What Veterans Do and Don’t Deserve
Freedom is never free… and no one knows that more acutely than the men and women who have bravely signed up, suited up, and served. We owe you a debt that can never truly be repaid. My dad served, and I saw firsthand his pride, his patriotism, and his love of country.
In my eyes, my dad deserved every honor and every medal because he was my dad, plain and simple. But my dad wasn’t one for showing off, and so it wasn’t until after he died that we learned that he had been awarded a Bronze Star.
I know my experience is a common one, and a lot of folks can probably identify with some part of this story: the silent veteran, the concerned spouse, the adoring children. In some way, big or small, they’ve all sacrificed, and on this Veterans Day, we have to offer more than platitudes and kind words. We have to make sure that we are living our gratitude through our actions.
That’s why I’ve made fighting for our veterans a cornerstone of my work in the Senate. Not because I have to, but because I want to. Because I see my dad in every veteran I meet, and I want to make him proud and deliver for Missouri’s veterans.
Veterans deserve the best care from the best doctors.
That’s why I launched the Veterans Customer Satisfaction Program in 2011, so that Missouri veterans and their families can let me and my staff know what the VA is doing right and what it’s not. By filling out an easy, confidential form on my website, veterans can share feedback that we then use to sit down with veterans service organizations and the VA and identify ways to improve services in Missouri.
If you’d like to participate in my veterans survey, please go to www.mccaskill.senate.gov/vcsp
In May I released the most recent round of results, and was proud to see steady progress in the satisfaction of our veterans with Missouri’s VA services. I encourage you to take a look at the results yourself for each of the five regions:
Veterans deserve to see their fallen comrades treated with respect and dignity.
I was horrified back in 2010 when reports came out about egregious mismanagement at Arlington National Cemetery. This hallowed ground is a national shrine, an emblem of courage and sacrifice, and — suddenly — the site of government contracting failures that led to unmarked and mismarked graves. Outdated paper record-keeping, poor oversight of contractors, and the wasteful misuse of taxpayer dollars had created a terrible situation that did a great disservice and dishonor to America’s veterans and fallen warriors. I immediately set out to right these wrongs and hold the people behind this travesty accountable.
I championed a bipartisan bill — that is now the law of the land after being signed by the President in December 2010 — to hold the Secretary of the Army accountable to Congress on the Cemetery’s ability to identify and fix any errors in the burial records for gravesites at Arlington. It also required the government’s top watchdog to conduct an independent review and report on the management and oversight of contracts at the cemetery.
Veterans deserve to be believed by their government.
Can you imagine being the subject of secret government-run chemical weapons tests, being held to an oath of secrecy by the Department of Defense, and then not being believed by the VA seventy years later when you need assistance? That’s exactly what happened to one Missouri veteran — Arla Harrell — leading him and his family to spend decades trying to fight a stacked bureaucracy.
As soon as Arla’s story was brought to my attention, I knew we had to act and act quickly. There aren’t many World War II veterans left today, and even fewer that were part of these secret tests. Those that are still with us deserve to have the government acknowledge what they went through, and make amends for decades of negligence. That’s why I released an in-depth report on these secret tests and introduced a bill — named after Arla — that would move the burden of proof from elderly veterans to the U.S. government. It meant so much to me to see Arla’s bill signed into law by President Trump this summer, knowing what it would mean to him and his family, and to the other veterans involved in these tests. And I was thrilled to learn just last month, that after decades of denials, Arla Harrell was finally getting the VA benefits he so rightly deserved.
It shouldn’t take a U.S. Senator and an act of Congress for the government to do the right thing, but let me tell you: I was honored to take it to the mat for Arla and his family.
Arla’s story is just one of many examples of Missouri veterans I’ve met and been able to assist. If you or a loved one need help getting your VA benefits or a medal you believe you are owed, please contact my office. I have staff all across the state who are waiting and willing to help you, all you have to do is ask.
Veterans deserve opportunities when they return home.
Men and women who are willing to put on a uniform, kiss their families goodbye, and fight for our freedoms in a foreign land deserve to have occupational and educational opportunities when they get home — and that’s why I helped to pass the 21st Century GI Bill, which helps those who have served in the military since September 11, 2001 pursue a college degree or vocational training. It also allows them a unique option to pass their GI benefit to family members.
I also helped back the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, which provides tax credits to employers to hire veterans, extends educational opportunities to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and helps veterans translate their military experience into relevant skills sought by civilian employers.
Frankly, this list could go on and on — and it should.
Our veterans deserve the world and there are so many ways we could be serving them better. I promise you this, I’m never going to stop trying. My doors are always open to Missouri’s veterans. Please don’t hesitate for a second to call, to write, to visit. My staff and I are here to serve anyone who’s served this country.
Thank you — and God Bless America.
