As I was reading through the archives of VA News and I found an article about 3 widows who sued the VA for survivor’s benefits that were unlawfully withheld since Dec. 16, 2003. I wondered if it was a coincidence that the VA is now looking for tens-of-thousands of widows that they withheld money from.

My conclusion, hell no it's not a coincidence the VA was finally ordered to give back the money that they stole from the nearly 600,000 widows and widowers of soldiers killed in action. Here is a copy of what was posted in the February 19th, 2008 edition of the VA News:

8.    Judge Says Military Widows Can Sue For Denied Survivor Pay.  
The Biloxi (MS) Sun Herald (2/19) reports U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge George W. Miller "has given a green light to three military widows to sue the government for a combined $105,000 – the accumulated value of Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) payments that, the widows contend, have been unlawfully withheld since Dec. 16, 2003." If the widows "win their case, hundreds of surviving spouses in the same category could be in line for hefty SBP repayments too." That category includes "surviving spouses who remarried at 57 or older and who have had their SBP cut or wiped out by their decision to accept dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) from the Department of Veterans Affairs."

I have been asked several times what I think about the appointment of Gen. Shinseki as VA Secretary and my answer is; in this case it is not the secretary who is the problem - it is the VA system as a whole that is broken. The secretary is being told what he will be getting (which is grossly inadequate), instead he should be asked what he needs. Except for a few stupid comments, Lt. Gen. Peake was a good VA secretary, yet we still saw paperwork being shredded, widows being ripped off, major VA hospitals in deplorable conditions, and a back-log of claims grow to nearly 1 million. 

I am sure Gen. Shinseki will do a great job but I am also sure that we will be reading and hearing more stories like the ones we have this year. There is a reason why veterans would rather be homeless than go to the VA for help - who wants to be treated like crap especially when we are swollowing our pride and asking for help, help that was promissed us when we finished our service.

The VA is supposed to have at least 3% of it's staff comprised of veterans and they have less. So General start by hiring more veterans! Sometimes I think the VA does all they can to keep veterans from the help and services the VA offers. They just lifted a 40+ year ban on advertising.

Bottom Line: A rose by any other name is still a rose - well the same goes for a pile of horse bleep!