Excerpt:
Three congressmen, two Republicans and one otherwise reliably liberal Democrat, fired off a letter to new Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel asking once again that the status of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting have its status changed from its current designation of "workplace violence" to a combat-related incident. The three congressmen pointed out that because of its currently classified as a case of workplace violence, the victims of the shooting have been given sub-standard care in VA hospitals, provided with sub-standard benefits, and in some cases have not been able to qualify for retirement benefits.
The three signatories of the letter to Hagel are: Rep. Frank Wolf, a Republican from Virginia, Rep. Thomas J. Rooney, a Republican from Florida, and Rep. Chaka Fattah, a Democrat from Pennsylvania. The letter begins with a dire warning that the current classification of workplace violence has had significant negative effects for many of the victims of the Fort Hood attack. The three congressmen hope that now that the Department of Defense (DoD) is under new leadership that this classification will change. The letter explains: