NVF News This Week

I encourage you to check out this week’s edition of the National Veterans Foundation’s eNews.  Topics addressed this issue include the potential troop recalls that could happen as a result of President Obama’s announcement of the 30,000 troop surge that will take place in Afghanistan in early 2010 and the ongoing health fallout of Vietnam War Agent Orange exposure to both U.S. and Vietnamese citizens.

We see more and more of the blowback of the lack of transitional services for Veterans of the current wars.  There are increasing numbers of Vets with PTSD, more getting into legal trouble, more suffering from unemployment.  The cautionary tale of the unforeseen future implications of war being seen with the Agent Orange issue should be heeded for Veterans of both wars.  Our society and our government cannot afford to stick their collective heads in the sand about the effects this violence will have for generations to come. 

A World War II Veteran in a Battle with the VA

I received a copy of an email this week from Willy Holtzman, the son of Donald Holtzman, a World War II Veteran who is in a claims fight with the Veteran Benefits Administration. They have applied for Assisted Living Benefits to keep Donald out of a nursing home during his final days. 

The VA is holding up the claim of this 84-year-old decorated Veteran of the Battle of the Bulge.  They claim that they cannot verify his service, despite his family producing a copy of his discharge papers from 1946.  The reason the VBA cannot find his service records is because they were destroyed in fire at the regional record center in St. Louis thirty years ago along with those of millions of other veterans, though no fault of Donald Holtzman. 

“The horrible irony is that 65 years ago…Donald was fighting in the bloodiest battle in American history at the Battle of the Bulge,” wrote Willy.  “ It's a disgrace to think that even as our government commits 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan, the VA is essentially running out the clock on a decorated combat veteran who, as you well know, has endured the effects of PTSD his entire adult life.

The VBA has placed an arbitrary deadline of December 23rd on the claim, and if the family has not produced additional documentation by then, the claim will be denied.

Less Than One Percent of Americans Are Fighting this War. 

I would also like to point you towards an editorial that was in the New York Times this week by Bob Herbert.  The piece brings up a major point in discussing our current wars—that with this all-volunteer military, less than one percent of the U.S. population is being asked to fight in this fight, and these men and women are being sent into battle repeatedly.   In addition, these service members and their children are the ones paying the price of this conflict without much tangible support from the rest of America. 

Herbert writes, “The air is filled with obsessive self-satisfied rhetoric about supporting the troops, giving them everything they need and not letting them down. But that rhetoric is as hollow as a jazzman’s drum because the overwhelming majority of Americans have no desire at all to share in the sacrifices that the service members and their families are making. Most Americans do not want to serve in the wars, do not want to give up their precious time to do volunteer work that would aid the nation’s warriors and their families, do not even want to fork over the taxes that are needed to pay for the wars.

To say that this is a national disgrace is to wallow in the shallowest understatement. The nation will always give lip-service to support for the troops, but for the most part Americans do not really care about the men and women we so blithely ship off to war, and the families they leave behind.”

As we enter this season of giving, I challenge you to find concrete ways to support our troops and Veterans to show them you appreciate their sacrifice.