Veteran Services Transparency

Veterans' Nightmare - A Betrayal of Trust

Is the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Committing Atrocities Against our Veterans?

• 1,000,000 veterans, are currently waiting for the VA to review their cases, many have been waiting for years.  And would you believe it, the VA is still telling many of them that “their records have been lost.” (Source of numbers: Veteran Affairs web-site)
  
  
• 508,152 (46%) of the veterans returning from Gulf War II have symptoms of Gulf War illness and have asked the VA for help.  By the VA’s own records, over 243,685 (48%) of these soldiers have possible mental disorders (including Post Tramatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)).  (Source of numbers; Analysis of VA Health Care Utilization Among US Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) Veterans, February 2010, pages 7, 11)
  
  
• 211,900 of the Gulf War II veterans are between the ages of 18 - 29.  These are bright, well trained young men and women, our sons and daughters, who are not being told when they enlist that there is a greater than 42% chance their futures will be destroyed or severely altered by Gulf War illness, including PTSD and TBI. (Source: February 2010 report - Veteran's Affairs)
  
  
• Of 133,057 potentially eligible disabled retirees, 28,283 were denied retroactive pay awards and 8,763 died waiting for their cases to be heard. (Source: Congressional Report reported in the ArmyTimes on July 21, 2008)
  
  
• The latest review of the Wounded Warrior Programs identified that over 100 young men in their 20s, diagnosed with PTSD and TBI, died suddenly. The cause - overdose of prescription drugs prescribed by the VA, "Medical Cocktails". These bright young men were not killed by the enemy on the battlefield, they were killed here at home, by VA incompetence. (Source: ArmyTimes)
  
  
• 175,000 Gulf War I veterans with serious and persistent health problems, Gulf War illness, have been waiting over 17 years for assistance from the VA. During this period the VA has denied applications over and over again, shredded records, hid unopened claims in storage, and actually altered original documents to fit the program of denial designed by the VA leadership. (Source of numbers: Page 17 - Gulf War Illness and Health of Gulf War Veterans - Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses)
  
  

THE NATION WHICH FORGETS ITS DEFENDERS WILL BE ITSELF FORGOTTEN.  (Attributed to Calvin Coolidge)