Letter: Veterans deserve our continued support

As a member of the middle-income bracket (I hesitate to call myself “middle class.”), I am paying close attention to the congressional goings-on as relate to the fiscal cliff.

One area in particular that has been targeted for cuts hits home with me. The House-passed Republican budget would have cut the Veterans Administration budget by $11 billion.

I cringe when I think about this. I have friends, both combatants and noncombatants who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder as well as physical injuries. We all remember the disregard for this nation’s Vietnam vets. Let’s not sit by and watch the courageous men and women who fought or supported efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq suffer the same or similar fate. My husband is a proud U.S. Air Force veteran. He gave selflessly and deserves any and all support due him.

I’m not asking for a bottomless bucket of funds for the VA. As a former civil servant, I support efficient and effective operations. But I urge Congress to ensure and not cut services that help our veterans cope, reintegrate into their environments, find jobs and support them as they age.

Shannon Cockayne

self-employed

Bush

Comments

1) Comment by tradewinns - 17/12/2012

i am a veteran. if the problem is funding, yeah cut the welfare programs till the VA has what they need. it bothers me that we have veterans charity programs helping those injured in war. our government should be providing anything they need to recover, or place them as close as possible to normal. meanwhile our useless do without nothing! let 'em starve.

2) Comment by DMJ - 17/12/2012

tradewinns, like veterans?

3) Comment by tradewinns - 17/12/2012

with all this "shared sacrifice demanded by our politicians, how much of the cuts is coming from their part of the budget and how much of the cuts are coming from the "poor" people's part? sounds more and more are coming from those who give the most and get the least already.