Once again, the Veterans Service
Organizations -- all of them,
were caught asleep at the wheel
and with their pants down when
the Washington Post decided to
launch a 2-part expose' article
on the facility conditions
at Walter Reed Hospital.

In a separate feature of the
series, the Washington Post
also went on to describe how
Vet-Outcry had gone on for
years into official Washington
while the VSO's whined and
bullshitted their days away
about not having their annual
grandstanding moment to wave
flags around and speak on subjects
which are over their own heads
at the House Veterans Affairs
Committee budget hearings.

The Washington Post did a lot
here to underline exactly what
we have been saying about the
VSO's the whole time. They
are useless, dysfunctional,
self-absorbed, and more about
the ceremony instead of about
the substance of Advocacy to
Veterans issues. They have outlived
their own usefulness, and it's
time for Veterans to know
about it and move on.

The complete and utter absence
of any presence whatsoever
in the first round of the
Washington Post articles on
Walter Reed was telling in
itself and it is here, that
Veterans have to pay attention
to what is missing in those
early articles instead of
what was said. There is no
arguing about it, the VSO's
weren't there.

Whenever a national non-profit
system starts taking on the
look and identity of the VA
agency itself, then it is
truly a defining moment for all
Vet memberships to pull outta
there and find something else
to do with their time. To
continue supporting something
just because it is there, is
somewhere between dumb and
Gee, you must have a lot of
money to throw away on nothing
at all!

The Washington Post put the
missing-in-action spotlight
on VSO's when neither one
of the 2-part Walter Reed
series either spoke to or
even included the VSO's
in their investigation report
which held national importance
and was truly driven by
civilian power at the newspaper.

I hope now Veterans everywhere
will come to see the bullshit
standing or lack thereof, that
VSO's now hold in Washington,
as I have said in an earlier
Blog, and all Vets would
be wise to stop putting your
advocacy chips in one place.

The VSO's hereafter will almost
always be on the losing end
in this Vet arena, as we are
working around the clock to close
their useless and inadequate doors
once and for all. Let's call a pile
of crap what it really is and
get over it and move on. It's
time to cut our losses.

....