OFFICIAL UPDATE & REQUEST:
Personnel, Technical and Financial Support is still needed in the development of The V.O.I.C.E.S. Foundations a Short Documentary Film Series “The Silent War.” Copyright 2008, The Get A G.R.I.P. Production Company of San Antonio, Texas.
INTRODUCTION (Problem)
Veterans are being denied benefits due to a broken Disability Compensation and Pension Review and Appeal Process. This problem has had very negative effects on thousands of veterans and their dependent family members. Specifically those veterans who have filed for benefits and that have been initially denied due to minor technicalities and who have had any disagreement with the finding and disability ratings rendered during their initial VA C &P Process.
Too many Veterans are either killing themselves and at times even others due to the many personal, mental/emotional, and financial issues they are faced with when returning to “The Real World.” Sadly… countless amounts of Disabled Veterans are simply dying of old age, or their “Service Connected” illnesses and other service related disabilities while waiting to receive their proper and due medical and compensation benefits.
This is a DIRECT VIOLATION of our nations “Sacred Trust” to our veterans and their Family members.
(Cause)
For years, in addition to experiencing challenges in making disability claims decisions more quickly and reducing its claims backlog, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has faced challenges in improving the accuracy and consistency of its decisions.
(Effect)
A five-month investigation found vets were more than twice as likely to take their own lives than Americans who never served. Armen Keteyian reports. (CBS)
They are the casualties of wars you don’t often hear about – soldiers who die of self-inflicted wounds. Little is known about the true scope of suicides among those who have served in the military.
Play CBS Video http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3498534n
Video Vets’ Suicide Epidemic
CBS News asked him to run a detailed analysis of the raw numbers that we obtained from state authorities for 2004 and 2005.
It found that veterans were more than twice as likely to commit suicide in 2005 than non-vets. (Veterans committed suicide at the rate of between 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000, compared to other Americans, who did so at the rate of 8.9 per 100,000.)
One age group stood out. Veterans aged 20 through 24, those who have served during the war on terror. They had the highest suicide rate among all veterans, estimated between two and four times higher than civilians the same age. (The suicide rate for non-veterans is 8.3 per 100,000, while the rate for veterans was found to be between 22.9 and 31.9 per 100,000.)
Too many Veterans are either killing themselves due to the many personal, mental/emotional, and financial, issues they are faced with when returning to “The Real World,” or they are simply dying of old age, their illnesses while waiting to receive their proper and due medical and compensation benefits.
SEE: Eye to Eye: Watch more of Keteyian’s interview with Sullivan. Read the Investigative Unit’s Data and Methodology behind this story. Read part 2 of the investigative series.
Solutions/Goals:
1) The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) have worked to improve this process, but more needs to be done and stronger measures need to be taken to implement the improved procedures that have been developed.
2) Gain the needed personnel, and financial support need to finish the final video production.
3) Present the “Silent War Documentary Film” to our President, Barack Obama and the Secretary of the Veterans Administration
SEE: The Cause: http://www.causes.com/causes/810821-the-silent-war
PLEASE call 210-529-1222 in order to discuss how you can support this effort.
The Silent War 