VoteVets tonguebathes VA
VoteVets creamed all over themselves again in reference to the VA’s handling of the GI Bill fiasco. This time, their legislative director, Brian McGough, gets his chance to suck up at lightspeed;
Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs again showed it is willing to quickly adapt and move to meet the needs of today’s veterans. By offering veterans waiting for their GI Bill benefits the chance to go online to get them sent on an expedited basis, the VA has made a tough situation for veterans a lot easier. This is the kind of quick action that has been missing from the agency for the past eight years, and gives us great hope for the future of veterans care under this administration.
Funny how that “past eight years” thing keeps slipping in there, huh? I doubt Brian or dicksmith could qualify that statement, though – it’s more just a knee-jerk spewing of a phrase than anything substantive.
Never mind, really, that it’s the Shinseki Administration that couldn’t pay veterans on time in the first damn place. What has really changed in the past few weeks that the DVA “suddenly” gets an idea to fix the problem? Didn’t veterans complain enough before dicksmith talked to them on the phone?
The folks at Warrior Legacy Foundation were helping veterans get their education benefits for weeks before dicksmith sniveled on the phone. In fact, I watched Matt and Jimbo on last Thursday night getting a veteran’s information to help get the ed benefits straightened out – at the pub, on the street. How many had VoteVets actually helped?
But the part at the bottom really gets me;
VoteVets.org is the leading progressive, pro-military organization of veterans, dedicated to the destruction of terror networks around the world, with force when necessary. It primarily focuses on education and advocacy on issues of importance to the troops and veterans, and holding politicians accountable for their actions on these issues.
It’s all one big lie – as Blue Cyclone pointed out yesterday, VoteVets’ membership is less than 5% veterans. They aren’t dedicated to the destruction of terror networks – especially by force. It doesn’t focus on education (except Jon Soltz spending all of his time in college to work on his doctorate in art appreciation) or veterans issues – they’re more worried about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Energy Policy and Labor Issues than anything that even remotely has to do with Veterans.
The only politicians they hold accountable are Republican politicians. When is the last time you heard anyone at VoteVets condemn John Murtha? Dick Durbin? Never! But they get their panties in a wad when Rush Limbaugh calls Jesse MacBeth a phony soldier.
Category: None
If not for the funding increases during the GWB years these idiots, losers, and cowards would have no reason to apply for V.A. benefits. There would be no money for them to file their claims based on mental illness for. None are getting disability of physical disability but all qualify on mental illness claims. The good thing is that President O’Dumbo (the I, me, my, president) will dump them when they’re no longer useful to him but the ‘mental illness’ admissions will follow them until they commit suicide. (Retired/Disabled Vet)
What amuses me is that most of these ones receiveing PTSD claims are not combat vets, while many combat vets I know are told you do not have PTSD — you have something else that is either nonratable or has a low rating. But the pogue who sat on the FOB, HE has severe PTSD from hearing about what the line troops did (experiencing it is no where near as traumatic as hearing about it). Or maybe those of us who come from a combat MOS don’t whine and cry about it enough to get rated for PTSD. We suck it up and drive on. I tire of these sniveling bitches. The collect a check while my buddies live with nightmares, flashbacks, divorce, and all the other fun things that go along with real PTSD (or end up eating a shotgun).
One response to Scrapiron above. You mentioned that “none are getting disability of physical disability but all qualify on mental illness claims”. Brian McGough, the legislative director mentioned above, served with the 101st Airborne in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He was injured by an IED in Iraq, and evacuated out with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The “mental illness” was caused by shrapnel i his brain.
Brandon Friedman, commonly known at TAH as Beaker, was an infantry platoon leader with the 101st in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He was there for Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan, and the initial invasion into Iraq. Obviously, he is one you would consider as “idiots, losers, and cowards”.
But hey, what do I know? I’m just a guy who served in Iraq, came home, and trying to raise a family. I’m sure you folks could school me seven ways from Sunday. I still have my American Legion sticker on my car and my Freedom Team salute certificate on my office desk. I’m still a member of IAVA. I support vets. I don’t care who they vote for. I’ll agree that VoteVets has a HEAVY partisan slant. But don’t act like TAH doesn’t. And don’t call other vets you don’t know cowards.
JSV: What’s your point? I have a close friend that received a TBI from an IED, also. Funny thing is, he’s a member of Vets for Freedom, the opposite of Vote Vets on the political scale. We all know about these two and their service, but that doesn’t make them any more noble than the next guy. That you are on here reminding us of what they did, or where they served doesn’t add to the discussion, because John F-ing Kerry (did you know he served in Vietnam) is given more gravitas by the media and the left for his service than anyone else, including McCain.
It’s not about dick measuring, it’s not about what they did in theater, it’s about what they are doing now. That they remind everyone about their service is a sure indicator that their message is crap, because they have to hide behind their service in order to not be criticized, or to lend weight to their discombobulated rhetoric.
That Beaker was a platoon leader doesn’t really matter. I knew several platoon leaders that couldn’t find their ass with both hands and a road map. For an officer, that’s the starting point in their career, not the end point after massive amounts of experience (unless they took the enlisted to OCS route and were pulling the required shift in slot).
I keep hearing negatives about “the past 8 years”. Isn’t it almost time for them to start saying “the past 9 years, except for the most recent one”?
OldTrooper,
See, I knew you guys would school me. I was just trying to point out that these guys weren’t ALL mental illness/PTSD patients like Scrapiron claimed they were. I wasn’t trying to measure dicks at all (I’m a rather little fella anyway.) I’ve noticed that none of the vets on the right (like McCain) ever refer to their service. They don’t write books about it like Brandon did, or go on talk shows and discuss it like he does. And yeah, I knew a number of LT’s and CPT’s that couldn’t find their tent without GPS. I just hate it when vets smear other vets because of their political beliefs. I don’t agree with David Bellavia or Marcus Luttrell on their politics. But I would never refer to them as a “idiots, losers, or cowards.”
And please don’t come back with the argument that “they do it too.” After all, the name of the blog is This Ain’t Hell”, Not “We’re just like VoteVets!”
Why would I come back with that argument?
As for Vote Vets; the problem they have is that they attempt to tie everything into politics and attacking those that have the opposite view of theirs.
As for Soltz at Vote Vets: Why does he make grandiose statements of when he served in Iraq, which is mis-leading at best. He served in theater, but in Kuwait, not Iraq. Why can’t he just lay it out truthfully? Why couldn’t he just say that he’s proud of his service in support of OIF?? No one would, or should, think less of him. I know I wouldn’t. The reason is; it gives him more credibility with the media and the left.
Some people, that serve honorably, have sacrificed for the country, turn later on. Their actions in the present are what need to scrutinized, which is what is done on this site. I like it here, because it’s the no bs zone. If someone comes in with bs and gets called out for it, makes for a more honest discussion. Whether a person agrees, or disagrees, it’s out there and you can say what you think.
What the hell happened with the process? I received my GI Bill benie’s back in the early 90’s (Under both Bush the elder and Clinton) and it was a very smooth, no hassle, easy process and my benefits were paid out in a very timely manner. What the hell went so wrong?
Look, I have had several exchanges with McGough on his blog.
The trouble with his perspective is that he targets the wrong people. Hence, blaming Bush for what has not happened.
When the MacBeth thing hit, he had a response to Rush, etc…and Freidman put out a video response that was, to me just using McGough. (let me say I give Freidman kudos for getting the blog world together for input on the VA School Benefits…)
When McGough didn’t like the way that Rush was supporting the troops, he denigrated it, and wanted to know why Rush didn’t focus on the Mental health issues and PTSD of soldiers. I pointed out that as much as Rush has a voice, he has no control over how policy is implemented and carried out. I also said that he should be angry at the dems in Congress who denied funds for such things and for using soldiers as pawns
in their quest for power.
Still, he was whining that Rush could do something and his other readers bashed me!! Heh. I also pointed out that the troops are the best to advocate when they see the bureaucracy of the system just delays care and is not expedient. Oh well, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
The MacBeth thing was 2 years ago, if I am not mistaken. Get with the program. One administration did not fuck up the process for troops who must be rated for disability and pay. Does it need fixing? Fucking yesterday. Anyone with a brain gets that. That any troop must wait 3 years for a rating, back pay or medical retirement is ludicrous.
JSV-
Perhaps those on the right don’t always write books because they do not have a need to be validated.
Personally, I don’t like to smack down other vets, but when they make stupid statements or try and call the war illegal, I’m all over it because it couldn’t be any more clear that they volunteered for service to follow the orders of the CinC, and then renig on it…It’s that simple.
How much longer are you vets against the war going to blame Bush, anyway? What about the peacetime dividend squandered by Clinton so people like McGough had no protection against the TBI he sustained? No new technology out there to combat the advances made by terrorists yet all those damn generals got the dough for their pet projects…what about that? Why don’t they get any blame? Just curious.
The difference on the right or left is that the left continually tries to push blame and as I see it, the right takes it and tries to fix it. I don’t see that at VoteVets or IVAW. Maybe it has gotten better, but as far as I have read, not really.
As for me, it took 2 years of prodding by a retired General and a retired CSM for me to apply for VA benefits. My reasoning was that there were Vets more worthy and in need of the bennies than I was. I had all the documentation, all the necessary information, I just didn’t feel right about doing it. Once I went through my CVSO and jumped through the hoops the VA has, in order to determine my percentage, It was a matter of maybe a month, before I received back pay and a current check. That was under the GWB administration; so should I put out a presser extolling the praises of GWB and how quickly the system worked for me?? I receive my check every month, no matter who is President, or what administration is in there. I get my reminders, to go to my VA clinic annually, same now as under Bush.
I don’t recall Vote Vets going after this administration for the DHS report, the attempted 3rd party payer proposal, etc., yet they want us to believe that things are infinitely better now, than they were under Bush? Under Bush I didn’t have to worry about him trying to short sheet the Vets. Were their issues? Sure were, but the VSOs weren’t trying to score political points, they instead, worked with the VA to get things hammered out. They worked with the military to improve the processes that had broken down at WRAMC, without pointing fingers for political points.
The left can’t do that, no matter whether it’s a politician, or a quasi Veterans org, they have to turn everything into a political point. That’s why I don’t care for Vote Vets, or IVAW, VFP, etc. They aren’t interested in Veterans unless they can make political points.
I will add that Beaker is doing a better job than I had anticipated, so I stand corrected on my assumption.
Did TAH ever hold itself out to speak for all veterans? How many salaried positions do we have Jonn, I keep forgetting…
Hey Jonn; TSO didn’t get the memo that his pay was froze. heh, heh, heh
BTW- I still believe Soltz served in Iraq. I don’t know where you guys are getting the Kuwait thing, but he’s said in other interviews that it was Iraq (20m south of Baghdad) and I actually believe him.
19D:
Many soldiers are told that they do not have PTSD when in fact they do. This is mostly combat vets because they have the highest prevalence of PTSD in the Army, not because there is special discrimination against them. This is a money-saving failure on the part of Big Army, and it is absolutely wrong.
However, viewing going to seek help for problems as “whining and crying” is one of those culture stigmas that has to be fought if you want your friends to have something to look towards besides shitty times. Nightmares may not go away, but they have some medications that help, and therapy helps. They may not be perfect, but you know what is absolutely proven not to work? NOT SEEKING HELP. They don’t have to get divorced or eat a shotgun: there IS help out there, and the more we, all of us, view it as a strength rather than a weakness, the more of them will get it.
JustSomeVet: Actually, Bellavia did write a book about his service, as have many others. Writing a book doesn’t make you a bad person.
By the way, TSO can back me up on this, Vets for Freedom isn’t the opposite of VoteVets. We actually try extremely hard to be non-partisan, it isn’t VFF’s fault that Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and everyone who get’s their marching orders from Obama are usually to the left. But VFF has reached out across the aisle hundreds of times and have partnered and endorsed Democrats. VoteVets, on the other hand, is simply the Democrat party’s apparatchik and although VFF tends to have a slant towards the right, that’s only because the right championed VFF’s mission, and not the other way around. IAVA, is also a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I try to point this out to all vets I meet. IAVA started out as “Operation Truth”. That in of itself should ring alarms and bells. IAVA along with VoteVets used injured vets to bash the administration and what they considered their opposition in television ads. Vets for Freedom, made an early commitment to NEVER exploit a combat wounded veteran and his injuries to make a stance. It’s disgusting the way IAVA and VoteVets used our wounded brothers’ to further their own political careers. When the new GI Bill legislation came out, Rye-Cough and his band of butt buddies willingly and knowingly morphed McCain’s position of the bill and used it to hammer him, a fellow vet, and a vet who suffered far more than practically anyone else in their membership. When they released their “Report Card” and blindly made anyone who voted against a bill with anything that had vet flavor, even though it wasn’t the original reasoning for the bill, and was too expensive or retarded or ANYTHING, it was a ding against them. The entire “Report Card” was constructed around the goal of making Republicans look bad or McCain look bad. Again, USING VETS to achieve their own political goal. Yes VFF released a “report card”, which you can still see now on the VFF website. This report card was constructed not with a “goal” in mind, but revolved around a concept we believed in and made… Read more »