Treto Garza

HARLINGEN, Aug. 9 - Remember Vietnam. Some 58,000-plus Americans were killed during the war, thousands became prisoners of war, and over 300,000 were wounded in action.

Many of those that served are still suffering from presumptive injuries of that war. Many are still wishing that it would go away. But Vietnam comes back to haunt us. And… here we go again!

Here is part of an article written by AP reporter Margie Mason that appeared in Yahoo News:

ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON – Cold War enemies the United States and Vietnam demonstrated their blossoming military relations Sunday as a U.S. nuclear supercarrier cruised in waters off the Southeast Asian nation's coast — sending a message that China is not the region's only big player.

Chinese navy ships were seen shadowing the USS George Washington at a distance over the past several days as the supercarrier made its way thought the South China Sea along Vietnam's eastern coast, U.S. Navy officials said Sunday.

Relations have thrived since the former foes shook hands in 1995. The U.S. is Vietnam's top export market and Americans are the country's No. 1 foreign investor. Two-way trade reached $15.4 billion in 2009.

Military ties have also grown since the first U.S. warship ship visited Ho Chi Minh City in 2003, including high-level defense talks and training.

Consorting with the enemy?

Imagine, we are ready to rebuild and help Vietnam. How about all our heroes that are still suffering? What about the Vietnam veterans here in the Rio Grande Valley that have been asking for a VA hospital for the area? What about all the veterans that have served their country honorably and yet the Veterans Administration continues to make life miserable for many of them?

President Barack Obama is here in Texas this week seeking support for his party's candidates. All good and well, but how about the promises that he made the veterans of South Texas when he came down here during the presidential campaign? He was in the Valley twice and in San Antonio once during the campaign. At all three stops he promised that he would help veterans and do away with the need of having to travel 250 miles for acute health care. He said that it was not right for our veterans to have to go through that.

President Obama speaks highly of our military and veterans when he has a chance and of course when the audience is veterans. But how soon does he forget. Once his gets on his helicopter or his limousine and is taken to Air Force 1, he forgets about the veterans of South Texas and flies to his next rally.

President Obama should direct Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki to come to the Valley and solve this problem. Both of our U.S. senators and our local congressmen have written to Secretary Shinseki to come to the Valley and meet with veterans and see the need. Our state legislative delegation, both senators and representatives, have done the same. Will the Obama administration answer?

Treto Garza is co-chair of the Veterans Alliance of the Rio Grande Valley. A Vietnam War veteran and prolific writer on veterans' issues, Garza is a resident of Harlingen, Texas. His Veterans Voice column appears weekly in the Guardian.

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