|
|
|
|
|
|
Inequality
for Veterans By Jack De Merit January 30, 2016
When I first started earning a salary, I was 13 years old and I had a Paper Route. My next salaried job was at the age of 16 where I worked for a man who did clear plastic overlays for TV shows. We produced the credits and the end of the programs. While attending Junior College, I worked part time as a Cameraman and Stripper for a Commercial Print Shop in Santa Monica, California. When I enlisted in the Navy, after Boot Camp, I was a designated Striker for Lithographer. I made Chief Petty Officer in 9 years partly because my father was a Printer and they had no Pre-Schools in the early 40's so I went to work with him. To keep from being totally bored, I learned the alphabet and memorized the type case layout so that I could be a typesetter at the age of 4 1/2. I could not read yet but I knew the letters and where they were in the type case. The first job I ever worked at that paid a Bonus at the end of the year was the Santa Monica job. I asked what the Bonus was for as it was a new thing for me. I was told that it was a reward for all the great work I had done during the year. My next question was, isn't that what employees are expected to do without getting a bonus? This brings me to the point of this article. WHY DO VA EMPLOYEES GET BONUSES? The majority of the Bonuses seem to go to the upper echelon at VA for doing what I would consider a mediocre job. It appears to me that they are more interested in earning bonuses than they are in the welfare of the Veterans THEY WERE HIRED TO SERVE. A perfect example is the Agent Orange debacle. "BOOTS ON THE GROUND." As if that is the only way to come in contact with an airborne pathogen. I was stationed on an Aircraft Carrier from 1964 to 1966. We made 6 trips to Yankee Station and sat in the waters just off the coast of Vietnam. Scientific evidence shows that the waters were contaminated with Agent Orange. They also show that desalinization did not remove the Agent Orange from the water. On a Carrier with a crew of nearly 4,000 men, we were forced to desalinate the water. We cooked with it. We showered in it. We drank it. Yet VA says we were not exposed because we did not have Boots On the Ground. The only explanation that I can come up with is that they are protecting their Bonuses rather than pay disability to the victims of Agent Orange. I have Type II Diabetes; arthritis in my left arm, neck and shoulder; Neuropathy in my right leg and have suffered a heart Attack. But VA says I was not exposed to Agent Orange in spite of a number of Vets that I have spoken to that have the same physical problems, did have Boots On the Ground and are getting, in some cases 300% disability. Where is the equality in this? |
|
|
Jack De Merit. Served 28 years, 9 months and 16 days in the U. S. Navy and Naval
Reserve. My last assignment was as Chief of the Boat of a Nuclear Submarine Repair Unit in San Diego.
My ailments are listed above but do not include Tinitis which I got from being around all the high speed printing equipment
and being a Range Master without any ear protection. I am now semi-retired. I still
produce the Camarillo, California Phone Book which I have been doing for the last 30 years. I am Secretary
for the Los Angeles National Cemetery Support Foundation which puts on the Memorial Day Ceremony every year, Veterans Day
Program, Wreaths Across America, and I am the Chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Remembrance Day Program. I
am also a California Freemason. I serve as Chaplain, Edit and Print the monthly 16-page bulletin and am
the Building Manager. As Building Manager, I am responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of a 3-story,
27,000 square foot building with an 80 car parking lot. Add to all that I am also a husband, father and
grandfather. In all I have 16 jobs that I perform on a weekly basis.
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|