Veterans For America

Following up on a story posted over a week ago, NPR has obtained a document showing that the Army officially requested that the VA stop providing assistance with disability paperwork to wounded soldiers serving in Fort Drum. According to this document, the Army asked the VA to cease its activities because it constituted a “conflict of interest.” As we observed when this issue was first reported, the Army’s budget does not trump the benefits that American troops have earned in service to their country.

There is also an excellent example of how the legal system can help instead of punish veterans suffering from the mental wounds of war. Danny Ray Reed II, a former Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), became drunk and belligerent on a flight from West Virginia to Great Falls, MT. The federal judge hearing Reed’s case agreed to have him undergo a psychiatric evaluation in which they discovered the extent of his injuries. In exchange for a guilty plea to a misdemeanor, the judge spared Reed jailtime and ordered him to enter treatment at the VA hospital in Fort Sheridan, WY. According to Reed, this saved his life, or as he puts it, “If that plane thing hadn’t happened, I’d have probably committed suicide.” The judge, prosecutors, and defense attorneys must be applauded for the way they handled this case.

For the rest of today’s news, please visit the Our Troops Newsladder.