Here's a letter I just fired off to one my local TV station's news department.
--- On Thu, 7/2/09, brian wrote:
From: brian
Subject: Overdue Debt Owed to Disabled Veterans
To: ktvbnews@ktvb.com
Date: Thursday, July 2, 2009, 10:18 PM
Good Day,
I am writing once again about an overdue debt owed to disabled retired military personnel.
Since the late 1800's military retirees have paid for their own Veterans Disability Compensation from the Veterans Administration by forfeiting one dollar of their earned retirement for each dollar received from the VA.
In 2004 this abhorrent practice came to a screeching halt. That is except for one group of retirees singled out as an exception.
Those retirees are what is commonly known as Chapter 61 retirees. These retirees had their military careers cut short due to injury or illness while in the service to their country. I am one such retiree.
I have written Congress and called Congress many many times on the issue. All I have received in return is canned email responses that don't address my questions, or lame excuses that there is no money in the budget to pay for our retirement.
Now according to Senator Crapo's office there must be a trade off in the budget to pay for our retirement.
I find this laughable. There is no trade off when Congress wants to spend 1.2 billion dollars on aircraft the Pentagon doesn't want. There was no trade off when we were sent into harm's way. There was no trade off when we were required by law to be available for recall 24/7. There was no trade off when we were working around hazardous equipment without adequate protective equipment.
The list goes on and on.
The media has ignored my emails for the better part of 15 years. When will I get a response at a minimum?
How is the public expected to learn of this travesty if the media doesn't take the time to inform them?
Now there is a LtCol who is the media darling for fighting to stay in the military even though he is Gay. I wish him luck and hope he wins. But, he knew that Gays were not accepted in the military when he joined. Whether or not "don't ask, don't tell" was in affect matters not.
But he gets the attention of the President and we can't even get an interview? How do we get heard?
Brian
"A veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The 'United States of America', for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'" (Author unknown)
