Obama to VFW: I’ve got your back
The president spoke at the VFW convention in Las Vegas today and he closed his speech with the phrase “I’ve got your back”. The first thing I thought of was the last time I heard him mention my back at the American Legion convention last year when he said he wasn’t going to balance the budget on the backs of veterans while his defense secretary was planning to do exactly that.
President Barack Obama gave a 31 minute speech to the VFW National Convention Monday in Reno, ending the speech by telling the vets, “I’ve got your back.”
Obama’s remarks were often followed with cheers, applause and standing ovations.
He promised to keep the U.S. military as the indispensable fighting force in the world and vowed to continue fighting to improve the veteran’s health-care system.
Yeah, when he talks about the “veterans’ health care system, he’s talking about the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, he’s not talking about the DoD healthcare system that we earned. He’s trying to push us out of that system and into the VA. I don’t like the VA because it’s staffed by civilians who don’t understand me and my ailments. Army doctors do understand. VA doctors are bureaucrats, it’s been my experience that military doctors care more about what they do. The VA hospital is closer to me, but I go where there are military doctors.
Now, I’m not sure that Romney won’t screw veterans, the only reason he hasn’t, I’m sure, is because he hasn’t had the opportunity yet. But I’m also certain that I would rather Obama have my front, because I don’t trust him behind me. And the only reason that I need someone watching my back is because of him and his administration doing their best to put it to me, so I sure don’t want him watching it.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Veteran Health Care
I went to a DVA doctor for a fractured knee cap (fractured it in Iraq and sucked it up for six weeks so I could come home on schedule), he told me to wrap my knee in a flannel blanket that had been soaked in warn linseed oil. I went to my private doctor after that.
I went to a DVA therapist for help with my PTSD. She cried and then stood me on two follow up appointments. So I decided to suck it up and blindly clawed my way through the frustration.
Compare that with my pre-deployment experience with Army doctors, optometrists, and dentists. They fixed a tooth my civilian doctor had screwed up (to be fair he was replacing a stainless steel tooth the Army gave me in 1992), got me stylish glasses before they became standard issue, and treated me professionally, courteously, and without issue when I dislocated my hip after getting snagged in the gunners restraint system in the roll over simulator (long embarrassing story behind that one).
So yeah, give me real Army doctors anytime.
Hey lets see what have I got here in my back…oh wow a knife.
If that’s the best we have to watch my back I’d rather do without.
Yeah…all sounds good. Let’s see what sequestration does to everyone’s claims of keeping us a well trained, well equiped fighting force.
Et tu, Brute?… I mean Barry!
“Vowed to continue fighting to improve the veteran’s health-care system”. Yeah, and at just a little cost to veterans and their families.
Sorry Jonn… a sad truth is that it is clear that ALL medical systems will be folded into some iteration of government health care unless that can be sidetracked.
Okay, okay… I’ll temporarily dump my tin foil hat. Nope, still appears a valid take.
He promised to keep the U.S. military as the indispensable fighting force in the world
Yeah?
Zero, as we’ve seen demonstrated by this president, all it would take is the next president to issue an EO, stating that he won’t enforce the ACA. It doesn’t even have to be repealed by Congress. Like DOMA, it just has to be something the president feels is “unfair”.
But, I fear you’re right, now that we’ve started down that slope, it will take an Herculean effort to turn back.
I just had my retirement physical at the Washington, DC VA hospital after 37 years in the Navy. It was the saddest and most depressing aspect of my life. I spent my entire career in military medicine and I hoped I made a difference. The contract doctors at the VA at least put on a happy face and tried to help; the VA staffers were zombies who were only interested in asking questions that could be answered by “no”.
BTW, the DC VA Hospital is a circus. A filthy, nasty, no fun circus.
Open Channel D #9: Been in the system for 20+ years. I’d give those DVA elements here in central WV an overall B.
Although the ER doctor I recently dealt with at the Clarksburg VA hospital seemed to be inordinately happy to his stick finger up my ass? He did wear a glove, mind you. And it WAS his finger!
Aside: I DO believe that the level of care we might receive will ALWAYS vary regardless. However, if the VA system gets lumped into a general effort…
I’m near James Lovell FHMCC. It’s been combined with the Navy’s active duty health care system at Great Lakes. My experience with the VA’s health care system has been good so far, very pro-active with vets and staff are very nice to vets.
I hope it stays that way. This ain’t the 1970s after Vietnam was over and done with and the VA hospitals were dumping grounds.
Can’t we get someone as President that doesn’t talk like a street punk ?
He’s got their back all right. BOHICA!
My post commander went to the national convention, was taking requests for things to throw at Obama
When Obama says he has your back, remember that he is thinking he has your back in the same way MMA fighter wants your back and is looking to choke the life out of our pension and benefits.
Yeah, he’s got our back….EXACTLY the same way Bubba “gets your back” when you drop the soap.
The Kenyan Emperor has no clothes!
Why is it these idiots still applaud and cheer Obama (hell, ANY politician) when anyone with any attachment to reality knows he’s gonna fuck them over nine ways from Sunday?
My biggest issue with the VFW of late is that it’s turning into a service-connected version of AARP. Fuck the younger guys, we gotta get ours, dammit!
Yeah, well, you’re gonna get yours, alright.
Admittedly, there are darned few veterans who work as VA physicians, PA’s, nurse practitioners, or nurses, but they do exist. My non-veteran colleagues are excellent clinicians but many don’t really understand the military.
This problem is more significant in mental health than other clinics. Completing a combat deployment may add something to managing high blood pressure or chronic knee pain. On the other hand, talking to a VA clinician who also is a military veteran is extraordinarily useful when the discussion includes depression, alcohol abuse, or PTSD.
Well, the reality is that thus far Obama has only increased Veterans benefits. And he has just promised that the cuts from sequestration won’t come from VA benefits.
Of the two candidates running for office theres one that has increased spending for VA and has vowed to not cut VA benefits and that has signed the new GI bill and that is Barack Obama. He also has increased access to guns.
There’s one candidate that has vowed to cut ALL discretionary spending by 5% (that includes VA benefits, ya’ll) and there’s one candidate that has already cut funding for VA cemetaries, outreach and Soldiers homes and that is Mitt Romney, the same Mitt Romney who signed a big ol’ Assault weapons ban in his state.
Yeah look at all the guns he gave to Mexican drug cartels. Surely his re-election is imminent. /sarcasm
He did not “give” any guns to the Mexican drug cartel. Even Issa says there’s no evidence of White House involvement. In fact there’s not a lot of evidence that there was any “gun running” operation in the first place. The real evidence points to lax gun laws in Arizona plus prosecutorial timidity.
http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/27/fast-and-furious-truth/
Just out of curiosity, do you guys actually believe this shit? The theory goes that PBO puposely allowed guns to Mexico hoping that the resultant Mexican gun deaths would cause outrage in the U.S. and then he’ll be able to pass gun legislation which he hasn’t even proposed? If you honestly believe that, then you have no business condemning Orley Taitz, because that’s as nutty as anything she has ever come up with.
There was no evidence of direct White House involvement in Watergate either, insipid. What killed Nixon’s presidency was participating/orchestrating the cover-up of misconduct committed on his behalf by others outside the White House.
What’s happening today looks quite similar to what went on in 1972-1974: lower-level misconduct being stonewalled by senior government officials under dubious claim of “executive privilege”. Plus deliberate lying to Congress concerning material fact about the investigation that are “inconvenient truths”.
I don’t see any evidence of deliberate lies to congress of cover-ups nor are the “Claims” of executirve privilege “dubious”. They gave 8000 pages of documents to Issa’s committee and withheld documents directly involved in the investigation.
Not even a nice try, insipid. Holder blatantly and obviously dissembled when asked when he first learned about Fast & Furious. Four plus months earlier is not “a few weeks ago”. And that’s just for starters.
And Nixon tried the “executive privilege” BS to keep embarrassing/incriminating documents away from Congress, too. Didn’t work out all that well for Nixon either.
Hondo, it’s actually worse than Watergate since the negligence and sheer stupidity of Eric Holder (AND the WH) resulted in the loss of life. Instupid is still in orbit, apparently, and this regime refuses to take ownership of anything.
Well, sip, since you brought it up – where is the evidence that there has been ANY increase in delivery of service to vets? Haven’t actually looked at the numbers, but since you apparently have, right, to argue that it has happened, how’s about telling us all about that.
Increasing funds to an agency usually only means that the bloating of paper pushers has been increased. Hiring more SEIU members does NOT relate to increasing the care which is given to real vets.
What we have seen locally is new hires out on the streets looking for people to sign up for benefits wheather they are qualified for benefits or not. That includes residence homes as well as monthy income for each “veteran,” some of whom never served in the military or were injured prior to their military service.
But wow – you can certainly crunch the numbers to make idiots believe that you are delivering “more” benefits to vets! Only problem is that people who actually earned benefits, and are filing for claims the same old way, are being denied services because funds are being diverted to the phonies.
Oh, yeah. Your guy has done soooo much for vets that they are getting less now than ever. Thanks for nothing.
Well, the reality is that thus far Obama has only increased Veterans benefits. And he has just promised that the cuts from sequestration won’t come from VA benefits.
My God you have to be the stupidest motherfucker walking the face of the fucking earth.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BUDGET-2013-TAB/pdf/BUDGET-2013-TAB.pdf
Start at page 69 (page 73 of the .pdf.)
I see actual REDUCTIONS (not just failing to keep up with inflation) during the Clinton years. I see Bush (starting in FY2002) nearly DOUBLING the vets benefits and services outlays. But look closer at the increases and projected increases from 2012 on.
Medical care for veterans? Flat. Housing for veterans? Gutted. The only area in which we see significant increases is in pay and “income security”, i.e., retirement pay. And members of this administration have been trying to find ways to gut that.
Now go fetch your fucking shine box.