Our Veterans Deserve Better

Could the VA just be overwhelmed with the high number of Veterans needing their assistance that is causing so many slip through the cracks? Or is it a result of something else? Not very easily answered questions I'm sure, but some where along the way we sure seem to be failing our Veterans and something needs to be done to fix it and fix it NOW!

The other day I was talking with a friend who happens to be a Brother Veteran and he was telling me about his son who had also served and about a year ago he became one of the "22" that took their own life due to PTSD issues. This young man had tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a part of a 6-Man Seal Team. Only one remains alive, all others met the same fate as my friend's son.

During the conversation I learned that the young man had hopes of one day working with the VA and helping other Veterans with their struggles, as he had seen his own Father have his own issues with them over the years. My friend made the comment that he personally felt that the VA has become completely overwhelmed. He used the following example, if a Veteran has an appointment and actually makes it to it and is seen, then everything seems to be fine, for the most part. But if that Veteran misses the appointment for whatever reasons, then there is usually no attempt by the VA to contact that Veteran to check up on them and find out if they are okay. That part kind of stuck in my mind. I've got two nephews that served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. One is out and he is a Mental Health Counselor, working with civilians and Veterans. The other is still serving but is now stateside. I think at how easily it could be one of them that could be one of those "22".

I've seen story after story of other Veterans at some VA facilities that have numerous problems with that particular one. And then I've seen where other Veterans are saying that they've had few or no issues at the VA facilities they use. There was an article in Stars and Stripes dated October 3, 2018 titled VA releases 2018 performance for its hospitals (Click the link to read article). The article reports that out of the 146 hospitals, 9 received the lowest possible rating but did say that the number was down from 14 in 2017. 18 hospitals received the highest possible rating.

Over the last few years I have become more active in trying to support my Brothers and Sisters that have served. In June of 2016 I made a short video about PTSD Awareness (Click link to view video).

While there certainly needs to be greater improvements within the VA and other government agencies that support our Veterans, there are numerous private, some of which are non-profit, organizations that are stepping in and stepping up to give that support those Veterans so rightly deserve.