Veterans Day 2009

Below is just a small group of articles and reports coming in on this Veterans Day 2009. Some about Veterans Day, some about Veterans older and to the present, some about todays Veterans and Soldiers. Much will be said today, much seen, some will even think about, some.

While important it isn't so much about what will be said or done by our political leaders, it's really more about how the greater majority in this country who don't serve, don't want to really sacrifice, but are quick to use those who do, and their families, then quickly move away from their false meme's when it comes time to actually heed the calls for the funds to pay for the results of our occupations of choice. And as always by not heeding those calls for sacrifice it ends up causing more suffering by those who've suffered enough for country and much much more in the costs of the results of their service!

No Longer a Soldier, Shinseki Has a New Mission

But the visit also underscored Mr. Shinseki’s current mission: to modernize his problem-plagued agency, which was struggling to care for aging veterans even before the flood of young ones from Iraq and Afghanistan began.

For months, Mr. Shinseki has been crisscrossing the country as President Obama’s pinstriped evangelist for veterans’ care, raising concerns about a coming tide of post-traumatic stress cases, traumatic brain injuries and other physical and psychological scars of battle.

Having led soldiers in Vietnam as a young West Point graduate, until a mine tore off part of his right foot and nearly ended his Army career, he can speak about the “baggage” of war with deep feeling.

“All of us who went through combat, we were carrying a little bit of baggage from the experience, the stress,” he said in an interview before the Fort Hood shootings...>>>>

Honoring Our Service Members

A By-the-Numbers Look at Difficulties Facing America’s Veterans on Veterans Day 2009

This Veterans Day, we at the Center for American Progress once again honor the millions of brave men and women in the active and reserve components of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have made great sacrifices to protect our country and our freedoms—especially those who have given their lives. We also honor the families, friends, and loved ones who made their service possible...>>>>

Many Veterans Are Without A Health Insurance Plan

Doesn't the Veteran's Administration provide health insurance and medical to veterans? That is largely the case. However, many veterans uninjured in combat are--surprisingly--considered ineligible for VA insurance. The post-military income levels deemed too high to receive benefits are surprisingly low; a veteran with no dependents can only take advantage of the government's health insurance plan if he or she earns under $29,400 per year, while one with four dependents can earn around $41,300 before losing eligibility for VA benefits. Such incomes aren't quite poverty level, but are the domain of working-class Americans (including civilians) unable to afford private insurance if their employer doesn't offer it. Troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are also struggling with unemployment, and are a disproportionate percentage of the nation's homeless. Many are working low-paying jobs that push them just above Medicaid and VA eligibility. This makes it even harder for them to become insured...>>>>

Veterans Day, A look back and one forward

This year, we are struck by an additional sentiment, the solemn duty that falls to all citizens to make sure that the nation never sends its men and women in uniform into harm's way without sure and certain justification. We write this as two U.S. wars grind on in Asia, and the president weighs the advice of one of his highest commanders to escalate the war in one of those theaters, Afghanistan/Pakistan, by an additional 40,000 troops...>>>>

Reid: Coburn move 'illogical'

{this is an automated voice read of the short article written}

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) “illogical" for holding up a veterans care bill Tuesday, criticizing the Oklahoma Republican for supporting war funding while blocking health care funding for veterans...>>>>

In this report below the following is stated:

"I don't think we've really cracked the nut on how to really get at PTSD and TBI," said the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Danny Dudek. "This is the most complex job I have ever had. Being in a battalion where people are going through the most difficult thing they've ever had to deal with."

Well for some four decades Veterans, starting with us 'Nam Vets which opened up and brought forth our Korean and WWII brothers, and some really dedicated civilians who did hear us, have been yelling into the Winds of a Country that didn't want to Listen. That Country hires it's representatives who weren't forced to pay attention, and the Circle Comes Back Around adding this time not just serving but serving Multiple Times under the extreme stress of Conflict adding to lives stress!!

Army strain, recovery at Fort Lewis

Veterans Day traditionally has been set aside more to honor those who have served rather than those still serving. But eight-plus years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a huge class of combat veterans who still wear the uniform, many of them with two or three or more deployments under their belts and perhaps more in their futures.

Ballard, for example, is determined to rejoin his unit in Afghanistan. He is a medic in a Stryker brigade and was injured on one of the unit's first missions after deploying to northern Afghanistan a few months ago.

"We ran over an [improvised explosive device]," Ballard said. "I remember the floor coming up very quickly, and it forced me straight down to the ground, and then there was that brief second in time where I was sort of floating as the vehicle dropped and I was still in the air."...>>>>



Vice President Biden speaks at a Fort Lewis memorial ceremony to honor seven Stryker brigade soldiers killed in Afghanistan. June 24, 2009

Sen. Jim Webb: Critical to keep promise to veterans

Each year on this day, Americans take a pause from school and the workplace to commemorate the service of our nation's veterans. With one of the largest populations of veterans and active-duty military service members, Virginia plays a vital role in our nation's defense.

As the son of an Air Force officer, the father of a Marine and a Marine combat veteran myself, I understand the value of having leaders in Congress who know firsthand what it's like to be deployed, to have close family members deployed and, ultimately, to join the ranks of my fellow veterans...>>>>

Veteran-led Peer Support Combats Suicide

Last month in Washington, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki made a staggering announcement: more veterans have committed suicide since 2001 than have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Coming within weeks of the release of the US Army's suicide prevention guidebook, the VA Secretary's statement underscores the commitment to teaching service members and veterans the methods for overcoming combat stress.

While for many the manual will be an important tool, veteran-to-veteran peer support is often the best way to stay mentally healthy during and after wartime service...>>>>

Iraq, Afghanistan veterans need more help at home

More resources may be needed to help care-givers cope with a rising caseload of damaged or suicidal veterans in need of counseling.

Floyd Meshad, Vietnam vet, was in a Ralphs supermarket in Westchester when his cellphone rang at 9 o'clock one evening not long ago.

It was Meshad's suicide hotline, and a soldier was being patched through.

Meshad, a psychiatric social worker, walked outside the store so he could concentrate while trying to talk the soldier out of killing himself. He gets lots of calls like this from all over the country, more now than ever, and he knew one thing:

This soldier, calling from Florida, was serious...>>>>

Impossible Dream - A Tribute to Native American Veterans



When I was discharged back in '71, after my four years of duty in the Navy, all shore bases, I didn't expect nor even look for this Country to welcome me nor give much back, been in for four and once joining the community of soldiers then veterans it's quickly seen and known what real support there is for those who serve once out. My last year of service was in country Vietnam which for us 'Nam Vets compounded the known of payback, what with the coming results of our countries use of Defoliants, Agent Orange plus, as it started not only affecting many of those who served in the area's where sprayed from our planes but the Vietnamese civilians as well. Then we finally started to understand what always has been as to extreme traumatic events and stress on the human mind, Post Traumatic Stress, and for many the life long nightmares of a war that never goes away, and for civilians replying their own traumatic life tragedies that have been done to them. And so much more.

I came out unscathed, not wounded physically but having served in a occupation conflict with the knowledge not only had I changed but so had everyone else who served as well as those we occupied, the trauma of wars. While not having flash backs nor nightmares I did feel that we all are now wounded with post traumatic stress, most not having more then our memories every once in awhile but not so as to be debilitating nor effecting our daily lives.

I, like many many of my brothers and sisters, became an advocate for the care of those physically and mentally wounded in our Wars of Choice, advocates that for the most part weren't listened to. Until Now, and that has been brought about by once again a Nation accepting the failed policies of the few who controlled the leadership and easy to come to them lies and propaganda sending our soldiers into not one but two long running occupations, we're still in both!

Army Sgt. Richard Yarosh: Portrait in Smithsonian

Justified Honor and Remembrance for not only Sgt. Yarosh but all who served and are serving in these two theaters, burned soldier portrait to show at Smithsonian!

This is and will be for a long time a great tribute to this soldier, and all the Fallen and Maimed of these two continuing occupations. And like "The Wall", until we can build a Memorial for the Fallen of both these conflicts, it should be a Reminder to this Nation of what We Allowed "In Our Names!"!!

Army Sgt. Richard Yarosh

SAN ANTONIO — Retired Army Sgt. Richard Yarosh has gotten used to the stares. His face is blanketed in knotty scar tissue. His nose tip is missing. His ears are gone, as is part of his right leg. His fingers are permanently bent and rigid.

All is the result of an explosion in Iraq that doused him in fuel and fire three years ago.

“I know people are curious,” he said. “They’ll stop in their tracks and look. I guess I can understand. I probably would have stared, too.”

Snip

The gallery received more than 3,300 entries. Many are less conventional portraits, including video and photos, but others, like that of Yarosh, draw strength from the traditional head-and-shoulders composition, said curator Brandon Fortune.

Mitchell’s use of the style — historically reserved for nobility, a high-ranking military officer or a president, not a disfigured soldier in an Army T-shirt — democratizes such paintings, Fortune said.

“The portrait is clearly meant to honor him. I think that contributes to the gravity of the presentation,” she said.

Snip

Yarosh was astonished when he saw the completed portrait.

“It was perfect. I couldn’t believe that he captured me,” he said. “It captures my pride. I’m proud of the way I look. I’m proud of the reason for the way I look.”..>>>Rest Found Here

Speaking of a Memorial, I've had a picture in my head all these past years of another "Wall", facing ours but built up on the top of steps for each year we stay in these theaters, to tower above ours but making a Corridor for the public to walk through.

Towering above ours because we 'Nam Vets and this Nation didn't Keep Our Promise: To Learn The Lessons Of 'Nam And To Never To Allow Another 'War/Occupation of Choice!

The Steps to be the Sacrifice this Nation finally makes for what it allowed, All Visitors would need to walk up each step to reach the Names Engraved in Honor from this Country for their Service and Sacrifice!!

Silent Partners: DADT

In Their Boots - 2nd Season recent episode, 7.04.09.

Silent Partners: Episode 4


“Silent Partners” is a look at the hidden effects of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law through the eyes of 3 partners of deployed service members.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN VOTEVETS PETITION ON DON'T ASK DON'T TELL

In Their Boots: Vets For Hire, Episode 3

After serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, three veterans discover the value of their service as they search for employment in the midst of a troubled economy.



In Their Boots Website for the two previous of this year and links to last years online productions, as well as the other important site links.

One of those being Their Resources Page for Military/Veterans and Their Families.

2nd Annual CIAV Conference May 4-8, 2009

Washington DC

“I ask all Americans to make a renewed commitment to serving their community and their country. We’re going to have to take responsibility – all of us.”

- President Barack Obama

General Session: The Coalition Reports from the Field

The Coalition for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans are at the forefront of service delivery and advocacy on behalf of military, veterans, families and survivors. Member organizations work in a diverse array of fields from employment and housing assistance to mental healthcare to policy advocacy. We welcome the opportunity during this general session to highlight the latest issues facing our military veteran community and demonstrate the innovative work of CIAV organizations. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will discuss obstacles faced during transition and we will share a special screening of the groundbreaking documentary series In Their Boots profile of Project Victory’s extraordinary Traumatic Brain Injury treatment center.

Topics - Agenda:

Outreach and Support for Military Children

No one feels the burden of deployment more than military children. Emotional and educational support is crucial to helping these children cope with the stress and anxiety of having a parent deployed overseas in a war zone. Panelists:

Suicide in the Military: Caring for the Surviving Families

Today’s military members are enduring multiple deployments, extended tours, combat fatigue and losing buddies all while trying to maintain their relationships and lives at home. The costs of war are taking a toll on the military family which unfortunately is resulting in a drastic increase in the suicide rate among service members both at home and abroad. Panelists:

Public, Private, and Community Partnerships

This panel illustrates how collaborative efforts between government, private, nonprofit organizations, and the community strengthen the system of care and support for those who serve. Panelists:

Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Pain: Treating the Whole Person

Not all physical injuries and wounds are visible and often the development of mental health issues begin with untreated or under-treated pain related to combat and the physical stress of military life. This panel will address the importance of addressing the physical as well as emotional wounds of combat. Panelists:

Physical and Mental Healthcare: Access to Services and Amplifying Needs

Accessing care is the first step in the journey of coming home. This panel will address the importance of quality treatment and access to services for service members and veterans. Panelists:

Peer Support: Helping Each Other Find A Way Home

Peer support is an integral component for many CIAV organizations in helping veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This panel will discuss what peer support is and how it contributes to the veteran’s well being. Panelists will discuss how to develop a wellness model and integrate peer support into ongoing services and programs. Panelists:

Economic Welfare: Access to Benefits, Housing and Employment

This panel will discuss the economic components of transition for the OIF/OEF veteran. CIAV panelists will address housing, access to VA compensation, legal services, and employment and training programs. The dialog will also touch upon homelessness, military discharge status, and mental health as job readiness, and other issues that complicate the transition process. Panelists:

Engaging the Media: A Look Inside Coverage of the War and Where We Go Next

How can two media outlets tell one story so differently? With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we have seen our news outlets arrive at different conclusions and shape the opinions of the American public. For nonprofit organizations and activists, it is important to recognize how the stories of these two wars are shaped and to be aware of how journalists shape their stories. This panel will consist of renowned journalists including:

The First Annual Conference

The First Annual Conference helped us to utilize our collective resources and embark on a long-term strategic planning process with simple goals: to ensure access to appropriate quality resources for military, veterans, families and survivors. Moving forward, we hope to capitalize on our individual strengths and work together to break down barriers between the military and civilian community to build a stronger, more effective, more efficient, more caring and more comprehensive system of care for decades to come.

For a full report on the 1st Annual Conference, read:

“Moving Forward: Strengthening Services for our Military, Veterans, Families, and Survivors” (pdf document).

To find out more and sign up Visit Site

Veterans Day on Tuesday.......

The Whole Countries Responsibility, Not Singular Groups!!!


While this was a Great Gesture, on the part of the Redskins Organization teaming up with other Advocacy Groups, this is much more than a one day need. We who serve don't serve for singular organizations We Serve The Country and an Oath and Contract is made for our service. It is the Responsibility, Every Day, for the Country Served to aid our Brothers and Sisters who have given much more than just their Service, Physically and Mentally, because of these Wars of Choice!!


Redskins take timeout for veterans, Host locker room health exams

The Washington Redskins opened up their home to area veterans Saturday, offering free health screenings to recognize their service protecting the country and to encourage them to protect their health.

Three days before Veterans Day, the Men's Health Network and 13 other organizations provided screenings and health education to male and female veterans in the players' locker room at FedEx Field in Landover.

From Service to Streets......


Issues aren't going away for veterans


Modern warfare adding to problems Department of Veterans Affairs faces

The strident language of Fox talk show host Bill O'Reilly contending there are no homeless veterans in America brought a smile of incredulity to Michael Charles.

When Charles, 52, was about to be discharged from the Danville VA hospital, a staffer there called Goodwill Industries of Central Illinois Veterans Home.

"There was an opening, and I came straight over here," Charles said.

"Every VA Center I've been to says that at one time in their lives, 50 percent of all veterans will be homeless."

At any one time, there are 10 homeless veterans in the facility on South Olive Street.

From desert to streets


Homeless veterans find life again through a city-run service that helps to employ those who kept us safe.


To Listen

The issue of homeless veterans has long been seen as an important one for Jacksonville, which because of geography and demographics, attracts a larger-than-average number of such people. By some estimates, as much as 40 percent of the city's chronically homeless - those who are continuously homeless for a year or more - may be veterans.

Looking at everyone in the city who has been homeless, the Emergency Services and Homeless Coalition of Jacksonville has found that 26 percent of the homeless population has served in the military, slightly more than the 23 percent of the national homeless population.

Veterans are more likely to appear among the chronically homeless because they're better equipped to survive such a life, said Diane Gilbert, executive director of the coalition, but such self-sufficiency also can lead to problems.

"Part of the problem of dealing with homeless veterans," Gilbert said, "is that they have such strong survival skills, they're unwilling to ask for help."

Homeless female veterans find few options to get help


VA's shelters don't always take in women, so a housing program is being initiated

The reasons are varied why military veterans become homeless.

Repeated deployments make it difficult for them to keep their finances in order and for reservists to hold on to their civilian jobs. Fallout from military service — which can include post-traumatic stress disorder — can seriously damage family and other relationships. Those stresses can lead to withdrawal and depression, which can make it difficult to land a job. The lack of income makes it hard to pay rent or a mortgage.

Few Veterans Affairs centers offer residential mental health treatment specifically for women with post-traumatic stress disorder, said Amy Fairweather, director of the Iraq veterans program for Swords to Plowshares.

"The services are really behind the curve," she said.

Veterans affairs: Tighter records controls urged

For the record

Military veterans dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs benefits offices need to guard against their records being lost or destroyed. Tips from veterans advocates:

**Keep a complete copy of your military medical records.

**Update VA files once a year and make copies.

**Never send the original paper work. Send copies.

**Call (800) 827-1000 to request an appointment to view your VA claims folder, also know as the C-file, at the regional office.

**Make sure all the records in the file are yours.

**Make sure all correspondence with the VA is in the C-file.

**Correct mistakes, then request a hard copy of your C-file.

“How long has this been going on, and how many veterans and their families have been deprived of benefits they have earned?” said Army veteran Mike {testvet6778} Bailey of Springdale.

Army General Probes - Suicides of Recruiters


Recent Suicides in Houston-Area Recruiting Unit

An Army-wide problem?
Houston battalion recruiters have said they regularly work 12 to 14 hours a day, six or seven days a week. Many have to deal with long commutes to rural stations far from a military base. They have said if they don't sign at least two new recruits a month, they're punished with even longer duty hours and threatened with losing rank or receiving bad evaluation reports.

"I want to make sure this is not an Army-wide problem," Cornyn said. "If it is, then that's an even more serious issue than what's going on in this one battalion."

Widow pleads for recruiting overhaul


Iraq vet asks Army to evaluate high-stress duty

Two weeks ago today, Sgt. First Class Patrick Henderson walked into a shed behind his house, locked the door and hanged himself from a rafter.

The 35-year-old soldier was the fifth Houston-based Army recruiter to commit suicide in seven years.

VA officials investigate....


mishandled documents at benefits offices in S.C.

Veterans Affairs officials are investigating why 95 records were erroneously dumped in a shredder bin at the VA office in Columbia.

An unidentified employee at the Columbia office is under investigation for mishandling the documents, which include new benefits claims and other personal files, VA officials said.

"I can't discuss in detail what action may be taken against an employee in this instance until the investigation is complete," VA press secretary Alison Aikele said Wednesday.

In South Carolina, the possible destruction of benefit claims could affect some of the state's 413,000 veterans. The shredding probe involves the VA's benefits offices, not the hospitals.

~~~~~~~~~~

The shredding issue was first reported by VA Watchdog, a Web site run by Army veteran Larry Scott, of Vancouver, Wash.

All residents should care about veterans past and present

I particularly want to pay tribute to all our Reserves and National Guard. Before Iraq and Afghanistan became battle zones, these so-called "weekend warriors" joined to gain another paycheck — not that they weren't patriotic. After completing their basic training and boot camps, they were in uniform one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer. Whoever thought they would be thrust into combat situations? We have to look at them in a different light now; they've turned into heroes, fighting for our freedom, many being wounded and some paying the ultimate sacrifice.

"The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten"
-Calvin Coolidge

Finally A Heartwarming 'Wasilla Alaska' Story

Wasilla, nobody knew about that little Alaskan town unless from Alaska. Wasilla's favorite daughter, what is it now 5 or 6 weeks ago few ever heard the name Sarah Palin and apparently those that did didn't know much about her either, even Alaskans are quickly finding out that apparently they didn't really get rid of the corruption and incompetence in the Alaskan Governors office when electing Sarah who ran on cleaning it up and honest government.


Now Wasilla and Sarah Palin are well known in the lower 49, and yes Hawaii is below Alaska despite where some maps of the U.S. put it.


But this isn't about the hockey mom nor really about Wasilla except for one of the residents of.


It is about a Soldier's source of hope, and that soldier, John Shaubach, who is an Alaskan veteran struggling with PTSD, and was reunited with his long-lost dog.


I don't know anything about this except what I read in this article I just caught, link above.

On Friday, Sarha Shaubach made the hour-long drive from her Wasilla, Alaska, home to the Anchorage airport by herself.

The winding road between the mountains carries too strong a reminder of convoys through Afghanistan for her husband, John Shaubach, a veteran suffering from a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder.

But Sarha brought her husband's hunting jacket with her.

When she reached the kennel crate, Sarha put the jacket against the door. The bone-thin black Lab inside sniffed the jacket and jumped.

Zeus knew he was almost home.

I want you to clink the link and read about how and where Zeus was found but a few snippets won't hurt.

On the way home to Wasilla, Sarha bought Zeus five cheeseburgers and a large order of fries.

He devoured them in seconds. Then he started to crawl on Sarha as she drove. He slurped at her face and then licked a pearl earring right out of her ear.

It goes on to describe, briefly, John's meeting with Zeus when Sarha finally arrived at their home.

Sarha has been worried John's condition will worsen as Alaska's long, dark winter settles in, when her husband won't be able to go duck hunting or take long walks in the woods.

She still is.

But Sarha hopes reconnecting with his old friend will give her husband a renewed sense of purpose. And hope.

They have this at the bottom of the article:


AT A GLANCE

John Shaubach served 22 years in the Army with the 82nd Airborne Division. He led men in combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan, earning a purple heart and a bronze star.

Now retired and living in Alaska, Shaubach is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and the effects of a traumatic brain injury. He has repeatedly had difficulty receiving the care he requires from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The York Daily Record/Sunday News wrote about Shaubach in June, after his sister, Melissa Gieniec, a dental assistant in Springettsbury Township, went to visit him.

According to the VA, Shaubach is one of more than 75,000 veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan to receive treatment for PTSD at either a VA medical facility or a Vet Center.

You can read the previous story about him at in our veterans and military affairs special section.

Wasilla, just like any American Town, politicians and all, but with Real People and Real People stories, some heartwarming some heartbreaking, but American Stories all, and this one from Alaska which many of us down here know little about, till recently!

"Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations"

The House Judiciary Committee today, Friday, July 25th, will put Impeachment squarely back "on the table" and restored to its prominent place in our Constitution.


Wednesday 07/25/2008 - 10:00 AM
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Full Committee
By Direction of the Chairman


The first panel Friday morning will include Congressman Dennis Kucinich making a case for impeachment based on the articles of impeachment he has drafted against Cheney and Bush.


The Cheney/Bush links takes you to the pages over at After Downing Street.org where Diavid Swanson has the pertinant links to much more information.


The rest of that first panel will include: Hon. Maurice Hinchey U.S. House of Representatives 22nd District, NY, Hon. Walter Jones U.S. House of Representatives 3rd District, NC, And Hon. Brad Miller U.S. House of Representatives 13th District, NC.


Then the second panel convenes and will include: Hon. Elizabeth Holtzman Former U.S. House of Representatives 16th District, NY Department of Justice, Hon. Bob Barr Former U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 7th District, GA, Hon. Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson Founder and President High Roads for Human Rights, Stephen Presser Raoul Berer Professor of Legal History Northwestern University School of Law, Bruce Fein Associate Deputy Attorney General, 1981-82 Chairman, American Freedom Agenda, Vincent Bugliosi Author and Former Los Angeles County Prosecutor, Jeremy A. Rabkin Professor of Law George Mason University School of Law, Elliott Adams President of the Board Veterans for Peace, Frederick A. O. Schwarz, Jr. Senior Counsel Brennan Center for Jutice at NYU School of Law.


The links above will give you each persons testimony, in PDF, after the hearings are over and they are posted to the House Judiciary Committee site.


Elliott Adams, President of Veterans for Peace, and a descendant of American revolutionary Sam Adams, will deliver this prepared testimony, in it he will tell America:

Upon leaving the Constitutional Convention of 1787 –
Ben Franklin was asked: “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
Dr. Franklin replied: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

He will tell them who Veterans For Peace are:

Veterans For Peace has members from every war our country has fought back to and including World War II. VFP is 23 years old, has over 120 chapters spread around the country, has an NGO seat in the UN, and a small share in the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. Our members help 85,000 Iraqis get safe drinking water, gave 54,000 free phone cards to patients in 148 VA hospitals, help Agent Orange victims both US soldiers and Vietnamese civilians, aided Hurricane Katrina victims, supports schools and orphanages in Afghanistan & Vietnam, have worked extensively in Central American for freedom and fair elections, and bought appropriate body armor for soldiers in Iraq when the government could not supply it.

But many of our members have set aside all these other important works to defend our democracy by calling for impeachment.

He will also let America know:

"For us veterans, when our time came, we volunteered our very lives for this republic; for the principle of freedom for all, for equal opportunity for all, to defend the Constitution and the principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence, and to guarantee the opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now, Congressmen, it is your time, and I hear there is not enough time! Now is your time, and I hear it will not be good for one party or the other party! Now is your time, and I hear there is not enough political will around you! When our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence they were not worried about political will, or how much time there was, or about any parties' political future, they were just worried they were going to be hanged by the neck. But they did what was right. Now it is your time to standup. Einstein said – 'The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.'"

Upon joining the United States Military Branches we take an Oath, and in that oath we say these words: "to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.", as veterans we still take oath very seriously!


Unless you came here as an immigrant from another country, the greater majority of the citizens of this country aren't required to take an oath, most will say the Pledge of Alligence to the flag, but even that is not a required oath. Your oath is the written Bill of Rights and the Constitution and in those it lays out the what this country was founded on and what it must do when these are violated.


We are supposed to be a Land of Law and when our Laws are Violated and Broken we must take the nessary actions to uphold the Constitution and the Qualities this Nation strives for and lead by the example we set for ourselves!


Bruce Fein, Associate Deputy Attorney General, 1981-82, in his testimony will than tell the American people:

"If President George W. Bush had knocked to enter the constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787, presiding convention president George Washington would have denied him admission. Thereby hangs an alarming tale. The executive branch has vandalized the Constitution every bit as much [sic] the barbarians vandalized Rome in 410 AD. The executive branch has destroyed the Constitution's time-honored checks and balances and raced the nation perilously close to executive despotism. The executive branch rejects the basic philosophical tenets of the United States. It does not accept that America was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that sovereignty in a republican form of government lies with the people; that there are no vassals or serfs in the Constitution's landscape; that every man or woman is a king or queen but no one wears a crown; and, that the rule of law is the nation's civic religion. The Founding Fathers fashioned impeachment as a remedy for attacks against the constitutional order."

Many of you have been right along side those who threw Impeachment, that should have occurred long ago, off "the table", and the only reason is your fear that the political party letter you follow will not gain the control of power, for your hired representatives, you crave.


We Veterans have served this Country in times of relative Peace but especially in those times of War and Occupation, right or wrong, that you have sent us into.


Reason; We Took An Oath to Defend and Protect the Constitution of this Country and to serve Honorably, and we have, and once that Oath was taken it was never forgotten, like our experiances in service to.



It's long past time for the Citizens to stand up and Defend their Constitution and Country, it's time You Did Your Service and hold those destroying the Constitution and Country, from within, Accountable for the Laws Covered, and Broken, by that Extremely Important Document, the document we live by and leads us above others as to the example we should be setting for all to see!

The day before the hearing, some of those impeachment advocates gathered at the National Press Club, David Swanson, Ray McGovern, Bruce Fein, Cindy Sheehan, Cynthia Papermaster, and Crystal Kim. Videos of what they had to say, and their questions and answers with the media, are posted at YouTube

Over at After Downing Street

David has a post up now for Live Blogging from the Hearing on Impeachment!

You can go over and leave any comments, and he'll probably be giving updates from the hearing chamber when it begins!

Real HONOR, Right or Wrong the Conflict

This is what the Country, the U.S., that Cheers on Invasions and Occupations, based on Lies, Doesn't Do!!

Real HONOR, Right or Wrong the Conflict

The bodies of five British soldiers from one regiment who were killed in Afghanistan have been flown to the UK.

They arrived at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire for a repatriation ceremony.

Yesterday was the 64th Anniversary

And what Anniversary would that be, you ask, Well:

Of President Franklin Roosevelt's signing of the GI Bill, which enabled millions of veterans to go to college, and is credited for sparking the post-war economic boom.

And fuel the growth of this Nation it did, I grew up in that time frame, not only of many getting the opportunity to further their education in our Universities and Colleges but the birth of Trade Schools teaching a wide veriaty of Professional Industrial Trades, many now no longer done in this country or are rapidly on the wane.

And as one progressed, either in the trades or in the corporate world, from the degrees of higher education, the rewards of long term employment and raises were common,as the economy expanded and new companies were developed by those who worked in them and went out on their own, some of the growth had to be fought for, but the education gave those fighting the tools they needed.

Most of the advancements in Industry, and other parts of the economy, came from the worker.

One thing hasn't changed, and that's the fight, of the worker, who seems to have lost that fire, but especially for those that serve the country and should already be getting back what a society owes for that service, after all we call it the Professional Military and those who serve but decide not to make it their careerer deserve more than just a chance to expand themselves in other professions, it should already be a given of what is owed.

Fighting for Those Who Fight Our Wars

There was no GI Bill for veterans of World War I. And when 17,000 jobless veterans descended on Washington, demanding help, Army troops moved in to disperse them. Several veterans were killed, and hundreds wounded.
Americans were stunned, and when World War II came, they were determined to take better care of those who had served their country in wartime.

ABC News Video Report

This country was once the envy of the World with it's expanding educational oppurtunities, it's quality workforce, it's quality products and developement of the new, it's ever growing journies into expanded technologies and developement of same, it's dedicated workforce making companies an expanded family...................................

Things haven't always been rosy, but we were a Nation pretty much Together, seems not to be the case anymore!

And the G.I. Bill was a big part of the engine that drove our developement and expansion into being the Envy of others!

They flooded college campuses, changing America in the process, producing better educated citizens, and playing a big part in post-war prosperity.

Veterans of our conflicts after WWII used their benefits but those benefits have never kept up with the growth in costs of higher education, especially as that higher education seems to have become more of a business model of waste and profit.

There's a New G.I. Bill a Comin!

For months, Pentagon officials argued that if benefits were too generous, troops would have little incentive to re-enlist. President Bush and Sen. John McCain agreed, and a new GI Bill became a major campaign issue.

Those opposed use the above false argument, many who are where they are because of their use of the G.I. Bill, which for those who have served recognize it for what it really is.

The Military, as a profession, has always been a comfortable fit for some, while others still looked outside it's boundries and looked at it as a way to give service to country than move on as a civilian after.

The comfortable factor is gravely strained when the Military is used for Wars and Occupations of Choice, of a few, and not as a deterant for Strong National Security.

Instead of creating goodwill, as a country, the use of strong arm tactics, especially by Military Actions, in these conflicts of choice give rise to more hatreds and enemies thus endangering the National Security for Decades.

Those using the Military for personal gains, Wealth, Power, Political, fight the attempts to really Support those that serve.

But they have lost their battle against those they've used, a battle that never should have been waged by a country who's citizens don't serve!

Both McCain and Bush say they support the new bill, which will provide $50 billion over the next 10 years for veterans like Bailey and for those still serving in uniform.

CBS News also covered this yesterday on 'Sunday Morning' with a great video report that they don't have up on their site, but the report is there.

PL 346 was the Congressional designation of a landmark bill signed into law 64 years ago today - legislation designed to smooth the transition to civilian life for millions of World War II servicemen. In the process it changed America for ALL of us. Congress is very close to approving expanded benefits for service men and women of today's Iraq War era. Our Cover Story is reported now by Thalia Assuras

Now lets Bring Them Home from these Occupations Of Choice and Take Care Of The Wounded, Physically and Especially Mentally As Well, that fight hasn't been won yet!

The Dilemma of Black Patriotism

route66 has a diary up about today, Flag Day here in these United States.

I was going to post up something I found recently that attempts to explain some recent occurances on the meaning of 'Patriotism', and a tie in with 'route66' diary is appropriate on this day.

After all I'm one of the millions, in this country, who have been called 'UnPatriotic' for having not walked in lockstep with the criminal cabal, and their followers, who have led this country into it's extreme failed policies of an Occupation built on Lies and Fixed Intelligence and done in All Our Names!

I'm not a Black American, I'm one of us many Lilly White Folks.

I happend upon this article Defining patriotism the other day, with a Video at the top.

The article leads off with this:

Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s patriotism came under suspicion when he decided not to wear the flag lapel pin.

Than a comment about what his wife said as well as the once Rev. of the church he attends had said, which we all know to well.

In the video we hear from Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Roger Wilkins, who says:

blacks have just as long a history of patriotism as other Americans, but “our patriotism is rooted in a country that abused us, our ancestors, in a terrible way.”
Wilkins wrote a book, Jefferson's Pillow: The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black Patriotism, to answer the question of black patriotism: “How can you be patriotic when the historic moment that we revere the most, The Revolution, was run by a bunch of guys, many of whom owned slaves.”

Watch the video:

http://www.livevideo.com

Do I understand what Barack says about the lapel flag pin,Yes!

Do I understand his wifes statement, Yes!

Do I understand where Rev. Wright is coming from, Yes!

Do I understand Roger Wilkins, Yes!

I grew up when Segregation was still very rampent in this Country, also learning the history of same through the books and movies on how we tried to totally eleminate the Natives of this Land and almost succeeded as some of our Lily White ancesters placed those that survived under our control!

When I finished the Navy Bootcamp, '67 to '71 was my tour of duty to country, my first duty station was the Meridian Naval Air Station, Meridian Miss., which is now also called McCain Field.

When I arrived there the trial of the killings of the young civil rights workers was just gearing up, made more infamous in the movie 'Mississippi Burning' and was to take place in Meridian some 15 miles from the base.

I was still there when Martin Luther King was Assasinated.

Back than Meridian was still a Heavily Segregated town, as was still most of the south. Black Americans who were serving this country stationed there were denied the freedoms and human rights they were serving under the constitution and flag for. When going into town they had seperate, and labeled, drinking fountains, movie theaters, eating establishments............................................................., everything!

After leaving there, a years tour, I went to Panama for the next year and a half. Panama is a country of many Black Latin Americans, yet right from the get go the Racist Attitude from the States hit.

On arriving and checking in, though being a seaman gunnersmate, I was to work at the Waterfront for the first couple of months, taking over the Base Armory later as the Gunnersmate running it was preparing to leave. One of the first questions asked, by the Navy LT, I was to work under, when checking in with him was "If I minded working under Black Navy Chiefs?", you had to see the way he looked to get the point, I sat there and just looked at him for a few than simply asked "Why?", his response was that there were two Black Chiefs in charge of the Waterfront. My response back was a simple "Nope" and again "Why?", no answer came.

Leaving there, and heading into my last year, I was sent to CounterInsurgency training in Coronado Calif, than In-Country Vietnam. Let me just say here, there are a huge number of Black and Brown and other skin color Americans, who served in Vietnam, whose names now are Honored on "The Wall", and if you pay any attention an awful lot who are dying and being maimed in todays Occupations!

Who are those accusing others, especially today, of not being Patriotic, why the Lily White Crowd!

Who are the ones condemning others for not wearing a tiny lapel flag pin, why the Lily White Crowd!

Who are the ones condemning Mrs. Obama and not understanding her statement of the History we now are living, why the Lily White Crowd!

Who are mostly the ones slapping cheap magnetic ribbons, now disappearing, on their vehicles to show their patriotism? and support?, why the Lily White Crowd!

Who are the ones Condemning Others for not walking in lockstep to their definition of patriotism, why the Lily White Crowd!

I could go on but I Hope you get the Picture I'm trying to paint here, We're Still A Racists Nation, and not only as to color of ones skin, Racism covers Hate of Others under any Reason, being Intolerant towards those who Share not only this Country but this Planet!

Happy Flag Day Everyone!!

And for you Fathers, Happy Fathers Day tomorrow!

Why is Peace Not Patriotic?

That's the question asked by The Real News Network

Back on Thursday, May 15, 2008 I asked a question as well: PEACE Is A Political Statement?.

Both of these are asked as to the Why? a Veterans Organization was banned from marching in Memorial Day Parades. Mine covered two chapters of Veterans For Peace

Chapter 139 (North Olympic Peninsula) and Chapter 016 (Washington D.C.) have both been banned from parades! In both cases, being too political was the reason cited for the ban.

The Real News Network covers the Parade in Washington D.C., the Capital of this Country, The Country And Citizens We Veterans Served For!

The Washington, DC chapter of Veterans for Peace is barred from DC's Memorial Day Parade

Thousands of people gathered in downtown DC for the annual Memorial Day parade. American flags lined the street and viewers showed their support of US troops and their patriotism. Instead of a flag, Michael Marceau held a banner, which called for peace and stated that his veterans' organization had been "kicked out of the parade." The Real News Network spoke with Michael and parade attendees to understand where Americans believe peace belongs in this day of patriotism.

There is a transcript at the Real News Network link above { their video can be found there as well }, but here are a few statements from that transcript:

Transcript
National Memorial Day Parade
Washington, DC
May 26, 2008

TEXT ON SCREEN: The Washington chapter of Veterans For Peace tried to take part in this year's National Memorial Day parade. The coordinators of the parade refused their application.
PALEVSKY: There was a veterans’ organization called Veterans for Peace, which states that it is for bringing the troops home from Iraq, that was kept out of this parade.

JEROME, PARADE ATTENDEE: Well, I guess whoever organized the parade has some kind of a right to keep people out that they don't want in, but I also think that those people have a right to march, I think. I mean, a war is supposed to bring a country together, not divide it.

PALEVSKY: What was your intention of joining the parade?

MARCEAU: Well, we just wanted to give—we have two World War II veterans who are still active in chapter activities whenever they can be, plus the widow of the man, Delwyn Anderson, for whom our chapter was named. We had planned to put them in convertibles and just go down the street carrying our Veterans for Peace flag here and several American flags, and that was about the extent of it. All we wanted to do was be visible and be acknowledged as someone who has stepped up to serve their country when their country asked them to.

Now when did this Nation, who puts out Human Rights Violations Lists Yearly, calls for Peace amoung Nations, Condemns those that Wage Wars or Criminal Terrorism, Believes itself a Christian Nation of Peace, Excepts those who are Persecuted in their own Countries for Speaking Out about their own governments Unpeaceful Actions and Human Rights Violations..................................................,you could write a book on what we say we are and what we think we are, Start Believing That PEACE Is Not Only Political But Unpatriotic???

And why are We, the citizens of this country, excepting this Double Speak of the few who use their Political Ideologies to push their Fear and thirst for Wealth and Power!

Many of us who belong to Veterans For Peace served in a theater of War and Occupation, Vietnam, that was Sold to the Nation, and us, as to Stop The Expansion of a Political Ideology, Communism, that this Country Condemns as being one that wants to wage War to Control others and spread their Ideology, 58,000 of our Brothers and Sisters names are etched into the marble of a monument, in that Capital city, it's called "The Wall"!

There's a new monument, in that same National Capital city, finally after all these years, dedicated to those who fought and died in the Righteous War against another Ideology, Nazism, in Europe, and the Waring threat waged by the Japanesse, in the Pacific!

There's also another monument dedicated to those who died and served in the War of agression by the North Koreans and their supporters the Communist Chinesse!

There are Veterans of those Conflicts as well as our other adventures in War, and in 'Peace' time who are members of Veterans For Peace with chapters spread around the country!

Peace is Democracy, Peace is Patriotism, Peace is Freedom, Peace is Leadership, Peace is Religion, Peace is Tolerance, Peace is Righteous, Peace is Personal, Peace is that which we should be leaving to the generations coming, World Peace Was this Nations Main Goal, NO MORE!

More Local Reporting Like This on S-22 Needed

Just caught a short local report from NBC 2 in Fort Myers Fla

Check in there every now and than as one of my sisters, and her family, live in the area, just to see what's happening.

The report was titled: Honoring vets through a new GI bill

There's a video at the report page that says the same as the written, so you can read and or watch.

A bill now sitting on President George W. Bush's desk aims to expand the GI Bill and improve the path to college for those who serve. NBC2 looked at the costs to attend Southwest Florida's two largest colleges and why many claim the current GI Bill just doesn't add up.

That's the leadin.

This is a comment from a WWII Vet:

"Just go back to World War II. Look at how many people got educated and the type of people that did get educated that would never have been able to do that. An awful lot of good people came out of that GI Bill program," said Colom of the Marine Corp League.

What built this country, and it's economy, were the Technical Trades, manufacturing, innovation, product developement, etc., and those that learned them, worked them, started the small companies that grew. If we as a Nation are to sustain the economic engine good paying Technical jobs should still be the mainstay. They aren't so these types of technical schools, like the industries have disappeared.

So, as they disappeared, retraining was ans is needed. Retraining of older workers is a must, but Training of those comming back from Serving is even more important!

As this young Vet states:

"All the veterans today, they are coming back, they're all beat up, they need schooling," said Marine Corp Veteran Rob Oney.

S. 22: Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007

Long Past Time: Where Do The DoD Budget Monies Go?

Every year our Department of Defense budget grows to ever Huge Proportions and we're givin the simpleminded reason that we're getting our National Security Protection, and we simply except, no questions asked, don't even get upset when corruption within is brought out, or outrageous costs for items we could purchase offshelf cheaper in a handware store.

Many have seen this YouTube Video of the barracks conditions for returning soldiers at Fort Bragg, or at least heard about it, which has brought about this,

The Army identified eight installations Friday that will get priority attention: Fort Lewis; Fort Polk, La.; Fort Gordon, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Stewart, Ga.; the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York; Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland; and Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii.

One of those,

Fort Polk will receive $166 million for repairs to its barracks, which Sen. Mary Landreiu, a Louisiana Democrat, has called “80 percent unlivable.”
“Similar to the situation at Fort Bragg, the barracks are decades old,” said Stephanie Allen, a spokeswoman for Landreiu. “They’re rampant with mold and unfit for anyone to live in, much less our soldiers who are giving up their lives to serve their country.”

The living conditions, and apparently extreme ignoring of upfits to existing buildings, that soldiers are expected to live in and do, aren't a part of these bloated DoD budget requests that seem to alway pass, they also aren't important to the Country, who don't question where exactly the bloated budget monies go.

We also hear nothing of upset from the Military Contractors on the end of the bloated budgets, nor their Wall Street Investors, as their profit margins and returns grow. The investors seem quite happy with the No-Bid Contracts of the Haliburtan's as those bottom lines grow with each contract just given to them, and they seem to love our very own, now very wealthy, Mercenary Private Army, as they bank our hard working money with tax breaks on theirs.

Than one reads this,

At Martin Army, one of the nation's oldest Army hospitals, at least once a month corroding and antiquated pipes force the facility to shut down the entire plumbing system. If the water is out for longer than a day, patients are forced to bathe in portable showers.
The roof needs replacing. The electrical system is at capacity, making it difficult to add additional circuits, hospital officials said. The heating and cooling systems are so old that temperatures cannot be adjusted in individual rooms.
"With the influx of BRAC, we really need a new hospital," said Terry Beckwith, a hospital spokeswoman.

Controversial Iraq war spending bill includes funds to update Fort Benning hospital

Someone needs to explain the Why is this Included in the Supplemental Iraq/Afganistan War Funding Bill, why hasn't it already been takin care of, Long Ago, that will be partly answered in a moment.

"The quality of patient care remains high, but we want to make sure we don't have a Walter Reed situation," said U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga

We should never have had a Walter Reed Situation!

When the Republican controlled Washington were beating the drums of War and Occupations louder and louder, they should have seen this all coming, we've been through it before, and we supposedly have a professional military now, which means Everything should be under a Professional Atmosphere, the Best, Top Notch, not Second Place!

Those who "Your either with us or against us!" in the against, were considered unpatriotic, unamerican, enemy sympathizers {forget the fact of creating huge numbers of new 'enemies' by our actions}, yet many of us saw all of this coming.

Though the Army has long identified Martin Army as a high priority, the Iraq war has forced funding to be redirected, Bishop said.

Got that Redirected, mostly to corruption within the puppet governments we once again setup in our occupations, to the no-bid contractors, and to our very own private mercenary army!

"In recent years, the services have identified billions of dollars in recapitalization requirements for which current budgetary allotments are insufficient, but which desperately need funding due to the condition of the facilities," said Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on military construction and veterans affairs. "The funding problems will be exacerbated in the immediate future as installations like Fort Benning add thousands of personnel, dependent families, and departments due to BRAC, and as more wounded soldiers return from service in Iraq and Afghanistan."

In 'recent years'?, these should have been on going expected expenses, and the American People should be expected to pay, not bury their collective heads in the sand and cheer on Destructive Wars/Occupations of Choice, with their cheap yellow magnetic ribbons and their lapel flag pins which are symbols with no meaning behind them!

Occasionally we get representation, at least from the start, that looks promising in a Nation where only a tiny segment of it's society sacrifices, those serving and their families, Local rookie goes to bat for veterans, that rookie is Arizona Rep. Harry Mitchell, a grandfather in his 60s.

"I feel blessed to have been given the job that I landed in Congress," he told me last week.

And what is that job,

As a first-term member, Mitchell was named chairman of House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. It's a long title for doing exactly what?

"Trying to take care of our vets," he said.

This at a time when we are finding out, once again, just what wasn't done by the previous republican controlled congress and it's members and their staffs, as they continuely blocked the minority from holding the nessessary hearings and oversite, and now that they are in the minority play obstructionist.

The first-term congressman also has been among those who have worked to improve military hospitals since news broke of the awful conditions in some of them.

"The war doesn't end for a lot of these folks once they get home," he said. "Some concerns go on for years and years."

Maybe at age 60 he remembers,

"Solving these problems isn't easy," Mitchell said. "But we can't wait. That's one lesson we learned from Vietnam. At least I hope we've learned it."

We didn't learn that lesson nor the many other lessons of 'Nam, we're repeating them all and making new extreme failed policies that will haught this Nation for decades to come!

Mr Mitchell, as a rookie, is also a primary sponsor of what he calls a "21st-century GI Bill.".

Another of what shouldn't be needed but the Country should have been upgrading right along, for those who give service to it, the G.I. Bill, the benefits of a 'Thank You' for your Service!

Why hasn't it been, I'll give you a hint from the article,

The bill passed in the House but it included a surtax on individual incomes exceeding $500,000 to pay for the cost. Mitchell and others want that removed in order to improve the chances of approval.

A country and it's citizens that want everything but don't want to pay, nor give their time or lives for, especially those who gain Wealth from the hard work of the rest!

Oh and on the recent VA E-Mail and the seeming want to play Political Putdowns, it has brought about, because a certain Senator, running for President, saw the wrong in it and called for Senate Committee Investigations:

May 16, 2008, Washington, DC - Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake today, in response to a recently disclosed email from a VA mental health professional which suggested that time and money could be saved if VA stopped diagnosing veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Akaka also made a statement on this matter earlier today, calling the email “disturbing and disappointing.”

You can add Mr. Akaka's name to your political putdowns, though he isn't running for president. Never mind asking the one Question that should have been asked: "Why didn't Senator, and 'Nam Veteran, John McCain come out right after this hit the wires and question it's meaning and do the requesting for a further in-depth Senate Investigation?"!

"Stop Loss" Military and Military Family Perspective

The reviews you should be reading and listening to, from Military Personal and Family members Of. The ones, small numbers they are, who are actually sacrificing and understand the meanings some of these movies are trying to bring out, that the greater majority, the civilian population, really need to be explained to. Especially in these conflicts they do little to nothing as a sacrifice, most important not wanting to pony up the cost of these Wars of Choice and the Huge longterm Costs of!

Stop Loss:

Retention policy of keeping solders in the military past their contractual obligation

We have a local movie critic, I caught his review of this movie the other day. Usually he isn't to bad on his critiques. But this movie critic, looking still young enough to join, showed in this one he has never served, doesn't understand the military, knows nothing about 'Stop Loss' nor the messages the movie is trying to convey about PTSD, personal , and reality within the communities of Military Personal and Veterans of Wars of Choice.

I've heard other critiques, before the movie opened last night, 3-29-08, some pretty good showing they got it, others to simplistic showing they didn't or didn't care to. Reason the ones that will matter are from those I pointed out above.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but the trailers I've caught tell me there are a number of messages trying to be conveyed.

One who has, last night, has written a critique over at Vet Voice the interactive blog site of Vote Vets.

ThisDudesArmy, a front page poster there, wrote Stop Loss: A Review

He starts off with this:

The movie Stop Loss premiered nationwide yesterday, and in its wake I was asked how I thought soldiers were portrayed in war movies. Two days before I saw the movie, I offered my view and what I predicted would be the same with Stop Loss:

The link within the block takes you to and article in the Killeen Daily Herald, Killeen Texas.

Read the article in the block than visit the review 'This Dudes Army' wrote, on the front page of Vet Voice.

At the review you will find a number of comments already from military personel, military family members and veterans.

You get one from Combat Infantry Bunny

Putting that aside though, I thought it was well-acted (country hick and all) and made some really valid points . . . showing the emotion and anger so many soldiers feel at being abused by the government. The emotions were raw enough that I left feeling a little nauseous, not because it was a bad movie, but it put me through a range of feelings.

Just a snip of

As well as IraqWarVeteran

Before the movie began I looked around and the overwhelming vast majority of the audience was active duty servicemembers. Probably close to 70%.

My favorite part of the movie was when SSG King said to his Battalion Commander "Fuck President Bush". The audience here at our theater errupted with applause and hooting and also repeating what SSG King said (they must be phony soldiers!!!). It was freakin amazing!!!

A few snips

And CarissaPicard of Military Spouses For Change and has started writing for Military.com

Part of a draft of what I have written for military.com:

Carissa starts her draft with this:

The majority of the 30 or so soldiers I spoke with this evening actually liked the movie. The general consensus was that the movie was not what they expected it to be from the previews. Most said they thought the movie was relatively realistic and none felt it was anti-American or anti-military. Lower enlisted and junior NCOs were more sympathetic to Sgt. King's struggle than senior NCOs were. In fact, two senior NCOs were quick to point out that technically soldiers join the Army for 8 years--three to four years of active duty service plus 4 or 5 years in the IRR (Inactive Ready Reserves).

Now, from personal experiance, IRR was to be used Only In Extreme Military Emergencies as in the contracts signed by all who serve, reason you no longer put on the uniforms, nor attend any military drills etc., if Country Calls, in Extreme Military Defined Emergencies, than you are required to report for duty.

Reason 'Stop Loss', in the present day, is actually a Backdoor Draft, there isn't an Emergency to Country, just a shortage of Troop Strenght, these Soldiers have finished their Contracted Duty and been Discharged if not caught first in 'Stop Loss', they are not Compensated with any Bonus, like those who Re-Up, and following the numbers of recruitment, from the DoD, one gets the feeling they are being counted into the figures of those who actually do Re-Up, in the monthly totals.

This is the Draft the supporters said would never happen, because they don't want to serve nor have family members forced into service, No Sacrifice, just War Support, Wars of Choice not Need, and have Others Sacrifice with Multiple Tours and a Huge part of their lives away from their Children, Wives or Husbands, Families and Friends, in Combat Zones!

These movies and docs, coming out, are extremely important, they are coming out in Real Time as the Theaters of Operations are still happening! They touch on many issues and give descriptions of those issues, like PTSD, real time feelings, the reality that Wars are as they are happening.

In way to many of the movies and dramas, of our day 'Nam, they came out after, Well After. Way to many portrayed us 'Nam Vets as Drug Addicts and Criminals, lumping us all together, and while we had finally given a name to what Wars do to the Human Mind, Post Tramatic Stress, it isn't a disorder, it's a reality, they didn't explain it enough, thus it was pushed aside and the research on it was only taken up by a handful of caring people serching for knowledge and a better understanding for what happens, not only in wars, but in the Societies we live.

Messages within movies like 'Born on the Forth of July', 'Coming Home', 'The Deer Hunter' and especially 'Apocolypse Now' went Way Over The Heads of the greater populations, came to late, weren't explained strongly enough, and the people had already crawled back into their apathy and denial. Even movies like 'Rambo' should have rang bells, it didn't, all they wanted was movie blood and guts, not reality of War!

Pay much more attention to what Real Soldiers, Real Military Family Members, Real Conflict Veterans have to say!

Not spin from talking heads who give their knee jerk reactions coming from their own thoughts, not experiance, their own ideologies, pure partison, and most certainly don't pay attrention to anyone who won't bother seeing these movies or docs but will tell you what they are all about, those are easy to recognize.

Arlington West - March 2008 - Honoring The Fallen

Before dawn every Sunday morning, at the foot of the Santa Monica Pier, volunteers set up crosses in memory of American service members killed in Iraq.

The Video was produced for the New York Times and can be also seen At Their Site

The Times don't include an 'embed' link, so for those who might want to add this to their sites you can get the above embed link at Blip TV, also at Google Video if you prefer or at Live Video as well.

For Vietnam Veterans, Families, Relatives, Friends of, and all those interested but not touched by having a Fallen Loved One Honored on 'The Wall' the Memorial and the National Archives offers a great new service:

WASHINGTON - The National Archives is joining with a Web site to make historical records of tens of thousands of deceased Vietnam War veterans available electronically for the first time.

The interactive site - at Footnote - The Wall - is a Web re-creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall. The site offers access to thousands of pages of casualty records and agency photos. People can search by name, hometown, birthdate, or dozens of other categories.

The site allows people to post photos they may have of a deceased veteran and to make comments. The service is currently free for Vietnam War information; the company is deciding whether to charge fees for some of the 50,000 National Archives photos now digitized.

Note: Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial It's Free, leave a tribute, a story or photograph about any of the 58,256 veterans killed or missing in the Vietnam War.

This morning, 3-27-08, the local affiliate of NPR, WFAE had a report on a few of the local family members with sons or daughters serving in the Military and In-Theater either Iraq or Afganistan, and how their neighbors are disconnected from what they are experiancing, after talking to the family members they did an interesting follow, talking to people of the WWII era showing the total Disconnect of this Country, and it's Citizens, Now as to these Occupations to Than.

You can Listen with this Link, brings up windows media player.

Thinking, as I listened, they could have expanded the report to the Occupation myself and thousands of my brothers and sisters served in. Than we didn't have Cable, with so many stations, mostly of uninteresting shows, and with a number of so called News Channels that Rarely show what is happening in Either Theater and flip through reports of those killed or maimed Without a Concious thought as to them or their families. The greater majority of the country were disconnected, carried over from the Korean Conflict, But The Conflict Was In The Living Rooms Almost Nightly on any one of the three stations or all three.

Though because of the Extreme Danger to the Real Journalists, doing war correspondence, they can rarely get out of their safe zones in either Iraq or Afganistan to actually report first hand, as was not the case in 'Nam, but the almost total lack of reporting on the Soldiers this Country sent into these Occupations leaves the Country Totally Disconnected and Unwilling To Sacrifice as these soldiers and Families Carry The Full Burden of the Extreme Failed Policies of Country and Society!

Also on NPR, this morning, but on Morning Edition they had this report Ft. Campbell Soldiers See Kids' Milestones from Afar

Seniors at Fort Campbell High School near Nashville, Tenn., are preparing to graduate. But as the Iraq war enters its fifth year, some of those students have had a parent deployed overseas for a lot of their time in high school.

Soldiers at Fort Campbell are on their third deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan — missing the milestones of watching their kids grow up.

You can listen with this Link

And what's this costing us, much more than those not Sacrificing a thing Think, or rather as we put it all on a Credit Card, our Next Generations Will Be Paying! You can get a taste of the cost with an updated report, aired last night on The News Hour:

Five Years In, Cost of Iraq War Far Exceeds Early Estimates

In a follow-up report to a series on the cost of war, Paul Solman examines the new estimates for short- and long-term expenditures related to the ongoing conflict in Iraq -- including military recruitment, equipment and medical treatment for those injured. You can view The Report with this Link. If you prefer to just listen the audio link is at the site.

And rummy, a clip from back when in the report:

PAUL SOLMAN, The cost of the Iraq war, it's a far cry from the original estimates.

DONALD RUMSFELD, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense: The Office of Management and Budget estimated it would be something under $50 billion.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, Anchor, "This Week": Outside estimates say up to $300 billion.

DONALD RUMSFELD: Baloney.

These returning present day Combat Veterans will face a Country not only Disconnected but in Denial and in Collective Apathy, they will continue what those before them, from Korea to 'Nam to the First Gulf War and all Military Actions in between, Fighting For What This Country Owes Them!!

And their Children, because of the nature of the Hatreds we have Created, will be facing not only the costs of the Failed Policies but the Blowback, Retaliations, from the Deaths and Destruction we have wrought!!

We have lost over 900 dead Americans since the surge. Now if you want to dismiss that as "success" that would be your interpretation.
Chuck Hagel

97 percent of U.S. deaths in Iraq have occurred after George W. Bush declared an end to "major combat."
Mission accomplished!

Veterans Need To Visit O'Reilly and FOX New York Studio's

I just sent out a Heads Up to Vet Pax, which is the coalition of Veterans For Peace and Vietnam Veterans Against The War Chapters in and around New York City.

I had been thinking about what could be done on this issue of o'really and his total lack of not only knowledge, about the Plight Of Veterans Who Are Homeless, but his total lack of Compassion, wasn't that what his hero ran on, and Support towards Veterans in General.

lbear sent me an E which cleared the thought process.

My call to 'Vet Pax' was that they pay a visit to the New York City Studios of FOX News?, now FOX advertises itself as a News Organization, so Real News, they can report, should be brought to their attention.

That Real News is the Truth about the Plight of Homeless Vets, not a fairy tail, but The Reality!

Brandon has a post up over at Vet Voice about the billo, along with a video, from Brave New Films of interviews with Homeless Vets about billo's comments. Take a trip over to either link and view.

I have never been able to figure out where billo, or for that matter any of their so called news anchors? or reporters?, fit into a News? channel, but I don't watch it neither.

Some of the Vets in Vet Pax have, at one time or another, experianced the Homelessness, for a veriaty of reasons, and they now help out Iraq and Afgan Vets, male and female, who find themselves in situations that leave them in that situation.

Now the New York City area isn't the only area where this happens, nor is it the only FOX Studio.

I'm writing this as a call to Any Veterans reading it, if you're near a FOX Studio, anywhere in the country, get together and pay it a visit, bring some Real Facts about what Veterans go through, in this country of flag wavers and super patriots. Bring FOX some real news to report!!

Oh and tell them it's Time Billo Be Gone!!

'Don't rain on our parade'

Well once again it's 'Veterans Day', I'll borrow a description of another holiday that really has lost it's meaning, Bah - Humbug!!

Lets take a look at how a Country "Supports it's Veterans", a Country of citizens whose greater majority never serve in it's Military, a majority who never do much of anything of service to Country, a majority who don't even bother to Vote, and a majority who readily bitch about paying their contribution to it's Society, not about how that money is spent just that they have to Contribute.

Huge Defense Budgets means a Strong National Defense! At least one political party takes that Mocho stance.

Do the citizens question where those Huge Budgets actually go, Nope, they believe what they're told and most certainly don't want to hear where it's not going, where it's actually needed, that would mean they'd have to contribute more because they're not worried about the corruption engrained in the systems already.

They readily cheer on their War's, like they're Sporting Events, believing all the false reasons given in waging them.

I have yet to hear, from any we hire into our Societies leadership, say that the Tens of Thousands of us, out of some 300miliion plus population, belonging to the "Focus Groups", had it All Right and that they had it All Wrong about the present Debacles!

But it's "Veterans Day", Non - Political{?}, lets go to a Parade and "Support Our Troops and Veterans", than we can put them, once again till next year, out of site and out of mind!

The subject title comes from this Article of which has this sub-title:

HOLIDAY: Most in attendance support panel's decision to bar anti-war groups.

This isn't an isolated event, this happened in small towns to large cities across this country, and does so every year. Why?, because the excuse given in all these cases is we can't have a Parade, for Military Troops and Military Veterans, who are making a Political{?} Statement!

Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War and Military Families Speak Out said their First Amendment rights were violated when the parade committee, a nonprofit organization, rejected their application.

Organizers have said the groups were trying to push a political agenda at an event that's supposed to be free from politics.

Although they weren't allowed to march this year, Jason Lemieux, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, said members came anyway to support the veterans.

"We came out today in the spirit of Veterans Day," said Lemieux, a Marine who served three tours in Iraq.

Jason Lemieux Testifies at the Long Beach City Council


What Political{?} statement would be made from the 'Iraq Veterans Against the War', why they might just be wearing their tee-shirts stating who they are and maybe a banner will be carried, some of their members having served Multiple Tours probably in both present Theaters! 'Veterans for Peace', members of conflicts from WWII till the Present, might just be doing same, tee's and caps, maybe a VFP flag or two and possibly also a banner. The same for 'Military Families Speak Out', who's Sons and Daughters this Country sends into battles, some having lost a Son or Daughter to the canage of War based on Lies.

But lets see the reasons given by the organizing committees on why the ban of Veterans and Military Family Members:

Fred Dunn, an 84-year-old World War II vet who was born and raised in Long Beach, said the anti-war groups should march in their own parade.

"This is to honor the veterans who have served," he said. "It's not a political deal."

Political Statement?

"Don't rain on our parade," said Shirley Oglesby, whose husband Jack served in Vietnam. "We don't want war either. But here is not the time nor place."

Political Statement?

"I wonder what the men who died would think if they allowed protestors to march," Jack Oglesby said.

Political Statement?

{Ahhhhh Jack, most would probably rather be Alive!}

"I'm against the war in Iraq too," said Sasha Kilauren, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Cold War. "But these groups shouldn't be allowed to march in this type of parade. It's inappropriate."

Political Statement?

{Lets see, 'This Type of Parade', a Parade for Veterans of Conflicts and Military Families would be "Inappropriate", gotcha Sasha, thanks for your input!}

Vet George Kerr, 65, said seeing the anti-war groups on Saturday was reminiscent of the atmosphere in 1967 when he returned home from Vietnam.

"I was kicked and spit on," he said. "But it's OK. That's what we went to war for. So people could have their rights."

Very Political Statement?

{Right George, I've yet to meet a fellow 'Nam Vet who can Prove they were physically Spit On, oh and adding 'Kicked' also a New twist to the false fables, but figuratively it's Alright for you to 'Spit On' fellow Veterans and Military Families!}

Now there was also a previous article about the coming parade where a few thoughts were expressed:

“They do not fit the spirit of the parade,” she said. “The spirit being one of gratitude for what the veterans have done. We do not want groups of a political nature, advocating the troops’ withdrawal from Iraq.”

Talk About A Political Statement!

Thuente said Veterans for Homeless Veteranswas allowed to march last year because parade coordinators did not fully check the group’s application. “Perhaps if we had checked out their agenda, they would not have been allowed,” she said. “We didn’t realize they had marched until after the parade.”

Gee Now That's A Political Statement, Ya Think!

“These veterans groups certainly have First Amendment rights,” Shannon said. “But the parade committee also has the First Amendment right to exclude whoever they wish if (the entry) does not keep within the theme.”

Hmmmm, Theme? Veterans and Military Families don't fit the 'Theme' of a Veterans Day Parade? Political Statement!

The city provides the staffing, flags, banners, utilities and police protection, Shannon said, but does not play any role in the approval of parade participants.

“The fact that the city does provide staff is a disconnect,” Shannon said.

As Thomas, over at The Military Project/GI Special puts it, "No shit. That’s public tax money being used to keep Veterans they don’t like out of march.

“They voted unanimously to exclude a group, believing it had a political agenda,” said Lerch, whose 9th District includes the parade route. “And I agree with the board’s actions. For 11 years, this has been a parade to honor and support this nation.”

Wow another Political Statement and from a Pol!

Once again, this isn't an isolated incident, it happens across this country, small to large villages, towns, cities!

What happens to a huge number of Veterans who serve this Country, how about this:

Homeless Veterans


Homelessness High Among Veterans
{There's a verbal report, in broadband and dialup, at above link}

Homeless vets can, should be helped

US Veterans Among Homeless Despite Government Initiatives

Seattle mayor calls homeless veterans "a national disgrace"

Or how about the Care for Veterans:

Soldier Brain Injuries Challenge Doctors


What's The Cost? Suicide - PTSD


Mental BattleField


Yesterday I put up a post on my site, and a few other boards, titled 'PTSD - Katrina, Combat Theater Vets, Psychologist Who Developed It Herself'. This covered two NPR interviews with further information of both. At the bottom I had the following links:

Here are just a few of the recent reports, articles, and studies on PTSD as well as Traumatic Brain Injuries:

Veterans For America Releases Major Report: Trends In Treatment Of America’s Wounded Warriors.

by jamesboyce on Nov 7, 2007

Today, we are proud to release a ground-breaking report on the challenges facing our wounded warriors who are suffering from the “signature wounds” of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and psychological trauma.

Having visited every single demobilization site in the United States and overseas, Veterans For America investigators found that care for these injuries is significantly lacking and that the decisions made by the military will negatively impact our veterans for the rest of their lives.

DNC: Bush Talks About Veterans Funding in Texas While Threatening to Veto it in DC

War Veterans Receive Poor Treatment for Combat-Induced Mental Illness, Says VFA Study

Tom Harkin: Rising Number Of Homeless Veterans A Disgrace To Our Nation

Stars and Stripes - PTSD and TBI awareness programs launched

Mental health services for returning vets in short supply

Help for soldiers outside Ft. Carson, with Video

One US soldier's father calls it the silent injury. Now Britain's forces centre is braced for an influx of cases

Outpatients move into new digs at Landstuhl

Demand Action For Our Veterans

There are many many more of these trickling out. But who is really paying attention to them, in a Society that seems to be, once again, Apathedic about a Combat Theater, two actually, that sent our Military in to destroy and be destroyed.

This Society gives more credance to it's stars and starlets than it does to those who serve in it's Military, which makes up an extremely small percentage of the whole!

As this Veteran says "Happy Veterans Day, NOT!"

So enjoy the Parades, banning many Veterans from participating! Enjoy the day off tomorrow, especially if you work a government job, most not being Veterans!

For we always have Next Year to once again "Honor Our Troops and Veterans"
as their numbers of Homeless and Maimed Grow!

If they were sent to fight, they are too few. If they were sent to die, they are too many!

Is 'Funding' Really For Troops?

What Happened To Funding and Oversite For Military/Veteran Care In Previous Congresses?