Government's shabby lie to veterans.
The Conservatives announced a $200 million dollar investments "over 6 years" for PTSD but it turned out to be $4 million dollars per year for all veterans all over the country over 50 years. That's less than they spend on PILT payments to the City Of Ottawa.
I tried to apply for veterans support when I left the army post Bosnia. It proved to be lip service and a waste of time. I gave up. I know that's not the right way to do things but once you hear no enough it seems less worth it.
My grandfather, Squadron Leader Frederick Charles Kruger, flew bombers in WWII and received the Distinguished Flying Cross from the King of England himself, and fought with Veteran's Affairs for 20 years to get a pension for hearing loss due to flying planes with 4 * H-24 1500HP engines outside his ears for nine to 10 hour missions. They argued he couldn't prove that his hearing loss was job-related. But he refused to give up and finally he got what he was owed. What he deserved. He was as entitled to his entitlements as any politician is.
My logic was I didn't suffer near as much trauma as my grandfather did, nearly shot down many times, and I could make so much more working than not so I felt it was pointless. That's how they cut costs because we are honorable, and they exploit that so they are not. Because we are willing to sacrifice everything, and they want to balance the books. And give themselves bonuses for keeping costs down.
It's shameful to talk up their support yet deliver nothing. It's mean-spirited and dishonest. It's sociopathic.
I want all fellow veterans to remember how much your pain and suffering post trauma means to the Conservatives. It means less than 11,000 pairs of Danner leather combat boots. It means less than 1 LAV Light Armoured Vehicle per year. It means less than the advertising budget for how well Veteran's Affairs is doing.
What their ideological goggles don't see is that the more mean spirited and careless they are towards previous veterans makes it far less likely to get the next generation to commit to something as permanent as death on a foreign shore for a cause that means nothing to you personally. Who wants to die for the Conservatives?
No comments:
Post a Comment