Letter to Veteran’s Administration:You Win,We Lose

Dear VA,

We give up. You win. We lose. You have successfully defeated an 86year old woman and her family with your strategies. Brilliant. You should consider using the same tactics for enemy interrogations. I think you will find it just as effective with terrorists as when it is used on the people that serve your nation and their families. Just in case you have forgotten anything…let me recap it for you…so you can incorporate it into your employee handbook.

Start with a 19 year old. Send him to Vietnam. Send him home in one piece physically…(don’t worry, the Agent Orange you sprayed him with while he was in the jungle will lie dorment in his body and never get diagnosed until it causes him to die a slow and painful death many years later)… but in scattered pieces mentally. Deny him and millions of other Vietnam Vets benefits for decades. Finally award benefits after being shamed into it by a nation (don’t worry, it will still go in your favor because it is too late for many/most of them.) Conveniently have a fire that destroys millions of Vietnam Veteran’s military records and make them wait several more years for replacements. Put him and his family through a bureaucracy of hell when they try to apply for any benefits that you have taunted them with that could make a difference in his quality of  life before death. Lose his paperwork repeatedly…even when sent certified or hand delivered. Send form after form…always claiming that the last one…that you sent and swore was the right one…. was,afterall….incorrect. Tell his family members point blank to give up…that he will be dead before any benefit is awarded. When a family member is obstinate give in only if they threaten to go to the media. (don’t worry–he will lose the benefit as soon as it is awarded because by this time it’s too late and he will be sent to a long term care VA Facility to die…therefore making him ineligible.) Once he is deceased acknowledge his death by holding a mass memorial service at the Faciltiy where he and other Veterans died during the year and show a film that states it is dedicated to the “Brave men and women who fought in WWI and WWII”…even though at least half of the families there are for Veterans of multiple wars…including Vietnam and more recent. Don’t forget to send the families a flag…for the coffin. Then wait 3 years after his death and send his survivor, which happens to be his 86 year old mother, a very callous letter stating that you are acknowledging that his death was caused by Agent Orange exposure. When the family inquires about having his name added to the Vietnam Wall Memorial in Washington (which can be done and is done once a year) tell them that Vietnam Veterans who died from exposure to Agent Orange or suffered deaths stemming from PTSD are NOT eligible because…”It is estimated that including those names would take another entire wall to be built.” Don’t worry about those that haven’t died yet…you can give their families the same excuse…by then it would probably take 2 or 3 more walls. Send another letter placing a monetary value on the deceased. Offer it to the survivor…throw in the funeral expenses as well. When they send in the forms lose them 2 or 3 more times…then request more info. Make sure to ask for things that might be upsetting to the family each time…so what if they are traumatized by requests for things like itemized statements from the funeral home….questions about the cost of embalming fluid and ice used in the morgue to store their loved ones body, transports cost to and from the crematorium, etc. Many families keep a file of documentation with the VA…if they have to refer to it often it causes them to re-live the details of their loved ones death. They will frequently become weary and stop.

 That is the goal, right?…make them give in…make it so hard… that they just go away. You win. We are going away. What a feather in your cap. We have pulled out that file…re-visited the pain—for the last time. It’s time to move on and remember the good, none of which, involves YOU. Well done VA… well done.