Appreciated by Their Nation
[posted by Callimachus]
What to say about the Washington Post's damning report on the wretched "care" doled out to our veterans?
I'm going to let Michelle Malkin speak for me here:
As someone with more veterans than money in the family, I've had chances to see the inside of VA hospitals over the years. You get numb to it after a while, but you never stop wanting it to be better. But, as Malkin points out, it's been a problem for a long time before the WaPo decided it suited them to notice it. Still, good for everyopne else who work up because of this.
Michelle Malkin speaks for me? Why not. I chose her in part to quash the idiotic idea that people who support the war don't want to dip deep in the national pocket to take care of the veterans. If you read her piece, she's been on this sort of story well before now. Ditto a great many other pro-Iraq blogs I read.
What to say about the Washington Post's damning report on the wretched "care" doled out to our veterans?
I'm going to let Michelle Malkin speak for me here:
Good. The mess at the VA and in the military health care sysm is systemic and complicated. Political grandstanding on both sides of the political aisle has impeded reforms for years. The push to modernize and consolidate facilities, including Walter Reed, has been met with fierce resistance--exacerbated by bureaucratic edifice complex. That these failures to prioritize continue in war time unabated is damnable. Any light shone on the soldiers' toll, whatever the motivations and prejudices of the WaPo reporters might be, is welcome, IMO.
Vets often attribute this quote to George Washington when recounting their nightmares with the VA:
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation."
We can always do better. We must do better.
As someone with more veterans than money in the family, I've had chances to see the inside of VA hospitals over the years. You get numb to it after a while, but you never stop wanting it to be better. But, as Malkin points out, it's been a problem for a long time before the WaPo decided it suited them to notice it. Still, good for everyopne else who work up because of this.
Michelle Malkin speaks for me? Why not. I chose her in part to quash the idiotic idea that people who support the war don't want to dip deep in the national pocket to take care of the veterans. If you read her piece, she's been on this sort of story well before now. Ditto a great many other pro-Iraq blogs I read.
