Posted on 06/27/2013 4:14:38 AM PDT by navysealdad
Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) lost both legs and damaged her arm while serving in Iraq with the National Guard.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that the Illinois congresswoman has very, very little patience for people who take advantage of programs intended for our nation’s wounded veterans.
Case in point: Rep. Duckworth’s handling of Braulio Castillo, a contractor who leveraged his connections with IRS officials to score contracts set aside for the businesses of service-disabled veterans.
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
It is worth the time to view this 8 min video
Rep. Tammy Duckworth Hammers Congressional Witness Over Questionable Military Benefits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV_4sqPjDBE
From the article
She asked the contractor whether he felt his rating of 30 percent was accurate. Castillo said he felt the government’s rating of his so-called disability was indeed accurate (probably not a wise move for a guy talking to a woman who had both of her legs blown off in Iraq).
“You know, my right arm was essentially blown off and re-attached,” Duckworth said. “I spent a year in limb salvage with over a dozen surgeries over that time period and, in fact, we thought we would lose my arm and I’m still in danger of possibly losing my arm. I can’t feel it. I can’t feel my three fingers. My disability rating for that arm is 20 percent.”
From a related thread yesterday;
“Here’s the guy that the jobs were funneled to;”
The company was recently named “small business contractor of the year,” by the Treasury department. According to Issa, the company earned a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business designation based on the owner’s injuries sustained during military prep school and not during active duty or in combat for the U.S. armed forces.”
“The House Oversight report also asked why Castillo received a special designation as a “service-disabled veteran-owned small business” 27 years after being injured in military prep school.
“He was able to get this designation despite the fact that he never actively served as a member of the armed services, he played college football after the injury and 27 years went by before he sought the designation as a disabled veteran,” the report said.
“Castillo sought the disabled-veteran designation only months before he purchased the company,” the report added.”
she can feign all the righteous indignation all she wants but until they change the tax code and tighten the standards/eliminate the “disability” designation, this will continue and get worse.
We have a few guys in our subdivision that are retired mil and those we spoke to about the retirement process each has a disability rating of 30% or higher. They appear to be perfectly healthy guys for being in their 50’s with normal old guy issues like a bum knee, arthritis, back issues but nothing like missing limbs and nothing that keeps them from working.
Why don’t more of our elected reps challenge the millions on top of millions of people now receiving a free paycheck after getting listed as “disabled”. The disability roles have grown exponentially since Obama has taken office and nobody seems to care. It’s just more of the free obama money from his stash.
>They appear to be perfectly healthy guys for being in their 50’s with normal old guy issues like a bum knee, arthritis, back issues but nothing like missing limbs and nothing that keeps them from working.<
.
To be fair. A lot of disabled vets aren’t missing limbs and injuries aren’t apparent, but are there. I lost 25% of my chest wall and shoulder muscles, 25% of a thigh muscle, have shrapnel inside a lung. When I am clothed and in public none of this is visible or apparent. Other than a limp on one side and inability to move 1 arm thru normal motion no one knows. Managed to work for 30+ years after being discharged. I was given a 70% rating upon discharge.
.
Absolutely nothing compared to Ms. Duckworths massive traumatic amputations and Mr. Castillo bit off much more than he could chew for a 30yr back sprained ankle.
Not really...she’s an anti-gun pro-babykilling liberal Democrat.
}:-)4
In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled IRAQ VETERAN ABSOLUTELY HAMMERS IRS CONTRACTOR FOR TAKING ‘ADVANTAGE’ OF VET BENEFITS PROGRAM, knarf wrote:
Whoa!I’ve never HEARD of this lady before, but damn! .. ain’t that just what we need in a representative ?
Don’t get carried away, she’s a die hard commie lefty this is one of the few times she’s right. She wouldn’t be the only vet in the group appalled by this guy. Why Boenher gave her the mike shows he’s doesn’t have the political smarts needed to run that show.
She was featured on a number of "conservative" shows after a short documentary was made about her. She subsequently became part of the Illinois Democrat political machine and in the process lost some of her lustre.
Reading the riot act to a poser may be just the thing to kick start a future congressional run, but the district she previously competed for did not think she was just what was needed. I'd share what at least one OIF vet from a sister AVN unit thinks of her, but it would get this thread pulled PDQ.
Mr. niteowl77
Ummm ... NO. Look up her politics. Aside from this, she's just another leftist demonicRAT.
She's another example that prior honorable military service does not predict conservative or constitutional governance as an elected official.
Self-correction:
Obviously enough people did think she was just what was needed, but what I meant was that not everybody in the district felt that way.
Sorry about that.
Maybe this person should get nominated for the Presidency. She’s a vet, Republican, female and disabled. If we’re now electing on the basis of affirmative action, at least she’s a true Republican.
And try to remember how easy it is for me to be fooled.
She is a huge lib and was one of the first Iraq War veterans to run for Congress in 2006. She was then posted as a senior appointee to the Veteran’s Admin under Obama. While her wounds are very real, her political reasoning is not so sound. She had a very shallow understanding of the situation in Iraq (based on the “moral standing” imparted by her wounds as opposed to long term study and experience in the region). She is a “Big Government Program person” on social issues..... But why didn’t she go after guys like this when she was a senior political appointee in the VA? The guy is a dirt bag, but he is only taking advantage of the programs and laws as written and practiced by the VA.
Also, her claim of 20% disability on her arm is a little misleading in this discussion.....It applies to her arm only. She would have 100% disability for the loss of her legs — In essence, the rating on her arm would be inconsequential as she would receive a much higher disability rating on it were it her only injury and she was not “maxed out” on the disability ratings for her legs.
I would also like to point out that John Kerry got three Purple Hearts for the three scratches he received in Vietnam. Congresswoman Duckworth received only one Purple Heart for being a double (almost triple)amputee.....BTW, I wonder what Kerry’s disability rating is?
See post 14 for reality. She is die hard lib and used her legs during her entire campaign. She is a skunk.
This clown was at Fort Monmouth, NJ, then the location of the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School. All of their students were enlisted soldiers of the U.S. Army. It was (and probably still is) routine to take star athletes who could not make the academic standards, enlist them in the Army and send them to USMA prep to bring their academic credientials up to snuff. The question is: did this guy get discharged from the military after his injury and if so, why? Since he later played four years of college football, it sounds like he may have taken the opportunity of his injury to bail out of the military.
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