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WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US -- Veterans'
Advocate Jim Strickland: "We veterans are our
own
worst enemy. We bitch and piss and moan about
all the injustice but we refuse to
participate."
Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland
provides regular columns for
VA Watchdog dot Org.
If you would like to contact Jim about
his columns, you can email him here...
The archive of Jim's articles
is here...
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I hadn't ventured into an American Legion Post
since the mid 1980s. When I walked in to Post 184 in Thunderbolt,
Georgia last night I remembered why. The first impression was that of
stale beer and old cigarette smoke, a lot of old cigarette smoke. That
was unusual since Georgia has joined the 21st century and banned smoking
in most places where people congregate. Off to my right, at about 4:30
in the afternoon, the canteen was bustling with Veterans enjoying their
refreshing adult beverages.
I stopped in the gent's room to find those little "Hanoi Jane" targets
set in the urinals. They were cute as can be and representative of the
overall sophistication and dignity of the rest of the evening.
John Barrow (D) is in his second term as Georgia's 12th District
Congressman. I've had a pleasant exchange of letters with him regarding
the Veterans Right To Representation Bill. I was nicely surprised last
year when he listened to my concerns and signed on as a co-sponsor of
that piece of legislation. He earned my vote then and now he works for
me, my brothers and my sisters. He is currently touring his district,
holding town hall style meetings for Veterans and I was there to listen
to what my elected Congressional Representative had to say about
Veterans Affairs.
The crowd was small, maybe 40 or a few more people. That there were so
few was disappointing for a military community like Savannah.
We're host to the 3rd Infantry Division at Ft. Stewart and Hunter Army
Airfield sits in the center of the city. Nearby Beaufort, S.C. is home
to Parris Island where Marines have completed boot camp for decades.
There are tens of thousands of Veterans and military retirees living
here. I looked forward to a standing room only crowd since VA & DOD
scandals are all we hear of in the news media today (second only to
rumors that even more strange characters have claimed to have sired Anna
Nicole's baby).
Surely, Veterans would turn out to grill our Congressman about the
important issues that affect us all. Right? It's a shame that didn't
happen.
Barrow introduced himself and to his credit, gave a brief talk and
scored some quick points. He's obviously done his homework and seems
sincere when he says that Veterans are “nickel and dimed to death” in
their dealings with VA. His take on travel pay for Vets seeking health
care was particularly interesting. More on that in a minute.
Impressive was his willingness to say, “I don't know...” when confronted
with a comment that stumped him. A couple of Congressional Assistants
were busy taking plenty of notes and I believed him when he vowed to get
answers.
Our little soirée began on a positive note as the Q & A began. A Veteran
rose up and spoke to the inconveniences of trying to get appointments
with local primary care providers and the 2 hour plus travel time to our
VA Medical Center in Charleston, S.C. The Vet was well spoken and made
good points in favor of a plan to allow certain Vets with certain
conditions to use selected local civilian facilities. He made a lot of
sense. Representative Barrow commented positively and spoke to how he
would look at such a program and addressed both up and down sides of the
issue.
Excellent! I was feeling pretty good about using my time to participate
in what was going to be an exchange of ideas, information, facts and
opinions with a man who was in the position to affect all of our
futures. This was going to be great stuff even with such a small
turnout!
Soon after that a Vet began a long and rambling discourse of how he had
been mistreated by a C & P physician who sent him to get an x-ray. He
also seemed to believe that having to travel to Charleston for his exam
was a personal affront and one of the worst things that ever happened to
him. He was angry and emotional far beyond what I would have expected
for this minor bit of travel and I never did understand why getting an
x-ray became a major issue. All I got from this sermon was that he'd
filed for a disability benefit, received a C & P exam and was waiting
for adjudication...all pretty routine stuff.
He had no questions, he only wanted to tell us how bad he had it. Thus
began the overall downhill course of the next 90 minutes.
I listened to shouted nonsensical diatribes of how this country is "ruinated"
(“America is coming to an end! IT'S ALL OVER!!!”) and about the vast
conspiracy amongst the VA & DOD to intentionally lose records, screw
certain people out of their benefits and then "blackball" them forever.
There is “NO HOPE” for this country according to one of my brothers in
arms...we are apparently all doomed because of his denial of benefits by
VBA.
The "blackball" theory brought a lot of applause and "Oh yeah!" in a
boisterous display of support. BTW, the doctors are all in on it too and
if you've ever offended any one of them, the rest of them will blackball
you too. They apparently all know each other and have clandestine
double-secret meetings about us.
The really old guy was there. You know him. He's at all these meetings.
It's the same guy each time, I'm sure. He just travels around with his
ever patient, poor tired wife and by the time he's called upon to ask
his question, he's forgotten what it is but he isn't about to give up
his 15 minutes of fame. That stretches to at least 30 minutes and we
don't quite grasp any of what he's said. However, he's an Ancient
Warrior and he's allowed to speak uninterrupted as long as he likes.
Hey, at least he showed up.
I also learned that the St. Louis fire that destroyed all those records
was no accident. It was a vast government conspiracy to steal money and
benefits from Vets and all of those records are actually on microfiche
probably buried in a secret mountain somewhere. Our Veteran brother who
reported this knew that for a fact because he was once a government
employee and has met Mr. Robert McNamara, a fine fine man.
Conspiracy theories drew the most applause, rounded out by plenty of
hooting and hollering. Government incompetence and untrained and
uncaring doctors and other officials were popular themes. There was the
one fellow who stood and offered testament to how good his VHA care was
and that he owed his very life to the Veterans Health Administration. He
wasn't a crowd favorite and received some suspicious looks.
The meeting ended promptly at 7:00 PM. The group had thinned out
considerably by then. I had noticed a few had headed to the canteen.
By then I'd reached a couple of conclusions.
We Veterans are our own worst enemy. We bitch and piss and moan about
all the injustice but we refuse to participate. When we're given the
rare privilege to interact one to one with a Washington D.C. lawmaker, a
mover and shaker, we stay home in droves.
It seems that since John Barrow is young, relatively new to the job,
enthusiastic, smart and an avowed supporter of Veterans and their
causes, we Veterans make a decision, en masse, to ignore him. (There
must be a vast Veterans conspiracy afoot.)
We don't offer suggestions on how to fix anything. A dozen people stood
up last night to shout out personal issues of their dealings with the
Veterans Benefits Administration. Each one seemed to think that neither
Representative Barrow or any of the rest of us realized that the VBA is
not a user friendly agency.
Presumably we were supposed to be shocked (SHOCKED!!!) when we were told
that their claim had been waiting a year with no action. We listened to
intimate details of negative experiences and poor judgments by BVA as if
each one were a revelation. But there were no questions, no ideas to fix
the system...only the repetitive drone of the problems we already know
about.
Many of us refuse to learn how to use the health care system to our
advantage. I've never had an issue with getting an appointment, never
had to wait longer than I might have in a similar civilian facility,
never been treated with anything but the utmost respect by physicians
and I know exactly why. I use the system and I make it work for me.
There really weren't very many questions asked during our “Q & A” time
so Barrow wasn't afforded much opportunity to offer his answers. I had a
momentary vision of him hauling in a psychiatrist's couch to each of
these meetings and one by one we could lie down and spill our guts, pay
our nickel for the session and depart happy. Thankfully, that moment
passed rather quickly.
We Veterans won't learn the rules of the game. I would venture to say
that most attendees last night had never read a Veterans Benefits guide.
Veterans always seem surprised when they discover that there are strict
rules to the game. This fascinates me when they act as if there are no
rules at all on the civilian side of the coin.
When it finally becomes obvious to them that there are rules and
regulations, they decide that the regs don't apply to them in their
particular circumstance. When they're handed the required paperwork to
complete, rather than just doing so they'll go off about how unfair it
all is.
The thinking is always that if a task is inconvenient or doesn't suit
the mood of the moment, it should be ignored. Then, when the benefits
are denied or health care isn't scheduled correctly, it's the conspiracy
that's to blame, never the Veteran. It's much easier and more satisfying
to believe that your circumstances are always someone else's fault.
Personal responsibility and individual accountability don't apply to us.
I've also concluded that we Vets may have a good friend in
Representative John Barrow. I say “may” because he's as yet unproven.
Like most Americans, I've lost faith in politicians and my profound
distrust runs deep. He has a way to go to earn my respect and trust but
he's off to a good start.
Although he's not a Veteran, both his mother and father served. He's a
true Southerner with deep family ties to Georgia. I've forgiven him his
education as a Harvard trained lawyer...we all have our faults.
Congressman Barrow has been paying close attention to details about our
lives. He's introduced legislation (that recently made it through the
House) to increase our travel mileage reimbursement rate from the
current paltry 11¢ per mile to a whopping 48.5¢ per mile, the same that
federal employees presently receive for their travel. He's optimistic
that this will pass the Senate and become law.
While that may seem a small step in our favor, it's a step forward any
way it's seen. It's a lot more than most other Representatives are doing
for us and speaks loudly about his commitment to Veterans causes.
If you're a Veteran who doesn't vote, if you refuse to learn about your
benefits or how to use the system, if you don't take time to voice your
opinions clearly to Washington, if you aren't active to help other
Veterans, if working with your elected leaders is too much trouble for
you and if I've offended you, my task is complete.
If you're angry with me that I've pointed my finger directly at you for
not attending meetings with your Congressional Representatives and
working to make change rather than just making noise...great!
If you're one of those, it's time for you to get away from the couch and
make a difference. Making real change in our circumstances isn't going
to be easy. Like teaching an elephant to dance, you're going to have to
expend some blood, sweat and tears. You should also try to act smarter
than the elephant.
As a Veteran, you have an obligation, a deep and forever lasting
responsibility to do more than sit around on your ass moaning about how
bad you have it.
There are tens of thousands and more new Veterans joining our ranks
right now, today and into the future. They are as frightened and injured
and battle weary and confused as any one of us ever was. If you aren't
willing to rise up high on your hind legs to help these young Veterans
while you help yourself, then step aside, stand quietly at ease and let
us get by.
Lead, follow or get the hell out of our way.
Read more about Representative John Barrow here
http://savannahnow.com/node/258662 and here
http://barrow.house.gov
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Larry Scott --
