Take Me To Post Comment Form Dear Mr Kingston,

My name is Heather Moates,I am the wife/caregiver to my husband who is a medically retired disabled vet(wounded warrior) we have 2 children and a houseful of animals. My husband is one of the over 300,000 vets who came home with PTSD and mTBI and while he looks fine on the outside the damages done to his brain have left him disabled and unfit for military duty, herein lies the problem.

My husband was retired offically April 10, 2012 and according to this "new & improved" VA system put into place his VA ratings and combat related injured status was suppose to have been put in the system the next day April 11,2012. But it did and to this date hasn't been put in there..what does that mean? It means that I can't get into the VA Caregiver program, my husband can't go to school through the VA Voc Rehab program but the biggest thing this does it makes my husband feel like no one wants to recognize that he is disabled.

I've sat back and watched, I've fought and I've begged to get my husband into programs that will help him but in the end its the VA that will completely break my husband, not his PTSD, mTBI or any other health problems. I guess we were under some "perfect world syndrome" and instead reality has been harsh and unforgiving. While I completely understand that the VA system is broken and really doesn't seem to be getting fixed anytime soon its wrong to leave our disabled/retired/ETS combat veterans out in the cold waiting to hear something and most of them have families to support and they can't.

I know I am just one voice, one person but my question is How can we fix this? A disabled vet should not fall into the cracks of the VA and be forgotten about, actually NO veteran should fall between the cracks, period! If the VA won't help the veterans of Georgia then its time that the state of Georgia helps her own.

When my husband found out for sure he was retiring, we were so excited to start a new life, we bought our house back here in Georgia, our home. We came here with dreams and hopes, instead its a daily battle to talk to real people and get answers to questions but instead get no answers or half answers. I think that if this is happening to us it must be happening to a lot of other vets and its time to figure out what to do..what is the next step.

I do believe that if we all sat down together...yourself, disabled vets, their spouses/caregivers we can come up with solutions so that our vets aren't struggling.

Sincerly,

Heather Moates