“enemy of the people” has it right.  But, maybe the decline in the yellow ribbons market is an indication that America is learning that they’ve been had, again.
Bitter?  RVN 68/68 I Corp

As the Walter Reed Army Hospital horrors, VA benefit cuts, unilaterally extended tours, shortened rest and re-training between tours and equipment deficiencies prove once again, the only thing Republicans really care about troops is how they can be used to support oil companies.  Apparently, the US military has become essentially a “free” manpower source to eliminate potential competition and obtain corporate objectives.  The average soldier apparently has little more value to the Republican leadership than the disposable tissues in their executive washrooms.

[more irreverence at http://resistence-is-possible.blogspot.com and http://lawlessone.wordpress.com.  Link to them if you like.]

It would be nice to have more money for veterans, but we have to give people tax breaks so that they can buy hummers,install second pools, and put in home theaters.

The military continues to support the Republican Party so I assume they don’t have a problem with being treated this way.

jon

Connecting the Dots: From human behaviors to Ecosystem Collapse
http://StudentsForTheEarth.org

It’s interesting that the same neocons who hide behind these troops, and accuse anti-war campaigners of undermining them, are the ones who allowed them to lie in a cockroach-infested hospital in their own urine:

http://americablog.blogspot.com/
2007/03/breaking-secretary-of-army-resigns.html

What was it Kissinger said?

“Soldiers are dumb animals to be used in the furtherance of our foreign policy.”

I would sign a petition (if someone more knowledgeable than I in such things would start one) to send to his congressperson(s).  They could pass a resolution to get him the help he has coming.  The Military won’t do it on their own.  After all, the boss of Walter Reed was fired for failure to complete his duty.  That duty was to keep news reporters out of the facility.  They’ve locked the place down, and won’t actually improve the care.

This one caught me unprepared and I burst into tears. It’s close to home. I already commented on my own site about the soldiers coming home with brain injuries. Don’t Miss Part Two: What Iraq Veterans Face (http://www.civilgideon.com/portal/index.php/site/comments/dont_miss_part_two_what_iraq_veterans_face/).

TBI (traumatic brain injury) doesn’t “get better” ... you may improve or stabilize; there are good years and bad years. Everyone is different.

These individuals face not only lack of therapy, but a lifetime of dealing with side effects (Anyone notice how the young many couldn’t read and it was being read to him? I can read a computer screen with the help of text-to-speech, but can’t read a simple form or one page piece of paper.)

They face being referred to as “stupid” or labeled with a “mental illness” (damage to language center of brain is not! a mental illness). They face discrimination and other horrifying treatment in the same way as anyone who has had a car accident, sports injury, or even a stroke ... the many causes of brain injury today.

There is humiliation and degradation in situations and from people you don’t expect it from, and each time it becomes more devastating.

At this moment, after watching this, I wonder if we have a future as a society at all.

For some more info about TBI, check out:

Claudia Osborn
http://www.claudiaosborn.com/

The Loss Self
http://www.headinjury.com/losself.htm

He’ll be fine, it’s just that this administration and the VA itself are more brain-damaged than he is, apparently…a mind is a terrible thing to begin with…some jobs only need half a brain anyway, he could become a CEO, or, at the rate we’re going, run for public office! Wish him all the best, and send him to a better hospital…

It doesn’t matter how the focus of any reporting is on this matter, the fact is the wounded are not being properly taken care of through out the long process of rehabilitation. The total care should be done and all of us are responsible for them getting their care and not lest of these are the ones responsible for directly involving the military in this mission, one that has been proven as some suspected from before the Bush/Cheney administration disinformation campaign was bogus. Now we find they aren’t doing enough for these wounded——enough!

Don’t call him Mister. Naval Officers are called Mister. Call him Jarhead.

Two days after I was wounded in Viet Nam I was out cleaning the shitters. Ambulatory patients do not rest, they said. A day later I was back in the bush. Of course, the Swift Boaters would say it was just an “owie.”

Ron Kovic’s story (born on the fourth of july) was more about the treatment of wounded vets than anything else. He was more abused than a two-bit whore after they got him stateside.

The point is, wounded and disabled vets do not matter now, did not matter then. I am sure there are political officers in the services who think the therapy this young Marine is getting is just fine and dandy. After all, he is alive, right? All that matters is doing your duty. Once the duty is done, you are irrelevant. It was that way then, it is that way now.

Good question, David. Where is the outrage? Where is the outrage that keeps “the deciderer” from killing and maiming more young Marines?

My wife tells me to not be bitter.

Bitter?

Moi?

Pay attention News Networks…
BOB WOODRUFF RESURRECTS JOURNALISM!

What a true American hero, putting himself in harm’s way, taking a hit, suffering rehab, yet having the chest to stand up and spotlight the truth under an Administration that so despises it. Those colors are sorely missed. Fly them proudly Mister Woodruff. And thank you.

Where is the outrage?  Woodruff jumps right past the therapy issue as if cards from kids are near-adequate substitutes.  This is reporting?