The Signature Wound of The Iraq War.

[Gimpy]

A CRUEL CUT FOR THOSE WHO FACE REALITY --


Bob Kerr comments on funding cut for Brain Injury Center.


Bob Kerr from: www.projo.com/news/bobkerr/ August 11, 2006 ---- A cruel cut for those who face reality.


It is the "signature wound" of the war in Iraq, the one that isn't immediately visible but the one that will probably have the longest, hardest impact on veterans and their families.


And it is being coldly pushed aside by Congress and the Whitehouse in one of those moves that makes all the lip service to the sacrifices of our men and women in combat ring just a little bit hollow.


Sen. Jack Reed has seen it in the hospitals. He has seen 18- and 19-year-olds with missing arms and legs. And he has seen that other wound, the one that makes it hard to put thoughts and words together.


It is the wound that comes with the explosions that often happen so anonymously and unexpectedly in Iraq. It is the wound that comes despite body armor and state-of-the-art weapons and incredibly fast battlefield medical treatment.


"You look at one of these kids, their families, and you know it's going to be a struggle their whole lives," Reed said yesterday.


The brain injury often comes home under cover of other, more visible wounds. The missing leg will get a lot of attention. The missing ability to express thoughts and emotions might not.


Reed says his Senate colleague Barack Obama is pushing for a more thorough assessment of returning veterans for brain injuries.


"There are some who have problems they don't even know about," said Reed.


So the senator is disappointed but not surprised that money for the research and treatment of battlefield brain injuries is being cut.


"The cost of the war is so great, the Army and Marines are being underfunded by $10 to $13 billion just for equipment repairs," he said.


So $7 million is no big deal in the billions that are being burned up in the war every day -- except for those who sustain injuries that might leave them messed up for a lifetime.


The news that the budget for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center is going to be cut in half has been moving through veterans groups and military medical centers and drawing responses such as "unpardonable," "unbelievable" and "disgraceful."

Scientists at the center, working at military and veterans' hospitals, develop methods to diagnose and treat brain injuries. And they push for a more thorough program to identify brain injuries inflicted by the mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs that have become the standard weapons of insurgents in Iraq.


In other words, they deal with the results of a war that was never planned for. They deal with the cruel things that happen when Americans are blown up by people they never see. In some ways, they point the way for military medicine for years to come.


And their efforts are being shortchanged and cut back.


Last year, the budget was $14 million . This year, there is $7 million (all that was requested by the Whitehouse) in the House and Senate versions of the Defense appropriation bill.


There is no way to justify this kind of cut. It is an insult to every soldier or Marine or sailor pounding on the side of a hospital bed in anger and frustration over the inability to tell people what he or she is feeling.


But why start making sense now? The Brain Injury Center is all about dealing with reality and that has become a very hard sell.


Reed says he is definitely not happy with the cut in the center's budget but the fight to help those bringing their invisible wounds home from Iraq must continue.


And it is not just the current budget that is involved, he said. Veterans' hospitals will be dealing with the lasting effects of head wounds for the next 50 or 60 years.



###END###



And THIS is how they 'support the troops'???????-------Just asking.

[Robert Ryan]

So what else is new from politicans who send men and women off to war then discard them when they return either mame or wounded.

[Gimpy]

and it's getting WORSE instead of better!...............

[Gimpy]

To the top!....................

[Gimpy]

You can go to the web site below to send a message to your elected officials and your local media with your outrage about this injustice!

http://www2.iava.org/dia/organizatio...letter_KEY=533



Here is a sample letter.


Subject: Congress is Slashing Funding for Treating Soldiers with Brain Injuries


I am writing to express my outrage that Congress is slashing funding for the research and treatment of brain injuries sustained by American troops in Iraq.

Traumatic Brain Injury causes dizziness, vision, hearing and speech problems, memory loss, and even severe brain damage. Military experts say that one in ten new veterans, or more than one hundred thousand people, suffer from TBI. But the 2007 Defense Appropriations bill gives TBI research and treatment only $7 million dollars -- half of what it received last year. America's wounded warriors deserve better.

Congress should take immediate action to reinstate funding for this program. If the bill passes as it currently stands, we will have failed the thousands of wounded veterans who have sacrificed so much and served their country so honorably.

[Gimpy]

evidence that EVERYONE NEEDS TO SEE!..................

[locksly]

It's getting WORSE instead of better!...............

[locksly]

My prayers go to any and all veteran who comes home injured.

"Reed says his Senate colleague Barack Obama is pushing for a more thorough assessment of returning veterans for brain injuries."

But I can't help to think this is a partisan attempt to accuse the current administration of ignoring Disabled Veterans.
Maybe I'm just leary due to the name they chose to drop, but I don't trust Obama and his credit makes me suspecious.

CL

Not to put the wounded down in any way but I've got a few questions about this.

Why now all of a sudden brain injuries are a big thing???

What about the 12 million WW II vets?? Were they different or was it that they were a generation of a different time???

Think about it. They did NOT have any body armor of any kind in fact when they rode around it was in OPEN jeeps, OPEN trucks and on top of tanks in the OPEN.

It is the wound that comes with the explosions that often happen so anonymously and unexpectedly in Iraq.

UNEXPECTEDLY?????? Iraq is a WAR ZONE the army is suppose to train people to EXPECT things to happen at any time 24/7/365. The vets of WW Ii EXPECTED to get killed and when they made it though they thanked God.

Again I'm not trying to make light of the war wounded but some of this stuff we hear about now and from Vetinam as well as Korea makes me wonder if the WW II vets were a altogether different people. They are called the "Greatest Generation", they made it though the Great Depression and WW II but they had no "signature wound". Are we that much different than them?? Have we really grown that soft??? maybe we have since the only time the United States lost a war was in Veitnam and then they discovered how to defect American, you do it from whithin.

To me this is sounding more like a "DESIGNER INJURY".

WILDCAT


Wildcat the only problem with your argument is it was not that many years ago those brain injurys resulted in death. Only the improvements in treatment of those type injurys can nowdays save lives. I hope and pray none of you ever have to deal with a child with a brain injury. Your own child or another makes no differance. I do just that on a day to day basis and have for the past 15 years. Her injury was not a war wound but the results of a auto accident that was her fault. Just a few days ago Aug the 11th she came to me and ask why I didn't wish her a happy aniversary, 15 years ago today dad is when I had the accident. A sweeter kid you will never meet and now 35 years old and stuck at age 12 or 13 in her actions and way of thinking and will be till the day she dies.


It makes me sick to see every thread on here turn into a political party bash. It seems several of the posters here are so stuck on one issue it controls thier entire existance.

Big Ben

http://www.tndeer.com/cgi-bin/ultima...=004280#000014

posted 08-20-2006 04:54 PM
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quote:
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Why now all of a sudden brain injuries are a big thing???
WILDCAT

quote:
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BUDGET IMPACT NATIONWIDE
The president?s FY2006 budget request will not meet the VA?s increased costs and continue the trend towards limiting the number of veterans who can receive care.

The administration is requesting $115 million more for medical appropriations, an increase of less than one-half of one percent. The VA itself estimates medical inflation and payroll increases to cost at least $1.39 billion. Veterans groups say a more realistic picture of the increased cost is $3.5 billion.

http://salazar.senate.gov/news/releases/050215vets.htm
The Biloxi, Mississippi, VAMC has diverted maintenance dollars to meet operating expenses for the past two years but the facility will not be able to balance its budget without reducing staffing levels at a time when the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System has approximately 100 new veterans seeking enrollment each week.


Fifty percent of all the veterans receiving home health care through the San Antonio VAMC will now have to fend for themselves. This cost-cutting measure means that some 250 veterans, including those with spinal cord injuries, will no longer be provided this care.
http://veterans.house.gov/democratic...hot6-29-05.htm

Overall, the VA budget would rise to $80.6 billion, including $42.1 billion for entitlements, such as disability payments and rehabilitation programs. Officials hope to avoid a repeat of last year, when the VA received $1.2 billion in emergency funding after it had underestimated the number of personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who would seek VA medical treatment.

--Christopher Lee

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv.../agencies.html
Vets Discuss VA Budget Cuts on CNN

http://images.************/index.php...370&Itemid=116

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has already been faced with budgetary problems-with Congress finding it necessary to approve supplemental funding increases to fill a $3 billion gap in the agency's FY '05 and FY '06 budgets.

Rep. Lane Evans (D., Ill.), one of the most vocal supporters of additional funding for VA, said that such a cut in VA funding was unacceptable considering the lengths Congress went through to provide additional increases in VA's budget.

"This misguided proposal offered by House Republicans would harm sick and disabled veterans while not coming close to covering the recovery and rebuilding costs associated with hurricanes," he said. "Moreover, if enacted, these proposed cuts could mean slashing over $600 million for VA health care [at a two per cent budget reduction], enough to care for nearly 100,000 veterans, including hurricane-affected veterans."

http://www.usmedicine.com/article.cf...190&issueID=81


Because now is when they are cutting the programs not yesterday but now, brain injuries are a big thing and they do not go away and soldiers that have them do not live happily ever after. . The veterans are forced to turn to which every party or senator that will help them because the money is not there and it gets cut more every year. There is less money for the veterans every year, it's like Clinton was in power and the fools in Washington were celibrating a peace dividend by cutting the budget because the USSR had dissolved.

Locksley

[Gimpy]

locksly!...................

[Gimpy]

would be a good topic of discussion at the VDBC meeting on September 5 in Atlanta!