Sanders pledges that vets will receive the care they need

MOUNT VERNON, Ia. — Sen. Bernie Sanders pledged that, if elected president, he would ensure all military veterans receive the mental and physical care they need.

Sanders, during the second of a two-day swing through Iowa, held a brief round-table discussion with veterans Sunday afternoon in a back room of the athletic building at Cornell College.

During the discussion, Sanders and the panel listed off a variety of veteran's issues, including the GI Bill, leave time from active duty and access to care through the U.S.Department of Veterans Affairs. Sanders highlighted his experience serving on the U.S. Senate Committee on Veteran's Affairs, including his two years as chairman of that committee.

"The bottom line for me is that when people put their lives on the line for this country, I think we we have a moral responsibility to make sure we give them the best quality health care that we can provide and we get their benefits to them in a timely manner," Sanders said.

Sanders pointed to 2014 legislation he helped broker that pumped billions of additional dollars to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. That measure allowed for the hiring of more doctors, nurses and other caregivers after a scandal uncovered extensive wait times for veterans to receive care.

“I believe the VA in general does a good job, but there needs to be a lot of improvement,” Sanders said Sunday.

Sanders acknowledged both the loss of life from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the lifelong battles hundreds of veterans face from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

"We have seen, my God, in a broad sense what deployment after deployment after deployment has done to people," Sanders said. "We have seen in recent years it's almost unprecedented."

One panelist asked Sanders what he planned to do about the high suicide rate among veterans, noting that more recent combat vets died at their own hand than died in recent wars.

Sanders highlighted a program in his home state of Vermont that worked proactively to identify mental health issues with returning combat veterans. He said the VA and the National Guard worked together to hire veterans, who were better equipped to approach other vets.

“People who could talk the language, who could walk the walk,” Sanders said. “And what we said is you go on out and knock on doors – don’t wait on somebody to walk into the VA – and you sit down and you talk to the veteran and or his wife and get a sense of what is going on."

Donald Tyne, the Linn County director of veterans affairs, said aside from hearing loss, dental care is the number one issue local vets face. He’s watched some dental problems grow so dire that maladies spread to the eyes, he said. And that has more than just health consequences.

“It’s kind of hard to go into a job interview with your teeth disfigured,” Tyne said.

Later, at a rally in front of some 1,100 supporters in the college gymnasium, Sanders again pushed the issue of veteran care.

"If elected president, I will make sure that every veteran in this country gets the quality health care they deserve and the benefits they need," he said. "People can disagree on many things. But what we cannot disagree about is that we will not turn our backs on the men and women who put their lives on the line for this country."

Sanders delivered his standard stump speech to an audience that trended very young. The Vermont senator said he has spoken in front of some 400,000 people across the country as he's campaigned for the Democratic nomination for president. In New Hampshire, he has spoken in front of 19,000 and in Iowa, he has addressed a combined 27,000 people.

"Just yesterday, we were in Anamosa, Clinton, Dubuque and Waterloo in one day," he said. "We met with over 3,000 people."

AT THE EVENTS

SETTINGS: Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church in Waterloo; Waterloo campaign field office; veterans round-table discussion in a small back room of Cornell College in Mount Vernon; rally at Cornell College gymnasium.

CROWDS: About 115 at Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist; about 75 at the Waterloo campaign office; a panel of 19 for the round table; a crowd of some 1,100 at Cornell College.

REACTIONS: The church crowd was warm and receptive, offering affirmations and brief applause; The Cornell College crowd, which trended very young, was loud and enthusiastic, shouting and interrupting Sanders' speech with applause.

OTHER STOPS: Sanders held a meet-and-greet with campaign volunteers in Davenport on Sunday evening.

WHAT'S NEXT: Sunday wrapped up a two-day swing through Iowa for Sanders. He next heads to New Hampshire for campaign events on Monday and Tuesday.