Stressing Disabled Veterans to Death?
Stressing Disabled Veterans to Death?
Plandemonium, Part 7
Click here for more on the Plandemonium.
Bottom Line Up Front: A military database that handles disability claims has gone down, leaving thousands of current and former military personnel without the help they need. Is the military truly incapable of keeping an Oracle database functioning?
During the plandemonium, I've been repeatedly disturbed by the U.S. government's and military leadership's lack of respect for active and retired U.S. military personnel.
First, for those readers who are not fans of the military, I urge you to step outside of distaste for war—and specifically the numerous unjust and wasteful conflicts in which the U.S. military has participated during our lifetimes. As somebody sickened by the Forever Wars in the Middle East, I'm right there with you. And so are many of the current and former troops like 1st Lieutenant Mark "first COVID court martial" Bashaw and Vermont Congressional candidate (and veteran) Liam Madden. In fact, you probably won't find stronger peace advocates than actual and former members of the military. The war hawks sit in comfortable chairs in Washington D.C., head up the construction of weapons at defense contracting firms, or run banks.
Very often, the troops serving in these wars are 90% good people [with all intention to faithfully serve their country] among 9% sociopaths and 1% psychopaths. Yes, I'm guesstimating those numbers, but not without warrant. After World War 2, a very real area of research known as Killology sprang up to understand why large numbers of soldiers intentionally missed their targets. Books have been written about it. Moral human beings do not easily steer themselves into split second decisions to harm others. There are a few who even have a hard time defending themselves, which suggests something like a conflict between the brain's ability to instantly navigate between long-practiced moral instincts and deliberate consideration of circumstances (as in Daniel Kahneman's System 1 and System 2 thinking).
Let us also recall that the VA's study on hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) (Magagnoli et al, 2020) looked absurd on face. Only the most sick were prescribed treatment, which (as I've written about) severely confounds any such study (and every statistician worth a $#!t knows that).
Over time any argument against HCQ efficacy has faded (except for those fully brainwashed or married to the argument against it). However, so too has much of the public's ability to patiently review the evidence. Hopefully that can still change.
Performative Halting of Veteran Disabilities?
The U.S Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) runs the programs that benefit veterans and their families who sacrificed in service. The military is a dangerous and stressful job at times, and many of the most important services run by the VA support mental and physical health, including disabilities programs. Sadly, when you search for "VA mistreats veterans" and you'll soon be down a rabbit hole that should depress anyone still able to care about people they might not know. Despite the way trillions of newly printed dollars can flow through the U.S. government, and the DoD in particular, there are constant political fights over sums one ten-millionth of that size when it comes to the veterans. It's enough to make one scratch their head and reassess their priors about the true intentions of governmental politics.
A few days ago I received a copy of this communication from a government insider by way of an active duty reservist [rank redacted].
While I cannot verify this communication as authentic, a recently retired military officer suggested that it has the appearance of authenticity to him. If there are any others who can say more about this document, I would be happy to hear it.
The JDETS/DES system (Joint Disability Evaluation System) in question is the IT system with which veterans interface to apply for disability benefits. Apparently, this system has gone down while thousands of veterans have cases processing in queue.
Is this for real? Can the military be incapable of hiring an IT guy with Oracle database experience to handle a piece of software for a database that is the portal for billions of dollars in disability benefits? Some software was removed from the system?
No backup plan, huh? Because…things like this never happen until the bill comes due?
Jokes about military intelligence being an oxymoron aside, the story feels fishy. And with disability claims rising sharply among the general population since vaccine rollout began, it might be that the Pentagon wants to dodge catastrophic new costs.
No, I don't have substantial evidence to support this conjecture of intentional neglect, but the next option down is willful neglect, and there is history there.
Delaying disabled veterans' claims so that they can't pursue them, or die before an award has been made, has been going on probably since there was a VA to do it.
My dad was a WWII Navy vet who came down with systemic lupus while in the South Pacific. A sharp-eyed doctor recognized the disease in 1945 (!) and started helping him build his case that it was service connected. I still have all the old paperwork.
Fast forward 23 years to 1968 and my dad had his first lupus-connected heart attack; his doctor recommended that he retire from work. It was time to claim service-connected disability benefits. I'll leave it to you to guess what the VA did.
The case dragged on until 1970, after the VA instructed my father that he would have to travel to the agency's highest administrative court... in Washington DC. I'm sure they were hoping he'd be too sick or tired to travel. Thank God (and my dad's innate good health and stamina underlying the lupus) that he was not. I went with him and my mom to DC - I still remember the plane trip and the hotel.
Apparently the hearing examiner was of the Old School AND credited my dad's account as well as the evidence he'd carefully compiled, because his benefits were granted. Good thing, too, because any salary my mom would have made on her own in 1970 as a secretary would not have covered our family expenses very well.
That's a happy story. I wonder how many hundreds of thousands of stories don't end up with an award of benefits.
There are fucktons of consultants in Silly Valley who can fix this shit post haste.
Yes, they're expensive.
Yes, they can fix it.
Uncle Sam, hello??