Nothing burns like fire in the rain.

Wow. To Veterans activists, that smells...that smells like victory.

I'm happy for the vets who get compensation, but not unlike every other intersection between science and politics, the VA is still not operating on firm scientific footing. They're going to pay for a bunch of conditions to which there has never been shown a dioxin link. Ischemic heart disease? Ummm, it's got "ischemic" in the damn name! Maybe that's all reasonable considering the complete denial of the science for so many years, but it's still an example of politics trumping science.

interested:



/just the guy from the first one, not the over-the-top, never reloading super hero from the sequels

Hmmmmm, let's see:

Peak years of Vietnam battle: 1967-1970;

Average age, soldiers: 18-22;

Average age today: 60--65;

Average time to die from Agent Orange: 5-15 years;

Average time this would have been worth anything: 1972 to 1985.

'Scuse me, I think I'm going to throw up.

*Insert witty reference to "Trading Places" here*

What about all those Korean War vets who are suing the gov't because all that saltpeter they fed them in boot camp finally started to work?

buffalosoldier: I am just wondering what is gonna come up with the current conflict...

some of the buddies who were with me overseas are suffering from a variety of weirdness. They told us during out processing that if we claimed anything was wrong with us we might be kept in country or at least away from the US in germany till they had us all checked out. There was no way we were going to say anything, we didna wanna risk not going home.

Really? That sucks. My father-in-law had some weird health issues post Gulf War. The VA finally put him on disability after some bureaucratic delay.

I hope you're OK.

Whores in Calcutta don't have it very good.

almafuerte: 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.

And you are paying health care benefits to the murderers that were there to USE the chemical, instead of to the victims?


Eat shiat. You're either a troll, or a lame ass moonbat who has never met a Vietnam vet.

TheyCallThisWork: Actually, if you ask around, you'll find that the VA has gotten a LOT better in recent years.

I'd never been in one before 2008. I was honestly expecting a depressing and horrible place, but it wasn't. It was efficient, clean and seemed to be well run.

The Boy has absolutely no complaints with any of the care he's received at the VA.

He had some sort of mysterious ouchie in his leg, walked in, got Xrays and some sort of nuclear bone scan (Puntin jokes) thingie, a diagnosis, his prescriptions filled and a schedule of PT appointments.

In comparison, I sprained my wrist and it took over 36 hours for someone to read my Xray. I work in a hospital.

A relative of mine was in the Navy during the Vietnam war. From what he has been told, Navy ships that were on the gun line filtered their drinking water from coastal waters. The coastal waters were highly polluted with Agent Orange run-off. Consequently, Navy personnel who were never sprayed with Agent Orange were exposed to it every day.

The government is only now starting to do something? That stuff is poison to damn near everything.

Issues like this really show how well veterans are treated.

redsquid: cretinbob- Nothing burns like fire in the rain.

No no no- that's napalm. (JK)

But on a serious note- I met a guy who was one of the first American service members on the ground after both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. He's suffered countless cancers and tumors. He hasn't recieved a red cent from Uncle Sam. I'm sure his family will get a nifty plaque or something when he dies. This is not how you treat people who, in good faith, risk their lives for their country. If my nephew even talks to a recruiter I'm going to kick his ass and then I'm going to drag him down to the VA and let him see how much America really loves her heroes.

One of the saddest days of my life was when I was doing door to door non-profit canvassing. The first house was a really nice gentleman who just lost his wife of 60 years. I stayed with him a half hour just talking before I reluctantly left.

An hour or two later, I'm talking to a guy who seems fine but a little detached. I go through my whole spiel, and right about at the end when I'm doing the 'what issue is most important to you' survey, he says "you know, my son died three days ago". I kind of stammer that I'm sorry. He then tells me how he (his son, his only child) signed up for the Army after 9/11 and went to Afghanistan. Came back with depression and PTSD. Started drinking heavily and smashed up his car. Didn't hurt anyone, but it was enough to make him realize he needed help and he went to the VA. Where they told him that they couldn't help his depression/PTSD until he stopped drinking... which was a direct result of his depression/PTSD. I think he tried one or two more times to get help and got nowhere. I saw a friend try to find a sliding scale psych to help him with his, and every single f--king one said they didnt' know how to handle 'combat' PTSD. So if the VA doesn't help you and you don't have decent insurance or a lot of spare cash... But anyway. He hung himself, in their bathroom, three days before I got there. Which I could see from the front door.

The father I was talking to apologized for telling me the whole story, but said he wanted to do what I was doing but for advocating better mental health services for vets. Wanted to channel his grief and anger into something productive. So other kids could be helped and other parents wouldn't have to go through what he was.

Pathetic. Sad and pathetic. How his son was treated. Not the father, although he kept saying that he wished he could have done more to help his son... I kept trying to tell him, over and over, that it wasn't his fault. Christ, that poor man. That was a few years ago... I hope he's okay. The system sure as f--k hasn't gotten much better although I've *heard* they're taking depression and PTSD a bit more seriously. I hope that's more than just PR releases, and I hope they aren't forgetting about vets...

And Hiroshima for f--k's sake. Certain workers at Hanford who were exposed got $150,000 for their exposures, and we can't compensate people on the f--king ground after the bombs? Jesus f--king Christ.

PS

One of my state senators is particularly decent on advocating for vets, but I still sent both a letters after the one-two punch of hearing that guy's story and watching my friend trying to get any sort of help from the VA.

It really doesn't take that long to write a short letter to your Senators or Rep. Email is okay, but I've heard directly from staffers (at the state level, at least) that letters are far more effective. It's easy to delete an email or shoot an auto-reply. You still might get a generic "I care about your concerns..." letter back, but a physical letter from a constituent carries a bit more weight.

Just a thought.

List of addresses, phones, and emails for members of the Senate.

It's worth a few minutes. If you're gonna express outrage on this thread, you might as well take a few more minutes and channel it somewhere where it might, might possibly do something. Sending another quick note myself.