Obama Wants More

[Berta]

http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfJAN07/nf012707-1.htm

"It doesn't make a difference whether you were hit by enemy fire, or injured because your vehicle crashed, or got sick because of serving in a war zone. The effects on the soldiers and their families are the same. And the impact in terms of the current fighting force and future demands on the VA are also the same.

"I have introduced legislation along with Senator Snowe and others to force VA and DOD to start keeping honest figures on our troops and the potential future costs of the war. The sooner we start keeping track of our soldiers, the better and more efficiently we will be able to care for them when they get home.

"Taking care of our Iraq veterans is one thing we can get right about this war."

Senator Obama

[Guest jangrin]

Good for Obama. Now if we could get him to put some action behind his words it might help the veterans. Unfortunately, it takes so long to enact change or begin a program I'm afraid we won't see much for the next 2 to 3 years even if they started immediately to fix the claims process.

Older vets will take a back seat to those coming home from afganistan and Iraq. Time is something the "older" veterans are starting to run out of. Over the next 10 years we will see some dramatic changes as the effects of AO began to take their toll on our aging vets.

Maybe that is the plan, stretch out the time it takes to resolve a claim as long as they can. I was told by our TVC the other day that the local VA clinic had needed a PA position filled. The SO told us that it took the VA 10 months to fill the position, because of all the requirements in writing letters of acceptance, and wages, and allowing the person time to deside of they wanted the job. In my world it takes about 2 minutes to decide if I want to take a job or not, not 10 months.

There will be no real change in this system for many many years. Maybe the younger vets and their familoies will be able to get the general public to support the services and financial commitment needed to make change. It is obvious that there are so many mixed feelings with the general public regarding the Vietnam Era vets, it's almost like the support the vietnam vets get is because the public feels they have to, other wise how can you support one veteran and not another, so the vietnam vet is being "grandfathered" in so to speak.

Hopefully, things will be different for this next generation of veterans (with or without Obama), and the Vietnam vets if they behave will get the scraps.

JMO

Jangrin

[Pete53]

I don't care what Obamas reason is its a good idea.

[Scott83]

Is there a website or online resource that lists which political candidates are supported by veterans based on pro-veteran policies/agendas? A local congressman had lawn signs all over the place that said "Veterans support...Mike McGheehan" and I wonder who else we support.

[jlshand]

Is there a website or online resource that lists which political candidates are supported by veterans based on pro-veteran policies/agendas? A local congressman had lawn signs all over the place that said "Veterans support...Mike McGheehan" and I wonder who else we support.

Crimson,

If you go to the VA Watchdog site and poke around ,you will find the vets voting records of all members of congress re I think the DAV.

If you are a Republican voter you are going to be shocked and disappointed

[RockyA1911]

I beg to differ with rickb54 regarding Obama. Less than two years ago Obama and Durbin initiated the investigation about the disparity in the claims processes and monthly compensation and why they differed by state. We all got letters in Illinois and the other states telling us that we may have been under compensated and to file a claim if we felt we had been.

Most recently and personally Senator Obama got my claim rated and me a decision ASAP.. I went to his office on the 19th of Dec (Tues), got a letter from the VA 23 Dec (Sat) stating they were expediting my claim. The decision date of the claim is 28 Dec 2006. Now considering there was a Sat, Sun, and Mon (Christmas) in the mix, that is darn fast and he DID DO SOMETHING for this VETERAN. Incidentally, the claim was chosen by the VA Secretary's Tiger Team to expedited.

Obama has been for the Veteran since the day he entered public office, he's no phony, and he knows how to get results and FAST. He gets results everytime, not months, years, but days. He's a good man and works hard for us vets. Check Obama's record on supporting Vets and you will see it will shine.