By popular demand I am posting the entire, raw 2min 50sec interview I conducted with Pam Richardson at the Barack Obama 2008 rally yesterday in Los Angeles.
Richardson was one of several people I casually interviewed before the actual rally began — you can see my best of video here. Her story is unique because — despite being a 19-year U.S. Army veteran — she is not receiving full benefits. Why? Because, even though she lost her leg in Iraq, according to her story, the U.S. government has ruled it an accident and not a combat injury. She says she lost her leg when a tanker fell onto her tent.
There’s no question that veterans rights will — and should be — a MAJOR issue in the 2008 presidential campaign. We’ve heard the horror stories and we’ve heard about the chronically injured and their families being literally left to fend for themselves by the government.
Now, a full-fledged scandal at Walter Reed is being probed. AmericaBlog has a close watch on this (see the right sidebar) and there’s more via Technorati.
Watch the 4-minute, edited video from the Barack Obama rally below:
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Thanks,very interesting and useful post
She needs to contact DAV there is no reason why she isn't receiving full benefits.
I don't have her info, unfortunately. I should probably retract the 1972-2003 graphic, however -- when I asked when she served, she said 1972 to 2003. Earlier, however, she said she was a 19-year vet. Of course, I have no way to verify any of this -- I went out intending to capture the peoples' voice. I hereby lateral to anyone interested in follow-up reporting and will definitely pass along any info I receive.
Either way, it's nice to see AmericaBLOG and others pickup on the Walter Reed story and run with it -- perhaps if better care/benefits were written into the non-binding reso, it would have squeaked thru the senate.
There's quite a discussion going on at Americablog regarding her claims. Any way to check them out?