Pool of disabled veterans grows

[unhappycamper]

Wounded soldiers involved in physical therapy awaited a visit from President Bush in November at the Center for the Intrepid at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.


Pool of disabled veterans grows
By Jennifer C. Kerr
Associated Press / May 12, 2008

WASHINGTON - Increasing numbers of US troops have left the military with damaged bodies and minds, an ever-larger pool of disabled veterans that will cost the nation billions for decades to come - even as the total population of America's veterans shrinks.

Despite the decline in veterans - as soldiers from World War II and Korea die - the government expects to be spending $59 billion a year to compensate injured warriors in 25 years, up from today's $29 billion, according to internal documents obtained by the Associated Press. And the Veterans Affairs Department concedes that the bill could be much higher.

Veterans now have worse wounds and more disabilities. In addition, more veterans are aware of the benefits and are quicker to file for them.

Another reason for the higher costs is advanced medical care. Troops come home with severe injuries that might have killed them in earlier wars.

Time is also a factor when it comes to disability compensation costs. Payments tend to go up as veterans age, and an increasing number of soldiers from the Vietnam War will be getting bigger payments as they age and are less able to work around their disabilities.


Rest of article at: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/05/12/pool_of_disabled_veterans_grows/

[jimmil]

1. WOW.... Does that picture bring back flashbacks..

Young men crippled by a war no one wants. I was there a long time ago. They don't know the pain they will go through the rest of their lives yet. With bodies still young they will adapt now but later when years of a limp because of a prosthetic leg starts wearing down the spine and they take a number at the VA in hopes of being seen they will realize they've been tossed on the garbage heap of a government that never really cared for their service. All it wanted was another warm body. Stick a medal on them and send them home. Don't call us we'll call you. No one will care, except maybe, those old guys at the VA, with tattered old field jackets and beards grayed with age, they care, they've been through it. They had thought if only for a brief time that they were the last the government would use, the top of the garbage heap, and there won't be others. But new leaders always rise and must prove their power by killing never risking themselves however. Young men die for old men's pride. Senseless is all I can think of now.