Turning our backs on our veterans

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Turning our backs on our veterans

BILL HORNE
Guest columnist

Folks, there are some things that are so detestable, disgusting and nasty that it is hard to believe that Americans in general and our government specifically are involved. I recently read an article in The Nation by Joshua Kors concerning an Ohio soldier who had been denied disability and medical benefits.
The Ohio soldier is Jon Town from Findlay. And, as badly as he was treated by our government, he is just the poster veteran for what could be thousands of other discharged vets.
These members of our military were used up and then thrown away by our government. The estimates by investigators are that we have mistreated more than 20,000 service men and women in this manner. I could not verify the actual number. However, any number is too many.
According to Kors, in Town’s case, he was a seven-year soldier. He had been honored 12 times during his short career and received the Purple Heart.
He received the Purple Heart from an incident where a 107-millimeter rocket struck just above the doorway of his unit’s headquarters. Specialist Town had to have shrapnel surgically removed from his neck. He also lost all hearing in one ear and half the hearing in his other ear. And he has suffered from memory loss.
This young man was released from the Army under Regulation 635-200, Chapter 5-13. In short, what this means is that Town was kicked out of the Army for having a pre-existing personality disorder and not because of his wounds.
Folks, this hero had no pre-existing personality disorder. We know this because the Army itself routinely checked Town twice before he was wounded and he was fine. One of these fitness clearances came just before he was sent to Iraq.
When the military uses Chapter 5-13 to discharge personnel, the service people are not eligible for disability benefits of any kind. So they receive no medical help and no disability payments. To add insult to injury, as my Dad used to say, if they had received a re-enlistment bonus, they must pay back the portion of it for the time from their discharge to what would have been the end of their tour.
When Jon Town was released from military duty, he not only did not receive his mustering out pay but he owed the Army about $3,000. So what happens here is that we use these fine young men and women until they get hurt and can no longer perform their military duties and then we discard them — throw them away. I repeat, it is estimated that from all branches of the service, more than 20,000 of our finest have been cheated in this way after they gave us their bodies and minds.
When I first came across the story in The Nation, I could not believe that my government was so mean that it would, to save a few dollars, just put our wounded “out on the street to rot” as one soldier stated.
The second issue concerning this matter is the fact that the military has been doing this for five or six years and we, the public, are just now learning about this national disgrace. I have now polled 76 people, many of whom are community leaders, as to whether or not they were aware of how we are treating our disabled veterans by not allowing them to receive benefits. Not one person of the 76 was aware of the situation.
How come we don’t know? Where were the major media on this subject? Probably they were too busy choosing our next president for us. Or reporting Paris Hilton’s latest photo ops.
It’s all about money. We don’t want to spend a few dollars helping our veterans when they are sent home wounded, but we can give billions of dollars to private corporations through unbid contracts to feed and house our troops and we can give billions to private armies who don’t answer to any law.
By law, these veterans have no recourse except you and me. The law states, and as near as I can tell it was written in the late 1940s or early ’50s, that a soldier cannot sue a military doctor for a misdiagnosis. This law was upheld by the Supreme Court.
I can understand why the law is necessary. However, I feel certain that the Legislature and the courts did not consider that our military would use it as a loophole to discard wounded men and women who have given their bodies and minds to serve you and me in combat.
It seems like what we have is military doctors following orders from their superior officers. And, the whole government system has closed ranks and is stonewalling the situation. The super-large media that controls all of our national news seems to have forgotten that our forefathers felt a democracy could only survive with a free and open press.
The only hope that these injured young men and women have is you and me. If we fail them, shame on us.
I don’t care if the 20,000 estimate is too high and that it is only 5,000 or 500 or 50, this is a national disgrace and a reflection on our whole society.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Bill Horne is a professor of economics at Southern State Community College and a columnist for the Wilmington News Journal.


In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Reference: http://www.law. cornell.edu/ uscode/17/ 107.shtml

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Remind your Representatives and Senators of the following
failures of the 2006 & 2007 National Defense Authorization Acts
-375,000 retirees with less than 50% disability denied CRDP
-327,000 retirees age 70 & 30 years still paying SBP premiums
-188,000 Chapter 61 with less than 20 years denied CRDP
- 55,000 widows denied relief from SBP/DIC
- 28,000 IU denied 100% benefit under CRDP
- 17,000 POW who died in captivity denied the Purple Heart
All of this legislation has bills held hostage in committee.

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