When I read stories about Congress refusing to allocate money for our troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, it really makes me angry. Not because I support the war, but because the thought of Harry Reid sitting on his worthless ass in a wood-paneled office playing political games with our soldiers lives, I know that our military men and women are getting screwed.
Our political leaders are doing a terrible job when it comes to providing our soldiers with the tools to win. And after our American brothers and sisters have risked their lives defending people like Harry Reid, we utterly fail to provide for them by adequately funding the Veterans Administration.
Harry Reid and his ilk seem to be more concerned with taking money out of our pockets so illegal immigrants can get a free flu-shot than with making sure the soldiers who are serving our country have the resources they need to win the war. And that is a terrible misuse of power.
The name Ty Ziegel may not be new to a lot of people, but it’s worth mentioning him when talking about spending money for our soldiers and our veterans.
If you haven’t heard of Ty Ziegel, I offer you this short video.
Let me just say, God Bless Tyler Ziegel. America owes him a debt we can never repay.
He lost part of his skull in the blast and part of his brain was damaged. Half of his left arm was amputated and some of the fingers were blown off his right hand.
Ziegel, a 25-year-old Marine sergeant, knew the dangers of war when he was deployed for his second tour in Iraq.
But he didn’t expect a new battle when he returned home as a wounded warrior: a fight with the Department of Veterans Affairs. [source]
As Americans, we rely on our all volunteer military to defend our way of life. However, our society largely ignores them after they have returned home from war. These are the very people who should be treated as heroes, and yet we have a gigantic population of homeless veterans.
In Ziegel’s case, he spent nearly two years recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. Once he got out of the hospital, he was unable to hold a job. He anticipated receiving a monthly VA disability check sufficient to cover his small-town lifestyle in Washington, Illinois.
Instead, he got a check for far less than expected. After pressing for answers, Ziegel finally received a letter from the VA that rated his injuries: 80 percent for facial disfigurement, 60 percent for left arm amputation, a mere 10 percent for head trauma and nothing for his left lobe brain injury, right eye blindness and jaw fracture.
“I don’t get too mad about too many things,” he said. “But once we’ve been getting into this, I’m ready to beat down the White House door if I need to.”
“I’m not expecting to live in the lap of luxury,” he added. “But I am asking them to make it comfortable to raise a family and not have to struggle.”
That seems reasonable. In many ways, Ty Ziegel’s life is ruined. That fact that he is able to lead any semblance of a normal life just makes his story more heroic.
We should feel shame at the way we treat our veterans. Americans like Ty Ziegel shouldn’t even have to ask to be taken care of. He has given up more in the service of his country than a thousand Harry Reid’s.
For our congress to do anything short of providing everything our military needs to win this war quickly and decisively, does a disservice to every man and women wearing a United States military uniform. For our congress to continue to underfund the Veterans Administration is a slap in the face of everyone who has ever taken the oath to fight for his country.
The next time you hear a news story about Congress making a decision not to fund the troops, I hope you will think about Ty Ziegel. And I hope it will make you mad. And I hope you will call your Congressperson and tell them how you feel.
