JEFFERSON CITY -- Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler has returned to Missouri for a series of listening posts on matters of importance to military veterans. In replacing Ike Skelton in the U.S. Congress, Hartlzer inherits significant military concerns without the seniority to control the solutions. House leadership gave her a seat on the armed services committee and the veterans at Tuesday’s event expect her to use it.
Navy veteran Leonard Steinman handled Agent Orange shipments during the Vietnam War. He and other vets exposed to the chemical say the government lied to them about the risk. “And I think to myself, if the government did that then, what assures me or even you that they're not gonna do this again to my son," questions one Vietnam veteran.
Hartzler told the vets she was unaware of any similar health risk in the Persian Gulf. "I need to keep the Department of Defense's feet to the fire on this and I'm happy to ask questions as we have hearings in Armed Services," she said.
There were questions about the stability of military health insurance, and a lot of concern about the backlog of 1.4 million claims facing the Veterans Administration. Bob Wonnell is the past commander of the Missouri Veterans of Foreign Wars. He says the government can expect an explosion of post traumatic stress in Gulf War vets. "You know as well as I do, one tour over there kind of affected every one of us. You can imagine what three or four tours are doing over there," says Wonnell.
Hartzler says she too is concerned about the backlog and only recently learned that the computers at the Pentagon cannot talk to the computers at the V.A. "They have different software, different computer programs. And that's why there's so many lapses in information," she said.
Hartzler also held a Q&A session just outside Fort Leonard Wood, in St. Robert. She'll host similar events Wednesday in Warrensburg and Clinton.
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