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.