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Category: Editorials Editorials
Published: 18 March 2019 18 March 2019

Nate Cote, PhD,
Las Cruces, NM 88011
Former State Representative
Past Commander and current Service Officer, DAV NM Chapter 10
U.S. Navy Veteran
Member, Board of Directors New Mexico Voices for Children

Keeping Our Promises to Veterans
The other day a Gulf War veteran, who is now in his 60s and has various service-related medical conditions that are keeping him homebound, on oxygen, and in pain with his hands trembling asked me for help deciphering some VA correspondence. As service officer for a local veteran service organization I see the first-hand consequences of war on our veterans and inadequate assistance from our federal, state, and local governments. There are endless issues around veteran healthcare, benefits, mental health, and homelessness requiring attention by some of the same politicians that sent them to war. Although it’s the federal government that sends our military to fight wars and conflicts, state and local governments are not without responsibility to those who serve our country.

On March 3, 1865, President Lincoln signed legislation establishing a network of facilities nation wide to care for wounded Civil War Soldiers and beyond. This act codified a social contract between the Nation and our veterans that the VA would always be there for them and their families to help them heal and recover from the illnesses, injuries, or wounds sustained in service to our country.

To many veterans navigating the VA’s complex system with the mind-boggling amount of paperwork required to process the smallest of claims for entitlements is overwhelming. The VA system is a bureaucracy on steroids and maneuvering through it may be synonymous to sailing through rough and rocky waters in the dark without a compass. The whole process is obscured by a sea of laws, regulations, and precedence with little more than basic instructions on the many required forms. During the recent political campaigns, it was obvious that veterans were not a top priority to many candidates and what was proposed were condescending policy statements, many unrealistic, unaffordable, and improbable to solicit the veteran’s vote. It’s been over four months since the election and nearly three months since our newly elected officials have taken office, and there now seems to be the silence typical of the taciturnity that occurs following an election. For the most part the easy things such as decreased priced hunting and fishing licenses and partial exemption in property taxes have been done, yet there are many disparities that remain within the VA system when it comes to providing accessible and quality healthcare and responding promptly to benefit claims. Assisting in the recruitment of quality healthcare providers, providing jobs, and an array of other requisites are dilemmas that state and local governments and communities can and should provide pragmatic augmentation.

Former governor Bill Richardson made a commitment to our veterans in 2003 by establishing the cabinet-level position of veteran affairs, a result of SB 164. Good public policy is often advanced from issues raised on the campaign trail as promises are made.

However, these same issues are oftentimes forgotten or pushed to one side for what is perceived as more utilitarian and problems needing an immediate resolution. Elected officials move on to create the impression they are working for our veterans, but veterans are often left holding an empty bag of promises. Yes, jobs and education are extremely important for all in a utilitarian world, but public policy also has moral implications. For those veterans who were placed in harm’s way to protect our freedoms acquiescence in public policy is paramount, especially to the veteran who lacks accessible and quality healthcare, a place to live, or a job with a livable wage.

There are over 180,000 veterans in New Mexico, about half are over the age of 60. Post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury resulting from combat, sexual trauma, or from premonitory military jobs result in serious disorders among our younger and older veterans alike and disabilities related to any number of different non-combat events while in service can be equally debilitating. When it comes to the consequences of military service not one shoe fits all.

Taking care of our veterans is complicated and the VA should not be assumed to be the sole caretaker of veterans needing help; state and local governments also have an obligation to develop and implement policy favorable to filling in the gaps of the VA system. As beneficiaries of these sacrifices let’s commit to ensuring our elected federal, state, and local officials step up to the plate to augment an already burdened VA system and let’s hold our elected officials accountable with thanking our veterans through acti