23 VETERANS/DAY ARE COMMITTING SUICIDE
by Capt Joseph R. John (Ret.), ©2015, Chairman, CombatVeteransForCongress
(Sep. 24, 2015) — On September 23, 2015, former Cong. Kerry Bentivolio, SFC/MI-ANG (R-MI-11) (Ret) (Disabled American Veteran), an endorsed Combat Veteran For Congress who served combat tours in Vietnam and Iraq, is now walking and biking 570 miles from Walled Lake, Michigan to Washington DC, in hopes of waking up the American people and Congress on the urgent need to help Veterans in the Republic, to support Veterans’ Issues, and to request that their Congressional representatives improve Veterans’ health benefits (23 Veterans/day are committing suicide).
“I saw it firsthand when I was in the service. A fellow Soldier died in a stateside military medical holding unit I was in and nobody noticed for four days,” Bentivolio said. “More than 300,000 American military Veterans likely died while waiting for healthcare, and nearly twice as many are still waiting, according to a new Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General Report.”
Cong. Bentivolio, who served as Congressman from 2013 through January 2015, said, “Talking about the issue has not gotten the Veterans any closer to getting the aid they need. It is time for action,” he said.
“We have a lot of World War II Veterans who are dying at 80 or 90 years old, but we have Vietnam Veterans who can’t make it past 70 years old. We have Marines that were stationed in Camp Lejeune in the ’50s and ’60s and they found out all that water was contaminated,” Bentivolio said. “Congress said they were going to take care of these guys but they’re not.”
While at home in Michigan, Bentivolio said he realized he could not sit at home and do nothing while Veterans were not given an opportunity to receive the care they need.
“I started walking, and next thing I know I’m 21 miles from home and I said ‘I will walk to Washington (D.C.),’” he said.
While on the trip to D.C., which Bentivolio said he hopes to reach in 30 days, he is talking to people he meets along the way and urging them to speak to their Congressmen and women to spark change.
“Hopefully we’re going to have a lot of people gather and it’s is going to snowball,” Bentivolio said.
In Fremont on his sixth day of travel, Cong. Bentivolio said he will try to walk between 15 and 20 miles and bike another 25 to 30.
Heading east, Bentivolio will pass through Clyde and Norwalk before heading for the Akron area, where he will meet with Rolling Thunder, an advocacy group for prisoners of war and service members who are missing in action.
“I’ve just went 20 miles so a lot of that aggression has drained from my body. Every day in the morning, I wake up angry as hell because Obama is more worried about “80,000 Muslim refugees coming from the Middle East” and all those illegal aliens flooding across the wide open Southern Border, and we’re going to take care of them, provide them with housing, provide them with the medical care that the Veterans aren’t being provided with, and give them food stamps,” Bentivolio said. “We can’t even take care of Veterans who served our country. Many of those Veterans are homeless, when we are giving newly entering Muslim refugees homes. I’m just fed up.”
Bentivolio wants to put his former House colleagues to task by asking for solutions to help Veterans.
“Everybody’s lives matter. We have to put our priorities right. Take care of the Veterans and Soldiers. If you can’t do that, don’t bother asking us to serve anymore,” Cong Bentivolio said. More Soldiers are dying from self-inflicted (wounds) or suicide than on the battlefield. It’s time to kick butt and take names.”
The below-listed article is on Congressman Bentivolio please pass this on to those who would support his walk for Veterans issues.
Copyright 2015, Capt. Joseph R. John. All Rights Reserved. This material can only be posted on another Web site or distributed on the Internet by giving full credit to the author. It may not be published, broadcast, or rewritten without permission from the author.
Joseph R. John, USNA ‘62
Capt USN(Ret)
Chairman, Combat Veterans For Congress PAC
2307 Fenton Parkway, Suite 107-184
San Diego, CA 92108
Fax: (619) 220-0109
http://www.CombatVeteransForCongress.org
https://www.facebook.com/combatveteransforcongress?ref=hl
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” -Isaiah 6:8
THE DETROIT NEWS
Bentivolio trekking nearly 600 miles for veteran issues