[Mb-civic] Support The Troops; Ignore The Vets

[Lyle K'ang]

This is a column from the Newtown, Connecticut, Bee newspaper, written 
by William A. Collins, a former state representative and former mayor of 
Norwalk. While he talks about some Connecticut-specific topics, the main 
thrust of his story has universal application to our own State of 
Washington troops, guardsmen, reservists and veterans.

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Commentary-

Support The Troops; Ignore The Vets

By William A. Collins

/Crippled now,/

/My service done:/

/Ignored by all/

/In Washington./

Veterans of World War II were much admired. They fought in a popular 
conflict that gave our nation great satisfaction. If they made it home, 
they were heroes. We gave them housing, health care, education, and 
jobs. The American Legion and VFW were pillars of the local community 
and the nation.

But that was then and this is now. Our wars since 1945 have been more 
ambiguous, as have the reflections of our returning troops. As history 
casts shadows over some of those conflicts, it simultaneously darkens 
the image of those who fought. The soldiers may have been heroic, but 
their cause painfully tainted.

Equally corrosive to veteran stature is the nature of their wounds. In 
Vietnam the culprit was Agent Orange. In the Gulf it was poisoned air 
and depleted uranium. These victims have not suffered heroic injuries in 
the eyes of Washington. Indeed the Pentagon does what it can to hush its 
responsibility for them, since our sister nations take a dim view of the 
morality of all those weapons. As living evidence of their widespread 
use, vets are thus shunted into obscurity and urged to fend for themselves.

And now we have a war where even traditional wounds are an 
embarrassment. Photos of our injured and dying GIs, which used to spur 
us to greater patriotism, are prohibited. This time they might spur us 
to greater protest. Returnees, both dead and afflicted, are thus ignored 
by the White House and by the press. Indeed one vet has made his 
momentary mark by contesting the invoice he received for his meals while 
recovering at an army hospital.

In addition you can well understand why the Pentagon wants to keep down 
its expenditures for those who come home. It needs all its cash for the 
contractors who are still there. Big corporations now carry out many 
tasks that soldiers once performed, but unlike those soldiers, they get 
paid big bucks. That's where the bulk of our war budget goes.

But when a vet finally does return to home and hearth you might suppose 
that at the very least he would be well cared for. Forget it. The 
president has reduced the income threshold for entitlement to health 
care. Now if you earn more than $25,000 from all sources, you're 
medically on your own. Consequently whole regiments of vets have no 
health insurance at all, while damage to their lungs, brains, and 
nervous systems is not considered "service-connected." Nor are there 
any 
longer housing programs, so traumatized vets are homeless far beyond 
their ratio in the community.

All this leaves Connecticut in a bit of a bind. You'd think that 
veterans would be a responsibility of the federal government, but what 
do you do when the feds shirk? These are our own heroes - we can't just 
let them lie in the street. Thus there exists a state Veterans Home and 
Hospital in Rocky Hill. While a great resource, it has a long been a 
haven of patronage and underfunding. This hardly comes as a shock, since 
policymakers understandably feel that the federal Veterans 
Administration should be ministering to all returnees' needs at its own 
facilities in West Haven and Newington.

So perhaps out of frustration that Washington is treating our National 
Guardsmen, among others, so shabbily, several new proposals are suddenly 
circulating in Hartford. One scheme of the lieutenant governor's would 
relieve Connecticut guardsmen and reservists of income and property 
taxes while serving in combat zones. Another would make those same 
guardsman eligible for benefits from the Soldiers', Sailors' and 
Marines' Fund. A third would create a special legislative committee to 
focus, at last, on veterans' needs.

These are all small potatoes, but they reflect understandable offense at 
the administration's neglect of our returning servicemen.

(/Columnist William A. Collins is a former state representative and a 
former mayor of Norwalk.)/



Lyle K'ang,
~~Enterprise Insights: Advanced Tools for Business Communications!~~
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