Dear Mr. Obama…

Dear Mr. Obama,

I am the parent, husband, wife, sibling or child of a U.S. Military Veteran who sat (forgotten and neglected) on a waiting list with the Veteran’s Administration to see a doctor for treatment. I did not know my loved one’s name had been placed in a drawer, in the dark shadows of some bureaucrat’s desk. It no longer matters. They are gone now. If the list that contains their name is ever found, you can remove it. Your “help” is no longer needed.

I am a member of the Military who is still serving in Afghanistan. You know, one of the people whose life you put in jeopardy by again announcing a timeline for withdrawal of our troops. If my transportation home is a flag-draped coffin, please stay away when I arrive. My family will not need you to remind them why I am being carried by six of my fellow service members and not carrying my child in my arms for the first time.

I am a Border Patrol Agent who witnessed the death of Brian Terry at the hands of illegal thugs who carried weapons supplied by you. I look at the bean bag in my hand as I load my “gun” and wonder why I still do this when you have just released thousands of convicted illegal criminals into our system. I look across the border and think of Andrew Tahmooressi, a U.S. Marine being held in a Mexican jail because of a wrong turn. Then, I turn my head toward my home land and question why you have let illegal immigrant murderers and rapists run free while he sits there… My friend is in the ground, his family still has no answers and one of our Marines is held captive in a country that is supposed to be our ally.   Do you even care?

I am the spouse of a victim of the radical Islamist who killed 13 at Fort Hood. You remember that, don’t you? It was nothing but workplace violence according to your Attorney General. I and our 4 children are suffering not only from the loss of my spouse and their parent, but financially. Because of the bad decisions made by all of you in Washington, benefits we should be entitled to will not come. I work two jobs and my children have essentially lost both parents, although I am fortunate enough to tuck them in at night when my second shift allows.

I am the son of a Sargent in the U.S. Army who I never met. I do not know if my father is alive or dead. He is a POW in Viet Nam. Well, that is what we were told by some who were able to escape and come home. How can you allow Jay Carney to stand there in front of the American people and explain that Sgt. Bergdahl was released through a deal you made with the Taliban because Americans do not leave our soldiers behind? If that is so, why did I have to grow up without my father? What have you done to secure the release (or find the remains) of our men and women who are either MIA or POWs in Viet Nam? Nothing. Not a damned thing!

I am a former POW who was held in the Hanoi Hilton for 8 years. Our guards did not speak to us in English. In fact, they rarely spoke to us at all. They communicated through torture. However, even being isolated from my fellow Americans did not cause me to forget my native tongue nor did the North Vietnamese succeed in indoctrinating me into their form of Communism no matter how many days they withheld food and water, or committed unspeakable acts of torment and pain. I was captured when my helicopter went down. I did not leave my base to seek them out. I went into the POW camp an American, and I remain an American today – language, customs and all.

I am a NYC Firefighter (Retired) who is now battling a rare form of cancer. Although my doctor says it was most likely caused by the work I did at Ground Zero on (and long after) that horrific day in September 2001, I still await the help my country promised me. I know you were not in charge then, but you are now and any decisions concerning the care all of us were to receive were made under your watch. I watched many young men and women enlist after that day. Our small part of Staten Island felt like a ghost town when they left. Only a few returned. In speech after speech you have taken credit for “decimating” the head of the snake that is the Taliban. Why then, sir, are you reattaching it to the body by releasing the worst-of-the-worst into Afghanistan? Do you need a new “shiny thing” that badly? Maybe this disease is a blessing in disguise. I will doubtless be gone before the next terror strike on our beloved nation. In fact I pray for it to be so.

I am one of those told to stand down on September 11, 2012. I ran toward the fire despite those orders. I survived, unlike Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. We were under attack by terrorists, period. Now you have chosen to release five high-ranking members of the Taliban. How many times are you going to spit on the memories of those men?

I am a resident of Boston. Martin Richard was 8-years-old when he was killed by terrorists on our own soil during the Boston Marathon. Can you explain to his family why one man was so important that you had to send five Taliban members back to their homeland? Most likely not.

Sir, by your own words and actions you have proven that you would have done less harm to the American people by remaining either an ineffectual Senator or a Community Organizer. We do not need your perversion of the truth or stump speeches anymore. Do us all a favor and stick to golf. If you are going to spend our money, at least do it on something you don’t suck at.

Sincerely,

Those Americans Who Pay Attention

Throwing a marshmallow at a rabid dog…

General Shinseki was called to the Principal’s office this morning. A last minute meeting added to Barry’s schedule at 6 A.M. Eastern. Ooooh, he’s in TROUBLE!!!! Not really, he’s a fall guy. The White House minions most likely saw some type of polling data that showed Barry’s likeability is so deep in the toilet that even Roto-Rooter™ can’t save him and he is grasping at straws to protect the reputation of his party prior to the mid-term elections.

There is no one person and no amount of money that can correct what has been going on at the VA for decades. If the purpose of this meeting is to ask for the General’s resignation, it is naught more than a dog and pony show and will fix NOTHING. What the VA needs is “cleaners” to be assigned to each and every hospital in the system who can sort through the mess of paperwork, triage the cases awaiting attention and ensure that each facility has enough nurses, physicians, therapists (occupational, physical and psychological) and medical support personnel to care for the influx of new patients into the system. This cannot be corrected from an office in DC, and asking any one person to repair the damage that has built up over the years is unfair and ludicrous.

My step-uncle served in the Korean War – in country. He suffered mental, emotional and physical impairments most of his life as a direct result of his service. In the late 70s, he was admitted to the VA Hospital in Brooklyn. His mother and sister called every day to check on his condition. They visited him twice a week, driving from Rockland County, New York early in the morning and staying until the hospital made them leave at night. One morning his mother phoned him, but a nurse answered and said he had been sent for tests. The VA employee told her to call back in a couple of hours. This went on all day. Finally, his sister phoned at 5 P.M. demanding to know what was going on. Her mother was a wreck because they were getting no answers. The voice on the other end of the phone advised her that John Falletta had passed away at 8 A.M. that morning, but would not say how it happened. Can you imagine the devastating effects this news had on his family? Bureaucracy and lack of communication among departments is, in my opinion, to blame for the pain they went through.

No President since Jimmy Carter (or possibly those in office prior to his term)  is to be excused for allowing this to continue and grow into the monster the VA has become. President Bush 43 was working on in-hospital solutions to eliminate the backlog, knowing that putting “boots on the ground” was the only way to straighten up this mess. Barry was advised during the transition in 2008 and vowed to be the President who healed all of the ills of the VA system.

Then crickets…until now.

So, the typical Ego in Chief “madder than hell”, “found out about it on TV [or in the newspaper, etc.]” rhetoric begins. Attempting to solve issues by creating fall guys or gals is another classic Barry move. And how long will he be madder than hell? Probably until he can find another shiny thing to direct the sheeple’s attention away from his latest disgrace.

Meanwhile, stories like mine will continue as they have for decades and our military men and women will suffer – along with their families – for years to come.

Just an aside:  How can POTUS claim that he is “madder than hell” and feign surprise at the ineptitude of the VA when he served on the US Senate Committee for Veteran’s Affairs in 2006?  This report was developed in 2014, after he had been POTUS for a few years.  But, you cannot tell me the 2006 committee members lived in blissful ignorance.  Some of the findings took years to research:

http://www.veterans.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/MOAA%20HVAC-SVAC%20Testimony_6%20Mar%202014_%20FINAL.pdf