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Last updated: November 7, 2012 12:53 a.m.

Web letter by Dave Cooper: Only veterans are qualified to decide on veterans’ services

On Oct. 28 the editorial “Areas vets get another nasty shock” appeared in The Journal Gazette. As a veteran who receives care at this facility, I must say it is more than a nasty shock. It is a punch in the stomach.

For any of us who visit this facility, we can all say that the care and attention we receive is the best. The care and attention delivered by those who do the delivering is top notch. On just about all my visits I have been thanked for my service. I feel special when I get treatment.

However, it is clear the administrators, both in Fort Wayne, and Washington, D.C., have no clue what is happening in Fort Wayne. One insulting thing I saw was a member of the VA police giving a parking ticket to a veteran who had parked on the grass. When I asked the officer what he was doing, he almost became aggressive with me as if to say: “Who are you to question me?” Imagine, a veteran getting a parking ticket at the VA hospital.

I do not know how many veterans are being served at this facility. But I do know that when I show up there are few parking spaces, which would indicate a lot of us from a large surrounding area avail ourselves of this hospital. If it closed, where would we go? Indianapolis? Someplace in Michigan? Give me a break.

For those of us who have left our blood and body parts on every continent of the world for the sake of freedom, not only for America, but those who have not had freedom and those yet unborn who never will have freedom, this action is disgraceful. May they never have to experience the stress of war. The cold or stifling heat. The stress of not knowing whether your next breath will be your last or whether your remaining breaths will be filled with anguish and pain. Or whether you will have to live with disabilities for the rest of your life.

The only people who should be making decisions on behalf of veterans are veterans. We know how to take and give orders. We know right from wrong. We know how to get things done.

Close the VA in Fort Wayne? Not while I am alive.

DAVE COOPER

Churubusco

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