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!

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!

Women at Arms: Coping with PTSD

A Combat Role, and Anguish, Too

For Vivienne Pacquette, being a combat veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder means avoiding phone calls to her sons, dinner out with her husband and therapy sessions that make her talk about seeing the reds and whites of her friends’ insides after a mortar attack in 2004.

As with other women in her position, hiding seems to make sense. Post-traumatic stress disorder distorts personalities: some veterans who have it fight in their sleep; others feel paranoid around children. And as women return to a society unfamiliar with their wartime roles, they often choose isolation over embarrassment.

Many spend months or years as virtual shut-ins, missing the camaraderie of Iraq or Afghanistan, while racked with guilt over who they have become.

Snip

Some psychiatrists say that women do better in therapy because they are more comfortable talking through their emotions, but it typically takes years for them to seek help. In interviews, female veterans with post-traumatic stress said they did not always feel their problems were justified, or would be treated as valid by a military system that defines combat as an all-male activity...>>>Rest Found Here

Women at Arms

A record number of women are coming home from war with post-traumatic stress disorder. Four years after leaving Iraq, Shalimar Bien explains her continuing struggle.

Women at Arms
The Psychological Scars

Articles in this series explore how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have profoundly redefined the role of women in the military.
Previous Articles in the Series

A series many should visit and read.

Princess of Torture really is Daddy's Girl

The following brought to you via Veterans Today: Military Veterans and Foreign Affairs Journal online website.

WINGNUT OF THE WEEK: LIZ CHENEY, How Dare You! Who are you anyway?

When dead American soldiers were brought back in secret, in shame, it was at the orders of Vice President Cheney. Cheney planned the Iraq invasion even before the election and well before 9/11. The Cheney's testimony before the 9/11 Commission is filled with things like, "We never thought anyone would attack America, we knew nothing, nothing, nothing....never expected anything at all."

Cheney ordered the phony intel that took us into Iraq. Cheney overruled the generals who told us the war would go on for years and cost thousands of lives Cheney sent troops to war with poor body armor, defective weapons and protected against IEDs by canvas doored Humvees. When our troops had poisoned water and were electrocuted in their barracks, it was Haliburton, Cheney's company that did it. When 5 years passed with too few troops, it was Cheney in control.

It was Cheney's war plan that brought America to the brink of total defeat in Afghanistan. Dick and Lynn Cheney, among the biggest war profiteers in American history are now pointing their blood stained fingers in blame at others. Now they have their pointless spawn playing attack dog too?..>>>Rest Found Here

The Rise of the American Taliban

Today's New York Times is chilling in some respects. It shows the emergence of a potential candidate for the title of American Taliban. It seems that in upstate New York, the Republican National Committee (RNC) supported candidate for an open Congressional seat, Dede Scozzafava, was forced to pull out of the race because the ultra right wing of the GOP refused to support her because of her liberal views on abortion rights and gay rights. She was deemed too liberal to be a GOP candidate.

So, the RNC changed its support to the Conservative Party's candidate and Ms. Scozzafava was forced by lack of funding to retire from the congressional race. She is out and the Republican National Committee is supporting a hard right Conservative Party candidate...>>>Rest Found Here

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

Death Row Inmate Receives Purple Heart

N.C. death row inmate receives medals earned in Vietnam

James Floyd Davis would never know freedom again.

Now 62 years old, slightly stooped with thick reading glasses and pasty skin, he looks far removed from the wild-eyed loner who snapped in a violent, bloody spree 14 years ago.

And he looks far removed from the tanned, wiry young man who traded an abusive home life for two tours in the jungles of Vietnam - and a chunk of shrapnel that still throbs in his thigh when the weather turns cold.

All of that past, all of that horror and hurt, stared through thick reading glasses at Jim Johnson as the retired Fayetteville therapist tried to discover who James Davis was.

Johnson, however, wasn't there because Davis was disturbed. He was there because Davis, like Johnson, was a soldier. Both had served in Vietnam during the maelstrom of the Tet Offensive.

Snip

The men also shared post-traumatic stress disorder, the result of battle stress during the war. Johnson, though eventually a lieutenant colonel and a successful therapist, struggled with its effects for decades. His condition gave him a unique perspective as a family and marriage counselor at Snyder Memorial Baptist Church.

The effects of PTSD on the already-fragile psyche of Davis were far more damaging. Although he reached the rank of sergeant, "He said the war just wore him out," Johnson said.

Snip

The Army was happy to send the medals. The prison was less enthusiastic about letting him receive them.

"They said no, like we expected," Rose said. "It was something that was just too unusual. It would take intervention by someone higher up the ladder."

Johnson found that someone in James French, a former warden of Central Prison and now deputy director of the state's correction system.

He also was a Vietnam veteran. He was wounded during the war and received a Purple Heart. Would he be willing to allow a fellow veteran the same honor?

French thought about it and agreed...............Read Rest Here

To both of our brothers, Thank You Jim for fighting for the well deserved recognition long overdue for Jim Davis, not only as to the Purple Heart but his other ignored medals and ribbons of service.

If the Country would have listened he may have gotten the Help Needed, after his two tours, to cope with the experiences of Wars of Choice and even his Childhood trauma's!

They didn't then nor for these next four decades until we were finally able to push the results of Wars of Choice, especially, into the mainstream conscious, Lessons Not Learned, as we waged two more long running occupations and many returning soldiers are fighting the demons of war and occupations. Once again the country is playing catchup, more Lessons Not Learned!

Army Times

Death row inmate gets Purple Heart from Vietnam

Guards took the shackles off death row prisoner James Davis and led him into a small room to get the Army medals he earned more than 40 years ago.

The North Carolina inmate slouched over as retired therapist Jim Johnson picked up the Purple Heart and the Good Conduct medals Davis earned in Vietnam, but never received.

But Johnson recalled that as he prepared to pin the medals on the triple-murderer from Asheville, Davis snapped to attention, hands cupped to the side. Johnson stepped back, and the two Tet Offensive veterans looked at each other. Davis then gave a textbook-sharp salute, Johnson said......Read Rest Here

Wars of Choice - Multiple Tours - TBI - PTSD - Suicides - Murders

Multiple Bombings Slowly Destroy US Soldier's Brain - He Commits Suicide

CNN has a heartbreaking report of a U.S. soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was subjected to multiple bombings.........

Iraq, Afghanistan vet saluted in burial

Retired Army Reserve Lt. Col. Raymond Trejo Rivas, 53, of New Braunfels was buried six days after his death outside Brooke Army Medical Center's emergency room, and nearly three years after a mortar blast in Iraq.........

And yet another as well, happening last year but still hanging over a community and the country.

Soldiers' emotional battle scars put doctors in dilemma

The suicide of an Iraq war veteran in Eastern Washington has highlighted an ethical dilemma confronting the Department of Veterans Affairs and the military: how far to go in protecting patient confidentiality as troubled veterans are called back to front-line duty.

Snip

His biggest worry, according to notes taken by the VA psychiatrist, was a looming call back to active duty by the Washington National Guard. The order would have sent the specialist back to Iraq.

Snip

In early March 2008, Juneman hanged himself in his Pullman apartment. His body was discovered some 20 days later, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported.........

Man held in mom's death went from AWOL to hotel to jail
Police ready for shoot-out but arrest man without incident

Knowing that the 22-year-old had gone AWOL from the Army about two weeks before, and that he'd already sold a shotgun at a local pawn shop, San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez said SWAT team personnel were prepared for a possible shootout.

A chain of decisions led Baczewski to that moment, and all eyes and guns were on him, waiting for his next big decision.

Snip

On July 10, Baczewski went AWOL from his post as a Humvee mechanic with the 598th Maintenance Company at Fort Benning in Georgia, a U.S. Army spokeswoman said. He had joined the Army in 2007 and had not been deployed overseas........

Many reports have surfaced over the last few years about the many problems many of those serving, once again in Wars/Occupations or Choice. But these reports don't cover how deep the problems really are nor the numbers that are being sent back into these theaters.

Without the ability to search them out or having someone living in the region, as most are local not national, reporting or posting on this technology, most of the rest of the country wouldn't know they happened, and continue to happen. Just like when we returned from 'Nam, the only way those were reported were the very few that made National News, usually connected to a crime, no cable back then nor these personal computers, or through the Military/Veterans grape vine of communication. One of the reasons Combat PTSD, that's been around since War or Battles between man existed, were easily ignored by the masses, who many within suffer same from negative traumatic life experiences.

Some even come out and argue that soldiers are faking, even still in this the 21st century with much advanced technology and studies, coming from the aftereffects of 'Nam, that can weed out anyone trying to. Why do they try and debunk, easy, the Country doesn't want to pay for the results of cheering on their Wars of Choice!

We've had many reports of soldiers diagnosed with PTSD and mild TBI being sent back into theater for another tour, many on medication! We've had the growing number of reports of the suicides of those suffering from TBI and PTSD, known and diagnosed! We've had reports of soldiers committing murders, many times senseless and not in the character of these soldiers prior to in country duty, who have returned from one or more tours! We've had the reports of soldiers trying to seek help and the benefits after a diagnoses being told 'no way' that it was a preexisting condition! We have many reports of soldiers finding the help needed and learning how to live a more comfortable and productive life after what they've lived through and many helping others. We don't get much in reports on the people who live in the occupied countries where few have a way of escaping the death and destruction even with the numbers of refugee's number in the millions!

This is why this Country needs to place the Results of War right up next to 'War as a Last Resort!', before we choose to follow failed policies of Wars of Choice, or if we follow those failed policies Pony Up The Cost Of The Results Of These Wars of Choice!!

A Vet that Inspired a Congressional Bill, Long Overdue!!

Sen. Franken's Service Dog for Vets Bill Passes Senate

Soldiers of Conscience

Receives an Emmy® Award Nomination!

Trailer

Last week, Soldiers of Conscience was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Editing!

As many of you know, the Emmy is the highest television award there is - an equivalent of an Oscar for TV.

A special congrats goes to the film's editors - Gary Weimberg and Josh Peterson.

As you can imagine, this is the kind of recognition that helps the film bring greater attention to the critical issues of conscience and war facing us all - service members and civilians alike.

The award winners will be announced at a ceremony in New York City in late September. We'll keep you posted - but keep your fingers crossed!

For a full list of the nominees, visit: EmmyOnline.tv

The Secret Sentry Declassified

The Secret Sentry: National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 278

The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security Agency discloses that the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 was far from the first time when U.S. government officials, including senior military commanders and the White House, “cherry picked” intelligence information to fit preconceived notions or policies and ignored intelligence which ran contrary to their expectations. The Secret Sentry and the documents posted today show that widespread manipulation of intelligence also occurred during the Korean and Vietnam Wars for example, when Washington ignored intelligence on Chinese intervention in Korea, resulting in catastrophic consequences..................

Today's posting of 24 documents consists of a selection of reports and memoranda prepared by NSA officials concerning the role played by Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) in selected military conflicts and crises, a number of classified internal histories written by NSA historians on key events in the agency's past, and a selection of declassified articles from NSA internal journals..........

Not Good, Not Good At All!!

They broke the Military, those who call themselves 'Strong On National Defense'!!

Army sees jump in reported suicides in May

More than twice as many as in April; 1 confirmed, 16 investigated

"Capture the Flag"

‘Capture the Flag: A Political History of American Patriotism’

The flag is not powerful in spite of its ambiguity; it is powerful because of its ambiguity. It has stood, at different times, for radical democracy, opposition to immigration, the abolition of slavery, unregulated capitalism, segregation, integration, and a hawkish war policy, among many other things.

Read a selection from the introduction of "Capture the Flag: A Political History of American Patriotism" by Woden Teachout

A winter wind swept across New York Harbor on a late after noon the day after Christmas in 1971. Tourists riding the last two ferries from Manhattan to the Statue of Liberty huddled against the bulkheads, sheltering themselves from the gusts. Among the passengers were clusters of long-haired adults in well used army-surplus clothing, looking for all the world like hippies taking in the world-famous landmark. The mission of these fifteen men, however, went far beyond tourism.

Immediately upon docking at the island, the men performed a quick reconnaissance. They wedged open a few doors and then took refuge from sight; some crouched behind the massive supporting columns in the base of the statue. Some found storage closets and tucked themselves away......................Read Rest Here

Description

Americans honor the flag with a fervor seen in few other countries: The Stars and Stripes decorate American homes and businesses; wave over sports events and funerals; and embellish everything from politicians’ lapels to the surface of the moon.

But what does the flag mean? In Capture the Flag, historian Woden Teachout reveals that it has held vastly different meanings over time. It has been claimed by both the right and left; by racists and revolutionaries; by immigrants and nativists. In tracing the political history of the flag from its origins in the American Revolution through the present day, Teachout demonstrates that the shifting symbolism of the flag reveals a broader shift in the definition of American patriotism.

A story of a nation in search of itself, Capture the Flag offers a probing account of the flag that has become America’s icon.

James Patterson, author of "Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy"
“Displaying a fine eye and narrative skill in recounting key episodes—among them the Revolution, nativist riots, the bombardment of Fort Sumter, civil rights activism, and the New York City hard hat riot of 1970—Woden Teachout reminds us of how important the American flag has been as a symbol for a wide variety of patriotic causes.”

Back in December 2006 I posted about this and than again in December 2008 a repost with some added material Distress: December 26th 1971 and December 26th 2008

In that one I started it out with some words and this repost part:

December 26, 1971
Two dozen members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War "liberated" the Statue of Liberty with a sit-in to protest resumed U.S. aerial bombings in Vietnam. They flew an inverted U.S. flag from the crown as a signal of distress.


We've now had many years of not one but two Invasions and Occupations better known as Wars of Choice, though soldiers and those occupied are still dying in one it has become a stagnant theater on a hair trigger, the other rapidly ramping up in deaths and destruction, both are and have been recruiting actions for what we now call 'International Terrorism', Criminal Terrorism that will rear it's head, with no boundries, over and over for decades, as the number of those who will carry out these acts have greatly increased due to own terror forced on others!


Below is the '06 post with little change, to remember that shoutout of Distress on it's Anniversary, and as a call for Thought of what we now are facing. Still two occupations of others, this time those serving are doing so over and over and over.............., and to eight years of extremely failed policies and total incompetence as well as multiple corruptions and crimes, in and out of government, but also to the crimes against humanity this country has allowed and seems unwilling to face nor call accountability for!

If you visit this you will find the rest of the 2006 post as well as a few more clips with links and a bigger photo, of the one directly above, of the Distress Flag flying from the crown of the Statue.

While wrapping ourselves in 'Old Glory' we as a Nation are moving further apart under the manipulation of changing political ideologies or the twisting of their meanings, in fear by the voices of the few.

Bob & Lee Woodruff's New Cause

A Memorial Day Goal for Bob and Lee Woodruff

"Hey Friends -- Would you give a dollar to someone who risked their life for you? We are in a big push this weekend to try to get every American to give $1.00 (or better yet $5.25 - to signify the date of Memorial Day) to help our wounded troops. This is what Memorial Day is all about.

"Yesterday by being on CNN and CNBC to talk about it-- Bob and I raised $21,000 just from people twittering and going to the website to give."............

ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and wife Lee raise funds for injured service members. They join CNN's TJ Holmes.


You can Visit Tweet To Remind, or ReMind.org to find out much more about 'A Memorial Day Goal for Bob and Lee Woodruff'.



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Beyond the Invisible: Living with Brain Injury

Produced by the Brain Injury Association of New York State (BIANYS), and narrated by Lee Woodruff:

This 30-minute documentary focuses on three veterans who sustained a
brain injury in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The film is designed to educate
the public, professionals, and advocates about what it means to live with a brain injury...........More at the Documentary Site

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Memorial Day a time to pledge

that we never again enter a war based on whim or blind mistakes

The sight of those rows of white headstones dotting the rolling acres of Arlington National Cemetery evokes chills and tears, for each is a testament to bravery; a monument to sacrifice.

I have never gone there when I did not cry.

On this Memorial Day, each of the more than 300,000 gravesites there — containing the remains of individuals from every war fought by this country — will be decorated with small U.S. flags, the symbol of the republic they held dear.................

The Pledge we 'Nam Vets made, the Pledge this Country made, "We will never forget the lessons of Vietnam!", back than! Those lessons weren't on how to fight a Guerilla Insurgency of residents of another country We Invade, But Never Wage Wars Of Choice!!
And our collective Apathy and Arrogance allows failed policies towards others which leads the few to Beat The Drums Of War Of Choice and we encourage the slaughter!!

Army: 24 Suspected Suicides in January '09

This is just being reported,

Army reports alarming rise in suicides last month

There has been a small sprinkling of reports about the Military Suicides in the last couple of months, most of those found only if one is hitting a number of news outlets but not making National News, even as those who serve do so for the Country not a Community located near a base or where their from.

The Army is investigating a stunning number of suicides in January — a count that could surpass all combat deaths on America's two warfronts last month.

According to figures obtained by The Associated Press, there were 24 suspected suicides in January, compared to only four in January of 2008, six in January of 2007 and 10 in January of 2006.

Questions, once again, and I say that as a 'Nam Veteran, we who've watched this all before, have been rising as to why the numbers are going up and the causes. As it says above we have Two Theaters of occupations ongoing, with multiple tours by many in both theaters, add now the collapsing economy, the still lacking help for trauma brought back from service in these theaters and stress of being away from family and home on extended tours over and over, the strains on marriages and the family as a whole, misuse of addictive substances to deal, and other factors I'm sure.

"The trend and trajectory seen in January further heightens the seriousness and urgency that all of us must have in preventing suicides," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, said of the new monthly number Thursday.

The 24 suspected January suicides include seven confirmed and 17 still being investigated. Usually the vast majority of suspected suicides are eventually confirmed, and if that holds true it would mean that self-inflicted deaths surpassed the 16 combat deaths reported in all branches of the armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and other nations considered part of the global war on terror last month.

Most of the reports one might catch rarely give a reason or cause, just that a soldier, or veteran, especially a young recent vet, has been found dead, rarely giving a followup or unless local to the original the followup is not seen.

The Military is Broken, that's not to say those serving are not doing so Honorably, but once again, because of Wars and Occupations of Choice, the systems surrounding those serving are stretched past the breaking point and only little relief is forth coming quickly!

These problems were forecast by many of us that they would occur, no one listened, no one took the lead in even bringing them up as the beating of the war drums grew and grew and we're now six and seven years still occupying.

Army official: Suicides in January 'terrifying'

Army Releases January Suicide Data; Re-emphasizes Efforts

Army sees significant rise in January suicides

Soldier suicides up for 4th consecutive year

Army suicide prevention

A Few Earlier Reports on Shinseki from today

Shinseki pledges top-down review, change

"I intend to ... demand the highest levels of integrity, transparency and performance in leading the department through the fundamental and comprehensive change it must quickly undergo," Shinseki said. "There's a long tradition of VA providing leadership in medicine, of setting standards in many fields. Where we lead, we must continue. Where we do not, we must regain that leadership."

Paperwork among VA chief's priorities

The newly appointed head of the Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday the department needs a fundamental change in how it handles its paperwork.

Eric Shinseki described a Sisyphean task for caseworkers trying to plow through the backlog of files to make decisions on veterans' claims.

Members of the committee peppered Shinseki with questions about the VA's handling of mental health issues. The secretary said that much progress has been made in understanding traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) since he served in Vietnam, but there is plenty more to do.

"I am now watching all of our efforts to understand PTSD, TBI, substance abuse amongst our veterans and have a better appreciation of what we put my comrades through when we came back" from Vietnam, he said. "None of these programs were available, in fact. None of these terms were in vogue then. We still don't understand enough. We are still learning."

The chairman of the committee, Rep. Bob Filner, D-California, expressed frustration that screenings for the disorders were done through a self-evaluation, rather than through medical examination, and he implored Shinseki to change that.

ABC News End of Last Month Report

Military Suicides at a 30-Year High


Suicide Rate Reflects Toll of Army Life

With Suicides at a 30-Year High, Army Vows to Address Problem

In 2008 alone, the Army reports there were at least 128 confirmed cases of suicide, more than a dozen of which are still under review.

U.S. Army Suicides Highest In 3 Decades

 

And this is just reports on the Army, nothing yet on any possible Marine numbers.

Bring Them Home, And Take Care Of Them When They Return, Full Care!!

It Was Just Like Ike.........

Over at AfterDowningStreet you will find a post of Dwight D. Eisenhower with his Farewell Address to the Nation, 17 January 1961.

Many have read or heard this Address many times, especially these past eight years, but with this post comes another many have not read or heard.

Eight years earlier Eisenhower had said much the same in his "Chance for Peace Speech" to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 16,1953. Who has heard of that speech?

You should listen to it.

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. ... Is there no other way the world may live? - Dwight D. Eisenhower, Speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, "The Chance for Peace", 16 April 1953

This is a part of what Ike says in the post and more as to his Farewell Address and what he warned about only 8 years prior to!

Distress: December 26th 1971 and December 26th 2008

Back on December 26th 2006 I put together a post, for my site and a few others, in remembrance of an anniversary of a day my fellow Vietnam Veterans made a statement to our country, a statement of a Country in Distress, Our Country!


A shoutout about not only our War of Choice but what our society was going through, Civil Rights Movement, care of the returning Vets, civil disobedience for the many failed policies, and more, the statement wasn't really taken seriously except by the minority, as is usually the case, the country itself just dug deeper into it's apathy and never came to terms with our War and Occupation and still hasn't!


December 26, 1971
Two dozen members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War "liberated" the Statue of Liberty with a sit-in to protest resumed U.S. aerial bombings in Vietnam. They flew an inverted U.S. flag from the crown as a signal of distress.


We've now had many years of not one but two Invasions and Occupations better known as Wars of Choice, though soldiers and those occupied are still dying in one it has become a stagnant theater on a hair trigger, the other rapidly ramping up in deaths and destruction, both are and have been recruiting actions for what we now call 'International Terrorism', Criminal Terrorism that will rear it's head, with no boundries, over and over for decades, as the number of those who will carry out these acts have greatly increased due to own terror forced on others!


Below is the '06 post with little change, to remember that shoutout of Distress on it's Anniversary, and as a call for Thought of what we now are facing. Still two occupations of others, this time those serving are doing so over and over and over.............., and to eight years of extremely failed policies and total incompetence as well as multiple corruptions and crimes, in and out of government, but also to the crimes against humanity this country has allowed and seems unwilling to face nor call accountability for!


We have the ability to change some of what is happening, even as the economy is collapsing and bringing down other economies, but we can't take back nor be forgivin for bthe deaths and destruction we've wrought on others, we can minimize the blowback, but blowback there will be, destructive and economic, for years to come!


VVAW Anniversary-Dec 26th 1971-Statue of Liberty, Liberation


Six Vietnam veterans founded the VVAW in New York City in 1967 when they marched in a peace demonstration. Organized for returning troops to voice their opposition to the war that was still taking place in Indochina, the VVAW continues to grow, with over 30,000 members, according to the VVAW web Site.


The VVAW {Vietnam Veterans Against the War} focuses mainly on achieving better benefits for all veterans.



Vietnam Veterans take the Statue of Liberty, December 26th 1971. Two dozen members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War "liberated" the Statue of Liberty with a sit-in to protest resumed U.S. aerial bombings in Vietnam.They flew an inverted U.S. flag from the crown as a signal of distress.
Peace History December 25-31 by Carl Bunin


THE STATUE OF LIBERTY: MONUMENT TO AN EXPANDING SET OF IDEALS

Tim MacCormick of New Jersey and fourteen other members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, on the afternoon of December 26, 1971, arrived on Liberty Island by the Circle Line boat along with other tourists. But, when the last return ship to Manhattan sailed that evening, the veterans were not aboard. Instead, just before closing time, they hid among the exhibit partitions, building materials, and storage closets which were lying about the monument's base while work was being finished on the American Museum of Immigration. When NPS personnel made their 7:30 evening check-up of the statue, they found that the veterans had seized control of the landmark and barricaded the three ground floor entrances. The men inside refused to speak to or admit any Park Service people, but on the door they posted a typewritten statement addressed to President Richard M. Nixon:

Each Vietnam veteran who has barricaded himself within this international symbol of liberty has for many years rationalized his attitude to war. . . .We can no longer tolerate the war in Southeast Asia. . . .Mr. Nixon, you set the date [for leaving Vietnam], we'll evacuate. {13}

On December 27, twenty-one National Park police flew to Liberty Island from Washington where they were joined by New York City police and Coast Guardsmen. These security forces stood by while the government attempted to reach a peaceful compromise with the occupiers. They were told that they would be permitted to picket and protest on the island if they would simply vacate the statue, allowing it to reopen to visitors. The veterans rejected the offer, flew the United States flag upside down from the statue's crown, and waited. Law enforcement officers also waited. During that day thousands of disappointed tourists were told at the Battery that they could not go out to the statue. Congresswoman Bella Abzug (Democrat-New York) sent a telephone message of support to the demonstrators.



Members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War leaving the Statue of Liberty, which they had occupied for two days. The demonstrators emerged in response to a court order, December 28, 1971.
(Source: Photograph Collection of the American Museum of Immigration, Liberty Island, U.S. Department of the Interior, NPS)


Meanwhile, United States Attorney Whitney North Seymour, Jr., went before District Court Judge Lawrence Pierce to request an injunction directing the veterans to open the doors, leave the statue except during regular visiting hours, and permit Park Service personnel and tourists to enter. On the morning of December 28 Judge Pierce issued a temporary restraining order, instructing the protestors to leave the statue "forthwith." Two hours later, after conferring with their lawyers, the veterans removed the barricades from the entrances and emerged with "clenched fists raised." They had cleaned up their debris and caused no significant damage to the property. The monument was reopened to the public, with the first ferry-load of visitors arriving at 2:15 that afternoon.
Tim MacCormick issued a statement to the press explaining why they had picked this particular target:

The reason we chose the Statue of Liberty is that since we were children, the statue has been analogous in our minds with freedom and an America we love.
Then we went to fight a war in the name of freedom. We saw that freedom is a selective expression allowed only to those who are white and maintain the status quo.
Until this symbol again takes on the meaning it was intended to have, we must continue our demonstrations. . . . {14}

The Story of a Vietnam Vet

In the 1970s, when the Department of Veterans’ Affairs cut off about 7.9 million troops’ benefits, the VVAW took over the Statue of Liberty, covering her eyes with protest banners.


“This was the second time that the VVAW had taken over the Statue of Liberty. This would be an 18-hour takeover before the park police finally came and removed us,” Davis recalls. “I was one of those people inside that statue. I was the national coordinator for the (VVAW) at the time.”


There’s a glimmer in Davis’ gray-blue eyes as he tells this story.


“The New York Post carrying a front-page story about how we ruined these poor tourists’ opportunities to see the Statue of Liberty, and we weren’t very sympathetic,” he says.


Davis says that one of the things he hears the most about the VVAW is that it is simply a negative, anti-war organization, but he says that its main goals have been to provide benefits and counseling in order to help veterans.


As Davis trudges through his memories, he recalls that upon coming back, what was harder than seeing his society altered was dealing with how much he had changed.


It’s impossible for anyone who has never been in combat to understand the emotional baggage that soldiers come back with. For those who remain at home, it seems that soldiers are simply away for a while; meanwhile, the soldiers themselves are going through some of the most horrifying and gruesome experiences of their lives, and they are never the same, even when they do come back.


But men like Davis and organizations like the VVAW continue to try making life more livable for returning soldiers.


“We’ve had to do it for ourselves, and once you learn to do it for yourself, you learn to do it for other people,” Davis says. “Modern war brings a lot of horrific images. You don’t ever get over that, you just learn to deal with it.”

Stop Crying: We won our War


Disillusioned with war and plagued by nightmares back in the U.S., Romo and Davis looked to the government for psychological counseling and found nothing.


Next, they turned to the only people they knew they could trust: other war veterans.


“One of the first things we discovered pretty quickly,” said Davis,“was that if we were going to survive, we needed each other to do it.”


But interactions between the Vietnam veterans and veterans’ groups such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion were strained, if not belligerent, Davis and Romo recalled.


“There was tremendous hostility from older veterans,” Davis said. “Many of those American Legion types and VFWs said that we were just a bunch of crybabies.”


The VVAW is Formed


But while Davis and Romo were in basic training, six Vietnam vets marched together in a 1967 New York City peace demonstration and founded Vietnam Veterans Against War (VVAW). The VVAW stood in stark contrast to the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.


According to Davis, the America Legion represented only a small, selective group of veterans.


Davis describes the Veterans of Foreign Wars as a more egalitarian veterans’ group with the same patriotic function as the American Legion; however, neither focused on benefits. When soldiers from Vietnam began arriving home physically and psychologically damaged, Davis and Romo felt that both groups looked the other way.


From Malaise to Action


On December 26, 1971, sixteen VVAW demonstrators seized the Statue of Liberty in New York City to call attention to what Vietnam vets termed “post-Vietnam stress disorder” as well as the lack of promised programs and benefits.


“In the 1970s, because we were getting nowhere on the issue of stress disorders associated with Vietnam, we declared war on the Veterans Affairs Administration,” Davis said. “Some of us adopted the slogan that we were like ‘no deposit, no return’ bottles … Once the government had emptied us out, they chucked us.”


To assist veterans with post-Vietnam stress, the VVAW gained national recognition in the 1970s for setting up public “rap” therapy groups to help vets deal with painful memories.


We Will not be Ignored


The VVAW took over the Statue of Liberty a second time in 1976, raising even more awareness of veterans’ issues. Since that time, post-Vietnam stress disorder has been formally diagnosed and renamed by the medical community as post-traumatic stress disorder.


Now a group of over 30,000 members, the VVAW works to expose poor and under-funded care in VA hospitals, draft legislation to improve educational job programs and argue for the amnesty of war resisters and vets with questionable dishonorable discharges. During the 1980s, the VVAW publicized the Veterans’ Administration’s attempt to conceal the harmful effects of chemical defoliants like Agent Orange used during Vietnam and the Gulf War.


Passing the Torch


Davis and Romo consider themselves very lucky compared with many of their fellow veterans. Both have held steady jobs for the last 20 years and lead what they describe as normal lives with loving families.
As national coordinators for the VVAW, Davis and Romo both speak regularly at veterans’ events and meeting as well as high schools to instill the wisdom they once so desperately lacked to veterans returning today from Iraq and Afghanistan.


“We’re trying to be like mentors to the new vets,” Romo said. “Basically, we’re doing what other vets didn’t do for us.”

One Vet's Vigil


Christmas reminds Paul Fichter of Miss Liberty takeover 35 years ago

By Tim Blangger Of The Morning Call
December 24, 2006

Referance: Vietnam Veterans Against the War

The Statue of Liberty is among the best known monuments in the world. ... to take-overs by Vietnam veterans and other activists in the 1970s and 1980s. ...PDF


Vietnam Veterans Against the War

Veterans For Peace

Iraq Veterans Against the War

Iraq and Afganistan Veterans of America

Veterans for America



Military Families Speak Out

Veterans For Peace

Bring Them Home NOW


Once a soldier takes the Oath that Oath stays with him or her for life, it's engrained as are the experiances

Oath of Enlistment
I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. (So help me God.)

Oath of Office is a solemn oath taken by officers of the United States Uniformed Services on commissioning
I, [name], do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. (So help me God.)

December 23, 1961

James Davis of Livingston, Tennessee, was killed by the Viet Cong, the insurgents in South Vietnam, and became the first of some 58,000 U.S. soldiers killed during the Vietnam War.
Lyndon Johnson later referred to him as “the first American to fall in defense of our freedom in Vietnam.”

Over two million Vietnamese would die before the end of the war.

"Our Freedom??"

Multiple Tours, and Not From A Soldier

CNN’s Prisoner of War

Michael Ware's Tortured World:
"I Am Not The Same Fucking Person"

"I am not the same fucking person," he tells me. "I am not the same person. I don't know how to come home."

It's October, six months after our first meeting, and Michael Ware, 39, is at his girlfriend's apartment in New York, trying to tell me why after six years he absolutely must start spending less time in Iraq. He's crying on the other end of the telephone.

Click to keep reading (server may be down, but check back because it's a must-read).

"Invisible Wounds" a Documentary and Michelle Obama

Yesterday as I was searching out a few things I came across a recent documentary that was up on the UPI site in three parts, not long but another real good look at a subject many of us, especially Veterans, have been fighting a long battle to get into the public conscious, and stuck there once in, with the realization of the hidden damages, wounds, that Wars cause to those that are sent to occupy and the occupied.

American Life TV network brought this documentary into the homes, it aired on Oct 21st at 8pm est.. The following is what is posted on their site:

“INVISIBLE WOUNDS” ADDRESSES VETERANS POST TRAUMATIC STRESS SYNDROME

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that is developed after exposure to a traumatizing experience that is either physically harmful or threatening to a person. Events that cause PTSD include horrific accidents, natural disasters, personal attacks and most commonly military combat. People with this disorder usually have a difficult time controlling their emotions, feelings and thoughts. Frequently nightmares and frightening reoccurring images and memories cause people with this disorder to either feel emotionally numb or be easily startled. Following the Vietnam War, PTSD began to be seen and diagnosed much more frequently in soldiers. Since the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, the U.S. government has been reviewing whether to provide benefits and compensation to those soldiers diagnosed with PTSD. Following the entry of soldiers into Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Marine Corps has instituted programs to help marines readjust to civilian life after returning from battle. In addition the Army has developed a medical program called Battlemind to aid and assist soldiers in their recovery from PTSD after their military involvement.

Below, and you can visit to watch all three parts there, is what is up over at UPI. But I bring the video's to you in the three parts with run times. They combine footage and veterans from WWII, Vietnam, and OIF/OEF Veterans along with a couple of Veterans Administration personal in discussion of PTSD.

Our Veterans: "Invisible Wounds"

A Documentary on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

"Invisible Wounds" is the powerful and moving documentary that portrays the suffering of combat veterans and their families from the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Interviews with returning soldiers and their families bring to light the rarely discussed challenges they face back home. Further interviews with Vietnam and World War II vets add perspective to the problem, showing that it is not something new.

You can also watch all three video's at UPI site

"Invisible Wounds" Part 1 {This is about 11min long}

"Invisible Wounds" Part 2 {This is about 81/2min long}

"Invisible Wounds" Part 3 {This is 41/2min long}

Why Michelle Obama's name in the subject title, you might ask. Well we know that early on Barack Obama, the In-Coming President of these United States, though I'm beginning to wonder just how United, apparently was not only reading what was posted on the online political blogs but was also posting up his own thoughts on sites like Daily KOS, you can view his
two '05 posts here. We also know he likes his technology, so I'm only assuming here but I would think that Michelle also surfs the net and reads what others have on their minds, especially as to what the important matters are that face our Country and it's people, if not them than those who worked with them on their Campaign.

It became very clear, as Michelle traveled around the Country, that due to the two theaters of occupation this country has engaged in these last seven years that Military and Veterans Health Care and their Families were a Topic that Michelle has placed at the top of her agenda as the new First Lady of this country.

I've said it before, that with this technology, the interest in researching from us ordinary folks, combining with the ability to set up individual sites of information and thoughts, as well as sharing them with countless others on the interactive blogs, be they on specific subject material or combined with loads of other political and non political subjects, has forced what we call the main stream media outlets to start doing their own research and reporting through good ole leg work and investigative reporting.

Because of all of this a subject we Veterans have been fighting to get into the publics conscious has been Post Traumatic Stress or Combat PTSD, having little success as to the greater majority, but that has been growing rapidly these last few years. The others, concerning those of us who serve and are Advocates and Activist of, are the Veterans Health Care as well as the matters concerning the Families of those serving and those who have served.

Our success in getting these important subjects into the apathetic minds of the American Public, as well as the Worlds Populations, on matters like PTSD and TBI, seems to now have not only an ear to listen but a force to make things happen right at the top in the peoples White House in President Elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

Below you will find a few of the articles about Michelle and her start of the National Dialog and Actions planned. She will need our Help, as will Barack, on not only these important issues but the many others as we try and bring this country back from the brink of falling over the cliff of total societal destruction we have been led to!

Bolster military families

Thanks to Michelle Obama, the issue of their struggles is finally getting the attention it deserves

Michelle Obama has yet to move into the White House, but she has already begun to do our country a great service by beginning a critical national conversation about the struggles of many military families.

Thanks to intense media coverage, the public knows about the very serious health problems of returning war veterans and the difficulties they face returning to the work force. But the public is far less aware of the everyday difficulties that confront so many military families - whether their service members go to war or not.

Bases brace for surge in stress-related disorders

15,000 returning from war; one base nearly doubles its mental health staff

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - Some 15,000 soldiers are heading home to this sprawling base after spending more than a year at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and military health officials are bracing for a surge in brain injuries and psychological problems among those troops.

Facing prospects that one in five of the 101st Airborne Division soldiers will suffer from stress-related disorders, the base has nearly doubled its psychological health staff. Army leaders are hoping to use the base's experiences to assess the long-term impact of repeated deployments.

Michelle Obama and Military Families

The incoming first lady is poised to make veterans' affairs one of her top issues -- and we could all take a cue from her.

The experiences of vets like my cousin Lang are about to gain more prominence. In recent interviews with major media outlets -- from 60 Minutes to Glamour Magazine -- Michelle Obama has been hinting that she may use her access and power come January to improve the state of affairs for military families and veterans. When Steve Kroft of CBS asked how she would "imprint" the job of first lady, Michelle Obama responded, "Well, the thing we've learned, you know, as we've watched this campaign, is that people, women, are capable of doing more than one thing well at the same time. And I've, you know, had to juggle being mom-in-chief and having a career for a long time. The primary focus for the first year will be making sure that the kids make it through the transition. But there are many issues that I care deeply about. I care about military families."

Michelle Obama first in line to be criticized

She’ll face public scrutiny but can turn to former first ladies such as Rosalynn Carter for advice

“The primary focus for the first year will be making sure that the kids make it through the transition,” she said, sitting alongside her husband. “But there are many issues that I care deeply about.” She cited two that she focused on during the campaign: Military families and the work-family balance.

And I pass this announcement on as well, to take place this afternoon, for those who might be interested:

PTS in Military Families‏

Coming Home Project Event

Join us this Thursday, Dec. 4th 12-2pm pdt
For A Live Video Teleconference
Treating Post Traumatic Stress
in Military Families

Herbst Hall at UCSF, Mount Zion Campus
1600 Divisadero St. - 2nd floor

The impacts of war-related trauma don't reside solely in the Soldier,
Marine, Sailor, Airman or woman. Because humans are wired to
connect, the ripples radiate out and affect many, in particular those
close to the veteran: including his or her spouse, children, siblings,
parents, marital relationship, extended family, and significant others.
In this training, two experts on the dynamics of post traumatic stress
in military families and their treatment will provide a clear review that
will help us understand and treat the impacts on couples and families
of PTSD.

***
If you have questions related to the topic, you can have them
addressed on air by sending them to: Coming Home Project

Viewing options:

* In Person at UCSF,Mount Zion {NO REGISTRATION NECESSARY}

* Watch live online or on Dish Network channel 9412.

* To view past programs go to UCTV's website

Part of "Treating the Invisible Wounds of War: Iraq and Afghanistan
Veterans, Families and Care Providers" series, a collaboration among
the Coming Home Project, UCSF, and UCTV.

"Stain on America" - Much More Than Just That, Much More....

* US Interrogator in Iraq Says Torture Policy Has Led to Deaths of Thousands of American Soldiers *

We speak with a former special intelligence operations officer who led an interrogations team in Iraq two years ago. His nonviolent interrogation methods led Special Forces to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq. He has written a new book, How to Break a Terrorist: The US Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq. The publication date for the book was delayed for six weeks due to the Pentagon's vetting of it. The soldier wrote it under the pseudonym, Matthew Alexander, for security reasons. He says the US military's use of torture is responsible for the deaths of thousands of US soldiers by inspiring foreign fighters to kill Americans.

Listen/Watch/Read

The Interrogator and Author was also on MSNBC last night, you can Watch The Interview Here

I'm Still Tortured by What I Saw in Iraq

I learned in Iraq that the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq. The large majority of suicide bombings in Iraq are still carried out by these foreigners. They are also involved in most of the attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in that country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse. The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me -- unless you don't count American soldiers as Americans.

"A veteran is someone who,at one point in his life wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life".

"that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic"

"Peoples' Peace Treaty" - On This Day

November 24, 1970
14 American students met with Vietnamese in Hanoi to plan the "Peoples' Peace Treaty" between the peoples of the United States, South Vietnam and North Vietnam.
It begins, "Be it known that the American people and the Vietnamese people are not enemies. The war is carried out in the names of the people of the United States and South Vietnam, but without our consent. It destroys the land and people of Vietnam. It drains America of its resources, its youth, and its honor."
The treaty was ultimately endorsed by millions.

Joint Treaty of Peace

Between the People of The United States of America, South Vietnam and North Vietnam

Preamble

Be it known that the American people and the Vietnamese people are not enemies. The war is carried out in the names of the people of the United States and South Vietnam, but without our consent. It destroys the land and people of Vietnam. It drains America of its resources, its youth, and its honor.

We hereby agree to end the war on the following terms, so that both peoples can live under the joy of independence and can devote themselves to building a society based on human equality and respect for the earth. In rejecting the war we also reject all forms of racism and discrimination against people based on color, class, sex, national origin, and ethnic grouping which form the basis of the war policies, past and present, of the United States government.
Terms of Peace Treaty

1. The Americans agree to immediate and total withdrawal from Vietnam, and publicly to set the date by which all U.S. military forces will be removed.
2. The Vietnamese pledge that as soon as the U. S. government publicly sets a date for total withdrawal: they will enter discussions to secure the release of all American prisoners, including pilots captured while bombing North Vietnam.
3. There will be an immediate cease-fire between U. S. forces and those led by the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam.
4. They will enter discussions on the procedures to guarantee the safety of all withdrawing troops.
5. The Americans pledge to end the imposition of Thieu-Ky-Khiem on the people of South Vietnam in order to insure their right to self-determination and so that all political prisoners can be released.
6. The Vietnamese pledge to form a provisional coalition government to organize democratic elections. All parties agree to respect the results of elections in which all South Vietnamese can participate freely without the presence of any foreign troops.
7. The South Vietnamese pledge to enter discussion of procedures to guarantee the safety and political freedom of those South Vietnamese who have collaborated with the U. S. or with U. S. -supported regimes.
8. The Americans and Vietnamese agree to respect the independence, peace and neutrality of Laos and Cambodia in accord with the 1954 and 1962 Geneva Conventions and not to interfere in the internal affairs
9. Upon these points of agreement, we pledge to end the war and resolve all other questions in the spirit of self-determination and mutual respect for the independence and political freedom of the people of Vietnam and the United States.
of these two countries.

Pledge

By ratifying this agreement, we pledge to take whatever actions are appropriate to implement the terms of the People to People Treaty and to insure its acceptance by the government of the United States.

People's Peace Treaty

Volume 16, Number 5 · March 25, 1971

By National Student Association

To The Editor:

Following are a preamble to and text of the People's Peace Treaty. We think they will be of interest to your readers:

"I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of their way and let them have it."

—Dwight D. Eisenhower

"73% of the American people want the United States out of Vietnam by the end of 1971."

—Gallup Poll, Jan. 31, 1971

President Nixon, like his predecessors, speaks the words of peace, but pursues the politics of war. The invasion of Cambodia has now been followed by the invasion of Laos, and there are threats of an invasion of North Vietnam and confrontation with China.

Peace is possible in 1971. But the people will have to make the peace. And that is what we are beginning to do.

The People's Peace Treaty promised that "The Vietnamese pledge to form a provisional coalition government to organize democratic elections" in return for a complete American withdrawal from Vietnam.

Journal Article Excerpt

Journal article by Ccas National Coordinators; Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 3, 1971

CCAS National Coordinators

The beginning stages of the People's
Peace Treaty Campaign hopefully indicate
a renewal of mass activity in the Amer­
ican anti-war movement. Many in the move­
ment have long been aware that anti-war
activities were too crisis-oriented.
They acted; we responded and created a
big fuss. This has put the movement in
the position of always asking that
something worse not be done, since we
lacked the power to force the govern­
ment to step backwards. The aim of the
People's Peace Treaty Campaign is to
build before the next escalation, to
take the initiative in demanding a
complete end to the-war, to make the
American people realize that we can't
wait to respond to the next crisis,
for the crisis is now. The peace treaty
evolved from the anti-war movement's
understanding of two events: first, the
shift in American policy to Vietnam­
ization; and second, the growing anti­
war movement in South Vietnam. SNIP

VVAW - The Veteran

October 1971 {Volume 1, Number 2} page 6

Boycott the Bird

We veterans and our supporters, endorse and will actively support the announcd support the announced fall action offensive of the National Peace Action Coalition, and the Peoples Coalition for Peace and Justice, but we must do more.

First hand, we experienced the Nam, this administration still has in excess of 220,000 troops plus the thousands of its allies there,. We feel an urgent need to end the genocide of American youth and the Peoples of Indochina as soon as possible To further our goals of peace, we will complement the announced fall offensive with other actions, two of which are listed here, and the others to be announced at a later date.


OCTOBER 25 - VETERANS DAY
Veterans Day is a national holiday, a day when Americans stop working to celebrate war, to glorify militarism, and tell the rest of the world, that America is, and has always been, the "greatest military power the world has ever known". It is 1971 and this government is still embroiled in the longest war in its history, a war against a "backward, ignorant, and barbaric people".

WE ARE VETERANS, and as such we have the right to march in every parade on Veterans Day. There will be hundreds of parade There will be hundreds of parades acroo ades across the country on Oct. 25th. Because of the change in dates, (nov.11 used to be V.D., but now all national holidays are in conjunction with a weekend) and the recent, but much too late, concern by politicians and the press, over the plight of the veteran, this should prove to be the biggest, most publicized Veterans Day to date. We veterans must put this annual display off militarism in the proper context.

For too long, the military powers of the world have glorified war as the "manly thing to do", but as Earnest Hemingway said, "Never think that war, no matter how justified, is not a crime, just ask the infantry and ask the dead."

Cancelling the Veterans Day in 1972 must be a priority for all its members veterans. Therefore VVAW members across the country should organize and join these parades. By distributing leaflets, literature, getting our pwn speakers on the bandstand, and having Winter Soldier Investigations, we can show the militarists in this society, that there is now a new soldier, the Vietnam era veteran. As a final act on this day, we can show our determination and humanism by donating blood at the end of all the parades. Arrangements should be made with the Red Cross to have a bloodmobile somewhere close by, at the end of the march. Further, all blood should be donated to Military or V.A. Hospitals.

THANKSGIVING DAY
VVAW is sponsoring an activity that everyone (not just VVAW members) can participate in. We are calling for a Thanksgiving boycott of the traditional meal. Veterans and their supporters across the country should participate in a dawn to dusk fast at their respective state capitals.

VVAW - The Veteran

October 1971 {Volume 1, Number 2} page 10

7 POINT STATEMENT

By The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam made public by Minister Madame NGUYEN THI BIHN at the 119th session of the Paris Conference on Viet Nam (July 1st, 1971)

Responding to the Vietnamese people's aspirations for peace and national independence, considering the American and the world peoples' desire for peace, showing its goodwill to make the Paris Conference on Viet Nam progress, basing itself on the 10-point over-all solution, and following up the September 17, 1970 eight-point and the December 10, 1970 three-point statement, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam declares the following:

1- REGARDING THE TERMINAL DATE FOR THE TOTAL WITHDRAWL OF U.S. FORCES.
The U.S. Government must end its war of aggression in Viet Nam, stop the policy of a Vietnamization of the war, withdraw from South Viet Nam all troops, military personnel, weapons, and war materials of the United States and of foreign countries in the U.S. camp, and dismantle all U.S. bases in South Viet Nam, without posing any conditions whatsoever.

The U.S. Government must set a terminal date for the withdrawal from South Viet Nam of the totality of U.S. forces and those of the other foreign countries in the U.S. camp.

If the U.S. Government sets a terminal date for the withdrawal from South Viet Nam in 1971 of the totality of U.S. forces and those of the other foreign countries in the U.S. camp, the parties will at the same time agree on the modalities of a) the withdrawal in safety from South Viet Nam of the totality of U.S. forces and those of the other foreign countries in the U.S. camp; b) the release of the totality of militarymen of all parties and of the civilians captured during the war (including American pilots captured in North Viet Nam), so that they may all rapidly return to their homes. These two operations will begin on the same date and will end on the same date.

A cease-fire will be observed between the South Viet Nam People's Liberation Armed Forces and the armed forces of the United States and of the other foreign countries in the U.S. camp as soon as the parties reach agreement on the withdrawal from South Viet Nam of the totality of U.S. forces and those of other foreign countries in the U.S. camp.

2 - REGARDING THE QUESTION OF POWER IN SOUTH VIET NAM.
The U.S. Government must really respect the South Viet Nam people's right to self-determination, put an end to its interference in the internal affairs of South Viet Nam, cease to support the bellicose group headed by Nguyen Van Thieu now in office in Saigon, and stop all maneuvers, including tricks on elections, aimed at maintaining the puppet Nguyen Van Thieu.

By various means, the political, social, and religious forces in South Viet Nam aspiring to peace and national concord will form in Saigon a new administration favoring peace, independence, neutrality and democracy. The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam will immediately enter into talks with that administration in order to settle the following questions: a) to form a broad three-segment government of national concord that will assume its functions during the period between the restoration of peace and the holding of general elections and that will organize general elections in South Viet Nam.
b) to take concrete measures with the necessary guarantees to prohibit all acts of terror, reprisal and discrimination against persons having collaborated with one or the other party; to ensure every democratic liberty to the South Viet Nam people; to release all persons jailed for political reasons; to dissolve all concentration camps and to liquidate all forms of constraint and coercion so as to permit the people to return to their native places in complete freedom and to freely engage in their occupations.
c) To see that the people's conditions of living are stabilized and gradually improved, to create conditions allowing everyone to contribute his talents and efforts to heal the war wound and rebuild the country.
d) to agree on measures to be taken to ensure the holding of genuinely free, democratic, and fair elections in South Vietnam.

3- REGARDING THE QUESTION OF VIETNAMESE ARMED FORCES IN SOUTH VIET NAM.
The Vietnamese parties will together settle the question of Vietnamese armed forces in South Viet Nam in a spirit of national concord, equality, and mutual respect, without foreign interference, in accordance with the post-war situation and with a view to lightening the people's contributions

4- REGARDING THE PEACEFUL RE-UNIFICATION OF VIET NAM AND THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH ZONES.
a) The re-unification of Viet Nam will be achieved step by step, by peaceful means, on the basis of discussions and agreements between the two zones, without constraint and annexation from either party, and without foreign interference.

Pending the re-unification of the country, the North and the South zones with re-establish normal relations, guarantee free movement, free correspondence, free choice of residence, and establish economic and cultural relations on the principle of mutual interests and mutual assistance.

All questions concerning the two zones will be settled by qualified representatives of the Vietnamese people in the two zones on the basis of negotiations, without foreign interference.

b) In keeping with the provisions of the 1954 Geneva Agreements on Viet Nam, during the present temporary partition of the country into two zones the North and the South zones of Viet Nam will refrain from joining any military alliance with any foreign countries, from allowing any foreign country to maintain military bases, troops, and military personnel on their soil, and from recognizing the protection of any country or of any military alliance or bloc.

5 - REGARDING THE FOREIGN POLICY OF PEACE AND NEUTRALITY OF SOUTH VIET NAM
South Viet Nam will pursue a foreign policy of peace and neutrality, establish relations with all countries regardless of their political and social system, in accordance with the five principles of peaceful coexistence, maintain economic and cultural relations with all countries, accept the cooperation of foreign countries in the development of the resources of South Viet Nam, accept the economic and technical aid of any country without any political conditions attached, and participate in regional plans for economic cooperation. On the basis of these principles, after the end of the war South Viet Nam and the United States will establish relations in the political, economic, and cultural fields.

6 - REGARDING THE DAMAGES CAUSED BY THE UNITED STATES TO THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE IN THE TWO ZONES.
The U.S. Government must bear full responsibility for the losses and the destruction it has caused to the Vietnamese people in the two zones.

7 - REGARDING THE RESPECT AND THE INTERNATIONAL GUARANTEE OF THE ACCORDS TO BE CONCLUDED.
The parties will reach agreement on the forms of respect and international guarantee of the accords that will be concluded.

On Wednesday, November 26th, the Iraqi Parliment is set to vote on the already long delayed security agreement with the United States that will keep U.S. occupation forces in country till 2011 at least, Unofficial Translation of U.S.-Iraq Troop Agreement.

Will it pass with no problems and with the Iraqi peoples voices being heard, most want the occupiers out yesterday, as well as the people of america's voices, or will it fail once again, deadline for UN agreement is Decenber 31, and if it fails will Maliki hold to the statement made on Sunday, November 23, in Iraq: Iraq PM says U.S. troops will leave if no pact

Iraq will not seek to extend the U.N. mandate of U.S. troops and they will pull out immediately if Iraqi parliament fails to approve a pact allowing them to stay until 2011, Iraq's prime minister said on Sunday.

The World Awaits! We all know what happened back than!!

Catholics and Muslims....

to fight terror and defend faith

Catholic and Muslim leaders at unprecedented Vatican meetings vowed on Thursday to jointly combat violence committed in God's name, to defend religious freedom and to foster equal rights for minority faith groups.

FINAL DECLARATION
FIRST SEMINAR OF THE CATHOLIC-MUSLIM FORUM (ROME, 4-6 NOVEMBER 2008)