Keep promises to troops-U.S. must fix broken veterans health care system

[babylonsister]

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/editorial/17187539.htm

Keep promises to troops
U.S. must fix broken veterans health care system
By Joe Kernan

Unless you were born or married on May 7, it’s probably not a date that you commemorate. For me though, I remember it vividly as the day 35 years ago when I was shot down over Vietnam and spent most of the next 11 months in captivity. Fortunately, the injuries I suffered were relatively minor, and the end of the war brought with it my release from prison. I came home and spent the next several months assigned to Bethesda Naval Hospital, where I received great medical care.

Today, more than 24,000 men and women have their own May 7 to deal with as a result of the war in Iraq – and many of them will be dealing with it for the rest of their lives. The day their convoy got hit with an IED or they took a bullet from a sniper. The day a firefight left them with permanent scars, both physical and mental. The day a roadside explosion left them without an arm, a leg or both. The day their lives changed forever.

More of our men and women are coming home with greater challenges than ever before, primarily because of the extraordinary medical care they received immediately after they were wounded. Some of them come back to military medical facilities – such as Walter Reed – that are reportedly riddled with bureaucratic red tape and unseemly living conditions.

That was never part of the deal.

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[Monkeyman]

1. Thanks Sis K&R