October 20, 2008

Veterans for America calls on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to retract statement

Earlier this month, Veterans for America (VFA)'s National Guard Program released a preliminary findings report on the state of post-combat care for the Alaska National Guard.

On October 13th, 2008 at 6pm EST, Lieutenant General (Alaska) Craig Campbell, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and the state's adjutant general, held a press conference in which he attempted to refute the findings of our report.

At this conference, Governor Palin's special assistant for military and veterans affairs, Mark Kelsey said that Governor Palin "appreciates [Lieutenant General (Alaska) Craig Campbell] efforts today to provide some factual context to the baseless criticisms leveled by the Veterans for America."

Veterans for America, also known as Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, has a thirty-year history of working on behalf of America's veterans and servicemembers. Anyone with a modicum of understanding of and/or appreciation for the veterans' movement in this country respects the history of our organization and our unequivocal bona fides.

As VFA has made plainly clear to the Governor and her staff, VFA's findings are based on two extensive field visits to Alaska working directly with Guard members and their families. We are sharing their stories and their concerns. Furthermore, the impetus for our work is VFA's Wounded Warrior Registry, where we assist soldiers with concerns and problems with access to care.

It is poor leadership and blatant political posturing at the expense of our troops to claim that our findings, based on testimonials and ground visits, are baseless.

"Yesterday's press conference was a political farce," said VFA President Bobby Muller. "Such stunts do a disservice to our troops and veterans. Governor Palin should not deny the great shortcomings in post-combat care that the Department of Defense has bravely recognized for the past several years."

From an Veterans for America press release

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