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To: Snow Bunny
I wouldn't condemn all VA Hospitals based on a few bad ones.

My Grandson, a Gulf Vet, contacted some kind of a lung/respitory condition and almost died. He was given a 10% disability and a small pension. He goes to the VA Hospital/Medical Center in the SF bay area and gets excellent care. He will get his degree in Comp Sci next year which was provided by the VA.

Now I have two tour in VNam and on many many occasions I had seen where Soldiers literally fried their brains on Marajuana laced with opium and other drugs. Very many of the VN Vets are on the streets due to mental problems from drugs and they CHOOSE to live that way.

I don't know about Mr. Northcut, but all disabled vets, having been discharged with a disability, receive VA pensions.

A very large percent of the VN vets returned and transitioned back into productive lives, even tho they were spit upon.

Even if Mr. Northcut's condition, which I believe, is mental his heart is still in the right place. Thats what concerns me.

210 posted on 11/05/2001 1:31:42 PM PST by rstevens
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To: rstevens
I am not suggesting that the care in the Veterans Hospital is poor (although at times it could be better). What I am saying is that the facilities are old, dreary, unkempt and depressing.

My brother was in the facility in Palo Alto and it was distinctly different! It is a beautiful, well kept facility that surprised me. And I have to add that there have been some improvements at Wadsworth in LA that make it much better than it had been. However, the point is that this should not be an issue.

221 posted on 11/05/2001 2:03:18 PM PST by MistyCA
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To: rstevens
"Now I have two tour in VNam"

Welcome Home Brother
Thanks for coming in to support a fellow Brother who is being "punished" for defending our flag.


Stop in and find out new ways to help support our military!
222 posted on 11/05/2001 2:06:26 PM PST by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
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To: rstevens
I know two 'Nam vets and my cousin served as a point man in the army.

My cousin, 6' with blue eyes and black curly hair had to fight the girls off with a stick. He had his jaw shot away and was a social isolate for 20 years.

My two friends were in special forces, and one of them is always armed, with other guns hidden in his vehicle. You don't ever aproach him from the rear. The other is certain that the feds are after him and hides out in north Idaho.

Some wounds show, others don't.

Me? Too young for Korea, too old for 'Nam.

BTW, thank you for your service.

223 posted on 11/05/2001 2:08:54 PM PST by rightofrush
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To: rstevens; B4Ranch; 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub; redrock; mystomachisturning; ALOHA RONNIE; Calico
rstevens.......Thank you for responding to this thread.To answer your post to me let me do it this way.This is what I said in part of my post # 56 on this thread.

This is only one of the sentences but it apply's to what you said about some VA hospitals are good....

...."OK now take a look at the Vietnam veteran going to the VA hospital....OK.... some are good ones BUT many are bad!!! ".......

All the men in my family have served , Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force and some have had good experiences with VA hopsitals and some bad. But the bad ones are so outrages that it is UNAmerican how they are treated.

Also I have visited VA hospitals across Ameirca just to visit the veterans in them that cannot go home ,or are too sick to leave. Mostly just being a listener, holding their hand, earning their trust and showing them someone cares in a true whole hearted way with no strings attached. They slowly open up and share things that stay in my heart in their confidence of trust.

Many, most of the Vietnam vets have lived accompolished lives . I agree with you, but this thread is about a man, a veteran, a hero , that needs our help in anyway we can . I could never turn my back on a veteran of any war if there was something I could do. There is no mention of what you posted about 'frying their brains with drugs' about this man, this hero. To bring other factors into the equation that have not been written about is wrong, but that is my opinion and feeling about this.

I cannot count how many vets I have met. Thousands and thousands and each is an individual person and yet all brothers.For me a brother reaches out to another brother before condeming him as a drug addict or having a fried brain especially when it is not mentioned.

People need to remember something, war is to break things and many times it breaks the inner souls of certain kinds of men and women, some it strengthens others.Just as in life away from war, some people are the poets the sensitive that see a blade of grass as it gently sways in the breeze, others see only a yard that needs mowing. Some live by facts and numbers and others write the love songs and paint the glorious sunsets across a deep blue ocean.

Take these different kinds of lives, different sensitivies and put them in a war, in battle and add to that turning each of them into a killing machine to keep America free and to defend themselves and their brothers in battle.

Some will handle it better then others, some will have nightmares and others will just have a beer.Some will come back almost untouched and only made stronger in knowing who they are as a man, others come back and need more to know others care and to be allowed to live a more quiet life.

I have a gardner , a Vietnam Vet, Marine. He is very brillant, but he cannot stand the thought of working inside a building.His job in the Vietnam war was one that kept him in situations that were crapped and inside the earth in tight tunnels. Is he mentally ill?? Heavens no, he took a deep look into himself and saw how he could survive when he came home. It was outdoors.for years he would sleep on the patio of his apt. just to be outside. He is a hero and gets treated like a king when he comes to our home every week.He is humble and sweet and quiet and a very hard worker.To me he is just as accompolished as a man that is CEO of a company.

Brothers, veterans do not end being brothers when a war ends. The brotherhood of veterans goes beyond a war ending,it crosses the miles between the States across the vast land of America. It is in the hearts of every Veteran to reach out and help his brother.

This man needs his brothers now and any of us that are supportive of our miitary and our veterans. He has not even asked for our help,he is fighting a battle and is surrounded and all we have to do is answer the call of our hearts for a brother that has fought the good fight.


230 posted on 11/05/2001 3:59:17 PM PST by Snow Bunny
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