Abu Ghraib for "good guys!"

Abu Ghraib for the good guys.

Imagine this vision of Hell.

Unlike the people who sent you to War, you weren’t too busy to serve your country, you get wounded and they ship you to Germany and then you to the States.
Where? Walter Reed hospital, a premier facility outside of Washington DC.

And then the process breaks down.

Instead of being championed by a buttoned down system, you get tossed into the meat grinder.. Our heros are informed by an officious staff that makes them feel as if they were responsible for being wounded that they because they are crowded, our heroes must make accommodations. Read: Our country doesn’t care enough to put our Veterans first! . To show you they are serious, you are deposited in a facility that must surely rewaken those dreams of Hell.

Mold, feces, mice, roaches, water spots, soiled bedding….

All of the best for those who gave their lives, their futures, their security and their hopes; not to mention a body part, a brain injury or some deep emotional scarring as the price for protecting their country.

And what do you get?

For your donation of a limb, you get the benefit of some cruel irony that borders on a sick joke: If you've lost your leg, chances are the system will insist that you walk miles to your treatment center and then to other departments for medicine and counseling. No coddling with counselors or taxis to deliver you door to door. But that's not the worst of it. Those with say a serious mental injuries, after evaluation and preliminary treatment are informed that the rest of the process is up to them to organize, coordinate and plan. They, the injured, must contact their medical advisers for their next appointments and future steps in the healing process. And all this takes place prior to the meetings required to assess your condition in front of a review board so that you can get some money to pay your growing list of bills.

Men who can no longer tie their shoes are expected to make and keep appointments. Men who are brain damaged are expected to make their case to the Review Boards prior to getting any benefits from Uncle Sam. And if they can't do it, or won't do it because they can't get their individual acts together, they just fall through the system.

If you think this must be a joke, you need to hear the comments of those lost in the system fronted by one of our premier hospitals who, like the detritus of War, are being buried in plain view because America would rather not know the truth--that Americans are losing limbs, losing organs, or cannot fend for themselves because of their wounds and our government doesn’t seem to care.
Hold on a minute, folks, is this how we treat our brain injured soldiers who took a direct hit in Iraq or Afghanistan, drove their families into despair with their injuries and are now devoid of a job and unable to lift a pencil and who are dependent on those who promised them that Americans don’t leave their wounded. Balderdash! We may not leave them on the battlefield; but as the testimony of wounded American heroes will admit, we leave them lost in the system..

Is this the way the leading power in the world, America, a country that thinks nothing of of buying F22’s at 225 million at a crack but cannot find the manpower or the compassion to take away the concerns of those who can no longer take care of themselves. If so, it is among the saddest commentaries I have ever heard and is unworthy of us as a people and a nation. Maybe if our president and his surrogates were not too busy doing something else than to serve their country, they would feel some compassion and make the changes necessary to treat our heroes with the compassion, understanding and respect they deserve.

Les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change