Chan Lowe cartoon: The VA drops the ball
Our politicians are fond of sanctimoniously invoking the bravery and heroism of our troops in the field.
Being pols, they hope some of the sheen from the achievements of others will rub off on them.
Some of the same people who are quick to accuse others of "abandoning our troops" when war budgets are questioned have often been oddly silent regarding expending funds to fulfill our obligations to our warriors.
Once they come home from battle wounded, damaged, and/or with a duffel bag full of promises made to them when they signed up, their usefulness to our lawmakers as props seems to diminish.
The string of revelations about our mistreatment of vets, including the Walter Reed scandal and untold other embarrassments, shame this country. Now we find that the V.A., thanks to bureaucratic overload, is unable to process payments in a timely manner to our veterans-turned-students. They are having to beg and rely on the generosity of others to extend credit to them while they await the arrival of what is rightfully theirs. More money could solve this.
The truly infuriating part of this is that the cost of a couple of F-22 Raptors we don't need would probably cover the shortfall with ease.
CHAN LOWE has been the Sun Sentinel’s first and only editorial cartoonist for the past twenty-six years. Before that, he worked as cartoonist and writer for the Oklahoma City Times and the Shawnee (OK) News-Star.
Comments
LOL...the military is renown for not paying up.
I remember my days of begging them to actually deposit my pay into my account while I was stationed away so my wife could buy groceries and eat and our bills could get paid.
I also remember getting hit by a collection agency because after I was discharged they "misplaced paperwork" and continued charging me for SGLI for a year.
When you go to boot one of the first things you hear from your drill instructors is "your recruiter lied to you." And the lying never stops.
Posted by: OJS | September 25, 2009 4:15 PM
And yet you want the same government that can't run health care for our valiant veterans to try and run health care for the whole country. Sounds like a bit of hypocrosy
Posted by: mark | September 25, 2009 7:41 PM
I am actually trying now to get my GI Bill in order for use. I at least received a letter expressing my request has been received and pending, of course that was 2 months ago and I missed signing up for class since I didn't receive a response in time. But low and behold if I have to pay the military back for too much pay, either all at once or payments that require me to use food stamps. This Government really know how to handle things
Posted by: DevlDg | September 26, 2009 7:12 PM
My daughter is a disabled veteran trying to get back on her feet, as others are trying also. She applied for tuition benefits with the VA. She can't choose the school she goes to; the VA does. Although she lives in South Broward, the VA make her go to college in soutth Palm Beach county. her benefits and supplies checks are almost always late. Her PC broke down but the VA will not help in the repair ofr purchase of a new one. If she needs a PC, like to to react to all the emails she gets from the university, the VA expects her to drive to south Palm Beach to use one. When she joined the military I really felt proud. Now I wish she had never served this country.
Posted by: Roberto | September 26, 2009 10:12 PM
Actually it's not whether you are American or not, as you pretend to be the best country in the world! It's about being rich or not. Poor people no matter where they live or what they call themselves will always get f-cked one way or the other.
Your governments rather spend money on killing than on the still living and are proud of it; because every other government is deemed to be communists...
Posted by: makelle | September 27, 2009 6:47 AM