Another Veteran Kills Themselves at a VA Hospital
Time Is A Flat Circle
Over the last seven days, while America was doing whatever navel gazing it tends to do, another veteran killed himself in front of a Texas VA hospital.
This isn’t the first time this has happened. . . in Texas.
Actually, while America was sleeping, their veterans are not only killing themselves in record numbers, but they’re doing it AT VA Hospitals.
HELLO. AMERICA.
What Should be Done?
Anyone want to argue with this man?
Yeah, me neither. Here’s the thing: the VA sucks. That doesn’t mean there are not wonderful people (many of them veterans) who are trying their hardest working inside a shitty institution. Sure, the VA should still help with benefits and some things, but it should not have this much control over my life. I’ve been retired for 8 months and the VA still can’t figure out if I was married or not, even though both dependents are still receiving healthcare benefits.
Unfucking believable.
So, here’s what I think we should do with the VA.
Bruh, if Trump is gonna kill the Department of Education, then let’s destroy the VA and figure out someway to do better. We’re failing our combat veterans (again), and nobody seems to give a shit.
Shocker, I know.
I love so many of the VA veteran staff many of whom I have trained myself in the Austin/San Antonio area. They are top notch. But the system is too big, lacks autonomy and all of the problems that come with a huge bureaucracy . If you think that government paid healthcare as a single payer system is ok just take a close look at the VA. The thing is when I first heard about the suicide in San Antonio I had to reach out to a former student working there to figure out if this was true. Why??-- because there was no news coverage to speak of for days. I am saddened and so upset over this particular loss because he had been involved in trying to improve the system and had family support and this still happened. If every American would just take one Veteran under their wing and lift him or her up we could do so much better. But there is one ingredient that you have to have-- you have to care and be compassionate. I have sat with so many veterans in hospitals, in surgery, in ICUs, in court rooms and in classes at the university. People just need to quit judging and start helping. The truth is that veterans are having a perfectly normal response to very hard circumstances/events that they took on for their country.