There is a Instructions Book somewhere which tells a bureaucrat how disabled a War Veteran is, where also say that a multiple-disabled ones aren't disabled enought to get benefits.
One can't make soup with Purple Heart Medals...
Living out of a snow wet cardboard box
is a shell shocked by friendly fire Veteran
with both amputated legs, a skateboard
is the wounded soldier the wheel chair that
he couldn’t get from the all saving offices
they said he hadn’t enough an handicap,
because is case wasn’t on their instructions,
“sorry but I have checked you file out and…
you lost them just over your ankles…, only
them losing theirs over the knees could apply,
we can care less that you were a hero there
or that you got the Congressional Medal,
those yahoos give them like it was candy
to Halloween children trick o’ treat around,
you will get no chair from here soldier,
no money from the Hill, no chance to have;”
“well, this is not our problem you was called
to serve your country and you lost your house
because they paid you not enough to attend to
your mortgage and was foreclosed by the bank,
which forced you to live in a wet cardboard box
after been Dear Johnny by your beloved wife,
that sold everything else you owned before
she took off with a much more lucky man…”
Sitting on a skateboard and looking up
its not any very dignified position to stand,
more near the dirty floor of that little office,
kingdom of the pencil-pushers, all they have,
looking down to a raggedy and smelling
ex-soldier, a good for nothing war veteran,
that think his country owes him something
after the Nation gave him so many of its medals.
I am appalled by many stories I have listen to in all my days of living in regards to our vets.....Its Absolutely Shameful.
Those Medals mean NOTHING without the due respects & financial endowments deserving. Who would say sure I will loose my limbs or partial limbs to serve my country & be left to the dirt on the floor in poverty? None of us would. But the big wigs who run the show have it all? This gets my feathers ruffled big time & I am not a political person-but for the love of another humane being I feel deeply with my heart.
Vickie
Reviewed by Chantilly Lace (Reader)
Reviewed on December 7, 2007
Oh my..so very sad..please stay safe and well dear man...Hugsssss
The plight of the veterans is enough to make me puke. Washington takes our loved ones to war, and then only sees the dollar costs of such an endeavor. There maybe some who think differently, but I sincerely doubt it. This poem makes me sad and angry. Those who so valiantly fought for our freedom should be compensation BETTER than adaquately or forgotten about their service to our country. Thank you!
Such a disgrace the way this country treats those who willingly put their lives on the line, the sacrifices they make and never complain. Why is it the motto of governments and an entity to use, abuse and discard when they are done....
Be safe,
Karen
Reviewed by LadyJtalks LadyJzTalkZone (Reader)
Reviewed on December 4, 2007
Good write and sad at the same time. Lady J
Reviewed by Andy Turner (Reader)
Reviewed on December 4, 2007
I thought of American troops, when some of our boys came home today to packed streets, and waving banners.
Something is dreadfully wrong state side...
There are living medals that shine around that soldier. For he wears the fortitude of knowing all those children he has saved. All those families that live in peaceful comfort by his willingness to serve. Yet his country needs to see there would not be a land of the free without his courageous reserve to give his body and mind for us all. He is a living flag that needs to be hoisted up to its rightful status. Enjoyed
This is a heart-breaking reality Georg which never seems to get better. So much is swept under the tattered filthy rugs of complacent government, and it is always the well meaning citizen that gets the stick up the arse.
Blessings ...
Richard
Georg I had to weep when I read this poem, my husband's metals have been stored away all these years but his nightmares still hang heavy on his spirit. No one cares in VA, they just want to deceive you and send you away, hoping you won't come back.
Bureaucratic fumbling...our valient Veterans were asked, or they volunteered, to serve their Nation, and this is the thanks they get? Purple hearts don't ease the pain or pay the bills.
Worse if you were injured on duty, but not in battle...I'm fighting the danged VA now, they've determined I'm service connected (20 per cent), but worsening pain and problems walking (due to age) don't matter. Then they lose my records...can't do anything until (IF) they find them.
Go to get something other than Tyelonol and Motrin (which I've been on for 24 years!!!), they tell me I'm a drug addict, go see the psychiatrist. THEY tell me I have an anger problem...yeah, they're pissin' me off!
I'd LOVE to see these idiots in office live on what I am, $225.00 a month!!!!! After bills, WHAT money for food????????? No wonder many Veterans are homeless. Not there, but could happen.
POWERFUL call for change: we owe our Veterans nothing less than the best. They earned it. They deserve it. Shame on a government who thinks Veterans are expendable, while the fat cats get a huge pension, benefits out the wazoo, a yearly raise (not the three dollars cost of living increase I got--for a year??)...ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On any given night, in The Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave, there are about 250,000 Homeless Veterans wandering the streets - cold, hungry, and all alone.
The government tries to save billions by not giving proper medical help to our soldiers and denying them their benefits. They have done this in every war since ww1. Yet look at the benefits Senators get for their states as pork barrel and it's in the millions but not a dime for our Veterans. Every administration is to blame and if we don't keep complaining it will continue to go on regardless of the press it receives every so often and then dies away with little accomplished.
A vet that owns a home and goes to war for his country should have it protected by law and if he falls behind on payments the government should make up the difference so he won't lose it to the banks.
This burns like fire in the hearts of all who cherish what soldiers, sailors, and airmen all around this world and now see their countries cold heartedly ignore them in their need. Sadess part is it still goes on with just newer faces being sent into the game. As a Canadian I was shocked when the news came on and our government who sent our troops into war said there would be no extra funds for the military budget...if they run out they run out...never heard such a callous statement in all my life as a Canadian. Anyway sorry sidetracked...great write here Georg with a lot of emotion that I know from you is always sincere.
man-- you have reached into the pain and agony of a person whose physical pain is increased by the very government which should be helping. You captured it man.
I am not a veteran, per se, but I am going through this same thing: am disabled, trying to get on SSDI because I can't work again, and people are telling me I am not disabled enough. Have been denied twice. Have since appealed again; if denied AGAIN, I'm getting a lawyer, no question. Let's see. I have worsening arthritis that causes me to walk with two forearm crutches, high blood pressure, anemia, underactive thyroid, learning/vision/hearing disabilities, and a colostomy (had a tumor removed last year; it pinched off part of my colon, bad parts from where the tumor pinched it had to be removed; hence the colostomy). And I am "NOT disabled enough" whereas a person who breaks the law or someone who abuses drugs or is deemed "crazy" can get it with seemingly no problem?? Wait-a-MINute, here...something is most definitely wrong here! I canNOT work again. What am I to do?? Sad!!
How we treat those who are truly most in need--i.e., the veterans, the elderly, the handicapped, the working poor--is a travesty!! We need to be banding together and shouting: "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!! NO MORE!!!!"
A sad one you have penned today, a plight for far too many (me, included, also my twin sister). Very well done! BRAVO!
(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in Tx., Karen Lynn. :( >tears! <
I feel that every man who has returned ravaged and destitute has been summed up in these simple verses.
Powerful, your emotion has got the better of you in this one, at times a little erratic flavour that perhaps could be equated to the lowly soldiers thoughts.
I would at times vary the text to include some italics, literally its gritty, that would top it off visually.
Well played Georg, a punch thats pulled is a punch never swung.
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A page-turning novel about a relationship between best friends that is interrupted because of betrayal , deceit, sexual promiscuity and pregnancy happens!
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Those Medals mean NOTHING without the due respects & financial endowments deserving. Who would say sure I will loose my limbs or partial limbs to serve my country & be left to the dirt on the floor in poverty? None of us would. But the big wigs who run the show have it all? This gets my feathers ruffled big time & I am not a political person-but for the love of another humane being I feel deeply with my heart.
Vickie
God bless you. Kathy
Be safe,
Karen
Something is dreadfully wrong state side...
Christine
Blessings ...
Richard
Love tinka
Carole~
Bureaucratic fumbling...our valient Veterans were asked, or they volunteered, to serve their Nation, and this is the thanks they get? Purple hearts don't ease the pain or pay the bills.
Worse if you were injured on duty, but not in battle...I'm fighting the danged VA now, they've determined I'm service connected (20 per cent), but worsening pain and problems walking (due to age) don't matter. Then they lose my records...can't do anything until (IF) they find them.
Go to get something other than Tyelonol and Motrin (which I've been on for 24 years!!!), they tell me I'm a drug addict, go see the psychiatrist. THEY tell me I have an anger problem...yeah, they're pissin' me off!
I'd LOVE to see these idiots in office live on what I am, $225.00 a month!!!!! After bills, WHAT money for food????????? No wonder many Veterans are homeless. Not there, but could happen.
POWERFUL call for change: we owe our Veterans nothing less than the best. They earned it. They deserve it. Shame on a government who thinks Veterans are expendable, while the fat cats get a huge pension, benefits out the wazoo, a yearly raise (not the three dollars cost of living increase I got--for a year??)...ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(((HUGS))) and love, Karla.
On any given night, in The Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave, there are about 250,000 Homeless Veterans wandering the streets - cold, hungry, and all alone.
Our shame as a Nation should be tremendous.
A vet that owns a home and goes to war for his country should have it protected by law and if he falls behind on payments the government should make up the difference so he won't lose it to the banks.
Walt
Fee
Larry
How we treat those who are truly most in need--i.e., the veterans, the elderly, the handicapped, the working poor--is a travesty!! We need to be banding together and shouting: "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!! NO MORE!!!!"
A sad one you have penned today, a plight for far too many (me, included, also my twin sister). Very well done! BRAVO!
(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in Tx., Karen Lynn. :( >tears! <
Powerful, your emotion has got the better of you in this one, at times a little erratic flavour that perhaps could be equated to the lowly soldiers thoughts.
I would at times vary the text to include some italics, literally its gritty, that would top it off visually.
Well played Georg, a punch thats pulled is a punch never swung.