I Don’t Know What To Do

After I left the psychiatric ward I felt incredibly free.  I also felt incredibly frustrated.  I was angry for what they did to me.  I was even angrier knowing that my fellow veterans, my brothers and sisters, were at their mercy.  They weren’t getting the kind of care that they deserved.  I was frustrated because I want to fix the problem, but I don’t have the means to bring about that change.  Who am I?  Nobody.  Nobody is going to listen to me.  I turned to a lesson that I learned from my mother.  If someone wrongs you, go straight to the top to get the problem fixed.  That very evening I wrote a letter outlining everything that had happened to me.  I sent the letter to everyone I thought of who could bring about change if they cared.  I sent it to:

• The President
• The Secretary of Veterans Affairs
• Senator Lamar Alexander of TN
• Senator Bob Corker of TN
• Congressman Scott DesJarlais of TN
• Fox News
• ABC News

The responses were less than stellar:

• The President – No response.  I really wasn’t expecting one, even though I did enclose a photo of me with my arm around a cardboard cutout of The Donald.
• The Secretary of Veterans Affairs – No response.  I did find out through an employee of the VA that the Public Relations office did send out a memo about it.  My guess is the memo was telling everyone if the news media asked questions, don’t answer them and refer them to Public Relations
• Senator Lamar Alexander – The standard auto reply – I’m happy you contacted me.  I’m very concerned.  You’ll hear from me shortly.  Blah, blah, blah.  Someone from his office did contact me.  When I told her I might have solved the problem, she couldn’t get off the phone quick enough.  Just a “great to hear, if you ever need us just call”.  Didn’t care how I solved the problem, or if there was anything else they could do to help.
• Senator Bob Corker – The Standard auto reply as above.  Haven’t heard from him since.
• Congressman Scott DesJarlais – The Standard auto reply as above.  Haven’t heard from him since.  I’ve learned from experience, if you ever need a problem solved quickly, don’t bother to call Congressman DesJarlais.  It is a minimum of 45 days after the auto reply that you might hear from him.  If you can wait that long, he’s pretty good at getting things done.
• Fox News – Nothing
• ABC News – Nothing

My frustration was mounting.  I felt completely helpless.  Then I remember a friend of mine who might be able to point me in the right direction.  He would know who I could contact that would actually take action.  That is coming up in the next post.