Rep. O’Rourke holds Town Hall meeting, talks with veterans

Rep. Beto O’Rourke held a town hall meeting with local veterans who have serious concerns regarding care and benefits they receive from the Department of Veteran Affairs Saturday afternoon.

O’rourke spoke with the veterans to update them on his work to improve benefits they’re entitled to, but the vets had a message of their own for the congressman.

“They do have issues with the back log,””The programs that we have in the army in the military, in theVA are being plagued by toxic leadership,””Physiological abuse coming from chains of command,” said veterans as they spoke to O’Rourke.

Servicemen and women say the Veterans Affairs department isn’t equipped to handle their medical claims.

“They’re not trained well enough to handle soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorderand traumatic brain injury,and they have no medical background or experience,” said veteran Joshua Segar.

Since Segar came back from Afghanistan, he says he just hasn’t been the same.

“I was a soldier, I was an infantryman,I was proud to be in the Army, and you look at me now andI’m just a shell of my former self,” said Segar.

Segar says PTSDis taking overhis life.

“Not only is it ruining my personal family, my family life is ruined, me mentally and insideI just don’t know whoI am anymore,” said Segar.

Segar insists he just can’t count on Veterans Affairs.

“We truly need help out here, and honestly thats allI can say, it’s just we need help out here,” said Segar.

O’rourke recently made a trip to Waco, Texas, the processing center where El Paso’s Veteran claims end up.

“We need to improve the level of service veterans get in this community,” said O’Rourke. He tells ABC-7, “We are hearing from far to many veterans who are waiting far too long to hear back on disability claims, who are waiting too long to see a doctor, who are really having a hard time seeing a mental specialist, so we need more resources.”

O’Rourkesays there are already talks about improving the quality of care for vets.

“I think the chances are pretty good that we will have a full-serviceVA medical facility here in El Paso,” O’Rourke said.

O’Rourke tellsABC-7 he wrote abill called the Faster Filling Act that will help veterans file fully developed claims, and that will ensure they will get a full response from the VA within100 days as opposed tothe 400days that some veterans are seeing now.