I’m still catching up on my old newspapers. I just read this article from four days ago about about Vietnam Vets and PSTD (post traumatic stress disorder) benefits.
This passage jumped out at me.
“…some critics have contended that its [PSTD] numbers were inflated. That view has recently been invoked by conservative commentators who have implied that many veterans are malingerers who have exaggerated their traumas and are bilking taxpayers.”
So, after sending our troops to Iraq is this what they can expect from the Republican Party in twenty years when they too try to seek help for the scars of war?
I’ve always been very disappointed by many Republican politicians’ willingness to support troops (we assume) in action, but to forget them upon their return. Why can’t they differentiate social and medical support for veterans from other social welfare supports they may oppose? Of course, I am also disappoined in many Democrats in their inability to graps the full picture of the value of military personnel in peace time and engaged in conflict. However, they are more than happy to support them as political poster children when social services are needed.