Lynn C. Woolsey: “the Bush administration is shamefully neglecting the men and women who serve in the United States Military, even as they…”

“the Bush administration is shamefully neglecting the men and women who serve in the United States Military, even as they return home from a war in Iraq, having lost arms, legs, other parts of their bodies, to suffer forever from other physical or mental disabilities such as post-traumatic stress disorder. In August of 2003, when I spent some time at Bethesda Naval Hospital where I was recuperating from back surgery, we were faced with and I met with the wounded soldiers because I visited them while I was in the hospital, the wounded, who had come home forever changed by the war in Iraq. Meeting with these soldiers and their families and seeing their injuries gave me a firsthand look at the true horrors of war. I became more committed than ever that our government should cover all the expenses of any injury that results from war. But that is just not happening. The disability benefits and health care system that currently assists 5 million American servicemen and women has become so overburdened by the addition of over 26,000 wounded soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is now woefully incapable of providing the benefits and services that were promised before those individuals went to war. Currently, there is a backlog of more than 300,000, and let me say it again, 300,000 service-related claims, and that number is increasing every single day.”