The Veterans Administration has not been winning any awards lately. It seems to have a hard time serving its customers, the people who have put their lives on the line for us. Deb Derrick has an article in the American Prospect describing some of the difficulties veterans have in receiving the services they have earned.
Derrick's article focuses on those who served on the USS Calhoun County, whose job it was to dump radioactive and other waste into the ocean in which my kids and grandkids swim, the Atlantic. The fact that the ship was involved with radioactive materials is something that each claimant has to prove, although the ships records clearly prove that the ship was dealing with radioactive materials. There is even a document confirming that the Navy's attempts to remove radioactive contamination had failed and the ship should be sunk. Apparently, the system of processing claims is based on the premise that only evidence produced by the military is accepted. Evidence found in the National Archives, for example, will not typically be considered and its merits evaluated.
Is this really how we want our veterans to be treated?
No comments:
Post a Comment