VA Conceals Vet Suicide Figures From CBS To Downplay ‘Epidemic In Suicide’
VA Conceals Vet Suicide Figures From CBS To Downplay ‘Epidemic In Suicide’
Yesterday marked the opening day of a class action lawsuit brought by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), arguing “that failure to provide care is manifesting itself in an epidemic of suicides” among veterans. The VA denies the charges, pointing to increased resources devoted to mental health.
Today, CBS News reports that the VA apparently concealed veteran suicide statistics, and fed the news organization faulty data for a story on the issue. The VA told CBS that there were 790 attempted suicides in all of 2007. Yet shortly after, the VA’s head of Mental Health, Dr. Ira Katz, wrote in an e-mail to the VA’s top media adviser that there were “about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our medical facilities.”
The e-mail exchange shows that the VA hoped to keep the statistics out of CBS’s hands:
From: Katz, Ira R.
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 11:27 AM
To: Chasen, Ev
Subject: FW: Not for the CBS News Interview RequestShh!
Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see at our medical facilities. Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?
From: Chasen, Ev
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 11:40 AM
To: Katz, Ira R.I think this is something we should discuss among ourselves, before issuing a release. Is the fact that we’re stooping them good news, or is the sheer number bad news? […]
Suicide among veterans — even those who seek help from the VA — continues to be a huge problem. Just last week, the VA Medical Center in Dallas, TX, officially closed its psychiatric ward after a fourth veteran this year took his own life. Often veterans cannot get help right away: According to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, “The average wait-time for a disability claim” — including mental health problems — “is 183 days, or about six months.”
Katz had attacked CBS last November, after a report exposed 6,200 veteran suicides in 2005. Katz claimed that the number “is not, in fact, an accurate reflection of the rate.” Yet just three days later, he sent an e-mail acknowledging that there are “about 18 suicides today among America’s 25 million veterans,” a fact that “is supported by the CBS numbers.”
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Heck of a job, Katz.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:17 pmAwww, well now, everyone knows that patriotic Amurkans can’t handle seeing all those flag-draped coffins - so we hide them!
How the heck could we expect them to handle hearing about the large numbers of our brave soldiers who commit suicide??
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:20 pmThis is how we honor those willing to sacrifice everything to defend this country?
What happened to this nation of ours??
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:22 pmOur Imperialism is unsustainable.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:25 pmThere wont be a problem if those numbers are released. Look what happen when Americans found out about Walter Reed Hospital and the lack of medical care given to our troops. All talk a committee assigned and nothing has changed with no out cry from Americans who claim to support our troops. We have more horror done to our troops and again nothing will be done. But if Paris Hilton goes to jail you’ll see and hear about it 24 hours a day. The Military is so bad off they have for a long while admitted felon’s and druggies in the Military. I wondered why a Captain of the Army said most of the new recruits want to go to Afghanistan for the free cocaine. The Law Makers and the White House don’t care about the troops nor do the Generals so Americans wouldn’t care either. As Secretary of State Connie Rice said their just numbers.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:28 pmGood morning, TPers.
I’m not one to cut & paste, but this article is pertinent, if not disturbing.
These numbers tell the truth, however…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Roughly one in five U.S. troops is suffering from major depression or post-traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an equal number have suffered brain injuries, a new study estimates.
Only about half of them have sought treatment, says the study released Thursday by the Rand Corp.
A recently completed survey showed 18.5 percent — or 300,000 people — said they have symptoms of depression or PTSD, the researchers said. Nineteen percent — or 320,000 — suffered head injuries ranging from mild concussions to penetrating head wounds.
“There is a major health crisis facing those men and women who have served our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Terri Tanielian, the project’s co-leader and a researcher at the nonprofit Rand.
“Unless they receive appropriate and effective care for these mental health conditions, there will be long-term consequences for them and for the nation,” she said in a statement.
The 500-page study is the first large-scale, private assessment of its kind — including a survey of 1,965 service members across the country, from all branches of the armed forces and including those still in the military as well veterans who have left the services.
Its results appear consistent with a number of mental health reports from within the government, though the Defense Department has not released the number of people it has diagnosed or who are being treated for mental problems.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said this month that its records show about 120,000 who served in the two wars and are no longer in the military have been diagnosed with mental health problems. Of those, approximately 60,000 are suffering from PTSD, the VA said.
Veterans Affairs is responsible for care of service members after they have left the service, while the Defense Department covers active duty and reservist needs.
The lack of numbers from the Pentagon was one motivation for the Rand study, Tanielian said in an interview.
The most prominent and detailed military study on mental health on the war that is released regularly to the public is the Army’s survey of soldiers at the battlefield. Officials said last month that it’s most recent one, done last fall, found 18.2 percent of soldiers suffered a mental health problem such as depression, anxiety or acute stress in 2007 compared with 20.5 percent the previous year.
Other studies have variously estimated that 10 percent to 20 percent had symptoms of mental health problems
The Rand survey done from August through January, put the percentage of PTSD and depression at 18.5 percent and then calculated about 300,000 were suffering those problems at that time because Pentagon data shows over 1.6 million military personnel have deployed to the conflicts since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001.
Col. Loree Sutton, who heads a new Pentagon center on brain injury, welcomed the Rand study, saying it will add to the work defense officials are doing. That includes improving and expanding training, research and mental health staff.
She said officials have been working to add thousands more mental health professionals to help the uniformed psychiatrists, psychologists and others struggling to meet the wartime demands of troops and their families. Across the services, officials are trying to hire over 1,000 additional staff, companies providing health care by contract to the Pentagon have added over 3,000 in the last year and the U.S. Public Health Service has provided some 200, she said. The veterans department also has added some 3,800 professionals in the last couple of years, officials there said.
Rand researchers also found:
_About 7 percent reported both a probable brain injury and current PTSD or major depression.
_Only 43 percent reported ever being evaluated by a physician for their head injuries.
_Only 53 percent of service members with PTSD or depression sought help over the past year.
_They gave various reasons for not getting help, including that they worried about the side effects of medication; believe family and friends could help them with the problem, or that they feared seeking care might damage their careers.
_Rates of PTSD and major depression were highest among women and reservists.
The report is titled “Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery.” It was sponsored by a grant from the California Community Foundation and done by 25 researchers from Rand Health and the Rand National Security Research Division, which also has done does work under contracts with the Pentagon and other defense agencies as well as allied foreign governments and foundations.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:29 pmThere are about 18 suicides per day among America’s 25 million veterans. This follows fromCDC findings that 20% of suicides are among veterans it is supported by the CBS numbers.
VA’s own data demonstrate 4-5 suicides per day among those who receive care from us.
How can they possible make these veterans wait 6 months for treatment? We pride ourselves on having the best doctors in the world.
John McCain doesn’t think the VA Hospitals need more money. This crisis is only going to get worse until they start getting more staff and cut down the wait time for these men in dire need. Instead of throwing more money at the war in Iraq, they have got to come up with an emergency bill to help solve this problem.
All the McCain voters better think about this before casting their ballots. If he is not going to be there for the vets, he certainly won’t be there for you.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:31 pmIf the Bush Adminstration were to ever acknowledge how bad the attempted-suicide rate is or how many soldiers suffer from PTSD, then they might have to start acknowledging the immorality of their war-mongering. And Bush won’t allow anything that makes it look like he might have exercised bad judgment.
It’s almost funny (if it weren’t so tragically disastrous), but the Bush Administration fights tooth and nail to keep any negative information from the public, not because it is, in fact, negative information, but because they don’t want the public to find out about it. They know they are evil, disgusting excuses for human beings, but they just don’t want any evidence of that getting out. Because people will stop believing them when they say they support our troops, and even question some of the other things they’ve said. And that’s why they must all go at once. They know they are lying to us, and they feel that exposing the lie is more dangerous than whatever it is they were lying about.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:36 pmSupporting the troops, republican style. This is despicable.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:41 pmWars always come home….this ain’t going to be pretty. Thanks GOPigs.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:52 pm“fed the news organization faulty data” = Yet another lie.
Lies upon lies. Why can’t these news outfits say it directly?
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:56 pmExpect these numbers to increase drastically as the number of tours increases from three, four or five to six, seven or eight.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:58 pmGet them the hell out of hell!
We live in a society in which the individual (unless wealthy or aligned at the right level of corporate interest) no longer counts. It has taken the Republican elite a great deal of time to cultivate the American people to accept that compassion, community interests and plain old Christian lifting of ones fellow man are values to be despised and shunned.
1. Veterans are trashed. After WWII they were celebrated and provided with great educational benefits that provided them with a path to greater prosperity while fueling an industrial and scientific miracle in the United States. Now McCain will not support a bill to extend similar rights to veterans of this war which he claims is even more important than WWII.
2. The administration constantly lies and hides the truth. Walter Reed was fixed after exposed and held to the light of day. But how many more Walter Reeds are there? We now see it in the suicide rate for veterans. We saw it in the scorn heaped upon homeless veterans by Bill O’Reilly.
3. It is far beyond the veterans. The victims of Katrina, the uninsured, those losing their homes due to subprime mortgages (and some of us who fell into economic troubles and can no longer sell their homes because of falling home prices.), workers who want unions, the passenger on a grounded flight, a patient fighting the insurance company, the woman raped by KBR employees in Iraq, and countless others who find that their lives, dreams and hopes will be constantly sacrificed to the corrupt, heartless and indifferent needs of the Republican elite and their corporate/wealthy supporters.
The people will never wake up to what has happened to our society in time to save it. They will be diverted from the complex issues and hard solutions by a press that will reduce the issues to such simple terms as whether the candidate is wearing a flag pin. The sheeple will follow and elect John McCain as the straight shooter and maverick. Yes, he hated tax cuts before he was for them, wanted to expand tobacco regulation before he voted against it and wanted to educate the veterans until asked to actually sign up to it.
I will be particularly bitter in my posts today and it will be the last day I post. I have finally given up on us ever having any impact to improve the world. I have seen many of us fight the good fight, however, we have essentially lost.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:00 pmRepublican’s..All lie’s, no action….~Blessings~
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:01 pmwe sold it.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:04 pmThat’s why McCain won’t vote for increased benefits for veterans, so they keep signing up and get killed before they come home with mental issues and “look bad” for the administration.
Oh, and why does the VA hate the troops?
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:05 pmJMOHR, I always take time to carefully read your posts as they are deeply informed and insightful. What’s next? Voting with lead?
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:07 pmJMOHR ~ That’s a pity. I too despair sometimes, but my posting seems catharctic. It took me around ten years to overcome my PTSD from Nam, and ten more after that to stop drinking like a fish.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:09 pmI can’t afford to give up, I’ve got a five year old daughter who needs me to keep fighting for her future.
Everett Chasen
Everett A. (Ev) Chasen has been the Veterans Health Administration’s Chief Communications Officer since November 2003. Ev has been with VA since 1987, as OPA Regional Director for Public Affairs in the New York area; Director of VA’s Protocol Staff; Chief of Support Service for the Office of Administration; and Director of the Office of Media Relations. From 1998 to 2003, he was the principal speechwriter for Secretaries Togo West and Anthony Principi.
Before coming to VA, Ev spent thirteen years with the Army Corps of Engineers as a historian and Public Affairs Officer. He has published numerous articles on collectibles, gardening and home decorating, and is a contributing editor to Country Decorating and Country Collectibles magazines. Ev has a master’s degree in American History from New York University, where he also received his B.A.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:11 pmTHEY ARE ALL FULL OF SHIT AND A BUNCH OF SHIESTY, THIEVIN, TREASONNOUS GANGSTAS.PERIOD.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:13 pmI think this is something we should discuss among ourselves, before issuing a release. Is the fact that we’re stooping them good news, or is the sheer number bad news? […]
the top frikkin media advisor can’t spell stopping?
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:17 pmRUCerious Says:
I can’t afford to give up, I’ve got a five year old daughter who needs me to keep fighting for her future.
I agree RUC. Despite the fact my kids are teens, I still feel the need to do what little I can for their futures.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:18 pmJMOHR,
I will be particularly bitter in my posts today and it will be the last day I post. I have finally given up on us ever having any impact to improve the world. I have seen many of us fight the good fight, however, we have essentially lost.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I hope not. You are one of the ones who help bring us the light that shines upon the darkness that is the Bush Administration.
I know how frustrated you are, and I’ve quit three or four times myself. But I kept coming back, and I hope you will, too. I know it seems like nothing is happening, but I don’t believe that’s true. Many people read these threads but don’t comment. That doesn’t mean the message did not get through to them. It took the right wing decades to take this country to the depths it has, and it may take a while to bring it back up. But to do that, we need good intelligent people who can help the uninformed learn how they’ve been lied to by the people they support. And it will take more than posting at TP. We need to write letters and call our local newspapers, radio and TV stations. We have to actively engage people in public discussion whenever possible. Make them question their beliefs, and on what do they base those beliefs. It can make a difference.
I have told the story of my co-worker before. A single woman in her mid-fifites, she had been a life-long Republican until 2006 when, thanks to me (she said), she voted for Democrats for the first time in her life. And it was all because I was pointing out to her how the Republicans have been lying all along. I didn’t tell her who to vote for, just who NOT to vote for. If we could all do that, we could change this country for the better much, much sooner. But we need people like you in the fight, JMOHR.
Maybe a short break away from the threads will give you some perspective. But do come back soon. And thanks for all your great posts. I hope we haven’t seen the last of them.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:18 pmJMOHR Says:
I will be particularly bitter in my posts today and it will be the last day I post. I have finally given up on us ever having any impact to improve the world. I have seen many of us fight the good fight, however, we have essentially lost.
Although I can relate to the seeming futility of it all sometimes, it is my opinion the corporate elite and the GOP are banking on more and more of us giving up. Thereby making it easier and easier for them to rape the country and the planet.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:21 pmJMOHR @ 1:00p
I am finding it increasingly more difficult to blame the Republicans for being Republicans. After all, we all know who they are.
But the Republicans don’t elect themselves. The people who continually vote Republican are the ones who have fu(ked this country up. Yet, the rest of us get to go down with sinking ship.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:25 pmWayne A. Schneider Says:
she voted for Democrats for the first time in her life. And it was all because I was pointing out to her how the Republicans have been lying all along.
I have been doing similar things myself. I find it as difficult, maybe moreso, to convince Democrats who have given up to go vote as I do helping republicans see the light. However, I have had a couple of successes in each scenario.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:28 pmFor the love of humanity, would Dems and Repubs in Congress please impeach this man. What kind of sick mind would have to ask whether, “is the sheer number bad news”.
Is this guy brain dead, the true spawn of Satan, or does he have his head so far up Bush’s A-Hole that he cannot comprehend that 1000 suicides/ month IS BAD NEW because its HORRIBLE.
Dear God, these people are Sick, Evil, and CRAZY.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:31 pmDon’t stay away long JMOHR. There’s nobody who doeas sarcasm quite like you. Your posts bring an insight and depth that is needed. The hate can poison you if you let it, we will prevail but it will take time.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:32 pmGood job, ESL. I won’t re-type the comment I had that got eaten by Wordpress. Keep trying, though. They’ll thank you later.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:34 pmJMOHR at 1:00 pm,
Be as bitter as you want to be but please don’t say this is your last day of posting! I enjoy your postings. They ring true, they’re passionate, articulate and thoughtful. Every time you post you could be influencing someone in a good way. I want to tell you that I know for a fact that I’ve influenced people by sharing what I know, and I know that they have then gone on to share that knowledge with other people.
If McCain ends up winning the presidency, though, I suppose I will have to conclude that the pendulum of society’s leanings must have been co-opted and perhaps you’re right about there being no hope. We joke about it sometimes but I think it really would be time to flee the country if that happens.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:37 pmRUCerious Says:
I think this is something we should discuss among ourselves, before issuing a release. Is the fact that we’re stooping them good news, or is the sheer number bad news? […]
the top frikkin media advisor can’t spell stopping?
I was thinking the same thing! Then I wondered 2 things, Was that an accurate transcription and was the intended word actually, “schtuping” which would be a more accurate representation of what they are actually doing to our Vets!
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 pmmary Says:
If McCain ends up winning the presidency, though, I suppose I will have to conclude that the pendulum of society’s leanings must have been co-opted and perhaps you’re right about there being no hope. We joke about it sometimes but I think it really would be time to flee the country if that happens.
Here I was trying to be positive and upbeat, and Mary’s post struck that haunting little nerve I keep trying to deny. I may not be able to do anything but give up if McFlintstone actually wins.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:43 pmDon;t worry ESL and mary,
McCain’s chances of winning will depend heavily on his choice of running mate. And I’m sure the GOP already knows who they want as his pick. He won’t get to pick his own choice. And the GOP will put up someone even worse for his running mate, like Giuliani or Rice.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:48 pmSorry about that Exit Stage Left (and any others that I may have deflated)!
It’s just that it’s been really tough hanging in there for the last 8 years and I’m getting worn down. I like to think that I would never give up no matter what so who knows.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:53 pmJMOHR,
Your posts are among the best I see here.
I’m extremely frustrated myself, particularly when I see the MSM covering, distorting or denying facts.
This is one of the few processes we have left to vent & share out thoughts. Bowing out now is understandable, but I, among others, will miss your insightful posts and comments.
Please reconsider.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:57 pmthe american folks should be outraged about this…..as i had the chance to speak face to face with sec. peake shit wont be done…….because it comes down to the money and what is done with it. so our fiscal year ‘09 budget is $93.7 billion, our budget for illegal immigrants $200+ billion, iraq(oil) will be trillions……noone cares for the vets, supports the vets except us the vets ourselves and our families, that is who makes the true sacrifices….and that is so sad. so to all of the yellow ribbon magnet car wearin folks…..what have you done to support the troops besides support china when you bought it….until then kiss the vets behind….yeah I’M BITTER!
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:58 pmSomeone at the VA had a fat bonus to protect.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:04 pmNo one is going to want to hear this from an elder but given that we have crossed the threshold, eight years into the new millennium it is time to shed the old ways of pretending how things worked for us.
Two changes that are absolutely necessary are:
1) America must break its chains to militarism.
That means that we must stop romanticizing the notion that taking very young adults and training them to be killing machines has to stop. It no longer can be a means to an end. It also means that yes, we need to help these young kids we have already fed into the meat grinder but the rest must stop. Now. Today. No more money to the military machine. None.
Spending hard earned treasury to uphold a belief that violence against other cultures is a viable option in the 21st century should remain relegated to the dustbin of history.
You each have a choice to make.
You can support Empire
OR
Earth Community
And all that it entails.
That means making substantial, sustainable choices that educate and show others that your level of consciousness is of a higher level than what the status quo is. Voting is not enough anymore. Lifestyles must change. We can no longer attempt to rule the world for our own self aggrandizement. We are all responsible. Hopelessness and despair beget suicide. Why do you think freedom fighters use it?
I have tied my bandana to my bike. And you?
It is time to show each other who will support Earth Community and reject Empire’s dominance.
P.S I’ll save the other necessary change for another post. It would probably be considered as radical as this one. TP may reject my posting as they did one other yesterday but I will not abandon my individual conscience to a morally dubious nationalism. The earth is too important.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:07 pmI was a JAG in the Air Force. I served proudly. I became a civilian trial attorney for the Air Force when I left the Air Force and represented the department in contract litigation at times involving tens of millions of dollars. After nine years, I went to the private sector with a large firm involved with aerospace. The scorn and disrespect that I saw for former military and government members goes a long way to explaining the lack of support for veterans that we see now. Somehow, one who would serve their country as opposed to going after money had to be stupid, lazy and suspect as to whether they understood the real world. We see that attitude from the Republican political appointees over riding the opinions of experts and professionals. Face it, those long time civil servants just do not understand how the world works.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:17 pmThe VA has been systematically cutting corners and not serving veterans asthey should since Bushco took over. Something I have been railing about and debating idiot trolls here since TP started 3 years ago.
While I am glad to finally see some msm coverage, it is not enough. And not one has presented the whole ugly picture of the whole mess and tragedy of the treatment of our veterans. Just bits an pieces, so anyone that doesn’t know how veterans have been systematically denied coverage, just listening to/reading the news you do not get an idea of how bad it really is. And it is that bad.
I was really hoping the 110th Congress, with a majority of Democrats would do something, anything, but I am sorely disappointed. I will vote Democrat this November, but if nothing is done, if the crooks are let off, then in my mind the Democrats are as guilty and there is only the options of building a viable 3rd party, revolting or leaving this country before it implodes on itself.
Yeah, I’m bitter too
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:22 pmTP has not just some trolls sometimes, but a certain “coffin-spitter” whom I can name. I always wonder why nobody jumps on these haters.
Me too, Wayne.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:50 pmHow a society treats it’s veterans tells much about it’s health. In the U.S. we are looking pretty sick. Not wanting to be reminded, of our share of the guilt, we try to ignore the dead and maimed while those lucky enough to escape physical wounds are told to “man up” and rejoin polite society. However, there is a positive sign.
I’m old enough to remember the shameful treatment of vets returning from Vietnam. Wounded warriors being greeted by jeering crowds is flat out wrong. At least we seem to have avoided that particular shame. Perhaps we don’t want to hold unsophisticated young people responsible for believing the sophisticated lies of Bushco?
Regardless, it seems that Today’s anti-war generation is managing to assign blame to the the guilty parties. This time around we see “the man behind the curtain”. I, for one, take that as an encouraging sign. And it bodes poorly for the reckless radicals who have seized power in this country. We still have an opportunity to utilize the strengths of our system to fix it. And every damning email exchange that reaches the light of day gives us more ammunition.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:54 pmI have always suspected the numbers were a little deflated by our librul MSM(FIX news) and others. It is so dispicable that our soldiers were sent there illegally but to come home and have a VA that can`t take care of them is egregious and terrible. Everyone of these REICH WINGERS should go on trial for war crimes and be sent GITMO before being to the BIG HOUSE for some dancing lessons with BUBBA.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:58 pmJMOHR, in a time when Republicans should have become a dead party thanks to the failures, crimes and horrors of Bushco, a time when John McCain’s hypocricy and false virtue are widely known, this Republican nominee has pulled even with the Democrat and may next pass him/her by. So I have to agree with you. We have lost the fight.
And with Mary: Yes, it will be time to leave the country, if it turns out this is a country of people who really would elect McCain at a time like this. In that case, I’ll be leaving a country that has revived ancient Mayan principles of human sacrifice, strong young males hacked to bits, by the thousands, endlessly, for the prosperity of the few, with the full permission of the citizenry.
I’m saving my dwindling-value dollars for the move north. Or, hell, maybe even south.
Some wonderful edifying comments this topic, thank you TP, and please, don’t anybody go away, please.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:16 pmThat’s what this corupt administratin does. They claimed they were going to restore dignity to the White House, but they have become tyrants. They are low down and dirty little men, who hide behind the titles they hold. They are the very thing they claimed to hate so much when they were running for office. This shouldn’t surpise anyone who is open minded and see’s reality for what it is. I recall going to the VA Hospital several years ago and see a young wounded soldier with no legs in a hand operated wheelchair. He was begging for help from the VA to get his disability started. I almost cried because I felt so ashamed of how his country was treating him after he had given his legs for it.
I the words of John Rambo: “I just want my country to love me as much as I love it”. That is what this idiot doesn’t get. The men and women who serve in our military and fight in war deserve more than some two bit politican who gets elected on lies.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:01 pm700 versus 12,000 per year. Nothing to see here, move along….
Considering that they are lowering recruitment standards (including waivers for drug use and felonies), putting the soldiers in a war zone, extending their tours via stop-loss, putting the soldiers into a war which is ethically questionable, asking the soldiers to do duties for which they are NOT trained (soldiers blow things up. Policemen police an area), is there really any question?
The thing that gets me is that the Viet Nam vets were claimed to have a high rate of mental disorders because the public didn’t support them.
Now, the mantra is oppose the war but support our troops. But our troops are developing the same disorders in this unethical invasion as they did in Nam.
Now if we could only find statistics on mental illness in Blackwater mercenaries !
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:21 pm