Dale,

I've been reading this as an interested outsider (being Canadian).

Both yours and Bret's positions are doubtless "economically" sound and technically correct. But there is another factor here that to me is overriding - the debt of society to these veterans!

I'd even go further and say that any person who served in the armed forces, whether they saw action or not, would be deserving. After all, they were ready to go to where ever if called upon and to protect the well-being of all of their country's citizens. That's a damned lot further than I went (never did sign up) and I was happy to leave that "work" to those who did.
I've been told often in my lifetime that my uncles and aunts and father and neighbours were drastically changed by their participation in WWII. Sure, most fit back into society quite well, but so what?! I know my dad NEVER wanted to talk about his experiences other than to say he was in Italy and France and he survived.

I more see it as the government is freeloading on them, rather than the reverse.

Businesses have reached to point that promises, explicit or implied, have been discarded in the interests of more shareholder profits. Some even say their very survival requires abrogating past agreements, which doesn't say much for their executive's capabilities, does it!? But if the government starts doing similarly then we will be in real trouble real quick.

2¢ CDN
>Bret,
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>I agree with you.
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>One person I know, was in the Army 30 years ago, tripped and hurt his knee recently. Rather than get treatment locally, they drove 60 miles to a VA hospital for treatment and the VA built a knee brace for him.
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>Another situation. An American man, in his 60's, has a 50% chance of having Prostate Cancer regardless of military background (Just subtract 10 from your age and that's the percent chance that you have it). But, if you served in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam war and you're diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, the cancer is classified as service connected even though you may never have been exposed to Agent Orange. You get disability pay (couple thousand a month) and free medical care from the VA for the rest of your life. When you die, a surviving spouse will get a pension because you had a "service connected" disease.
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>>Here is my criteria for VA hospital. The VA is only responsible for your care if you were injured while serving or if a later injuring can be proven to come from something that happened to you while serving or you have retired from the military. That is it.
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>>The VA has become socialized medicine for some and in turn some that need care are not getting it because the VA is overwhelmed and losing money. I feel that if you served 4 years and then got out, the government should not give you care at any facility unless the criteria above is met.
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>>We have to enforce the concept of work and pay for health insurance. But unfortunately, the US is getting to the point where a great majority feels the government owes them everything and they have to work for nothing.
>or could have used the VA hospital for medical treatment.