Wounded Troops Suffer: The Walter Reed scandal showed that we don't always provide returning service members with the care they deserve.
Veterans Budget Shortfalls: In 2005, a multi-billion dollar VA funding shortfall required Congress to step in and bail out the system.
Benefits Bureaucracy is Broken: There are currently more than 400,000 claims pending with the Veterans Benefits Administration. VA error rates have grown to more than 100,000 cases a year.
There is Shortage of Care for PTSD: Veterans are coming home with record levels of combat stress, but we are not adequately providing for them.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that America has a sacred trust with our veterans. They are committed to creating a 21st Century Department of Veterans' Affairs that provides the care and benefits our nation's veterans deserve.
Obama and Biden will improve the quality of health care for veterans, rebuild the VA's broken benefits system, and combat homelessness among veterans.
Obama and Biden will improve mental health treatment for troops and veterans suffering from combat-related psychological injuries.
Record of Advocacy: As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Obama passed legislation to improve care and slash red tape for our wounded warriors recovering at places like Walter Reed. He passed laws to help homeless veterans and offered an innovative solution to prevent at-risk veterans from falling into homelessness. Obama led a bipartisan effort in the Senate to try to halt the military's unfair practice of discharging service members for having a service-connected psychological injury. He fought for fair treatment of Illinois veterans' claims and forced the VA to conduct an unprecedented outreach campaign to disabled veterans with lower than-average benefits. Obama passed legislation to stop a VA review of closed PTSD cases that could have led to a reduction in veterans' benefits. He passed an amendment to ensure that all service members returning from Iraq are properly screened for traumatic brain injuries. He introduced legislation to direct the VA and Pentagon to fix disjointed records systems and improve outreach to members of the National Guard and Reserves.
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will lead non-violent demonstrations at Hofstra University prior to the final presidential debate Oct. 15 to demand two IVAW members be allowed to ask each candidate one question.
Should IVAW's demands not be met in full by 7 p.m., members of the organization are willing to risk arrest by entering the debate to have their voices heard by the candidates.
IVAW intends to "force the issue" that servicemembers and veterans are not being heard or cared for by our leaders. The next president should make caring for our wounded military a top domestic priority, in addition to ending the war in Iraq.
Read more:
http://ivaw.org/
Coming down to the wire, and it is looking positive for Barack Obama. Observing closely and with vivid interest, my participation has been more from the sidelines than as an active campaign volunteer. I figured since we have two in our family who are returning Iraq veterans, both having served 'stop-loss', extended 15 month deployments, their contribution to this country has been enormous on it's own merit. Our sil is in Iraq again, in his second stop-loss, extended 15 month deployment. His wife and children are paying a hefty price for these long back to back deployments. Meanwhile, we have been one military family speaking out against the Iraq war since the initial invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Who are we? We are myself, a traditional and proud of the term 'military brat', and later, a young military wife with young husband deployed to Vietnam; and my husband, a Vietnam-era veteran.
I haven't been too much into donating or campaigning, preferring instead to permit other citizens carry that load. Now that the elections are coming down to the finish line, I gave my first 'donation' - small amount of $$ that it was, I found I was feeling more and more compelled to give something before the campaign finished. I wanted to be able to say more than that I support Obama, but that I actually gave a small amount to his campaign. The sacrifices of the loved ones in our family who are giving far more than $$, who are willingly putting their very lives on the line, cannot be matched by my words and that is equally true for every other soldier, marine, sailor, airmen putting his or her life on the line to serve our country.
By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 8, 8:47 AM ET
PHILADELPHIA - The widow of an Iraq war veteran who committed suicide while in outpatient care for depression at a Veterans Administration hospital is suing the federal government for alleged negligence.
She says doctors were slow to diagnose her husband with major depression, and that once the diagnosis was made, a psychiatrist failed to schedule a follow-up meeting with her husband after he informed the doctor he had gone off his medication.
Donald Woodward killed himself in March 2006 at age 23.
"I intend to make them make changes," said his mother, Lori Woodward. "I have too many friends whose kids are in Iraq. I have a nephew now in Iraq, in the same unit, and I can't have my family go through this again."
Alison Aikele, a VA spokeswoman in Washington, said the agency does not typically comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit, filed in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, seeks an unspecified amount for funeral expenses, lost income and pain and suffering.
It echoes other lawsuits nationwide over VA mental-health services, despite legislation President Bush signed in November ordering improvements.
The family of Marine Jeffrey Lucey, also 23, has a federal suit pending in Massachusetts over his June 2004 suicide. And two veterans groups sued the VA in San Francisco seeking an overhaul of its health system, citing special concerns about mental health, but a judge dismissed the suit in June over venue issues.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081008/ap_on_re_us/iraq_vet_suicide_lawsuit
Our picnic was a huge success.
I'd love it if people brainstormed on our next big event that we work to promote as we go about the work of getting voters informed about Obama.
Here is my idea... please use the discussion board to come up with any of your own ideas as well.
This conversation airs tonight at 6pm ET/PT on MTV and will be streamed at chooseorlose.com starting at 7pm ET.
This hour long event that was taped in Scranton, PA will be broadcast on all MTV stations (MTV, mtvU, MTV2, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, and streamed across 1,800 sites of the Associated Press online video network.
Also check out think.mtv.com/BarackObama, one of our newest official social networking sites within the MTV community.
(MTV photo of Sen. Barack Obama and Marine Veteran Chris Weimer)
