VFA News Analysis: July 23, 2008

VFA President Bobby Muller and Garett Reppenhagen shine more light on the impact “stop-loss” policies have on those who volunteer to fight for their country. They note that both presidential candidates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have expressed their desires to end the use of stop-loss.

The Army has begun phasing in the “Re-Engineering Systems for the Primary Care and Treatment of Depression and PTSD in the Military” (RESPECT-MIL) program, in which primary care physicians screen active-duty servicemembers for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and other post-combat psychiatric conditions. This is a welcome, if somewhat belated, development.

Meanwhile,  the Army Medical Command’s brass was on Capitol Hill yesterday explaining why, after the Walter Reed scandal and eight investigations, the Army is still not providing its wounded with the care they are due.  The subcommittee chairwoman, Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA), remarked: “We are very concerned that the Army took its eye off that ball, that you are not living up to the goals you set and the promises you made.”

Finally, the United States Government is spending more on veterans than at any other time in our nation’s history.

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