Pete Renick doesn’t waver about which candidate he likes for president.
Suffering from depression, post-traumatic stress distorder [PTSD], Hepatitis C and other maladies that threaten to cut his life short, the 59-year old Vietnam War veteran — fed up with the runaround from the Veterans Administration — sought a higher power.
Renick did what any other brother in arms might; he pleaded his case with the Republican Senator and presidential nominee from Arizona, John S. McCain.
Renick, who moved to the lake a year ago from Malta, Ill. said the VA hospital in Madison, Wis.  was, in his words, “a joke.” He had learned years ago of his exposure to Agent Orange while serving as a radio operator with the 4th Infantry of the U.S. Army in the central highlands of Vietnam in 1969-’70. In November 2006 Renick had a benign skin cancer lesion removed from his chest at the Madision VA clinic.
“I was stereotyped from the beginning as a drunk, a liar that can’t be trusted and was used as a guinea pig for medical students,” Renick claimed. “There are other veterans out there like me with Hep C and PCT [porphiria cutanea tarda] and they’re treating us all the same.”
After two years of struggles with the VA in Wisconsin, Renick and his wife moved to Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks, he says, to be near a better facility.
His goal from the start was to receive full disability benefits from the VA for PTSD, a request that had been denied and delayed for two years. So on April 7 of this year Renick fired off a letter to Suzanne S. Lowe at the V.A. Regional Office in Chicago. He had been waiting nine weeks just to be scheduled for an appointment for an exam in Columbia.
“The past 21 months have been the most traumatic for my wife and I. The diagnosis of Hep-C, Porphyria, basil cell carcinoma and major depression within the first two months have taken its toll,” he wrote. “However, dealing with the Veterans Administration is far more traumatic than any of the procedures I’ve been through...except Vietnam!”
He concluded the letter by saying he could understand waiting 60 days for an appointment, but he couldn’t understand why it would take 60 days to call and make an appointment.
Renick faxed copies of the letter to Senators Barack Obama and John McCain.
On April 7 McCain signed a letter to Renick acknowledging receipt of his fax, thanked him for the communication and enclosed a privacy consent waiver and instructions to include all pertinent documents in his reply.
That set in motion a chain of events that, compared to the red tape standards set by the VA, happened at the speed of light. On May 12 a letter from Director of Veteran’s Affairs, Michael D. Olsen, was sent to McCain apprising the senator of Renick’s status.
“Correspondence dated April 10, 2008 advised Mr. Renick an examination has been requested for him a Columbia VA Medical Center,” wrote Olsen. “For now, we are waiting on the results from Mr. Renick’s examination. Every effort will be made to render a decision on Mr. Renick’s claim as soon as possible.”
The next month Renick was determined 50 percent disabled due to PTSD, but was again denied disability benefits for Hep-C and PCT. Still, Renick persisted, sending another letter to McCain citing lab results from 1984 [performed at the Madison VA] that he says could have identified Hep-C 24 years ago.
“Had I been tested back then, I would have tested positive and could have been treated. To date, I have not been treated because my condition[s] contra-indicate the use of interferon,” Renick wrote.
Once again, Senator McCain wrote to Renick saying on July 24, “I understand you have encountered a problem with getting the status of your VA benefits claim for Hepatitis C and ‘PCT.’ In an effort to be of assistance, I have contacted the Department of Veterans Affairs. As soon as I receive an answer to my inquiry, you will be notified of your case status,” wrote McCain. “Again Frank, I wish to thank you for presenting me with this opportunity to be of service to you. I will make every effort to help you with this situation.”
So as of late last week, that’s where Renick stood. He said he was surprised and honored that McCain was willing to use his clout to help a veteran in need. Like thousands of other Vietnam, Korea — and now veterans of the U.S. war on terror veterans — Renick believes the government could do a lot more to help former soldiers deal with the physical and emotional scars of war.
“I was promised when I was drafted that I would receive free health care for life,” said Renick. “I’m angry and disappointed that those were just promises because there’s a lot of vets that feel betrayed by their own country.”
Perhaps because McCain spent five and a half years as a war prisoner of the North Vietnamese after being shot down over Hanoi, the Republican presidential nominee sees his comrades from the Indo-China war as special projects. Perhaps McCain is making political hay of the interdiction.
“I believe he would do this even if he wasn’t running for president,” Renick said. “Because of his record — he’s for the vets of America. I’m not doing this for the money — if it were, I’d have already hired a lawyer — but, it’s not. I’m as patriotic as you can get. I don’t want to sue my government.”
“But, I won’t have a life until this [expletive] is settled.”
A spokesperson in McCain’s Phoenix office said the senator’s casework on behalf of vets is something they can’t comment on.
“It’s a matter of confidentiality,” said Alexis Lane.
Meanwhile, Renick remains undaunted.
“I not only believe I am eligible for full disability [benefits], but I’m doing this for my wife and my family and vets everywhere,” he said.