VA Benefits are Non-Negotiable
“To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.” – Abraham Lincoln
When I returned from Vietnam in 1970, no one spat on me or attacked me or abused me. Instead, it was the stark indifference that cut deeper than any physical or verbal attack. It was as if I didn’t matter.
I used the GI Bill to pay for college. Back then, the program was more generous. The GI Bill paid for virtually everything including tuition, fees and books. Of course, college tuition in the 1970s didn’t exceed a small nation’s annual budget. Chapter 34 (Vietnam Era G.I. Bill) of the Montgomery G.I. Bill didn’t have complicated formulas for vet contributions so I didn’t have to calculate how many hours I took or whether I was full-time or part-time and most importantly, how much money my “real” job paid. I simply applied for and, after the usual bureaucratic delay, started receiving checks in the mail. All I had to do was stay in school and get passing grades so graduating Summa Cum Laude was easy for me.
Most importantly, the VA Healthcare System (HCS,) established by Abraham Lincoln in 1865, is the probably most valuable benefit for most vets. To date, it has helped pull me back from the brink when, under the stress of Covid uncertainty, I started having nightmares about buddies who didn’t make it back. Until then, I had bought into the myth that PTSD was suffered by Rambo-esque vets who suffered unimaginable horrors in combat. Since then, I’ve learned that mess cooks who greeted GIs every meal can be afflicted with PTSD when suddenly some guys no longer showed up. Mail clerks who routinely stamped mail “Return to Sender, DECEASED” are prone to PTSD. In my case, for a year I watched caskets being loaded aboard C-141 Starlifters. Somedays, there were just a few pallets but other days, there were dozens. It was only after I was diagnosed with PTSD that I finally understood why my Dad, a WWII veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was always so tightly wound. He should have used his VA benefits. I tell every vet that VA Healthcare is their prepaid health insurance. They’ve already paid for it in currency more costly than dollars.
I’ve never used the VA Home Loan but it’s good to know I’ll still have access to it when I sell my current home and move someplace less MAGA-ish.
Why are grifters, draft dodgers and chickenhawks with no military experience allowed to make decisions about veterans’ benefits? All the yammering and blathering about “Thank you for your service” don’t amount to a hill of beans. VA C&P (Compensation and Pensions,) VA Health Care, GI Bill Education benefits and other forms of direct and indirect payments are what really say “Thank you, your sacrifice matters.”