I know, I'm getting a picture in my head of a collective, once again, American Civilian Population Yawn, with a "but sex sells" especially taking place at the top and the media reporters salivate over the stories, can't get enough and many even inject their own spin to make juicier while not having a lick of inside information to back those up.
We've been hearing for these past years, and related to the Veterans of these two wars, the continued backlog of claims as, once again, the soldier comes home and joins our community of past military veterans, especially our war and occupation theater vets, only to once again, for far too many, be placed on long holds or even denied their much needed veterans care which is the responsibility from the whole country served.
And who gets the blame for the growing backlogs why the peoples responsibility the decades long under funded, while we wage wars, Veterans Administration and in the last four years the Obama Administration. Just watch or listen to a Veterans Affairs Committee Hearing, Senate or House, or read/listen to the media reports. In the Committee's they'll usually open with lines from the peoples representatives, if those testifying are from the VA, something like "we are here today to find out how we can help you", only to quickly go on the attack when in question and answer mode often not even letting answers be heard, especially if they've got so called conservative leanings, at those testifying. It's a long running tactic, make the agencies constantly look as bad as possible, keep under funded so problems arise, so the privatization of looks better and better, never once comparing in their attacks to the similar in the private sector.
ProPublica did another stellar report not long back, like put to print only a couple of days before the, but for a few, American public waved their flags for this years Veterans Day.
This is from their sidebar notes on this report:
Nov. 9, 2012 - Over the last decade, millions of military field records from Iraq and Afghanistan have been lost or destroyed, making it difficult for some soldiers to prove their combat experiences and obtain medical benefits or other veteran awards and services. Our reporting found a few reasons behind the problem:System failure: In a string of critical reports, historians said Army units were losing their own history by failing to keep adequate field records. The U.S. military began relying on computer records during the Gulf War, introducing major gaps in recordkeeping as the old-style paper system fell apart. The Army then introduced a centralized system for collecting electronic field reports, but units have failed to submit records there.
Security concerns: Some military commanders ordered units to purge computer hard drives before redeploying to the United States, destroying any classified field records they contained.
Leadership: Disagreements among military officials have also led to lack of coordination in record-keeping. “The Army would say it’s Centcom’s responsibility... Centcom would say it’s an Army responsibility,” said one Archivist. Recordkeeping took a backseat to wartime demands: “Something just had to fall off the plate, there was so much going on,” a former Centcom records manager said. read the report>>>
Thing is the media that has reported on this report, very very few what with the sex and well ya know, are doing the tepublicans work and laying blame at the doorstep of the Veterans Administration, even Rachel Maddow in a report last night, 12 November 2012, seemed to be calling for Obama to change the Agency leadership and get rid of Gen Shinseki. Who is Actually, along with the Administration it's Cabinet and those around Finally getting things done, some accomplished finally in the 110th and 111th Congress, even while the Country still has not stepped up and Demanded they Sacrifice as to the results of these two wars, a decade plus added to the previous decades. I sent Rachel an e-mail this morning probably to be ignored as were comments I posted on her shows blog about when she reports on the lack of a 'National Welcome Home Parade'. I know she means well but she's got it all wrong. Did point out to her that since going on a national outlet TV show she's entered a much higher income and thus one of the much lower tax burdens of that compensation, meaning she isn't giving her fair share as to the results of these wars, like everyone else at those levels and above but even the lower income levels many of which supported, again, these wars.
The ProPublica report was brought to the TV media last night, not on a National Cable outlet but once again the peoples outlet the PBS NewsHour.
SUMMARY"History is the last thing we care about during war, and the last thing we think about when we get home," says ProPublica's Peter Sleeth, who talks to Jeffrey Brown about the challenges facing veterans who need access to benefits but whose records have been wiped out. Transcript>>>Watch Veterans Face Benefits Battle When Field Records Are Lost on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
My reaction since the report first surfaced is one question about this is what were the bush administration and DoD of, as well as possibly many in congress rubber stamping these wars, trying to further hide from not only the present eyes of actual investigative journalist and thus the people but also the historians, that didn't come out publicly already and to their great displeasure as they created even more hatreds towards us and not just what our government does 'In Our Names' but we don't know about till years later, if at all!!
Another is, were these records being actually kept by Military personal or the many no bid civilian contractors, doing or looking over the military personals shoulders, that that administration embedded, at extremely high cost all rubber stamped and borrowed off the books till the present administration and all still being added daily to the deficit that started rising Before 9/11, as they tied to privatize for even greater returns these wars, or at least as much as they could get away with!
Even Democracy Now carried the conservative memes and blame.
Called "Accuracy isn’t priority as VA battles disability claims backlog," the report reveals how thousands of veterans have been denied disability benefits as a result of errors by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
President Obama, while also taking the heat on this even though he actually got a big boost to the VA budget even with the obstructionist wanting to cut and still are, mentioned the backlog at Arlington on Veterans Day.
And low and behold the political slam, passed from one media outlet through another:
For example, as reported by the Washington Post the administration has made it easier for veterans to file claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs, but the backlog of pending disability claims has more than doubled since Obama took office in 2009.
My bolding.
Nobody looks in the mirror and says "hey wait a minute, we've had two more wars, we've asked our Military and their Families to Sacrifice for over a decade now and we haven't Sacrificed a Dime that whole time", nor anything else.
The under funding has gone on for decades, along with ignoring what veterans of our previous war and occupation theaters were saying, which creates problems which in turn causes costs to fix much much more then if the Agency was kept up to the times with only needing the normal maintenance in all area's of plus any added advanced technologies, i.e. one area record keeping with modern and up to date now computers and already built programs.
What this report from ProPublica points to is a whole nother layer, and a huge scandal not only for the veterans but the historians, of why there is a growing backlog as one war was ended and the other main missions of are winding down with more coming home and more joining the veterans ranks, and it started as these wars did and continued along same!
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