Hawaii’s veterans have to contend with many problems. Chief among them is gaining access to those things the government terms "benefits" that were promised to them.
A benefit implies a grant or allowance from a benevolent government. The assistance Hawaii’s veterans need has already been bought and paid for in blood and suffering. It is not a benefit, it is what is owed.
The Vietnam veteran is probably the most abused veteran of all wars to date. They have experienced the hostility of a public seeking a place to vent their disapproval of an unpopular war. They also deal with the contempt that well-established bureaucracies can achieve.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has become a target of criticism not only from those it is supposed to care for, but from the media who have exposed the corruption of its operations. Currently, the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Committee is looking into allegations of patient deaths at a Phoenix, Ariz., veterans hospital due to delays in care. When veterans are dying due to delayed treatments and the hospital administrators receive monetary rewards, this is unconscionable. It is obscene. It is criminal.
A nation that holds itself to a higher standard should not be fearful of self-examination and the desire to improve.
Based on my and others’ experience, the application process for seeking service connected to disability benefits is outrageous. The burden of proof should be upon the Department of Veterans Affairs — but applications are denied and dismissed using the excuse of lack of evidence from the veteran.
Veterans must try again, or they simply become frustrated and give up. Could this be a factor in the high suicide rate of veterans? Does this seem like an efficient system, where more funds are expended in more review boards to deal with resubmittals?
The application and review process has discouraged too many veterans who need the services promised them.
Hawaii’s review system is so overworked that applications are being handled by other service centers on the mainland and even the Philippines. How then can Hawaii veterans make their case by meeting with a review board that is thousands of miles away?
We seek to rectify this not only for our own well-being but for those who follow us. We also recognize the issues are manifold in that more questions will surface leading to discovery of even more problems. It is the substance we seek to repair, not the appearance. The returning veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq should not have to fight for their rights.
There are good people in the system who are committed to the promise made by President Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address: "To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and for his orphan." However, there also are those who, instead of administering to veterans, create confusion and block the efforts of veterans seeking deserved financial and medical aid. Delays in processing applications for needed assistance, or deferrals in treatment, should not be tolerated.
The system is archaic. We should not be needing non-government organizations such as Wounded Warriors, Veterans of Foreign Wars or Disabled American Veterans to plead assistance for veterans from the public.
Veterans’ care should be the sole responsibility of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the department needs to do its job better. The character of a government can be measured by the way it treats its veterans.
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On vacation: Star-Advertiser writer Richard Borreca, whose "On Politics" column appears on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, is off.
