Get sent to war. Get brain injured. Get home with anything from headaches and disturbed sleep to memory loss and behavior issues. Get to the treatment facility and understandably expect treatment for your injury. After all, you're a United States Military Servicemember and by God, we support you!
Nope! At least nope by half, say those in charge of having sent you to war in the first place. Your government-sponsored travel agency is made up of the same people who are now alloting $7 million for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) instead of the $14 million the Center received last year.
Proponents are shocked that funding for treating the war injured is being cut during a war. Martin Foil, a member of the DVBIC's board of directors, ironically summed up his thoughts over the cuts with, "It blows my imagination."
Alas, those behind the cuts are not without remorse. "Honestly, they would have loved to have funded it, but there were just so many priorities," says spokeswoman for the Senate Appropriations Committee, Jenny Manley.
Let us pause for a moment and reflect on Jenny's words, representative of all the healthy-brain power behind the decision to cut the funding for brain injury treatment in half. They would have "loved" to have funded it, but brains that don't belong to them just aren't a priority.
How heartfelt. Where's the Wizard now, Scarecrow? The Tin Man killed him.
The week of June 11th of this year, the House of Representatives voted to give members of Congress a pay raise, an almost annual event for the past ten years.
The appropriations committees in both chambers skirted responsibility for the decision they made by referring to a tight budget. This is to say the appropriations committees didn't so much to make the cuts as the tight budget made them do it.
Meanwhile, families of the brain injured are trying to figure out how they might use the "tight budget" argument to keep from paying rent without consequence so as to free up monies to secure treatment for their wounded family members. Additionally, criminal defendants throughout the country perked up upon hearing the old "made me do it" defense is once again viable.
The Pentagon has refused the DVBIC's recommendations that returning troops be screened for symptoms and a database of brain injury victims should be created. Instead, the Pentagon insists on more research. Where the Pentagon will get that research without screening troops or creating a database is anyone's guess.
Article comments
1 - chancelucky
Great point and well said. I wasn't aware of this.
2 - Howard Dratch
I would like to take this report as a joke but I don't think it could be made up. Therefore, it is a terrible lack of compassion on the part of a government that will see more fighting as the barbarian attacks continue.
The situation with prosthetics is not dissimilar. Iraq has increased the number of destroyed limbs. Technology and pentagon funding is slow to catch up.
Brain injury, however, is more terrifying.
Where, we wonder of the military bean-counters, are their heads?
3 - gonzo marx
another perfectly clear example of hos our military is gettnig fucked many times over without even getting a nice dinner and a movie out of it
wonderful Reporting on a VERY important Issue, Diana
would that more of the folks actually InServ got wind of this kind of shit before it was too late, maybe they would think twice when voting
and maybe the miserable pigfuckers in the GOP who are in charge of these kinds of things will finally get the Idea that taking care of our returning vets is Priority number ONE
i bet their pay raise woudl have easily covered the 7 million shortfall in the budget
hell, there's plenty of way to find that amount of cash in the budget, these bastards were just too fucking lazy to do the Work for people they don't think of as important
i'd truly enjoy strapping some of those bastards to the front of a Humvee in Baghdad...
but i digress
Excelsior?
4 - dad
As Ganzo said I am sure all the fault must fall on the GOP. But if that is so why didn't I hear Hillary screaming about it? Surly anyone running for president would be concerned about brain injury, otherwise they might vote for the wrong party.
All these comments don't get the problem resolved, but e-mail to all the representatives (since money bills originate in the house) might do some good in this election year.
5 - gonzo marx
for dad in #4
don't mistake my rant for pure GOP bashing... rather, realize that currently the GOP not only controls the Hose, but the Committe chairs, and the Agenda on the floor as well
hence them drawing the brunt of my Ire under the circumstance
hope that helps to clarify
Excelsior?
6 - the cob
The Senate Appropriations Committee is chaired by one of my senators, Thad Cochran. I've emailed him and asked for the DVBIC budget be restored to $14 million. I'll be asking friends to do the same or to mail or phone with the same request.
Will it do any good? I doubt it...BUT...there are a lot of senators on that committee. You might check out that site to see if any of yours are on it and to contact them with your feelings.
7 - gonzo marx
well done!!
Idea to share...
anybody got their own website where you could Post online all the calls and e-mails made to these shitheads
THAT would be a statistic to strike fear into any professional politician come this November
call, write, make an appointment to see, whatever anyone can do to let our elected representatives KNOW that this kind of bullshit is unacceptable
and IS the kind of Issue people vote on
just a Thought
Excelsior?
8 - diana hartman
to be honest, i didn't know there were those who didn't know to or how to contact their reps...i'll be sure to include this information from now on...
this is the list i use for contacting congress and there is a spanish language option...
9 - gonzo marx
Snarkattack sez...
*This is how they treat their 'heroes'? How can they treat their citizens like this? It's so incredibly sad.*
Quoted for Truth
Excelsior?
10 - diana hartman
i would submit that our servicemembers are perceived as heroes by the majority of citizens under two circumstances only: 1) while they are in combat and 2) when someone talks trash about them (and then they are defended as heroes)...
neither of these circumstances costs time or money of the person regarding them as heroes...
to the government, they are a resource...
once wounded, they're a liability -- and few claim them at this point, much less claim them as heroes...
11 - Tonia Sargent
I encourage you all to google my name. I am the wife of a Marine who has served 19+ years two of those we have lived with his tramatic brain injury from this war.
We have bee told we are too injured, not injured enough, injured too long not injured long enough. These are the excuses we are given when it comes time to get benefits. My Marine is still active duty and trying like hell to finish at his 20.
Our life is very different. Things will never be the same. Our needs change as the injury changes. NO finish line no all done just continuation.
I hope people of this nation really understand sacrifice. If you need to be reminded visit the injured.
I see billions being sent to rebuild a country I will never live in. I am a pioneer living a structure I am creating as I go. Unexceptable that sports figures make millions in a year and my husband will never make a million over his lifetime. Somethings wrong with the payscale people.
Semper Fi, To all my Marine family and a big ohrah for the spouses that support this nation by supporting our servicemembers;)
12 - diana hartman
Articles featuring Tonia's work with her husband and the struggle he's had to endure physically as well as the troubles the family has had to endure can be read at the San Diego Union Tribune, The Washington Times, and Fisher House.
please understand that Tonia and the MSgt are not alone -- Tonia is, however, one of the few spouses who has gathered, compiled, sorted, and distributed the information spouses and families need to help their loved one and traverse the system more effectively...
currently, the system is made up of hundreds of disconnected contacts who are often unaware of the resources and information of other contacts, resources, and services...when made aware, few organizations follow up on the information and even fewer share this with the next person in line...
spouses and families of both the wounded and those killed must make these connections, seek the resources, and often file the paperwork themselves without assistance because there either isn't any assistance or those within an organization who should know how don't know how...
if you are a family member of a wounded servicemember and you or your loved one are in need of any kind, please contact the sources listed aside the Union-Tribune article...
13 - RedTard
Way to throw out an politcally charged opinion with no clue wtf you're talking about. Is $7 mil not enough? $14mil? Hell, we're talking brains here why not $14 billion?
You have no idea of the need, the mission, possible overlapping responsibilites, waste and fraud occurring or anything else you just here a sympathetic cause and want to use it in a sick attempt to score political points. That's the idiotic logic that created the entitlement spending that will eventually bankrupt our government.
14 - Tonia Sargent
Im going to share facts with you and a reality of my life for the past 20 years. My family is the poster family of a patriotic family.
I married my marine in highschool. he was 17 and i was 16 when we met. he told me he was going to be a marine for life.
I accepted that as my life and learned everything I could along the way to supporting his decision to commit to fighting for God and his country. I new from the beginning my family would have to sacrifice for others.
So I have been a single mom for 19 years so my husband could lead and mold other marines to understand the roll they would play being the ELITE WARRIOR.
Deployment after deployment I always held down the homefront. No matter how much we were struggling either financial or emotional I always gave him the same we ar all fine speech. this enabled him to focus on his mission for your freedom.
Missing his children grow up. Missing memories that I cant share over a lifetime. I understood my roll. My children understood theirs.
17 years I loved my Marine before his brain injury. Now he is changed forever. My family is changed forever. I am a caregiver for life. He is not the man who was going to make me feel safe and take care of me. I lost that security on 8-5-05.
I invite anyone to follow me around with a camera rolling uncensored to see a reality show that will blow you F***ing mind.
My husband lost two inches of his brain. he was diagnosed as never seeing, hearing, speaking and remembering as well as walking again.
Sacrifice let me difine sacrifice. 24/7 support and committment for two years. Giving up my job my social life, fun, friends, living. To replace it with teaching him to walk, talk, think, run,cook, mow the grass, parent, go to work and be a Marine.
Do I regret my sacrifice? NEVER. I married for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.
My children just want to be kids and have fun. The ripple effect of the injury is like a bomb exploding and the blast is felt in waves. Fun takes so much work. Depression daily overides fun.
Waiting around for the people at the top who have NEVER asked me whats working and whats not are the ones making the IT LOOKS GOOD ON PAPER DECISIONS that are NOT APPLICABLE.
I have been told to trust the system. Their is no structure for me. i am building structure for those behind me.
Is it politically correct for me to complain about a government that has let me down. Took my last 19 years of sacrifice and committment and support to this nation through supporting my service member. to send him in harms way to send him back changed for life with PTSD and pices of him that will never be regained. To give him a purple heart and a Meritorious Service medal that cant pay my bills or pay me to be his caregiver. I have given more that most and I am still committed to sacrifice for the rest of my life.
If my husband were to pass before me I get nothing...........His benefits are gone. i am left to start over. Its not the injury that makes me sad its the system of people who are making decisions for my family and the decisions they make are to benefit them and their status to climb the political pole of BS.
15 - RedTard
I detect alot of bitterness and resentment in that story. The military paid for round the clock care and rehab of your husband for months. He received full pay and promotions. The worst you could come up with is that you had to spring for your own hotel once? I don't understand your where all the anger comes from. Perhaps your jealous you didn't score $millions like the spouses of the 9/11 victims.
16 - diana hartman
redtard, seriously, you're out of bounds with the lack of information...please check your facts and at least try to do a little research about the subject before you make any more comments...
families of wounded don't pay for hotels once...there is not a fisher house alongside every military health facility, and especially not alongside the civilian facilities where wounded are sent...
until the fisher house at palo alto was built, families sprung for hotels every time they visited their loved one, or, in tonia's case, every time she took her husband to the hospital...tonia is by no means alone in this...please take the time to read how the fisher house at palo alto even came into being...unfortunately, palo alto is not the only facility where this family and many families have gone -- thus there have been many times when these families have had to pay for lodging...bear in mind, too, in order to care for the loved one, the caretaker can have no other job (there isn't time) and all other obligations must still be paid (daycare, food, bills, etc)...this costs money that is no longer covered by the second income (or in some cases what was the only income)...
it's insulting to refer to the wounded and their families with the use of the words "entitled" or "entitlement"...if anyone has earned their way and their keep, it is the wounded and their families...
if you cannot afford or simply choose not to quit your job and volunteer your time to find out just what it takes to attend a wounded loved one full time, at least keep your tongue warm until you have more first hand information...
17 - RedTard
Diana,
I did a little further research into the story of the wounded and it seems he got a pretty fair shake, not perfect, but not bad either. If you think hard enough you'll realize there are tons of people who care for injured, sick, and handicapped loved ones for years or the rest of their lives and don't get paid a dime for time off, for rehab visits, or anything else.
I'm simply wondering aloud whether she's projecting the bitterness of her loss onto a third party a little bit excessively. If you get paid to take care of your family it wouldn't be a sacrifice anymore, it'd be a job.
18 - diana hartman
that's great red, i'm very appreciative of your having taken the time...many have not...
tonia isn't talking about getting paid as in a civilian job to take care of a civilian...it's different in the military...if she were his paid (military) attendant, they would be reimbursed for travel, lodging and expenses...these costs are not incurred in the course of civilian care because civilians have the option of attending civilian facilities...military servicemembers do not...
this is the reason why tonia's husband (stationed near san diego) has to travel to palo alto (near san francisco) instead of attending a civilian facility offering the same care/rehab there in san diego or even in LA -- he is not allowed to attend a civilian health care facility unless it is an emergency...even then, as soon as he is transferable, he must leave the civilian emergency care unit and be transported to a military facility...
for example, while there are burn units all over the country, there are just two (i think; there might only be one) authorized to care for servicemembers in need of a burn uit...so a guy is sent from landstuhl, germany to bethesda, MD to a city in texas...that's a lot of travel for him, but for his family it is a lot of travel AND cost...the military will not fly all family -- just immediate family...fiances, best friends, and other relatives (unless they were custodial) do not count...
while the military flew tonia to bethesda and would've flown her daughters, they would not and do not provide daycare and/or schooling for those children flown to their loved one's side nor do they provide for these services while the couple is still on the other side of the country...
additionally, the family who is flown in cannot do so and hope to stay employed when the care of the loved one is extensive, ongoing, and in many cases, for life ...the bills (rent and/or mortgage, utilities, car payments, etc) don't go away when the job does...
technically, servicemembrs can attend a civilian facility but the entire cost of that care would come out of their pockets...
please do understand, red, the rules of military care, for all facets of military and even retired care, are very different than for civilians...looking at military care through the lens of civilian care is too see it wrong...the two do not operate the same way at all...
too, tonia isn't talking about the care of someone who was injured in the course of a civilian job (where again there is the option of local care)...her husband was injured while serving his country -- a country full of "we support you" stickers and a government who verbally assured them of return care and has not delivered on that assurance...
per the $7 million vs $14 million issue with the brain injury center: the database of cases and has not been contstructed nor has every servicemember at risk been screened for injury...additionally, time is of the essence when treating brain injuries...without that other $7 million dollars (and actually more than that was requested because of the number of still incoming cases), there are servicemembers who will have to wait for treatment (cut the money = cut the staff and hours of availability) and servicemembers who won't be treated at all because they weren't screened...
additionally, without that database, there is no way to track who got what care nor is there a way for anyone to access what care was most effective for what injury...
the bulk of the research you'd have to do to know this issue inside and out can only be done primarily offline in the facilities and in speaking with the families and their attending staffs...
short of visiting the facilities and speaking with the staffs and families, please take the word of the people in the trenches -- it's bad, it's getting worse, and now cuts are being made to fund programs that were already not the best they need to be to meet the need...