From Vietnam to Iraq the VA. Still Sucks!!!

 

 

The main Character in “Born on the 4^th of July,” Ron Kovich is a person I can relate to. I did not see the kind of combat he did or sustain the injuries that he has, but we are both Veterans of war that were injured while serving our country and like Ron Kovich, I am dealing with the Veteran Affairs(VA). The VA has come a long way since Kovich’s era, but they still suck.

In July of 2009, I fell off an obstacle at the Air Assault course and hurt my shoulder. I was taken to medical, they gave me Ibuprofen and light duty for a week and said, “I banged it pretty good.” It was medically documented that I had sustained this injury. In February 2012, I reinjured my shoulder while training. I was due to get out of the Army in less than a month so medical didn’t thoroughly document the event. On June 1, 2012 I went to the VA and told them about my shoulder they ran test and MRI’s and on February 20, 2013 I finally got the surgery I had needed from 2009.    

Very long story short, on May 31, 2012 I filed an injury claim with the VA stating 30 service-connected injuries. On February 20, 2013 I had this surgery and now I am 100% temporarily disabled, unable to work. To compensate for me not being able to work, the VA is suppose to give me disability compensation. I went to the Veteran Affairs Benefits office to find out why my claim was taking almost a year and was told they are backed up two years, and I am going to have to wait. I informed them that I have no means of income, due to the surgery they performed, and they told me they were “working on it.”

So I go to the Maryland state VA office to talk to someone, I walk in at 3:00pm and sit down. A half-hour goes by and no one acknowledges my presence. So I pull out my camera and start recording what they are all doing, which is not working on claims. The large man is the Director of Veteran Affairs for the state of Maryland. He saw me and didn’t even say, ”someone will be with you shortly.”

I figured out why Veterans  are not recieving their benefits: too many people are not doing their job.



 

video by Jesse Youngs

 

 

As of the writing of this blog, there is still no word on the status of my claim.

My Lai....WTF?

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/special-report/16327/my-lai-massacre--horrible-memoirs.html

The United States military tries to sell the image of a well-disciplined and morally just organization across the board. We are supposed to fight tyranny and spread democracy, so everyone can enjoy “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Occasionally, aspects of the United States military are “caught” doing what it's suppose to prevent. The My Lai massacre is one of the most horrific acts committed by the Army and one of the most disturbing events I have ever read about. There is absolutely no excuse or reason for those types of war crimes to be committed. All of the men involved, from the top brass to the Private should have been court marshaled for war crimes and shot.

On March 16, 1968, two platoons from Charlie Company 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, America Division went into My Lai looking for Viet Cong fighters, on the orders of Lt. William Calley to “search and destroy.” There are many conflicting accounts about how the event began, but what is fact is that not all the Soldiers took part in the massacre led by Calley, but enough of them did. The Army's official report states that only 10 Soldiers actually carried out the massacre.  Reports estimate that 500 people were killed in a few hours. Some of the corpses were mutilated. Some women who weren't killed were gang-raped. Other villagers were beaten and tortured. The massacre was filmed by an Army photographer Ron Haeberle. The news of My Lai didn’t reach the public until 1969.

On October 12, 1970 during his court-marshal, Lt. William Calley testified that Cpt. Ernest Medina had ordered that anybody they couldn't move would be "wasted." His defense and justification for the massacre was they were just “following orders.” This is why Calley said he and his men killed 350 Vietnamese, including more than 100 civilian men, women, and children. Medina was found guilty and given a life sentence, which was commuted to three years house arrest.

 

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/mylai.htm



 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS4OQc0mQNU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQA1V9uPFjU



The 1950's Had the Beaver, Today We Have Snooki. Are We Better Off?

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Leave-Beaver-The-Complete-Series/13428

 

The Life of a 1950’s Teenager by Richard Powers discusses how ridiculously conservative American adults’ views were toward teenagers. Powers discusses two phases adults used to categorize teenagers. The first phase was marginalization. “Teens were marginalized by the adults, who didn’t want to be bothered with the very different values the teenagers held.” Adults felt that the teenagers were rebelling and questioning. This rebelling and questioning was not how the adults were raised, so they could not understand. When the adults of the 1950’s were told to perform, they did so with no questions asked.

The second phase of categorization was condemnation of self-expression that didn’t conform to conservative societal norms. Adults blamed these ideas of self-expression on Rock and Roll or, as it was referred to back then, the Devil’s music. This condemnation extended beyond individual households to society as a whole. New rules, regulations and prohibitions were established to limit teenage self-expression. If a male went to school with his hair touching his ears he could be expelled. Girls were not allowed to wear pants and guys could not wear jeans. 

Despite these categorizations and limitations, life as a 1950’s teenager doesn’t seem to be that bad compared to what teenagers face today. Those kids watched Elvis shake his hips and thought that was provocative. Contemporary teens have thousands of television channels and the internet at their finger-tips. On afternoon TV, it is not uncommon to see a drunken girl fellating a banana, while half naked in a hot tub with multiple men.  The 1950’s were a time of censorship, but they didn’t have the social issues we face today: schools being shot up, kids being killed for wearing the wrong color and kids just having a total lack of respect. When I was younger I thought parental censoring was wrong, and I always tried to push the limits. Now that I am a parent I try to censor what my kids are exposed to.

Damn, when did I become old?

 

http://www.screened.com/nicole-polizzi/14-747303/all-images/132-1887106/7/131-450036/