Veterans Get a Raw Deal From Politicians

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By Steve William Sanson

It has been extremely gratifying to be a Veteran of both the United States Marine Corps and Army. One of my goals in life is to promote veterans needs. I find it appalling that veterans are being used and pacified by our leaders.

Political rivals claim to be doing a good job for veterans, but in reality they hardly follow through with any real change for the veteran community. Veterans end up to be pacified by politicians yet at times perceive the political world as being genuine due to convincing rhetoric.

All Nevada Federal politicians claimed that they single handedly obtain money for a brand new Veterans Hospital. I went to a ceremony for a new Veterans Hospital in 2004 with US Representatives Senator John Ensign, Congresswoman Shelly Berkley, Congressman Jon Porter, then Congressman Jim Gibbons, and Former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi.

Two years later in 2006 I am at a Ground Breaking Ceremony joined by the list above and with US Representative Senator Harry Reid and newly appointed Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson.

All parties seemed to be proud of a 120 bed VA Hospital that is going to be completed in 2011, five years from now, with a population of 300,000 Veterans in Southern Nevada. Could you imagine what the population is going to be in five years?

We are going to out grow this hospital before it’s even built. Hotel Casinos could go up in 18 months with 4000 plus rooms, this I do not understand.

Okay, it takes time due to where the funding is coming from yet schools goes up within 6 months to a year.

Nevada Veterans have to go to California to receive treatments that clinics can not provide. According to our politicians its going to be another five years and let us not forget that Southern Nevada has been without a VA Hospital for several years already ever since the VA Hospital located on Martin Luther King Blvd. has been a Health and Welfare problem that was considered unsafe to occupy. The new VA Hospital is slated to be built in North Las Vegas North Pecos and the 215 Beltway.

At least 600,000 people in this country are homeless on any given night. VA estimates that more than a quarter million are veterans; of those, approximately 80 percent are disabled. Each year, half a million veterans find themselves without a home at some point.

"Many sick veterans are living on welfare and being denied proper psychological support and home care. The demand for VA services surrounding mental health and substance abuse is likely to increase very soon. Recent media reports indicate that rates of alcohol and other drug use are on the rise among those serving in Iraq."

"The Army's Surgeon General just issued the results of a survey finding that 30 percent of those returning from Iraq developed some mental health problem shortly after returning home."

This is a problem that is not a priority with our politicians.

I have had an opportunity to ask the tough questions to our United States Representatives: I served in Desert Storm stationed in Saudi Arabia and I witnessed first hand how our Jewish and Christian troops had to practice their religion in private (not to offend the Saudi Government). I asked both US Representative of Nevada Senator John Ensign and Congressman Jon Porter “why are our troops forced to hide their religion in a country that they are there to protect?” I never received a straight answer.

I asked US Representative Senator Harry Reid “why are our troops, the first line of defense, are the first group of people to have their disability benefits cut or denied and why does it take our troops 18-24 months to receive prosthetic limbs?” I never received a straight answer. I have always wanted to know “why our military servicemen and women are paying federal income taxes?” I personally believe that they should be exempt.

"Servicemen and women do not make enough money. Most servicemen and women are also qualified to receive welfare, what is wrong with this? Soldiers who served in World War 1 were paid $1 a day, plus a 25-cent stipend for every day spent overseas. In 1924, Congress passed a law calling for every veteran of The Great War to receive an additional dollar for every day served. But the payment was not due for 20 years."

Most politicians use veterans to get elected and they only seem to show service to veterans when it is an election cycle. Hardly any of our politicians know what its like to wear the uniform and watch their comrades die before their eyes.

The more I become involved in politics the more my eyes open to the disappointment of phony politicians, with a lot of talk yet little follow through. I believe that I need to help change politics and I need to bring forth the injustice that has seeped into our State and Country for a long time. Although I am one man, someone has to take a stand.

Where were the politicians in our last Nevada Veterans Day Parade? The only Politicians I saw were Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Wolfson.

At least former County Commissioner Lynette Boggs-McDonald has her Annual Veteran Appreciation Breakfast. What has our Politicians done to effect change with our Veteran Community?

I have received a number of phone calls from Las Vegas citizens, wanting to know what they can do to help out the troops.

My best suggestion is to go through the USO, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Veterans of Foreign Wars, or The Greater Las Vegas Marine Corps League. All of these organizations have programs to send “care packages” either overseas to the troops, or to provide aid to the families left behind.

If you have a computer, you can go online to any of the Military Exchange web sites, where they are accepting cash donations that will be given to the troops and their families in the form of gift certificates for use at the exchange.

Most of the local Veterans Service Organization Posts are standing by to assist any families in our area who could use help around the house, while the service member is deployed.

Never again, can we have our troops feel their efforts are not appreciated, and more so, unwanted, as our troops had to deal with upon returning from Vietnam.

This was a disservice not only to the military members returning, but also to the families of those who would never return.

It's easy for someone to buy a bumper-sticker to proclaim that we should "Support Our Troops." The reality of current government policies is far less than ideal, however.

Budget cuts for VA mental health and substance abuse programs, which date back to the Clinton Administration, should be reversed.

Veterans are now victims of identity theft because of the VA’s lack of security with their own system. Veterans are not prepared for the transition from Military to Civilian life.

Some Veterans are also facing court martial when they return home, civilians don’t understand war and I do not expect them to, but we should not treat our veterans as criminals and deny them of their constitutional rights.

My personal belief is that veterans risk their lives defending this great country, willing to do their job at any cost, even to the point of making the ultimate sacrifice. Veterans should receive the best benefits this country has to offer. It should not be a partisan issue.

This is a moral and ethical issue. When politicians misrepresent the truth and say it is too expensive to give veterans the benefits they deserve and earned, it is clearly time to reconsider whose welfare these politicians are representing, regardless of what party they belong to.


E-Mail: SteveWSanson@cs.com Phone: 702 283 8088
Website: www.VeteransInPolitics.com