Fellow Veterans and Friends of Veterans,
Please read the following email and the sent by John Jackson, Command Sergeant Major, USA (Ret.), a loyal ally and supporting member of our Old Veterans Guard.
As always, the Command Sergeant Major minces few words in printing Truth.
We are grateful for stand-up and speak-out Veterans like John Jackson and respectfully request that more and more speak out for our voiceless disabled and homeless Veterans.
God Bless America and the Veterans Revolution!
Mr. Rosebrock may be contacted at RRosebrock1@aol.com
The Letter
From Sgt. Maj. Jackson:
Our hopeless veteran count is very high in L.A. County, around 20,000, according to some sources. To give vouchers for small apartments has been one of the methods to politically take care of the situation. However, that is not the best solution for the money when we have grounds and buildings deeded to that end at the West L.A. VA, and also in other venues. West L.A. VA has been controlled by special interest people who live in nearby Brentwood, led by a longtime leader, Sue Young, in developing those grounds for the rich and very wealthy of her homeowners association.
As we all know, money talks far too often when those in need are pushed aside. A walk around the area of the West L.A. VA grounds at dusk will show a number sleeping outside of the locked deeded grounds that were dedicated for the purpose of caring for our war veterans. The VA Secretary did come to L.A. in January. He made all kinds of promises to care for homeless veterans, but walked the area of Skid Row rather than concentrate on already available grounds that could have temporary housing placed while longer term facilities are funded and built. Again, the government sees the problems, but has misplaced priorities. What will it take to invoke common sense?
The below article is from the “Early Bird Brief,” which is read by our leaders in Washington daily. However the part on homeless and needy war veterans is only a small portion of that brief. Usually it is skimmed over without thought. It has a section talking about the lawsuits against the West L.A. VA, which were dropped in hopes that the VA Secretary would help solve the problem. Instead he tried to build his own self image to homeless Veterans by lying about his service. This is unfortunate. It lowers our respect for him. Our representatives need our reminding.
There are still dedicated old-time veterans demonstrating peacefully in front of the West L.A. VA every Sunday afternoon from 1 (1300) to 4 (1600). Go talk to them. I have nothing but heartfelt praise and respect for them.