I went to a town hall regarding the disability claim backlog yesterday. Representatives Jackie Speier and Barbara Lee held this event to discuss the nearly one million claim backlog that has been a dark spot on the VA.
Many veterans of all generations were there telling how they’ve waited for decisions with very little (if any) action from the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). Tales of lost records, no response, denials where clear evidence was presented were all too common.
My biggest issue? The people from the Oakland Regional Office treating this as just a monetary issue. The money will help these Veterans. There’s no question about that.
Having a claim adjudicated in the Veterans favor is more than just a check. It’s an acknowledgement that something happened to you in the service of the country. Something that is still plaguing that Veteran as they try to maintain a life as a civilian. It’s a step towards becoming whole again.
We volunteered to put out lives on the line in defense of this country. Some gave their lives. Some came home with wounds that are invisible.
But ALL Veterans deserve to have their disability claim to be handled in a quick, dignified manner. I didn’t ask a million questions on 9/11 when I was told to help keep my fellow citizens safe. Don’t treat me like a 2nd class citizen waiting for a check. We don’t deserve that. We deserve better.
Today I was thinking about media coverage and how unfair it is to women Veterans.
When the bin Laden shooter shared his story of how after 16 years of service and misrepresenting the services available to him, he is granted the audience of our elected officials and getting job offers from all over.
After I told a part of my story of how I was in a combat zone without proper protection, I was said to be overreacting and “in it for the money”.
To be fair, the shooter did receive quite a bit of criticism for what was published. Some of the facts were misrepresented. In my opinion, he should have known better than say he had no benefits and I know for a fact that demobilization briefs are heavy on the planning for your family following deployments.
I didn’t tell all of my story to the media. I don’t feel comfortable doing so because of reactions like the ones I’ve received. I also don’t need the world to know some of the fucked up things fellow soldiers did to me. Will it have made a difference in how I was judged? Possibly. But I am not going to put things out there that I wouldn’t even tell my family. I’m just now telling my father about how I was there without plates in my vest.
And I’ve noticed that it’s not just me getting this pushback. There were plenty of comments of support, but when women Veterans are brave enough to tell their stories, we get comments about how we shouldn’t be in combat, that we are overreacting, or that we are somehow at fault.
I’m not writing this for sympathy. I don’t care about what some anonymous person posts on the Internets, but it does bother me that women Veterans aren’t getting the respect that we’ve clearly earned.
DISCLAIMER: I used to freelance for the company and the websites in question.
I am actually glad this is happening. I never had a good feeling about for-profit schools and the GI Bill, but when I was promoting those sites, I wasn’t aware of how predatory they are. These schools may get you a degree, but in most cases, it’s going to be useless. Servicemembers and vets waste years of their lives and their benefits on a piece of paper.
I hope that vets are being told that there are better options than these degree mills. Most are too good to be true BECAUSE THE ARE. There are many tools out there that will help you make an educated choice about higher education institutions.
