing every night reminding me of the fellow soldiers who did not make it back alive and whose remains lye rotting in the ground as I write, and reveille calling me to duty every morning, reminding me that I am, in fact, alive. I thought of the danger I’d voluntarily put myself in. I thought of my spirit, and how disassembled, disarmed, and disconnected to life I felt. I thought of the nights of rest I get even now as sporadic and disturbed. The thoughts of immediate danger, and urgent death surge me to life when I seem to be the least bit comfortable or relaxed. I think of a promising career reduced to lack of concentration, confusion, and indecision. I thought of firing my weapon in a theatre of combat and the tragedy that followed. I thought of being government property, malfunctioning and discarded. I thought of drinking alcohol until I puked every night upon my return from Afghanistan and sobering long enough to get on the plane to Iraq. I again thought of my spirit and the “can do” attitude of not needing VA compensation to afford living expenses. I thought surely, I must be able to do something, surely I am not completely useless? My head spinning wildly with these ” useless” type thoughts, all the mistakes i had made thinking that H&H guns out there off of I-40 and meridian is the place where I can find and appropriate executioner to end this horrible feeling I have inside. Am i viewed this way? Have i become the problem, the enemy? Am i not as honored as I thought previously ?Everything comes at me head on crashing into me like the world trade the insults ” f@&$ing waste of space!” “Sh@tbag” feels like it’s just screaming in my head, but no one is saying anything. the orders soldier, the orders, the struggle internally manifesting to rage and my heart begins pumping pure adrenaline, I start having trouble breathing, feels like someones sitting in my chest, I grab my motorcycle, 0- 90 in a 35, no helmet in a tank top, thinking “F@ck this world!” looking for a bottle of whiskey, which I did not find. I after a few heart pounding brushes with death, I regained my fully alerted senses, I calmed down, I began to ” breathe”, and there on the road, I wept. I came home a little less frustrated
I have known many war heroes. I have never met a macho war hero.
I spent 26 years working for the Sam Rayburn Memorial Vet Center in Bonham, Texas. When Dallas VA took control they made every attempt to do away with Mr. Sam’s name. It is to this day an absolute disgrace to not continue to honoring someone of his character. He was one of the few who cared so deeply about the vets. I could write page after page about what I saw as the VA in Dallas and Bonham went straight down the toilet. Dallas was actually already there, they just drug Bonham down after taking control. I watched in disbelief as qualified vets were past over for jobs and then given to friends and family. There is one, however, that is the grandaddy of them all. A supervisors position was announced for the maint. shop. The person serving as work leader for the past eight years was also a Marine Corps vet of four years which gave him over 30 plus years with the government. He was past over for an ex-convict with no militry service. The ex-convict’s wife just happened to work in HR. And this my friends is a prime example of a YES MAN. He knew nothing about the facility except where the offices were located that housed those whose asses needed to be kissed. The whole bunch should be hung. After writing letters and making phone calls, only to find no one really cares, I retired and am no longer a part of such a corrupt system. May God bless the Vets.
I agree 102%
“The DAV, VFW and American Legion over the years have been as useful to combat veterans as tits on a boar hog”
Are you guys getting desperate for traffic of what?
The Department of Veteran Affairs and the old Veteran Administration over the years have allowed combat veteran heroes to die alone without aid. Many combat veterans heroes who suffered from PTSD were locked up in dark locked hospital wards and given shock treatments, and at time lobotomies with the veteran’s families ignorant of the medical condition. This went on for years.
A Veteran of the Bataan Death March asked for help in 1977 and was told his problem was social economic, and he should stop drinking alcohol. Stories like this are common.
During the 30′s when veterans of WW 1 asked for help the American Legion leaders signed off on attacking WW 1 combat veterans as malingerers.
In Washington state American legion thugs caught castrated and hung a WW 1 trench warfare combat veteran because they thought he was a communist. What he was doing was asking for more money to feed his family.
Veteran organizations do one thing well. They collect money, and want you to join. But sure as hell they are not at the cusp of good healthcare of Veterans.
Vietnam veterans are dieing everyday with unserviced connected combat disabilities and not one damn thing is the VA or congress doing!
From Col:
DREAN:
Don’t you ever try to make me out as a vet getting something for nothing and screwing the system. DON’T TALK TO ME THAT WAY. I was getting beat up in Korea maybe before you was born??????? I have two Purple Hearts from the battles in Korea. What is the matter with you? Don’t you read on here about the ones getting 100% rates, or don’t you read at all. Question= Who is getting 100%? I did not need the bitchers to get my 100%. I earned it and went through the system with a few waits and a few goofs. I received all my help from the SVOs and the VA. I have been nearly 100% satisfied with the VA since my discharge in Feb. 1952. I was discharged with combat disability on my own request after more than three years of service. I was with the 2nd. Inf. Div in Nov. 1950 in North Korea. 30 below zero when I picked up my second Purple Heart. On that one day alone we lost over 3000 men to KIAs-wounds- and MIAs Until you have walked my shoes and those of others that have seen battle, don’t shoot your mouth off and making innuendoes w/o knowing the facts. BTW, have you been in combat or have been in the service? Hell let us know, what outfit and where did you serve. You may find a lost buddy on here. Never can tell. And to gmg, thanks for your support as sometimes it is needed from others that don’t know the facts, and I don’t only mean DREAN. Thank you all for your service. SEEVIEW.
The message would not go in so I had Mike put it in From COL. to Drean is from seeview.
desperate for traffic of what?
I think the statement above tells it all. Most all the writers on here are always bitching about the service organizations and the VA. Where would all your asses be if not for them. Among the thousands of vets on here that have got 100% Comp. you still cry and cry about the ones writing your nice fat checks. Yes, I have my check for 100% and am thankful for all the help I have had from the VSOs and the VA. I get my teeth fixed,whats left,and glasses and any thing I need to get by at this old age. KOREAN VET. Time and time again I have posted that the ones bitching about the VA and VSOs are in the MINORITY. The problem being it makes the whole system look real bad. Very seldom do I see a vet say, ” there are some good places”. As long as I get up on the right side of the ground I will continue to stick up for the VA and the VSOs. We all can bitch on things and we all do it, but I’ll be damned if I will bitch about the ones that have helped me and hundreds of others I know down the right path. I’m sorry but I can’t find the strength in me to have respect for some of the posters. Yes I do know that there are a lot of problems, but not the the extent shown here by the MINORITY again. Thank you for reading and this is my opinion, and I can’t help it if it is not to your ways. Sincerely, SEEVIEW ps: Anyone feel as I do?
Seeview Who is getting 100%? It cost many suffering people whiners and complainers to get your 100% check to you. It sure as hell was not the traditional vets organizations that came to bat.
Ohh excuse me Seeview that is if you are getting combat related 100% service connection. If you are then you should thank god for some people out there that bitched and complained. Unless you were discharged with a combat disability you would likely never had it after you were discharged if it had not been for bitchers and complainers.
If you are not receiving combat disability then chances are you are sucking money away from those that were wounded in combat.
I think seeview has a valid point. Aren’t we more likely to read about the negative than the positive? How often do we see perfectly healthy people visit a doctor’s office? I’d bet that if there were a way to do a survey, and it’s probably been done, we’d find more vets are satisfied with customer service at the VA and VSOs than those that are not satisfied.
In addition, it can’t be denied that steady progress has been made in the support that vets receive. And I’d bet the bank that if a survey were done of vet services in all the nations of the world, we find that the U.S. is near the top of the list for helping and supporting her vets.
Sure there are problems, but look at the size of the customer-base — it’s huge. The VA is huge. Ever seen such a large organization run like a Swiss watch. Heh, even Swiss watches break.
But we do see the positive brought out into the public view from time-to-time. Might be nice to see more. But that would be like asking newspaper editors to post more positive news. Fat chance of that happening.
Institutions like people need to stay fit. For a human being this means eating exercising both brain and body. This takes daily work. For an institution it needs critical outside observation!
Having been a patient for almost over 40 years I have suffered a lot of grief because of lazy or jealous employees. Never quit figured out why some VA employees were jealous of my medical knowing what I went through. As for lazy this is a civil servant problem for the most part.
At the VA hospital in Washington DC before an operation I had to have the janitor clean up around my bed. Someone had dropped a can of coke and never cleaned it up. It was attracting flies. This was in the pre Operation room.
The Department of Veteran Affairs today is much better then it was in the past. You are right it does a lot of good.
However ——— Like a person it needs the constant the maintenance of outside critiques.
A short story it is better now than as he becomes Vice President election time. Mr.
Webb very close to the President and guide to the favor of Congress. He gets what he wants, write any bill or obstruction of policy. Ms. Hillary and Mr. Webb showing up in Vietnam no one new he was waiting and scheming to ways of destroying the needs of the Disabled Agent Orange exposure illnesses. He Mr. Webb has managed to twist and navigate any piece of legislature it is how he feels or the visions he sees in his mind! Has anyone questioned that trip and making the assure for the million dollar promises ten years American Tax Payers money? What was the real business in Vietnam since the war ended his driving force is Vietnam Family Relations he has nephew, niece gotten jobs and fresh running water? Agent Orange Diabetes Mr. Webb was not in Office when the Agent Orange Law was made so has no authority or comparison any passed legislature or laws. We all know of the vendetta since Vietnam he has passed judgement on Congress and previous President. Every Congress 1009-110-111 and even further back Mr. Webb has managed to dishonor Mr. Clinton, Mr. Nixon, Mr. Bush, ,etc. all spending millions doing research, laboratory inspection and testing all are related to Agent Orange basic findings remain same now the association is the only other part of the information done many times over and answering every trivial questions for delay tactics keeping the Vietnam Veterans dieing many presumed illness tied up to liking of Senator and Congressional Reps. with Degress as Doctors,Physis,Biotech, Medical Scientist.
Who allowed this team to destroy hard earned time and development of new illnesses and Honor appriately as the Nation promised from all wars why segragating returning comments like the real Veterans deserving every benefit the be found to award veterans extra support, services and families support millions and like Mr. Webb directed a new GI Bill very pricey unimageable in billions. The older Veterans treated with disrespect the lowest of any priority funding list. Two things happy the burden and extra expenses will be gone died but the living won’t be long behind Mr.Webb will pick apart and go any and every law for Vietnam, Korea Veterans under study remarks like every dies and hearts get old and worn out. The whole claims program and dole out of loyalty and bills favored by a few in Washington. I will close shot time, medications, changings ,etc. GOOD NIGHT/Bill SSGT USMC Semper Fi
Support the VA Secretary Shinseki since last October has had nothing but grief and challenged his every turn. The newspaper this heart warming story of Veterans gravely sick, amputees so many who have been waiting several years some resorting to homelessness and many Vietnam Veterans have died and passed away. The illnesses added to the list of illnesses presumed to be related to Agent Orange gave some joy a little spirit many too weak to smile or salute. This was short live few months after the Holidays over the new Bill announced was reneged and retracted back to Congress. Once again those Veterans are given unkept promises. Secretary VA Mr. Shinseki had to write a retraction to the Happy Proud statement. The new article was written to the likings of Mr. Webb and his fellow committee began a smare and degrading of all scietist studies and findings of Academy of Medicines and Research findings by well trained, educated and prossionals, scientists, doctors the Congress and Mr Webb has chosen to be critical every sentence, every determination or review too belittle to find fault or a weakness in a well and thorough inspection. Another delay, hold or maneuvery awy from favoring the new support promised to Agent Orange contaminated. WML