Bean works hard on veterans' issues

I am a veteran U.S. Marine with more than 17 years in the Corps and many deployments including combat.

Back on Sept. 25, the Daily Herald published a letter from a fellow Marine Corps veteran, Mr. Larry C. Szempruch of Gurnee. He wrote of his concern for our fellow service members, and how he and other "like minded" veterans will be placing their support behind Kirk Morris, a Republican of Gurnee, in next year's election for our 8th District congressional representative.

I, too, am concerned about the welfare of veterans when they return from hostile shores, but unlike Mr. Szempruch I will wholeheartedly be supporting Congresswoman Melissa Bean next November.

Once again, it seems that the right-wing side of American politics is working hard to perpetuate the notion that all veterans must support a misguided war to bring peace, and that Democrats don't support veterans. To that end, I believe Mr. Szempruch made his political allegiances clear when he stated that Congresswoman Bean has "done little to help veterans returning form Afghanistan and Iraq." That saddest part of his comments, however, was that they could not be further from the truth, and if he took the time to pay attention to the work of our elected officials, instead of politicizing the war in Iraq, he would know this.

Congresswoman Bean helped pass HR 2642, increasing Veterans Affairs' budget to $87.7 billion, the largest budget increase in the history of the VA, $3.4 billion more than the VFW and the American Legion asked for. Congresswoman Bean also supported the Wounded Warrior Act, passed in response to the Walter Reed Army Hospital scandal, requiring the Department of Defense to develop comprehensive post-war treatment procedures for our returning wounded heroes. It also allocates $50 million to establish better systems for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries.

In fact, Congresswoman Bean hosted an event on Oct. 1 to connect veterans in the 8th District to local service providers such as the Illinois VA, Social Security Administration and the Disabled Veterans of America. How's that for helping our hometown heroes? It seems that in Illinois and in Washington, Congresswoman Bean has supported veterans at every opportunity, and I will be proud to support her re-election.

Mr. Szempruch would have you think that because I'm a vet and a Marine l will automatically support Mr. Morris. While I certainly respect the sacrifices that Mr. Morris and all of the military families of the 8th District have made, I will support Congresswoman Bean based on the merits of her strong record of supporting veterans' issues.

James Fallis United States Marine Corps Wadsworth