<p>Edit to add that this article is pretty long.</p>
<p>How the Bush administration can sleep at night is one of the great sources of bewilderment to me. I was 100% opposed to the war in Iraq, though I suppose at this point I subscribe to the “You broke it, you bought it.” school of thought.</p>
<p>That being said, how on earth can this administration possibly allow this sort of treatment of wounded soldiers to exist practically in its’ own backyard?</p>
<p>It seems to me that this article would be a perfect example of supporting the troops but not the war.</p>
<p>There is a Vietnam era veteran trying to call attention to the need for mental health screening for ALL returning vets - his name is Ron Zaleski and his web site is <a href=“http://www.longwalkhome.org%5B/url%5D”>www.longwalkhome.org</a>. These stories are a shameful tragedy.</p>
<p>It is absolutely unbelievable to me that the Army is fighting wounded soldiers over whether or not they are entitled to disability. The thing is they are knowingly enlisting people with learning disabilities, or other problems, then using those problems against them for the purpose of denying disability.</p>
<p>It is utterly disgraceful the way this administration has conducted a war that should never have been fought in the first place. Of course that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.</p>
<p>I understand that the budget request submitted by the Bush administration this month calls for a $3.5 billion cut in funding for veterans programs over the next five years.</p>
<p>What frustrates me is that it probably wouldn’t cost any more to treat these soldiers properly. </p>
<p>How much professional time (and therefore money) is being wasted when soldiers don’t show up for therapy appointments because they didn’t know they had appointments? How much time (= money) is being spent hunting for “lost” records? How much is it costing to keep soldiers at Walter Reed for a year or more, when with good rehabilitation they could have left much earlier?</p>
<p>Wharfrat–I just finished reading those two articles and came over here to post pretty much the exact same sentiments you did. Good grief! What is wrong with these people? We all mouth a bunch of “support the troops” platitudes and then this kind of ******** is happening to people who were injured fighting in our government’s name. It is disgraceful.</p>
<p>Here’s another thing from today’s article. In Dell’s case, he was told that he was “slow” when he was in school and the evidence was that he had been in “Title I Math.” </p>
<p>Title I has absolutely next to nothing to do with ability. It is a function of socio-economics. Title I schools are designated as such because of the percentage of their student base that is low income. If ability enters into it at all, it is usually the due to a lack of experiences resulting from being low income. </p>
<p>I am a veteran, and while I did not serve during wartime, nor am I disabled, I am completely appalled by the army’s treatment of these wounded soldiers. No one will ever convince me that the Bush administration is ignorant of the army’s actions. I mean for God’s sake to tell a wounded soldier who wanted to wear shorts to a ceremony that he could not go because the media would be there and they didn’t want a triple amputee being seen on the news. </p>
<p>There are no words to sufficiently voice my indignation at this situation.</p>
<p>Way to “support the troops”. This speaks volumes about how the actual human beings, whose lives are on the line, are of little import to the decision makers in our government.</p>