Saturday, November 17, 2007

Just unbelievable

If you are a badly wounded soldier, you will most likely get excellent medical care in a military facility but you better watch out when the VA comes to assess your disability after discharge.

Consider Garrett Anderson
Garrett Anderson with the Illinois National Guard, for example, has been fighting the VA since October 15, 2005. Shrapnel tore through his head and body after a roadside bomb blew up the truck he was driving. He lost his right arm.

The VA initially rejected his claim, saying his severe shrapnel wounds were "not service connected."
No doubt it was the Shrapnel Fairy that took his arm from under his pillow.




But even if there was even the slightest Dick Cheneian 1% justification for what the VA did to Ty Ziegel, you would have to have a heart and soul as blackened and shriveled as Dick Cheney himself to do it.
He lost part of his skull in the blast and part of his brain was damaged. Half of his left arm was amputated and some of the fingers were blown off his right hand.

Once he got out of the hospital, he was unable to hold a job. He anticipated receiving a monthly VA disability check sufficient to cover his small-town lifestyle in Washington, Illinois.

Instead, he got a check for far less than expected. After pressing for answers, Ziegel finally received a letter from the VA that rated his injuries: 80 percent for facial disfigurement, 60 percent for left arm amputation, a mere 10 percent for head trauma and nothing for his left lobe brain injury, right eye blindness and jaw fracture.



Remember the stories of these two, and others, the next time George W Bush vetos a Veterans Bill.

Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]





<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]