Steppenwolf

http://www.hadit.com/forums/index.php?show...c=24721&hl=

You are not alone when it comes to finding and attorney in your area. However if what i read yesterday on the website of a firm in California is true it is not necessary to have your counsel in the same state. " 4) Q: Can The Veterans Law Group assist veterans if we aren't located near them or near their local VA Regional Office? A: Yes. In dealing with the VA, all evidence and argument is submitted in written form. Once we accept a case, the Regional Office sends us an entire copy of the claims file, so we are able to make a case in support of benefits by using the claims file and VA case law. If after reviewing the claims file, we feel as though there is not enough medical evidence to support a claim for benefits, we will advance the cost of a independent medical evaluation in close proximity to the veteran's location. " That said there is another firm in DC that has a similar claim except that they say being a DC is an advantage because they do not have to send for records they can access them with a signature from you. If i find that firm i'll post their link. This is the link for the CA firm. i do not know if they are good or not but i found them while searching. http://www.veteranslaw.com/questions-answers.htm Yes, there are lots of things to be concerned about when hiring an attorney. If i understand this correctly we veterans are treated differently than other American's. The laws are different. Someone would have to explain how this serves us. Although these "laws" have been upheld and in effect for a long time maybe the laws themself need to be challenged. Look for my post today about rallying the troops to attack this crime together as a united group instead of a bunch of individuals who all have different representation. i'll find my own link and come back and post it here.

Every time i sign in to HADIT i look for an appropriate place to post a link or to make a comment that will catch the eye of the troops here and hopefully stimulate the conversation....a conversation that WILL lead to action. Action that will lead to change. The type of change that will result in our needs being met and the promise being fulfilled. Part of the problem that i have is finding the right category, subject, place to post. If one looks at the numbers of posts being accessed and read the most it seems like the wrong place to have the right conversation that will lead to participation and to change. In order to be a part of the change one needs to be part of the plan; to take part in creating an entity that is vocal, and relevant and represents every veteran who is fighting alone to get the care and benefits that we were told that we would get after serving our country in whatever capacity whether in war time or peace time. That there are so many of US that are not being served well is not a secret. That nothing is changing is not a secret. To write your congressman has become a joke in many cases and as part of the plan i think we should name names, record conversations, and start youtubing this information. Maybe then we'll get the kind of attention that we need to make the change happen NOW. Before this point gets too far away i want to point out that this notion that "change takes time" meaning that it can not and will not happen quickly, please consider this "law" "bill" whatever we need to call it to make money available to bail out crooks, and white collar criminals who knowingly profited by putting many American's in jeopardy of losing their homes, jobs, families, and life itself. So while we fight and have been fighting for what seems like forever to be treated fairly by the same government that is magically finding a way to make money available to fix the mess that these criminals created, Bernie Maydof sit in his penthouse apartment smiling down on the rest of us pee on's. How and why is THAT more important than our needs? How and why is it possible to pass a law, to make money, to act quickly to fix this crime? If you allow these lies to be accepted as truths then it is easy to see how we have been stuck in hell for all of these years. i think we need to OUT all of those people on the pay role of the VA who's job it is to find fault with out claims, to deny and or remand our claims. We need to out those organizations who on the surface are suppose to be helping us and publish the salaries, and benefits that they get paid out of the money that would be better used to help those of us who need it to survive. We need to identify those lobbiest, congressmen, senators, VA employee's anyone and everyone who partisiaptes in this other crime that is not getting the attention that the "stimulous package" and or "bail out" are getting. Here's a few youtubes that i found that are imho, interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOj7Nxcn6gg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCWe59oK4Kw And before those who have been fortunate enough to get everything that they want, need, and ask for; before protesting those of US who have not; just be thankful that you are not on the front line with those of us who are. You are the exception and not the rule.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-1...valawyers_N.htm

CAUTION!!! SENSITIVE INFORMATION!!! Things will get better when we unite to fight the system as a group. http://www.livevideo.com/video/F6C69935746...r-veteran-.aspx http://www.livevideo.com/video/F7DF4792E35...-administr.aspx http://www.livevideo.com/video/AE6D0AAA230...ching-home.aspx

Yep, it wouldn't surprise me. That said i think it's also part of the big plan to get you hooked, dependant of them for those "meds" that you "need". Doesn't have to be addictive per se' it just hard to turn down getting your meds automatically mailed to you when the time is right. i've watched many-a vets, including myself, who knows the day that the mailman will bring you your fix. And if you have to pay for the meds they are only $8.00 and they'll bill you. This is "better" than the private sector that doesn't have that feature in their med plans. So those kick backs keep the wheels greased but it's the driving force that give's it momentum. And i hope this doesn't offend anyone but the sense of entiltement also fuels the fire because everyone wants everything that they were promised. If you are deprived your disability then you might as well get what you can. If that drugs, give them to me. If it means free or low cost health care you'll drive " a few extra miles " and " wait a few extra hours to see a doctor and get an MRI, xray, or pipe up your butt, heck, you're entitled to it why not take it? Like many Vet's i'm hooked and now affraid that i'll never be able to afford private care ever again. In the end i have to stay with the abuser because i can see no other choice. Hooked.

Yep, it wouldn't surprise me. That said i think it's also part of the big plan to get you hooked, dependant of them for those "meds" that you "need". Doesn't have to be addictive per se' it just hard to turn down getting your meds automatically mailed to you when the time is right. i've watched many-a vets, including myself, who knows the day that the mailman will bring you your fix. And if you have to pay for the meds they are only $8.00 and they'll bill you. This is "better" than the private sector that doesn't have that feature in their med plans. So those kick backs keep the wheels greased but it's the driving force that give's it momentum. And i hope this doesn't offend anyone but the sense of entiltement also fuels the fire because everyone wants everything that they were promised. If you are deprived your disability then you might as well get what you can. If that drugs, give them to me. If it means free or low cost health care you'll drive " a few extra miles " and " wait a few extra hours to see a doctor and get an MRI, xray, or pipe up your butt, heck, you're entitled to it why not take it? Like many Vet's i'm hooked and now affraid that i'll never be able to afford private care ever again. In the end i have to stay with the abuser because i can see no other choice. Hooked.

IMHO bad is bad. i don't think i get treated any better or worse than the next guy, for the most part it's always an ordeal, a struggle, frustrating, madning, infuriating, and so bogged down by ? by something; the VA itself which has these "rules" that are sometimes called laws that take away the rights that we took an oath to protect. Could it be worse? Probably, but that shouldn't mean it's acceptable. You have to wonder how and why in the world nothing has even been done to change this system? One morning i was walking down a crowded hall way at the VA in West Palm Beach Fl. Suddenly i felt like i was tripping...i see a parade of people marching by many with bags of drugs in their hand, some with little brown paper bags with a giant lable stapled across the top and a fair amount of people with shopping bad with a giant lable stapled across the top. One stream of people slowly fell into the line where they picked up the drug. i seemed like a scene from a Filini movie; the absurdity of it all. If there was any other place in this country or heck in any country we would send in the task force to shut them down because it couldn't be more clear that this place was peddling drugs and everyone there knew that when they left the building they would have their "meds". Everyone there whether they are being served or serving are progamed to follow the rules.

That's what i took: 2mg before bedtime. Recently i had a spike of blood pressure ( the result of fighting with the local VA ) 203/103....remembered that this medication as you ro someone pointed out, was introduced as a BP med. It didn't work as well as people had hoped. They continued to make the drug but it was not a popular BP medication although some people liked it. My P-doc told me that a doctor in Washington state, he may even have worked at the Seatle VA hospital, did a clinical study with PTSD patients and they found that it worked significantly better than most other PTSD meds for controling "nightmares". If i understood him correctly "the thing" about this medication is that it seems to work best on just one single aspect of PTSD and the side effects are very minimal not to mention it helps keep the BP down a little. Anyway, fearing that i was ready to blow a gasket i looked through hundreds of bottles of VA medications, some empty, some not empty and found a few Prazosin that were a few months past their so called expiration date but i had nothing else except klonopin. So i took 2 mg's of Praz and 10 of Klon and litterally could feel my BP start to come down. i monitored it about 6 times and hour. After two hours my BP was down to 154/ 80 which is still high for me, but at least i wouldn't get a blow out while driving to the store on a windy hilly road. i am a big fan of this drug. There was one more positve that surprised me. When i missed a dose or just didn't take it for one reason or another, my BP didn't spike like it did on one other BP med that was given to me as part of a detox program that i requested to help get me off methadone which in and of itself is a story of it's own.

So Carlie, How's this working for you after a month? It worked really well on me getting rid of the nightmares. i still dream a lot but the screamers have gone away.

Same thing happens to me. Been told it's a paradoxical reaction. The only down side for me is it makes me think i can do things that i shouldn't do, like lift or move heavy objects which leads to bed rest because my body twists into an S.

Was taking Xanax for a long time and would always get this hang over feeling. Was without meds at a freinds and he gave me a klonopin and it was great. i told me pdoc and he changed me over and it has been THE BEST med for sleep and anxiety.

Zoloft put me in that dark place. Now that i'm in a new VA the shrink was "concerned" that i wasn't on enough medication. i told her that i did better with talk therapy. She said: " I don't know if I can recommend talk therapy if you refuse to take your medicine. " Imagine that: you tell a doctor what works and they say NO, not until you take your medicine. IMHO most of the shrinks i know need their own head examined.

i took Prazosin for nightmares. It worked better for me than any of the SSRI's My Dad who has PTSD loves his Zoloft. The SSRI's do very weird things to me. They tried them all on me. In all cases i was told not to expect any changes until it built up in my bloodstream. However with in 45 minutes of taking them i started to feel very strange. All of them made me shiver and lowered my body temp: ice cold fingers, teeth chattering, and a need to wear heavy sweaters in FL when it was 90 degree's. The doc's would say: Keep taking them. But at some point i had to ask what good if any were they doing except making me sick. Zoloft was the worse for me. One pill on my birthday and i had to lock myself inside my house for two days...it took me to that place where we never want to go: i was a danger to myself and others.

Maybe this topic could morph into one that also has a poll to see how many vets have thumbs up or thumbs down about their experiences with VAMC's everywhere? One thing i am finding out is that they are clearly unique in their services including their dysfuntionality. And yes, if they took care of the little things then it would make a difference. That said here at the Durham VA the pharmacy phone and indeed the whole phone system is so screwed up that the automated refill phone number ( a toll free number ) will not accept calls from area codes other than NC. If you can not access the automated toll free number i was told that i needed to call the pharmacy and order there. But if you call pharmacy and are placed on hold only to listen to this sic message about how important i and my message are for 13 minutes ( yes 13 and you can't get to this option without waiting the full 13 minutes ) Then you are told to leave your name, last 4 and phone number and we'll call you back. Now i know from other VA's that that option is a good option because the call back comes fairly quickly. But here at the Durham VA there is no telling when the call will come back. It could be today or tomorrow, usually with-in two days but if the calls come in and you're not there they leave a message to call back to the pharmacy which brings you back to the same wait and same message for 13 minutes. At one point it took 12 days before i finally hooked up with a pharmacy person who said she would order everything that was do. Not only did i get meds that i never heard of from doctors that i never saw, i didn't get the medication i needed two weeks ago. Calls to the PA were more of the same: leave your name and number and we'll get back with you. More often than not they do not call back or if they do once again it is a phone message that they called. Of course i can drive to the VA. It is 43 or so miles but usually takes me between and 75 and 90 mins. If it's trafic hour in either direction it can take 2.5 hours. Well that's what i had to do because i was on another twilight zone of calls. i went to the PA first who told me i complain too much and needed to be more proactive in my own health care. ( How i'm not in jail now took great control because i wanted to pop the AH for not realizing that this was a problem ) He was especially pissed off when i told him that other VA's did not have this problem. Of course he dismissed that with: " Forget about other VA's you're here now and this is the best we can do...THE SYSTEM IS BIG" i kept saying : "Why is there not a local number that is automated?" He kept saying: "Because there just isn't" So i walked down to pharmacy to order the medication that wasn't in my package then asked to speak with the head of pharmacy. i was told to walk down to the last door and knock. The door opens and i ask to speak to the person in charge. He said that he was that person. Told him the whole story. He too says: "The system is large". i don't let it die, i keep asking about an extension or a number that i can call since i don't have a local phone number and finally he give me a number. He wrote it on the Pharmacy flier with everything that you needed to know abut the Durham Pharmacy. Again: HE WROTE IT ON A PRINTED FLIER> It was the same area code but a different prefix. "Why haven't i been told or given this number before?" "The system is large" i try the number from my cell and sure enough it works. i'm happy and leave. The first time i use the number it works until i get to one RX and am told that that RX and the SS does not match. So i spend another 5 days trying to get to someone to tell me why this is so. i have to drive there again and this time i insist on speaking with the director. Told i can't do that that he is behind a locked door which you need a badge to get into. Undaunted i go to the doors and just stand there waiting. Finally someone comes out. i tell her what's been going on. She doesn't believe it. i tell her about the magic phone number. She said there is no magic number. i take her down to the guy who gave it to me. She spends an hour with me and when she finds out about the number she asks him why it's not known. He tells her that the system is large. Now i really don't think going on and on about the details and minutia serves any other perpose except to show how insane this whole system is. The PA's didn't know about the number, the directors secretary didn't know about the number, most pharmacy people didn't know about the number but because the system is large no one sends out a memo or as i told the guy who gave it to me: "Take 50 fliers and write it in until the fliers are changed" "The system is large" However he did tell the directors secretary that an effort was being made. But now thing have gotten worse for me. Suddenly my address changed to Florida where i once was, the phone number has been changed to my parents house, and my meds are going to FL also. Bottom line: my life is in danger because of this VA's inability to address the little things and in fact turning little ones into big ones. This little shop of horrors needs to be exposed for what they are and what they are not. The good things they may do do not off set the bad Period!

i don't disagree with you on that point Carlie. But what does that fact do for me? Does it make my difficulties dealing with the VA any better knowing that the whole health care system in this country is pathetic? The other day i couldn't get anything done anywhere, not at Home Depot, Walmarts, The Town Hall....everywhere i stopped i felt a little like i did when i was stationed overseas and couldn't get things done for any number of reasons. Here i am in the USA and i'm just out of step with everyone. Decided to call it a day, came home took a pill and kicked back and quietly watched the TV. On comes this show about millionaires going "undercover" so to speak to see how the poor and disenfranchised live. Then after a week of living amongst the poor the make some decisions on who is worthy to give a large sum of money. It's not that i can't recognize people who have it worse off than me. It got me all choked up to see what some Americans have to deal with; let's not forget the thrid world and beyond. But the worst of the worst didn't change the fact that the VA in the new state that i live does not have their phone system set up for calls from outside the state. So it took me 10 days of calling the main number, asking for pharmacy, hanging on hold to some point that the system automatically cuts you over to voicemail for a message for them to call you back. Doesn't say when they'll call you back, doesn't ask for the RX number and last four, doesn't do what an idiot could do; you just have to wait. If they call you back and get a phone message the tell you to call them back again and the same process starts again. Is this a simple problem that should be fixable in a short period of time? You would think so. Finally got to speak with a person, she ordered everything that was do. i got over a period of several days starting about a week after the call, everything that was do that i really didn't NEED, two scripts for a nasal spray for a doctor that i don't know for who knows what, but didn't get what i REALLY needed. i had to go to a pay phone to get the 800 number to accept my call, put the RX number in and it was indeed fillable which means it fell through the cracks somehow and i don't have a clue how to address the problem. The patient advocate was yelling at me to take more control over my relationship with the VA, to be more "proactive". Okay. Spell it out. i want it in writing what i need to do to help the VA? On the day that i had an appointment at the VA 1:20 to 2:00 drive, the same day i went to the PA only to have him yell at me. ( And i get the feeling that they know what will happen if you yell back so you bite your tongue so you don't wind up in the lock-up 9th floor, or with the local police station for whatever they can drum up to define your actions ) So i walk down to the Pharmacy, the numbering machine is broken so you ask a few people which line is for what and wait. My turn comes and i am very curtious and polite. This lady has no idea how the PA rattled my cage and how long I had been waiting for my meds. i tell her about the phone system not taking my out of state cell phone number paid for by a family member, and about all of the call backs. She leans forward and tells me that at the end of the day when she's ready to go home the VA boss in pharmacy gives her 10 or 15 numbers to call. She said, " I might have been the person who called you back " She sends me down to the phone person in the pharmacy who tells me " It's not so easy to change things becuase the system is bigger than you think " He gives me a flier and writes 2 numbers on it that are not part of the printed material. "This number" he points to the first number that he wrote " Works just like the 800 number but you have to pay for the call if you're not in the area " No problem. But why is THAT number not mentioned when the 800 number informs you that it will not accept a call from your area code, or better yet, why is it not on the Flier? And why is it not on the bottle? A simple fix has left me without my meds for several weeks now. Oh, and BTW. This now resets my renew date...no refills before it's time. So clearly there are some screwed up things happening in the world. i can hardly get this one addressed let alone fixed. i don't have a second choice for health care. This is all that i've got. And once again i have to ask: Where is the VETERAN's bail out?

Yesterday i spoke with a service officer from a new veterans service organization who is very familiar with and a member of hadit.com He refers new veterans to the organization and encourages them to tell their stories which in the end are about the Veterans Administrations failure to HELP veterans as promised. But put aside the so called "promise" because to this day i honestly do not know "the real story" if you know what i mean about "the promise". However, in any civil society it's simpley: "the right thing to do": take care of those who put their life on the line when they take their oath to serve their country. We agreed that there are indeed sucess stories that deserve to be told. And if the VA did an outstanding job in every department of the system then hadit.com wouldn't exist. That might be considered "bitter/sweet" but the sweet part would be that we would have no need to vent and tell stories that are disgraceful of the agency that was created to care for US. The bitter part would be losing touch with people who have become family once again. But it's absolutely seeable to have another virtual space to meet, to talk about anything and everything that veterans want to talk about but not how horrible the VA is; there should be sucess stories, lots of them, all of them! Why not? Imagine the image "we the people: America" would honestly project in the mind of the world at large including "our enemies" whoever they maybe ( remember the "....foreign and domestic." part of the oath? ) if it was well known that the US Government was benevolent to those who served, not "The VA" per se' because when a company in the corporate world or a company in the military world is so good overall there is little need to point out that it was R&D that "made them" although CEO's seem to get a lot of the credit good or bad; in the end it's the company. In this story the company is The USA. Once upon a time not so long ago people from all over the world wanted to come to our country wanted to be part of it and were willing to learn the language and follow the laws and rules all " for it's streets of GOLD " but not anymore. Now they want to come here to fly planes into our buildings and break any rule or law that serves their personal selfish needs...but in the end they come here for the rights that you and i fought for in whatever "conflict" "war" or "skirmish". What happened? There is no need to answer that question now because the more important thing to see is that our IMAGE in the world has not benefited us THE USA very well. How easy would it be to deliver a powerful blow to the solar plexus of that bad image that whether you like it or not is there and follows you (US) around like stink on you know what. This country can simply "do the right thing": take good care of those protectors and warriors who defended the "constitution" those words that have defined us ( US ) since July 4th 1776 ( 1778/9 ) If they made those kind of changes, changes as big or bigger than congress is asking of "The Big 3" HA! to make, if they changed the job discription of those people that they absolutely need to keep it running as smoothly as The Enterprise on Pulse Power.....if they fired all the employees that they now hire to investigate investigations, to remand and delay, to pay people to prolong benefits ( not something a benevolent government would do ) to deny beneifits, and horor of horrors to give departments bonuses for the highest number of rejections each month, if in this point of time in the history of The USA when every white collar criminal, graduate of a prestigous university that's been allowed to work with a diplomatic like immunity, if the Governement somehow came to it's senses and realized how much bang for the buck they would get if the had an "AH HA moment" and said today in an unexpected announcement: " We are overhalling the VA system and everyone who has ever served who has been denied benefits " We're going to "bail them out" because there is NO ONE, NO COMPANY, NO INDUSTRY more deserving than the men and women who have served this country proudly." Tell me that that image wouldn't go a long long way in the hearts and mind of a country that could use a shot of GREAT NEWS! Can you think of anything that would go so far for so little? Do you think someone who can leak this suggestion to the powers that be now reads hadit? HA!

Avoid? That's all that i have. Thought maybe i could reason with them. My Dad who was a POW told me that the Germans often put glass in the brown bread. " Either you eat it and hope you can spit out the shardes or you starved." i'm spitting out the glass not starving

LJ, Since i've never been to the Dallas VAMC i have no first hand experience. But in my experience it doesn't matter which VAMC that i have been to all have become episodes of MASH. But without going into details and experiences from the ones i have gone to i do see a few patterns that could use some improvement. So for instance, the VAMC in Palm Beach ( Riviera Beach to be exact ) has a toll free number on it RX bottle. You can call from anywhere, at least in the lower 48 and maybe more but i can't say first hand. So if there are refills to be had all i have to do is call and follow the automated prompts and soon my medications are at my door. NJ did not have a toll free number but the number they provided asked for the same information to verify that it was you and that the RX you were asking for could be refilled. NC has a toll free number but it does not take calls from out of state numbers, informs you of that and hangs up. The only other number is the main number at the Durham MC and the only option is to speak with pharmacy. After 15 to 30 mins the nausiating information that gets repeated over and over turns to a different message to leave your name, number and last 4 and they'll call you back but don't say when. Remember you're calling in because your meds are about to run out and there is at times a delay before they are actually mailed. So ten days later i finally hook up with a VA pharmasist who asks the same questions that the automated program does but instaed of having the freedom to call the automated line any time of the day or night and not have to wait to speak to a person who in the end asks more questions than the automated system, slows the whole process down. i ask the pharmasist if there is a toll number that i can call to input my information; she says no: you have to call during business hours and if a recording goes on leave your information and we'll get back to you. In a landscape littered with train wrecks, forclosures, seriously injured warriors, etc, this doesn't seem important enough to get the attention it needs to fix it. No one needs to re-invent the wheel here. All that needs to be done is follow the lead of Florida or NJ. Either works very well and fixes something that doesn't serve the best interests of the VETs who need their meds when they need them. The patient advocate got pissy with me bring up another VA's ability to handel this problem. His solution is to shoot me down for being ungrateful and a chronic complainer. But give me a break. This is a simple fix why bust MY balls about it? He tells me to write a letter to the director and send it to the PA office so they can bring it to him????? i make a choice to go to pharmacy. Their machine that feeds you a number is broken and you have to ask those standing in different lines which line is for what. i get to the lady in her little cubicle, i'm polite and curteous because she doesn't deserve and hostility that croped up after seeing the PA. i ask her for an automated number to use instead of the toll free. She tells me that there is no such number. She appologizes for all the hassle and wait, then proceeds to tell me that at the end of the day when she's ready to go home someone hands her a note with a list of names and numbers to call. She tells me that it may have been her who left the message to call back to the same line that keeps you on hold for 20 mins then asks you to leave your name and lasdt four etc. She shrugs her head toward the offices behind the wall telling me to go to the last door on the right and ask for her boss. He answers the door and i tell him the same story that i've been telling for days now. i ask him what's so hard about changing this system. He tells me that "the system" is large and sometimes even they do not know who has the powers and abilities far beyond those mortal men and the VA Machine. i speak with this man for 30 minutes. Finally he hands me a printed information flier on the VAMC pharmacy in Durham. On it are all of the numbers that i have and know. But wait, he pulls out a pen and writes a toll number that is not on the list and he tells me that THIS number works just like the toll free number. So why is it not on the flier, on my RX bottle, on my appointment sheets? Is it unfair to ask? Is it too small to talk about because someone got excellent care there? No. But in the eyes of those who work for the VA even my PA there are more important things to complain about. Sorry that it's seen that way. What different does it make as long as something that is broken can be fixed. So now i have this special number that maybe no one else has; it reminds me of the specail number that i had for Pepe's pizza in New Haven. Call the number that i have an you're guranteed to have someone pick up and take your order. Special number that everyone who has a cell phone with an out of state phone number should have. One that should be on the RX bottle. Much ado about nothing? Maybe Maybe not.

Maybe it's just me but it seems that when good experiences are replies to horror stories there is a canceling out effect that does not lend itself to the possibility of garnering momentum....the kind of momentum that it will take to change the things that are broken in one way or another. It goes without saying that all experiences have value. That said, look at the effect of the story about Walter Reed's state of disrepair, dare i say dispicable conditions that were allowed to be acceptable for our returning service people who needed a place to rehabilitate as well as be treated. As soon as the media got wind of it and sent people down there to find out what was what, and started broadcasting pictures of the hospital as it is now; heads rolled and things changed. That this revered hospital was let to fall into such a horrific condition was shocking to many....how could this happen? Well before they addressed the bad they pointed out that there was a building or two in outstanding condition, good enough for any member of congress to go to if they stub their toe or need a transplant but that's not where they were sending our wounded. So if one person is telling the story of their nightmares at conditions at Walter Reed and you had a completely different experience, both stories may be true but the good story should not be taken to mean that the other did not happen. If their weren't so many vets with bad experiences then hadit would have no purpose. i'm thinking that it will take a mass movement, a surge, a push by everyone who served whatever their experiences is. Until that happens things will remain the same long after most of us are dead. Just my humble opinion.

If- Rudyard Kipling

Out of order. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8N2rciqnRo...feature=related Let the good times roll....

"The players all played at once without waiting for turns, quarrelling all the while, and fighting for the hedgehogs; and in a very short time the Queen was in a furious passion, and went stamping about, and shouting `Off with his head!' or `Off with her head!' about once in a minute." http://www.cs.indiana.edu/metastuff/wonder/ch8.html

VARO in latin means Sloth In the Christian moral tradition, sloth (Latin: acedia, accidia, pigritia) is one of the seven capital sins, often called the seven deadly sins; these sins are called the capital sins because they destroy charity in the person's heart and thus may lead to final impenitence and eternal death. Sloth is defined as spiritual and/or actual apathy or laziness, putting off what God asks you to do, or not doing it or anything at all. Acedia is a Latin word, from Greek akedia, literally meaning "absence of caring". Acedia is also deemed to lead to God's wrath. Sloth can also concern wasting due to lack of use or allowing entropy, expanding into almost any person, place, thing, skills, or intangible ideal that would require maintenance, refinement and/or support to continue to exist. Acedia is an old word from the Greek describing a state of listlessness, of not caring or not being concerned with one's position or condition in the world. It can lead to a state of being unable to perform one's duties in life. It is distinct from depression. Acedia was originally noted as a problem among monks and other ascetics who maintained a solitary life.

It doesn't seem that i have a say anymore. The request to move it north thurned out at first to be a good choice. Then it got lost and it's like deja vu all over again.