6 Comments
author

Who needs an insurance company when you have a congress that writes endless checks for whatever war you want?

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, MG, if we can't take care of our vets, we sure aren't much of a country. I think the PACT act will pass, though vets should not have to fight for the benefits they've earned by serving and risking their lives.

Expand full comment
author

I've done a lot of reporting on the situations of vets through the years, Bridget, and I think the general attitude of the government after you have served is they want to invest minimal money and effort into caring for you. The system isn't completely broken, and parts of it work, but no vet should have to fight for benefits.

Expand full comment

“A congress and a military and government that votes to spend trillions on war ought to be able consider a few billion to care for those who shouldered the risk.“

Maybe in the future we should consider the real cost of war before we go down that road. Insurance companies which are among the largest corporations in the world make such actuarial assessments every day.

Expand full comment

Mr. Moore,

The actions of the Trump worshiping sycophants and the others in Congress this week are a true abomination to our NATION. I continue to hold hope that Good will triumph over evil. I also continue to support the millions of men and women who served our country...I see you and I thank you.

Expand full comment

This one sure touched a nerve. My father, my brother, and my son have served a total of 72 years in the navy, another brother did 20 in the army, and now I have three nephews in the military (one navy, one army, one national guard). My father (Vietnam vet) is now dead and had to fight for some service related health issues but not all. My brother (SEAL; all Middle East conflicts from 1984 through the 2000s) has received excellent service related care. I am holding my breath for my son who was directly exposed to nuclear fallout from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. He was navigator on a cruiser headed to the Persian Gulf when his ship was diverted to help with the rescue and relief in Japan for several weeks. He is supposedly in a database that will document that service and health related issues such as cancer as a result of it, but I don’t have that much trust that if the diagnosis comes that that database would be easy and efficient to access. I hope such a diagnosis never comes, but if so I bet he will have to fight for care. My father’s VA doctors used to call me up asking for his health history (I was his medical power of attorney) and I’d say why don’t you have this info in the “database” I always hear about, and they’d tell me it was difficult to access and it was usually easier to call a family member for the information.

Expand full comment