2008 Woodie Awards
The War at Home: Fighting for Veterans' Peace of Mind
Support our troops: benefits, pensions and fair wages are their right--not a privilege.
Maggie Ownbey
Issue date: 11/9/05 Section: Opinion
The tomb of the Unknown Soldier has been guarded around the clock, with religious precision, continuously since 1930. To those who are assigned this sacred duty it is considered one of the highest honors that can be bestowed. Now, if only our government would put that level of commitment into protecting and supporting our living soldiers and veterans …
As the war in Iraq rages on, the number of soldiers killed has escalated to more than 2,050. The men and women who have come home wounded has surpassed 15,470.
When they return, they will face another battle-fighting to stop their benefits from being cut and to prevent the closures of Veterans Administration hospitals where soldiers from six wars have come to heal.
"I have used the VA hospital system and have seen it dwindle each year," said Vietnam veteran Ed Ellis, who serves as president of Veterans for Peace Los Angeles. "This year they propose closing Walter Reed-the keystone in the chain of VA hospitals."
The future of VA medicine may well be outsourcing-participants going to non-veteran-oriented clinics where the lines are long and the service is meager, according to Ellis.
"Where is the care for those that have protected this country?" asked Ellis. "Those who need services to recover from the damage of war."
Could its absence be because those who misled us into this war never served one single day of military duty? The infamous neocon hawks, from Wolfowitz and Rove to Libby and Rice, declined to serve for one reason or another.
And it goes all the way to the top-Bush and Cheney each took a pass when it came to enlisting.
President Bush has the power to overturn the decision to close Walter Reed Army Medical Center by 2010. Maybe if he had more firsthand experience with the realities of war, he could comprehend the seriousness of veterans' needs-needs that increase as this war continues, including treatments for physical and psychological wounds such as shattered limbs, damaged eyes and sickness from breathing in depleted uranium and post-traumatic stress disorder.
As the war in Iraq rages on, the number of soldiers killed has escalated to more than 2,050. The men and women who have come home wounded has surpassed 15,470.
When they return, they will face another battle-fighting to stop their benefits from being cut and to prevent the closures of Veterans Administration hospitals where soldiers from six wars have come to heal.
"I have used the VA hospital system and have seen it dwindle each year," said Vietnam veteran Ed Ellis, who serves as president of Veterans for Peace Los Angeles. "This year they propose closing Walter Reed-the keystone in the chain of VA hospitals."
The future of VA medicine may well be outsourcing-participants going to non-veteran-oriented clinics where the lines are long and the service is meager, according to Ellis.
"Where is the care for those that have protected this country?" asked Ellis. "Those who need services to recover from the damage of war."
Could its absence be because those who misled us into this war never served one single day of military duty? The infamous neocon hawks, from Wolfowitz and Rove to Libby and Rice, declined to serve for one reason or another.
And it goes all the way to the top-Bush and Cheney each took a pass when it came to enlisting.
President Bush has the power to overturn the decision to close Walter Reed Army Medical Center by 2010. Maybe if he had more firsthand experience with the realities of war, he could comprehend the seriousness of veterans' needs-needs that increase as this war continues, including treatments for physical and psychological wounds such as shattered limbs, damaged eyes and sickness from breathing in depleted uranium and post-traumatic stress disorder.
