Our Nebraska U.S. Senators and Congressmen have stated that they stand behind our service men and women and our veterans, however there's a segment of veterans that the current senators and congressmen will not even respond to when asked simply what their stance is and what are they doing about the issues such the lack of awarding of the Medal of Honor to live service personnel; (as of this date not one of these medals have been given to a live veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars), or what is their office doing concerning the alarming rate of suicides among our service personnel? (for example the U.S. Army alone had 143 suicides in 2008 and are on track to surpass that number in 2009).The third question this group of veterans asked was; "What is your stance on HR bill 5564 which would bar honorable discharged veterans from military burial benefits if convicted of a sex offense years later) And the reason these elected officials (which I believe never served themselves)was because the questions came from incarcerated veterans.

Letters to Congressmen Fortenberry, Terry and Senator Nelson dated 1 March 2009 have gone unanswered. I guess it's not politically correct to deal with the class of veterans that find themselves behind prison walls, even though some of these veterans fought for the rights and freedoms that those elected officials enjoy today. I guess it didn't matter to be so politically correct to Senators Hagel, Exon, Kerry and Congressman Bereuter as they treated all veterans as veterans, maybe it was because each one of them served their country, while Mr. Nelson, Mr. Fortenberry and Mr. Terry might not have.

Only one of the issues addressed to these current elected officials had anything to do with convicted veterans, the other questions did not, only expressed our concern about the treatment of our current brothers and sisters in the military.

Yes, the veterans behind these walls at the Nebraska state Penitentiary made some bad mistakes and tragic choices, however it was not a mistake or error when we served our country honorably, nor does our current circumstance mean we don't care a great deal about our country and its service personnel. We continue to support America's troops and we continue to reachout to the families in Nebraska who have lost loved ones in the current wars or the past wars.

We will continue to support the Zich family who's son and brother has been missing since 1972 in Vietnam. We will continue to support the Codner and Boye Families who lost sons in Iraq in 2004. We will continue to make poppies for the American Legion for the benefit of needy Nebraska veterans. We will continue to fight to see that ALL honorably discharged veterans who die get the proper burial which was earned by serving their country honorably. We will continue to support needy veterans in prison or out.

The question we would ask of the elected official listed above is; "What have you done for the Zich family lately? What have you done for the Boye family lately? What have you done for the Codner family lately?

And one last question, "How dare you as elected official who never served in the military take away earned military benefits from those who have served honorably in America's military? To say you serve All Nebraska veterans is far from the truth, and you should be ashamed of yourself. And that your office or you won't even respond to these veterans is unbelievable to say the least.