BROKEN PROMISES

The administration's support for rescinding lifetime health benefits for WWII and Korean War veterans and continuing problems at veterans hospitals stand as proof, veterans leaders say, that America is more than willing to lean on its soldiers during times of war but tolerates them serving as political props in peacetime.

Rhetorical support for veterans has been a staple of political discourse throughout the country's history, but veterans have long struggled to get promised benefits.

• After fighting with poor weapons, equipment, and uniforms to win the Revolutionary War, only 3,000 American servicemen received pensions. 

• Veterans of the Spanish-American War, disgusted with the lack of care available to them after their service, founded the VFW in 1899.

• Benefits and care for veterans was still slim by the time WWI ended.  Veterans of WWI had seen their savings wiped out in the stock market crash of 1929 and pushed for early distribution of monetary bonuses Congress had authorized.  They set up tents and huts in Washington to make their point to Congress but were forcefully evicted from the area by Major General Douglas MacArthur in 1932.

• The GI Bill of Rights educated and housed a generation of soldiers in the 1940s and 1950s.  Free lifetime medical care was another benefit for two decades of service.

Now, that free care has been ended.  Veterans can still be cared for at VA medical facilities, but the wait for non-emergency treatment is long.  Citing a report indicating that more than 300,000 veterans are waiting for primary care appointments at VA facilities, the American Legion is launching a national campaign to alert federal legislators to the problem.  The American Legion is sending out booklets on the problem to its 15,000 posts and collecting personal stories of "backlogged" veterans to tell Congress early next year.

Togo West Jr., secretary of Veterans Affairs from 1998 to 2000, said the VA often struggles to keep up with costs because health care is increasingly expensive and the agency's clientele is older and sicker than the general population.

"We don't ever get to do as much as we want for veterans," West said.

excerpt from Boston Sunday Globe DEC. 22, 2002, by Wayne Washington FRUSTRATED VETERANS ACCUSE BUSH OF BREAKING PROMISE