Support Our Troops – You must have seen those signs on people’s autos that say Support Our Troops. Most of those troops will become veterans.

On Nov. 7, four days before Veterans Day, the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs committee, Steve Buyer, R-Ind., announced that veterans service organizations will no longer have the opportunity to present testimony before a joint hearing of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees.

This is an extremely powerful issue. For decades the VFW, DAV and like organizations have been allowed to discuss their groups’ foremost concerns with lawmakers who have jurisdiction over our federal veterans programs. In the last few years, this dialogue has become a very frank discussion on how troops will be treated when they become veterans.

This administration water-carrier has taken our right to petition the government away.

The House of Representatives is discussing a budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs that will take away $25 billion over the next decade. As we speak, the VA is going over 72,000 cases of post-traumatic stress disorder that have been approved. It’s to focus on claims that have been improperly granted. There are no plans to review claims that were improperly denied. This is a health problem that veterans have a hard time confronting.

Next time you see magnetic signs that say support our troops, ask yourself – what does that really mean or do I care?

Support our troops

Mark W. Andrews, Wales