Vets to Enroll in VA's Healthcare Program Thursday

Over the years, I had resisted overtures from the Veterans Administration to avail myself of its healthcare services, despite the fact that I had spent four years as an Air Force officer in the mid '60s and was discharged with a 10 percent disability, which I'd learned to accommodate. I would decline, each time, saying there were many, many veterans much more in need of the VA's healthcare services than I was; that I was covered under other health plans. 

But the Community Relations Office at the VA Medical Center in Northport was persistent, sometimes referring to me as "captain," my rank at discharge—always addressing me with dignity and insisting I at least take the physical that would allow me to avail myself of their services should I need them in the future. 

When I received a note, last year, saying that the VA was making one of its scheduled visits to Glen Cove to explain its comprehensive medical benefits package and enroll veterans, I made the short trip from my home to City Hall and signed up. I felt honored being among men and women, who had also served, those who, like myself, had endured the unpopularity of the Vietnam War and others who served in the "forgotten war" in Korea. 

What it all brought back to me was a sense of pride that I had served my country's military requirements during a difficult period in American history, poignantly similar to attitudes today concerning America's wars Iraq and Afghanistan. For the better part of four years, I was part of a team that trained Tactical Air Command fighter pilots in combat tactics. Then we sent those young men off to Vietnam, some of them, of course, never to return. Since the requirements for such pilots was acute, I spent the years of the ever-escalating war, in New Mexico, helping to crank out class after class of warriors, rising to the position of chief of quality control for a wing of F-100 fighter-bombers. 

At the meeting, last year, I was confronted with wonderful people at the Veteran's Administration who insisted that my service be recognized.  When I went for my routine physical in Northport, the security guard at the gate saluted me. To those veterans in Glen Cove, who have not yet enrolled in the VA's program, I say I salute you and encourage you to enroll. The representatives will be at City Hall tomorrow, Aug. 19, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.