Veterans

Veterans:

I have close friends that are missing limbs. I have buddies with holes in their bodies. Many have serious injuries sustained both in combat and in training. The way we treat people who have literally sacrificed the best years of their lives to defend this country is despicable. Concurrent receipt rules have to be the most unfair of any burdens placed on our veterans. How can you take away a portion of a veteran's retirement just because he was wounded or injured, to offset his disability payment? That is unethical and needs to stop. There should be no connection between disability and retirement pay. The policy of concurrent receipt must end, completely.

The VA needs to be converted from a discretionary funding line to a mandatory funding line in the Federal Budget and be fully funded so no vet has to suffer due to a lack of funding or a budget cut. This is actually very simple to do and should be based on the number of eligible veterans. Simple math based on the averaged annual costs of providing care for one veteran will simply be multiplied by the number of vets and then indexed for inflation. This way, as the number of vets increases, like it does during wartime, the funding to the VA will go up. As the number of vets decreases, the funding will go down. The process and moral principle of this approach is so simple that it's appalling it has yet to be done. Vets have, by their nature, been quiet and humble when it comes to their needs. Congress has taken advantage of these gracious men and women who have sacrificed their health for our country for far too long and it needs to stop.

Veterans have demonstrated a service to their country that, in my opinion, has no bounds. Yet we mandate funding for those that have done little for our country while neglecting those that have given a lot; again this is simply not fair and should be corrected.

In my opinion there is no "repayment" measurable for their sacrifice, the least our country can do is ensure they are well taken care of when they come home.

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