Thursday, January 26, 2023

Disgusting treatment of vets

 

They honor vets with parades, medals and even a folded flag that rested on their coffin in an emotional ceremony.

But let these vets need something after putting them through the horrors of war, many times based on a lie such as weapons of mass destruction or if Vietnam fell there would be a domino effect as more and more Asian countries became communism. and it’s tough luck, buddy. Nothing was ever discussed how it could have been prevented in the first place..

And let bad water on a base that sickens service families, tough to them too. 

These are reasons to never join the US armed services. They will demand everything from you, turn you into a killer or disabled and once they don't need you, throw you away. 

I remember being on a train between Lyon and Geneva. A young couple sat opposite me. He was on leave from Iraq and he was so proud of fighting to keep those nukes away from the U.S. I told him, he was doing his service for what he thought was a patriotic reason but that his country lied to him. I hope he lived to discover I was right. 

The U.S. has the same relationship to its armed services as an abusive husband has with his subservient wife who believes the lies she's been told and feels honored to help the husband.

This was not always true. WWII veterans were given benefits, education, medical care, disability.

After an unusual delay, the Supreme Court finally issued its first opinion of the term on Monday: a unanimous decision in Arellano v. McDonough siding against disabled veterans who seek compensation for disabilities related to their service. 

Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s opinion for the court denied these veterans (and their survivors) the ability to obtain benefits retroactively if they filed a late claim—even if the delay occurred because of their disability, or some other factor beyond their control. 

It’s a painful blow to military members who were injured while serving their country, and a puzzling one: At oral arguments, the justices sounded divided, yet all three liberals lined up behind Barrett’s harsh opinion. Maybe they genuinely believed that Congress intended to impose an exceedingly stringent deadline on disabled veterans. Or perhaps the three-justice minority is so outnumbered that it has decided to pick its battles, and Arellano was not worth the fight.

There are times when people do sacrifice and should. The first responders in 9/11 did what was necessary. They were heroes. They were lied to about safety and they had to fight in Congress to get the money for treatments that they needed based on their exposure to dangerous chemicals at the site. In a situation like 9/11 if you are a caring human being, you can't wait for a study on the long term dangers of helping.

Better that people work hard on making America what it claims to be, what it should be but isn't.


 

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