Benefits For Veterans – Getting Better Or Worse? Article - News And Life Style Politics Articles

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Benefits for Veterans – Getting better or worse?

Is there hope for improvement of programs and benefits for our returning Iraqi War Veterans? We believe there is.

Author: Deborah Mann

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As advocates for veterans benefits, we work closely with veterans filing claims for disabilities, the VA Hospital in Albuquerque, NM, the VA Regional Office and with Veterans Service Organizations.

The Veterans Administration has been in the news a lot lately because of Walter Reed Hospital in Washington and the lack of care being given to returning Iraqi War veterans. Unfortunately, we are seeing many of the same activities, or rather, lack of activity, with returning veterans in Albuquerque as well.

Our veterans need care right now. There is no question about that. These young men are from 20 to 25 years old and have their whole lives ahead of them. We are seeing these young men come back from Iraq with terrible injuries, amputations and extreme PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). So what is being done for them?

We can say that their immediate injuries are being treated and being treated pretty well. Veterans hospitals provide the latest technologies for treatment of wounds and many of them have resident physician programs with nearby medical universities which is a true benefit for these returning vets. What we don’t see is the follow-up care these young men need.

The war in Vietnam wasn’t much different for our returning vets. Today, these veterans are in their late forties to mid fifties. A significant number of them suffer from PTSD which has mangled their lives. And the truth is, they don’t receive much treatment.

This is a complex issue. The VA hospitals are at maximum capacity, have difficulty in acquiring and maintaining staff because salaries are well below average for doctors, nurses and other medical support staff. The VA hospitals have a certain fixed amount of funds to distribute across a vast area of needs. This is especially true in the areas of psychological treatment.

When a veteran returns home at the age of 22 missing a leg or an arm, the site of amputation will heal. He will received months and months of physical rehabilitation which the VA actually does very well. However, this young man needs a lot of assistance in dealing with how his life has changed forever.

Put yourself in this young veteran’s position: You went into the military knowing you would be in harm’s way, but you came home without a leg.

How does your family view your “disability”? How do you feel about yourself now that you can no longer play softball Saturday afternoons? or go hiking with the kids you had expected to have one day? Will you find a woman who won’t view you as “half a man”?

Any returning veteran with massive injury is almost always affected by PTSD. Many of them without significant physical injury return with disabling PTSD from seeing their buddies shredded of arms, legs, hands and with other terrible injuries from combat. We repeatedly hear wives, family and friends of veterans say, “When they came home, they were never the same.”

And this is where the VA falls short. Our vets need strenuous psychological help. Although the VA offers treatment for PTSD, the treatment is far from effective. There are many programs throughout the VA for both inpatient and outpatient treatment, but with such scanty resources and little available staff, the treatment programs are ineffective.

So what can we do?

First, if you know a veteran that needs help, contact your regional or local VA hospital to see if a program is available. If it is, encourage the veteran to enroll in one or more of the programs available. Many returning vets will exhibit quite bizarre behavior and it is difficult to understand why. But the vast majority of them know that they need help and are quite willing to get it. They need guidance and most will be glad to hand over the decision to seek help to someone else. Many returning vets will turn to drugs or alcohol to relieve their symptoms of nightmares and anxiety. Don’t encourage the behavior but be sympathetic to how much they need to quiet their raging thoughts. It is extremely difficult to be supportive of someone who sits in their bedroom crying for several days and then goes out and gets drunk. Try to get them help.

As reluctant and these vets are to talk about their experience and what is happening to them with family and friends, they will talk to other veterans who are experiencing the same things. It helps them to know that they are not alone and that there is a group who understands what they are going through. There is medication that may help them with anxiety and paranoia, but they need to see a healthcare specialist to get this medication prescribed.

Many veterans suffer financial hardship because they can’t keep a job or don’t even try to secure employment. The VA offers special programs for vets in financial crisis. Again, contact your local VA for information about these programs. A veteran already suffering from stress and anxiety will not be helped by worrying about where his next meal is coming from.

If you don’t have a specific veteran to be concerned about, you may be moved enough to write to your local, state and federal congressmen. This issue is on the front pages these days and your thoughts on these matters will be heard. If nothing else, be concerned and be aware.

I know it’s trite, but we stay home and send our young people to war. Whether we agree with the war or not, we need to help these people come home to a country that help them adapt. As you drive to work tomorrow, consider how your life and your family’s life will change if you meet with some tragedy and the next time you walk through your front door, you have no right arm or left foot and your mind is a train wreck.

Some of you reading this are the people we’ve brought back from war. When you see “Support Our Troops” on car stickers or banners in storefronts, please know that what we are truly saying is “Thank God is wasn’t me that had to go”. But also know that there are some of us who are – right this minute, day and night – working diligently to make it better.

It’s difficult to believe, but your government is trying to work for you, too.

There are many legislators who are also veterans and are outraged with the current situation for veterans.

So is care for our veterans getting better or worse? Locally, we’ve seen some very positive changes: improvements in programs, faster processing of disability claims and almost immediate response for emergency response for living conditions. Incoming Iraqi War veterans get treatment before all others and get the best specialists available. Yes, it’s getting better, little by little. The federal government is shaking loose with funds. In the situation for veterans, the press is actually helping, too, by bringing the issue to the forefront of the public mind. Will the situation continue to get better? Absolutely. It will take time, but veterans are a getting a little better overall care every single day.

Because we are a nation that sends people to war, we have created the existing situation with our veterans. As a nation that brings our physically and mentally wounded home, we must and will keep working to bring them home to a nation where they can live the rest of their lives in peace – because our veterans sacrificed their very being to make it so.

About Author

The Manns have been working for improvements in veterans benefits and care for over 10 years. As a 100% disabled veteran having served 27 years in the Navy, Richard has struggled to improve programs available to veterans in New Mexico. His successes include a much-improved PTSD program and helping many veterans get benefits that have greatly improved those veterans lives.

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Benefits for Veterans – Getting better or worse?