Our country has a moral obligation to provide adequate economic compensation and medical careto those who have sacrificed for their country.
Published November 11, 2003
Veterans Day is particularly poignant when American soldiers are dying. So today, we will feel an even stronger connection to our military men and women who find themselves in places of conflict, many of them reservists who made a jarringly quick transition from civilian life to war. As we honor our soldiers, we should also think about the covenant between the government and those who serve their country.
John A. Brieden III, national commander of the American Legion, has called for a new Veterans Day tradition. In addition to showing our gratitude in ceremonies, Americans should press their elected officials to deal with the problems that affect veterans. "A grateful nation does not commit its own to battle, then retreat from its moral obligation to them," he said.
That is an appropriate message as we read daily of casualties in Iraq and try to determine what is fair compensation for such sacrifice.
No amount of money can make up for some of the losses, of course, but a bipartisan bill that could be signed into law today by President Bush would help military families meet their needs. It would double the tax-free payment to survivors of soldiers killed in action and provide some tax relief for active duty personnel and reservists deployed away from home. More and more, the military relies on National Guard and Reserve forces, yet even this legislation would not compensate for many of those families' financial challenges, such as replacing employer-paid medical insurance. One shameful practice was ended recently when Congress decided that wounded soldiers would no longer have to reimburse the military for their hospital meals.
An unfair policy involving military disability payments should be ended, as well. Military retirees who also have a service-connected disability now find that their pensions are reduced $1 for every dollar they receive in disability pay, so there is no net benefit in retirement for soldiers who suffered permanent injury. Congress is expected to provide at least partial relief by making an additional payment to military retirees who have a disability of 50-percent or more. That benefit should be extended to all disabled veterans.
The lack of medical treatment available to veterans has long been a shameful chapter in our history and still has not been corrected. About 164,000 veterans have been denied medical care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and another 200,000 eligible patients find they must wait from six months to two years for an initial appointment. What message does that send to men and women headed off to war?
Many who have served their country have been forgotten entirely in their time of need. A quarter-million veterans are homeless, with a third of those having served in a war zone. Most suffer from mental illness or addiction, yet few rehabilitative services are available to them. Congress should follow through on a recent report that said $100-million needs to be spent supporting local agencies that serve homeless veterans.
Those are some of the issues facing the nation on this Veterans Day. If we really value the sacrifice being made by our soldiers, we will thank them today and follow up with action tomorrow.
