Senator Murray fights for Vets

Patty Murray, No Newcomer to Advocating for Veterans

By Lois Romano
Thursday, March 29, 2007; A17

Long before the uproar over the long-term medical care of troops returning home from Iraq made it fashionable to advocate for veterans rights, Sen. Patty Murray was on the front lines.

The Washington Democrat's father, a disabled World War II veteran, used a wheelchair most of his life. At 19, she volunteered in a veterans psychiatric ward during the Vietnam War. But nothing, Murray said, compares to what she is seeing now.

"It's just amazing to me that we are now in the fifth year of this war and this administration is still not ready for the large number of soldiers coming home -- to help them navigate the system and give them medical attention they need," she said in an interview in the Capitol. ...(full article)