The Bureaucracy Adapts (Slowly)

Thank you, President Obama for what you’ve enacted recently for the veteran community. I know in an emotional moment, I’ve criticized you harshly in the recent past, but I believe in giving credit where credit is due and, as a veteran, I just want to say thank you.

In case you still haven’t heard, via the big man's approval, the VA is easing the rules that cover the application of claims related to PTSD.

According to the New York Times, “Under the new rule, which applies to veterans of all wars, the department will grant compensation to those with PTSD if they can simply show that they served in a war zone and in a job consistent with the events that they say caused their conditions. They would not have to prove, for instance, that they came under fire, served in a front-line unit or saw a friend killed.”

The unique thing about the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (odd how those are flipped precedence these days, isn’t it?) that a lot of people don’t understand is that the fighting occurs in a completely organic environment; it’s always shifting and changing and there’s no respite from it. Anecdotally, I can tell you for fact, when I served at Camp Fallujah Iraq, the rocket and mortar attacks were so incessant, just stepping outside the cement housing structures we lived in to smoke a cigarette meant risking our lives. Additionally, as the majority of the casualties in these wars have come from roadside bombs, jobs like motor vehicle operator or supply and logistics are just as likely as the ground-pounding grunts to be attacked, maimed, or killed by incredible explosions. For a time, even just flying into the Iraqi combat zone literally meant risking your life.

(I will spare you some of the other stories I’ve heard about support troops being killed on base. They involve port-o-johns and mortars.)

I do worry like some of the experts quoted in this Times’ article, about fraudulent claims and making certain young veterans unnecessarily dependent on the system, but I’m happy that finally, nearly ten years after the Afghanistan War began, we’re giving recognition to the unique considerations of 21^st Century warfare.

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