Iraq War Vet's Message to Obama on Broken Promise: "Fix This; It Should Have Been Fixed Yesterday"
Four years ago, President Obama made a promise vowing to get veterans the help they need when it comes to medical assistance. However, under Obama, the number of vets waiting for such claims to be processed has doubled and processing errors have gone up.
Recently, the commander in chief addressed vets and re-committed to the promise, saying, "If you find yourself struggling with the wounds of war ... we'll be there for you, as well ... No vet should have to wait months or years for the benefits that you've earned, so we will continue to attack the claims back log. We won't let up..."
Justin Taylor is an Iraq vet who
served three tours of duty in the country before completing his service in 2009. Upon return, he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease ... and it took him two and a half years to secure a doctor's appointment thereafter.
"The system is completely broken ... they can't take care of the influx of veterans coming back," Taylor said, blasting the infrastructure in place to care for him and fellow vets.
"I'd like to say I'm the rare exception, but a lot of my friends have had the same difficulty," he said, telling Fox that many of them have to either hire lawyers to file claims or lobby representatives.
From Taylor's experience, he doesn't expect this failing of the system to correct itself anytime soon, adding that although the VA should be hiring more workers, there isn't the money available for them to do so.
"This is the new normal ... [It] doesn't seem like they're streamlining systems like they should be; everything's on paper still," he said, holding up a giant stack of paper that he says he has to take with him to every appointment because of a lack of electronic organization.
If he could send one message to President Obama, what would it be? That's simple.
"I would say, 'fix this, it should have been fixed yesterday.'"
