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Is the VA
killing our heroes? |
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November 30, 2011 |
by Mike Weland
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| Marine
Lance Corporal (Retired) Ricardo C.
Binns |
When our men and women commit to stand in
service to their country, most never think
beyond the moment ... they are young, strong,
and ready to take the vow to defend
our nation, against all enemies.
Out of that crucible have come heroes; most
unrecognized.
Boundary County is probably one of the few
places in the world that appreciates every
member who served; Air Force, Army, Navy,
Marine, Coast Guard, whether that person served
as an infantryman, clerk or cook.
Because he chose to remain quiet, one of the
most highly decorated of our local veterans,
Ricardo C. Binns, has earned a reputation as a
curmudgeon. He finally rode in one of our recent
local parades as a guest of honor. Put up with
the pain of long-ago wounds to stand with this
community as it remembered those who served.
No one noticed when he "went missing."
For most of the summer, Lance Corporal (Retired) Ric
Binns' house has been empty. The place on Champs
Road in which he lives, pays taxes, raised his
horse and built a home.
No one noticed.
As a Navy Cross recipient, as a Recon Marine who
lived up to the highest standards of honor in
the face of overwhelming odds, as a soldier
now under consideration for the nation's highest
honor ... a hero by all measure whether the
Medal of Honor is to be bestowed or not ... Ric
only wants what he was promised by a "grateful
nation."
The Veteran's Administation Hospital, he said,
has all but killed him. They've given him
innoculations for problems he didn't have,
they've misdoagnosed and given him pills for
what he didn't need and for which he has to
break his own ass to get away from.
His last 12-day stay at the VA, he said, was to
unhook him from the drugs they'd prescribed.
Drugs, he said, that nearly killed him.
He did survive, and he was sent home, still worrying
if he'll live to see tomorrow.
Nobody here knew he was gone. Nobody here was on
hand to welcome him home when he came back.
"People don't see this, Mike," he said,
referring to what he's going through and what he
sees other military veterans are suffering as
they seek medical care at our nation's Veteran's
Administration hospitals. Some get good care,
mostly those who've never faced combat. The ones
who have, he said, who have a range of issues to
deal with, aren't getting the help they need or
the quality care they earned.
He's not complaining so much about the doctors,
nurses or staff.
The professionals he's met, he said, are great
people doing a thankless job in a bureaucracy
that won't let them provide the care they know
they should ... forced to toe the line or lose a
hard-earned job.
He's not surprised by the high incidence of
suicide among veterans returning from Iraq or
Afghanistan ... the frustration and red tape of
dealing with the VA, he said, is often too
daunting.
"I don't know if I can tell the story," I said.
"It's too big."
"Bullshit." Ric said. "Either you can or you
won't."
I'm but a lone, part-time, small-town reporter,
wthout the backing of a newsroom, staff, editors or
media reach, but Ric's integrity in the
years that I've known him, and his
insistence that this is a story needing to be
told ... that our VA hospitals and supported
clinics might be doing a disservice to those men
and women who have served this nation so well,
especially our own neighbors, compels me to try.
I ask that readers of these pages with
experience with the Veteran's Administration
share your stories with me ... good, bad or
indifferent. Email
publisher@newsbf.com. I would also like to
know about those events and benefits for
veterans taking place around our region that I
might assist in publicizing them.
Most of the stories, I'm sure, will be good, as
behind every one will be someone, an individual,
trying to do the best they can. Someone stymied
and frustrated by what they have to go through
to do the job they want to do. Someone stuck in
requirements and reporting and all the inane CYA
requirements foisted upon them that make no
sense by a set of military rules that were
outdated the day they were written.
Mr. Binns is grateful to the people of the VA
who take his temperature, touch his forehead and
give him care.
"The VA has some great people," he said. "They
do the best they can."
What might be killing him, he fears, is the
process, and the few physicians who give more
credence to following a set of rules
rather than to provide the care they know they
should. |
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