I'm not one to complain, as I did take advantage of the generous Montgomery Bill, as was my right. I attended school and still hold a 60% whole body impairment rating which qualifies me for about 1/2 pay of an actual retirement. But I continued to work full time as long as my body held out, well into my late forties at which time I have taken a partial retirement and work as an independent consultant in the Industry of Coal. I have no boss as I have a small company and set my own hours. I help in sales, investments, and in the area of production safety, in helping keep track of the federally mandated safety programs. Sometimes it indeed gets difficult to explain to "empty suits" that have only dollar signs attached to a bottom line, that their greatest assest is their "work force" and the experience thereof.

I am a strong believer in the "blue collar" element that is responsible for the very construction of this nation. And I will always defend the Solider and Veteran as well, as I work several times a month counselling young veterans who are now facing the reality of coming home to a not so forgiving society in relation to the promises that were made. The layers and layers of bureaucratic red tape alone is enough to give anyone "PTSD". I merely point them in the right direction and tell them what "i"s need dotted and what "t"s need crossing in the long drawn out process.

I have been helping one solider that served in the first gulf war and has an appeal of a rejected claim that has been open for 10 years without having any answer to an "original" appeal, hell, one could have requested an audience with the US Supreme court and gotten a quicker answer. It took 5 years to be granted a hearing on the appeal held in 03, and as of yet, no resolution to the minor point that was well within the veterans rights of request. The VA system is self contained and answers to no outside source, there are no time limits placed upon them, there is no mandated oversight, as even US Senators are informed that the legislative branch has no authority over the "executive" branch which establishes policy. This is why they did not want any attorneys introduced into the system, as the only representatives allowed until just recently was people such as myself that have taken a few courses on procedure. It's very frustrating at times. In fact I gave up my position within the DAV for just such a reason, they sided with the government in the fact of any need of "private" representation, i.e. Lawyers. I would much rather get 80% percent of some earned entitlement than 100% of NOTHING. I told one of the politically appointed suits in DC that if he fell from a window it would take him two weeks to hit the ground. As 90% of the supervisory staff have never "sniffed" a uniform and are politically appointed, just riding the backs of taxpayers, awaiting their retirement. It's just typical functions of the Government, they live by a completely different standard of time and non-empathic decision making than does the rest of the society. Enough ranting. But the whole system sucks in terms of efficiency, and now we are saddled with the very real possibility of this same government having control of our entire health care industry? All I can say is "good luck" if you have any serious illness that requires immediate attention. BD