VETERANS HEALTH FROM THE 1974 ARMY ONWARD

Veterans health came to mind during boot camp at Fort Ord, California.

The gas chamber was on the schedule a few days after I was demoted from Platoon Guide, to Squad Leader, to regular army guy.

I takes a special soldier to get demoted in boot camp, and I was that guy.

It happened twice in one day, with a side benefit. But first . . .

The Army boot camp has two jobs:

Make big guys smaller.

Make small guys bigger.

I was a big guy, which made me a target.

They needed to break me, and it started with appointing me to leadership, then stripping it away a few weeks later.

I lost the job because my guys got hurt during an exercise and I pointed it out.

Apparently that’s not one of the steps on the ladder to Army success.

Was I disappointed at the failure?

Maybe I should have been, but I wasn’t. I stood up and got knocked down. What happens after that?

Stand up again, and again, and again.

I was better conditioned then most of the guys I was there with.

So I stood up again, and again, and again. But I never had to stand in the gas chamber.

Breaking Time

To show how far I’d fallen in rank, which at the time was E-2, I went from the penthouse to the outhouse.

The outhouse was Kitchen Patrol, or KP.

Ooooh the indignity.

Instead of training with the group I went to the mess hall.

They went to the gas chamber and puked; I spent the day with a snippy little Spec4 cook.

It seemed a fair trade at the time.

What isn’t a fair trade?

Veterans Health Fail 2022

The Army indoctrinates soldiers to shut up and follow orders.

You know, do what they’re told to do while staying prepared to do more.

Those guys are better soldiers than I was. I had too many questions.

One question I now have that I didn’t back then is about ‘toxic burn pits.’

“It’s a bill that allows us, the American people, to live up to the promises we make our active duty military when they come home with an injury, in this case toxic exposure,” Tester said. 

“In World War I it was mustard gas. Radiation in World War II. Of course, Agent Orange in the Vietnam War,” Tester said. “We’ve had toxic exposure over and over and over again. In the Middle East it’s burn pits.”

These are activities with lifetime repercussions of illness and death related to burn pits.

The spending bill for Veterans health didn’t make it through the Senate.

Men and women who proclaim their love for Americas fighting forces can’t quite justify helping them deal with their service related health problems.

Are health problems a big deal? Go ahead and ask your Grandpa or uncle about their health journey.

Buckle up because it’s a rough ride

It’s rougher for veterans watching dandified men fist bumping on the Senate floor after the vote.

“Yeah baby, sticking it to the libs all the way.”

Oddly enough the soft men deciding on healthcare for hard men don’t connect the dots. Some of them might be Republican voters who may switch sides.

Did they think about that during the celebration?

The families of men suffering exposure to toxic burn pits may change their votes to help their veterans.

I personally don’t need gas exposure to hurl, but the burn pit guys are doing more than puking their guts out.

They’re dying.

After getting orders to tend a toxic burn pit they did it instead of saying, “Go suck that poison in yourself you butter bar motherfucker.”

Why did they expose themselves to the toxins? Because they followed orders.

The Senators voting against the Veterans health bill, the PACT Act, are also following orders, but who’s giving them?

The legislation would expand eligibility for VA health care and benefits to 3.5 million veterans who were exposed to burn pits since 9/11. 

It would add 23 illnesses to the list of diagnoses the VA presumes are connected to military service, ending the need for veterans with those conditions to try to prove to the federal government it’s the result of time overseas. 

The measure would also expand health care and benefits for veterans exposed to Agent Orange, a chemical the U.S. military used during the Vietnam War. American Samoa, Cambodia, Guam, Johnston Atoll, Laos and Thailand would all be added to the list of locations where veterans are presumed to have been exposed to the chemical.

War is expensive, so is taking care of returning warriors.

They’ve already earned the Senate vote for expanding healthcare.

Why can’t the flag waving Senate recognize them in their time of need?