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Topic: Are you really a veteran? Gale Administrator posted April 03, 2005 21:57 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Gale Found this interesting. It gives me cause for concern as there are many Vets who will be excluded from care if this in fact true. If I read this correctly and you get a cash settlement for say Hepatitis C and it progress to liver failure over time, your out of luck after the 20% buyout. I can see where this would have catastrophic effects for any Veteran associated with AO, GWS,etc where it is progressively debilitating. I believe something needs to be done about this by the VFW and all service organizations. This can't be allowed to happen. Harry Hooks www.hcvets.com/forum manager Are You Really a Veteran? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Rep. Steve Buyer is redefining your status
March 29, 2005
[Have an opinion on this article? Go to the Discussion Forum to sound off.]
Are you really a veteran? Better check it fast. I did. I've got my DD-214 that says "honorable discharge." I've got the red-white-and-blue VA identification card complete with lousy picture and the "service-connected" rating. So, I must be a veteran. Right? Not if Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN), chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, has his way.
Buyer is trying to rewrite the definition of "veteran" in a cold and calculated manner that could cost millions of veterans their benefits. Buyer recently won a political tug-of-war and replaced Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) as chairman of HVAC. Smith was known as a true friend of veterans and often broke ranks with his party to forward legislation favorable to the veteran community.
Not so with Buyer. In a recent interview with journalist Tom Philpott, Buyer stated, "While some veterans' organizations like to create a theme, that 'A veteran is a veteran [and] there is no difference,' I disagree."
Shortly after winning the chair at HVAC, Buyer said, "Some of the veterans service organizations, they are having this belief that everyone should have open access to the VA system, when in fact I believe that the VA system should follow its core constituency and the intent of Congress when we laid out our priorities, and that was in fact to take care of our disabled and indigent veterans first." (This subject was covered in my Military.com article on "Welfarizing the VA.")
So, what is happening here? Buyer is trying to redefine "veteran," and in so doing, reshape benefit programs to meet his new definition. In short, this means fewer benefits for fewer veterans.
The two keys here are Buyer's references to "intent of Congress" and "core constituency." By rejecting the "intent of Congress" when they passed legislation defining benefits and eligibility, Buyer is telling us Congress was wrong and he is going to change it. By referring to the VA's "core constituency" as "disabled and indigent veterans," he is eliminating veterans who do not fall into those categories.
This is just plain absurd! And it is wrong! As Buyer continues to redefine who is really a veteran, here is some of what's at stake.
The bipartisan Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission will hold its first meeting soon. The Commission will review whether Congress went too far by allowing concurrent receipt of military retirement and VA disability payments. Also on the table is a change in the way disability ratings are determined, and a restructuring of the definition of "service-connected." Buyer says he cannot guarantee veterans who currently have disability ratings that they will be exempt from Commission findings.
Buyer also wants the Commission to consider offering lump-sum payments to veterans with current disability ratings of 20 percent or less. These "cash now" settlements would deny veterans the right to pursue any compensation claims in the future. A veteran with a progressive condition, one that causes degenerative disability with age, would have no right to further compensation. ****************************************
About the Author
Larry Scott (former E-5) served four-plus years in the U.S. Army with overseas tours as a Broadcast Journalist at AFKN HQ, Seoul, Korea and AFN Lajes Field, The Azores, Portugal and a stateside tour as a Broadcast Journalism Instructor at the Defense Information School (DINFOS). Larry was decorated four times including the Joint Service Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. He was awarded DOD's First Place Thomas Jefferson Award for Excellence in Journalism. After the Army, Larry went back to radio news, working in Indianapolis as a News Anchor on WIFE Radio and then in New York City as a News Anchor on WNBC Radio. He receives VA compensation for a service-connected disability and uses the Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington VA facilities for healthcare. Today, Larry resides in Southwest Washington and operates the veteran's help website YourVABenefits.org. To contact Larry Scott email larry@yourvabenefits.org.
Larry Scott Archives
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What's really on the table when it comes to redefining a veteran and available benefits? Buyer says, "I think everything should be on the table."
Everything! Buyer is even suggesting that service-connected disabilities be combat-related only. This would eliminate treatment and compensation for injuries received while on active duty but not directly related to combat.
Buyer also took aim at the veterans' service organizations, saying their view that all veterans should have access to VA healthcare abandons values like duty and sacrifice. He chided the service organizations for using inflammatory rhetoric. "I asked them to be very careful with the words they select because ... they have an impact all over the country. It is upsetting to me when someone refers to veterans as whiney," Buyer stated.
Well, there you have it in his own words. The chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee calling our service organizations "whiney" and accusing them of abandoning values like duty and sacrifice.
It would be easy to dismiss Buyer as part of some lunatic fringe on Capitol Hill trying to stick it to veterans. But that is not the case. Buyer speaks for the majority in Congress who speak for the current administration.
And, Buyer is the one guilty of inflammatory rhetoric. Demeaning our service organizations and their attempts to preserve veterans' benefits is a slap in the face to ALL veterans. Our service organizations have, in the past, often done too little too late. Sometimes we wondered where they were as the VA budget took hit after hit. Now they find themselves in the position of doing what they were meant to do and being castigated for it.
Fellow veterans, if this is not a call to action, I don't know what is. We cannot allow Congress to redefine who is a veteran. We cannot allow Congress to restructure veterans' benefits and reshape the definitions of disability. We have worked too hard for too long to not receive proper recognition for our service to our country.
It's time to put severe pressure on Congress. Recently 400 disabled veterans did just that when they jammed Committee hearings, booing and jeering Buyer and others who want to cut benefits. This new level of activism must increase if we are to preserve our benefits and guarantee a properly funded VA for the veterans of the future.
In 1789 President George Washington said, "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive veterans of earlier wars and how they were treated and appreciated by this country."
If we do nothing now we will only be able to say that we did nothing.
sgtgoose1 Moderator posted April 04, 2005 20:33 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I THINK SOMEONE IS BUCKING FOR A ATTA-BOY FROM THE WHITE HOUSE I POSTED HIS BIO BEFORE NOW I'M GOING TO ASK A QUESTION, "HOW DOES A JAG GET A BRONZE STAR FOR BEING A LAWYER MAKING SURE IRAQI'S POWS HAD THEIR RIGHT PROTECTED"? BUT I CANT FIND THE CITATION ANYWHERE,I'D BE REAL INTERESTED WHAT IT SAID?
BECAUSE THEIR WERE ALOT OF GI'S POSTED AS GUARDS AND THEY DIDNT GET ONE?
AND WHY DOES HE HAVE THIS "I'M A VETERAN YOUR NOT AS MUCH AS ME " DEAL,?
THATS LIKE SAYING "MY DAD CAN BEAT UP YOUR DAD"
IT JUST ----------- ME OFF.
GOOSE
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SGTGUS Member posted April 05, 2005 00:19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sgtgooose,when I heard some of my group got Bronze stars I couldn't figure out why?? I chalked it up to the reserves getting whatever was available.It ticked me off too,I alway's a bronze star was not given out like candy,I guess it's not what ya know... GOD bless IP: Logged
sgtgoose1 Moderator posted April 05, 2005 05:24 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I REALLY FEEL LIKE A @$$ FOR ASKING ABOUT IT,BUT IF HE'S GOING TO PICK AND CHOOSE WHO'S A VETERAN AND WHO'S NOT ETC... "BIPARTISAN COMMISSION" THOSE 2 WORDS GO TOGETHER LIKE "MILITARY INTELLIGANCE" THIS GUY WAS PICKED BECAUSE OF HIS POLITICAL TIES AND I FEEL HIS "ULTRA ANTI-VETERAN AGENDA" FACE IT,WASHINGTON IS MOSTLY NOW "NON-VETS" WHO NEVER SERVED MORE WORRIED ABOUT PAYING FOR IRAQ WITH GIVING TAX BREAKS.
WHO GETS HIT FIRST? THE VA OF COURSE.
DO I FEEL HE'S BAD FOR ALL VETERANS, YOU BET,BECAUSE ONCE THEY START CHIPPING AWAY AT THE CORE OF THE TITLE "VETERAN" WHO KNOWS WHERE IT WOULD STOP.
GOOSE
IP: Logged
Keith Member posted April 06, 2005 09:49 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I read another post concerning this guy Buyer. He sounds like a real ass. It is not hard to imagine that they will try to screw as many vets out of the proper care they have earned, they are doing a pretty good job of that already. To me it matters in the sense that if a veteran served in combat, he should be treated with the respect he has earned. But I also believe it takes alot of courage to just join the Armed Forces. Alot of people I grew up with thought I was crazy to join just because they wouldn't want somebody telling them what to do all the time, they didn't or wouldn't ever have joined.
When will they admit that whether one serves ones country as an aircraft mechanic or infantryman or congressman it is all a selfless gift of ones time, body and mind to their fellow countrymen. The big difference of course is if you served 4 years in the Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Etc... you get alot less than if you served 4 years in congress. It doesn't take much math to figure out why that is.
What can I ask my VFW hall to do to fight this Buyer and his BS? We, veterans as a community, need to protect our own. Because it seems as if the gen. pop. that has never joined could care less, with the exception of a few. Keith
IP: Logged
sgtgoose1 Moderator posted April 06, 2005 18:54 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE WHOLE THING COMES DOWN TO THIS, NO MATTER WHAT YOU DID IN THE SERVICE,YOU HAD A CHANCE TO GO TO COMBAT AND LAY YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE.
NO MATTER WHAT YOUR JOB WAS,LIKE YOU SAID KEITH ITS A JOB NEEDED.
IN WW2,ONLY 15% OF THE GI'S ACTUALLY SLUGGED IT ON THE FRONT LINES,BUT IT DIDNT MEAN THE SUPPORT UNITS ETC.. WE'RENT ATTACKED AND SO FORTH(THEY DIDNT INCLUDE NAVY OR AAF UNITS AS FRONT LINES)
ITS A REAL SORRY DAY WHEN SOME ONE GOES OUT OF THEIR WAY TO MAKE A DIFFERANCE.
I BET YOU HE'LL BE CONSIDERED A VET,NO MATTER WHAT AND HE'LL MAKE SURE OF THAT.
IF YOU SERVED YOUR A VET,
ALL GAVE SOME,SOME GAVE ALL!
GOOSE
[This message has been edited by sgtgoose1 (edited April 07, 2005).]
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KT Junior Member posted April 07, 2005 10:40 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome back,Gale I cannot believe this Congress men.
Guys like him needs to wear unform and send him to War. If he need some help over there, ...Maybe...our Vets think about it.
sgtgoose and sgtgus, Our niece,she just came back from Iraq and told us about Bronze star. She said,Bronze star is no mean anymore,it's like a candy bar.... I was shocked and offcourse my hubby was upset about it too.
I agree with sgtgoose, no metter what your job was,our Veterans deserve to be treat equal. May god bless GWV!!
sincerely, KT
IP: Logged
ShakeyLaw Administrator posted April 19, 2005 07:27 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This guy is head of the veterans benefits committee in the House of Representatives, not just some Congressman! This is the "Captain of the Ship" for the next 2 years thanks to all those folks who voted in a Republican Member of Congress.
quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by KT: Welcome back,Gale I cannot believe this Congress men.
Guys like him needs to wear unform and send him to War. If he need some help over there, ...Maybe...our Vets think about it.
sgtgoose and sgtgus, Our niece,she just came back from Iraq and told us about Bronze star. She said,Bronze star is no mean anymore,it's like a candy bar.... I was shocked and offcourse my hubby was upset about it too.
I agree with sgtgoose, no metter what your job was,our Veterans deserve to be treat equal. May god bless GWV!!
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