greenberetTFS
10-20-2011, 12:55
Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/beyond-the-battlefield-9-funding_n_1019480.html
Big Teddy :munchin
greenberetTFS
10-20-2011, 13:56
Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/beyond-the-battlefield-9-funding_n_1019480.html
Big Teddy :munchin
Bump.....
At the close of 2001, with the war in Afghanistan barely underway and the Iraq war still 18 months away, the VA was paying compensation to 172,254 veterans who had a disability rating of 100 percent from service in prior conflicts. By the end of last year, the VA had 295,529 veterans with 100 percent disability ratings on its books, an increase of 123,275 disabled veterans in just a decade.
The increase in costs was also substantial. In 2003, the VA paid $18 million to care for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. By 2013, the VA projects that cost will be $3.5 billion -- and that figure will continue to grow by $1.5 billion a year.
Freedom isn't free, is it? In more ways than monetary. But here is something that our country has an obligation to do. Not just an obligation, but a privilege.
The VA is still making disability payments to a dependent of a soldier who fought in the Civil War 150 years ago, according to VA officials who declined to provide details because of privacy guidelines.
Hope we can say that 150 years from now about our current soldiers and dependents.
S.