We'll do it ourselves, thanks

Thanks but we'll take care of it ourselves..

The election is past but it will go on for some time. what does THAT mean? Well, all the vote counting is finished and the electoral is a number and the polls are of course closed but the election of 2004 is still going on with the media. They continue to call attention to how accurate their poll was and how slanted the other poll was and who did the best guess again . On that note I have to inject an astonishing bit of nostalgia. did you know that there is ONE publication that has had the election wired every election since 1952?-(-They missed one-)-. They missed when JFK was elected. But that's pretty good considering that the publication is not a political one. Not even a major media icon in the sense of today's mega corporations and broadcast networks. Its the WEEKLY READER. Right--the little paper we used to get in our elementary school classrooms since. golly, back to the early 40's. Right-they have been on the dime since 1952. Interesting huh? Evidently someone thought that the kids would probably reflect what their parents would do in respect to the vote so they used that data.

One thing that veterans learned from the election. We will have to go it alone for the next four years in respect to benefits. Looking back on the past four years we took a real hit from this administration and it does not look like it will get any better. Any benefits bills that can squeak thru the house and Senate will probably have the "phase-in" semantics attached to them. Look at the 2005 NDAA where they graciously moved the offset from 35 to 55--that will only take until 2008. The disabled retired below 50% are still in the ten year phase in plan and that will be lucky to survive any changes to title 38 that they have their eyes on presently. All off this works together my friends. The V.A. is issuing new ID cards that take the words "service connected" off unless you are 50% or more.

What does this mean to veterans that are presently in the system? It would appear that without any hard calculations a person could see that the budgets are going to get smaller and the lines larger at the V.A. When the conflict is finally over in Iraq and Johnny comes marching home, he may find that he is at the end of a really long line at the V.A. med center. The other problem is, most vets know that the average vet that requires care from minor disabilities occurred in combat or later are the ones that make their claims several years after discharge when they find that their health was impaired by something that happened when they were active. These are the guys and gals that will come streaming into the V A med centers in 2008 and 2009 to find that they can't get treatment because the qualifications have been tightened to stay within budget.

I believe that in the coming years we will see more veteran groups working directly with the individuals that need assistance. One group that has stepped forward and is doing just that is Veterans Liberation. This is a group of dedicated vets that saw a need to help their brother vets and are jumping in and they are doing it with their own bucks. They offer a PDA to help the vet keep his appointment schedule, his meds and a lot of other needed data at their fingertips. They are using recycled and donated PDA's and bringing them into a system that will soon be nationwide. No V.A funding, no grants ( although they should have top priority on the list to get one) and no agency help. (See veteransliberation for the complete story) There are some others that we will be covering in the next few months. It may well come to the day when disabled veterans will be getting the assistance they need from people that really know their situation--other vets. Based on what veterans obtained in respect to attention and care from the past four years, it won't change unless we change it for ourselves, by ourselves.

Sometimes its better if we do it ourselves anyway.

Bill Gast