Midwest Memo
Resolve
by Alan Shultz

The scandal over deplorable conditions at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., is out in the open. It's front and center. A few of the top military brass have lost their jobs over the Washington Post's revelation of the mold, mice, cheap mattresses and other substandard conditions awaiting wounded soldiers returning from Iraq.

Why it took the Washington Post to make something happen at Walter Reed is absolutely scandalous in and of itself. None of this happened overnight and none of it happened in secret.

Politicians from the President down have weighed in on the mess. Lots and lots of talk have filled the airspace since. Shock has been registered and promises have been made.

But promises were already made and promises already broken. These were promises made by U.S. society to the generations of folks past and present who have secured, defended and guaranteed our freedom, protected our borders, and fought our wars.

Our troops and our vets have not gotten their due. We have not kept our promises.

There's an implied promise made by the citizenry to every man and woman who serves in the armed forces. "You go do this for us, we'll take care of you and yours."

I have two friends who are veterans and who look to the Veterans Administration for their medical needs. I've heard stories from these two for decades concerning the attitude, the red tape, the wait, the dodge that they are up against each and every time they seek medical treatment.

Anecdotal evidence? You bet it is. I have no statistics, I have no findings. All I know about the treatment of our troops and of our veterans is what I hear and what I read. I hear about cut backs, I hear about veterans facing homelessness and mental illness. For years I've read about base closings and maintaining lean forces and now I read that every bit of our military is stretched and that we are taxing our capacity and resources and extending tours of our troops.

We've got a lot of nerve. Our politicians have a lot of nerve.

But what if?

Back in October of 1957 the U.S. got a jolt of major proportions when the Russians launched the famous Sputnik 1.- the world's first satellite to orbit the earth.

Sputnik was a test of U.S. mettle. I've read that President Eisenhower and others in his administration initially misjudged the U.S. collective reaction to the Soviet Union's accomplishment. Sputnik has been said to have had a "Pearl Harbor" effect on average Americans. The space race was born. There was no turning back. We were in it to win.

What if the Walter Reed scandal and the mess that is this war in Iraq could be molded into a collective resolve by Americans that those serving in the military and the resulting veterans and their families get their due, first and foremost.

What if we unleashed the equivalent of the energy and focus spent on the space race

into guaranteeing the best treatment

for all military personnel, their families and all veterans?

What if each and every special interest, each and every pork project, each and every legislative initiative were put on hold till we could confidently say we're taking care of our obligation to our military folks - past and present.

No tax breaks for corporations, no increase in appropriations for anything, no, not until the vets and those in the military get their due, without hassle , without scandal.

Only in the free society that our military insures do we have the opportunity to debate things like family leave and the environment. There's no drilling in Alaska, or prescription drug coverage to be discussed if we aren't free. No need for hot lunches or Medicare Part B if we aren't free to debate it, initiate it, fund it.

A free society is indebted to its military - be you liberal or conservative, patriotic, or not. Only because of our freedom do we get to wrestle with all kinds of ideas and possibilities.

Those who serve, and those who have served, are deserving of being our first concern. We need some outrage over what is and even more, we need the resolve to fix this and do right by our current military folks and their families and also for those who served before them.