Wounded Warriors Act is a Go

[babylonsister]

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=261

Wounded Warriors Act is a Go
by: Brandon Friedman
Sun Dec 16, 2007 at 14:33:07 PM EST


The bad news is that Congress is continues to give President Bush anything and everything he wants concerning the war.

The good news is that Congress managed to get a very important string attached this time: The Wounded Warriors Act (passed by the House and Senate earlier this year) was added to the latest Defense Authorization bill on Friday--thus ensuring that it will be funded. The President has agreed to sign it. This is the culmination of months and months of work for veterans' groups across America.

In an email sent Friday, Ralph Parrot of Empowering Veterans said the following:

Like most pieces of legislation this one is not perfect but it represents major improvements in the disability rating system.

The office of Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) issued a press release on Friday as well, which outlined what the law will do:

The Wounded Warriors Act lays out a clear path directing the Defense Department and the VA to address shortfalls in the care of our wounded warriors.

# It requires the Defense Department and VA to work together to develop a comprehensive plan to prevent, treat and diagnose TBI and PTSD.

# It creates DoD centers of excellence for TBI and PTSD to improve our understanding of these devastating injuries.

# It directs the two agencies to develop a joint electronic health record so that critical medical files aren't lost as our wounded troops move from battlefield doctors, to medicals holds, and on to the VA.

# The act requires the military and the VA to work together on disability ratings. This is the first step toward bridging the gap between the VA and the Defense Department.

# And it requires the military to adopt the VA presumption that a disease or an injury is service-connected when our heroes - who were healthy prior to service - have spent six months or more on active duty.

The bill also addresses many of the conditions that our troops found themselves in at Walter Reed and other facilities. It ensures our service members get adequate severance pay. And it can provide medical care for the families of recovering service members.

I'm sure we'll have to wait months to see how this all gets implemented. Although, I would say that it's actually up to us as troops and veterans to demand that it gets implemented.

The one bullet point in which I'm particularly interested is the last one. It's the one that says DoD has to give the troop or veteran the benefit of the doubt--which is in contrast to the way they do it now.

[flashl]

1. Hope it addresses soldiers wrongfully separated with 'pre-existing' mental health conditions