Kevin Dobbs of the Argus Leader on Veterans assured health help:
The Bush administration last week made new assurances that those troops would receive government-sponsored care, despite the shortage of money that plagues Veterans Affairs hospitals nationwide. And they will be able to use services not available to veterans of previous conflicts.
VA Secretary Anthony Principi said those serving in combat will get at least two years of free medical attention. One improved service is the development of standardized guidelines for physicians examining military personnel for everything from bullet wounds to mental illness and reactions to chemical weapons, he said.
As a Gulf War veteran and media contact for Veterans for Common Sense I can't express how urgent this situation is for those suffering from war wounds from past wars, Agent Orange for Vietnam Vets or Gulf War Syndrome due to the combination of depleted uranium dust, smoke from burning oilfields, tragic mistakes like the U.S. Army's destruction of the chemical weapons cache at Khamisiyah and experimental drugs like pyridostigmine bromide.
The day after the House voted to "support the troops and President" they then voted to slash the VA budget by $25 billion over the next 10 years. The costs of service-related injuries and medical conditions isn't going to go away by ignoring them, regardless of what the Administration thinks. My 2003 counterparts are going to be suffering from the same problems that my brothers and sisters in arms now deal with. I don't consider that "support for the troops." Not by any stretch of the imagination: