Restore the Vetreans Administration

The most neglected and even abused members of our society are disabled combat veterans. After seeing the destruction st the battle of Gettysburg Abraham Lincoln commissioned the Veterans Administration, "For those who have born the battle and their families." For centuries the VA had been a advocate for disabled veterans making sure that they got proper treatment and equipment needed for better living. They fought for benefits and just compensation for our injuries in the service of our country. This all ended in the 80 under President Reagan. After a fight with quadriplegic Vietnam veteran Grover Washington the then head of the Veterans Administration of allocation of the VA budget Reagan disbanded the Veterans Administration and put veterans affairs under the cabinet position department of Veterans Affairs. The initials VA remained and to most folks the move went unnoticed. The VA budget was put into the budget of the Department of Defense. At the time Washington rightly said that he was making veterans of past wars pay for future wars. So instead of having an agency to intervene for veterans we now have only a person appointed by the president presumably of his own thinking. The result has been devastating to veterans and our families. Walter Reed is the proof of that an is not an isolated incident. From the time the doctors told me that I was unable to work because of my war injuries until I received just compensation was nine years. Because the person who is supposed to help veterans to obtain our benefits works for the government and gets bonuses for denying us our benefits. I spent a year of that time living in national forest the rest with friends and family. After getting back pay I moved to San Francisco where my daughter lived. I was able to pay deposits get furniture and get a nice apartment on the outskirts of town. The treatment I received at the SFVMC was excellent. I had to live on a tight budget but I was happy and getting proper treatment for the first time in years Then by some bureaucratic SNAFU my check stopped for two and a half months. I lost my apartment and as a result everything else. I finally landed in a poverty stricken part of western North Carolina 65 miles from the nearest VA Medical Center. The treatment is poor and the attitude of apathy is worse. There are over 200,000 unresolved claims from the Vietnam war alone. Restore the Veterans Administration fir thise who have borne the battle that is the least that we can do.