Where's the last straw?
It's not the Veterans.
Photo by the author of her work table at home where she visibly acknowledges the flag of the United States of America belongs to us all.
Veteran. Vet. Disabled Vet. Service connected disabled Vet. Honorably discharged. These words, these descriptors and more, belong to a wide range of men and women who all served in one of the many facets of our armed services. They are words of honor and usually said in the same breath as “thanks”, “thanks for your service”.
Veterans have served in war and in peace. They practice and plan and go to war if necessary. In the course of this many will fall ill, get hurt or perish. Service is exactly that, service to the country to use as needed. Men and women enter service for a war, for a tour or a career. And, just to say it again, people get hurt, a lot.
What happens when you are hurt on the job? Workmans compensation often takes care of the medical bills. If you work for the Army, for that is what it is, work, and you get cancer from a related job, you’d think it would be taken care of. But no. Not in this case of veterans needing treatment for exposure to burn pits. They have cancer and the burn pits are why.
As a witness to the Veterans Administration treatment of folks for years, although some years past, this is not the departure one might think it is. Their care is given with velvet gloves, by some true angles, but the care as protocol lists, can be inadequate and the observable trouble is that inadequate care is designed that way as not providing what we call “state of the art”. The care can be basic or ignore current methods. That is a bold statement but people should look into it for themselves.
The US fascist party, the Republican Party, have denied Veterans the funding to Vet cancer patients by voting down a bill that would fund their treatments. Denied, then fist bumps on the Senate floor to celebrate. This is a performance.
Today’s vote and the effects on veterans are real, but the act of celebration among the perpetrators is performance. A bully will withhold an important something then make you watch as it is denied to you or someone you care for. The victory dance was outrageous and taunting, and was on purpose. That purpose is to depress and discourage everyone from challenging them. The message includes subtilely that they have won. This and other moments will be in the history books as the proof of just how lost the souls are that we have navigating our collective ship straight onto the rocks. They have not won. This chapter of history is far from over.
Veterans are not the first check on the hit list for the Republican’t deniers of rights and funding. Just the next on the check list for today. Looks like the strategy is divide and conquer.
Vote. It is powerful and it works.
