Posts Tagged ‘Afghanistan War’
A Plan in Need of Clarity
By: Senator Jim Webb
December 4, 2009
I have great regard for the careful process the Obama administration employed in its efforts to define a new approach for the long-standing military commitment in Afghanistan and to put an operational framework in place for our responsible withdrawal. I intend, nevertheless, to continue to call on the administration to clarify to the American public and Congress how it defines success and how we reach an end point.
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On the personnel front, our active-duty military has been deployed repeatedly for combat operations since 2001. Guard and reserve components also have deployed at levels not envisioned when the all-volunteer force was introduced. We are in uncharted territory in terms of the long-term effects these deployments are having on the well-being of our men and women in uniform, especially the Army and Marine Corps. I introduced dwell-time legislation nearly three years ago to ensure that we achieved a better balance in deployment cycles with a minimum interval before follow-on deployments. The new commitment of some 30,000 U.S. troops will put additional strains on our forces and their families. I plan to press the administration on this point to ensure that we are more vigilant in safeguarding the welfare of our men and women in uniform.
The New Way Forward
Here’s the link to the President’s Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Regardless of your individual opinion on the President’s decision, unfortunately one of the issues that appears to be missing from his address is he did not mention the impact of a build-up in force after the fact — namely Veterans.
The non-profit organization Veterans for Common Sense has a number of good articles high-lighted to this effect.
- VCS Demands Plan to Handle Afghanistan War Casualties
- Obama Administration Struggling to Tackle Mental Health Crisis Plaguing Military
While we have much to be thankful for with the Obama Administration’s handling of the VA so far, much remains to be done.
Here is VCS’s four point response to President Obama’s oversight – he must implement a plan to care for the casualties caused by his escalation of the Afghanistan war:
1. Fill Medical Vacancies. VCS asks President Obama to direct Defense Secretary Gates and VA Secretary Shinseki to quickly fill all of the hundreds of mental healthcare provider vacancies at both DoD and VA in order to meet the expected increase in mental health casualties from the wars for conditions such as TBI, depression, PTSD, and suicide. Additional medical professionals to treat our service members physical wounds, injuries, and illnesses is also warranted.
2. Conduct Exams and Provide Care. The new mental and physical healthcare professionals are urgently needed to perform the universal pre- and post-deployment exams mandated by the Force Health Protection law (PL 105-85). The increase in new hires should also allow for earlier access to treatment for our service members and veterans, when treatment is more effective and less expensive.
3. Fight Stigma. The DoD and VA should expand their anemic anti-stigma campaign and encourage service members and veterans to seek care and train officers to promote exams and treatment. Implementation of an anti-stigma effort remains half-hearted and incomplete, at best, a sign that comments by our top military leaders at press conferences are not filtering down through the ranks.
4. Quickly Process Claims. VA should also anticipate an increase in disability claims due to the increased number of service members deployed, and thus should begin planning to hire any needed additional staff.
Read more at www.veteransforcommonsense.org