Beyond Veterans Day: Make sure U.S. takes care of its veterans

ON Veterans Day, the University of Washington will dedicate a large new Medal of Honor Memorial in the heart of the Seattle campus. It honors not only the eight alumni who have received the medal, the nation's highest for military valor, but also the other 3,448 service members who have received it, some posthumously.

The latest Medal of Honor recipient is Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti, who on Sept. 17 received the award posthumously for 2006 service in Afghanistan.

These Medal recipients served us well, giving all they have in performance of their duties.

Veterans Day is a time to remember duties we have to soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who fight to maintain our way of life but who have returned to difficult times.

The Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington, D.C., estimates that 30 to 40 percent of all men and women who serve in Afghanistan and Iraq will experience anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder after exposure to combat. These problems make it difficult for veterans to reconnect with their families and find gainful employment, as the trouble is often accompanied by substance abuse.

Making things worse is that benefits to help veterans regain normalcy are often delayed. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there is a backlog of approximately 1 million claims. Most of them are associated with various injuries or trauma suffered while on active duty. Recently, the Navy Times reported that it takes six months, on average, to resolve a new claim. It takes much longer, however, to resolve appeals of existing claims: 22 months.

U.S. Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., sponsors H.R. 952, a bill designed to cut red tape associated with claims filed by veterans who suffer from combat stress.

It's estimated that these claims will require $4.7 billion in the next 10 years, but the money is well worth spending. As soldiers, men and women performed their duty to us. As citizens, we must reciprocate. One way is to urge passage of H.R. 952.

We should also push elected officials to increase funding for Veterans Affairs. Moreover, we need to lean on them to pass a budget on time, as it has been delayed 20 of the past 23 years. For now, Congress has passed an advanced funding bill, a stopgap measure that will allow the VA to continue providing veterans with health-care services in the absence of a budget.

President Obama signed the bill into law Oct. 23, but it's by no means a real fix. According to The New York Times, more than 257,000 veterans have failed to receive their GI Bill benefits on time because the budget has yet to be resolved. That bill helps defray expenses associated with college education.

Along with pushing for more VA benefits promptly supplied, we should thank veterans for their service whenever the opportunity presents itself — including Nov. 11, Veterans Day.