Let's just focus on the garbage that is the US government. Reid Forgrave (STAR TRIBUNE) reports:
The Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022 eases bureaucratic hurdles for veterans exposed to toxins while serving, such as fumes from pits of burning garbage, some as large as 10 acres, common in America’s post-9/11 wars. The legislation puts the burden of proof on the VA, not the soldier, if a soldier’s medical problems may have been caused by burn pits.
But the Barbosas face a different bureaucratic Catch-22: The VA already links Barbosa's cancer to his service, but the Army does not. While the Army says he was healthy when he left the military in 2019, the Barbosas believe that's only because military doctors incorrectly diagnosed him with ulcers when he complained of abdominal pains at nearly a dozen appointments over two years. Army doctors didn't even order a colonoscopy that could have detected the cancer at a more treatable stage.
"The burn pits ... created the illness," Amanda Barbosa explained. "The illness was missed by the system. And when the illness was found, the system hides behind its own ineptitude."
The PACT Act is not the end of the issue. It doesn't fix everything. Someone like Rafael Barbosa is not being served by The PACT Act or the US government:
In April, Mayo surgeons operated for nine hours to remove any lingering cancer cells.
Four days later, a letter went out from the Army Board for Correction of Military Records. It was a response to his request to retroactively change his status to medically retired so the Barbosas could access pension and health care benefits.
“Dear Mr. Barbosa,” it read. “I regret to inform you that the Army Board for Correction of Military Records denied your request…”
“The decision in your case is final.”
The letter was infuriating. In his time of need, dying of a disease he believes was caused by Army policy and made worse by Army neglect, the military rebuffed him. It didn’t help that each time Barbosa’s first name appeared, it was spelled wrong.
What the government needs to do is note in his Army files that his disease was present when he was in the military and they need to give him a medical retirement. That's the very least that they need to do.
Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris Tweeted:
Expansion of health benefits and proper care is not enough. Those who were injured while serving need to be given medical retirement. It's fair and it's accurate. And until you want to do that, stop pretending that you're trying to help veterans.
These are people who served while healthy and were poisoned while serving. They need a medical retirement because burn pits have destroyed their chances of employment in most fields. Burn pits destroyed their health. The US government needs to order the US military to retroactively medically retire all suffering due to the burn pits. It's fair to them and it's fair to their families.
Stop grandstanding and pretending that because you did the least thing necessary you are somehow better than your opposition political party. Until you provide the medical retirement that these veterans deserve, you've done very little.
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