Our country is leaving its soldiers, veterans behind

November 11, 2003
» As Appeared in The Op-Ed section of The Greenville News

By Wesley K. Clark

Orangeburg, South Carolina is grieving. In the last three months, former students of Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School perished in Iraq. Last Thursday, I paid my respects to Harriet Johnson, the mother of one of them. Her son, Army Specialist Darius Jennings died just over a week ago. He was only 22 years old.

Since the conflict in Iraq began, we have lost nearly 400 men and women to hostile action. Their sacrifice is a solemn reminder that freedom is not free. Generations of young Americans have paid for it with their lives. They answered the call, and they served with honor. Their loss reminds us all of how much we owe to our veterans from this war and those past.

Any veteran will tell you - especially those of us who fought in Vietnam - when you're out there fighting for your country, you want to know that you have the support of your country.

During my 34 years in the U.S. Army, the most indelible lesson I ever earned was that you never, ever leave a soldier behind. For the last three years, however, we've been leaving our soldiers and our veterans behind.

The ingratitude we show our veterans is appalling. As of earlier this year, more than 235,000 of our veterans were on waiting lists for health care, for six months or more. Some wait as long as two years.

And the response from Washington? This administration proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2004 is $2 billion short of giving our veterans the health care they need.

And that's just the beginning. The administration and the House Republican leadership have once again refused to provide full and timely benefits for our disabled veterans. Plus, they're closing commissaries and now, they want to close base schools. Talk about leaving no child behind.

We talk a lot about homeland security and national security, but we've forgotten about something just as important: veterans' security - giving our veterans the resources and support they've earned. The more than 400,000 veterans in South Carolina and the more than 130,000 soon-to-be-veterans in Iraq deserve no less.

I have a plan to give our veterans the care and support they need. My Veterans' Security Plan has four parts:

First, it would create a National Soldiers' Memorial near our nation's Capitol, to honor soldiers that have fallen in overlooked conflicts. We already honor those soldiers who fought in Vietnam, Korea and World War II. This memorial would honor those who lost their lives in Panama, Somalia, Iraq and many other conflicts around the world.

Second, my plan provides better protection for veterans and military communities. It includes an initiative to give 250,00 homeless veterans the help they need to turn their lives around. While we call these people homeless, they have a home - they fought and defended it - it's called the United States of America.

My plan also would protect the children of our servicemen and women. When I was a general, I fought hard to improve schools on our bases. The Bush Administration has proposed closing schools on military bases. We must provide the funding needed to protect these schools.

Third, my plan would end unfair practices against those who've served, namely the "disabled veterans tax." Every year, our veterans lose over $3 billion of their hard-earned benefits because of this tax. The law that bars concurrent receipt of military retirement and disability benefits is outdated and wrong. I support a full, fair and immediate end to the disabled veterans tax.

Finally, my plan would fully fund veterans' health care in America. Providing care for our veterans is not a choice - it's an obligation. My proposal ensures that our veterans have timely access to preventive and diagnostic care, as well as basic services such as physicals and eye exams. And it guarantees that future cuts in Medicare don't harm our veterans.

In addition, my proposal would expand health coverage options to the estimated 20 percent of our National Guard and Reserve members who have no health insurance when they are not on active duty. I would give health coverage to these service members through the same system that insures members of Congress.

The brave young men and women serving in Iraq deserve our unconditional support. Not just on Veterans Day or Memorial Day. But every day. Giving our veterans and service members good health care and good benefits is the right thing to do; it's long overdue; and it's the least we can do to thank those brave Americans whose service keeps us free.