VOICES

Here you will find a place for members to post Op Eds, columns, articles and short stories.  Please stop by often and see what has been added.  Take a few moments to read one or two and hear what our members have to say.

**Although our members have opinions regarding current events, our intent is to support the United States military rather than denounce it. We have no illusion that the performance of our military or our nation’s leaders are flawless, but we feel strongly that there are more than enough existing venues for criticizing them. We do not wish to become another one. Consequently, we make efforts to avoid publishing material that we find to be primarily critical in nature.

STORM LAKE PILOT TRIBUNE COLUMN FOR AUG. 21:

Veterans Need Better Care

By Jeannie Claire

I'm currently editing a military historical book written by a Vietnam War veteran about the legacy of 188th Black Widows, a Huey helicopter assault squadron. As a token of appreciation for this effort to help preserve their history, I was made an honorary member of the 188th Black Widow Squadron at their reunion last summer in California. I am proud to admit that the Black Widow veterans and I have truly formed a respectful and long-lasting bond.

My husband and I have also spent a lot of time mixing and mingling with veterans of World War II and the Korean War while working to restore an A-26 Invader military aircraft that was used in combat during both of these wars. Not being able to make the track from California to Iowa with my husband and I, the restored A-26 Invader now rests peacefully on display at the Pacific Coast Air Museum in Santa Rosa, Calif.

I have long been interested in military history and worry about what happens to veterans once they complete their war duty. A common concern among veterans is lack of adequate medical and mental health care. Truly more must be done to help those who have risked so much of their lives for their country.

The Veteran's Affair's motto, taken from Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, is "to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphan." The VA is not living up to its motto or its obligation to care for our disabled veterans.

Iowa's Sen. Tom Harkin, who is a veteran and a co-sponsor of the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act, recently said: "We heard from our veterans and service members and have seen enough national news reports to know that the men and women who have served our country often face neglect and poor treatment when they are trying to obtain medical care."

I agree with Harkin. I believe our government has a sacred, moral contract with those who have fought for our country and sacrificed so much. We need to work toward giving our veterans and active duty military the care they deserve.

Instead proper medical and mental health care of veterans is under question. On July 23, the U.S. Veterans Affairs was accused in a lawsuit of "shameful failures" in providing medical and mental health care to injured troops returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"At a time when troops remain in harm's way in both Iraq and Afghanistan, veterans have ... been exposed to a system wide pattern of abusive and illegal administrative processes," the 73-page lawsuit says. The class-action lawsuit is on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans. Veterans entitled to benefits under U.S. law are being violated by the VA, according to the lawsuit.

Plaintiffs are two veterans' groups, Veterans for Common Sense based in Washington, D.C. and Veterans for United Truth based in Santa Barbara, Calif. The plaintiffs assert that the procedures the VA uses to handle claims violate the veterans' constitutional rights to due process of law under the Fifth Amendment, and their rights to petition for redress guaranteed by the First Amendment.

"Because of those failures, hundreds of thousands of men and women who have suffered grievous injuries fighting in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are being abandoned," the complaint states.

If the complaint is valid, this is disgraceful. Furthermore, a revelation found in a recent study by the University of California and the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center determined the prevalence of medical and mental problems among veterans threatens "to bring the war back home as a costly personal and public health burden."

Unless systemic and drastic measures are instituted immediately, the cost to veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, their families, and our nation will be incalculable. This impact includes broken families, a new generation of unemployed and homeless veterans, increases in alcoholism and drug abuse, and crushing burdens on the health care delivery system and other social services in our communities.

Jeannie Claire, Albert City, has been a journalist for more than 18 years and is the author of two books