Blue Water Navy

May 4, 2010ShareThis
DAV Tells Joint Chiefs Chairman Government is Responsible to Disabled Veterans
WASHINGTON—Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen’s suggestion that our nation’s philanthropic community should take care of veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from substance abuse, mental illness and homelessness is clearly out to sea, according to the Disabled American Veterans (DAV).

In his April 26th address to The Council on Foundations, Adm. Mullen said veterans returning home today need help with education, training, medical care, substance abuse and mental health, saying community non-profits groups are the answer to meeting veterans needs. “I am not arguing in any way, shape or form that this should be the purview of our government because what I would like to see happen is community outreach to [servicemembers] and the government just be out of it,” Mullen said.

The DAV sharply disagrees with Adm. Mullen and that his idea is both naive and harmful to the very servicemembers he seeks to help. He diminishes the quality care and treatment provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and its system of medical centers and thousands of clinics across the nation.

“It is the exclusive responsibility of the federal government because it creates disabled veterans,” said DAV Washington Headquarters Executive Director David W. Gorman. “It is the government’s solemn duty to care for and treat all veterans who are wounded and disabled in America’s wars. It is unfathomable that Adm. Mullen would suggest such a plan, asking charities to provide the care now given so compassionately by the VA.”

”The VA has been providing care for disabled veterans for more than 80 years and today offers the finest medical care in our nation,” Gorman said. “The VA doesn’t dismiss veterans who need care. It cares for veterans the rest of their lives. It makes one wonder if Adm. Mullen believes it is best to return to the days when disabled veterans sold pencils on street corners and relied on the support of charitable organizations.”

“Ignoring the professional care of the VA and the responsibility of the federal government to honor the promise to care for disabled veterans shows a great lack of understanding about the needs of our newest generation of veterans,” Gorman said. “Our veterans have a place to turn, and that’s the VA. Veterans service organizations like the DAV lend its support to veterans, but no philanthropic organization, nor all of them united, could undertake the health care services of the VA, which are budgeted at almost $50 billion in fiscal year 2010.”

VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki has provided extraordinary vision and skillful leadership in developing new programs for the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also reformed VA programs to deal with the hallmark injuries of the wars – traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and amputations. Secretary Shinseki’s proven leadership is providing the very program that Adm. Mullen seeks to put on the shoulders of charities.

Adm. Mullen’s comments dismiss the programs, services and contributions of the VA, Congress, and the administration in support of our nation’s wounded warriors. Veterans are not the sole responsibility of charities. The responsibility falls to the Department of Defense (DoD) while they are in uniform and the VA when they leave military service.

“The DAV has the greatest respect for Adm. Mullen and commend his remarkable service to our country, but one must wonder what he was thinking,” said Gorman. “Is it that the DoD cannot provide sufficient care for our disabled service members, or that the VA cannot provide the professional and compassionate care it has been providing since these wars have begun. We urge Adm. Mullen to add http://www.va.gov and http://www.dav.org to his favorite Web pages to learn and better understand what the VA and committed Veterans Service Organizations do.”

The 1.2 million-member Disabled American Veterans, a non-profit organization founded in 1920 and chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1932, represents this nation’s disabled veterans. It is dedicated to a single purpose: building better lives for our nation’s disabled veterans and their families. For more information, visit the organization’s Web site http://www.dav.org.


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Exie,
I couldn't have said it any better myself. Mullen is an a$$ kissing lackey; some of Obamanista Czars thought this up or maybe the Chairman-Fuhrer Barry himself (Alinsky practitioners seem to be a hybrid cross between Fascist and Communist....maybe that is why they think they can make failed systems work???)

They have already trotted out "Duty to Die" with a little pamphlet called Your Life Your Choices. When the Impostor-in-chief seized power VA Doctors were ordered to issue them to the older, sickest, infirmed and crippled patients. Then when the Obamanistas were caught doing this, they sent that pathological Liar, war hero Tammy Duckworth on TV to spew the party line. All they need to do now is open up the camps and crank up the ovens.

I was raised as a pro-union Democrat.

I was too at one time but that excuse for a president Jimmah Caarter cured that.

Daveironbear wrote:Exie,
I couldn't have said it any better myself. Mullen is an a$$ kissing lackey; some of Obamanista Czars thought this up or maybe the Chairman-Fuhrer himself (Alinsky practitioners seem to be a hybrid cross between Fascist and Communist....maybe that is why they think they can make failed systems work???)

Mullen was also Chief of Naval Operations during the time the VA was beating us up re: the Haas case. ... and changing the intent and meaning of Navy Service Medals.... and re-defining the role of the Navy during the Vietnam War. Every SecNav and CNO has totally ignored the BWN Bashing that has taken place. But I sincerely believe that the CNO had a duty to make a public stand behind the BWN vets when all this latest flap (Haas) was happening.

-JR

JR I have to agree with you. The Navy could of done a lot to help our cause. They act act like we are child with a birth defect and that they are a shamed of us. I think they would like to lock us in a closet and tell us to keep quiet. I hope some day they have to answer up. Bill e

JR:

If he had taken a stand for us that might have meant he would not be well thought of in Washington. So I am sure he thinks more of enhancing his career than of helping some "old" former sailors!!

JR you are right; the Navy wouldn't divulge what kind of fresh water plants that were used in Vietnam Era Us Ships. The Navy has been complicit with the DVA all along. Maybe Mullen wants to go to work for the DVA when he retires. Maybe someone ought to give the good Admiral the Golden Kneepad Award but he may have to fight Defense Secretary Gates for it. Gates is another worthless hack who I suspect the Idea for the Charities thing came from.

including what is called the 'Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Unit Citation Ribbon'.

He probably had Knee pads on the ground. I pity those poor guys on the ground in Afghanistan with this assclown and his butt buddie Gates in charge. They will be lucky to have charity when the One and his Boyzz cut and run. If we get in a WAR our ass is had. We will no longer have the industrial base, Navy or the merchant fleet to fight a major war when the Krouts go Nazi again and start attacking their broke neighbors. These clowns are going full speed scrapping the reserve fleet (evidence) either by scrapping or sinking. We have lost whole classes of ships both conventional and nuclear. Oh, its to costly to overhaul a Spruance Tin Can especially when its replacement costs 6 Billion a copy so we scrapped all of them.
That ain't the way I learned it in MBA School.

Mike Mullen is too stupid to dress himself; he is a disgrace to my Navy. Watch him on TV he can't even put his ribbons, most of them for kissing ass, on right. He autherizes medals for showing 'Courageous Restraint' ; what a crock of shiite.

Daveironbear wrote:Mike Mullen is too stupid to dress himself; he is a disgrace to my Navy. Watch him on TV he can't even put his ribbons, most of them for kissing ass, on right. He autherizes medals for showing 'Courageous Restraint' ; what a crock of shiite.

I'm showing courageous restraint all the time. I have yet to go down there and kick his sorry ass, along with a hellofalot of other a-holes that need it, including those mindless worker bees at the VAROs around the country. Where's my medal?