From Jim Wright at Stonekettle Station:
The simple truth of the matter is that if America actually cared about its veterans, cared enough to do more than slap a yellow ribbon magnet on the back of their SUVs and feign outrage on command, well, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?
From Jim Wright, USN retired (h/t Smartypants):
This is nothing new.
This kind of bureaucratic flimflam when it comes to taking care of veterans? It’s been going on for years, for decades, from one war to the next and all the timeless space in between. And it’s not confined to the Veterans Administration.
It’s been happening in Phoenix and San Diego and New York City and New Orleans and Biloxi and Anchorage and Washington D.C. and from sea to shining sea.
This latest thing? The appalling revelation that the Phoenix VA was cooking the books in order to meet impossible deadlines and levels of throughput? That administrators were hiding unacceptable delays in service and care in order to get themselves monetary bonuses and to pad their resumes? The fact that veterans died waiting for the care they faithfully earned and rightfully deserve? Yeah. That’s not outrage you see on our faces, and it sure isn’t surprise, it’s amused resignation.
We’re used to it.
We’re used to being disposable assets.
We’re used to being left to die by bureaucrats and politicians and the American public.
We’re used to being forgotten when the nation doesn’t need us anymore.
Oh, please, don’t bother. I’m not looking for sympathy or any more feigned outrage, I’ve had plenty.
There’s more …