DOGE, Trump and the GOP, are wreaking havoc on the health of our Veterans, me included

TAT readers,

This last post of the week is about something that occurred to me and thousands of other Vets this week, and is the direct result of the Trump, DOGE/ Musk and Republican budget cuts for the VA. I am furious, but more for those worse off than me, when it comes to PTSD and TBI/ Traumatic Brain Injury. This will be short, to the point and harsh for Trump, the Republican administration and those who voted them into office.

"VA Describes How a 22% Spending Cut Impairs Critical Programs

Many veterans’ advocates, including VA itself, have issued warnings about how the legislation will harm VA’s ability to serve all of the veterans who would benefit from their assistance. On a broad level, the bill proposes capping all new non-defense federal spending for fiscal year (FY) 2024 at FY 2022 levels, which amounts to a $130 billion cut to spending. This sweeping cut includes services provided by VA, whose spending is not considered defense-related. According to VA, the bill will result in a 22% cut to critical programs, and severely hamper VA’s ability to serve veterans in several ways"

- How Will Newly Proposed VA Budget Cuts Affect You?
- VA Disability Group

Below are a couple of the numerous graphics from the official, 2024 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report. Something that should jump out of the data, is that when the VA is fully funded, the extraordinary suicide rates for Veterans, have dropped. Then… along comes Trump, Musk and his DOGE fiasco and an entire Republican Party that cut those funds and 80,000 staff, mostly Veteran, DOGE, without a shred of understanding of what the outcome of their uninformed cuts would be, wreaked havoc upon Vets, their families and the communities they live in. It is not just the suicides that have an impact on the lives of those of us who have experienced war, especially for the twenty years of the GWOT or whatever new acronym the Pentagon comes up with. I am one of the latter through several combat zone deployments.

2024 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report

In the Trump/ MAGA GOP era, my PTSD and TBI has worsened, impacting some of the most important relationships in my life. The constant attack on the military by the administration that believes us to be “losers and suckers” while demanding support, is the primary culprit, alongside allying our nation with our primary adversary, Putin. My decision over the past couple of months was to reenter therapy for the third time. I wanted to try the VA this time as that they are my tribe. Who better to help with such serious issues than those closest to troops? I went through the intake process over the span of a few weeks, until a couple of days ago. Every single person I met along the way, was not only professional and supportive, but to a person, were worried about their jobs and careers.

Wednesday, I received a fateful phone call from the VA that said, due to drastic, chaotic and uninformed cuts, my appointment next Monday was delayed until the very end of October. I will in fact survive, but the havoc it has wreaked on my life, family, friends and others, may not survive the wait, unless I do as before and try outside therapy… again. There simply is not enough staff to help those like me and most tragically, those who are much worse off, than I am. What kind of politician sentences more of us to death or extended suffering for us and our most important relationships? No need to answer because this is a rhetorical question. No decent human being would do so. To remove this support for nefarious and unspecified reasons, is the prime example of an old saying that I was raised with, “it’s like rubbing salt into an open wound.”

Hell, five-time deferment for bone spurs Trump, has given Musk, another draft-dodger, free rein to impose that expanded suffering on the Veterans whose careers helped insure the very constitutional republic, that both are dismantling for Putin’s sake. Still, these patently immoral human beings and their unflinching GOP support, are looking forward to the big, DDD/ Donny-draft-dodger’s big, military birthday parade. Sure, it’s also the Army’s 250 the birthday, but that is not what DDD is thinking about.

All he cares about is getting his big Soviet-styled parade. Hell, I bet he really wants to wear a banana republic uniform, adorned with medals that he never would have won, even had he not dodged the draft. I actually still have my draft card, as the last year to receive them, before the “all volunteer military.” How did I dodge the draft… I didn’t and enlisted in 1974, honoring family tradition that serves the nation when it is at war.

The very honorable troops that he calls “losers and suckers” are now to be his show ponies. The very concept of him glowing because like bromance partner Putin, he gets his parade, is nauseating. Handcuffed and shackled, I would not attend or watch such a parade. As a Veteran, I am not alone. Still, this anger from me will not help my current issue, regarding acquiring quality support from the VA. I am currently doing all possible to employ what I have learned in previous therapy. I will once again be forced into therapy outside the VA. Hopefully it will provide more relief than the previous two times. Thank goodness, depression meds keep me stable, to a point. As you can see from this angry essay, those meds don’t manage my mental health as fully as I would like. I am far from alone, within the Veteran community. Ironically, the meds were working before this MAGA GOP regime returned to office.

As I write this, even my keystrokes on the keyboard are aggressively angry, although not enough to do damage to it. There is deep pain though, for my brothers and sisters in arms, that suffer far worse. There is deep pain for my family and friends, as well as theirs. What is to happen to them? This is just one more facet of a party, hooked on the conspiracy theories of an immoral, pro-Putin leader, fully supported by his party and its voters. With every passing day, my ability to forgive some of my closest friends and family wanes a little bit. Forgiveness is tough and in most MAGA GOP cases, it will not be forthcoming. This is a terrible pain all by itself. Forgiveness to me, has four parts;

1. Admission

2. Apology

3. Atonement

4. Acceptance

We haven’t even seen admission from the Trump voting crowd, let alone the 3 more difficult parts afterwards.

What about those far younger Vets, without my life-experience to judge situations more maturely? My life had 26 years off from my Army life before I returned after 9-11. I had the opportunity to learn about life, business, loss and surviving such losses. These younger troops that make up our next generations, don’t have my background and experience. They are most vulnerable.

No my friends, Trump, Musk and today’s MAGA GOP are the fake patriots and don’t give a damn about that tiny percentage of Americans who actually serve, go to war and ensure that they have the right to spew their fake-patriotism and other conspiracy theories here at home. Only .04% of Americans serve on Active Duty, while that only 6% of Americans are Veterans overall. Cruelty and chaos are the MAGA GOP’s point, as a tactic to subjugate the spirit of our nation, converting it into what I call, The four horsemen of the MAGA Apocalypse: Autocracy, Oligarchy, Christian Nationalism and Political Violence.

As is popular to say, “this is my story and I’m sticking to it.” Like the rest of my writing, I can show sources for my thoughts. No GOP voter can do the same when requested to defend their un-American conspiracy theories and Seditious nonsense. They are full of what comes out of the south end of a north bound horse, and that is the very nicest thing I can say. As we go forward with this Veteran and military abuse while that Veterans increasingly suffer, we all know precisely who to point our fingers at.

On a happy note, I will wrap this up by wishing all of you, the very best for your weekend, despite the fascists in the White House and running Congress.

All my best,

Paul