Hard Stuff to Write About

This has been the most difficult post I've ever tried to write. It's been kickin' my butt on a daily basis  and every time I go back to the editorial that started it all, hoping that it had been deleted and discovering that it had not, it kicks me again.

The editorial I'm referring to surrounds the intentional posting of an inaccurate statement regarding the position of wounded warriors who are under the care of our VA. After the post was made, the guy that posted it admitted that he did it as a joke but by then, the damage was done. I don't find jokes about wounded warriors to be very funny at all.

To insure that there's no mistaking what happened I'll put into quotations a part of his statement that I found to be so offensive.

Quoting only part of the editorial, I'll simplify it be saying that he correctly referred to himself as a Veteran who was under the care of the VA but, as a joke, he incorrectly stated that he is now among the ranks of the "47% " who contribute nothing to our society.

It was obviously a political poke at Mitt Romney but using wounded warriors under care at the VA was a piss poor choice of places to make it. To me, that was a kick below the belt as I'm one of those Veterans that depends on the VA to help me with my Agent Orange Contamination and the malignant cancer that comes with the dioxin.

Adding insult to injury, as I saw it, he may have created an obstacle to the many wounded who are "trying" to get some help. If that wasn't enough damage, it may also be detrimental to others who are struggling with the "thoughts" about asking for help.

With that in mind, I hope like hell that any Veteran who might have been cruising the net and came across that editorial, wasn't one who was looking for information about the process other Veterans had gone through as they sought help.

I also hope that any member of that site that reads this, considers deleting the editorial and all of the comments made about that. I would make that request myself except any statements of a political nature are not allowed on that site.

As I was dealing with all of that, I finally found a little relief and a possible solution to all this when I recalled a notice that came from the Fighter Pilot's email system that we call the "Casbar".

I think this post is important enough to put that notice in numerical order because without having the organized details or the inside information, you may not be well informed enough to understand exactly where my head is at this point in time and why I've been having such a rough time writing about this.

With regard to the Fighter Pilot's email, I clearly remember the shock from the following:

1. They informed us about a horrible situation concerning a Veteran who was in
    bad shape and really needed some help.
2. He even had a tough time asking for help.
3. He reported to his local VA but was totally unfamiliar with the process there.
4. He had no idea that budget cuts eliminated staff members to help him get started.
5. He was handed a volume of paper work to fill out but was unable to do it by himself.
6. He went home, tried again but couldn't get through it on his own.
7. He was overpowered by the frustrations.
8. He decided to take his own life and killed himself later that evening.

I don't want to seem like a broken record that continues to repeat the successes of the the Red River Valley Fighter Pilot's Association but I'm finding more and more reasons to do that everyday.

I say that because I can clearly see on other Internet sites, that the statements describing our Nation as one that is suffering from divisiveness, are statements that are true. Fortunately, the closer we come to election day, the more we seem to learn about the things that produced the divide.

The Fighter Pilot's are not divided at all. They are totally united. Remember what that was like? Was pretty neat, wasn't it!

As I recognized that the divisiveness was a situation that could easily be demonstrated as true, I began to think about the River Rats and wondered what in the hell they were doing so well to keep all of us from falling into that trap.

I started off with thoughts about their Leadership. They've had  and continue to have some really great leaders over the  years but the more I thought about their Past Association Presidents and all of the daily posts I've read on the Casbar, I realized that all of the members that are active in the Casbar, possess various kinds or forms of leadership.

That may sound a bit corny but the evidence clearly shows that to be true.

Having said that and in view of my repeated horn tooting for them, I want you to accept that my statements are most serious and not statements that have resulted from an emotional thought process of any kind. "Evidence" in making a statement like that is my defense. It's the kind of evidence that generally proceeds the final statement of an attorney when he says: "I rest my case".

As an example of that, quite some time ago, I read a reply to one of the posts from a member in the Bar and I'd like to add that for you now so you'll have a better degree of understanding of what I mean.

I don't remember the specifics of the post that produced the answer below but in that light, it must have been somewhat inconsequential to me. What I do remember however, is the answer to the post and how it effected my thought process when making my own statements. Here's the answer:

1. When posting political statements, make sure to have source documents to back them up.
2. Statements that are found to be inaccurate only weaken your point.
3. Say what you mean but mean what you say.
4. If there ain't no picture, it didn't happen.

To me, the response explained that we all needed to be very careful about passing along information. Once that was explained, I began to check out some things that were posted in the Bar and I never found any inaccuracies. There are differences of opinion but no statements go unchecked.

With that in mind, I say that any military site would be proud to achieve that level of free speech and, at the same time,achieve that level of concern about accuracy of things that are said on their sites. In an analogous sense, accuracy in political statements from Veteran web sites are no different than the accuracy of your aim when you are making a strafing run on an enemy target. Being wrong, simply won't cut it.

I don't want to paint the impression that the Casbar is a place that allows no room for anything other than a rigid posture. That's as far from the truth as it can be. There is freedom of speech there but they come with rules of conduct. You won't find any porno, bashing of Christians or any kind of jokes about our wounded warriors on their site.

These are serious people who are serious about helping our wounded warriors. Go to their web site  by following the link that is on the front page of this blog. You will find  a number of National Awards for their work with wounded warriors and no jokes or negative implications about the Veterans. Donate a few bucks to help a wounded warrior out. There's a link on the opening page here. Tell em Fireball 28 sent you.