By JENNIFER TALHELM, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
(09-20) 18:17 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
The government used prewar data to estimate the cost of caring
for veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, contributing to a $3 billion
budget shortfall at the Veterans Affairs Department since 2005,
congressional investigators say.
The department used "unrealistic assumptions, errors in estimation
and insufficient data" to project its budget, the Government
Accountability Office said in a report Wednesday.
Investigators also said the VA failed to estimate correctly the
costs for these war veterans partly because the agency could not
get accurate information from the Defense Department.
In addition, the VA agency failed to tell Congress in a timely
way that it was struggling to meet its expenses. The problems
led officials to make requests for an extra $3 billion last year,
according to the GAO.
Department officials said they agreed with the findings and were
working to improve. Secretary Jim Nicholson said in a statement
that the VA uses "highly reliable actuarial projections of
health care demand" but that the agency continues to "refine"
its modeling.
"The bottom line is to provide the leading-edge health care
and benefits that our veterans deserve," he said.
Democrats, who requested the report, used it to criticize the
Bush administration for what they said was inadequate care of
veterans from the two wars. The VA will receive about $31.5 billion
to provide health care for about 5.4 million patients this year.
The report is "a stunning indictment of this administration's
commitment to our troops," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
Democrats urged Nicholson to provide an accurate plan for how
it will meet veterans' needs in the future.
"We should not be running a VA system that is going to be
short on the funding for health care," said Sen. Ken Salazar,
D-Colo.
House Democrats began circulating a letter to President Bush asking
that he "fully fund" the VA so it will not have to rely
on "accounting gimmicks" and "inaccurate health
care projections" when developing its budget.
Investigators said the VA knew 2005 would be a tight budget year
and attempted to manage the expenses and cut costs. But officials
were overly optimistic — and sometimes plain wrong —
about how effective the changes could be, the GAO found.
One plan called for the VA to reduce the average daily patient
workload in its nursing homes. But the proposal would have required
the agency to cut staff and discharge or transfer in a short time
potentially thousands of veterans with severe, chronic physical
or mental disabilities.
The plan also would have forced the veterans to dip into Medicaid,
private insurance or their own savings to pay for care, the GAO
found.
Instead, in June 2005, with three months left in the budget year,
the administration requested an extra $975 million from Congress
to meet its expenses. That included $273 million for Iraq and
Afghanistan veterans.
A month later, the administration asked for an additional $1.977
billion for the 2006 budget year.
In response, Congress required the VA to provide quarterly status
reports. But the GAO review found the agency has omitted important
information from the reports about the cost to treat patients.
The agency has since worked to improve its estimates and its coordination
with Congress and the administration's budget office, according
to the GAO.
I was arrested in the U.S. Capitol minutes before the State of
the Union address last week for wearing a T-shirt that pointed
out how many Americans, like my son, Casey, have been killed in
Iraq. The T-shirt simply said: "2,245 Dead. How Many More?"
During the address, President Bush uttered the word "freedom"
17 times, saying that was what our troops were fighting in Iraq
to defend. At a minimum, you'd think we would all have the freedom
to express ourselves through slogans on a T-shirt. Is this what
my son died for? Is this theft of our precious freedom of speech
the "noble cause" that Bush told us our soldiers are
fighting for?
Sure, I'm outspoken and don't shy away from protesting. But that
wasn't my plan. Before the speech, I had been given a ticket by
Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., who has worked to press Congress
to bring the troops home.
At first I didn't want to go, and I gave the ticket to someone
who gave it back. I would not have been disruptive out of respect
for Lynn and the other members of Congress I admire.
I intended to make a statement, not a scene. Had I wanted to
create a disruption, I would have waited until the president arrived
to reveal my shirt.
My ticket was in the fifth gallery, front row. An officer --
who a few minutes later would arrest me -- helped me to my seat.
I sat down and was warm from climbing three flights of stairs,
so I unzipped my jacket. The officer saw my shirt and yelled,
"Protester!" He hauled me out of my seat and shoved
me up the stairs.
The officer ran, pulling me with him, to an elevator, yelling
at everyone to move out of the way. He handcuffed me as we rode
down and took me outside to await a squad car.
Despite what was said in several reports, I was never asked to
change the shirt or zip up my jacket. If I had been asked to do
those things I would have and expressed concerns about the suppression
of my freedom of speech later.
I was roughly (I have the bruises and muscle spasms to prove
it) hauled off and arrested for "unlawful conduct."
The reports about my being "vocal," attributed to the
police, are also untrue.
Lawyers have advised me that I was well within my constitutional
rights to wear a T-shirt emblazoned with a slogan. The police
belatedly agreed and said they would drop the charges. I don't
understand how they could have held me in jail for four hours
before saying this was all a mistake.
After my personal items were inventoried and my fingerprints
taken, a sergeant came in and looked at my shirt and said, "2,245,
huh? I just got back from there." I told him that my son
died there.
That's when the enormity of my loss hit me. On top of losing
my son, I lost my First Amendment rights. Where did my America
go? I started crying in pain.
What did Casey die for? What did the 2,244 other brave Americans
die for? What are tens of thousands of them over there in harm's
way for? For this? I can't even wear a shirt that has the number
of troops on it that Bush and his arrogant and ignorant policies
are responsible for killing.
Polls indicate that the people in our country and Iraq want this
war to end. The war is making this country and the world less
safe and secure. It's time to stop the killing by bringing home
the troops.
I wore the shirt to make a statement. I believed it was my right
to do so.
I don't want to live in a country that prohibits any person from
wearing, saying, writing or speaking over a telephone negative
statements about the government. That's why I am taking my freedoms
and liberties back. That's why I am not going to let the Bush
administration take anything else away from me. They already took
my son. That was more than enough.
Cindy Sheehan, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace
and a member of Military Families Speak Out, lives in Berkeley.
This commentary appeared originally in the Los Angeles Times.
War is hell, especially if you make public
complaints about military
Bill Katovsky
Sunday, August 28, 2005
In the process of working on "Patriots Act: Voices of Dissent,
an Oral History," I have spent the past year interviewing
federal whistle-blowers, peace activists, environmentalists, politicians,
journalists and even a former special assistant to the president
for combatting terrorism. Some risked careers, others prison by
taking a personal stand on issues that deeply mattered to them.
Their actions embody what is best about our national character.
They repudiated the false suffocating claims by those who have
hijacked American democracy through gross distortion and partisan
misrepresentation. Despite being among our nation's true patriots,
these dissenters were often labeled "un-American" by
their opponents and detractors.
Our country, after all, was built on the brawny shoulders of
protest. Staff Sgt. Lorenzo Dominguez, 45, of California's Army
National Guard is a textbook example of what happens to a soldier
who complains to the media: His military superiors will punish
him; fearing retaliation, fellow soldiers will snub him. I first
interviewed Dominguez in December. He had been recently quoted
by name in a Los Angeles Times report that detailed training,
morale and equipment problems of the 1st Battalion of the 184th
Infantry Regiment, headquartered in Modesto, which represents
one-sixth of the state's National Guard. The battalion was preparing
for deployment to Iraq and was temporarily stationed at a training
base near Fort Bliss, Texas.
"Some of us are going to die (in Iraq), and some of us are
going to die unnecessarily because of the lack of training,"
Dominguez told reporter Scott Gold. "So I don't care. Let
them court-martial me. I want the American public to know what
is going on. My men are guilty of one thing: volunteering to serve
their country." In civilian life, Dominguez is vice president
at a mortgage bank. He's a Republican, married, and has a daughter
and young son, Reagan, named after the former president.
The military's suffer-in-silence culture discourages publicly
airing its dirty laundry. Not surprisingly, Dominguez's battalion
superiors came down hard on him after the unwanted publicity.
Dominguez, a veteran of 15 years in the Guard and Marine Reserves,
is now back home with his family. He never made it into Iraq.
While in Kuwait, he developed a potentially fatal medical condition
and was evacuated to Germany on a hospital plane. These days,
when speaking to Dominguez, you immediately detect a resigned
weariness in his voice. This formerly gung-ho squad leader is
sad, depressed, can't sleep -- an indirect consequence of trying
to tell the truth publicly about the Guard because he wanted to
save lives on the battlefield.
What follows are excerpts from my interviews with Dominguez that
took place over the span of eight months:
------------------------------------------------------------------
I decided to speak out because it's the difference between life
or death. I'm very in touch with my mortality. It's the difference
of being prepared and not being prepared. At 45, I don't feel
like bullets can bounce off my chest anymore like I did when I
was 18, 19. That's why the military really loves the teenagers
who think that nothing bad can happen to them.
The quality of the training was so poor and so pathetic. But do
you know how much money we wasted in this dumb boot-camp environment?
Mexico has better equipment, and in certain instances, our Humvees
were worse than the Mexican army's. They were breaking down all
the time.
Everybody complains, but nobody can do or does anything. I mean,
they complain to the chain of command, but the chain of command
really doesn't care; they just want to make their rank or get
the next star. I just realized how cruel it really is when you
just become another body to be thrown into the grinder. But I
was responsible for nine men in my squad as their squad leader.
I made commitments to them and to most of their mothers and
fathers that I would bring them back home from Iraq in one piece.
The military's response
The base's upper command accused me of endangering the military
and possibly aiding the enemy. I was told by the public affairs
officer that the Times article would probably be grabbed on by
al Qaeda and Al-Jazeera, and that we would be shown that we don't
want to fight. That just cannot be further from the truth.
After the article came out, a phone call was made to my wife
that was threatening in nature. The person -- it was a woman who
was a family support coordinator for our company -- had called
on behalf of my first sergeant. She said there would be retaliation
from "up." I lost command of my squad and my men.
However, I was told that I was going to be given another squad
in a different company, but that never happened. The lieutenant
colonel -- our battalion commander -- said to us at one of our
formations that by speaking to the press, the only thing that
I achieved was that we would be labeled whiners and complainers.
Instead of going out on patrols and doing infantry stuff, we would
probably be relegated to doing security-guard-type duty. He was
blaming me. It's better to blow up the insurgents than to be blown
up. I was made the scapegoat for an entire company of over 600
men.
Some of them stopped talking to me. Several of them would give
me the evil eye. Some of the men who understood the reasons behind
what I had said felt intimidated because they saw what was happening
to me publicly. So they immediately quieted down. These are kids.
On Dec. 19, after we had a final formation prior to us being
released to come home for the holiday season, the lieutenant colonel
ordered the entire battalion to fall out of formation and gather
around him in a quasi-organized formation. He said to all of us,
"Well, you know, you guys can go ahead, when you go home
and speak to the f -- media, it won't make any difference. You
want to call the media? You want to give interviews? Go ahead!
Has anything better happened? Has anything changed since you spoke
to the media? Not a goddamn thing! Is anything going to change?
You better f -- believe it's not! The only thing that we got out
of this was silk panties."
What happened is we had been issued additional uniforms and we
were issued long johns made out of synthetic material called Polartec
and so he attributed that to my going to the media as the reason
for us receiving this additional gear.
Kuwait
After arriving in Kuwait, we trained at Camp Buehring for another
two weeks before going over the berm into Iraq. I still didn't
have my gear, not even a weapon. I was given basically menial
tasks to perform. I really didn't have a job. I was not given
any particular duties which would be commensurate to my rank as
a staff sergeant. I was soon transferred to brigade headquarters.
I was finally issued a weapon. The entire time I was there, I
fired six bullets from my M4 carbine and that was the extent of
my training in Kuwait. That's how many bullets it took for me
to hit the target, also known as zeroing your weapon.
We never received the armored Humvees either. What we were given
are what's known throughout the army as Mad Max armor and, basically,
they are these ill-fitting rusting steel plates that we were required
to install on our vehicles. They afford you limited protection
against small arms fire, meaning bullets -- small caliber bullets
-- but they will not protect you against IEDs, or improvised explosive
devices. They will not protect you against any RPGs (rocket-powered
grenades). On the floorboards, we were given a directive to just
put sandbags. Those things are just a stopgap measure to sort
of deflect an explosion in the event that you run over a mine
or some other form of explosive device.
Illness strikes
I don't know if it was stress, but one day I was resting in my
cot when I began to get chest pains. I went to the medic, and
they found that I was having an irregular heartbeat, so they ended
up evacuating me on a C-17 hospital plane to Ramstein Air Base
in Germany.
In Germany they did a battery of tests and decided that I had
an irregular heartbeat due to post-traumatic stress disorder,
and so from there they evacuated me to Walter Reed Hospital in
the United States, and then I was sent to Fort Bliss, Texas, where
they told me that I was going to be stationed for the duration
of my deployment on medical hold status, unless I refused medical
treatment in which case they would send me home.
I refused medical treatment by the Army. I was processed out
and given a separation -- not a discharge -- from active duty.
I came home April 30 and returned to work -- my civilian work
as a loan officer.
Ducking monsters
I still have an irregular heartbeat. It comes and goes. I could
be sitting around or lying down, then all of a sudden, my heart
begins to flutter. I'll start sweating profusely, and sometimes
I get a feeling of claustrophobia. I never had any symptoms like
this before in my life. I used to run 100 miles a month. I cannot
sleep. I'm up until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning. I have to take
medication to put myself to sleep. Doctors gave me a drug called
Ambien.
I can't get these injured young men I saw on the hospital planes
out of my mind. I saw horrible, devastating things on my flights
back from Kuwait to Germany and then to the United States. I saw
guys who were missing limbs. All the catastrophic injuries were
due to IEDs, or improvised explosive devices. I saw a young man
from my flight back to the United States with everything basically
gone from his nose all the way down to his throat. All gone.
I'm in contact with one sergeant from my old unit. They're based
south of Baghdad at Camp Falcon. Three days after they arrived
in-country, a taxicab packed with explosives was parked on a road,
and as my unit was driving by, the insurgents detonated it. A
young man by the name of Cpl. Watkins, who was part of Operation
Iraqi Freedom back in March 2003, was killed. I knew him personally.
He was in his late 20s. I felt anger, a sense of uselessness,
powerlessness. I wanted to fly to Iraq to be with my men. But
that's only a fantasy.
My wife, Erlisa, is having a hard time. She's very supportive
of what I did. She believes 100 percent in my having come forward
and having stated the facts to the media. She was worried that
someone would put a bullet in my back over in Iraq.
I'm not the same man that I used to be. I know I will struggle
with this depression until my men come back from Iraq. I don't
think that my mind will rest, and I don't even know if I will
ever be able to rest. I don't have to duck bullets, but I'm ducking
my own monsters. I'm a man of conviction. If I had to do it all
over, given the same circumstances, and knowing ahead of time
what I've been through, I would do it again.
The army says that they encourage freedom of speech. I disagree.
There is no freedom of speech in the military. I have paid the
ultimate price for speaking out.
Epilogue
Recently, Dominguez's old battalion has been back in the news.
Gold, the same Los Angeles Times reporter who was the author of
the original Guard stories, wrote that military authorities in
Iraq had relieved battalion commander Lt. Col. Patrick Frey from
duty, due in part to allegations of widespread misconduct by soldiers
under his command. Charges included prisoner abuse and extortion
of local merchants.
Dominguez puts the blame on the Guard's senior leadership and
what he sees as their penchant for cover-up, damage control and
blaming lower-ranking soldiers. "If this was happening in
the United States Marine Corps," he said, "heads would
roll from top to bottom, no questions asked. Period."
Bill Katovsky is co-author of "Embedded: The Media at
War in Iraq,'' which won Harvard's Goldsmith Book Prize. "Patriots
Act: Voices of Dissent, an Oral History'' (Lyons Press) is scheduled
to be published in March. Contact us at insight@sfchronicle.com.
by Monica Benderman
Hinesville, Georgia, Thursday, July 7, 2005--
On July 28, 2005, in a small non-descript courtroom on Ft. Stewart,
Georgia, a Court Martial is scheduled to begin. Again. One Army
NCO who decided that he had no choice but to make a conscious
choice NOT to return to war is being put on trial for caring about
humanity.
This soldier fulfilled his commitment, he kept his promise to
his enlisted contract, and when ordered to deploy to Iraq at the
start of the invasion, he went, not because he wanted to “kill
Iraqis” or “destroy terrorist cells,” but because
he wanted the soldiers he served with to come home safely.
He returned knowing that war is wrong, the most dehumanizing
creation of humanity that exists. He saw war destroy civilians,
innocent men, women and children. He saw war destroy homes, relationships
and a country. He saw this not only in the country that was invaded,
but he saw this happening to the invading country as well –
and he knew that the only way to save those soldiers was for people
to no longer participate in war. Sgt. Kevin Benderman is a Conscientious
Objector to war, and the Army is mad.
Sgt. Kevin Benderman, after serving one tour of duty in Iraq,
filed for Conscientious Objector status, his Constitutional right.
His commander refused to accept his application and one called
him a coward. One chaplain was ashamed of his lack of moral fortitude,
another, of higher rank, testified to the true sincerity of Sgt.
Benderman’s beliefs, in writing. A military intelligence
officer decided that he knew matters of the soul better than a
man of God, and recommended to deny the CO claim. Five commissioned
officers who had never met Sgt. Benderman agreed with the “intelligent
officer” and the claim was denied, twice.
More than two weeks after my husband was placed in the Rear Detachment
unit here at Ft. Stewart, charges of Missing Movement and Desertion
were filed against him, even though he has never missed a single
day of duty in almost ten years. At the first Courts Martial proceedings,
the investigative hearing was over turned. According to the judge’s
decision, the presiding officer had shown implied bias toward
Sgt. Benderman, and a new hearing was ordered. As the session
adjourned, the same command that brought the first charges were
marching up the aisle in the courtroom to file a new charge, Larceny,
against Sgt. Benderman.
The command that brought the charge, had erroneously ordered
combat pay to be paid to Sgt. Benderman, along with 7 other soldiers
in their unit. Rather than accept their responsibility for the
error, these leaders chose to punish Sgt. Benderman for the mistake,
and have yet to discipline any of the remaining soldiers for the
officers’ gaffe.
The new investigating officer strongly recommended dismissing
this larceny charge, but the convening authority, Ft. Stewart’s
garrison commander, pressed on and filed the charges anyway, along
with desertion and missing movement. The Courts Martial is scheduled
to begin on July 28. The games began in January.
At the conclusion of the first hearing, I returned to the courtroom
briefly for some things I had forgotten. The lights were dimmed,
and no one was there. This small dark room, vintage WW II, had
a reverent calm. Desks and chairs sat waiting, slightly turned,
empty jurist panel, attorney’s podium – the stage had
been set. I look back on it now, and the feeling is strangely
surreal.
Last week we learned that the United States Supreme Court allows
itself to keep the Ten Commandments hanging on the walls of its
chambers, as a testimony to another form of law. The guardian
of the Constitution of our country, presiding over the human rights
of our people, maintains that the Ten Commandments, religious
context aside, represent a form of law that is powerful enough
to occupy a place in its chambers.
In a small, quiet courtroom, on the Ft. Stewart military installation,
the stage is set. One soldier who, after firsthand experience
with the destructive force of war, decided to take the Ten Commandments
at their word – “Thou Shall Not Kill” – and
use the rights given to him to declare his conscious objection
to war, to no longer be in a position to voluntarily have to kill
another human being, is now on trial for not wanting to kill.
The Army has removed itself so completely from its moral responsibility,
that its representatives are willing to openly demand, in a court
of law, that they be allowed to regain “positive control
over this soldier” by finding him guilty of crimes he did
not commit, and put him in jail – a prisoner of conscience,
for daring to obey a moral law.
It is “hard work” to face the truth, and it is scary
when people who are not afraid to face it begin to speak out.
Someone once said that my husband’s case is a question of
morality over legality. I pray that this country has not gone
so far over the edge that the two are so distinctly different
that we can tell them apart.
A sixteen year old in New York, was charged with involuntary
manslaughter yesterday for stabbing another teen in the chest
twice, over a computer game. There is no question of why. He broke
a law – a legal, MORAL law – “Thou Shall Not Kill.”
After seeing war firsthand, Sgt. Kevin Benderman chose to follow
a legal, MORAL law – “Thou Shall Not Kill.” A form
of law significant enough to be represented on the walls of our
Supreme Court. The US Army cannot let him go. I have to ask –
“WHY?”
Is there any hope? Email received from
Vietnam Vet
From: Buffalo <brwwinc@ix.netcom.com>
To: mail@lysistrataproject.org
SendDate: Wed, 11 May 2005 19:18:44 -0700
Subject: Is there any hope?
Please explain to me why I am no longer considered a Vietnam vet,
because my feet never touched land. I don't understand what is
happening to Navy veterans from Vietnam. They are now telling
me that I had to set foot on land to be "in Vietnam".
I spent 6 months in the Gulf of Tonkin, and was sprayed repeatedly
by seawater used to wash planes, some I'm sure flew through clouds
of dioxins.
The following are the details of how I have been abandoned by
my
government.
In May 2000, I was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor (soft tissue
liposarcoma), caused by exposure to Agent Orange! After 8-9 weeks
of excruciating radiation therapy (4800 rads), the tumor was removed
along with two muscles from my left leg.
Following surgery, I received an additional 2000 rads of radiation
in four treatments through tubes placed in my legs during surgery.
Prior to the first of these treatments, I was told by the Dr,
"We have never done this to all sides of the nerve, so you
will have to tell us what's happening." Well, from the first
treatment, I have lost all of the feeling in some parts of my
leg, most of the normal feelings in other areas, and constant
pain in what areas are left.
Not only was I left with the leg problem, but also prior to
the first
radiation treatments, I was asked if I had all the kids I wanted?
When I asked why, I don’t have any yet, would this effect
it? I was told "You probably won’t, after this! They
were right! I have not been able to perform successfully since.
I have been on pain medication trying to get some relief, for
the last four years! It gets no better! But, it has gotten worse!
In addition, my mental state has been taking a beating. I can
no longer perform as a "Wild West" entertainer, as a
lover can to my wife, or as a provider for a family. That really
takes a toll on an old cowboy!
Now , as of July 2003, the V.A has changed its mind and claims
that technically I was never "in country", a definition
that I understood included those of us stationed in the Tonkin
Gulf.
As a member of the radio div., most of our off duty times, when
not
asleep were spent on the catwalks just below the flight deck.
We were often sprayed by what we assumed to be seawater and possibly
some spilled jet fuel. But the question arises, what else was
washed off of aircraft or out of aircraft tanks? What was in the
seawater used to hose the decks and aircraft equipment?
On more than one occasion, I saw dirt and small pieces of debris
cleaned off returning aircraft, of all kinds. Could they have
flown through an area that had just been sprayed? Could they be
carrying any residue? Doesn’t the wind blow?
I have also been told by officials that pilots dumped excess
agent
orange left in the tanks, into the Tonkin gulf, before returning
to land
at the bases of operation. Once again, What was in the water?
My meager but barely livable disability compensation has been
severed since July 1, 2003, according to the last notice I received.
I have nowhere to turn! Please give my situation your capable
attention. I cannot be the only one this is happening to, from
the comments I hear all Naval types serving in the Tonkin gulf
are out.
The fact I was diagnosed with an Agent Orange caused tumor,
permanently crippled by the surgery and treatment (some experimental),
in constant pain even though I was taking 4 to 5 pain killers
a day and 2 valiums at night, just to get 4 or 5 hours of sleep.
Then after almost three years of complaining about a leg that
felt like it was about to explode, I am told that it wasn’t
Agent Orange caused and that I will no longer receive compensation.
Plus I must reapply for treatment at the V.A.!
Turns out I was correct! My leg was about to explode, and almost
did, just before Thankgiving of 2003. My leg became very red,
swollen and soar. After two trips to the LSU at the Carl T. Hayden
Medical Center, they decided to open my leg up again. When they
did, they drained almost a quart and a half of fluid out of the
cavity left by the removal of the tumor and two muscles in September
of 2000. They left the wound open for two weeks while they changed
the packing twice daily. They sewed me shut and sent me home.
When the last stitches were removed on Christmas Eve, I thought
I was done!
Just two days later, I started spewing fluid from a small hole
in my
incision. This facilitated another surgery to install a hemo-vac
to draw
out the fluid, which I wore for quite a while. In fact I wore
it up
until the incision opened up again and caused it to lose suction.
At
this point, I had a gaping wound that required daily nurse home
visits to unpack and repack, ever since April.
Unfortunately, I am in worse shape now than I have ever been,
due to some damage brought on by a wound vac, which caused the
pain to spike around the end of May,possibly from a bound up nerves
and other functions. That is when they gave me enough pain medication,
that I nearly committed suicide. My left leg no longer has any
feeling from the knee down, I have no control of my ankle and
I can no longer walk with a cane. I require a walker or wheelchair.
The plastic surgeon at the VA wanted to refer me to a neuro-surgeon,
but told me they didn't have one at the VA presently.
Being thoroughly disgusted with the delays and incompetency
of some of the doctors at the VA, I went to an outside plastic
surgeon, who performed yet another surgery on Veteran's Day 2004,
to clean up the mess left by the previous surgery. At the time,
he told me that the longer this problem had existed the longer
it would take to find out if any of the functions have returned.
I am still unable to walk, have a nurse coming every morning to
pack the healing wound, and am about to lose my mind.
As of July 1, 2003 my 100% equivalent compensation came to an
end! However my 100% disability remains! I still require heavy
pain
medication! I still have trouble sleeping! My depression not only
remains, but also is getting overwhelming. Soon, I will have used
up
what little savings I have and will be totally at the mercy of
the
welfare system. I’m not proud of that fact!
I have worked hard all my life and have attained what most only
dream of. I own my home, free and clear, modest as it may be.
I own two vehicles, free and clear, both at least 14 years old
and I have only a few thousand dollars debt in my name. However,
I will lose it all, if I
cannot pay the taxes!
I am not physically able to go back to work, even though I would
like to. I have always been a very independent person, who was
a good provider for my wife. She now must not only provide for
me, but take care me also. That in itself has taken a toll on
both of us.
I await your reply and hope you can either correct this situation
or at
least set the wheels in motion for a resolution.
Respectfully,
Richard A. "Buffalo Rick" Galeener
I give permission for you to get any and all of my medical records
needed for your attention.
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