There is no need to rehash all the incidences of pedophilia committed in the shadow of a church spire and the subsequent cover ups on national and international levels. Having been directly involved in the Church’s mishandling of complaints in my own (at the time) diocese and its subsequent refusal to take action, I no longer care to associate myself with Catholicism. Been there. Done that. Time to move on.

The Veterans Administration is another matter. My family tree has lots of military branches extending outward from its trunk. I am proud of my many relatives who chose to serve their country loyally and without hesitation. However, it wasn’t until my nephew joined the Marines two years ago that I felt a very personal connection to our men and women in uniform. From that moment forward, every report of casualties became an obituary for a “friend,” every mention of failing healthcare services became a torch I felt obliged to carry.

I can’t do anything to stop death, but I can write about and advocate for better care for veterans. I’m not delusional. I don’t really think anything I say will make a difference, but joined with the voices of thousands of other informed people, perhaps we will one day be heard over the cacophony of bullets and bombs.

American soldiers have been at war to one degree or another since 1812 and still the hardest battle they have to fight is against their own kind. Our soldiers, past and present, are deserving of the best healthcare this country can offer. Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are not some new strains of cancer that have “just” been discovered. Those two conditions have been part and parcel of warfare since the dawn of time. They have also been ignored, first through ignorance and now through arrogance.

In the early days of our country’s formation, soldiers who ran from battle were considered deserters. Some probably were, but a great many were suffering from the effects of PTSD. Do you remember the scene from the movie Patton, which has the esteemed General stopping at a military field hospital to visit the wounded?

Patton pauses by each bed offering words of encouragement and praise to the injured soldiers. Eventually, he comes upon a soldier with no visual signs of injury – no bullet holes, no missing limbs – to Patton’s eyes he seems whole. When he questions the man as to why he is there, the soldier tells him that he is suffering from shellshock (PTSD), which so infuriates Patton that he slaps the soldier and calls him a coward.

The scene is not the product of some Hollywood writer’s vivid imagination. It actually happened!

Below is a link to General Patton's speech to the troops at the beginning of the film. I encourage you to read it. Consider then if his philosophy does not explain much of how our military thinks even today. In fact, since yesterday was Memorial Day, watch the movie again but do so in the context of research. I would like to hear your comments.

http://www.historyinfilm.com/patton/speech.htm

As if the long wait for acknowledgement that PTSD and TBI are “real” conditions isn’t condemnation enough, we are now informed that 13,000 veterans who were treated at VA hospitals in Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Missouri and Tennessee could potentially be infected with HIV or Hepatitis B/C.  Where did their exposure take place? Not in the bug infested jungles of Vietnam or in the blazingly hot deserts of the Middle East. No, exposure happened right here at home, while under VA care.   

Assurances have been given that the chance of infection is slim but, if you were one of these veterans, would you be sleeping peacefully considering the VA’s tract record with other medical issues? Wasn’t it enough that these men and women put their lives on the line while in theater? Did they have to face friendly fire in the form of dirty surgical instruments at home as well?

According to an Associate Press article, ten thousand veterans, treated at hospitals in Georgia and Tennessee in 2009, were notified that they might have been exposed to infection. The veterans in question underwent either colonoscopies or endoscopic surgeries in which inadequately sanitized instruments were used. I’m the first to admit that problems like these are not exclusive to government run facilities. The most prestigious hospitals in the world have, from time to time, fallen victim to a temporary lapse in protocol. They shouldn’t but they do.

My intent with this post is not to point fingers. The Veterans Administration is besieged with ailing soldiers, and our government is ill-prepared (unwilling) to provide the needed funding to treat them. I guess I’m wondering why the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when budgeting for battle, don’t also budget for the negative effects of that battle. Whether winning or losing, war means casualties. Casualties cost money, but … Those casualties should only happen on the battlefield – not in an operating room on home soil.