By RICK FAHR Stephens Media ADVERTISING Lots of folks “support the troops.” If what they actually mean is that they’re willing to do more than put a sticker on their bumper or a magnetic ribbon on the back of their
By RICK FAHR
Stephens Media
Lots of folks “support the troops.” If what they actually mean is that they’re willing to do more than put a sticker on their bumper or a magnetic ribbon on the back of their SUV, they should contact their federal representatives and tell them that the agency most in need of reforming is the Veterans Administration.
VA’s mission is to take care of veterans, men and women who signed on the dotted line to go wherever Uncle Sam points. There are generations of veterans, and by virtue of our so-called “global war on terrorism,” we’re minting new ones day after day.
In many cases, the VA gets it right, and in that regard the organization is like the Department of Human Services or newspaper deliverers. You don’t hear about the times they get it right. It’s that one mistake that gets the attention.
Still, VA personnel get it wrong too often, and the administration’s arcane and unfair rules put the onus on the veteran to straighten out the situation.
How do I know about how VA works? I’m a veteran, and I’ve had more than one go-round with VA’s systemic failings.
In one of the latest, VA sent a letter telling me that I owed them for 159 days of paid active duty in 2009 and 2010.
Now, there is no way a National Guard soldier going to drill and annual training can accumulate 159 days of active duty in two years.
Add to that the fact that I got out of the Guard in the third quarter of 2010 and that Guard officials were tremendously lenient with me when it came to missing drill because of work considerations, and the VA’s numbers couldn’t possibly be anywhere close to accurate.
But the VA couldn’t or wouldn’t talk to the Defense Department, which had my pay records, or the IRS, which had my tax records. No, it was up to me to prove that the VA was wrong.
How wrong was the VA? I owed for nine days. VA was only off by 150. No biggie.
Let’s say, though, that the problem wasn’t about money. Let’s say it was about something a bit more serious — say, mental health. The VA can diagnose a mental health issue but not disclose it to the veteran.
Certainly, if the VA won’t even acknowledge the diagnosis, the VA won’t be treating the problem.
So the veteran is out there on his/her own, battling whatever service-connected problem has manifested itself, with no help from the federal agency charged with taking care of veterans.
How do I know about that scenario? Happened to me. VA diagnosed a condition in 2009 but didn’t tell me. The only way I found out was a routine check-up in late 2010, when a doctor was reviewing my file and casually mentioned it.
For a year and a half, I’d been suffering from a serious mental health issue that the VA not only knew about but had diagnosed and failed to tell me about, let alone treat.
Not for one second do I think my experience with the VA is unique. I would imagine that VA has treated tens of thousands of veterans in the same way — doing the least possible, hiding behind rules that force the troop to prove his/her case and scrimping in every way.
That’s not what’s supposed to happen. For the past decade, our nation has sent hundreds of thousands of troops into Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of them have come home with horrific exterior and interior wounds. The pact made with each and every service member is that the military will take care of its own.
The VA is failing to hold up its end of the bargain.
A statistic the other day contended that a veteran commits suicide in this country every 80 seconds. How much lower would that number be if the VA performed at the level we should all expect?
