R.I.P. Don McGuffin

Don McGuffin was taken yesterday to the world of beyond. May he sore with the eagles and walk again with angels and crochet with his mother again.
You see Don was married to my sister for a long time. 29 years of marriage would have come this year. Don lived life and experienced many things. And one thing we had in common was Janet.
Don was a welder, a mechanic, truck driver, heavy equipment operator and many other things. He liked to tinker and just be there in the mix. I didn't know Don as well as I should because of the distance that they lived but when we were together there was never a dull moment.
The reason that I'm this is that I am frustrated with the government system and the way that they have treated some of the veterans of conflicts and wars gone by.
Don served his country in Korea during the Vietnam war. He put in his time so to speak as well as so many others. But it seems that Don and so many others have slipped by never get all the help that they deserve. Don suffered from Parkinson's disease, nerve damage, and other undiagnosed things that were slowly taking him away. The red tape and the hoops that they had to endure was too great for the challenge of this man. Help came too late. They filled out paper work, more paper work, Don had tests (medical), paper work there, driving to and from this place and that place. More paper work. He even had a device in his brain that was placed to help with his Parkinson's. But it was to late.
There seems to be alot of this going on. Some are getting the help, and some that the help comes too late. I can see in Don's case that most of it came along later in life and was rapidly taking over his body. But that is no reason. The vets have served their country and the government has been slow to respond. The men and women that are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are they going to get the help they need later on in life or is the government going to be as slow for them as they were for Don ?
My dad refused to see anybody from the VA because he knew that it would be forever for something to be done. He has seen it in so many of his friends that he served with that have not really got all of the care that they deserve. Am I ranting, you be your sweet bippie.
I think the VA and the government need to take a long look at the men and women that have served this country in the past and get in touch with them and ask them. I'm sure that the answer would be similar to mine. That there needs to be a BIG change on how they are treated medically. There are so many program for the veterans out there that have helped with getting houses, jobs, loans, help with other things that they need, but medical is far at the bottom of the list. Health comes first I would think then the rest of it needs to fall into place.
Don will be missed by many MANY people. Friends from the race tracks where they worked and lived, the mine that he worked at, and many of the other lives that he crossed. He is a fallen Hero that the government let slip by.