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!

Vietnam-Era Women Veterans

Damn Do I Like What The VA Is Finally Doing and Under Sec. Shinseki, commonsense, critical thought and intelligence reign!

Secretary Shinseki Announces Study of Vietnam-Era Women Veterans

Comprehensive Study Will Help VA Provide High-Quality Care

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is launching a comprehensive study of women Veterans who served in the military during the Vietnam War to explore the effects of their military service upon their mental and physical health.

"One of my top priorities is to meet the needs of women Veterans," said Secretary Shinseki. "Our Veterans have earned the very best care. VA realizes that women Veterans require specialized programs, and this study will help VA provide high-quality care for women Veterans of the Vietnam era."

The study, which begins in November and lasts more than four years, will contact approximately 10,000 women in a mailed survey, telephone interview and a review of their medical records. ..>>>>>

This will only help the Women Veterans of today, especially those who have served in our ongoing Two occupations!

Gen. Eric Shinseki: Short and Open Discussion

If history judges correctly, one of the Best of the Military Leaders of these past, failed policies of civilian and military leaders, to present times one name will stand out above all the others as a true Understanding Leader and that will be one General Eric Shinseki. Those of us in the present already know much about what this military leader was put through and by whom, but he has been brought back to lead again, lead in the way he seems to have also done, with compassion and understanding for those he has been placed in command of, throughout his military careerer and his life.

To fight for and try and rebuild an agency to long ignored by this Country, since after WWII, through their representatives. Especially this past decade as we allowed not one but two long running invasions and bloody occupations of two countries and No One Mentioned {those that forcefully supported}, or they blocked, any enhancement of what would be needed for those coming back from. Causing many of those that should be receiving the help they deserve for their service to country many problems and even denial of service, as well as the peoples representatives obstructing, doing the peoples will, the obvious results of the Wars and Occupations we send our military personal into. As well as causing those that work in, or even the volunteers, to do so under the restrictions placed on them by the government and especially the lack of funding, costing more in personal problems and funding as the agency continues to try and play catchup or do what is right under the pressures of limited resources, especially when sending new generations of soldiers into wars and occupations creating another huge influx of military and veterans seeking what was promised them and what they deserve.

This agency, as are most government agencies, has been forced to work with the technologies of the past decades and not quickly stay abreast of advancing technologies, this costs much more to operate, thus more funding needed to even function. Ret. General Shinseki is trying to help it join the 21st century.

This is a True Military and now Civilian Leader!

The following is a short discussion with the General on the Morning Edition on NPR radio on November 13, 2009:

Shinseki Measures Scope Of Veterans' Mental Issues

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and President Obama mark Veterans Day on Wednesday during a ceremony at the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

In his first nine months as head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, retired Gen. Eric Shinseki has spent hours just listening to veterans talk. Shinseki tells NPR's Steve Inskeep that he feels a strong obligation to "give back" to the men and women he once served with.

Last week, Shinseki spoke to a group of young veterans attending college. A former Army chief of staff who was wounded during his service in Vietnam, Shinseki asked the veterans if any of them suffered from post-traumatic stress.

He got only silence — so Shinseki asked about symptoms...>>>>Rest Here

DAV Virtual March on Washington

The March Has Begun



Welcome to the Virtual March on Washington for Veterans

“Million Claims March.”

The YouTube player here is showing the videos in a certain order, but feel free to jump around by clicking on the video if you want to pick and choose. But every message here contains important information. Also, there are links in several of the video descriptions that you might find informative.

Thank you for marching with us and for standing up for veterans!

Before you proceed, please register for the march. It is free and only asks for your name, e-mail address and ZIP code.

Visit the Virtual March Site for much more information.

This Country needs to finally stand up for those who serve, by helping to bring the Veterans Administration into the 21st Century in the Technology needed, we've been playing catchup for far to long causing higher costs and extreme delays. This isn't only in the Veterans Administration but across the spectrum of the Government Agencies.

The blame doesn't just rest in any Executive Administration nor Congress, though there are some who voice support for us Veterans but Obstruct when the needs are placed into legislation. The blame lies with the Country, the majority that don't serve and don't want to sacrifice anything, that causes more costs and hardships over the years from our Wars of Choice, it's long past time to remedy the countries self created problems.

Lets make sure we keep our representatives to their words "In Our Names", but they are only hired to represent, It's Up To The Country To Really Support!

We have a President and Congress, that Congress has been playing catchup the last couple of years correcting what wasn't done nor even thought about as to the military and veterans, Now that are not only trying to fix what wasn't done in the leadup to and continued occupations of two countries over these past eight years but trying to push the Veterans Agency into the twenty first century and bring not only the care and need for quicker resolution to benefits owed but by doing so bringing the cost of operating the agency down.

Press Release Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/

The following resolution was adopted by the Democratic National Committee on Friday, September 11th, 2009 in Austin, Texas.

Resolution Commending Democrats for Delivering a New Direction for America's Servicemembers, Veterans and Military Families

Submitted by: Christine Pelosi, California; Don Fowler, At-Large/South Carolina; Alice Germond, DNC Secretary/West Virginia; Steven K. Alari, California; Belkis Leong-Hong, At-Large/Maryland; Barbara Easterling, At-Large/Virginia; Ben Jeffers, Louisiana; and James Zogby, At-Large, District of Columbia

WHEREAS, Democrats promised a new direction for America's servicemembers, veterans and military families, who have demonstrated great patriotism and sacrifice in their commitment to keeping us safe and free; and,

WHEREAS, in the first 200 days of the 111th Congress and the Obama administration, Democrats have kept this promise, beginning with the FY 2009 Supplemental Appropriations bill that provides our troops with planning, equipment, and leadership to wind down the Iraq war, changes strategy in Afghanistan; and, makes retroactive payments to over 185,000 service members whose enlistments were involuntarily extended since the 9/11 terrorist attacks; and,

WHEREAS, Democrats directed specific aid to servicemembers, veterans and military families in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: the stimulus package provided veterans direct and indirect aid, adding up to $15.8 billion. Disabled veterans received direct benefits in the form of one-time payments of $250 and all businesses can now claim a tax credit for 40 percent of the first $6,000 of wages paid to unemployed veterans. In addition, the stimulus included renovation to national cemeteries and veterans medical facilities, grants to build new veterans care

facilities and money to improve VA benefits administration; and,

WHEREAS, Democrats have led the charge to successfully pass and implement the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and recently expanded the Post-9/11 GI bill benefits to cover the full cost of a college education for all children of fallen U.S. servicemembers; and,

WHEREAS, Democrats have passed, and President Obama has signed legislation that provides mental health screenings and more veterans healthcare resources than at any other time in the 77-year history of the Veterans Administration; and,

WHEREAS, House Democrats have passed legislation to strengthen national security by bolstering State Department resources to prevent conflict and failed states around the world; authorizing a 3.4% pay raise for our troops; expanding support for military families such as health care and housing; investing 15% more than 2009 for medical care, benefits claims processors, and facility improvements; and permitting veterans medically retired from active service to receive both military retirement and Veterans Disability Compensation.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the DNC commends the successful leadership by President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress to provide a new direction for servicemembers, veterans and military families, and to deliver bipartisan results that make a real difference in their lives, and pledges that Democrats will never waver in our support for our servicemembers, veterans and military families.

SOURCE Democratic National Committee

"Death was all over the place"

For those that Still don't get what War does to a Human Being, and not only those fighting, nor understand the same happens to civilians who experience extreme trauma, like the recent reports about the young girl kidnapped and now found almost two decades later, Read This Short Article!!

Friday August 28, 2009

World War II veteran can finally open up about horrific battle- "Death was all over the place"

John Landry, 85, in the kitchen of his Thetford Township home, Landry fought for the NAVY in WWII as a top turret gunner and as a ground soldier in the battle of Okinawa in Japan. Landry has never talked about his experiences during the battle of Okinawa until recently, when he decided he wanted to tell his story "I didn't talk about the war because I didn't want people to hear about it, " Landry said.

He wasn't even supposed to be there.

John Landry never spoke about the island, the scattered bodies, the smell of death -- but six decades later, nightmares of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II woke him up from his sleep soaked in sweat.

"They were things I could never talk about, but it's time I told it like it was," said Landry, 85, whose buried memories began haunting him after he saw scenes of the Iraq war on television.

"I don't want to leave this world and take it with me."

Snip

"The things that went on on that island are things you never forget," Landry said. "Death was all over the place."

Except for a long time, Landry did manage to push down those memories.

Only recently have the long-blocked scenes started to come back to life.

He can suddenly see mothers clutching babies and leaping off cliffs into the water. He can see the natives fleeing into caves engulfed by fire minutes later from grenades.

"What got me was these people were trying to get away from us, and it was their island," he said. "I hadn't seen the destruction we were doing from the air. Now I'm on land and I'm seeing the bodies, the kids. I could smell burning flesh, which is something if you ever got near it, you never forget."

Snip

The father of five sons said Okinawa scenes have started coming back in bits and pieces, many times through nightmares.

"I'm lost and I can't get to where I want to be," he said of his dreams. "I think it's because I don't want to do what I have to do. I don't want to wake up in a foxhole or in the dirt."

He has finally began sharing with his family the details he had intentionally forgotten.

Many, never having problems with the realities they lived through, burying them deep in their minds, from WWII to Korea to 'Nam, and all between them, to the present past were starting to relive, in their minds,their own experiences long withheld within, as these two occupations started and continued, some right from 9/11, Our Brothers, and those the country ignores!!

Army Trains For Battle For Mental Health {UpDated}

Sunday, NPR Morning Edition, 08.23.09 {4min 5sec.}

Daniel Zwerdling, of NPR, continues his outstanding research into and reporting on the Army's, and the Military's, care of returning soldiers suffering from PTSD and other possible mental problems developed as to serving in these wars and occupations.



Top link brings you to the transcript, and if you do a search at their site under Daniels name you'll find the many previous reports by him and related on these issues.

They can try all the training idea's that pop into their heads, extreme trauma situations bring on post traumatic stress, be it combat, living in combat theaters, or in someone's life, that's the reality.

You can't 'train' against trauma's that haven't happened yet, the individual experiences seen and done, unless you want to develop ways to turn intelligent humans into living robots or develop, as we already have with flying drones, robots that destroy other's in our wars of choice.

It's not 'before training', it's finding the best ways to take care of those who have developed what once wasn't within them, be it from war or in civilian experiences, but now exists in different levels in those we send to invade and occupy.

War's are the total opposite of anyone's upbringing, especially in civil societies, hell military training is in the preparation of turning one into a soldier to defend ones country. Traumatic experience of combat, and even living within, of all that happens, and the stress of 24/7 possibility of what's coming taxes the minds and the reality humans live in and by as intelligent beings. Mental problems develope from those experiences, being lived over and over in ones mind. They don't only happen to someone considered not strong of mind, even those we would least expect, the so called strong, develop the stressor's that can trigger the reliving of these experiences, sometimes fatally.

War's should not be fought of choice, choice of a few we have as our leaders, civilian and military, not by civil societies! War's should be as we have always stated but rarely followed in our modern history, fought as an Absolute Last Resort! And the results of War's, physical and mental problems of, not only as to the soldiers who we send but those we invade and occupy, should stand right alongside the Absolute Last Resort we should have as our policies as a Leading Nation on this Planet!

If this society and country wants to Cheer on these War's of Choice then be Ready to Pony up the Extreme Costs of the Failed Policies Followed!! And that doesn't just mean in monetary costs but also in the cost of a weaken security to it's citizens, no matter where they are or go, from the blowback!

Veterans forsake studies of stress

Stigma impedes search for remedies

Researchers testing ways to treat the psychological wounds of war among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are encountering a serious roadblock: a shortage of willing study participants.

A strong stigma in the military associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is blamed for the reluctance of combat veterans to take part in a pair of treatment programs being evaluated by staff from the Veterans Administration in Boston at facilities in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, study directors said................

This doesn't help, especially as the country was extremely slow in even listening to our brother's returing from 'Nam and the veterans who started coming forward from WWII and Korea over these many years!!

UpDate: This just hit my inbox

PTSD Compensation Rules

Secretary Shinseki Moves to Simplify PTSD Compensation Rules

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is taking steps to assist Veterans seeking compensation for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

“The hidden wounds of war are being addressed vigorously and comprehensively by this administration as we move VA forward in its transformation to the 21st century,” said Secretary Shinseki.

The VA is publishing a proposed regulation today in the Federal Register to make it easier for a Veteran to claim service connection for PTSD by reducing the evidence needed if the stressor claimed by a Veteran is related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity. Comments on the proposed rule will be accepted over the next 60 days. A final regulation will be published after consideration of all comments received.....................

Great advancement on this issue and once again long overdue!!

The "Death Book" For Veterans {UpDated 2}

How Conservatives Got The Facts Wrong On Their Latest Obsession

The latest conservative obsession - dutifully spread via Sarah Palin's Facebook page - is marked by the same alarmism and factual inaccuracy as the hysteria over "death panels."

According to this tale, America's veterans are being steered into ending their lives via a "death book" distributed by the government.

Snip

They failed to mention that the so-called "death book" contains the same advance-care planning required of all health care organizations under federal law, has been in use since 1997 and was developed with the input of interfaith ministers.

And over at VetVoice:

Former Bush Faith Based Advisor: Veterans Should Kill Themselves Using My Easy 5 Point Checklist!

I feel like I've been brainwashed into pulling the plug already. Really, if the document was really trying to get veterans to pull the plug on themselves, then first suggesting to them that their life should be prolonged at all costs is a pretty stupid way to do it........

This new spin, propaganda, started making the rounds a few days ago, once again those who didn't demand increases in military and veterans care funds, while beating the drums of wars of choice louder and louder, as their talking heads and little 'purple heart bandage' lovers did as well { not to mention the 75% of the public support for}, are reverting to spin scare tactics 'swiftboating' veterans, i.e. using vets as their fodder of false propaganda!!

UpDate:

Looney Tunes Coming to Congress

Specter Calls for Hearings on End-of-Life Care Guide for Veterans

The guide, called 'Your Life, Your Choices,' was suspended under the Bush administration but has been revived under the current Department of Veterans Affairs.

Sen. Arlen Specter on Sunday called for hearings to scrutinize a guide for veterans' end-of-life care which one former Bush official says sends a "hurry-up-and-die" message to injured troops.

The guide, called "Your Life, Your Choices," was suspended under the Bush administration but has been revived under the current Department of Veterans Affairs.

Jim Towey, former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, told "FOX News Sunday" that the pamphlet makes injured veterans feel like a burden, encourages the severely injured to die and should be tossed out.................

Talk about Wasting the Taxpayers Money, now this ex-rushlican wants to hold hearings on the Spin Propaganda!! What Doesn't He Get!!

UpDate 2

"Death Book For Veterans"

FOX News Chis Wallace Interviews Veterans Administration's Tammy Duckworth About "Death Book For Veterans" - 08/23/09

And in typical FOX (not the) News fashion Wallace refuses not only to Not Understand what is being said but Refuses to Listen to what is said, more then once! Wallace, that's called crap or scum journalism, i.e. propagandizing!!

Veterans: Health Care

Obama: Health Care Reform Won't Impact Veterans Affairs, Tricare

"I want to make sure that message gets out to our veterans," the president said. "I think it's very important to get the message out: If you are in the VA system and are happy with your care, great. We have no intention of changing your eligibility."...............

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Congressman Filner Bill Allows Elderly Veterans to Use Earned Medicare for VA Health Care

“There are veterans who have earned VA health care benefits with their service to our country,” stated Chairman Filner. “They have also earned Medicare benefits by contributing to the Medicare program during their working years. Because VA cannot bill Medicare, elderly veterans are unable to use their Medicare benefits, even if they may prefer to receive care at a VA facility among their fellow veterans. So for those veterans, they basically forgo the hard-earned dollars that they contributed towards Medicare benefits during their working years. H.R. 3365 is an important bill that would allow elderly veterans to access both VA health care and their Medicare benefits.”

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Veterans Administration begins effort to help keep arrested veterans out of future trouble

Bracing for an influx of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Veterans Affairs has launched an ambitious effort to locate veterans who've had minor brushes with the law and offer them treatment to try to prevent repeat crimes.

The VA started its Veterans Justice Outreach Program early this year — before public attention intensified on a handful of Fort Carson, Colo.-based soldiers accused of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter after returning from a deployment where they faced intense combat. Most of the soldiers had been arrested for domestic violence, assault, illegal gun possession, and alcohol and drug charges before the slayings...........

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Cardiovascular Risk Factors With Mental Health Diagnoses in Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans

A total of 303,223 veterans were included in this analysis. The mean age of the study population was 31 years and 88% were men. PTSD was common among the cohort (24% prevalence). Among those with PTSD, comorbid mental health conditions were prevalent including depression (53%), anxiety disorder (29%), adjustment disorder (26%), and alcohol use disorder (22%)...........................

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Democrats blast Army's handling of toxic exposures in Iraq

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., called the Army's response to soldiers exposed to a highly toxic carcinogen in Iraq "inadequate" and said the Democratic Policy Committee will request a report from the Pentagon's inspector general on the matter.

Five soldiers who served at an Iraqi water injection facility in 2003 testified before the committee on Monday, outlining symptoms believed to be the result of exposure to sodium dichromate spread across the facility.................

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VETERANS-FOR-CHANGE NETWORKS FOR CHANGE IN THE ANTIQUATED VA PROCESSING SYSTEMS

Veterans-For-Change, a non-profit vocal group for Veterans rights, benefits, and treatment, networks together to share the following problems/issues that must be addressed............

Alaska Summit on Veterans Issues

Summit tackles issues surrounding returning vets

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Although Alaska has one of the highest numbers of people serving in the military per capita, Thursday's summit on veterans' issues was the first of its kind.

It was hosted by the state Legislature's Veterans' caucus, made up of lawmakers and legislative staff who want to bring more attention to veterans' issues.

Snip

This year the Veterans' Caucus was instrumental in getting legislation passed to restore benefits to Alaska Territorial Guard veterans who lost them due to a glitch in federal policy. The state will pay these benefits until the federal government straightens out the problem.............

This is the type of News, from Alaska, we should be following!!

UpDated: Veterans March for VA Hospital in S. Texas

Kathy Upton, pictured above in the red shirt, is the manager of the Best Western in George West. On Tuesday afternoon Upton donated two rooms to Rio Grande Valley veterans who are marching to San Antonio. This allowed the veterans to get showers after their 30-mile trek from Alice. (Photo: RGG/Joey Gomez)

A couple of days ago I posted about a group of Veterans Marching to San Antonio Texas to raise awareness of the need for Veterans Hospital in South Texas that's been needed for a long time, the Texas Pols have promised but it never comes about, typical.

This is to update that previous, with a few news reports, video and pictures, as these Vets are On The March!!

A Call to Action!

An open invitation for the March to San Antonio in order to raise community and national awareness of the distance Valley Veterans must travel to receive Specialized, Surgical, and Urgent care because of the lack of a local VA Hospital.

Started: March 14th 2009

Ending: March 20th 2009

4:00 p.m.

Audie Murphy Memorial VA Hospital

7400 Merton Minter St

San Antonio TX 78229

Anyone reading and in Texas in or near San Antonio welcome their arrival on the 20th!

March To San Antonio, this is a different page than the one directly above, in the quote. It takes you to a site that gives photo's of their daily progress.

Veterans begin their march Saturday morning on the steps of the Dustin Michael Sekula Memorial Library in Edinburg on their way to San Antonio to bring awareness of the need for a veterans' hospital in the Valley. (photo: Joel Martinez | The Monitor)

Here's some recent photo's, articles, video, and audio:

Gomez: Thoughts from Day One of the Valley Veterans March

SAN MANUEL, March 15 - Rio Grande Valley Veterans March organizer Rey Leal was smiling after completing the first 25 miles of the trek to San Antonio.

“Do your feet feel like hamburgers,” he asked me, as we reached San Manuel. “Don’t quit. Don’t do something just to quit. You are already here so finish. There is no room for weakness from any of the Valley veterans.”

Leal served two tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine and is a member of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America.

“For the record, I don’t intend to quit, ever,” Leal said, referring to decades-old fight for a veterans’ hospital in the Valley. “It only took a few minutes on the road for me to realize this is much bigger than me or any one of us.”

Guardian reporter Joey Gomez is embedded in Charlie Team on the Valley Veterans March. Charlie Team comprises Terry Alaffa of McAllen, Mindy Vela of Edinburg, and Mike Mejia of Mercedes. The group is pictured alongside U.S. 281 between Premont and Alice on Day Three of the march.

Peña: Veterans are riding a wave of support not seen before

SAN MANUEL, March 15 - A different feeling pervades the current march by Rio Grande Valley veterans to San Antonio, according to state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg.

“Veterans are riding a wave of support never before seen in the region,” Peña said.

Peña made his comments while walking with the veterans that set off from Edinburg on Day One of the current march. He was the only lawmaker to travel with Valley veterans in their first march to San Antonio in November, 2005. Prior to that walk, many of the veterans struggled hard to get the attention of national politicians to build them a VA hospital, Peña said.

“You can tell the difference, and the response was immediate after that walk for the needs of those veterans,” Peña said. “You can tell by the crowd today, when were walking in 2005 there were perhaps 12 of us walking. Now, well I don't know the number here but it's large, maybe four or five times the size and that's because of the response we feel we're getting.”

Gomez: Thoughts from Day Two of the Valley Veterans March

FALFURRIAS, March 16 - At this point it's about 10 p.m. and I am huddled in a corner of the building at Post 7634 in Falfurrias. I'm sleeping on a dining table with my sleeping bag because some of the veterans had mentioned rats but I still haven't seen one.

Without a doubt today's 47 mile march from San Manuel to the Border Patrol Checkpoint and finally to Falfurrias separated the fair-weather supporters from the truly hardcore veterans who are absolutely determined to reach San Antonio. The pain of the march has strengthened their resolve, which remains undaunted.

Throughout the trip I am constantly reminded by veterans that the media do not know how it feels to make the repeated trip to San Antonio because they haven't experienced the hardship, which makes my trip all the more important. My goal remains to understand the veterans at this level.

March 16, 2009 - Vets: We deserve closer care
Vets march through south Texas to highlight the need for a V.A. hospital. Organizer Rey Leal talked to HLN from the road.


Mike Escobedo, Jesus Bocanegra, and Maribel Guzman march along U.S. 281 between Premont and Alice on Monday. The Valley veterans march in relay, with groups of four or five completing eight miles each. The Guardian was able to get an audio interview with Escobedo while he was marching Monday.

Audio: Valley veteran talks about the aches and pains endured by marchers

ALICE, March 16 - On Monday, the Guardian dropped in on the Valley Veterans March to ask Mike Escobedo how things were going.

Monday is Day Three of the march, with veterans traveling from Falfurrias to Alice. The weather was much warmer than on the first two days of the March. However, Escobedo said the spirits of the marchers was high.

Audio interview in Windows Media Player

And while these Veterans are Marching what they seek is being announced to day to be built, but in another state, as this I received earlier from the Veterans Administration Announces:

VA to Build Stand-Alone Replacement Hospital in Denver

WASHINGTON – Fulfilling President Obama’s pledge to “stand with our veterans as they face new challenges,” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced today that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will build a stand-alone replacement hospital for its existing facility in Denver. The new facility will be located on the grounds of the Army’s former Fitzsimons hospital in Aurora.

The new medical center will provide Denver-area Veterans with a full range of medical, laboratory, research and counseling services, including services for Veterans with spinal cord injuries (SCI) and other disabilities.

VA will also create new Health Care Centers, which provide ambulatory care and same-day surgical services, in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Billings, Mont. The Colorado Springs facility will be managed in collaboration with the Department of Defense. VA also plans to add eight new health care facilities in rural areas throughout the region.

Is it cost or numbers that prevents VA from building Valley veterans hospital, ask marchers

ALICE, March 16 - Rio Grande Valley veterans marching from Edinburg to San Antonio believe they have come across one of the most compelling reasons for building a VA hospital in their region.

A car pulled up as they were walking towards the Falfurrias checkpoint on U.S. 281 on Sunday. A woman leaned out and handed veteran Juan Vela a note. Unsigned, the note told the story of her husband, a 65-year-old Valley veteran who has made 55 trips to the Audie Murphy VA hospital in San Antonio. The man has prostate cancer. The woman said she does not know if her husband will live long enough to make his 56th trip to San Antonio.

Because of the traffic backing up behind her, the woman had to drive off before the marching veterans could find out the name of the ailing veteran.

“We have the man’s letter but we would like to know his name because we want to have his testimony entered into the record when we go to Congress,” said Valley veteran Mike Escobedo.

Well now these Vets, when they travel to Washington next week, to lobby for their needs, now have a new tool to use, the building of this Va Hospital. If this country can afford this one, as well as enriching Incompetent Executives with bonuses from these so called 'bailouts', that means there's more than enough money to give to S.Texas in that long time need!

Valley veterans Apol Uresti of Donna, Manuel Ibarra of Edinburg and Jose Maria Vasquez of Elsa are pictured on Day Three of the Valley Veterans March. Vasquez said he is disturbed by comments made by the VA about why a veterans' hospital cannot be built in the Valley. (Photo: RGG/Steve Taylor)

Valley veterans Rey Leal and Chris Treviño are pictured after giving an interview to the Guardian and KGBT Action 4 News alongside U.S. 281 between Premont and Alice on Monday. Leal said motorists are honking their horns and pulling over to provide water, supplies and donations. “People have been great," Leal said.


VA Watchdog - RIO GRANDE VALLEY VETS MARCHING AGAIN FOR VA HOSPITAL

-- "The government only works when you put pressure on it.

There's going to be a VA hospital in the Valley."

Vets March for VA Hospital in South Texas

KIIITV News March 17, 2009

ALICE--If you were in the Jim Wells County area today, you probably noticed dozens of military veterans hitting the streets marching towards San Antonio. Their goal? To get a VA Hospital built in the Valley.

The veterans said more than 100,000 vets live in the Coastal Bend, the Valley and Laredo. They want a VA hospital in South Texas for special treatment instead of being forced to go to San Antonio.

Several groups of veterans were marching on Highway 281 in the Alice area today. They said dozens of vets are taking part in this march to raise awareness about the hospital.

Veterans VA Texas March

Day 4 of Valley veterans' march to San Antonio

ALICE, TEXAS -- Tuesday marked day four of the Rio Grand Valley veterans march to San Antonio. The march is designed to highlight the need for a Veterans Affairs hospital in Deep South Texas.

The nearest one is in San Antonio is about 280 miles from the Valley. Local veterans marched from Falfurrias to Alice Monday.Motorists traveling past them on U.S.Highway 281 were stopping to offer money, water and supplies.

Organizer Rey Leal said the group didn't let the heat get in the way of the purpose for the walk.

Gomez: Just 90 miles to go on Valley Veterans March

Vietnam War veteran Juan Vela, uncle of Progreso mayor Omar Vela, is walking all the way on the Valley Veterans March. (Photo: RGG/Steve Taylor)

GEORGE WEST, March 18 - A little more than 90 miles to go. The arrival of the Rio Grande Valley veterans in George West at the end of day four was a turning point in countless ways.

First, all the veterans say they are now more accustomed to the daily rigors of the march. The miles aren't taking as much of an impact on bones, joints, or tender feet. Rather all say they are in fact hardened to the road. The initial shock of the march is gone and that the injuries to limbs and body that were prevalent even a mere two days ago are over.

March organizer Rey Leal told me earlier that all veterans have gotten over the shock of walking farther than the couch to the fridge. This reporter however trained for two weeks before this mission.

They are coming towards their goal of reaching San Antonio by friday, coming near the end of todays march, than tomorrow into friday, give some Support if in Texas and near by the March route.

The rest of us give Support by visiting their sites Here - A Call to Action! and Here - March To San Antonio. And give a call or other communication to your representative in both the house and senate.

Soldiers Get Shafted, Again and........................!!

I was trying to write something more about this report I just read, but after these last eight previous years my rage keeps me from thinking straight in trying to add words to the total apathy, arrogance, and incompetence found in this country and it's elected representatives.

But I want you to meet Melissa Sterry, a Gulf War I National Guard Veteran, from New Haven Connecticut, and read the cuts I placed below also visiting the Hartford Advocate and read the rest, not only about Ms. Sterry but as to the rest of the Veterans of Connecticut, and what the state reps have to say.

Cut and Run
The Rell administration quietly kills a program to track the health of sick war veterans

Melissa Sterry's job was to clean them and ready them for storage. She'd climb inside the tanks and with a simple dust pan and broom, sweep out the Iraqi sand and the rubbish left behind by the tank operators.

Sterry was sweeping up something else too, something too small to see: dust from depleted uranium, a radioactive substance the military uses to make ammunition armor-piercing and bunker-busting. For months, Sterry cleaned these tanks without protective gear, kicking depleted uranium airborne and into her lungs.

Today, Sterry is a medical train wreck. The 46-year-old Gulf War veteran takes 11 kinds of medication — some daily and others as needed for pain — and suffers from chronic headaches, upper respiratory disease, bronchitis and a host of other ailments.

Like most Gulf War vets, the federal Veterans Administration refuses to test Sterry for exposure to depleted uranium or other chemical toxins she was exposed to in the Middle East.

So Sterry turned to the state government, and in 2005 helped Connecticut become the first state in the nation to craft a law to test returning combat troops for exposure to battlefield health hazards, including depleted uranium.

But the state has turned its back on Sterry and the more than 30,000 Connecticut troops who have deployed to combat zones in the Middle East and the Balkans since 1990. The Advocate has learned that Gov. Jodi Rell, through her budget office, quietly killed funding for the veterans health registry without telling the lawmakers who sponsored the program, nor the veterans whom it would serve.

If the registry isn't restored, hundreds of Connecticut-based troops could go undiagnosed and uncatalogued. The state has sent 16,000 troops to war since Sept. 11, 2001 and another 75 National Guardsmen and women shipped off to the southwest Asia last week, their second deployment to the war zone.

"People really don't care about veterans," Sterry says. "They really don't give a shit about us. People want to trot out veterans on photo-ops. They want to go put wreaths on gravestones. But real human beings with real life problems? No, we don't care."

Who is Gov. Jodi Rell, According to Wikipedia.

Mary Jodi Rell (born June 16, 1946) is a Republican politician who became the 72nd Governor of the U.S. state of Connecticut on July 1, 2004. She had been the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut until Governor John G. Rowland resigned during a corruption investigation. Rell is Connecticut's second female Governor, after Ella T. Grasso.

To Sterry, cutting help for vets to balance the books is just plain heartless.

"We understand care and maintenance of our military vehicles, but we don't understand we need to do the same for our troops," Sterry says. "Do you want to change the oil in the engine or do you want to replace the engine when it seizes up? These actions are just a reflection of, We'll just change the engine when it seizes up."

Rell's press office was asked to explain why they cut funds for the registry and to respond to reactions like those of Sterry that denying health screening to combat troops is cold-hearted. Despite four calls and one e-mail to the governor's press shop over three days, we received no response to our questions. The governor's chief spokesman, Christopher Cooper, referred us the Jeffrey Beckham, undersecretary for legislative affairs at OPM, who responded with this statement:

"That program was new and had not gotten started. The agency required some cooperation from the federal government to get it going and I understand that cooperation was somewhat lacking. Given that we were struggling to protect existing programs, we thought that not going forward with that new program was a reasonable call."

We asked Beckham in a follow-up e-mail to elaborate about the lack of federal cooperation and respond to the questions unanswered by the governor's staff, but did not receive a response by press time.

Now I'm assuming, and probably right, about the lack of federal cooperation, that they are talking about the previous administrations control, as the present has been on the job only since January 20th '09.

Another in an ever growing list of the Incompetence and Corrupt leadership we've been a party to for these last eight years in the federal government, including the years of control prior to in the congress, and coming also out of the state governments!

Now a certain political party can't be blamed for everything concerning Military and Veterans Care, but this political party are the ones Thumbing their Chests as to being True 'Americans', More 'Patriotic', Stronger on 'National Defense', and the only True 'Supporters of the Troops' and thus us Veterans, and are the ones who championed the Two Occupations and the creation of huge numbers of enemies towards our country and it's citizens!!

An OIF and OEF Vet needs a few Signatures........

I wouldn't normally pass on a petition link in this fashion. But a young lady from the area has taken this request on and I'd not only like to give her a hand but the Vet who's requesting the help.

With this 'stimulus package' being worked up, that 'stimulus' is what should already have been being spent on infrastructure and needs from our tax dollars all along, there is already some billions going towards military and veterans needs. But more is needed and should be allocated. Most, if not all, of those serving in these theaters will be doing so not just one tour but many tours and some in both theaters. Many more clinics are needed around the country, especially in the rural area's, closer to these Veterans and as to the populations of same, both for physical and mental care needs!

This is what Dana sent me:

I came across this mans myspace yesterday his name is Rey Leal and he has to go 5 hours out of his way to get to his VA hospital he lives in South Texas. He wants to put a VA hospital closer to him. He is trying to get veterans in his area to stand togehter for their rights so that they will get a VA hospital within a reasonable distance in his area. I thought you might want to check it out here is his myspace: OIF & OEF Veterans of the RGV
And this is where you can sign the petition: Petition for VA Hospital in South Texas
I signed it and am donating to his cause also I am trying to write his local congressman
I think that its ridiculous that someone would have to go 5 HOURS out of there way at their own expense that is extremely cruel and especially someone who has done so much for our country. He has to go all the way into San Antonio Texas if he wanted to get surgery done or see a specialist. I am writing to his local congressman and I really want to help him.

Dana is heading into college to study psychology and especially leading towards understanding, research and care of those with PTSD. Give her and this vet a hand and sign his petition,

Thanks

Change of Culture at VA Called For

From: Veterans for Common Sense

During Confirmation Hearing for New Veterans Secretary

(Washington, D.C.) - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) questioned Retired General Eric Shinseki, President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to be the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs, about challenges facing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Senator Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and an outspoken leader in fighting for veterans' benefits and care, discussed changing the overall culture at the VA, improving care for women veterans, and working to make the VA a more proactive agency. Secretary-Designate Shinseki"s nomination is expected to be voted on by the full Senate as part of a package of Obama administration nominees on January 20th.

January 14, 2009 - Murray invites Secretary-Designate Shinseki to visit Washington state veterans facilities

Calls for proactive approach to meeting long-term challenges, better care for women veterans, and warns against increased fees and co-pays for veterans

Listen Now:

Senator Murray's Opening Statement


Senator Murray asks about changing the culture at the VA


Senator Murray asks about improving care for female veterans and invites Secretary-Designate Shinseki to visit VA facilities in Washington state
Senator Murray is the author of legislation that would expand and improve health care services to women veterans, particularly women who have served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Changing the Culture

Senator Murray began her questioning of Secretary-Designate Shinseki by highlighting some of the major failures that the VA has attempted to downplay under the Bush administration and how he would work to change the culture at the VA.

"Over the past 8 years, the VA has developed a track record and culture of downplaying some potentially embarrassing internal issues," said Senator Murray. "Whether it's budget shortfalls or inaccurate suicide data, and this has come at the expense of the veterans we're serving."

Senator Murray went on to ask Secretary-Designate Shinseki how he will go about building a VA that "focuses on providing for veterans needs rather than avoiding public relations disasters."

Listen to Murray's question on changing the culture at the VA and Secretary-Designate Shinseki's response.


My added note

Any reports you may read or hear about as to how this previous administration, and the republican controlled congress as they wage two conflicts, raised the funding for Military Care and Veterans Care are Not Truthful Statements!

Extra monies were needed, desperately, as we had returning Soldiers of Both Occupations returning and needing costly treatments, that's where any extra money went!

The same thing happened after 'Nam leaving Veterans from before lacking while also not injecting enough money to care for the returning Vets.

Reason we've also seen, once again, the attempts to denie claims under false rhetoric and accusations to those seeking their needed care!

Washington's Battle against America's Veterans

"The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle against America's Veterans"

Veterans for Common Sense highly recommends this well-written documentary about how poorly our Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are being treated. As the Houston Chronicle editorial board wrote on December 14, 2008, "Since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and all of the resulting harms to soldiers, civilians, economies and constitutional principles, no segment of society has been more abused and neglected than returning U.S. military veterans."

Description

The War Comes Home is the first book to systematically document the U.S. government's neglect of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Aaron Glantz, who reported extensively from Iraq during the first three years of this war and has been reporting on the plight of veterans ever since, levels a devastating indictment against the Bush administration for its bald neglect of soldiers and its disingenuous reneging on their benefits. Glantz interviewed more than one hundred recent war veterans, and here he intersperses their haunting first-person accounts with investigations into specific concerns, such as the scandal at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. This timely book does more than provide us with a personal connection to those whose service has cost them so dearly. It compels us to confront how America treats its veterans and to consider what kind of nation deifies its soldiers and then casts them off as damaged goods.

Reviews of "The War Comes Home" --

"A breathtaking rebuke to government hypocrisy and an overdue contribution to gaining critical public awareness of this official neglect."—Publishers Weekly

"Aaron Glantz is one of the truly outstanding young journalists of our times." —Bob McChesney, author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy, and founder of Free Press

"One of the many scandals of the war in Iraq is how the administration has betrayed our returning servicemen. I'm grateful that the facts surrounding these tragedies are finally being exposed."—Paul Haggis, Academy-Award-winning director of Crash and In the Valley of Elah, screenwriter of Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima

"A must-read for those who claim to support our troops."—Robert G. Gard, Lt. General, U.S. Army (ret.)

"The treatment by the Bush Administration of America's returning veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is one of the saddest chapters in American history. This story is painfully documented by Aaron Glantz. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to make the phrase, 'Support the Troops,' more than a slogan."—Former US Senator Max Cleland

"A fitting tribute to what these men and women fought and risked their lives and well-being for."—Gerald Nicosia, author of Home to War

"This superbly documented and eloquent book is a clarion call for honesty, compassion, outrage, and an end to the lies that cause so much suffering in far-off countries and in our own nation."—Norman Solomon, author of War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death

"Aaron Glantz draws on his eyewitness experiences of reporting in Iraq to bring the courage and the suffering of our troops into vivid relief. The War Comes Home exposes how physical and mental injuries plague our returning servicemen and what we can do about it."—Linda Bilmes, coauthor of The Three Trillion Dollar War

"Weep, America, cringe, America. We talk a good game about honoring all those who go into harm's way for our sake and caring for those who get physically and psychologically broken, but do we go beyond fine words and a few gold-plated flagship medical facilities? Are we walking the walk? Are we getting it right? Aaron Glantz is in our face on the military treatment facilities, the VA, and civilian society at large."—Jonathan Shay, MD, PhD, author of Achilles in Vietnam and Odysseus in America. MacArthur Fellow

"Aaron Glantz reports on the human cost of war, what it does physically and emotionally to those young men and women who carry out industrial slaughter. He rips apart the myths we tell ourselves about war and illustrates, in painful detail, the dark psychological holes that those who have been through war's trauma endure and will always endure. He reminds us that the essence of war is not glory, heroism, and honor but death."—Chris Hedges, former New York Times foreign correspondent, author of War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

"We should all be reading people like Greg Palast and Aaron Glantz."—Al Kennedy, The Guardian (UK)

The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle against America's Veterans

Veterans Care and Workers.........

More Incompetence in bush Veterans Health Care System

Help for injured veterans could vanish

There is new bureaucratic bumbling to address the mismanagement and waste at the new traumatic brain injury research program at Central Texas Veterans Health Care System. The system has spent nearly $2.5 million in more than two years on salaries, supplies and MRI scanner time — and not a single veteran has been studied or benefited from the expenditures.


Rather than holding managers accountable for serious transgressions, including literal suppression of, and inaction to, disclosures of fraud, waste, and invalid human research, according to Tim Shea, a regional director of the Veterans Integrated Service Network , the Veterans Administration is considering the closure of one of a few centers in the nation dedicated to testing new imaging and treatments for brain injury.

::::::::::

Adam Coleman, 26, will share his experiences with post-traumatic stress disorder in 'True Life' episode.

Coleman found himself in Iraq three times after he enlisted in 2002. After what he called increasingly violent deployments, Coleman was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder when he left the Marines. The disorder develops in some war veterans and survivors of other traumatic experiences and can trigger violent episodes and flashbacks. Coleman is one of three war veterans featured tonight in a new episode of MTV's documentary series "True Life."

::::::::::

Community Organizer President Elect Obama...

Obama defends Republic Windows and Doors workers

“When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right,” Obama said Sunday at a news conference announcing his new Veterans Affairs director. “What’s happening to them is reflective of what’s happening across this economy.

::::::::::

In Factory Sit-In,

an Anger Spread Wide

Workers laid off from a Chicago factory on Saturday at what they called an occupation of the plant. They criticized their former bosses, the company’s creditors and the federal government.

The scene inside a long, low-slung factory on this city’s North Side this weekend offered a glimpse at how the nation’s loss of more than 600,000 manufacturing jobs in a year of recession is boiling over.

Laid-off factory workers sit

Factory workers in Chicago stage a sit-in and refuse to leave the factory after being laid off.



Laid Off And Not Leaving

After being let go with three days notice, laid off Chicago factory workers refuse to leave and have staged a sit-in protest.

December 8, 2008


Watch CBS Videos Online

SOLIDARITY!!

Special Thanksgiving Message: {2008}

Thousands of Soldiers are no longer with us but especially with their families, this or any coming Thanksgivings!

As of 11-25-2008:

U.S.: Iraq Confirmed Deaths Reported Deaths: 4205 Confirmed Deaths: 4203 Pending Confirmation: 2

U.S.: Afghanistan Confirmed Deaths 629

This message comes from the family of only one soldier who did come back, but not the same as when he left, and will not be celebrating Thanksgiving or any other Holidays with his family, but is certainly not forgotten.

This soldier, and many more, numbers unknown because no one counts them, are still War Casualties but not in the numbers listed above.

The 'Special Thanksgiving Message' comes from his Mom and Dad, Kevin & Joyce Lucey, about their son, Cpl. Jeffrey Michael Lucey, a 23 year old USMC reservist and Iraq conflict veteran.

As the Lucey's say in the beginning there is alot to found about their son on the internet, as many will find there also is about many of those who served in our recent conflicts, Wars of Choice, I'll just give a couple of links.

Jeffrey M Lucey

'Something happened to Jeff'

Jeff Lucey returned from Iraq a changed man. Then he killed himself.

Now to the Special Message, in it's entirety, as posted on the Veterans for Common Sense site:

Jeffrey Lucey and the Urgent Need for Mental Healthcare for All Our Veterans

November 23, 2008 - This is the story of our son, Jeffrey Michael Lucey. This will be a brief account of what happened to him - especially after his return from the Iraq War.

There is so much about him on the internet under his name. This is why we will keep this brief.

Jeffrey Michael Lucey was born on March 18, 1981. He was our only son and our middle child - having an older sister and a younger sister. He was your average everyday boy. As he grew up, Jeffrey began to love to play sports, being a clown as well as a little rascal and imp. Jeffrey was a risk taker as well as being popular and industrious in school - at least in elementary and middle school. The first three years of high school was when he discovered girls and the social life but he was able to pull it togther during his senior year and graduated. He then went on to attend Holyoke Community College but that was interrupted by his joining the USMC reserve unit in December, 1999; then going off to Boot Camp in late May, 2000; finally returning on November 9, 2000 and then being assigned to his unit in New Haven, Ct.. Jeffrey's life was then further interrupted once more by the War.

Jeffrey being a convoy driver then participated in the invasion the day after his birthday and returned home July 13, 2003 - physically unscathed but mortally wounded. He returned to college. He was to have graduated on June 5, 2004 but weeks before he found himself in the throes of dealing with the hidden wounds of the trauma of War. Regretfully, Jeffrey never did graduate.

In letters other than the ones Jeffrey sent to us while he was in Iraq, Jeffrey described doing immoral things and wishing that the past month ( April of 2003 ) of his life never happened - that he had done things which he had only seen in the movies, ect.

Despite some distance when Jeffrey initially came home, we were unaware of issues other than what we were told would be some re-adjustment back to civilian life.

The first strong clue occurred on December 24, 2003, when Jeffrey, having asked to stay home from Christmas Eve activities, talked to his younger sister while he was crying and drinking and told her that he was nothing more than a murderer - tossing his and other dogtags at her. Yet later that evening and the next day, Jeffrey appearred fine.

During the intervening months, Jeffrey appeared to be drinking more and had some episodes but then things seem to explode. Another issue which came to light was Jeffrey's daily vomiting ever since he had returned. We sent him to the Doctor and they were going to schedule some medical tests. We came to find out later that that could have been caused by those hidden wounds.

It was in the middle of March, 2004 around school vacation, his birthday and the anniversary of the War that Jeffrey's downward spiral truly began

From mid-March through June 22, 2004, Jeffrey's life became a struggle and the symptoms appeared to explode - appearing to fluctuate in intensity and frequency. It was as if a beast was gnawing and gnashing at Jeffrey's very essence and ripping chunks out of his spirit ... his soul ... his being. There were moments that Jeffrey appeared to be quiet only to discover that in the silence, he had been screaming from the pain - horrible screams of pain that no one heard. Jeffrey slept little, ate little, was so restless, hypervigilant, confused angry frustrated isolated in his mind wracked with guilt sadness depression rage, panicked, desperate, hopeless, overwhelmed, rageful, wanting to talk and yet at the same time wanting to be silent. He wanted help but thought that no one could understand but even worse - especially after going to the VA twice - that no one cared. Being totally aware of stigma and fearful of being judged by those who could never understand, Jeffrey felt trapped as he slowly made his descent into his private hell.

As a family, we were also descending into our own hell - feeling totally powerless, helpless, desperate. We begged him to go to get help ... to go to the VA who were the experts having dealt with this country's veterans over a hundred years and a number of wars. Yet STIGMA prevented him from reaching out and trying to save himself - for you see, to seek help meant to him that you are weak and that was not acceptable. We were overwhelmed and then struggling with a mutated form of our own trauma due to trying to deal with the chaos and the raging storm of Jeffrey and his present world.

We were finally able to bring him to the VA only to have that fail so miserably. His experience there made him refuse to go back - feeling that he was treated as a prisoner - not as a veteran; being put on a ward with older veterans suffering from a number of issues not similar to his; not being seen by counselors or therapists - not being helped; feeling warehoused; not being assessed for his real issue but their simply focusing on a symptom - alcohol; ect. This should have never been.

After being turned away from the professionals, it made us doubt ourselves - were we just parents overreacting. They would never turn someone away who really was in danger - would they? It gave us a false sense of security and safety. From our perspective - they were the angels who would embrace and help Jeffrey through all this that we did not understand. Yet they turned him away. Then no one ever called so it must be that we were thinking with a parents' hearts and not being objective enough.

Jeffrey had so many mixed feelings - for he was expecting to be returned to Iraq. There were times that he was ready to go back to Iraq with his unit and then other times when he could not.

With all these factors and more involved, Jeffrey's spiral continued to go downward until he crashed. Jeffrey did stop drinking the week before he died. All of us tried to get him help - Joyce called the VA and stated that we were watching our son die slowly in front of us; Jeffrey called the Vet Center and made an appointment for the following Friday which we kept. They sent us home with the idea that they would come to the house three times per week until they could find a bed. He couldn't be as bad as we feared - could he?

When I came home from work on Monday, June 21, 2004, Jeffrey was pacing through the house in a total rage - ranting about the government, the war, the oil issue, ect.. He then spoke about suicide. I called the Vet Center not only once but twice. After talking with the staff, Jeffrey was in a better place and we had a relatively good night. About 11:30 pm, for the second time within the last ten days, Jeffrey asked me if he could sit in my lap. For the second time, I rocked him in my lap - this time for about 45 minutes. Then we walked to his room and he went to bed.

The next time I held him in my lap was the very next night, on June 22, 2004, as I lowered him from the beam and unwrapped the hose from around his neck - the first time that he looked at peace in months. He finally escaped the pain at his own hand. On June 22nd, the VA sent a notice setting up an appointment for Jeffrey who was in such a crisis for approximately three weeks later.

Few have spoken out; many have not.

It is simply not right - to allow the traumatized troops and veterans to suffer in such a tortured way and such a horrible death; for the loved ones to descend into the depths of a hell known only to a few... it is simply not right.

As many sit around their holiday tables full of festive cheer, let us hope that, even for a brief moment, some will remember that somewhere in this nation there is a family that will have to confront the reality that the smiles, laughter and joking of the loved one / veteran /troop is now replaced by the empty chair and a trembling toast to all that was and that which could have been. and which will never be.

Kevin & Joyce Lucey, the proud parents of Cpl. Jeffrey Michael Lucey, a 23 year old USMC reservist forever succumbed to the hidden wounds of PTSD.

03/18/81 -------- 06/22/04

To learn more about Jeffery listen to his parents as they tell the World about what their son went through in his last days:

WINTER SOLDIER: KEVIN and JOYCE LUCEY (1 of 2)

WINTER SOLDIER: KEVIN and JOYCE LUCEY (2 of 2)

RIP Jeffery and all our Brothers and Sisters, RIP!

Countries Responsibility - Veterans Care

Facing The Wall: A Mission

Witness This Engaging Account About One Woman's Struggling in Taking Care of Her Vietnam War Veteran Husband Suffering From Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

FACING THE WALL: A MISSION symbolizes the everlasting pains of war as well as our search for peace. It pays special attention to PTSD and its effects on the whole family.

Growing Problem For Veterans: Domestic Violence

"The increasing number of veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) raises the risk of domestic violence and its consequences on families and children in communities across the United States," says Monica Matthieu, Ph.D., an expert on veteran mental health and an assistant professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis.

Veterans oppose change in health care

They protest VA hospital contracting out surgical, emergency, ICU services

He held a sign that read: "Dole Out Burr Next." Other signs read: "Save our hospital," "Save our ICU," and "Be loud save our care."

An unspoken illness among veterans

On this Veterans Day, whether we are a veteran, family member, friend, co-worker or simply a concerned citizen, we all need to make sure we continue to fight the stigma attached to seeking mental health treatment. We need to do go the extra yard to ensure that veterans who may be suffering from mental illnesses receive the help they need.

After Two Iraq War Deployments

Army Major General Steps Forward, Breaks Culture of Silence on Mental Health

Blackledge got psychiatric counseling to deal with wartime trauma, and now he is defying the military's culture of silence on the subject of mental health problems and treatment.

"It's part of our profession ... nobody wants to admit that they've got a weakness in this area," Blackledge said of mental health problems among troops returning from America's two wars.

Challenges remain for many veterans
People can do more for those who served, VFW commander says

“Somewhere as veterans, these people have crossed the line from normal to abnormal. They need help and they need to know they won’t be judged if they reach out for help,” he said.

Obama can make quick, modest gains on health care

**Expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover as many children as possible when it comes up for renewal in March. The program has broad support in Congress, but it was cut during its last renewal to win President Bush's signature.

**Authorize the federal government to negotiate bulk purchases of Medicare prescription drugs. Bush opposed this, but the Veterans Affairs already does it with great success.

Dems get new crop of military voters

With McCain facing a diminished role in the GOP, and Chuck Hagel retiring from the Senate, there are few prominent Republican leaders left with military bona fides. This is in stark contrast to the Democratic Party, which has seen the emergence of a new generation of veteran leaders.

In the past two election cycles, Democrats have added ten new Democratic veterans to Congress. Last week, President-elect Barack Obama helped close the gap among military voters, winning 44 percent of veterans as opposed to John F. Kerry’s 41 percent in 2004.

For all the GOP’s patriotic imagery and testosterone-infused rhetoric, the sad truth is that most of the current crop of Republican leaders – Rudy Giuliani; Mitt Romney; Newt Gingrich; Mitch McConnell; John Boehner; etc. – were all of age at the time of Vietnam but avoided serving in the military.

N.J. Hospitals, Military and Veterans Affairs Join Broad Effort to Improve Returning Vets' Healthcare

The New Jersey Hospital Association and the N.J. Department of Military and Veterans Affairs have partnered with more than a dozen national organizations in a sweeping effort to educate healthcare professionals, veterans and family members about the unique health-related problems faced by returning veterans.

Honor America's Veterans on Nov. 11

Tuesday, Nov. 11 the United States marks the 55th Veterans Day observance. Across the nation, we will pay tribute to America's 25 million living veterans and the more than one million who have given their lives in military service.

While Veterans Day is a time to recall the sacrifices of those who have protected our liberty and way of life, honoring America's veterans must be an ongoing national priority which is reflected in a strong federal commitment to veterans' needs.

Returning Reservists - Jobs - 60min. Sunday

Reservists Face Rocky Return In Job Market

60 Minutes Report Also Examines Costs Borne By Employers Of Deployed Citizen Soldiers

Lesley Stahl could only talk to some of the thousands of reservists and guardsmen who have returned from active duty to find problems with their employers over their jobs.

The rest can call the assistant secretary of defense directly to complain after he broadcasts his phone number during her 60 Minutes report this Sunday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

AND

To ALL Veterans in the DC Area - Veterans Day

Washington Redskins Open FedExField Locker Room to ALL Military Veterans for Free Health Screenings

The event will take place on Saturday, November 8th from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm.
Veteran's organizations that are partnering on this event include:
American Legion - AMVETS - Blinded Veterans of America (BVA) - Disabled American Veterans (DAV) - Iraq & Afghanistan Veteran's Association (IAVA) - Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) - National Association for Black Veterans (NABVets) - Paralyzed Veterans of America (PAV) - The Military Order of the Purple Heart - Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) - Veterans of Modern Warfare (VMW) - VETS Group - Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA).

"Another Walter Reed-Type Scandal"

Soldiers at the military hospital languished in part due to incompatible databases and dismal record keeping. Welcome to the Pentagon's $20 billion medical-records boondoggle.

The above subject title is a report, over at Mother Jones, I couldn't think of a better title than used, really, written by Niko Karvounis who, according to the Mother Jones info at the end, is a program officer at The Century Foundation, where he researches health care, among other issues and is a regular contributor to HealthBeatBlog.org.


It's one of those "Here we go again, on the incompetence and arrogance, of those that were placed on the public payroll under this corrupt and totally incompetent administration and arrogant wanna-be top CEO, only in his dreams, and complacent GOP congress up till the previous election!".


I still can't figure out the why so few, if any, are not running against the policies, or actually the non-policies of the previous GOP controlled congresses, under which six years were under total GOP control, from the administration on down.


Even if there were complicity from the Democratic side the voting records and the Congress records are a mother load of information on an Ideological Policy that can and should not exist in a Free and Democratic Government, even covering the Economics of the Capitalism that was set forth, showing up, not just recently as in yesterday, but right along.


But this is more about what many should be bringing in to the public discussion, especially those who would be freshmen/women in the Congressional Races.


This is, once again and the list is so long, about what the previous 109th Congress didn't do, nor care about, as they were beating the drums of war, their claim to a strong national security, and they with their surrogates were calling us, who were warning them and the majority of this country what was coming, across the whole spectrum, every childish and treasonous name they could muster in their double speak of hypocrisy, lies, and propaganda!

In February 2007, William Winkenwerder Jr. announced he was stepping down from his post as assistant secretary of defense for health affairs following a press conference in which he downplayed the Walter Reed scandal as a mere "quality-of-life experience." In the months that followed, it seemed clear that Winkenwerder's negligence may have been partly to blame for the deplorable conditions at the military hospital. Now, more than a year and half after his departure, Winkenwerder's legacy lives on in a multibillion-dollar Defense Department medical-records management system that many military doctors believe is fatally flawed. One military physician, speaking anonymously, calls it "another Walter Reed-type scandal."

He goes on to explain the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application, or AHLTA, that begin in 1997. Who got the contract for it, complaints about it etc..

The military stuck with the system until November 2005, when Winkenwerder, who oversaw all DOD health care, held a press conference rechristening the system "AHLTA." "We have put a new name on what we are doing because it is not a 'version two' of anything, but an entirely new system," he said. But AHLTA was CHCS II, warts and all—and a new name couldn't hide the program's problems.

Over the course of AHLTA's implementation period, which has continued through this year, military doctors have grown increasingly disgruntled with the system. They complain that AHLTA is difficult to use, error prone, and slow, and that it has too many nonsensical tics such as an inability to capture patient data unless the patient stays in a hospital overnight.

More about the failings but also about the success of a program that the VA had already been using for the past 25yrs. and integration problems of this new system with the old and who suffers from the many problems.


And here's the key to their failed ideology and policies:

But Winkenwerder championed the private-sector solution. Like many Bush administration appointees, Winkenwerder was plucked from industry. An MD/MBA, he never served in the military and was a vice president of Blue Cross Blue Shield, New England's largest private health insurer, before arriving at the DOD. Winkenwerder was proud of his corporate pedigree: During his nomination process, he told the Senate that "coming from the private sector, I am…confident in the ability of private health care contractors to [provide]…high quality services." (Winkenwerder did not respond to an interview request.)

Right, and we've been watching how the once World Envied Private Sector, businesses and workers, often knocking heads but moving forward with the best in modern innovations and technologies for an advanced society that this planet has experienced in a long time, has sunk to it's own corruption, greed, arrogance, self indulgence, apathy, false superiority,....................................................................., the list is just to long, but a total lack of common sense, critical thought and extremely bad business practices should be added.


It isn't about pride of innovation nor quality products it's about wealth and the road to easy money garnered off the backs of the working masses who still try and get a pride and self worth out of what they do.

The AHLTA debacle hasn't come cheap. So far the Pentagon has invested an estimated $5 billion of taxpayer money in the project. This figure includes the original Integic contract and other corporate handouts such as a $67.7 million follow-up contract for "monitoring" and "management" with Northrop Grumman—which bought out Integic shortly before AHLTA was announced—and another $12.3 million to Northrop and Booz Allen Hamilton for aid in assessing how AHLTA and VistA can share data.

We're talking about the so called false impression given of a Strong National Security by a group of, so many names and descriptive words come to mind, extremely incompetent fools, who Never seem to give a crap about anyone but those in their circles, even than turning on the ones who get caught in their web of greed and corruption, using that phrase "Strong On National Security and Defense" to only enhance their power and greed on their Use of those they send into Wars of Choice and the long running Destructive Occupations than Short Change Them when they return. These War of Choice only helping to create a Weak National Security so they can use that as their excuse for the continuation of Perpetual Conflict and Criminal Terrorism!


Niko Karvounis has more, with important backlinks, that should be read, But I'll place a couple of more cuts of thought:

But making these systems interoperable will come at enormous taxpayer expense: Casscells says the price tag for convergence will be another $15 billion over the next several years, putting the total cost of AHLTA somewhere in the realm of $20 billion—four times what the government had originally budgeted for the entire AHLTA process. "There's been plenty of blame to go around," Casscells said at a forum on military health care last month. "Nobody's gonna like it."

Privatization, ain't it great, especially when nobody complains, and those that do are marginalized on the extreme!

For his part, Winkenwerder, who boasted that the system "works" and "is improving care" in an October 2007 interview, is still touting the success of AHLTA. His profile at Deloitte Consulting, where he serves as a senior adviser, proudly claims that he oversaw "the world's…most sophisticated electronic health record system."

But that's what this society and it's modern capitalist ideology is all about, not what you know, but who you know, and how to pad your resumes with lies, but if you know the right folks, Who Cares!!!!