To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan. Motto of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. With those words from his second inaugural address (March 4, 1865), “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan,” President Lincoln affirmed the government’s obligation to care for those injured during war and to provide for the families of those who perished on the battlefield. For the full story see The origin of the VA Motto Public and Intergovernmental Affairs, United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

While AIG executives get bonuses, Iraq war casualty (unable to work, unable to see) gets "cheapest they could get away with." AIG has made everything a battle over the past five years after injury, he says.

"We are murdering our own children here." - Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, addressing the increase in military suicides.

Injured war zone contractors fight to get care from AIG and other insurers
T. Christian Miller and Doug Smith ProPublica/Los Angeles Times USA April 16, 2009


Contractor Tim Newman, left; contractor Kevin Smith-Idol, middle; widow Rita Richardson, whose husband was killed by a roadside blast in Iraq. (Photos courtesy of Tim Newman, ABC News, Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)

Civilian workers who suffered devastating injuries while supporting the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan have come home to a grinding battle for basic medical care, artificial limbs, psychological counseling and other services. The insurance companies responsible for their treatment under taxpayer-funded policies have routinely denied the most serious medical claims. Those insurers -- primarily American International Group (AIG) -- recorded hundreds of millions of dollars in profits on this business. The civilian contractors have played an indispensable role in the two conflicts, delivering fuel to frontline troops, guarding U.S. diplomats and translating for soldiers during dangerous raids. More than 1,400 civilian workers have died and 31,000 have been wounded or injured in the two war zones. Yet unlike wounded soldiers, who are offered healthcare, rehabilitation and support services by the military, the civilians have to battle a federally supervised insurance system marked by high costs and excessive delays, an investigation by the Los Angeles Times and ProPublica has found. In contrast to the public outcry over squalid conditions at some military hospitals, the contractors' plight has drawn little attention. ...

Blind amputee has to fight AIG for new plastic leg, wheelchair
Avni Patel and Brian Ross ABC News USA April 16, 2009

Includes one minute, 57 second video clip.

An Oklahoma man who lost an eye and a leg in Iraq says the giant insurance company AIG refused to provide him a new plastic leg and fought to keep from paying for a wheelchair or glasses for the eye in which he has 30 percent vision. "They bought the cheapest thing that they could get away with," said 51-year old John Woodson, a truck driver for the KBR contracting firm who lost his leg when his truck hit a roadside bomb in Iraq. "Everything's been a struggle, a constant fight," said Woodson, injured in Oct. 2004. "It's been hell since." Watch 20/20 Friday [tonight] at 10pm E.T. to see this joint investigation involving the Los Angeles Times and Pro Publica, a non-profit investigative group. Woodson is covered by AIG under a government-mandated program that provides medical and disability benefits for employees working for U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. AIG covers about 90 percent of the claims for overseas workers.

Desperate veterans turn to suicide
Marney Rich Keenan Detroit News USA April 16, 2009

Michael Sheppard, 35, with his daughter Teagan, re-enlisted in the Navy when his brother Randen Harvey announced he was joining the Marines. Harvey served two tours of duty in Iraq before he killed himself on June 15, 2006. Photo: John T. Greilick/The Detroit News)

On June 11, 2006, at 8:30 p.m., Randen Harvey, a 24-year-old Marine Corps veteran, walked into the emergency room of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Ann Arbor in such a state of despair he warned he "might jump off the roof or put a hose in his car exhaust." Four hours later, around 1 a.m., he was found on the roof of the nine-story building. Hospital security had to be called to bring him down. Three days later, on June 15, the Marine who served two back-to-back combat tours in Iraq surrendered to his demons. He was found sprawled on the tile floor in the bathroom of his father's Farmington Hills home, dead from an overdose of street and prescription drugs.

Several branches of the military are reporting significant spikes in the number of suicides committed by both active-duty troops and veterans returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Experts are calling the number of military-related suicides sweeping the country an "epidemic." Survivors of veterans who committed suicide are starting to file lawsuits, accusing the VA of medical malpractice. The agency also has come under attack by lawmakers and veterans' groups charging that it failed to treat injured veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury, the signature wounds of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The agency also has been accused of manipulating suicide statistics to downplay the problem and systematically misdiagnosing returning combat soldiers who suffer mental illness because their resources are tapped. "We are murdering our own children here," said the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., in an interview with The Detroit News. "The tragedy is we could have predicted this, what with multiple deployments, the type of urban warfare and the almost inevitable killing of innocent people. Now we have an epidemic on our hands. This is a national disgrace." ...