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Rep. Rob Wittman speaks at a town hall forum on the steps of VFW Post 3103.
MIKE MORONES/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

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Veterans asking Wittman for help

Rep. Rob Wittman hosts town hall-style forum on eve of Veterans Day

Date published: 11/11/2009

By RUSTY DENNEN

Chuck Vroman of King George County, a retired Navy veteran who is disabled, wanted to know why the Veterans Administration office in Roanoke was taking so long to process a request.

Gary Wymer, an Air Force veteran who lives in Spotsylvania County, asked how health care legislation making its way through Congress would affect Tricare, the government health care program for active-duty service members and retirees.

Vroman and Wymer were among about 50 veterans and family members who met with Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, last night in a town hall-style forum at the Fredericksburg VFW Post 3103.

Wittman gamely launched into the meeting on the tiny porch of the small building on Princess Anne Street as a gentle rain began to fall. The door was supposed to have been unlocked, but no one showed up to let the crowd in.

"Get him a stump" to stand on, someone in the crowd suggested, eliciting a peal of laughter.

Wittman briefed them on recent developments in Iraq and President Obama's decision about sending more troops into Afghanistan.

He noted that, with Veterans Day looming, the nation was still in a state of shock over the killings at Fort Hood, Texas.

"It was a tragic event, and we need to be looking at what led to that event so that it never happens again." Wittman, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he wants to ensure that the families of those killed "get the same treatment" as families of soldiers killed in action.

Vroman's son, also named Chuck, said his father was told that a review of his case, stemming from diabetes, could take five years. The younger Vroman, a former Marine who also is disabled, said the situation was aggravated by difficulties in obtaining basic information.

"Why is there not direct and clear access to records? We have none," Vroman asked.

Wittman called the delay "unacceptable" and pledged to follow up.

"We have had concerns about why there is not more coordination, not at just [VA] offices, but hospitals. We need to have a more consistent way of doing business."


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Date published: 11/11/2009


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VA needs work (posted by Kelly2004 , Nov. 12, 2009 7:58 am)   
If you are not a person that has to deal with the Tricare/VA system then you dont know a thing about what is going on with it. The Govt has been told repeatedly that thay need to fix both systems and they have done very little and only enough to shut the most vocal people up. I just pray that the socialists in office dont dump us on a worse path than we are presently on. God Bless the USA and God Bless my Fellow Veterens.

Once again proving nothing! (posted by mz , Nov. 11, 2009 9:19 pm)   
Not knowing all the facts (unlike you) trying to prove someones diabetes is service connected might take forever.

Once again proving .. (posted by 02FirebirdTA , Nov. 11, 2009 1:34 pm)   
That the bureaucracy in Washington cannot manage your healthcare. This is a system run by them to take care of our defenders and their families and this is the treatment they get. How do you think they will treat you; an average person off the street? Five years to review a case for diabetes. That could be a death sentence. Imagine if it was an aggressive cancer. This is not a "new" system either. The government has been running the VA for a long time and this is the results you can expect.

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