Notes from the Million Veterans March in Washington

by Bobby R. Price

The Demonstration did not go as well as we had hoped. We did have roughly 50 to 60 veterans from around the Northeast and Michigan show up. Once again, we as veterans have demonstrated the willingness to let someone else do the heavy work.

That is exactly what happened yesterday. As a result, more than likely the VA budget will remain $3 Billion short. We only had two months to affect the budget hence the short notice for this event. Large groups such as the Veterans Party hit us heavy on the lack of time and provided much pessimism that seriously affected turn out. That is the sort of thing that kills us. In the military we may have had a day to react and we did.

see pictures at http://americansforsharedsacrifice.org/Gallery/    

We had three months to affect the budget and instead we got pessimism. Wonder what sort of other support we can count on from these organizations....Not much as far as I can see. Maybe we should go down to the VA hospital today and explain how we got so wrapped up in ourselves that we forgot the mission....Two more years of under funded VA and it is our fault. No one else's!

Congressman Bob Filner (D) (CA) did show up on time and he began to discuss the matters with those veterans who were in attendance. He stressed two main points. First, he said there are 28 million of us who reside within this country and he cannot understand why we are so quiet as we are getting screwed on the daily basis. His statement was; "In Congress the way it works is those who make the most noise gets taken care of and those who are quiet get screwed." He was very eloquent with what he was saying.

His second point was how we (veterans) make our wishes known. He specifically stated that we need to decide what two to three items are priorities on our lists. He stated specifically that we must be decisive and clear and not so general that politicians will get off the hook. He stated that if you tell any politician (including himself) that you simply want them to give more support to veterans. They will always say okay. He said that is easy because it is very broad. He stated that it is clear to him that we want 1) $3 Billion added to the VA budget now! 2)We want VA funding to be mandatory now! 3) We want concurrent receipt NOW!" He stated these are the big tickets veterans want and these are the items we should all speak of every time. Same wants, same voice, same message all the time. 

He is an ally on this particular issue and we should listen to his lead.
That being the case, it is fair to say that we should begin that sort of dialog with your readers. 28 million veterans is a lot of people. They sent 50 to 60 to represent their voice. If that is the best we can do, I suppose we should find some insurance because all of the benefits we have earned will be taken away as we do not speak highly enough to keep them. That, my fellow veterans, is a sad case. We deserve what we get from our laziness!!!

I discussed yesterday's results with Karyn and we have decided that we will go to work planning the next one to occur in about a year. This will afford us time to properly plan and get the word out and get the veterans out.

Bobby R. Price is Project Manager at Integrated Security Systems and Solutions (IS3) Science Applications International Corporation.  He can be reached at BOBBY.R.PRICE@saic.com