The most pathetic hyperbolic chamber of them all-Congress.

Of the myriad fluff lines from our political heroes, paid well BY us to lie TO us, perhaps Hillary Clinton’s lie about how best to support the Troops sums up just how little these clowns in Public Office truly understand what it means to actually “support” anyone:

[T]he best way to support our troops is to finally start bringing them home, and out of the sectarian civil war that we have no business being part of.

I could say the best way to support Hillary’s campaign would be to send HER home. Or Obama’s, or Edwards’, or Kucinich’s. In fact, I could even suggest that the best way to support Congress in general would be to send the lot of these bums packing for their hometowns. Think they’d agree?

Let’s get something straight up front. As a nation, we need the ability to protect and defend ourselves from enemies both foreign and domestic. We need a Military for this purpose; one in which there are real live people (Soldiers) hired, paid, trained, and equipped to be able to serve that function and ensure our continued survival and sovereign integrity. To suggest we should only sustain a body of war fighters so long as they fight no wars is, perhaps, the most imbecilic attempt at logic from the body politic I have ever had to reconcile in my mind with the realities on the ground for those who serve.

Putting aside, for this little essay, the rightness or wrongness of Iraq, or even who has done well or poorly in its management and execution, the one truth for America is that she has Soldiers. Right NOW, they are fighting a war. Some are dying, others are getting wounded, and still others are having to face the effects on themselves and their families and friends and loved ones, for having participated in it.

These men and women leave home, some leaving spouses and children behind, others leaving behind credit card bills, and mortgages, and car loans. More than a few come back forever changed; war IS hell, it has been said over the years.

When you consider the Walter Reed (Building 18) fiasco, and the endless stream of media attention it enjoyed ONLY after it appeared likely this President might get a whole “new” line of fashionable beatings over this fresh red meat, and the heads that rolled in the aftermath of this news flash, you would think we were finally headed toward some REAL Soldier Support initiatives.

You’d be wrong.

The Bush response to the Building 18 disaster was to issue an Executive order which formed a Committee led by Bob Dole and Donna Shalala. Called the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors, they were asked for two things:

1 – Conduct a comprehensive review of services America is providing to our wounded warriors and

2 – Deliver recommendations to the President, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Veterans Affairs this summer.

With the help of 7 hand-picked Commission members, the report has been finalized and was submitted to the President on 25 July 2007. The 7 additional members included Marc Giammatteo, Jose Ramos, Tammy Edwards, Kenneth Fisher, C. Martin Harris, Edward A. Eckenhoff, and Gail Wilensky. Their Objectives and Scope:

Per our charter, the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors will recommend ways to:

1. Improve The Transition From Deployment To Other Military Service Or Civilian Life.
2. Ensure High-Quality Services For Returning Wounded Service Members.
3. Increase Access To Benefits And Services.
4. Commission Members Will Consult With Foundations, Veterans Service Organizations, Non-Profit Groups, Faith-Based Organizations, And Others, As Appropriate.

Before we review the final report, pay close attention to how THEY define “Supporting the Troops”

As a Commission, we believe that honoring our injured service men and women means:

* Our nation must acknowledge the significant sacrifices of our wounded and injured service members

* While in most cases service members receive excellent care, the care provided should meet the highest standards of quality

* Improving the system of care where needed will benefit all veterans for generations to come.

* Our goal is that the care provided heal, to the greatest possible extent, the physical and mental wounds of our service members to enable them to achieve their maximum potential.

* It is imperative that we continue to value the significant contributions of family members in supporting the health and well-being of their loved ones.

THAT, America, is what “Supporting the Troops” is all about…not forcing them to lose a war they can and ARE winning. Not, as our Democrat friends would suggest, by bringing them home while telling them they failed or that they created the enemy or that their Commander in Chief tricked them into signing up…and certainly not by de-funding them or suggesting they have done some terribly wrong thing by having gone there in the first place.

While the Walter Reed story may have woken up the sleeping American public, or perhaps given fodder to Bush opponents in hope of finding something ELSE to capitalize on politically at the expense of the American war fighter (yet once again), these revelations of a flawed and terribly inept and dysfunctional system of Veteran care are not new to Soldiers and their families…they have been in existence for years-farther back than even the post-Vietnam days when far too many of our Heroes found themselves denied adequate health care for any number of reasons…not the least of them being the horrible bureaucracy that accompanies access to ANY Government-controlled program.

Try as anyone may, Veteran care, and support of the war fighters and their families lies squarely and SOLELY in the collective laps of Congress-they write the laws…Presidents only sign them IN to law. Why would anyone be surprised by what Dole and Shalala and company actually FOUND after their commission efforts had been wrapped up?

The title says it all:

Serve, Support, Simplify.

1. Immediately Create Comprehensive Recovery Plans to Provide the Right Care and Support at the Right Time in the Right Place.

Recommendation: Create a patient-centered Recovery Plan for every seriously injured service member that provides the right care and support at the right time in the right place. A corps of well-trained, highly-skilled Recovery Coordinators must be swiftly developed to ensure prompt development and execution of the Recovery Plan.

Goals: Ensure an efficient, effective and smooth rehabilitation and transition back to military duty or civilian life; establish a single point of contact for patients and families; and eliminate delays and gaps in treatment and services.

2. Completely Restructure the Disability and Compensation Systems

Recommendation: DoD maintains authority to determine fitness to serve. For those found not fit for duty, DoD shall provide payment for years served. VA then establishes the disability rating, compensation and benefits.

Goals: Update and simplify the disability determination and compensation system; eliminate parallel activities; reduce inequities; and provide a solid base for the return of injured veterans to productive lives.

3. Aggressively Prevent and Treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury

Recommendation: VA should provide care for any veteran of the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts who has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). DoD and VA must rapidly improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of both PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI). At the same time, both Departments must work
aggressively to reduce the stigma of PTSD.

Goals: Improve care of two common conditions of the current conflicts and reduce the stigma of PTSD; mentally and physically fit service members will strengthen our military into the future.

4. Significantly Strengthen Support for Families

Recommendation: Strengthen family support programs including expanding DoD respite care and extending the Family and Medical Leave Act for up to six months for spouses and parents of the seriously injured.

Goals: Strengthen family support systems and improve the quality of life for families.

5. Rapidly Transfer Patient Information Between DoD and VA

Recommendation: DoD and VA must move quickly to get clinical and benefit data to users. In addition, DoD and VA should jointly develop an interactive “My eBenefits” website that provides a single information source for service members.

Goals: Support a patient-centered system of care and efficient practices.

6. Strongly Support Walter Reed By Recruiting and Retaining
First-Rate Professionals Through 2011

Recommendation: Until the day it closes, Walter Reed must have the authority and responsibility to recruit and retain first-rate professionals to deliver first-rate care. Walter Reed Army Medical Center has a distinguished history and, with
one in five injured service members going directly to Walter Reed, continues to play a unique and vital role in providing care for America’s military.

Goals: Assure that this major military medical center has professional and administrative staff necessary for state-of-the art medical care and scientific research through 2011.

These are reasoned, researched, and reconciled recommendations that will not solve ALL the ills of the Veteran’s Care system(s), but will certainly go a tremendously long way toward improving a system clearly functioning well beyond its means…almost in SPITE of the systemic shortcomings it is forced to endure.

Is it any wonder, given the observations the Dole/Shalala commission, why there is a class action lawsuit forming?

“Hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have filed a class-action lawsuit against the United States Government, accusing it of providing them with deficient medical and financial support.”

The veterans accuse the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of violating the constitutional rights of war veterans and leaving them to face a bureaucratic nightmare with claims pending for up to 10 years.

“The delays have become an insurmountable barrier, preventing many veterans from obtaining health care and benefits,” the plaintiffs said in their complaint.

The 11-page complaint was filed at a US District Court in San Francisco.

The Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) and Veterans United for Truth (VUFT) have complained on behalf of “hundreds of thousands of men and women who have suffered grievous injuries”, alleging the system for deciding VA claims “has largely collapsed”.

“The huge influx of injured troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan has overwhelmed the VA’s outmoded systems for providing medical care and disability benefits,” the complaint said.

In addition, it said the VA’s “archaic systems are structurally unsuitable for dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” which afflicts many war veterans.

The veterans charged the VA with deliberately tricking some PTSD sufferers by having them acknowledge pre-existing personality disorders in order to avoid giving them benefits.

“Unless systematic and drastic measures are instituted immediately, the costs to these veterans, their families and our nation will be incalculable, including broken families, a new generation of unemployed and homeless veterans, increases in drug abuse and alcoholism,” the complaint said.

If the Presidential wannabes want us to believe they support the Troops…no really, “we really mean it”…then they need to do 2 things. Stop blaming Bush and start blaming themselves (won’t happen). AND, legislate change…not MORE Veteran care funds which further expands Governmental bureaucracy…basic, fundamental, and comprehensive change.

They certainly know what “comprehensive” means along our borders. Perhaps they will figure out what that means on Military bases and in Military care facilities.