Veteran gets one-on-one chat with Franken

[BlueStateSaint]

There's a reason why he got a one-on-one!



Veteran gets one-on-one chat with Franken

By Lawrence Schumacher • lschumacher@stcloudtimes.com • August 9, 2008

There’s an old saying in politics that elections are won or lost one vote at a time.

On Friday, DFL-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken demonstrated how true that saying can be, when a roundtable on veterans issues at Brigitte’s Cafe his campaign scheduled drew only one participant.

Josh John, a St. Cloud resident who said he served in the Navy from 2000-04, had Franken to himself for an hour as he described difficulties he faced returning from his tour of duty and the help he received from his Veterans Services Office and the St. Cloud VA Medical Center.

“When I first asked for help at the VA, I got kind of a bad attitude from one person, so I ended up leaving and not registering,” he said.



The rest of the article is here . . .

http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080809/NEWS01/108080047/1009

One person went to Franken's campaign event.  One.




One.

[JohnnyReb]

Frankens' support among veterns is huge..........huge, I tell you.........

It's going to be a landslide for Franken.............. 

[NHSparky]

Hookay...and the guy he talked to was a whiny, "How come the VA won't listen to mmmmeeeeee?" guy who likely didn't get any closer to "combat" than a cockfight in TJ.

Uh, Josh?  I don't use the VA, and I was in a helluva lot longer than you, did more, saw more, and if in fact you have a service-connected disability (HIGHLY doubtful), they'd be more than happy to have taken care of you.

[Thor]

Let me say one thing........ there are Navy vets that have seen combat. I'm one. I know of a few that were actually in Baghdad.  That said, we don't know where Josh John was stationed, what he did, etc. It could possibly be that he is just whining. I will also reiterate what he stated about the VA. They are loaded down with people that don't want to serve the veterans. I've run across quite a few of these civilian employees that work at the VA. The word, "service" has little or no meaning to the VA systems in Minnesota. The St Cloud, MN VA is pretty archaic, poorly run and really is more of a sub-station to the VA hospital in Minneapolis. I chose to avoid any services offered by the VA in St Cloud or Minneapolis because they are often over-booked and back-logged. When a person is actually working, they often can't take the time off of work to be treated by the VA. Appointments are rarely kept on time. When they make an appointment for a person, that member's work situation is NEVER taken into consideration. I've lost a lot of wages because I was being treated by the VA.  (A one hour appointment has taken me as much as 5 hours to get completed). I decided it would be more prudent and efficient to use my retired medical benefits.

[NHSparky]

I understand Thor--I'm another, or so says the VFW and American Legion.  And as such, one of the big no-no's I was taught early in my career (like say, Day ONE) was "violating the chain of command".  At first glance, Mr. John fails to grasp this concept.  Yes, I know the VA is a goat****, which is why my being lucky enough NOT to have a disability rating means I'm not going to use them.  I've seen and heard some of the horror stories first-hand.  The VA hospital in Santa Monica is another prime example, to say nothing of all we've seen and heard about Walter Reed, etc.   Sadly, this isn't a situation that has arisen since 2003.  It's a situation that has come about from DECADES of neglect.  He says he got a bad attitude from ONE PERSON and didn't register.  Really?  Hell, I got that at nearly every command I was stationed in for 12 years, Thor!  I particularly remember one whiny-assed PN at Long Beach who complained to me when I asked why something hadn't been put in my service record that, "We just got done working 10 hour days for the past two weeks!"

Oh, if only I could have had such cake duty...

But all too often, we're seeing cases in the MSM of trying to somehow pin the entire fault on the current administration.  While some of the blame can rightly be placed on those currently in power for not doing more, certainly more political mileage can be made by somehow deluding the public into the false impression that the current state of the VA only came about because of the "massive" increase in caseload since 2003.

What is correct is that Iraq/Afghanistan veterans have increased VA caseload by LESS than 5 percent.  The vast majority of increased burden and expense on the VA is the aging Vietnam-era veteran population, and also to a significant (but lowering) effect of WWII/Korea-era veterans.  I would certainly not begrudge ANY veteran, whether they have seen combat or not, ANY service to which they are entitled.  However, if this young man has a problem obtaining services to which he is entitled, why not go through service related organizations or his Congressman/Senators?  WTF is a loopy Marxist (yes, Franken fits that description) tool who hasn't been elected to ANYTHING yet going to do?

I do not denigrate Mr. John's service, Thor, but something ain't passing the smell test.  One final thing.  No DoD or Military.com record exists for Josh John (or other spellings thereof) in Minnesota.  Before you get cranky, they had my record.

[Thor]

And they have mine.........

I will admit that the media , ESPECIALLY in MN, a bastion of Liberalism, has made more of this story than it's worth.  As far as Stuart Smalley goes, he's a choochtard, cut and dried.