Is the VA ready to handle veterans’ demands?

In November, President Bush signed legislation directing the VA to improve its mental health training for staff and do a better job of evaluating and treating veterans.

Peake, in a telephone interview, emphasized new efforts in mental health. He said the VA has "changed the access standard. If you present with a mental health issue, you'll be screened within 24 hours."

Peake said he recognized the need to make changes within the VA — particularly in the disability claims system which he said dates back to 1945 — saying that "it is time to review and simplify and modernize our disability system, but that will take work with Congress."

In response to the backlog in pending claims, Peake said, some 3,100 new claims-processing jobs have been opened. He acknowledged, however, that it takes "about two or three years to train somebody to be top notch in terms of being able to develop a claim and adjudicate it."

Going back to the battle
Not all wounded soldiers leave the battlefield for good.

A roadside bomb that sent shrapnel through Fred White's hands and legs did enough damage to require four operations and six months of physical therapy. White, then an Army specialist who was wounded early in the war while protecting a convoy, is now a chief warrant officer, piloting Black Hawk helicopters.

The wounds that left White missing most of his middle finger on his right hand, nerve damage and broken bones in his left hand and shrapnel that is still lodged in his legs and left wrist were not treated in a VA facility.

Once evacuated from Iraq, he got treatment at the U.S. military hospital in Landsthul, Germany, near the Ramstein air base. He then went to Brooke Army Medical Center on Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio because there was a hand specialist there.

Despite his wounds, White made it through pilot's school and passed a few extra tests to ensure the damage to his hands would not affect his ability to fly a Black Hawk.

White's mother, who made a career of the Army, was disabled in a non-combat accident while serving, and he witnessed her struggles in dealing with the system.

"My biggest thing for the VA is they need to remember what their purpose in service is. These vets, they've already served their country, they've already sacrificed," he said. "There is no reason they should have to fight twice."

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