October 19, 2009 - Your weekly update features news about VA's proposed rules for processing PTSD disability claims, news about VA budget reform, news about our on-going FOIA campaign, plus news about an outrageous vote by 30 Senators who put corporate profits over the lives of rape victims working as contractors in the Iraq War.  Thank you for your support, and please forward this message to your friends.

VCS Comments on VA’s Proposed PTSD Regulations

Improving how VA handles veterans’ PTSD claims remains at the top of our top advocacy agenda.  On August 24, 2009, in response to new scientific evidence linking PTSD with deployment to a war zone, VA published proposed new regulations in the Federal Register.  Please read our VCS comments to VA.  The estimated economic value of this safety net for our veterans is up to $5 billion, according to The New York Times.

PTSD is a serious mental health condition associated with significant physical health conditions.  Scientists have linked PTSD with a two-fold increase risk of early death from heart disease as well as with a greater than two-fold increase risk of death one year after surgery.

Our effort to overhaul VA needs your help.  We fight to fix VA's broken claims system - a system that often delays veterans' access to medical care.  Please donate to VCS so we can keep the pressure on Congress and VA to assist all our veterans, including those returning home from war with psychological wounds.

VCS Thanks Congress for VA Funding Reform

Last week, after years of hard work by VA’s union members and veterans’ groups, Congress passed a new law to fix VA’s badly broken funding process.  VCS supported the legislation in our Congressional testimony.

VCS thanks legislators for their swift action. The next step should be to make sure VA has mandatory full funding, a position supported by VCS.  To support our advocacy efforts for veterans, please give generously to VCS.

VCS FOIA Campaign News

Last week, VCS obtained DoD’s battlefield casualty statistics for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars showing the total number of deaths, wounded, and medical evacuations due to illness or injury is more 90,000.  At this rate, our casualties may reach 100,000 by the end of 2010, a truly tragic milestone.

VA’s newest healthcare use report reveals 454,000 veteran patients from the two wars.  An essay by Stacy Bannerman discusses the enormous mental healthcare crisis among the families of the nearly two million service members sent to the conflicts.  If President Obama sends more troops to Afghanistan, a move we question, then he must also immediately hire more doctors to care for battlefield casualties as well as the needs of family members.

In what can only be described as an outrageous attempt to circumvent the Freedom of Information Act, TruthOut reporter Jason Leopold reveals how our right to know about the brutal torture policies of the former Bush Administration is being undermined, and the torture pictures and documents may remain secret.

Documenting this crucial historical information about casualties and torture is made possible by donations from members like you who support VCS and our FOIA campaign.

VCS Blasts 30 Shameless Senators

Some actions by legislators are so vile and so repugnant that they deserve prompt repudiation, especially when 30 male Republican Senators voted to put corporate profits above the rights of rape survivors.

On the Senator floor, newly-seated Senator Al Franken (D-MN) sought to block government contracts for corporations who prevent employees from filing suit after getting raped.  The amendment targeted KBR / Halliburton, among the most notorious war profiteers, especially their horrible actions following the brutal gang rape of employee Jamie Leigh Jones by co-workers in Iraq in 2005.  VCS applauds Senator Franken for his common sense proposal, and we condemn the votes of the 30 Senators.  Check to see how your U.S. Senator voted.

VCS Sets October Fundraising Goal at $10,000
 
Our successful efforts need your support. We hope we can make October a month to remember.  As the economy improves, we hope you keep veterans, national security, and civil liberties in mind.  Please donate $50 or $100 to VCS today so we can fight for the issues you care about.

Thank You, Veterans for Common Sense