kp2001,
I, in no way intended to imply that our military personnel were not receiving the best care possible. You have described thoroughly the superb treatment they are receiving, up to, and including the extra two years that they are held on active duty. Is the reason for this perhaps that the VA is incapable of receiving them, that the military has a larger budget and can "find" funds more easily to support this effort?
Please allow me to digress. I, along with several other Naval Officer retirees, journeyed to SC for the Republican primary to work for Senator McCain. The opposing camp, coming off a bitter defeat in NH, knew that SC was a must win state. I witnessed personally the most atrocious untruthful smear campaign that has ever been. I cannot think of another description than that I despised what I saw. One of the many smears was the parading on local TV of a marginal Vietnam War vet, Thomas Burch, who had previously smeared the first President Bush (I assume the family differences were mended). Burch denounced vehemency McCain's support of the American veteran, that he had come home and forgotten them. There was absolutely no reason to suspect this smear was any more truthful than any of the others. If you want to read more, Google "John McCain 2000 SC primary" which I did to get the Vietnam Vet's name. It still appalls me. With this reality in the back of my mind, I have always been overly critical of any White House announcements concerning Veterans. The annual White House budge proposals have been almost comical in their ignorant and. in my opinion, disgraceful messages they are conveying to our Veterans. Are not our waiting lines of eligible veterans getting longer and longer so the VA can scrape and borrow to support the current influx of Iraqi veterans, Has not or is not a secondary care facility being built to accomodate amputee rehabilitation, entirely with privately donated money (a disgraceful message being sent to our troops), and has psychiatric funding not been cut to prevent the proper care of our returning soldiers? White House actions send a signal, to me, unfathonable in sustaining a long-term professional viable military force.