AUMENTAN A MÁS DE 400,000 LAS SOLICITUDES DE INCAPACIDAD DE VETERANOS

Ciertamente el Pentágono no tiene los recursos necesarios ni el ánimo de atender las necesidades de salud física y mental de los militares. Mientras disponen de más de $4 mil millones de dólares para los centros de reclutamiento que venden sueños de sirena a los jóvenes, la realidad es que los militares y nosotros sus familiares pasamos las de caín después que regresan para que sean atendidos como se merecen . Sonia Santiago Hernádez   | July 13, 2009 Veterans Affairs Faces Surge of Disability Claims By JAMES DAO New York Times The backlog of unprocessed claims for psychological and physical injuries is now over 400,000, up from 253,000 six years ago. He jumped at loud noises, had unpredictable flashes of anger and was constantly replaying battle scenes in his head. When Damian J. Todd, who served two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps, described those symptoms to a psychiatrist in January 2008, the diagnosis was quick: he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Skip to next paragraph Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Damian J. Todd, who served two Iraq tours, waited nearly 18 months before his claim was granted. Less swift was the government's response when Mr. Todd submitted, a month later, a disability claim that would entitle him to a monthly benefit check. Nearly 18 months went by before the Department of Veterans Affairs granted his claim late last month, Mr. Todd said. Mr. Todd, 33, is part of a flood of veterans, young and old, seeking disability compensation from the department for psychological and physical injuries connected to their military service. The backlog of unprocessed claims for those disabilities is now over 400,000, up from 253,000 six years ago, the agency said. The department says its average time for processing those claims, 162 days, is better than it has been in at least eight years. But it does not deny that it has a major problem, with some claims languishing for many months in the department's overtaxed bureaucracy. "There are some positive signs in terms of what we're doing," said Michael Walcoff, deputy under secretary for benefits in the Veterans Benefits Administration. "But we know that veterans deserve better."