In the past week, we've heard from not only veterans, but also from family members of veterans, both living and deceased; from doctors who work with the VA; from journalists who've covered the VA; and from various contractors and private citizens who deal with the VA in various capacities. With all of their input in mind, we'd like to make two points about what we're trying to do:
1) The much-discussed backlog of disability claims at the VA— about half a million claims have been pending for more than four months— is primarily an administrative and political issue, not a medical one. The problem is one of processing benefits claims, and the resources that we choose to dedicate to processing claims. Doctors and other medical professionals who work for the VA are not the source of this problem. (To be fair, we've also heard from people who've worked processing VA benefits claims, who allege that vets often try to rip off the government for benefits. Everyone has a point of view.)
2) Our general goal is simply to give a platform to veterans to share their experiences on the homefront. This is not meant to be an exhaustive report on all of the issues facing the Department of Veterans Affairs. Collections of first-person stories, like this, or our Unemployment Stories, are to be taken for what they are: people directly sharing stories about their own experiences. All personal stories are subject to biases, the subtle distortions of memory, and whatnot. The value of these stories is the opportunity for people who do not usually get a voice to speak, and the opportunity for all of us to hear stories that we don't usually get to hear. These are personal histories freely shared, and taken together, they paint a picture of reality that it is hard to find elsewhere.
And now, some stories of life as a United States military veteran.