The Wonderful VA, Generous to a Fault

THANK PRESIDENT BUSH AND THE STOOGES LOOKING AFTER OUR SOLDIERS AND VETS

BY G. DUFF

As a disabled veteran with two children in college on VA Chapter 35 benefits, the huge increase Bush has awarded us will cover about 1/4th of the increased cost of gasoline I pay for in the last 4 months.  As for other things like milk, meat, electricity and those luxuries that have also started going thru the roof, I might need to cut back on those altogether.

Chapter 35, for dependents of combat dead and disabled used to pay for college.  It is now barely a partial scholarship.  How do you spell L – O – A – N – S ?

Thousands of veterans and servicemen have simply stopped paying their newly increased mortgages and millions of homes have gone into foreclosure.  Friends tell me that we can make a killing buying them up, rehabbing them and selling them to imaginary people who actually have jobs.  It all sounded good until the part about having to actually sell the houses to someone to make our money back.  Jobs in Michigan and Ohio are rarer than hens teeth…

Then, this week, I made the horrible mistake of falling ill.  Though I am not diabetic, I seem to have a serious infection in my foot.  Sunday I went to the Ann Arbor VA hospital and was treated reasonably if not better with one exception.  The anti-biotic given me, Augmentin, is, based on the seriousness of the infection, wrong.  It was given to me because it was cheap.

So, today I went back, sicker than before, after a week on the wrong anti-biotic.  Driving the hour plus up to Ann Arbor I was sent, not to Emergency, it was closed.  They sent me to Urgent Care.  I would not wish VA Urgent Care on a dog.  No qualified veternarian would work there. 

After hobbling a few hundred yards thru their hospital, I arrived at the Urgent Care desk.  The girl working there wore no name tag.  With her demeanor, a bullet proof vest would be my suggestion.  She was simply hateful and obnoxious.  I had seen this plenty of times before at Ann Arbor.  My first visits there were in 1970 when rat attacks in the hallways were common.  If only I were kidding.  Yes, patients were regularly attacked by rats.

It is cleaner now.  I was told that, at 2pm, the waiting line was too long and I would not be able to be seen until next week.  Nobody asked me what the problem was.  I could have been there with severe chest pains or a gunshot wound and I would have heard the same thing.  It wasn’t just what was said, but the tone of voice used.

I looked at the waiting room and saw the mass of humanity there strewn across the floor.  My RN wife tells me that my "raging infection" may damage my heart or worse and could be fatal, but I have no doubt there were others there in worse shape.  I was simply coming back because I had been given a wrong prescription by a doctor younger than some of my kids.  I told him it would not work.  I asked for something else.

I have some experience.  Many years ago, I worked for one of those pharmaceutical companies that tells doctors how drugs worked.  They made me read a big book so I could explain 8 years of education to people using information I got in 2 days of reading.  I love medicine.

So, I am hopping around the house.  They did offer me pain pills.  I guess I could have picked them up and sold them to the staff on the way out.  I chose not to.  I would have been stupid enough to declare the profit on my taxes.

I thought about driving across the river to the University of Michigan Hospital who would have dealt with the problem quickly and efficiently but am simply too cheap.   It took 20 years of fighting the government to get into Category 1, the highest priority healthcare list for the VA and I wanted to save a dollar or two.  We are now betting it will not kill me.

Thank goodness you can’t sue the VA.  The stress of worrying about that would make my PTSD worse. 

Have you ever noticed that there are always more security guards in a VA hospital than all the doctors and nurses combined?  Did you ever wonder why?  More than a few times I have seen them gang up on veterans who had been mistreated or insulted to the point that they were fighting back.  From that point forward, they would receive no treatment.  It seems that complaining about being lied to, treated like charity cases, receiving 4th rate medical care or simply being devalued as human beings is what veterans are to expect.

I have been in the VA system for nearly 40 years.  I had had great doctors and nurses but one thing has been consistent.  The VA Hospital in Ann Arbor has been the worst medical facility of any kind in any country I have ever seen.  I am being asked to tour AIDS Clinics in some remote areas of Africa as a volunteer. 

I expect I will see small children with flies on them living in hallways in horrific conditions and I will report it to the Swiss organization that has asked me to do this for the UN.  What I may tell them is that some of these clinics that George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Madonna are both visiting and spending millions to fix are probably better than some of the hospitals our servicemen are now being treated in.

I would expect this to seem an overstatement, but for my memories of the stench of rotting flesh in the VA hosptials in 1970 and the nighmares I have written about before.

Today showed me that the people who brought you this pain and suffering, the people who keep the hellhole of Walter Reed like it is, are all over the country.

I will also tell you that honest and decent people that work within the system are afraid to speak up.  We have that kind of society now.  Best not be a trouble maker.  Best take your check, have your nightmares and get a job at a decent hosptial when you can.

Those of you reading this who are fighting the good fight, the ones fighting the Army to clean up Walter Reed, clean the Service Organizations out of the VA hospitals and make them decent places for our fighting men, you have my thanks.

The rest of you, you know who you are, may receive a reconning you never dreamed of.  It won’t be me.  I fight with a pen.

Assuming that every veteran that walks thru your door is helpless and forgiving is a mistake.  Yes, there are angry veterans, angry at lies, angry at mistreatment.  Hope they are not too angry.  Lately they have been killing themselves.  That may change.

For the past few years we have seen evidence in our schools, such as Columbine, what systematic abuse can bring about.   These are our children that have become mass murderers.

So far I have only seen veterans break windows, scream and throw things when mistreated.  Someday I will be sitting in the waiting room of a VA facilitiy, waiting to see a doctor and find myself back in Vietnam or worse.  Many VA employees will tell you how close they have come to giving their lives for their country because of the abuses of some.

I have just one simple request.  If it looks like a hospital, run it like a hospital.  If people come in sick, treat them like patients, even if they are veterans.

GORDON DUFF IS A MARINE VIETNAM VETERAN AND REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR ON POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES

HE IS ALSO A UN DELEGATE TO THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC COUNCIL

Gordon Duff

Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.

Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.

Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.

• Gordon’s Archives:  2008-2015
• Gordon’s Archives:  2016-2022