Part 2: Fight for Benefits

“…to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan…”
- Abraham Lincoln –


On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, then President of the United States, made a pledge during his second inaugural speech, wherein he pledged to care for those who served our nation in uniform. The imfamous words “...to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan” gave birth to what is now known as the Veterans Affairs Department of our government. With these simple words, he pledged the United States of America and its government’s obligation to care for those who served, were injured during a time of war, and to provide for the families of those who perished on the battlefield. What happened to that pledge?

In typical Washington, DC fashion, it would take sixty-five years before Congress would become organized and present President Hoover with a program outlining and establishing the Veterans Administration. When President Hoover signed the executive order, mandating the governments’ responsibility to provide these necessary medical services for our veterans, he should have left instructions to never abandon its original intent and obligation.

As with many programs established by our government, the original intent of this program has been lost. Over the years, the VA has gone through many changes, growing pains, the majority of them related to a change of administrations. As I look at the system today, I can clearly see how President Lincoln’s pledge has been lost between the cracks of political mismanagement.

Veterans who have served since the establishment of this program have encountered blatant disrespect by those who work within the hollow walls of this agency. Feeling as though they have been reduced to beggar status, many shy away from obtaining these benefits due them for their service. Therefore, it is exhausting when trying to obtain these benefits. Benefits that were considered a special thank you, to those who put on the uniform in the defense of a grateful nation. Where is this grateful nation?

These are the same men and women, who served with honor and dignity, who now need to be defended and taken care of as promised. In today’s world, the constant battle for these veterans has become a sea of political red tape. They have been subjected to undue stress during the remaining days of their life; never being able to live out those days with dignity and peace with family and loved ones.

Far too many cases have been embroiled in battle over proof of service, or establishing presumptive service connection to a medical injury or illness. Yet, their condition is obviously related as is evidenced by previous cases that have been proven combat or military related illnesses. The question remains why they are continuing to use the case-by-case scenario when they know these issues are related to military service. Does the Veterans Affairs want these members to die before ever receiving benefits? Is it because the funds once earmarked for them, could be allocated to newer programs to help make the VA look good – educational programs, public service announcements, kinder more softer type of programs that are all about improving the image of the VA and not helping the veteran.

Case in Point for my argument: In 2006, I was brought into a fight and educated regarding an issue currently before Congress and the Department of Veterans Affairs regarding the United States Navy; known as Blue Water.

The Blue Water Navy are those individuals who served off-shore during the Vietnam War, providing gunfire support, search and rescue, supply delivery, aircraft carrier-based jets, and numerous other direct combat support activities in support of land based troops. Even though their vessels were often only 50 or 100 feet from the shore line, and traveled miles up some of the larger rivers, these sailors are being denied medical care and compensations for disabilities caused by dioxin, the carcinogenic component of Agent Orange. This denial is despite the fact that all medical studies have shown Blue Water Navy personnel have a higher incidence of cancers and other illnesses than the land-based soldiers, who do receive VA health care and disability compensation because they had boots on the ground. {The Blue Water Navy includes Coast Guard and Marine personnel stationed offshore Vietnam during the period of the Vietnam War.}

My argument is this: no matter what, these service members served during a time of war in the uniform of the United States military. Agent Orange fumes were in the same air they breathed as well as those on the ground. Many have endured life long damage from breathing in fumes, or drank tainted water; poisoned by the toxins from dioxins [Agents Orange, Blue, or White]. There are cases of sailors receiving wounds while on deck, others with ailments associated with asbestos and the list goes on. For many of these veterans, the benefits will never be paid according to the VA; they were not considered “Combat Related.” They never had “boots on the ground” in Vietnam. As stated before, Blue Water Navy vessels were close enough to shore, to see and hear the explosions of bombs being dropped from planes, see the glow of tracer fire and hear the cries of their fellow Americans, or the enemy, as the wounds of war took hold of them. If not considered combat veterans, then what should they be considered - active bystanders?

One would say these Sailors were fortunate to have never stepped foot on the ground of a country in the midst of war. Those in charge of disbursing these benefits promised have penalized them for never having that opportunity. The authorities do not consider them as “Combat Veterans,” just a veteran of Vietnam. This to me is an injustice and play on words. This use on words is their escape hatch so they do not have to pay out benefits for serving their country honorably. They have been abandoned by their own country. This is not only a travesty but also a disgrace.

If we were to compare who gets more respect in this country – those who serve with honor and dignity in uniform, or those within the entertainment industry and criminal world who earn tens of thousands of dollars – society will choose the later. Society has chosen the entertainer because they live in a fantasy world where the hero makes millions of dollars and has lost their values, dignity, and understanding of what it is to be an American.

Many of our current soldiers are feeling the same pain their predecessors are feeling. In today’s environment, they are being subjected to the same case-by-case scenario when they request treatment, services, and benefits promised to them upon entering the military. Like their fathers before them, they feel abandoned for answering the call “Serve your Country.”

Therefore, the main questions posed by this writer are this: Why does the U.S. Government not fulfill their obligation to those who have served? Is it right that this government neglect the wishes of a previous President and defy his own pledge? On the other hand, is it simply poor fiscal planning responsibility, or was it they never intended to fulfill their end of this once honorable pledge in the first place?

Christmas Thoughts and Special Request

The Christmas rush is upon us once again as December fast approaches. Malls and shops are all a flutter, with shoppers searching for those special deals to wrap and place under the tree for loved ones. The aromas of Christmas infuse the air around us with nutmeg, cinnamon, and pine.

Our hearts will take hold of the season while we enjoy the evergreens, fresh baked cookies, and cakes, as the winter wonderland of fresh snow begins falling. We will snuggle under the covers of our warm comfortable bed, as the wind howls outside our window, reminding us that good ole Saint Nick will soon be here.

On Christmas morning, we will gather to celebrate the holiday with family and friends, then share the opening of presents stored under our beautifully decorated trees. We will attend services in our local churches, or venture off to soup kitchens to help feed the less fortunate.

While we each enjoy this holiday season, I ask that everyone take a few moments and think of our fellow Americans around the world who will have a different type of Christmas.

For many, Christmas will be just any other day; they have a job to complete. There will be no evergreens, fresh baked cookies, cakes, or warm comfortable beds, only cold chilly days in a land far from home. There will be no beautifully decorated Christmas trees, evergreens, or stockings hanging by a fireplace. For most of the day there will not be thoughts of presents or goodies, because where they are, there are none. As they drive along the streets of this far off distant land, they might see a child missing a leg, smiling brightly and waving hello, as they drive by. Thankful for the security these men and woman provide them each day, neighborhood children appear out of nowhere, smiling and waving, cheerfully.

There will be no lavish meal to weigh them down during the day, for they only need one hour in a day to find nourishment; thirty minutes for breakfast and dinner, it is just another day. Throughout the day, these men and woman will not share gifts, nor will they complain about things taking up space, because they do not need much to survive, only each other. Many will share remaining minutes of a calling card, so someone may call home. They will give an old CD or something they once valued, to a friend to show how much they care. The will read holiday cards to each other, from loved ones, knowing that the love from one belongs to them all. Their tree is barely three foot tall and decorated sparsely with ornaments. Maybe there might even be mini lights lining the interior of their room or makeshift offices. Someone will wish for one hour of peace and quiet, and dream, if only, they could get away from the humming of the generators. They will adopt a neighborhood filled with children and deliver gifts sent from home; soccer balls, toys and goodies. To them there is nothing more worthwhile than to see a child who has nothing at all, light up like a Christmas tree, filled with bright lights at receiving a new toy. To them the children of the little neighborhood in which they have adopted are the key to their success. The children will help them influence and convince the elders they are not evil, they have been portrayed as.

While they drive through the desert, they will wonder what the Magi (the three wise men) thought of as they walked through the desert, making their way to Bethlehem, which is only five hundred miles away from where they are now. Knowing all the while, if they fail in their mission, what the will result will be; to living in a country without being able to celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas ever again. Where the mere mention of Christianity would result in a head being cut-off and they realize why they are there.

Some will stay up until three in the morning to watch a football game allowing their thoughts to transport them back to their high school days, youth, and family. This provides them with a sense of familiarity of home for a little while. At the end of the day, they lay in their bed after an eighteen-hour workday, reading that letter they saved from home. Wondering about their family, praying they are able to enjoy Christmas without worrying about them. In the blackness of night, others will stare into the sky, devoid of smog and lights to gaze upon the most incredible stars shining brightly overhead.

The people I speak of should be clear to my readers, for they are our fellow Americans standing tall and proud - the men and woman of our Armed Forces stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan and throughout the world. This holiday season, I ask each and everyone to put aside their political ideals and think of them because they are representing us all in a foreign land, protecting those around them. They are sacrificing time with their families and loved ones by protecting the less fortunate on this earth. While they carry out their daily duties, they have within their hearts the hidden key many of us have failed to understand: the compassion and strength to do what is right for the people they are protecting. Their veins flow with the blood of the founding fathers and those who went before fueling the torch they carry with them - the legacy of what it is to be an American.

Merry Christmas to the brave men and woman of the United States Armed Forces, may God be with you and keep you safe.

Education or Political Bully Pulpit?

{Recently, a friend sent me an article that was written by an associate professor of a prominent institution of higher learning in the Chicago area. The article sent me over the edge because of its contents and subject matter. This piece also brought me to think of my own educational experience and I wondered if did I had such a teacher like that as I was going to school.)

Teaching is a profession for those who have the talent to make learning exciting. It is a profession worthy of admiration for those who achieve the ultimate goal of breaking down the walls of the mind, and allow it to become a sponge to the knowledge being put before a person, so they might use that knowledge to succeed in life.

Like many of you, I can look back on my learning years with fond memories of certain teachers who inspired me, giving me the fundamental tools which helped get me through the rough times when I didn’t want to learn things I never wanted to learn. They taught me the basic fundamentals of critical thinking and encouraged me to derive my own opinion based on the facts before me. They challenged me to research the facts so that I might create my own opinion from my own personal research. These same teachers gave me guidance and became a role model to me and my fellow classmates. Along with my parents, they instilled a strong sense of ethics, morality and integrity which I still carry with me to this day. Now don’t get me wrong, there were a few who never should have received teaching credentials because they couldn’t teach to save their lives, nor did they even know the subject matter at hand.

As I looked back on my own education I could not remember any teacher who gave their personal views on a subject. To confirm this, I contacted a few of my friends from the old days and asked them one question. “Do you remember ever having one of our teachers give us their political views about a subject when we were in school? None of them could recall ever hearing about a teacher’s personal view of politics in any way, shape or form. Believe me I would have known if they were giving me a political view, because I was the daughter of a prominent political mover and shaker back then. I lived with politics every day of my life from one campaign after another.

Over the years I have seen a serious problem within the educational system of our country. There is only one issue I am going to address at this time and save the others for another article. In the last ten years or so there has been an increase in unorthodox behavior amongst the teaching profession. Instead of having dedicated individuals teaching our children, we have teachers who are blatant egotists and elitists spouting off their own personal political agenda’s in the classrooms. Case in point: Grade School Teacher in Maine telling children that their parent is a baby killer and are going to die because they are a member of the United States Armed Forces and deployed to the Middle East. Teacher in Florida defaming free speech under the Constitution to spout off their own political party’s propaganda in the classroom and encouraging their students to go home and convince their parents to vote a certain way in an upcoming election. What is wrong with our educational system that they would allow this kind of unorthodox behavior in the classroom? Have we literally gone soft in our educational system?

Then just this past week an associate professor of Social Justice from a well known college, posted an article that described a heated discussion within her social justice class. In the article she made the following statement:“The American military and mercenary soldiers who “sacrificed” their lives did not do so for the teacher’s freedom to teach the truth about the so-called war on terror, or any of US history for that matter. They sacrificed their lives, limbs and sanity for money, some education and the thrills of the violence for which they are socially bred. Sacrificing for the “bling and booty” in Iraq or Afghanistan, Philippines, Grenada, Central America, Mexico, Somalia, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, or any of the other numerous wars and invasions spanning US history as an entity and beginning with their foundational practice of killing the Indians and stealing their land.” This coming from an educator who holds a doctorate! She apparently received her doctorate in ignorance because she knows nothing about American History, the military, or what is happening in the Middle East conflict.

In order for me to calm down from this teacher’s comments, I did two things: First, I opened a book of quotes from our founding fathers and found one that says it all. It is by Thomas Jefferson “if a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what ever was and never will be... if we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.” Then I pulled out my trusty dictionary and looked up the following words: Education, Teacher, Social Justice, Politician and this is what I found...

1) Education: The word education is derived from the Latin educare (with a short u) meaning "to raise", "to bring up", "to train", "to rear", via "educatio/nis", bringing up, raising. In recent times, there has been a return to an alternative assertion that education derives from a different verb: educere (with a long u), meaning "to lead out" or "to lead forth". The activities of educating or instructing or teaching; activities that impart knowledge or skill;

2) Teacher: In education, teachers are those who help students or pupils learn, often in a school. The objective is typically a course of study, lesson plan, or a practical skill, including learning and thinking skills. The different ways to teach are often referred to as the teacher's pedagogy. When deciding what teaching method to use, a teacher will need to consider students' background knowledge, environment, and their learning goals as well as standardized curricula as determined by the relevant authority.

3) Social Justice: is both a philosophical problem and an important issue in politics. It can be argued that everyone wishes to live in a just society, but different political ideologies have different conceptions of what a 'just society' actually is. The term "social justice" itself tends to be used by those ideologies who believe that present day society is highly unjust - and these are usually left-wing ideologies, advocating a more extensive use of democracy and income redistribution, a more egalitarian society. The right-wing has its own conception of social justice, but generally believes that it is best achieved through the operation of a free market, and the promotion of philanthropy and charity. Both right and left tend to agree on the importance of rule of law, human rights, and some form of a welfare safety net (though the left supports this to a greater extent than the right).

4) Politician: A politician is an individual who is a formally recognized and active member of a government, or a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. This includes people who hold decision-making positions in government, and people who seek those positions, whether by means of election, coup d'état, appointment, electoral fraud, conquest, right of inheritance (see also: divine right) or other means.

Now that you have read these four definitions I direct your attention to the third one. This is the course in which the college professor teaches. It is a course which is supposed to teach critical thinking of ideas based on current issues. However, she must have forgotten the most important point of her own course “Critical THINKNG”. It is clear by her own statement that she only sees things one way. If you look at the definition of education and teacher you will notice that neither definition states that a teacher should give his or her own personal views on any issue. Teachers are to entice a student to derive their own thoughts based on a subject matter. The forth definition brings me my final thoughts. Take a look at the last underlined words ‘divine right’ this clearly explains why these teachers feel it necessary to go against the long tradition of educators to EDUCATE. They believe that it is their divine right, although misguided as it may be, to give their own personal opinions within the walls of a classroom.

Please don’t get me wrong I am not against Teachers in any way. Actually I admire those who choose to enter the ranks of the teaching profession. On a daily basis they enter a room filled with fragile minds and have an opportunity to thrill them with the history of the ages while molding them into productive individuals who will eventually enter into our society as productive citizens. Yet there are some who have entered this profession for the wrong reasons. Either they are afraid to enter politics or have no desire to do so, but still want a sense of control over individuals and how they think, decide and act in society. These are the bad apples which I am addressing today, like the one’s I mentioned above. They enter into the profession of teaching so they can have their own private bully pulpit to convey their personal political views to the youth of America. It is people like them that give teachers a bad name. Many of these same teachers have never even traveled the United States much less traveled the world. They leave college and grab the first job they can get to begin receiving that long over due paycheck. Yet they have no real life experience from which to draw from and educate.

If the college professor were to ever enter a war zone she would cry like a baby. She would not be able to handle it. She would also not be able to open up her mouthed when she returned home, because she would be dealing with what she had seen first hand. Once she was able to talk about it, she would be praising the service members of the armed forces for their courage, dignity and strength to endure that lifestyle on a daily basis. While she lays in the comfy confines of her bed at night her fellow Americans are sleeping on a very uncomfortable rack in a war zone. While she enjoys the luxuries of taking a shower with hot water, her fellow Americans are taking a shower in the desert every few days, if they get a shower at all. If she were to leave those comfy confines and venture into a war torn country, or a devastated country to see people not being able to feed themselves and their families, having no running water, electricity or dignity, she would be singing a different tune. Let her go to one of those countries and then open her mouth - I bet it would be a totally different set of words. I was with the United States Marine Corps in Iraq for a time and I can tell all who read this article that none of them would come home spouting the crap she claims they said. She heard what she wanted to hear in order to get her fifteen minutes of fame. Let her for once shut her mouth and listen to those who were trying to help those who were being oppressed on a daily basis by those in power who had no regard for human life or dignity. Then and only then will she be able to spout off at the mouth with PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF AN ISSUE. Just because you have a piece of paper hanging on the wall that says you received an education doesn’t mean you are intelligent, it just means you are ignorant to real life.

This teacher not only insulted me personally as an American, but has also insulted my entire family and friends who are currently serving in the United States Armed Forces. She has dishonored all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for this country since its conception. If this is truly what she thinks of those in the military, then she needs to think about moving out of the United States, because she doesn’t know or understand what the Declaration of Independence was all about, nor does she understand the Constitution of the United States.

If I was one of her students I would be storming into the Deans office demanding for her resignation. If she calls her statement freedom of speech, I can use my right of freedom of speech to call her an ignorant, over educated, elitist who has no conception of American History. Loyola College of Chicago should fire her from their rolls of academia because she is not worthy of being called an educator!