Who ARE We?

by SixofNine 22 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  SixofNine

  According to our VA, this young man does not deserve 100% disability:

  
  
  http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/11/15/wounded.marine/ind...
  
  More than 28,500 troops have been wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom, including about 8,500 that have needed air transport, according to the U.S. military.
  
  A recent Harvard study found that the cost of caring for those wounded over the course of their lifetime could ultimately cost more than $660 billion.
  
  In Ziegel's case, he spent nearly two years recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. Once he got out of the hospital, he was unable to hold a job. He anticipated receiving a monthly VA disability check sufficient to cover his small-town lifestyle in Washington, Illinois.
  
  Instead, he got a check for far less than expected. After pressing for answers, Ziegel finally received a letter from the VA that rated his injuries: 80 percent for facial disfigurement, 60 percent for left arm amputation, a mere 10 percent for head trauma and nothing for his left lobe brain injury, right eye blindness and jaw fracture.
• 

  dinah

  There are many more vets out there in the same situation. This soldier's wounds are visible, I wonder how many will be mentally disabled when they return home?

  It's deplorable that the government counts on these men to fight their political battles, then completely turns its back on them. Also, VA hospitals are notorious for providing sub-standard care.
• 

  restrangled

  This makes me so angry!!!!!!!!!!!!!! r.
• 

  zack

  It's shameful. They can't help this poor guy but I bet they'd spend millions to help a fetus, right? Or maybe an embryo?
• 

  purplesofa

  The story is on CNN now.

  Amazing that he is not bitter. He has a model of his skull........holding it up with his arm that is particially amputated, showing how much of his brain that got blown away. The entire top of his skull is gone.

  Amazingly, he encouraged his brother, to join.

  Americans are outraged over this as they should be.

  Thanks for posting.

  purps
• 

  SixofNine

  This soldier's wounds are visible, I wonder how many will be mentally disabled when they return home?

  Yes, this is another disgusting thing happening. Army psychologist are apparently conspiring with Army commanders to discharge men who are clearly suffering from combat related mental problems (in most cases likely PTSD) by labeling them as misfits who've been bad-apples all along.

  The commander gets the man out of his unit immediately (as opposed to the process taking weeks or months of evaluation). The traumatized soldier is forced to go home w/o getting any medical help, or any disability pay, and with a smear on his record.
• 

  eclipse
• 

  hillary_step

  Six,

  I cannot help but feel that the US political system these days is merely a "Western Front"*, full of bluster and bragging but lacking in any substance. Looking at the Deomocratic hopefuls "debates" I cannot help thinking that the average American can only understand politics that are packaged and sold like hamburgers, two for the price of one.

  Get out on your streets and change your world Americans. People have power. Solidarnosc !

  HS

  * - By "Western Front" I am alluding to the filmakers lingo. The buildings seen in the old Westerns were merely superficial. Just enough of the building was built to fool the cameras. A little like the marketing frenzy which follows US politicians like scum on a pond.
• 

  R.Crusoe

  He stood with his life for men who sent him there! He paid with the rest of his life massively impaired and reduced in terms of quality of life. The men who sent him would never stand in his place. It is their remit to ensure his quality of life is securely maximized. It is of no personal loss to them to grant him financial/medical support and morally they should feel obliged to do all they can to support those who stood with their lives in their stead and took the damage directly for so doing. It is surprising to me that he is not an obvious automatic qualifier for aid. Imagine how many with less severe conditions who are given the big push. And imagine how you will feel being treated that way after you were told to put your life in their hands and simply did as required. It is why many people will wonder why they stood up for something that let them down but moreso when the rest of their life will be a constant reminder. It is always surprising how high up people will get you to dedicate your life to their wishes and then drop you when you are done with much less personal sacrifice to them!
• 

  SixofNine

  I cannot help but feel that the US political system these days is merely a "Western Front"*, full of bluster and bragging but lacking in any substance. Looking at the Deomocratic hopefuls "debates" I cannot help thinking that the average American can only understand politics that are packaged and sold like hamburgers, two for the price of one.

  We have people of real substance to chose from this time, but you might not know it just from watching the TV "news" or the "debates". You are right, HS, and there has been a devestating conspiracy between we-the-people, and the mainstream media to dumb down the debate, and, it follows, the country. I'll put the majority of the blame on the media; Keith Olberman is proving that Edward R. Murrow was not a fluke; people can and will pay attention to substance. Money and the power it brings has been allowed to corrupt journalism.

  Get out on your streets and change your world Americans. People have power. Solidarnosc !

  Absolutely. This is what is missing in America. The idea of standing on the corner somewhere with a sign asking other people to think, is, well, foreign to most Americans. Americans hate Congress, the Peoples representation in government, because they see it as do-nothing. But the People are, unfortunately, even more do-nothing. What do they expect from their representatives?

  Europe still understands this. Americans (and Canadians for that matter) had better learn it.