i was running around yesterday morning

doing a few errands before going to my regular sunday brunch with friends. i was only in my car a few minutes here and there.

i didn't hear the WHOLE story but on npr i heard something that boiled that anger up in me again. the reporter/announcer was telling the story of a WOUNDED iraq vet. he was wounded by an ied while trying to rescue others who were also wounded by an ied. the shrapnel came up through his vehicle into his tailbone and part of his spine and intestinal tract. he had to have part of his intestines removed. want to know what happened? the military classified him as NOT BEING DISABLED ENOUGH BECAUSE HE ONLY HAD AN ULCER. yes, i'm serious.

the npr story was on attorneys, private attorneys VOLUNTEERING to help iraq vets fight the military to get THE BENEFITS THEY DESERVE. here's a link to the audio of the story (which i'm going to finish listening to) as well as a couple of other stories

Private Attorneys Fight for Disabled Veterans
by Ari Shapiro

i've written about this before

and i'll keep on writing about it until our veterans and enlisted men and women get the help they not only need, THEY DESERVE. instead of asking for MORE FUCKING MONEY FOR WAR, why the FUCK don't king george and his court ASK FOR MORE MONEY FOR THE SOLDIERS CARE? (current and veterans OF ALL time. war and not war. a vet is a vet).

when are we going to say ENOUGH? when when when

elizabeth whiteside is ONE name we know. how many DON'T we know about?

Soldier Suicides at Record Level
Increase Linked to Long Wars, Lack of Army Resources


By Dana Priest Washington Post Staff Writer

Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, a psychiatric outpatient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center who was waiting for the Army to decide whether to court-martial her for endangering another soldier and turning a gun on herself last year in Iraq, attempted to kill herself Monday evening. In so doing, the 25-year-old Army reservist joined a record number of soldiers who have committed or tried to commit suicide after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. .........

"I'm very disappointed with the Army," Whiteside wrote in a note before swallowing dozens of antidepressants and other pills. "Hopefully this will help other soldiers." She was taken to the emergency room early Tuesday. Whiteside, who is now in stable physical condition, learned yesterday that the charges against her had been dismissed. ............



(links to my other postings on elizabeth whiteside)

i agree with the author (Shaun McCanna) of this article

it will be YEARS before this problem (and do NOT be fooled it IS going to be a MAJOR problem - and just the tip of the iceburg too) comes to the surface.
are we prepared to treat our veterans? are we prepared to treat everyone who has ptsd or will have it in the future? are we prepared to take care of them for years?

are we prepared to rehabilitate our veterans who have been wounded? are we prepared to give them therapy and to construct limbs for them?

are we prepared to take care of those who come back with ADDICTIONS?



It's easy for soldiers to score heroin in Afghanistan
Simultaneously stressed and bored, U.S. soldiers are turning to the widely available drug for a quick escape.

By Shaun McCanna

Aug. 7, 2007 BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- Just outside the main gate to Bagram airfield, a U.S. military installation in Afghanistan, sits a series of small makeshift shops known by locals as the Bagram Bazaar. For Afghans, it is the place to buy American goods, but the stalls that make up the heart of the bazaar are also well known for what they provide American soldiers stationed at Bagram. Walking through the bazaar it takes less than 10 minutes for a vendor in his early 20s to step out and ask, "You want whiskey?" "No, heroin," I tell him. He ushers me into his store with a smile.
The shop is small, 9 feet wide by 14 feet deep, and dark. The walls at the front are lined with dusty cans of soda, padlocks and miscellaneous beauty supplies. As we enter, a teenager is visible at the back, seated in a chair next to a collection of American military knives and flashlights. The shopkeeper speaks to him in Dari. The teen stands and heads for the door, where he stops and asks my Afghan driver a question. My driver translates, "He wants to know how much you want? Twenty, 30, 50 dollars' worth?" From past experience, for I have arranged this same transaction a dozen times in a dozen different Bagram Bazaar shops, I know that the $30 bag will contain enough pure to bring hundreds of dollars on the streets of any American city. Afghanistan, after all, is the source of 90 percent of the world's heroin. I say 30 and the teen jogs off. .......

uninsured veterans

this shouldn't happen to ANYONE in american. NO ONE. especially NOT a vet (but as i said NO ONE). we're rich. well as nations go we WERE rich. that is until king george and his court threw billions and billions and billions (and are continuing to do so i might add) out of the proverbial window.

(hey peeps who bomb clinics who perform abortions why aren't YOU up in arms about the lack of decent health care for americans children - at the very least)

Study Finds 1.8 Million Veterans Are Uninsured
Figure Has Grown by 290,000 Since 2000, Professor Tells House Veterans Panel


By Christopher Lee`Washington Post Staff Writer

As the nation struggles to improve medical and mental health care for military personnel returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, about 1.8 million U.S. veterans under age 65 lack even basic health insurance or access to care at Veterans Affairs hospitals, a new study has found.
The ranks of uninsured veterans have increased by 290,000 since 2000, said Stephanie J. Woolhandler, the Harvard Medical School professor who presented her findings yesterday before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. About 12.7 percent of non-elderly veterans -- or one in eight -- lacked health coverage in 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available, she said, up from 9.9 percent in 2000. Veterans 65 and older are eligible for Medicare..........

freedom of speech?

not in north korea, not in venezuela, not in china and it looks like NOT IN AMERICA EITHER

not only can't we let this happen to ANYONE in america, we ESPECIALLY can't let it happen to a VETERAN

'Anti-war' Iraq veteran fights military over war protests

Nick Juliano

A veteran of the Iraq war is accusing the military of trying to stifle the freedom of speech he volunteered to fight to protect.
After serving his country in Iraq, former Marine Sgt. Adam Kokesh grew disillusioned with US involvement there and became an anti-war activist. He participated in demonstrations around Washington, including Operation First Casualty, which was organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War in March.
Kokesh's anti-war activity and his correspondence with Marine investigators has rankled the military enough that it is working to revoke the veteran's "honorable discharge" designation. Kokesh will appear before a military hearing in Kansas City, Mo., Monday to fight the military's attempt to change his discharge status to "other than honorable."............

i wasn't even going to do a posting about

king george visiting walter reed UNTIL i read this:

........."White House spokeswoman Dana Perino called it "an unfortunate characterization" to say Bush was using Walter Reed as merely a picture-taking opportunity. She said it took some time to clear enough room on the president's schedule to spend an afternoon with patients and staff at Walter Reed."...........

what? the men and women he had to clear enough room in his schedule for PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE BECAUSE HE ORDERED THEM TO DO SO FOR NO EFFING REASON OTHER THAN TO LINE SOME RICH WHITE MEN'S POCKETS (and goddess knows what else). they came back from foreign lands no longer whole but broken in same way.

i know i would make it my PRIORITY to clear time on my schedule to see these men and women. to comfort them. to THANK THEM. to make sure they are given the ABSOLUTE BEST CARE POSSIBLE.

yet king george couldn't clean out an afternoon. he has PLENTY of time to go on camera to say (over and over) he will NOT bring the troops home no matter what the house and senate vote.

Bush apologizes for Walter Reed conditions

President Bush apologized for the poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center during a visit to the hospital six weeks after revelations of the facility's dilapidated state, according to an AP report.
"The problems at Walter Reed were caused by bureaucratic and administrative failures," Bush is quoted as telling the hospital's patients and staff. "The system failed you and it failed our troops and we're going to fix it."
Bush continued, "It is not right to have someone volunteer to wear the uniform and not get the best possible care. I apologize for what they went through and we're going to fix the problem."
Some were critical of Bush's visit and handling of the scandal. "I'm convinced he would honor them more if he would refrain from using soldiers as props in political theater," said Ret. Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton. "I would be very happy to see him do the Walter Reed visit more like the commander and secondarily as an inspector general, rather than as a politician."................