A Vietnam veterans service group has asked President Barack Obama to provide pardons for Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to The Hill.
"As pardons are being issued to people who have been convicted of serious felonies, veterans who served their country in combat wait to be offered the same clemency," said John Rowan, the president of Vietnam Veterans of America.
He apparently was referring to Chelsea Manning, an Army private who is serving a 35-year sentence for releasing classified information to the public.
However, on Tuesday, the president commuted Manning's prison sentence. She will be released in May.
Obama also commuted 208 other sentences and pardoned 64 more.
Service memebers who have PTSD and got less than honorable discharges should be given pardons, because their situation keeps benefits out of their reach, Rowan said in The Hill's report.
"We, at Vietnam Veterans of America, continue to hold out hope that President Obama, in his final days as Commander-in-Chief, will not forget the thousands of veterans with PTSD who have been denied access to health care and treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs," Rowan said, according to The Hill.
Veterans with PTSD need help now, Rowan added.
"We hope that President Obama, in the final hours of his presidency, will do right by his troops by helping bad-paper vets with PTSD. We cannot wait another four to eight years for an outgoing president to take action to help the most vulnerable veterans in the country."
This is not the first time Rowan has called on Obama to issue the pardons. He sent a similar call in November.
"Veterans who were administratively discharged without the due process rights of a court martial have been left behind for decades," Rowan wrote. "You must not leave office before acting to help them."
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