To the Editor:

Fellow Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers, Marines and Coast Guard take notice. We are once again in battle and this time it’s with the U.S. government under the guise of veteran’s administration.

In 2014 Obama signed the Veteran’s Choice and Accountability Act which was supposed to eliminate wait times and travel burdens on veterans.

We were told that if we lived more than forty miles from a VAMC that we could receive local care through Veteran’s Choice, which I and many others believed, would eliminate the need to travel to Syracuse.

Well that seems not to be the case. I was told by the Massena VA clinic, the representative of the Syracuse VA and his superior that because we live within forty miles of the Massena outpatient clinic that we are not eligible for veteran’s choice.

I am not the most intelligent person but even I can see the ridiculousness of this. Why is an outpatient clinic that does nothing more than blood pressure, blood work, checkups and mental health even factored into the mix?

Today I sent a barrage of e-mails to our elected officials requesting an answer to this. I contacted John McCain and all the members of the Armed Services and Veteran’s Affairs Committees as well as New York Senator Pattie Ritchie and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.

If I don’t receive a response in our favor I will fire another burst. I will be walking point for you in this fight and I hope that you have my back. The only way to win this battle is to become more vocal and stand together as one force.

We need to let the politicians that make these rules understand that we are sick and tired of being treated like third class citizens. God bless America and bless her veteran’s more.

Frederick Cockayne

Commander Massena DAV Chapter 171