Not In My Airforce
by Molly Ivors
Well, the recession is settling in, and we're all feeling the pinch. Including, it seems, the Feds.
One of the side effects of war, of course, is wounded soldiers, and even a nation which cavalierly ignores the deaths of civilians on the ground ought to have the common decency to take care of their own soldiers who have been damaged in the line of duty.
Here in the US, we have a federal agency with the express purpose of taking care of our soldiers. I've blogged about the Veterans' Administration before, and in general I think they're doing a reasonable job with the resources they have, which are, of course, insufficient. They were on a retrench-and-start-preparing -for-the-second-wave-of-geriatrics path until Iraq, and now they're desperately retooling to treat massive injuries and PTSD.
One of the things they do--or at least have done historically, is help wounded vets apply to the DoD for the benefits they have coming. But here in upstate New York, that's no longer the case.
Army officials in upstate New York instructed representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs not to help disabled soldiers at Fort Drum Army base with their military disability paperwork last year. That paperwork can be crucial because it helps determine whether soldiers will get annual disability payments and health care after they're discharged.
Now soldiers at Fort Drum say they feel betrayed by the institutions that are supposed to support them. The soldiers want to know why the Army would want to stop them from getting help with their disability paperwork and why the VA— whose mission is to help veterans — would agree to the Army's request.
Gee, why would the Army object to veterans getting assistance in applying for their benefits? What possible drawback could there be?
It's unclear why the Army wanted to stop the soldiers from getting help with the disability paperwork. Cynthia Vaughan, spokeswoman for the Army surgeon general, says the VA was not doing anything wrong by helping soldiers at Fort Drum.
"There is no Army policy on outside help in reviewing and/or assisting soldiers in rewriting their narratives during the 10-day period which they have to review them," Vaughan says.
She says the officers who asked the VA to stop helping Fort Drum's soldiers were part of what the Army calls a "Tiger Team"— an ad-hoc group assigned to investigate, in this case, medical disability benefits.
According to Army spokesman George Wright, the Tiger Team thought the VA should not be helping soldiers with their medical documents. The Army delivered that message to VA officials in Buffalo, N.Y., who went along with the request, even though the VA's assistance complied with Army policy.
The Army declined to provide any information about the Tiger Team members' identities or their motivations in asking the VA to stop reviewing the soldiers' paperwork. However, private attorney Mara Hurwitt points out that the Army has a financial incentive to keep soldiers' disability ratings low.
"The more soldiers you have who get disability retirements, the more retirement pay is coming out of your budget," Hurwitt says.
Bastards. To be fair, it looks like these were active-duty soldiers who had been injured, and not technically vets, but they wanted to retire and would have been vets shortly. And speaking as someone who just finished doing the taxes, paperwork sucks. I can't imagine how difficult it would be if I were working through a traumatic brain injury or PTSD and panic attacks, with literally my livelihood on the line. They need help; they deserve help; if the Army's so worried that there's too much money going out, maybe they should stop, you know, fucking people up.
As Thers noted a couple of weeks ago, we're quite heartened that Governor Spitzer is proposing free tuition for returning combat vets. I hope he provides funding for appropriate support services as well, but it's a start.
And Paul Reickoff, of the IAVA, has another idea.
Aside from furthering the education of many veterans, the GI Bill reinvented America after a half-decade of war, and helped to prevent a looming economic crisis. The government's investment in the GI Bill resulted in higher national productivity, consumer spending, and tax revenue. More impressively, every dollar spent on educational benefits for the Greatest Generation added seven dollars to the national economy.
Sadly, the current educational benefits available to veterans are far inferior to what their predecessors received. Today's GI Bill covers less than 70% of the average cost of tuition at a 4-year public college and less than two years at a typical private college. National Guardsmen and Reservists, including those who have served multiple combat tours, typically receive only a fraction of these benefits. Yet, the annual price tag for fully-funding college for today's veterans is less than the amount of money we spend every two weeks in the War on Terror.
Educating our country's veterans was the right thing to do after World War II, and it is the right thing to do now. For considerably less than 3 percent of the proposed economic stimulus package, we can send the newest generation of veterans to college every year.
Hear, hear. It's about time.
(cross-posted at Pax Americana)
Below:
Your Republican Party shows support for injured veterans. Motherfuckers.
Anybody know who the disgusting tub of conservativism in that picture is? Keeps turning up from time to time, and I wondered if it's anybody with any heft within the GOP.
Posted by: spencer | January 29, 2008 at 07:21 PM
It really gives me joy to see that woman becoming an indelible icon of crude, vulgar contempt for soldiers.
I dearly hope it makes her feel as if she doesn't want to leave the house for the rest of her life.
Posted by: julia | January 29, 2008 at 08:42 PM
It's unclear why the Army wanted to stop the soldiers from getting help with the disability paperwork.
Only a professional journalist could write that sentence.
Posted by: SteveB | January 29, 2008 at 09:02 PM
That fucking cow makes me want to puke.
Posted by: PR | January 29, 2008 at 10:30 PM
Air Force is two words.
Posted by: Joe | January 29, 2008 at 10:44 PM
Only a professional journalist could write that sentence.
I aspire to MoDo-hood.
(WTF is a "Tiger Team"? Do they wear Garanimals?)
Air Force is two words.
Not for Robert Pollard.
Posted by: Molly Ivors | January 29, 2008 at 11:26 PM
I'd like to know why the VA didn't tell the Army to fuck off.
They're a completely separate Cabinet level department, they don't even have to listen to the Army, much less jump when they issue commands.
Sec'y of the VA must be Gates' butt boy.
It really gives me joy to see that woman becoming an indelible icon of crude, vulgar contempt for soldiers.
Another lasting legacy of the Bush era.
And aesthetically quite appropriate too.
I dearly hope it makes her feel as if she doesn't want to leave the house for the rest of her life.
She looks like she isn't quite sure what a 'computer' is, much less the internets or a blog. So I doubt she knows how famous she's become.
Posted by: flory | January 30, 2008 at 12:56 AM
flory,
According to the NPR story, base commanders control access to soldiers for the VA, so if they want to be able to help at all, VA officers have to defer to Army commanders. FWIW.
Posted by: Molly Ivors | January 30, 2008 at 06:40 AM
That same NPR story described the Tiger Teams as sort of roving Army trouble shooters. They refused to talk, naturally. What's really weird about the story is that anyone can assist a vet file a disabilty application.
One last comment: Spitzer's free tuition idea will bring the best and the brightest to NY. Its a great investment.
Posted by: drip | January 30, 2008 at 06:50 AM
It really gives me joy to see that woman becoming an indelible icon of crude, vulgar contempt for soldiers.
If there's any justice in the world, the bank is about to foreclose on her sub-prime mortgaged house because she couldn't make the payments after her job was outsourced to China.
Posted by: "Fair and Balanced" Dave | January 30, 2008 at 08:44 AM
Other developments in the professional journamalism department:
"Two assailants knocked down an elderly man and ran off with his wallet. It is unclear what motivated the attack."
Posted by: SteveB | January 30, 2008 at 08:56 AM
WTF is a "Tiger Team"? Do they wear Garanimals?
The very first thing that popped into my mind when I heard the phrase "Tiger Team:"
"I'm Inspector Thomson Gazelle of the Program Planning Police, Light Entertainment Division, Special FLYING Squad!"
"Flying Thompson Gazelle of the Yard?"
"Shut up!"
Eh, you probably had to be there.
Posted by: spencer | January 30, 2008 at 09:32 AM
"Tiger Team" is where corpspeak meets milspeak.
It explains a lot, actually. Rank and file soldiers are the workers, officers are middle management, and the Sec Def is the CEO. Downsizing, outsourcing, cuts in benefits, opposition to higher pay - all of it right out of the standard corporate playbook.
All that stuff about "serving your country"? Useful if you're trying to fool some farmboy into enlisting, but it's about as sincere as corporate mission statement blather about "delivering excellence to our customers."
Posted by: SteveB | January 30, 2008 at 10:49 AM
RE: Tiger teams.
OK, gang, this is not going to be pretty, so sit down.
A "tiger team" is, well...a set of spies. In the military, a tiger team will test base security.
Think "mystery shopper" and you begin to get the picture. The team will test security and report back to their higher ups.
In this case, I imagine, they'll send in "wounded" soldiers seeking treatment and assistance from the VA hospital and fire anyone who actually gives them aid and comfort, to extend a phrase.
Posted by: actor212 | January 30, 2008 at 11:45 AM
"I'm Inspector Thomson Gazelle of the Program Planning Police, Light Entertainment Division, Special FLYING Squad!"
"Flying Thompson Gazelle of the Yard?"
It was funnier when Inspector Fox walked in...
Posted by: actor212 | January 30, 2008 at 11:46 AM
SteveB,
Why would spies be mobilized to tell the VA to cut back on help without changing military policy.
Never mind; I think I just answered my own question.
Posted by: Molly Ivors | January 30, 2008 at 12:10 PM
flory,
According to the NPR story, base commanders control access to soldiers for the VA, so if they want to be able to help at all, VA officers have to defer to Army commanders. FWIW.
Molly:
I don't buy it. The VA could rent an office off base. Army can't stop soldiers doing what they want when they're off base.
The VA could find a way to help them if they really wanted to.
Sounds like they don't really want to.
Which is perfectly understandable given the Secy of the VA is currently a Bush appointee.
Posted by: flory | January 30, 2008 at 01:23 PM
Tiger Team is defined here. I can't vouch for this reference's accuracy, but it seems to confirm both the spy and troubleshooting aspects of the term. In any event, the Army won't give out any information on this disgraceful behavior.
Posted by: drip | January 30, 2008 at 02:38 PM
Drip,
I've, regrettably, tiger teamed at one job I worked.
I don't work there anymore because I suspected I was being tiger teamed.
Flory,
I suspect part of the tiger teams' mission is to infiltrate any off-site locations they hear about.
Posted by: actor212 | January 30, 2008 at 03:07 PM
Actor212-
So your take is that this was undercover? How did the VA come to find out that the assistance had to stop? Either way the action is indefensible, but if the Dept. of Army is spying on another part of the executive branch and then threatening that Agency, this is even worse than I could have imagined.
Posted by: drip | January 30, 2008 at 03:29 PM
Drip,
Yea, my guess is they're probably part of some disability fraud investigative unit and likely they have the authority to demand the VA stop, which is borne out by this sentence: The Army declined to provide any information about the Tiger Team members' identities or their motivations in asking the VA to stop reviewing the soldiers' paperwork.
Posted by: actor212 | January 30, 2008 at 04:34 PM
Having actually filled these forms out for several people I have worked with I can tell you that you need someone who understands how to phrase things, which jargon to use etc., much like when you apply for Social Security Disability. The paperwork is set up to trip people up, cull them from eligibility and generally make them write that there are indeed many kinds of work related activities they could do...you know if they weren't lazy system suckers.
The Army know that folks who work for the VA know what to write on the paperwork to make soldiers eligible for disability and the full extent they deserve. There is an art to it and it takes years to learn my friends.
Any soldier trying to do this on his/her own without guidance is most likely going to be declared ineligible, not because they aren't disabled, but because they didn't fill out the paperwork just so. As an aside, I should say that in my experience those who apply for Social Security Disability are rejected the first time they apply as a matter of course, irregardless of the level of physical or mental impairment in the hopes that they will not apply again. Both federal entities, what are the chances that the Army works the same way?
Posted by: Jake T. Snake | January 30, 2008 at 05:16 PM
It really gives me joy to see that woman becoming an indelible icon of crude, vulgar contempt for soldiers.
It may be small comfort, but rest assured you won't be seeing any of that purple bandaid horseshit at the Dem convention if McCain should happen to be the nominee.
Posted by: Me | January 30, 2008 at 06:41 PM
Me,
I hope you're right. I'd hate to think you're wrong, but watch one idiot come dressed as a POW and Fox make that the theme of the election.
Posted by: actor212 | January 30, 2008 at 07:44 PM
Flory,
I suspect part of the tiger teams' mission is to infiltrate any off-site locations they hear about.
To what end? The tiger teams are Army. The VA isn't. The tiger teams could affect the VA only to the extent the VA allows them to.
The VA could just tell them to take a flying leap if they really wanted to.
The point I'm trying to make is that the VA appears to be using this as a handy excuse to NOT do the job they were created to do -- help veterans in need.
And given that its a Bush VA right now -- I'm not at all surprised.
Posted by: flory | January 31, 2008 at 12:05 AM
Anybody know who the disgusting tub of conservativism in that picture is? Keeps turning up from time to time, and I wondered if it's anybody with any heft within the GOP.
Her name is Pat Peale, and yes, she's a reasonably big wheel within the Texas GOP machine. Google her name sometime.
Posted by: Peter | January 31, 2008 at 07:30 AM
This is the kind of bullshit we can expect from a Repuke administration if we ever get single-payer healthcare -- sabotage and screwing the little people to save pennies. Which is why they're so afraid of it -- administering a major program for the good of the population would be the political death knell of the GOP, because they can't govern or manage for shit.
All they are capable of is self-interested self-dealing and looting, and dirty tricks and propaganda smokescreens to cover for their looting.
Posted by: Mike G | February 02, 2008 at 06:52 PM
Here's a profile of Pat Peale from 2004.
Posted by: tigtog | February 03, 2008 at 10:33 PM