To GW Bush:
This is even worse than Katrina! These are soldiers you ordered in harms way and you have turned your back on them.
You have been a failure at every turn. Why don't you do the American public a favor...RESIGN!

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING HAS BEEN TOO EXPENSIVE FOR OUR TROOPS, FROM DECENT, LIFE-SAVING EQUIPMENT TO TAKING CARE OF THEM AFTER SUFFERING GRAVE INJURIES. I AM TOTALLY ASHAMED OF OUR ADMINISTRATION AND ESPECIALLY OF OUR PRESIDENT. I CAN'T REMEMBER A TIME WHEN WE HAVE HAD SO MANY CROOKED POLITICIANS IN PLACE. I PRAY THAT WE DO EVERYTHING HUMANLY POSSIBLE TO TAKE CARE OF OUR HEROES FIGHTING THE WAR AND AFTER THEY COME HOME. WE SHOULD NOT BE AT WAR AND BUSH SHOULD NOT BE OUR PRESIDENT. I PERSONALLY THINK HE NEEDS A FRONTAL LOBOTOMY. HIS POWER TRIP IS KILLING OUR COUNTRIES FINEST.

The only thing the VA seems to be
good at these days is losing it's
own agency laptop computers!
So how did anyone expect that
Incompetent Bush Crony & Former
RNC Chairman Political Hack,
Jim Nicholson to set up a more
complicated tracking system?
It's time Congress force The
Commander in Chief George W Bush
To Fire Sec Of VA Jim Nicholson!
There never will be any improvement
at the VA as long as incompetents
like Nicholson run the show!

it has always been hard to get help form v.a. they use us, somewhat patch us up,pat us on the head and sendup on our merry way.ww2,korea,vet-nam and now the mid-east are all the same . maybe this time will be better.butt i dought it .once the big wheels huff and pufff.they will put it on back-burner agin .too bad bush and chenney were't real vet's butt the were to much of cowards
vet-nam 68
lee

Someone please tell me what the Democratic Congress is doing? We voted you in, stop wasting time with the hearings we know that the VA is in deep trouble, get off your butts and get going or you will be voted out again in 4 years, wise up! Also, BUSH SHOULD BE IMPEACHED!!

If these problems exist now, they've been here for a long time. Reporters have been interviewing troops at this facility for what, 5 years now? Why is this the first they've ever made mention of this? Why wasn't this taken care of 5 years ago?

Besides, what the story doesn't talk about is how many military hospitals have had to shut down over the last 25 years because of out-sourcing and budget cuts. Most active duty and veterans have the option of receiving care at any number of civilian facilities, but opt to be treated at a military or VA facility, which causes long waits for appointments. In some cases, they do this because the military and VA facilities, run-down as they may be, offer them far better treatment then the 'civilian' facilities. Where is the investigation on that side of the story?

Hey !!!
Why is this such a surprize. Iam a Veit Nam vet ,who is 100% disabled and this has been the norm for the last 40 years I know of. It wont change untill poeple who have the benifit of not going to war take care of the promise made to us by Congress and President Bush. (Who lied to the us people and still thinks we can win his Holy war.) So people wake up this will be in the front untill the Irac war is over.

Now let me see if I got this right? Only Congress can appropriate money and set the budget. The VA has been grossly underfunded for decades and not one congressman seems to have visited the local VA facility in thier areas. Nor have they tracked down and talked with their woounded Vets in thier districts. It took the Press to discover the deplorable conditions and escallate the code violations and deplorable living conditions of our Vets at the main VA hospital.

Well, congratulations to the Press!
Congress, get off your butts and get to work!

I suspect that the data privacy laws congress has passed, and the negative pressure put on the Government services for developing 'tracking' databases
is the main reason the VA gave up their project!

God bless our troops!
Tmblweed

IMPEACH BUSH & CHENEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the most positive steps that should be taken is to remove VA and veteran healthcare and benefit funding from the jurisdiction of the Pentagon. We heard David Chu express remorse for veteran care shortcomings, and yet if you review the record, Mr. Chu has opposed every veteran benefit and has gone out of his way to increase healthcare costs to all veterans (the latest is the Pentagon's attempt to institute massive premiums for Tricare users). Any emotion coming out of the Pentagon is pure crocodile tears. When it comes to funding weapon systems or veterans, the weapons win everytime. As soon as the media shifts focus it will be worse than back to normal. Bush has already proposed VA budget reductions after the 2008 elections. Go figure.
23 years. Fly Navy!

I'm a Vietnam Vet and I don't see anything different so far about how the VA functions.With the great number of veterans now returning home with severe Post Traumatic Stress and brain injuries I hope the VA will handle them better than they did the Nam vets.Many Vietnam vets fought the VA for 20 years,some are still fighting for benefits.It was common practice back then for VA doctors to diagnose PTSD vets with personality disorders and other unrecognized conditions that the VA did not recognize for purposes of disability benefits.Then, as now, the VA was under funded.Most vets with mental disorders just quit fighting after a time.The VA makes that kind of fight very difficult and mentally and physically draining for the veteran.The appeals process for denied claims was a joke (but not funny).We were told then that we could not sue the government for disability compensation and that our only recourse was the Washington Veterans Appeals Board.
Fact is you can sue the government for disability compensation.You must first file your claim for a service connected disability rating.If your claim is denied you must appeal the decision to the Appeals Board in Washington.If Washington denies your claim you may then sue in Federal court.I hope tings are different now but if not maybe this information will be of some help to someone.
Brian

Additional funding to the VA isn't expedited because VA Secretary Jim Nicholson sits in front of Congress and says the VA has plenty of money and plenty of staff and provides the best care in the world.

General Kiley is still around? Nothing else needs to be said. The President by allowing him to avoid a full court martial for derelection of duty is a lack of leadership its self. Mr. President, it's time to lead not appoint more commissions.

I am a veteran suffering from TBI (traumatic brain injury). I go to the Richmond, VA VA hospital. I was referred to their neurology service on an outpatient basis by my VA primary care physician in Jan. of this year. My appt. was postponed twice. I was finally seen in March. When I saw the doctor (One of the TBI doctors) I was told that the hospital had been on a "hiring freeze" until recently. Is this what we are to expect from the VA? bUSH SENDS HEALTHY PEOPLE TO A WAR THAT IS WRONG THEN WON'T FUND THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS NECESSARY TO CARE FOR THEM AFTER THE BATTLE! The broblems with the military and VA health care systems do not fall on any one man but on systemic failure to fund these health care systems. As a 100% service conneceted disabled veteran it makes me feel that my country's leaders have used me, abused me, and then thrown me on the trash heap.

As a soldier’s mom, I'm so disappointed and upset I could scream that they are doing this to my kid and others! Even the people in office that were supposed to be on the soldier's sides, the one’s visiting Walter Reed and other veteran's hospitals did nothing. How come they couldn’t see this happening? Did they bother talking to our soldiers more than the couple min. or were they only there for a photo op? Every one acts like this is something new, yet it’s been going on for years, long before the Iraq or Afghanistan wars. Our Vietnam, Korean and WW veterans have experienced it for years.

The US has lost so much over this administration. When are we going to going to tell this crooked bunch of leaders "We've had it with you! We the citizens are not going to take it any longer!”?

Why are u guys mad at the president.....Its the senate and house that funds the VA, not the president..........it was the same thing during the vietnam war and korea and WWII.........and that was also funded by the democrats.........so dont get mad at the Republicans.........the libs are in control now.......lol

I can't believe not wanting to spend the money for a system when there is so much waste and corruption for contracts & contractors in Iraq and for Katrina. The money they could recover from the waste & corruption would probably buy several systems to replace the outdated and cumbersome systems some of the agencies currently have. The Walter Reed stories will continue to surface for a long time......and I'm waiting to hear the waste & corruption stories that will come from the work that is currently being and will be done on Walter Reed and other military hospital facilities.

The Iraq war and this administration is not the point, it just happens to be the particular cloud that is raining right now. The weather has been around forever. Read the comments posted by Vietnam Vets. Too many people in charge have passed the buck for too long. This is greed and selfishness. While the standing President can do more than any other single person to light a fire, the Senators and Representatives, even Governors, can also do something. The fact is, no one is willing to do what it takes to make it right. In the meantime, vets suffer. Way to go, all politicians.

I'm currently seeking VA compensation for a mental condition that worsened severely three years after I was discharged from the military for a misdiagnosis of the same issue. It was at the time deemed not a disability. Since then I've received electric shock treatments and have been receiving social security disability ever since. The claim is sitting in front of the Board of Veteran Appeals as we speak, and you can be sure, I'm taking it to an attorney if they decide to deny it.

The underlying problem is that vets are effectively barred from suing the V. A. because lawyers' fees are limited to $10 per case by a post War Between the States law that has repeatedly upheld as valid by the U. S. Supreme Court.