Edwards' Fighting for One America" Iowa Bus Tour kicks off today

[RedEarth]

Elizabeth and I are looking forward to this tour and talking to thousands of Iowans about the challenges we face and our determination to fight for One America where everyone has a chance to succeed," Edwards said. "This will be a great opportunity to hear from the people of Iowa, and to ask for their support in this effort to bring about the real change our country needs. One of those changes is the way we treat the men and women who have served and sacrificed in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s time we had a president who will take responsibility, and make sure that bureaucracy never gets in the way of veterans getting the care they need and deserve."

Too often, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who fought for our country encounter a system that takes months or even years to make decisions and that forces them to fight again for benefits. Edwards believes we can do better through reforms that will help our injured warriors and make government work more efficiently and effectively. As president, Edwards will enact a 5-point plan to help returning service men and women with disabilities by:

Processing the backlog of disability claims that exists when he takes office by Memorial Day 2009, and cutting the average processing time in half.
Fixing the disconnect between the Department of Defense and the VA by launching a broad effort to coordinate all DOD and VA functions and by only having the VA make disability determinations.
Hiring at least 300 more VA caseworkers and implementing an accelerated and targeted training program for them, including family outreach.
Providing each service member with a comprehensive, standardized medical examination immediately upon leaving the service, and linking that examination with the service member’s disability rating.
Facilitating care for "signature injuries"—post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), by increasing capacity within the Department of Defense for recognizing and addressing these injuries, increasing counseling resources, permitting access outside of the networks, and ensuring outreach to family members, who can help recognize symptoms.

Over the next seven days, Edwards will talk about his vision for our country. Each day of the bus tour will focus on a different critical issue facing America - ending the war in Iraq, restoring economic fairness to rural America, rewarding work, delivering true universal health care, creating a new energy economy, strengthening education and building a One America where every person has a chance to succeed. For more information on Edwards’ "Fighting for One America" bus tour and his plan to stand by our heroes, please visit JohnEdwards.com/Iowa.

http://johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20070813-iraq-afghanistan-veterans/