And our veterans and military deserve every bit of it
Ended previous “stop-loss” policy that kept soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan longer than their enlistment date
Ended media “blackout” on reporting details of war casualties; allowing full information, the reporting and photographing, of return of fallen soldiers to Dover AFB (prohibited by Bush)
Families of fallen soldiers now have transport expenses paid for themselves and body of loved one
Increased pay and benefits for military personnel
Better body armor is now being provided to our troops
Improved housing for military personnel
Shifted the focus of the war from Iraq to Afghanistan, changed command, infused new troop support, successfully putting the emphasis on reducing terrorism where it should have been all along.
Ordered Osama bin Laden killed
Beginning the process of reforming and restructuring the military 20 years after the Cold War to a more modern fighting force: includes new procurement policies, increasing size of military, new technology and cyber units and operations, etc.
Increased VA budget $112.8 billion, 15.5-percent increase over the previous year. Hiring more staff, treating 122,000 more patients, and beginning the switch of patient records to an electronic system that can be accessed by all VA facilities.
The creation of a Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record for members of the U.S. Armed Forces to improve quality of medical care for enlisted and veteran members
The increase will also pay for an uptick in education claims by veterans who are taking advantage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, passed last year.
Provided the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with an additional $1.4 billion to improve services to America’s Veterans (by cutting missile defense program by $1.4 billion in 2010) to be used toward improving services, including grant money to states to build extended care facilities for vets (authorized construction/opening of additional health centers to care for veterans) and the hiring of 1,500 new claims processors to speed up delivery of veterans benefits.
The VA and DOD held a joint Mental Health Summit in Washington last year, designed to "harness the programs, resources and expertise of both departments to deal with the aftermath of the battlefield." The initiative will include removing the stigma many soldiers feel about admitting to PTSD symptoms, and, finally, treating PTSD and traumatic brain injuries more fully, rather than how it's been dealt with in the past, as something to be merely contained enough to keep it from causing major social (or political) problems.