Pain in the Neck

Annie you've never been good for me
But I still wanna be wrong
And Annie you've never been true to me
But I still buy your lies
--I Hear Goodnight, Ingram Hill

I'm a-gonna tell you how it's gonna be
you're gonna give your love to me
a love to last a-more than one day
a love that's love - not fade away
--Not Fade Away, Buddy Holly

Precious and fragile things
Need special handling
My God what have we done to You?
--Precious, Depeche Mode

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Ranger admits up front he is cranky and self-absorbed, and accepts any criticism (if not graciously.)

My back and neck injuries are service-connected and parachute-related, therefore, combat-related by U.S. law. Still, I'm reluctant to complain as these injuries were not wound-related nor are they as significant and debilitating as those incurred by many veterans.

Ranger will complain anyway, as it is his right to do so.

About three years ago the Department of Veterans Affairs authorized chiropractic and massage therapy on a fee basis, thereby authorizing treatment outside the VA system. This treatment was beneficial and supposed to be long-term. However, December 2009 finds Ranger finding the DVA not supporting this troop.

Our injuries are legitimate, but the VA's response is not. The VA claims it will no longer fund my treatment, although my spine injuries didn't get the message that they are no longer valid problems. My spine injuries will only continue to deteriorate as a result of againg and Ranger's general nasty attitude.

This little vignette gives the lie to the rhetoric that the DVA is a crackerjack health care system. Nuts! If the little things are not STRAC, how can the big things be?

Interestingly, Tricare will not pay for chiropractic or massage, either. Medicare will provide services, but with a co-pay. Some readers will say, "Fair enough!", but is it? Army service injuries should be treated at no cost to me, the veteran; that was the deal. I held up my end of the bargain.

Remember America, you claim you support the troops, and that means even those who aren't bright-shiny-new. Yet too often, older vets are too proud to complain when the system fails them. Many feel that others with more severe injuries deserve the treatment more, but by law, all of us should be treated equally.

Bear in mind this is the same VA which is funded at the discretion of Congress, and the same DVA that claims service-connected amputees will receive $250,000 prosthetic devices for the rest of their lives. That's the promise, anyway.

Ranger doesn't have a crystal ball, but he can see the future. Sometime after he is long dead there will be a paratrooper in the year 2050 writing this very same thing. Assuming there will still be a U.S.A. in 2050.