During the 2 year period of hearings
at the Veterans Disability Commission,
there had reached a time when those
few of us in the room absolutely
knew without hesitation, that the
biggest, dumbest, most dysfunctional,
incompetent, and corrupt federal
agency of all time: the VA --- had
just been taken down to it's knees
right before our very eyes.

I was one of those lucky few and
I will never forget it.

While so many other Veterans sat
hiding behind their computers
spreading one false rumor after
another about the Commission,
those of us who dared to go and
see for ourselves were witnessing
the truth unfold before our very
eyes, one month at a time, and
did everything possible to hold
onto our joy and celebration until
the very end when all the Veterans
across the country, could finally
know the truth.

So many of us our eternally grateful
to the Institute of Medicine for
their crucial role in bringing in
the victories for Veterans everywhere
against a stinking VA who could have
cared less if we lived or died, either
now or in the future, at the hands
of their many layers of incompetence.

Without the probing contract investigations
and in-depth reviews provided to the
Commission on the issues of the
VA Disability Rating System, the
all new VA Presumptive System, and
the VA PTSD Compensation and Treatment
Studies, the final VDBC Report to
Congress may not have held the crushing
blow that it had sending a resounding
wake up call through the halls of
the House and Senate.

We send our sincerest and most heartfelt
thanks to Catherine Bodurow, the publishing
book author for the IOM and who, over
time, became the staffing face of a
friend to all Veterans across the
country. It was her smiles and her
frowns that the Commission saw as
each new top medical panel made
their presentations over many months
in the room before General Terry
Scott and the others.

In their crushing team panel on
their findings report on the VA
Presumptive System Catherine said:
"This was one of the most challenging
and the most rewarding reviews I have
ever done in my entire career."

I was so proud to be in the room
that day, and watch the IOM team
be treated like Rock Stars by all
who were there. I managed to hold
onto my own tears of joy until the
9 hour bus ride home to New York,
just laying down in the seat and
finally letting the tears come
knowing the full national impact
of what I had just witnessed at
the hearing.

We had advocated our butts off to
bring licensed medical practitioners
into the review process. FINALLY, they
were there before us in large numbers,
validating and legitimizing all that
we had lined up and said in our floor
speeches, so many times before the
IOM contract was eventually issued.

The appearance of Navy Veteran Dr.
Lonnie Bristow on the IOM findings
of the broken and lop-sided VA Disability
Rating system, was like bringing a
thunderstorm indoors. He held the entire
room spellbound as the dazed Commissioners
didn't draw a single breath or blink
a single eye the entire time that he
spoke. Obsolete he said. Update it
and do it now, he said. Change it is
even better, he said.

These were truly a bunch of the nations
highest layer of medical professionals
and they were all there in full force
FOR US --- to rescue us and
to speak in our name!!!

Veterans owe their lives to the Institute
of Medicine, and to that end, we hereby
enter the Institute in our salutes
column for all the world to see our
thanks, our appreciation, and our
gratitude for being rescued by these
brave and courageous doctors who dared
to stand up and defend our national cause
for justice.

The IOM reports to the VDBC Commission
are on sale at their national bookstore
website at www.nas.edu or check your
local libraries to see if they have
been issued there. It is a must-read
in tandem with the Commission's own
final report to Congress which is
on-line at www.vetscommission.org
on the Home Page.

Thank you, Institute of Medicine, for
saving our lives.