Simpler For Vets

Most people would agree that going to war is of itself a stressful prospect for any rational person. Just ask any of the hundreds of Rio Grande Valley veterans and their families who have fought in wars from Normandy to Takrit over the past half-century and more. Ask their families, who have felt the same stress of not

knowing if their sons and daughters,

mothers and fathers will come home alive from their most recent deployment into hostile territory.

The U.S. Veterans Affairs Department, the very agency charged with addressing the needs of those who defend this country, doesn’t see it that way. That has left many of the 134,000 veterans from our two current wars unable to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder or some disability claims.

Fortunately, the VA has proposed a logical policy change that helps bring

it more current with modern medicine and warfare.

A World War II-era law gives preference for medical treatment and disability claims to people who have “engaged in combat with the enemy.” Those who have engaged in actual combat receive a special badge as proof of their especially dangerous service.

Many, however, are just at risk even if they are not on the front lines. Support troops build roads and bridges, maintain equipment and provide medical attention to the injured.

Carrying out those duties in makeshift camps and hospitals is risky enough, and many get injured doing it. In addition, given the nature of their jobs and the horrors of war many of them see even behind the firing lines, the stresses are very real. And given the long-range capabilities of today’s weapons and the use of hidden improvised explosives, those working behind the lines are hardly in safe conditions.

Service men and women who suffer injuries in such cases have a greater burden of proof that their maladies are war-related. A Purple Heart or other medal is acceptable, but in the absence of such extraordinary recognition, veterans have to provide documentation to satisfy their respective caseworkers.

The problem with that requirement is that out in the deserts of Iraq or the hillsides of Afghanistan, keeping up with paperwork isn’t as much a priority as the physical demands of war.

Veterans and service groups say paperwork is the biggest hurdle in getting medical treatment and other VA benefits. About half of all PSTD disability claims reportedly are denied, and most of those denials are due to insufficient documentation, not because doctors didn’t diagnose the condition.

The need to streamline the bureaucratic maze in all federal agencies is well known. In the case of VA medical claims, cutting the red tape can contribute significantly to the health and quality of life for thousands of veterans whose service to this country led directly to physical, and in some cases mental, infirmities.

The proposed policy change is welcome. Medical claims should be governed by the diagnosis of physicians, not a sluggish and outdated system of paperwork. Our veterans shouldn’t have to fight their own government to help them deal with the unfortunate consequences of going to war on our behalf.