Readers of Tom Philpott’s Military Update column sound off.

A Blast at Special Pensions for Filipino Vets of WWII

Why should the United States compensate Filipino veterans who fought for their homeland alongside American soldiers?

It was enough that American blood paid for their freedom. If they want compensation let them get it from their own government.

I am sick of overzealous politicians who always vote to appease certain ethnic groups for their votes. America doesn't have to compensate foreigners whose freedom we won for them, particularly while some of our veterans who sacrificed for that country are in need or homeless.

Wake up America! Your veterans are suffering and you don't care...Let the country that was freed take care of its own.

MANNY GONZALES
New Mexico

Obviously I'm laboring under a gross misconception. I thought VA benefits were paid to individuals whose disabilities were deemed to be service connected.

An attempt by the Filipino community to obtain these benefits for Filipino veterans of World War II can hardly be backed by a claim of service-connected injuries 50 years after the fact.

Another kind of pension should be awarded if they served an entire career and earned a retirement from the military.

To award these benefits is not right. Most of these Filipino veterans served less than four or five years with the American Army. Why should they get benefits that American soldiers had to serve a full career to receive, or had to be hurt or disabled to have service-connected disabilities?

If these pensions are granted, then every U.S. veteran who served four years in the military should be eligible for the same benefits.

LYNN M.
Via e-mail

Why are we paying Filipino vets who fought for the U.S. and their country? We don't do this for our own military. Our veterans don’t get monetary benefits just for serving their country for a couple of years.

Yes, the Philippines was a U.S. territory during World War II but it was only the Japanese who stopped the process of giving the islands back to the Filipino people.

Why don't we use this money [$1 billion over 10 years] to repair VA facilities in this county, and tell Filipino veterans they already have received benefits for their service?

LARRY DUKE
USN-Ret.
Via e-mail

STRAPPED FOR CASH

I've not been able to work since 1995 and God himself knows that I want too.  My wife works but it is not near enough to keep us afloat.

With multiple illnesses ranging from arthritis to diabetes I am on a lot of medication. In 2006, the VA here in Fayetteville, Ark., decided we make too much, even though I am on Social Security disability and receive only $200 a month in VA disability compensation. So they raised my prescription co-pay to $9 per 30 day supply.

I know it does not sound like much but, with the number of medications I need, it adds up fast. I was unable to pay my co-pay for about a year. When my co-pay bill reached about $400, the VA withheld my compensation check for several months to pay this debt. The bill was eventually paid but it was at the expense of my mortgage payment.

I've lost my home and property and cannot even afford to file for bankruptcy. My wife and daughter and I now live in a small apartment that costs over $200 a month more than my mortgage payment did.

The icing on the cake is that my pharmacy co-pay bill has built up again and they are withholding my VA check again. This time they even withheld money from my social security by going through the Treasury Department.

I have nothing but the highest respect for the medical staff at Fayetteville. They have gone above and beyond. Last week my nurse even called me to see why I had not renewed any of my prescriptions.

If I had not been asleep when she called I never would have agreed to let her renew them. My medications will not be renewed again. I just can't afford it.

MARK TENNISON
Via e-mail

DOUBTS OVER PTSD

I am a World War II veteran with service also during the Korean War era and the Vietnam War era. I cannot believe that almost half a million survivors are “suffering” from disabling Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

PTSD, as a normal childhood disease, is easily treated by pills and altered living. Along with medication for a relatively short term -- a couple of years or less -- an effort directed to normalization should serve as an adequate curative regimen. My granddaughter was diagnosed with PTSD and was so treated for less than four years. She is a total survivor with no recurrent bouts in the past three years.

Surely, a surviving serviceman should be able to apply him or herself toward a useful lifestyle if a fourteen-year-old can. Or does the prospect of a permanent lifetime pension interfere?

I do not want to seem harsh in my comments. For the veteran suffering a traumatic amputation of limb or a wound of sufficient intensity, I have the greatest sympathy. They deserve understanding and treatment and compensatory consideration for as long as they suffer directly from those bodily damages.

I direct my complaint to the group that will never recover as long as they believe they will ultimately be served a secure income for the rest of their lives. The VA is more than considerate and will continue to be so as long as the individual can present positive proof of injury to which no cure can be attached.

The elimination of mental problems that are little more than childhood errata or similar occurrences will bring justice to the system and those who are actually suffering will receive their just due. The system then will be achieving that for which it is truly designed.

IRA ISCH
Major, USA-Ret.
Via e-mail

Letters may be edited for clarity or length.  Write to Military Forum, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA  20120-1111, send e-mail to militaryforum@aol.com or visit www.militaryupdate.com

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