my weekly LTTE on our treatment of vets and wounded

[w8liftinglady]

should be printed Friday

There have been several expose's regarding the treatment our wounded warriors receive when the return to the States.The most profound was the Washington Post piece exposing the terrible conditions and treatment of the wounded in Barracks 18 of Walter Reed Hospital.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/17/AR2007021701172.html
The immediate reaction was to slap a coat of paint on the moldy walls.
Newsweek disclosed that 200,000 veterans are homeless in the U.S.-including up to 1,000 Iraq War veterans. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17315490/site/newsweek/

It has been reported that the Army is holding down disability ratings to save money. http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/02/TNSmedholdmoney070222/

The military is charging vets for gear that is lost or damaged on the battlefield.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=5074904
GIs are being charged for meals and back combat pay when they are wounded,and reported to credit bureaus when they are unable to pay.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/13/AR2005101302166_pf.html
You can imagine my dismay when I read this Army Times story:
Walter Reed patients told to keep quiet
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/02/TNSreedinspect070227/


The DOD's solution to these ugly stories is to remove access to the media,force the soldiers into 7A.M. formations and room inspections daily,and move them to an internal location where the press does not have access to them.These are the same rights that these brave soldiers and Marines are fighting for...my son has fought for,been wounded for,and is still healing from inside.
So,you say you support the troops.I encourage you to forego the yellow ribbon from China,and call your Senators and Congressmen to request an investigation into the way we treat our soldiers when they come home.Shame on us,as Americans,for allowing this treatment to go on for so long.

[myrna minx]

1. K&R. w8liftinglady,

your letters are always, well, just amazing. :patriot:

[NanceGreggs]

2. Another GREAT ONE!!!

K & R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:kick:

[w8liftinglady]

11. thank you-I am committed to one per week until they are home.

[NanceGreggs]

12. Good for you!

And you REALLY ARE good at putting your LTTEs together: concise, to the point - on-target every time!!!

:applause:

[niyad]

3. k & r indeed. you are saying it much more graciously than I would be.

[BOSSHOG]

4. I found the best way to deal with inspections

(Later called assessments) was to throw the doors wide open, throw light into every crack and crevice of a command. Help the inspectors find whatever may be keeping us from meeting mission and thank them when they do. For christ's sake the best way to find out how something works or if it is broken is to check with the Sailor on the deckplate or Soldier in the field. Quarantining news is only inviting a wider spread of the infection.

You keep kicking ass Dear!!!

[antigop]

5. Way to go, lady! n/t

[niyad]

6. and, of course, the bastards who REALLLY need to see this LTTE, and others like it, are sitting in

their little bubbles, persuading themselves that everything is going just fine.

I wish that every single person in the military who has known, who is actively covering it up or complicit, could be court-martialed.

but the other part of the reality is that the REAL culprits--bush and his pnac buddies, the architects of this horror, are NEVER going to be held accountable for creating all these sick, wounded and dying people.

may they received EVERYTHING they deserve.

[Cosby]

7. My GOOD friend Jim Page

was kind enough to alllow me to share the lyrics of one of his songs that I think accurately describes the situation:

When Johnny Comes Marching Home


when Johnny comes marching home again (X3)
we’ll all go out and welcome him
never mind the shape he’s in

we’ll ask him how the fighting went (X3)
and how he likes the president
casaulties are an accident

we’ll beat our drums and wave our flags (X3)
those great and grand and glorious rags
the ones they put on the body bags

and later on when the sickness comes (X3)
from chemicals and uranium
we’ll ring our hands and we’ll all play dumb

see the veterans who did their part (X3)
and came back home with a purple heart
walkin’ around with a shopping cart

where are the legs that used to run (X3)
before you went to carry a gun
I’m afraid your dancing days are done

you have no arm you have no leg (X3)
you’re an armless, legless, chickenless egg
they’ll have to put you out with a bowl to beg

we'll kill them and they’ll kill us back (X3)
they say it’s always been like that
all for the banker and his money sack

tip your hat and take a bow (X3)
get on with your life somehow
they’re taking your little brother now

© Jim Page, Seattle Songwriter

http://www.jimpage.net/collateraldamage.htm

Link to Jim Page, YouTube performance ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home’:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slt0Iq72MY8

[babylonsister]

8. Welcome to DU, and I posted that video w/lyrics in the video forum.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x18087

[niyad]

9. welcome to DU--and thank jim for sharing that song with us--a very accurate picture of our vets.

[w8liftinglady]

10. OMG ...what a great,sad song

[NanceGreggs]

13. Just a little late night kick ...

... for the morning crowd.


Great LTTE, great post -- wish I could recommend it more than once.

:kick:

[w8liftinglady]

14. Thanks,Nance!

[salin]

15. here is another article for you

from the Washington Post Sunday Magazine: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x265026 "Battle Worn". More on the downgrading of disability ratings from the Army. Long but heart wrenching read.