According to the Center for Investigative Reporting, The number of veterans dying while waiting for benefit claims has skyrocketed.
900,000 veterans have been waiting for at least 9 months.
In urban areas, like Los Angeles, the wait can be as long as a year and a half. Consequently, in the last three years the number of veterans who died while waiting for benefits has risen from 6,400 to 19,500.
“Support our troops.” You hear that phrase whenever people are beating the drums of war, but when those soldiers come back or need help later in life, our nation grows strangely silent.
http://cironline.org/reports/number-veterans-who-die-waiting-benefits-claims-skyrockets-4074