Veteran Medical Benefits

It has come to my attention that there is a plan to change health care benefits for military veterans. While companies routinely shed health care costs by reducing coverage and increasing employee contributions, this same logic should not be applied to servicemen and women. Heath care benefits represent a much larger portion of their compensation after serving their country on active duty.

Our country is asking troops to go to Iraq and fight a war, lose a limb or even die, but when they return home either to retire or continue active duty, it is saying to each service member and veteran, "We used you, and now we dont need you."

How is it that this country can give billions of dollars to other countries and not appropriate enough money in the fiscal budget to support the health care of those who have sacrificed so much for the freedom of this country?

We have given our blood, sweat and tears for this nation, and the thanks we get is, "Yes, we told you that you would get free (or affordable) health care, but Id rather give that money to the defense contractors in my home district." When I signed on, we were told wed get "free health care for life" when we retired. Then, when I retired after 22 years, we were asked to pay about $500 a year for "enhanced" health care. Now, theyre attempting to triple our current monthly costs in addition to transferring the medical mission back to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The vets who visit VA centers (including myself) are not going to get the quality of health care they deserve when an additional 6 million folks are dumped into existing centers that are expected to operate business as usual.

I hold the President, Congress and most of all, the senior leadership in the military accountable for not standing up to the politicians who think of ways to take more and more from the ones who gave the most but got little in return.

If Washington doesnt change its thoughts about veterans soon, there wont be any more veterans because no one will volunteer. Dont expect veterans to encourage the younger generation to make the military a career. The young people of today arent stupid; they watch how the government treats its service members. I have two children both on active duty. Why would I recommend that they stay in?

When politicians talk about the military, its about the fancy tanks or that pretty airplane or a social experiment. Throughout the history of warfare, no weapon has ever won a war. It was the grunt in the mud in a foreign land, the sailor standing watch on a cold sea, and the airman working on a ramp in the desert heat.

I urge you to reconsider these plans to pass additional health care costs on to this country's veterans. In more fundamental terms, I urge you to honor your commitments to those who honored theirs.

If you agree and support this, please forward to others. More importantly I'd ask that you write your elected officials. You can find your individual state representative by going to http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm and http://www.house.gov/writerep/