Here’s Where The 2016 Presidential Candidates Stand On Veterans Issues

Sir I don't believe ANY of the candidates really care about us. I'll back that up by saying Hillary was First Lady and the US was exiting war from Desert Storm. VA was screwed up then, but it's saving grace was that there was no social media then. But I'm sure she heard reports of the "few" casualties and the multiple exposures that were found to be true in vets from then. She did nothing as Frist lady, as Sen Clinton, or SECSTATE. Trump......the name alone says it. If he was worth .02 cents, I'd want a refund. And the rest....say what you will, but it's rhetoric to make us think they care and we find out that it was all a smoke and mirror game, and we lost. All of the candidates except Carson and Fiorina were politicians with vets in their states. What did they do to make life better for any of them? Blame Bush, Obama...yes. Take ownership of their failures and lack of real action, no being almost no politician has integrity (I have a soft spot for Tammy Duckworth so she gets a pass). I'm going to use the riots as an example and many will disagree with me, but here goes; In B-more a wrong was done and videotaped by the public and spread around to the point where it went viral and took on a life of it's own. A poor black man was killed in the process. As usual the city stalls on the investigation, but promises to take action, and when the people get tired of the inaction, they take to the streets in protest. Very little is violent (but you'd never know it by the press), but overall a very peaceful demonstration. The city government took notice, and that investigation got more ingrained in the headlines to where one was actually put on trial. Now take out the city, race and social economic status, replace city government with Federal and State governments, replace people with VETS. Now imagine the level of hell that would come if the veteran community put aside our petty differences and got together in a uniformed protest against the wrongs committed against us? Imagine us marching up to state capitols and the Capitol in DC demanding immediate action. No committee votes, no long term investigations to nowhere, no finger pointing, action NOW. A congressman could tell me no and where to go, but try that on some CSM or a flag officer? A MOH recipient who has his own site (Yes Dakota, that means you). The very thing we condemn could be the very thing we need to do to effect positive change. I'm not advocating ANY violence in ANY form, but a simple coordinated protest against the promises made to each one of us, that go unfulfilled by those who send us to these places and begin the "blame game" when the blowback comes their way. And end to the Ferres doctrine, VA backlog and inaction, Sequestration in it's current form, investment in troop care vs. "modernization of weapons systems" that won't ever see the light of day, pet projects that are not needed, and a ton of other things. Accountability and integrity, we preach it, maybe it's time we demand the same.

I don't care what any candidate says, I can only tell you what I'd like the government to do. Shut down the VA. It doesn't work. Never has. Never will. Privatize existing programs or turn them over to agencies that can actually deliver the promised benefits. (I'd suggest the same for other federal agencies including the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, NASA (they're still have the same budget and are spending the same amount today with no active programs as they had when they were operating a fleet of shuttles and managing other manned and unmanned missions).

It will take more than a President to effect these changes, but a President is a key player in such an effort.

Thanks for sharing COL Mikel J. Burroughs. To be honest I do care about where the various candidates state opinions and propose ideas on various veterans issues. I am most interested on where they stand on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and their views on the role of government. I am not interested in supporting anybody who really believes that the government is the best provider of solutions to social issues.