Media assaults VA disability system, insults those who use it

A 60-mile bike ride through the southern Arizona mountains was enough for Daniel Blevins to calm down and collect his thoughts. But once he began recording cellphone video to put those thoughts out into the world, the exhaustion from such an arduous journey kept him from making the kind of impactful and coherent statement he was hoping for.

The following day, Blevins laid out his thoughts on social media in response to what had gotten him so riled up—an article written by The Washington Post alleging that disabled veterans are “swamping” the Department of Veterans Affairs with false, fraudulent and dubious disability claims for minor or illegitimate injuries and illnesses.

As a former VA employee, DAV life member, and national board-certified health and wellness coach, the disabled Army veteran knew better.

“I was livid. I was pretty much seeing red,” Blevins said before explaining that he has lost a “staggering amount” of friends to veteran suicide in the 14 years since taking off his uniform. “I’ve had friends who showed up to the VA who didn’t get the care they needed, and they went home and killed themselves that same day. And that article is going to keep that person from even going in the first place.

“People read that, word gets out, they see it all over social media, and it’s going to have this ripple effect of dead veterans.”

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Source: DAV News
Website: www.dav.org