Steve McQueen, famously known as the “King of Cool”, is more than just the anti-hero persona presented in his movies; he also served honorably the United States Marine Corps from 1947 to 1950.

McQueen lived a rather tumultuous childhood that involved his father’s leaving him and his mother when he was just six months, living with his grandparents until he was eight, being physically abused by his step father, living life on the streets with his mother for a certain period, and being sent to the California Junior Boys Republic where he started to grow into the man he was supposed to be.

After jumping from one job to another, he joined the Marines. He was promoted to private first class quickly and was assigned to an armored unit as a tank driver. But because of repeatedly succumbing to his rebellious nature, he was busted back to private seven times. Shore patrol caught him after two weeks of staying with his girlfriend carrying an expired weekend pass resulting in unauthorized absence. He also resisted arrest which led to his spending time in brig for 41 days.

Americans have always prioritized caring for the needs of our military Veterans.  The Continental Congress of 1776 was the promise pensions for any disabled veteran of the Revolutionary War.  Despite criticism of deficit spending over the last four years, there was universal support for increasing the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) budget by 41% to $140 billion this year.  That is why it is so depressing that the backlog doubled to over 900,000 for claims pending applications for disability  and the number delayed over a year has skyrocketed by 2000%.  Despite this abysmal performance, senior VA executives are eligible to collect bonuses of 35% on top of their lavish pay and benefits.

The ability of the VA and their 300,000 employees to provide service-related benefits has virtually collapsed.  Congressional revelations confirm that over the last four years delays newly returning veterans face before receiving disability compensation and benefits are far longer than the 273 days the agency had acknowledged.  But inspection of their internal data reveals that for first-time claims, including service in Iraq and Afghanistan, the wait is between 316 and 327 days.