Lawyers, Veterans advocates and service members are saying that the Army is deliberately shortchanging Troops on their disability and retirement ratings. I find that they are not only shortchanging them but out-right abusing them by forcing Soldiers to prove they have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and demanding physical evidence for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Steve Engle, head legal counsel for Soldiers at Ft. Lewis, WA, said that in one case a Soldier who had watched his buddy die in Iraq, and now suffers from PTSD, was told that he needed to get documentation from the famliy that his friend had died. Then, this Soldier was told he had to prove he witnessed the death. Not only are dispicable acts like this going on but Engle says some of his collegues have a name for the TBI test, they call it the Wal-Mart greeter test. They say if you can be a greeter at a discount store, then you don´t qualify for more than 10% compensation.

I have a hard time believing, with all thats going on in the VA and how extensive its being reported, that our senators and congressmen dont know what´s going on. In some cases we find that our elected officals are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Their facade of supporting the troops is a-kin to O.J. looking for the real killer.

I have called representative offices all over the country asking them for help with a Veterans claim, either to expadite the claim because of hardship or simply to check the status and help get the ball rolling again. I get the same results, ¨we´ve done all we can do.¨ Of course they are not as rash as the VA themselves because they must maintain the illusion that they support the Troops.

So, if you are out there, and you are as concerned as we are about the 150,000 Troops that will be coming home and the 1.6 million Troops that are already home, call your congressperson and your senator to let them know that they need to start doing something about the way Veterans and Active Duty Military are being treated, and stop with the finger-pointing.