Veterans: WRONG Direction for Funding {once again}

<------- Remember these? They were a big joke and joy for a group still calling themselves republicans and happened as the Country were sending Military Troops into war once again, wars that still continue, and never a real apology for their joke. I'll bet some of them still have some handy to be used and laughed about when their need arises to do so as they wave the flag and condemn others who don't agree with them. Oh and while they seem to get joy about Soldiers being wounded in our wars and awarded the "Purple Heart" these were pointed directly at a brother In-Country Vietnam Navy Veteran, my tour there, as a Navy GunnersMate 3rd, was my last year of my four '70-'71.

Or how about the many forms of these ------->
Till they quickly blew off the SUV's and other vehicles never to be replaced, only ones you'll see now are the very rare bumper stickers that only weather will remove after they fade out to much effort needed to remove by the owners.

Or who can forget these --------><--------, that any who wore suits, especially representatives hired by the people, if they didn't wear were called unpatriotic, unsupportive of our soldiers and veterans, even enemy sympathizers and much more, why the FOX couldn't stop supposedly reporting on these traders of the U.S. and {non}Americans.

In the previous election did anyone hear any mention by the so called great movement of royally pissed off americans, corporate sponsored and corporate media hyped, still, TEA Party and their many talking heads as to any Demands for Finally 'Sacrificing' as Soldiers are still sent into two conflicts, their families waiting for their return, and those who survive come back as Veterans of their Military Service to the Country. I didn't, all I heard once again were 'tax cuts' which every time I've heard these last some forty years, as a Veterans Advocate and Activist, says the Country doesn't want to pony up for the results of it's Wars and our brother and sister veterans will continue facing an underfunded Veterans Administration and be in constant catch up mode which in the long run constantly costs more to give what is owed and promised. One of the results of that around the country, contributing to as well is the collapsed economy from failed economic and business practices the past thirty years, has been the cutting back or shutting down of local Veterans offices that help the millions of Veterans coop with the system and the paperwork etc. needed to get that promised help as it took the past four years to finally start not only catching up with what wasn't done but bring the VA into the 21st century.

With the directly below article keep in mind this is decades long, under funding of the Veterans Administration, and in the recent times and two wars the 108th and 109th Congresses sought cuts or did relatively nothing, not only for veterans but even military care and more, as they rubber stamped everything else related to these two long running destruction and occupations of others, their Wars of Choice, costs off the books and on borrowed monies. Afghanistan stopped being about anything related to 9/11 with the first drum beat pointed at Iraq!

The WRONG Direction for Funding the Needs of America's Veterans

Feb. 17, 2011 -- On Monday, February 14, House Republicans introduced a Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1) to fund the federal government for the last seven months of the fiscal year while cutting $61 billion in current year spending. The bill proposes to cut $2.6 billion in funding provided to care for America's veterans. Leaders of VA's largest union, the American Federation of Government Employees, stated that the reductions threaten the health care and benefits delivery services provided by VA employees.

"This Nation is engaged in military operations and conflicts across the globe," said AFGE Secretary Treasurer J. David Cox. " The strength of our fighting force and the safety of our Nation depend on our ability to care for America's veterans. Proposals to decrease spending for veterans during a time of war are dangerous, short-sighted, and just plain wrong."

And as pointed out above, in short because there's much more, it's pointed out with this:

This is not the first time that a Republican-led House of Representatives has irresponsibly cut funding for America's veterans. From 2003 to 2006, VA health care funding did not increase, co-pay increases were proposed, and investment in much-needed research to provide the best care for veterans suffering from unknown injuries languished. Since 2007, the Democratic Congress increased health care funding to begin to address the uphill battle of providing appropriate care and access to all generations of veterans. These resources allowed VA to better immediately address needs of returning veterans, expand access, increase support for veteran caregivers, address the urgent mental health care needs of veterans, expand veteran homelessness prevention and care, and invest in research for maladies attributed to military service. {continued}

Now when the 110th Congress came in they had an awful lot to catch up on as to Veterans and Military Personal and their families, I posted about some of that here at my site and elsewhere. That carried over to the 111th Congress, not only as to catching up but finally Congressional investigations and many hearings in both Houses of Congress. They not only started to finally try and help the veterans and families of the current conflicts and military service but also took on decades long ignored problems of us older veterans.

With the present Administration also came a change in leadership at the Veterans Administration. With that change, and the support of this Administration and Congress, came one of the few appointee's to run the agency that isn't doing so in any political terms, there have been a couple over the decades but much of what they wanted to bring about was blocked by the congresses of those times, with I might add the Countries support. A leader who is pro-active and not re-active to the veterans needs and concerns. He in turn brought in a like minded group to help him administer the agency and in these past two years plus have accomplished the needed issues of now and the long needed of the past decades, with still much more to do to bring the agency into a smoother running operation and beyond the already technology of the 21st century. And this new leader, retired General Shinseki, was re-leaved of duty by the previous administration and their supportive congress and citizen supporters.

The Veterans Administration, over the past couple of years, was greatly helped in reaching some much needed goals with extra funding, the Country didn't even realize they finally were actually 'sacrificing' a tiny bit, with the funds of the Recovery Act in trying to stem the collapsing economy, these needed investments and projects will have long term effects on the communities, around the Country, that they can be found as well as much needed help for the veterans in and around these communities and their families. Here's just one report from the VA on just those recovery funds from 2010.

Yesterday the VA released another short report on just those needed investments from the Recovery Act.

VA Observes Recovery Act Anniversary With More Progress Nationwide

18 February 2011 - On the second anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that Recovery Act funds are playing a major role this year in advancing much-needed infrastructure and other construction nationwide to benefit our Nation’s Veterans.

“This will be a banner year for VA in serving more Veterans more efficiently in more places,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “We are pleased to be able to improve buildings and expand the capacity of VA’s health care network and national cemeteries to serve Veterans.” {continued}

They are even going Green, upgrading older facilities and adding those to the newer projects which will save money, i.e. tax monies oh teabagger friends, which can be used for better care and needs of these new brothers and sisters as well as us old vets.

The 'tepublicans' are back in the House, expect more false arguments about tax cutting, their supporters parrot as they fear demanding more for their labors of their stagnated or falling wages and benefits and now are joining their corporate sponsors in trying to bust all the unions of the hard working American people, which will bring about cuts in more then just the Veterans Administration budgets, again, and the growth of talk of 'privatizing', that still coming after the collapsed economy, the deadly and destructive oil drilling explosion in the Gulf, all the recalls covering many products and on and on, to continue.

This is not related to above but is related to what happened as to these two wars and those serving and the beneficiaries of those killed in them, Time Is Running Out, and with the new congress I really don't foresee another extension so pass this on:

March 4 is Final Day to Claim ‘Stop Loss’ Pay

Feb. 18, 2011 – People whose military service was involuntarily extended or whose retirement was suspended between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2009, have until March 4 to file for retroactive payments of $500 for each month of their extended service under the “Stop Loss” policy.

The deadline ends the second extension for eligible people to apply to receive the retroactive pay.

“This is a timely payment for services already rendered,” said Lernes "Bear" Hebert, the Defense Department’s director of officer and enlisted personnel management. “It’s a no-strings-attached program -- one where they fill out a simple form and attach a few documents [to show] their service.” {continued}

If you know someone or think someone that deserves this hasn't filed for please ask them, asking don't hurt, not only for the soldiers stopped lossed but the beneficiaries of the fallen stop lossed soldiers!

VA & HUD Issue First-Ever Report on Homeless Veterans

Assessment Key to Preventing and Ending Homelessness

WASHINGTON – February 11, 2011 - For the first time, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development today published the most authoritative analysis of the extent and nature of homelessness among Veterans. According to HUD and VA’s assessment, nearly 76,000 Veterans were homeless on a given night in 2009 while roughly 136,000 Veterans spent at least one night in a shelter during that year.

This unprecedented assessment is based on an annual report HUD provides to Congress and explores in greater depth the demographics of Veterans who are homeless, how the number of Veterans compare to others who are homeless, and how Veterans access and use the nation’s homeless response system. HUD’s report, Veteran Homelessness: A Supplement to the 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, examines the data in the department’s annual report to Congress in-depth.

“With our federal, state and community partners working together, more Veterans are moving into safe housing,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “But we’re not done yet. Providing assistance in mental health, substance abuse treatment, education and employment goes hand-in-hand with preventive steps and permanent supportive housing. We continue to work towards our goal of finding every Veteran safe housing and access to needed services.”

Last June, President Obama announced the nation’s first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness, including a focus on homeless Veterans. The report, Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, puts the country on a path to end Veterans and chronic homelessness by 2015; and to ending homelessness among children, family, and youth by 2020. Read more about the Administration’s strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness in America.

Key Findings of

Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness {continued}

First-Ever Report on Homeless Veterans -

Operation Free

We are packing our bags and heading east next week to join the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. A delegation of veterans from OpFree will be there to make sure the world understands the grave threat climate change poses to global security. We know that climate change makes the world a more dangerous place and that dependence on oil makes America vulnerable. That's why it's time for America to get on the team with the rest of the world and lead by example to combat this threat

We'll be livecasting our press events and updates from the conference.

To keep up to date on activities, sign up here for reminders to watch and/or listen to our broadcasts: "Live from Copenhagen with Operation Free."

Our veterans will bring personal stories and a front-lines perspective to the national security threat, a vital and oft-overlooked aspect of the ongoing negotiations. Most of the veterans served during the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. We hope you'll join us in Denmark.

Thanks for all you do,

Operation Free

Jon Powers

Violation of Disability Rights

Protest of McDonalds over Violation of Disability Rights

Capt. Luis Montalvan was joined by supporters to protest his mistreatment by McDonald's employees when he went there to eat with his service dog, Tuesday.

Protest of McDonalds over Violation of Disability Rights

Luis Carlos Montalván's Facebook Page for more on this.

Thanks on Thanksgiving

Message of 'teabaggers' {some being veterans} is heard, those meager taxes you don't want to pay, nor want your corporate sponsors to fork over, hit the issues like Veterans Care in shortfalls of treasuries! How are those magnetic ribbons, faded can't read now, gone never replaced, and them purple heart bandages?

Support?, in words and cheap symbols only!!



Governor Vetoes Soldiers' Home Funding

For the past few weeks veterans and health care workers at the Soldiers' Home have rallied in Western Mass. and Boston, fighting for Gov. Deval Patrick to restore funding. All were disappointed to learn the governor would not be sending funds their way.

"Closing this place would just be a sin on someone's soul," veteran Paul Camrye said...>>>>>

A chest full of medals and a head full of nightmares

Dr. Kernan Manion, a psychiatrist who was fired after he complained about conditions for his PTSD patients at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C. (AP Photo/Jim R. Bounds)

Veterans with PTSD have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. The Veterans Administration has made remarkable progress in identifying and treating veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the Department of Defense is finally doing something to find out how and why active duty servicemen and women get PTSD....>>>>>

Be better if we would not send our soldiers into Wars and Occupations of Choice, but after four plus decades and two more occupations the country has a growing understanding of the results, till the masses push those realities out once again!

Continuing the Veterans Day Messages......

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 11.11.09, I caught a couple of important discussions in the continuing known by us veterans are the results of wars and occupations of choice, or any war and occupation, as to the veterans and military personal once they've been sent to serve in and then return home, most being discharged from their service obligation after serving the time they signed up for, all at that point or later becoming the veterans of their service.

This first one is just a news report I happened upon but hits on the issue many of us are long time advocates of and adds to the rest posted below it.

Veterans struggle with stress, PTSD

November 11, 2009 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Along with the common bond of serving the country, many veterans share the burden of dealing with post-war stress...>>>>>

On the NPR Diane Rehm show the following discussion took place in the first hour of her show:

Diane Rehm NPR Show: America's Wars Observed

Guest host: Susan Page

On the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan: A journalist and a photographer document, in unflinching detail, the complex, contradictory and often tragic experiences of U-S troops at war.
Guests

Tammy Duckworth, assistant secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs

David Finkel, author of "The Good Soldiers" (Farrar,Straus & Giroux) national enterprise editor, The Washington Post

Peter van Agtmael, photographer, "2nd Tour Hope I Don't Die"

Listen to the Show:

Windows Media Player

Real Audio Player

Publisher Comments:

It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it the surge. Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences, he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them.

Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Bagdad, and almost every grueling step of the way.

What was the true story of the surge? And was it really a success? Those are the questions he grapples with in his remarkable report from the front lines. Combining the action of Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down with the literary brio of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, The Good Soldiers is an unforgettable work of reportage. And in telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also produced an eternal tale--not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time.

Publisher Comments:

A collection of Peter van Agtmael's photography of America's Wars from January 2006 to December 2008

Then on last nights PBS News Hour this was part of their show, first part of a discussion with a veteran of our recent occupations then a discussion on Post Traumatic Stress in many military personal and veterans of all conflicts as to the stress of war:

PBS News Hour: For Some Veterans, the Battle Continues Against PTSD

After returning home from Iraq, Marine Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Workman struggled with the memories of war. As Betty Ann Bowser reports, soldiers like Workman are finding that often time, returning home can mean a new battle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Snip

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Eventually, Workman was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In his new book, "Shadow of the Sword: A Marine's Journey of War, Heroism, and Redemption" Workman chronicles that traumatic day in Fallujah and his five-year struggle with PTSD. After returning from Iraq, Workman was sent to Parris Island to be trained as a drill instructor, a much-respected job in the Marine Corps, but he found it made his PTSD worse.

SGT. JEREMIAH WORKMAN: It was pretty bad. I mean, mentally, it was just killing me inside...>>>>>Rest of Transcript Here with Audio Link

Part 1: Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Workman


Part 2: Counseling Soldiers with Traumatic Stress


Extended Comments with Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Workman

Publisher Comments:

Awarded the Navy Cross for gallantry under fire, Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Workman is one of the Marine Corps' best-known contemporary combat veterans. In this searing and inspiring memoir, he tells an unforgettable story of his service overseas-and of the emotional wars that continue to rage long after our fighting men come home.

Raised in a tiny blue-collar town in Ohio, Jeremiah Workman was a handsome and athletic high achiever. Having excelled on the sporting field, he believed that the Marine Corps would be the perfect way to harness his physical and professional drives.

In the Iraqi city of Fallujah in December 2004, Workman faced the challenge that would change his life. He and his platoon were searching for hidden caches of weapons and mopping up die-hard insurgent cells when they came upon a building in which a team of fanatical insurgents had their fellow Marines trapped. Leading repeated assaults on that building, Workman killed more than twenty of the enemy in a ferocious firefight that left three of his own men dead.

But Workman's most difficult fight lay ahead of him-in the battlefield of his mind. Burying his guilt about the deaths of his men, he returned stateside, where he was decorated for valor and then found himself assigned to the Marine base at Parris Island as a Kill Hat: a drill instructor with the least seniority and the most brutal responsibilities. He was instructed, only half in jest, to push his untested recruits to the brink of suicide. Haunted by the thought that he had failed his men overseas, Workman cracked, suffering a psychological breakdown in front of the men he was charged with leading and preparing for war.

In Shadow of the Sword, a memoir that brilliantly captures both wartime courage and its lifelong consequences, Workman candidly reveals the ordeal of post-traumatic stress disorder: the therapy and drug treatments that deadened his mind even as they eased his pain, the overwhelming stress that pushed his marriage to the brink, and the confrontations with anger and self-blame that he had internalized for years.

Having fought through the worst of his trials-and now the father of a young son-Workman has found not perfection or a panacea but a way to accommodate his traumas and to move forward toward hope, love, and reconciliation.

I recently was contacted by Michael Anthony, who last October returned home from a tour of duty from Iraq as an Operating Room Medic with the Army reserves. Upon returning home he began writing a memoir of his time in Iraq. A few months ago he signed a deal and his memoir is now in bookstores. The book is titled: "Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True Story of Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq"

Publisher Comments:
From the Introduction:

Look around, the drill sergeant said. In a few years, or even a few months, several of you will be dead. Some of you will be severely wounded or so badly mutilated that your own mother can't stand the sight of you. And for the real unlucky ones, you will come home so emotionally disfigured that you wish you had died over there.

It was Week 7 of Basic Training . . . 18 years old and I was preparing myself to die.

They say the Army makes a man out of you but for 18-year-old SPC Michael Anthony, that fabled rite of passage proved a very dark journey. After soliciting his parentsa approval to enlist at only 17, Anthony began his journey with an unshakeable faith in the military born of his family's long tradition of service. But when thrust into a medical unit of misfits as lost as he was, SPC Anthony not only witnessed the unspeakable horror of war but the undeniable misconduct of the military firsthand. Everything he ever believed in dissolved, forcing Anthony to rethink his loyalties, and ultimately risk his career and his freedom to challenge the military he had so firmly believed in.

This searing memoir chronicles the iconic experiences that changed one young soldier forever. A seasoned veteran before the age of twenty-one, he faced the truth about the war and himself in this shocking and unprecedented eyewitness account.

This is Michael Anthony's Website with more information about him as well as his book.

American Muslim Veterans

Muslim veterans in Charlotte condemn Fort Hood shooting

The vets said they hope not all Muslims would be blamed for the actions of one man. The suspected shooter who killed 13 people is Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who is said to be a devout Muslim.

"I'm not a terrorist. I love America," said Salahuddin Hasan, a veteran of the Vietnam War.

Hasan and the other vets gathered at the Masjid Ash-Shaheed mosque on West Sugar Creek Road in Charlotte where Khalil Akbar is the Imam...>>>>>Rest Found Here

Commentary: Many Muslims have died in the service of America

Leonard Pitts' latest tackles ugly online comments about Muslims in the military.

I would add to the above commentary by Pitt, the meme's of another group this past decade, So Have Many Hispanics, Citizen and Non Citizen!!

Notice, and it's not hard to, that most of those who are condemning, and have been these past years, a whole group of people, in these times of a religious ideology and the regional countries they live in or are from, because of the acts of a few or in the Ft Hood Extreme Tragedy just one person, have never served this country in any form especially the Military and these aren't only the talking heads of our opinionated, called news? programs, 24hr cable news? channels but also the civilians living in an extremist ideology of hate, racism and fear! Young enough to be serving in these two occupations of choice and the old farts who went out of their way to dodge the draft and service while many of us were sent to our other years long occupation of choice, Vietnam!

Service means No ideology, political and Especially religion, always has and always will, and us older Vets have known and served with many who Honorably Serve then are dumped by a Nation after that service.

Just like a society the Military is no different in it's diversity and those that try and use diversity and condemn should and will be called out for their embedded hatreds and false flag waving!!

Veterans Employment Council

White House Creates Council On Veterans Employment

Last night the President signed an Executive Order creating an interagency Council on Veterans Employment to advise the President and Administration on how to set the bar for hiring and employing veterans.

The Council will be chaired by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, with Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry serving as the Vice Chair and Chief Operating Officer of the Council.

In statements prior to the signing, all involved gave their reasons for why the initiative is so important to them...>>>>

For Immediate Release November 9, 2009
Executive Order

- - - - -
Employment of Veterans in the Federal Government

By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, I hereby order as follows:..>>>>

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!

Outside The Wire

The newest episode to the reports from the online series In Their Boots

Three women service members return from Iraq and Afghanistan to find they face a new battle—a battle to treat their wartime injuries.



American Women Veterans this is their Facebook site page.

This is their New Site Page: American Women Veterans

American Women Veterans is the nation's preeminent Women Veterans organization dedicated to being the voice of Women Service Members and Veterans. They welcome veterans and supporters from all branches and eras. They foster a continued desire to serve our country and our comrades by raising awareness of women veterans' issues in military, civilian and veterans' affairs. They strive to enlighten, engage and empower women veterans from all services and eras!

"THE GOOD SOLDIER"

On November 6, 2009, the JOURNAL broadcasts THE GOOD SOLDIER, a film which follows four veterans — one from World War II, two from Vietnam, and the fourth from Iraq — as they reveal how the experiences of battle changed their lives. Watch a preview below.

Premier:


November 6th PBS Bill Moyers Journal {visit the Journal Link as it has more backlinks for Veterans.}

As America prepares to observe Veterans Day and President Obama weighs sending more troops to fight in Afghanistan, BILL MOYERS JOURNAL broadcasts a powerful documentary about the impact on soldiers of learning to kill – or be killed. THE GOOD SOLDIER follows four veterans – one from World War II, two from Vietnam, and the fourth from Iraq – as they reveal how the experiences of battle changed their lives.

Find out more about the film and theatrical release locations and dates at The Good Soldier

"THE GOOD SOLDIER" Trailer:

Congratulations Ilona and the VA: "Moving a Nation to Care"

Ilona Meager met many of us, especially us veterans, through using this technology, especially in research and posting on interactive community boards, and her awaking interest in a subject she had never thought much about until reading reports about suicides by returned veterans of the Afghan and Iraq occupations well into the start of both conflicts. Her interest caused her to start researching the why these were happening, joining her were other online researchers, many like her who might have heard about but never really thought about an extremely important issue, we veteran advocates have been fighting to get much more recognition for from the masses since especially our occupation Vietnam. That issue is Combat PTSD.

Using the communities found online, like Daily KOS and others, she and her online friends, started posting up what they were finding, then started their own site ePluribus Media as well, and she moved to starting her own site PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within

Taking the research they were finding Ilona moved on further to write a book on the subject, "Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops", more like a great little reference guide on the issue of Combat PTSD for those seeking information and understanding, just as she has posted with her online site.

From not thinking much about she has become one of the many dedicated advocates on the subject with a wealth of understanding and caring, along with her work, those of her online friends, as well as those civilians over these years who joined us veterans, it has helped do what many of us 'Nam Veterans have been trying to do for close to four decades, joined by Veterans of WWII and forward. Bringing the subject of our occupations of others and war as to what that causes to many in the form of Post Traumatic Stress from the trauma's of War into the minds of the country and beyond as well as into the main stream media, investigative journalism, and touching subject lines of the drama's and movies made. And not only as to Combat PTSD but also the understanding that many who never face combat but do live through extreme traumatic events in their lives can and do suffer from same, Silently, up until now.

"Moving A Nation To Care" Subject of Extensive Book Review Essay in VA's Premiere "Veterans Law Review" Journal

A book review any author would be bowled over by {this one being no exception} appears in the premiere issue of the VA's Veterans Law Review journal.

It's much more than a mere review, however.

Written by Holly Seesel, Mary Sorisio, and Paul Sorisio -- Associate Counsel with the Board of Veterans’ Appeals at the Department of Veterans Affairs -- the 24-page (!) 'book review essay' provides an in-depth look at my book (Moving a Nation to Care) and another by Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., and Daryl S. Paulson (Haunted by Combat)."Consequences of Combat" {pdf} begins:...>>>Rest Found Here

Visit Ilona's post, at her site, on this well deserved recognition, at the links above, and visit the premier issue of the

Veterans Law Review Vol. 1 – 2009

Secretary’s Forum {pdf}

I am pleased to introduce the seminal issue of THE
VETERANS LAW REVIEW. As part of the Department’s (VA)
outreach to all veterans and their families, this volume highlights
legal issues and legal-policy concerns that are currently faced by the
Office of General Counsel, the Veterans Benefits Administration,
the Board of Veterans’ Appeals and the Court of Appeals for
Veterans Claims (Court) in their service to our men and women
who have served this nation in uniform. Topics addressed in this
issue include VA’s duty to provide medical examinations, our duty to
assist under the Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000, the effects
of representation by attorneys in cases before VA, and the causes
and effects of remands emanating from the Court. As additional
foci, the REVIEW examines both the role of the new media in the
delivery of veterans’ benefits and how the Department is addressing
undiagnosed illnesses from the first Gulf War with Iraq...>>>Rest Found Here {pdf} also top link at site.

Once again the two books, and authors, recognized and referenced:

"Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops"

"Haunted by Combat: Understanding Ptsd in War Veterans Including Women, Reservists, and Those Coming Back from Iraq"

"War Song"

Rock Band OAR Asks America to Open Up Your Arms -- and Focus on What Matters



Check out the exclusive music video by O.A.R. and then show your support for our newest generation of heroes at Open Up Your Arms.

The writeup about the video and it's meaning as to the reality from Paul Rieckhoff of IAVA who teamed up with O.A.R. to produce the Video and the site Open Up Your Arms

With the noise clogging the media landscape, it's hard to get the public to pay attention to anything important. Fortunately, some extremely talented musicians are working to change that.

These are Dangerous Times to be an American Veteran!

ROGUE PROSECUTOR DECLARES WAR ON VETS

By Robert L. Rosebrock, Staff Writer

Sharon McCaslin, prosecuting attorney for the United States Department of Justice, officially declared war on America’s Veterans when she defiantly pronounced in federal court that it is “desecration” and a “crime” for a Veteran to hang the American Flag in the “Distress” mode alongside the POW / MIA Flag.

She declared her act of warring defiance even when Veterans are in full compliance with the VA’s approval and the U.S Flag Code, and while lawfully protesting against the U.S. Government for abusing and misusing their sacred and sovereign land for the benefit of commercial and non-Veteran special interest groups, which is a flagrant violation of the Congressional Act of 1887 and the Land Grant Deed of 1888.

U.S. deputy attorney Sharon McCaslin officially declared this to be “desecration” and a “crime” as these noble and patriotic Flags are apparently nothing more than “placards and material” to her. The billion-dollar parcel of Veterans’ land behind these locked gates was recently given away rent-free by the U.S. Government to a wealthy homeowner group for a public community park. Now that that’s desecration and a crime in the most disgraceful sense!

On October 21st, I appeared before the Honorable Judge Frederick F. Mumm in the United States District Court in Los Angeles for the hearing and arraignment of a criminal citation issued to me via U.S. mail by the Los Angeles VA police...>>>Rest Found Here

Labor's 'Bulldog' Trumka

Last night on the PBS News Hour they had a discussion with the new AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka

On a separate page from the transcript and video/audio links of the discussion they have a short video of a round-table meeting of the lobbyist of the AFL-CIO with Trumka talkin 'bluedogs' and 'public option'.

Inside the AFL-CIO's Health Care Lobbying Efforts



The discussion, about ten and a half minutes long, can be found here Labor's 'Bulldog' Trumka Challenged by Dwindling Ranks, Public Perception

As AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka works to protect organized labor from the excesses of big business, he faces dwindling ranks, splits among union groups, and diminished public support. Paul Solman reports.

Where you can read the transcript, .listen to an audio feed or watch on a video feed, the video I'm placing below.

RICHARD TRUMKA, president, AFL-CIO: The American labor movement is right here with you today. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with you for as long as it takes and with whatever it takes.

PAUL SOLMAN: New AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka at a recent protest of teacher layoffs in Washington, D.C.

RICHARD TRUMKA: And it is time that we win together!

PAUL SOLMAN: As the new head of the labor movement, Trumka needs to move workers old and new, and reverse a decades-long thinning of the ranks. Compounding the problem, divisions within the movement itself.

Service Employees International Union head Andy Stern, seen here in his trademark purple shirt, formed a rival federation just four years ago. In the late '60s, age 19, Trumka followed his father, who died of black lung disease, and grandfather down into the coal mines of Pennsylvania.

But college and law degrees took him to the United Mine Workers. In 1982, he became its aggressive president...>>>Rest Found Here

With what was forecast by many occurring, the collapse of the economics we've allowed ourselves to be pushed into and follow these last couple of decades, it's past time that workers, who actually do the work and keep the economy running, once again build the organizations needed to keep fighting those who place their own personal wealth and power over country and our required economy of growth and job creation, real capitalism.

The best, and what brought worker advancement in middle class wages, benefits, safety, workplace respect, quality products, growth in industries, and much more are by organizing in workers unions. We've already lost much of what was fought for by our Gran Parents and Parents, we've allowed ourselves to be controlled by the corporations and those that get into bed with them, our politicians.

Instead of advancing a workers needs, they spend their wages for their comfort and better life, those who control have continually added corporate perks to their executives portfolio, written off in corporate tax fillings, are reaping huge amounts of compensation they neither earn nor have a need for and benefits of kings, everything is taken care of for them, they care more for investors, who do nothing within the company or corporation, then they do for those who actually do the work needed.

One group I would like to see lead in this organizing, as they to search for jobs scarce for everyone now, are the returning soldiers of our failed policies of occupying others. They have what can't be taught in our higher education industry, they know how important it is to work together in units, in organization with each other to not only try and accomplish huge tasks but save each others lives. They understand a chain of command mentality, instilled to help keep everyone in that working together mode taking care of problems that might occur and getting the same information at the same time to accomplish the goals set forth.

This country and it's economy needs the level playing field of those who perform the work and those who just oversea the organization within a company or a corporation, each sharing in the prosperity they create together.

Shinseki, Gates Address Unprecedented Forum

VA, DoD Host National Mental Health Summit

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) are hosting a first-of-its-kind national summit to address the mental health care needs of America’s military personnel, families and Veterans, harnessing the programs, resources and expertise of both departments to deal with the aftermath of the battlefield.

“This is about doing what is best for those who serve this country and using every federal, state and community asset to do it,” said Secretary Shinseki. “We’re proud of the people and the organizations who have stepped up today to make sure everyone who fought for this country gets a fighting chance for a sound mind and an independent life.”

The summit, which opened today at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., invited mental health experts from both departments, Congress, the president’s cabinet and more than 57 non-government organizations to discuss an innovative, wide-ranging public health model for enhancing mental health for returning service members, Veterans, and their families.

Snip

VA operates the largest mental health program in the nation. VA has bolstered its mental health capacity to serve combat Veterans by adding thousands of new professionals to its rolls in the last four years. The department also has established a suicide prevention hotline (1-800-273-TALK) and Web site available for online chat at Suicide Prevention Lifeline-Veterans....>>>

Gates: Injured troops face too much red tape

Calls their paperwork 'frustrating, adversarial, and unnecessarily complex

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that troops injured in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to face too many bureaucratic hurdles.

Paperwork alone for them can be "frustrating, adversarial, and unnecessarily complex," Gates said.

Gates spoke at a mental health summit with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. By appearing publicly together, they sought to reinforce their commitment to tackling veterans' health issues and the stigma associated with seeking mental health care.

Snip

Shinseki said veterans from the recent wars are coming homes with "invisible wounds" that are just as debilitating as physical traumas sustained on the battlefield.

"Who's vulnerable? Everyone," Shinseki said. "Warriors suffer emotional injuries as much as they do physical ones."...>>>

Obama Shout Out to Operation Free

President Obama gives a shout out to Operation Free in today's speech on clean energy and climate change.

$3,000 Immediate Checks to be Handed (literally)

This is gonna be short but Real Sweet!!

I want you to go over to VetVoice and visit a post Richard Smith just placed with all the good news of How This New Veterans Administration, under the Obama Administration, Really Works!!

Richard starts the long subject title with what I've got in mine, then leads into this:

To Vet Students Who Haven't Received Benefits

Leading in with this:

Hopefully, that is the first of many headlines we'll see like that, which I can't imagine seeing in the last Administration....Read the Rest Here

Richard Smith, the OIF/OEF Vet who posted the above I'm linking back to, at VetVoice, added another post explaining further the lead up to this decision by the VA.

Now the Veterans administration, and congressional committee's have been coming out with a flurry of announcements, especially once Shinseki was seated.

Go take a visit and read about the above, and to just make this abit longer here's some other news:

VA praises Phila. nursing home after 2008 problems

Slowly correcting the extreme foulups of the previous administration and that incompetent corrupt leadership, especially as to the VA while they started and waged two occupations!!

Seven months after a devastating report detailing degrading and dangerous conditions at the Philadelphia veterans nursing home, an unannounced inspection by regional VA officials found "dramatic improvements."

Michael E. Moreland, network director for the Department of Veterans Affairs region, said his team had talked to every resident and many families, checked medical charts, and examined residents during an inspection in May....>>>Read Rest Here

And this:

Valley Va Hospital

Veterans making another push for Valley VA hospital

Doctors were still digging shrapnel out of Ramiro Galvan’s legs nearly 30 years after he was hit by a mortar blast in Vietnam.

The mortar blew off his calf and sent Galvan in and out of service hospitals for several months before he was discharged in 1970.

The 63-year-old San Benito resident returned home to Cameron County, where he has counted his blessings ever since that his injuries weren’t much worse.....>>>>

Lets All give them a Hand, Especially if you're in Texas, they didn't March earlier this year for Nothing, and Texans you can vote on helping them get this Long Needed Facility!!!

The "Noble Cause" of War

That "Noble Cause", which one "GoldStar Mom" asked to be answered very publicly and never was, comes when those who serve do everything in their power, and know those around them will do same, to save and protect those they are serving with, especially as they serve the Country and are sent into others Countries, wrong policies or right!

When the battles start that's what's on their minds, even before saving themselves!

With "Honor":

President Obama: Our Nations Highest Honor to Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti



A Medal Of Honor For Sgt. Monti, Who Went To Save His Man

The nation pays its highest military tribute to a fallen hero today when President Barack Obama awards a posthumous Medal of Honor to Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti of Raynham, Mass.

As NPR's Tom Bowman reported on Morning Edition, the 30-year-old Monti made a valiant effort to save one of his men during a ferocious firefight on a mountaintop in Afghanistan three years ago. Staff Sgt. Chris Cunningham tells Tom that when Monti heard during the battle that one of his men was missing, the 1st Sgt. said "he's my guy, I'm going to get him":

At the Pentagon today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked if he is concerned by the fact that there has not yet been a Medal of Honor awarded to any living veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Gates said he is bothered by that -- and that it was one of former president George W. Bush's "real regrets" that he did not have such an opportunity. Then, Gates added that it's his understanding there are "some living potential recipients that have been put forward":

There is one more "Noble Cause" of war, those who recognize when the policies are not only flawed but extremely negative as to humanity, theirs and the countries people they occupy, and damaging for what we call our 'National Security' in the present and long term, the country they took an oath to serve and protect!

These soldiers become emotional "Conscientious Objectors" to the inhumanity of these Wars of Choice and the Occupations of others, they speak out in the attempts to get their brother and sister soldiers out of harms way and brought home. Saving them as well as the innocents in the countries of these man made conflicts and the failed policies of lies and wants of certain civilian, as well as military, leadership!

That's the "Noble Cause!"

Rest In Peace, All Our Brothers and Sisters, Who Have Served And Given Their Lives To The "Noble Cause" For Those They Serve With!

Sept. 18, 2009 is National POW/MIA Recognition Day

POW/MIA Day honors heroes

The flag of the National League of Families of American Prisoners of War and Missing in Southeast Asia will be flown over the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, the Selective Service System Headquarters, the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and national cemeteries across our country.

This black and white banner, symbolizing America’s missing, is a stark and powerful reminder to people around the world that our nation will keep faith with those who have served and sacrificed, that we will not rest until we receive the fullest possible accounting of every American missing in service to our country.

Sept. 18, 2009 is National POW/MIA Recognition Day. I ask all citizens to join me in honoring former American prisoners of war and those whose fate is still undetermined. I also encourage you to remember with special sympathy and concern the courageous families who maintain their steadfast vigil and who persevere in their search for answers and for the peace that comes only with certainty...>>>>Read The Rest Here

Please join us for this solemn, poignant and important event. We must let every nation know that we will “never forget!”

A powerful resource for additional information regarding this important issue may be found at the Department of Defense Web site: Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personal

Photos of fallen Vietnam veterans sought

A new project is trying to put a face to each of the 58,195 names listed on the Vietnam Wall.

The organizers of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Federal Express are issuing a nationwide "call for photos" to help document the stories of those lost in the war...>>>>>>

Sept 27th: Gold Star Mothers

Gold Star Mother's Day in United States

Gold Star Mother’s Day is observed in the United States on the last Sunday of September each year. It is a day to for people to recognize and honor those who have lost a son or daughter while serving the United States Armed Forces.

Gold Star Moms Website

Sept. 18, 2009 is National POW/MIA Recognition Day

POW/MIA Day honors heroes

The flag of the National League of Families of American Prisoners of War and Missing in Southeast Asia will be flown over the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, the Selective Service System Headquarters, the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and national cemeteries across our country.

This black and white banner, symbolizing America’s missing, is a stark and powerful reminder to people around the world that our nation will keep faith with those who have served and sacrificed, that we will not rest until we receive the fullest possible accounting of every American missing in service to our country.

Sept. 18, 2009 is National POW/MIA Recognition Day. I ask all citizens to join me in honoring former American prisoners of war and those whose fate is still undetermined. I also encourage you to remember with special sympathy and concern the courageous families who maintain their steadfast vigil and who persevere in their search for answers and for the peace that comes only with certainty................Read The Rest Here

Please join us for this solemn, poignant and important event. We must let every nation know that we will “never forget!”

A powerful resource for additional information regarding this important issue may be found at the Department of Defense Web site: Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personal