Letters to the Editor
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@ Garry Owen,
Thank you for raising an actual issue and an extremely important one. One of the things that is of utmost importance should the next Democratic president be able extract us from the debacle that is Iraq is that we remember our debt to the troops who have served there. What a great injustice it would be should we, in order to place the war and its memory away from our consciousness, forget that our service men and women did not start the war. A president whom we the people elected started the war. Whatever, our position at the time, in that awful aftermath of 9/11, we called upon our military perform according to orders issued.
Many will come home to a stagnating economy. I would say that, besides ending the war, saving the economy is paramount. If the economy as a whole suffers, veterans will suffer.
I don't know much about this specific issue, but I have read that many of our troops who suffer from PTSD are being discharged for trumped up reasons. This is wrong. Whatever the difficulties caused by PTSD, it should be treated no differently from any other illnesses. Those who display the beginning symptoms of PTSD should not be hastily discharged so that money can be saved.
I know that the candidates of Clinton, Obama, and Edwards (once) all have plans to insure that mental health issues be treated on par with physical health issues. In civilian life, that is not yet the case.
We need to strengthen the ADA so that it has some real teeth and so that the disabled are not treated as second class citizens compared to those discriminated on the basis of race or gender. Disability rights is an issue close to my heart.
I do know that Senator Clinton has been holding the Bush Administration's feet to the fire on many issues concerning veterans. Do you know if she is doing something about this?