NavyVets1775@yahoo.com

VETERANS' ISSUES NEWSTAND
[VI]

VI picks up here chronologically immediately after the last entry on the introductory VI on the

Homeport Page.



1-11-02:
The Bush Administration needs to be congratulated for proposing to spend $1 billion over the next five years to rehabilitate the country's 250,000 homeless veterans. It remains to be seen, however, if this money will actually be spent and, if it is spent, whether it will be spent on local programs which are truly effective.
Florida alone has over 17,000 homeless veterans.




1-12-02:
The Association has learned that the VA hospital system is reverting to a rationing of hospital access which is leaving more and more veterans out in the cold. As many as 4,000 veterans a month are being added to the waiting lists to see a doctor or for hospital care at many VA hospitals. In 1996, Congress opened VA hospital care to all veterans, not just those with service-related injuries or illnesses. But, truthfully claiming lack of facilities and resources, the VA has effectively overturned the law. Across the Nation, veterans are being told they must still prove that their condition is service-related (still as hard to do as it ever was, in our opinion) or there will be no room for them at the inn. Our prediction is even more dire: that in short order the VA will quietly begin adding another qualification to its triage system for care: that the veteran be able to prove indigency.
To be fair to the VA, this is a "What else can we do?" situation.




1-24-02:
President Bush proposes more than $48 billion in new military spending, the largest annual increase in 20 years, out of a total proposed Pentagon budget of $379 billion. Good job, Mr. President. This will be money well spent and, actually, is not a lot (and is light on the Navy, in our opinion), even with the Administration's projections that the military budget will grow gradually to a total of $451.4 billion in 2007. This still only amounts to about 3% of our GNP spent on defense versus 5% in the Ford Administration and 10% during both the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations. The War in Afghanistan alone, annualized, as of date (with about 5,000 troops on the ground in that and nearby countries and about 2,000 sailors offshore) is costing us $12 billion per year, so a $48 billion military increase would permit us to fight 4 Afghanistans simultaneously, for one year, but
in fact, $19 billion of the increase, if passed, has been officially earmarked for the War in Afghanistan, according to Administration sources. Since we're spending about $1 billion per month now in Afghanistan, and since all new federal budgets go into effect October 1, a reasonable prognostication is that, currently, and given current circumstances, the Administration expects our troops to be in Afghanistan (and the region) through, at a minimum, April 2004.
Other line items in the proposed military budget include:
$10 billion for a military operations contingency fund;
$1.2 billion for air patrols over the U.S.;
$68.7 billion for weapons and equipment;
$53.9 billion for research and development;
$7.8 billion for national missile defense research and testing;
A 4.1% increase in basic military pay; and
A cut in troops' out-of-pocket costs for private housing, from 11.3% to 7.5%.

The Association predicts that Congress will actually pass a larger Defense Budget than President Bush has requested, and the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has already testified to Congress that this proposed budget is underfunded by about $40 billion with major shortfalls, according to him, occurring in lack of new ship production for the Navy, and lack of new aircraft production for all branches.

It is also the firm opinion of the Association that every Service Branch should fight for every dollar it can get in any national budget; but that no Branch should perceive itself in a zero-sum game for those dollars with any other Branch being perceived as the enemy; and that it is wrong for any elected official to put, or to try to put, any of those Branches in the latter position.





2-9-02:
A step in the direction of our 1-12-02 prediction on new triage for the VA was taken by the Bush Administration, when they proposed in their new budget, a $1500 annual deductible for VA care for "Priority 7" category veterans. "Priority 7" category veterans are veterans with higher incomes than average ($24,000 if single or $28,000 if married), no service related disabilities, and no other qualifications such as Agent Orange or Gulf War syndrome illnesses, exposure to atomic tests, or a Purple Heart.
At first glance you may think that this proposal is simply a way to keep the deficit down, or to make more money for the VA. You'd be wrong. The proposers know that the addition of the deductible will simply diminish the numbers of Priority 7s applying for VA care, which is the desired result. 121,000 less, is our estimate.
The VA accurately claims there has been an explosion in its workload since 1997.
Like all legitimate veteran groups in the U.S., the Association opposes this deductible.





2-21-02:
The VA has announced that nearly 199,000 veterans, or nearly one in four, who served in the Gulf War, have filed disability claims as of date. Most are complaining of ailments which have collectively been called Gulf War syndrome.
This is a stunning figure.
The official position of the VA is still that there is no conclusive proof that any Gulf War syndrome illness was directly caused by the war.


5-1-02:
The average veteran (perhaps the average American as well) in this country can't afford a new fee simple purchased house.
This is wrong.
This problem has been going on for a long while. We need a new Veterans' Bill of Rights in America. The problem, fundamentally, lies with the huge profit margins local developers are permitted to make on local real estate developments by the local governments which grant them that authority; but since that is taking place nationwide, it is a national, and a federal, problem. Local governments should step in and require lower buying prices as a condition of permitting these real estate developments, while at the same time requiring the quality of the development. Restrictions on the new-home prices set by local developers will simply mean that, instead of becoming overnight billionaires, they will have to settle for becoming overnight millionaires and, if that means more veterans can buy their own homes, that is something these American developers should accept as part of their patriotism. 


                                                                                                          
5-14-02:
The Navy announces it is slowing down new enlistments (although this Association continues to promote them anyway) because re-up rates have jumped across the board.
The benefit to the Nation in retaining veteran sailors, reversing the trend of the Clinton Administration, is directly linked, in our opinion, to the Bush policies of trying to get pay and benefits for active duty up to where they should be, a part of the Association's Mission Statement, and something we lobbied hard for during the desert of the Clinton years, and continue to advocate today.

6-12-02:

The World War II Memorial on the National Mall, which this Association and its members fought long and hard for against so-called "veterans" groups which opposed the project, is now expected to be completed in the Spring of 2004.

The Registry of Remembrances, which will be run by the Parks Service, is now expected to be available on the Internet and not just at the Memorial site itself, as was previously worried about by many.

Congress is expected shortly, if they have not done so today, to pass legislation forbidding any more memorials on over 90% of the remaining open footage on the Mall.

7-3-02:

We have commented previously in our Newstands on the refusal of the Bush Administration to accept the jurisdiction of the new U.N. International Criminal Court of Justice (ICCJ), which refusal we support.

On this date, the USG proposed a compromise whereby there would be total immunity from ICCJ jurisdiction for peacekeeping forces and government officials from governments providing troops for peacekeeping missions.

This is a compromise this Association can also accept, and one the U.N., if it's wise (which we doubt) should also accept.

The United States, and the United States alone, has the moral responsibility for bringing our errant service personnel, if any there be, to justice for war crimes, or crimes against humanity. No foreigner should arrogate that jurisdiction to himself or herself, ever. Period.

8-17-02:

The Bush Administration asks all countries receiving U.S. military aid for an assurance of immunity from ICCJ jurisdiction for all U.S. military advisors, under the explicit threat of withdrawing that aid otherwise.

9-17-02:

As of date the VA hospital with the most medical appointments in one year, 600,000, is James A. Haley Hospital in Tampa, Florida. There, currently, there is a three month to one year wait for an appointment for non-emergency room, non-life threatening conditions. 15,000 veterans in Central Florida alone are on such waiting lists.

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STAY TUNED BELOW THE GULF WAR SYNDROME UPDATE.

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GULF WAR SYNDROME - AN UPDATE

Some call it Gulf War Syndrome, others call it Gulf War Illness. Some even call it the new Agent Orange. Call it what you will, lots of Gulf War Veterans are suffering from it, and finally, more than a decade after the end of the war, some help arrives.


Nearly a decade ago, a woman who was an officer during the Gulf War was traveling across the country presenting information about adverse health conditions that a large group of our most recent veterans were experiencing. Her verbal allegations about the problems that Gulf War Veterans were experiencing were supported by written documentation that served as hand-outs for her seminars.
She pointed out that there was a larger percentage of illnesses in these veterans as compared to a similar group of veterans who did not serve in the Persian Gulf or of non-veterans; that these symptoms tended to vary from veteran to veteran but did fit a pattern; and that the VA denied that these illnesses could be a result of military service (therefore, denial of any treatment).
At her seminars a show of hands was asked for from anyone who might be experiencing specific symptoms. As the list was read, a sprinkling of hands started to apppear. These twenty-something veterans were too young to be experiencing joint pains, night sweats, fatigue, and depression.

Fast forward to 6-7-02, when a group of Gulf War veterans meeting with VA officials in Bartow, Florida on VA benefit issues, rose up and threatened those officials over the failure of VA to recognize their Gulf War Syndrome as a service-related disability. No arrests were made. There was a scene, however, and albeit indoors, it was reminiscent of the riot during the Veterans' Bonus March on Washington in 1932.

There are a number of veterans'groups seeking political favor, who compliment their local politicians for passing legislation making it easier to get a service-related disability for Gulf War Syndrome. In fact, as we've pointed out on our Homepage, as of 2002, nothing real has been done on this issue to date. The reason nothing has been done, as we've also pointed out on this Newstand, is the dollar cost of doing something real, quantified by the number of Gulf War vets currently making claims, a number that will grow geometrically in any new attack on Saddam, because he will most certainly use biochem against our troops.

 The VA will not act alone. Congress isn't currently willing to pay that dollar price. But freedom isn't free. It comes at a cost, and Congress should be told that's true, by you, now.

We would also, by the way, like to laud people in government for action benefitting the American veteran.

And we have. And we will continue to do so on this Site. But not for phony action. 

 


We Are the Ones Who Can Help 

You don't have to wait for Congress to act to help, however. For more information on how you can start helping today, click onto our Veterans' Outreach Programs Page. 

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