Well, having been with the VA for 10 years (albeit 15 years ago), I'd have to agree with a lot of this. It took even longer to begin to care for the Agent Orange vets than it did with the Gulf War. The gvt. makes a lot of promises to the troops, and then doesn't follow thru with the promises, at least in the medical arena. When I started, every vet was eligible, as they were promised. Gradually, they began to restrict entry into the system, until (I believe) now only people with service-connected injuries are eligible. However, this covered stuff while not in uniform, like motorcycle related spinal cord injuries suffered while on leave.
On the other hand, if you got in to the system, it was great. You got what you needed. Need home oxygen? No sweat. Need a handicapped van or a hospital bed or wheelchair? You've come to the right place. I miss a lot of that now, especially when I do billing, and charge $50 to measure how fast you can exhale thru a $5 meter, or $250 for an EKG. Sometime I feel like a whore for the hospital. I never felt that way with the VA.
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