| Qualifier: If you are a real person you will be glad to see that something is being done. If you are a newly disabled vet ... this country will never help you. When "Army strong" breaks ... it stays broken. Dig in.... And Oh yeah... Never forget, when the jets comacasied into the twin towers... a guy was getting a blow job at his desk and HE'S the fucking hero, with a widow who got a multi-million dollar settlement. If that's not Uncle Sam flippin you the bird what the fuck is it? |
|
The
Veterans Administration gets another confirmed kill.
Veteran takes his own life over VA error By Sharon Woods Harris Published: Friday, August 1, 2008 10:29 AM CDT E-mail this story | Print this page Times staff writer PEKIN - The walls of Thomas Dale Harrison's meager apartment on Sheridan Road in Pekin were covered with reminders of the years he spent as a Green Beret with the U.S. Army in the Panama Canal region during the Vietnam War era. Pekin Police detective Rick Von Rohr said Harrison was very proud of his service to his country. His living room was covered in memorabilia and prized possessions from his service. Times had been tough for Harrison over the past several years. Often, he could barely afford to put food on the table with the small Veteran's Administration benefits he received. He had no other income. Harrison was a diabetic who suffered from high blood pressure, so he could not work. Even with all that, Harrison, 59, was living a happy life until the first letter came, said Tazewell County Coroner Dennis Conover said, recounting an earlier conversation with Harrison's sister. The VA letter demanded the repayment of $43,000 from Harrison that the VA alleged he was overpaid. Ironically, the letter told the man (who spent part of his life defending the nation) that he could pay by cash, check or credit card. Eventually the VA cut off his veteran's benefits, said Conover, but the letters kept coming. That, said Harrison's brother-in-law, Bill Maquet of Manito, was the “last straw” for Harrison. Harrison spent his last moments of his life writing three notes - one to his sister, and two to the Veterans Administration on the back of two letters from the VA demanding payment. The notes were found next to his body June 3. “(Expletive) you, you can't get money from a dead man,” said one of the notes to the VA. The other note simply said, “Zero income - thanks a lot, dumb ass.” The note to his sister asked that he be cremated and buried at the foot of his grandfather's grave because he had no insurance for burial. Harrison then took a .22 caliber handgun, put it to his forehead and fired. “I'm not happy with (the VA),” said Maquet, who came to an inquest into the cause and manner of Harrison's death Thursday at the Tazewell County Coroner's Office. “It was the last straw - I'm not happy.” Maquet said he asked his wife to stay home because he didn't know how in depth the inquest would be, so he came to be there for Harrison. “It takes a while to grieve this out,” he said. The coroner's jury ruled that Harrison's cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death was suicide. There were no legal or illegal drugs in his system. Conover said the sad thing is that Harrison's family was working with the VA and believed they were close to a resolution of the situation. “I think this is one of the bigger tragedies for a man who loved doing his military duty as much as he did,” said Conover. “It was clearly his only claim to fame. “‘You can pay by check, money order or credit card'? “This man hardly had enough money to put food on the table and they cut off his benefits.” http://www.pekintimes.com/articles/2008/08/01/news/new936.txt |
Hospital released vet who refused study Widow sees priority as research, not care Audrey Hudson (Contact) Friday, August 22, 2008 An Army veteran seeking treatment for his sudden loss of motor skills was turned away from a veterans hospital in the Bronx, N.Y., in May 2007 after he refused to participate in a human subject experiment on Alzheimer's disease. Joe Fitzgerald, 74, died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - the human form of mad cow disease - less than a month after being dismissed without diagnosis from James J. Peters VA Medical Center. His widow is demanding answers from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as to whether human research testing is taking a priority over the health care of veterans at its hospitals. "I want them to be held accountable for this, to prevent this from happening to someone else," Aimee Fitzgerald said. "Nothing could have saved Joe, but the care there was hateful and incompetent." Mrs. Fitzgerald said the research study doctor, Christine Bergmann, told the family that her husband's participation in the study would enable researchers to make a quicker diagnosis of his condition. But VA officials said Dr. Bergmann did not have the authority to offer a diagnosis. "[The study] has very little to do with their diagnosis, and it is not consistent with what occurred," said MaryAnn Musumeci, director of the Bronx hospital. "That's mind-boggling. That's not true," Mrs. Fitzgerald said. "Dr. Bergmann made it very clear to us that the benefit of signing up for the study would be that she would develop an individual profile of Joe that would help them to arrive at a diagnosis faster." The VA made several officials available for comment, but not Dr. Bergmann. VA officials and the Fitzgerald family also differ over the circumstances of Mr. Fitzgerald's discharge and whether the hospital provided care. Continues 1 2 3 ... http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/22/hospital-released-vet-who-refused-study/ |
| Veterans deserve military honors
at their burials I participated in a funeral at the old Maine Veterans Cemetery recently as a member of the Kennebec County Veterans Honor Guard. I was disturbed to see that the military was not present to give a much-deserved military honors for the World War II veteran. The funeral representative didn't know why the military was not present. He also said the family was not asked if they wanted the military honors, adding that was the responsibility of the veteran's American Legion Post 5. I reminded him that it was the military's responsibility, not that of veterans' organizations. The son of the deceased told me he didn't know about this policy and that no one had asked him. Funeral directors are supposed to notify the family about this policy and federal law requires the military to furnish the detail if the family desires. I went to the Armory in Augusta and those in charge of the honors detail told me they were not notified. I also asked them to get in touch with this funeral home and remind them of their duty. We of the Kennebec County Veterans Honor Guard performed the service although not as well as the military. I played taps from my Lincoln limousine. The son praised us and said the taps brought tears to his eyes. I hope all funeral directors see this and act on it. I will not rest when I see a veteran not given the proper honors. By the way, we do our part in conjunction with the military at no cost to anyone. Larry Dearborn Retired army sergeant first class Richmond dearbornlarry@verizon.net http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/view/letters/5295058.html |
Are you shitting me
By Mike Aiken Miner and News Reservists serving in Afghanistan should get the same compensation as members of the regular forces, said Kenora MP Roger Valley Thursday. Valley referred to the findings of a recent Senate report, which noted part-time members who lose a limb only get half the amount of full-time soldiers, even though their fulfilling the same roles. “Many of the things they say in the report are exactly true,” he said, having recently returned from a trip to the front lines. “You’d think they’d have nothing but the best,” he added, noting there are some gaps in service within the district. One of the main issues for soldiers who suffer from such severe injuries is that they are no longer deemed fit for service. As a result, they’re retired from service and lose some of the top-notch care servicemen are entitled to receive. Members of the local reserve unit, the 116th Independent Field Battery, have been called upon to support the mission and many have served overseas, which makes it a local issue for Valley, who also sits on the House of Commons committee for Veterans Affairs. “We can’t function in Afghanistan without reservists, yet we treat them differently,” he said, emphasizing the disparity. He noted many veterans these days are in their mid-thirties when they leave the service, and they’re well educated on their rights. Valley also recalled the strong deputations from retired general Romeo Dallaire, as well as the recent chief of defence staff, Rick Hillier. However, he wanted to know how the new chief of defence was going to treat the issue, noting the issue of health care for reservists would be treated as an internal decision by the military rather than a political decision for the Minister of Defence, Peter McKay. Prentice to visit Kenora Industry Minister Jim Prentice, considered to be the second-in-command in the federal Conservative government, will be visiting Kenora next weekend. He’s scheduled to meet with small business leaders Aug. 23, before meeting with party faithful for a boat cruise. Prentice, who represents a Calgary riding, has also served as the Minister for Indian Affairs. Liberal executives gather Members of the national executive for the opposition party will also soon be in town. They’re scheduled to gather over the Labour Day weekend as incumbent MP Roger Valley gives them a tour of Lake of the Woods. The visit may serve as a precursor to a fall election as speculation mounts for a vote. It would be the third federal campaign within four years. Article ID# 1159220 http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1159220 |
| Violations rife in hospital's
studies on veterans Inspector general finds consent forms, death reports missing Audrey Hudson (Contact) Tuesday, August 5, 2008 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/05/ violations-rife-in-hospitals-studies-on-veterans/ |
| Vets say VA service is ‘hard to
get into’ Jessica Holthaus jholthaus@bryancountynews.net Posted: Aug. 1, 2008 6:13 p.m. Updated: Aug. 2, 2008 1 a.m. How long does it take for a disabled veteran to apply for the Independent Living Program as part of the Veteran Affairs Vocational Rehabilitation? Well, it depends on who you ask. Ruth Fanning, director of Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service (VRES), said the average application process should take about 107 days. But Richmond Hill resident Donald Singleton has been trying for more than 15 months and Bruce McCartney, of Midway, spent four years working to get his application processed. "They don’t advertise this benefit – it doesn’t make sense to me," Singleton said. "If it were this hard to get into the military as it is to get serviced on VA, there wouldn’t be any military." Singleton applied for ILP in April 2007, qualified in January and was told in March his paperwork had been submitted. That’s the last thing he heard. But he described ILP as "a good program." ILP is aimed at veterans with service-related disabilities who are unable to pursue an employment goal, to make sure they are able to live independently. Services can include assistive technology, specialized medical or rehabilitation services, and connections with community-based support services – such as ergonomic furniture, for example. "When a veteran applies, they are applying for employment assistance," Fanning said. "If there is an employment handicap, it’s our goal to help them ultimately be employable in the future." McCartney became a veteran after nearly 18 years in the Army. He began his application process in 2003, keeping a diary of his process and in 2007, had 150 pages of documentation. He found out his application was approved in 2006 – but he said it sat on a desk for a year before anyone got around to telling him. As far as why it took so long, Fanning said McCartney was not at fault. She also said the Atlanta VA office will look into Singleton’s case. "Once we determine someone is in need of Independent Living, we do a detailed assessment…that does take some time," she said. "In (McCartney’s) case, I think there were errors that were made and those are unfortunate. I know the Atlanta office has put mechanisms in place – as we have nationally – to determine the status of cases and take appropriate action for those that are taking too long." McCartney estimates roughly 700 disabled veterans in Bryan, Chatham and Liberty counties. "I bet there aren’t even 70 who have ever heard of it," he said. "This is about the thousands of Georgian who paid for this program with their bodies and souls. I’m trying to get the word out." Fanning listed several ways to apply, or check the status of an application and recommended calling a counselor and asking to speak to the manager if things are taking too long. Visit www.va.gov ; download a form at www.va.gov/vaforms/form_detail.asp?FormNo=28-1900 and mail it in; go into a field office, Savannah’s is on Montgomery Crossroads, 921-3744.; visit www.VetSuccess.gov ; or call 1-800-827-1000. "We’re getting information out through the website and we do aggressive outreach," Fanning said. "Although this is a smaller portion of our program, it’s extremely important and we definitely want the word to get out. One case that takes too long is too many. We want to prevent what happened to Mr. McCartney from happening to anyone else." Now that he is in the program, McCartney said good things about it, noting it’s "improved his quality of life." He received a greenhouse through ILP, which he said has helped him get re-involved with the community. "I’m doing hydroponics and just recently had my granddaughter’s 4-H club visit," he said. "And once a week, I give my tomatoes away to everyone in the community." To reach McCartney, email popz@coastalnow.net with "ILP" in the subject line. http://www.bryancountynews.net/news/article/3103/ |
| AP IMPACT: Govt loves its cars,
all 642,233 of 'em By JENNIFER KERR WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans love their cars, and so apparently does Uncle Sam — who's got 642,233 of them. Operating those vehicles — maintenance, leases and fuel — cost taxpayers a whopping $3.4 billion last year, according General Services Administration data obtained and analyzed by The Associated Press. While Cabinet and other officials say they need the vehicles to do their jobs, watchdogs say mismanagement of the government fleet is costing millions of dollars a year in wasteful spending. For example: _ At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, fuel consumption and inventory are down, yet overall costs have increased significantly. Officials there can't figure out why. _ The Interior Department was told by its own watchdog that it should cut its inventory, but it's added hundreds of vehicles. _ The VA has some cars that are barely driven. One just disappeared. Add to that the cost of drivers, a perk given to high-level government officials. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters has two drivers. Their salaries totaled more than $128,000 last year. The driver for Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt earns about $90,000 a year. That's more than double the average salary of an office manager or accountant, and about $35,000 more than a registered nurse earns, according to a salary calculator provided by CareerBuilder.com. The government owns or leases sedans, SUVs, trucks, limousines and ambulances for more than three dozen agencies, the U.S. military and the Postal Service. Are they all really necessary? "This is one bleeding part of a budget and not just in one department but in a lot of departments," says Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime foe of what he considers wasteful federal spending. "When you have something bleeding like this, there can be a lot of money saved." Saving taxpayer dollars should be a priority, says Washington-based Citizens Against Government Waste. "From a management standpoint, this is something that can easily be handled," said Tom Schatz, president of the group. "It's critical use or necessary use versus 'well, we've got the money, let's go out and buy some more cars.'" The Department of Housing and Urban Development admits problems with its fleet of about 450 vehicles. According to an AP analysis, fleet costs at HUD have soared nearly 70 percent since 2004, to more than $2.1 million last year. But during the same period, the agency trimmed its fleet and overall fuel consumption. While gas prices have increased since 2004, the period AP analyzed came well before today's record-high prices. "Where that spike in overall costs came from, I have no idea," said Bradley Jewitt, director of HUD's facilities management division. Agency spokesman Jerry Brown added, "We can't explain it." Jewitt, who came to HUD late last year, promised more accountability and oversight. The agency has begun a thorough review of its vehicles, how they are being used and whether each is justified. HUD has cars for employees who conduct fair housing and mortgage fraud investigations and housing inspections across the country. At the Interior Department, cars and trucks are used by workers who help manage some 500 million acres of public lands. The Agriculture Department has tens of thousands of vehicles for conservationists, scientists, farm loan specialists and the Forest Service. Federal agencies also have dedicated cars and drivers for senior officials. In addition to the salaries for the two drivers for Transportation Secretary Peters, her car, fuel and maintenance cost $11,500 last year. Most agency chiefs have one driver. The department says Peters needs two because the "cost of paying one driver overtime to cover both weekday shifts and weekends would be prohibitive." A spokesman said a driver has to be on duty or available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for Peters. The Veterans Affairs Department has five sedans assigned to Secretary James Peake, the deputy secretary and the three top officials for the health office, benefits office and national cemetery administration. Total cost for the five cars and drivers: $353,470 a year. Salaries for government drivers ranged from $46,000 for the driver for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Naomi Earp to about $90,000 for Leavitt's driver at HHS. The latest report available from the Government Accountability Office, from 2004, looked at the fleets of five departments including Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and the Navy. It found a number of instances where agencies were keeping vehicles they didn't need. Ditching those cars, the report said, could save the government millions of dollars. The Interior Department was another agency singled out for wasteful spending. In a 2004 report, the agency's inspector general found a significant portion of department vehicles weren't being driven much. Eliminating them could save $34 million a year. Interior cut more than 600 vehicles before the report was released, but its overall fleet has increased by more than 1,500 vehicles since then, according to an AP analysis of GSA data. Interior ranks fourth among civilian agencies in the size of its fleet, but it spends the most money — more than $241 million last year on vehicles, maintenance and fuel. Agriculture has the largest fleet but spends far less, about $150 million. Debra Sonderman, director of the office of acquisition and property management at Interior, says the department has a large number of trucks, nearly 25,000, that are costly to maintain and burn a lot of fuel. Managers at each of the agency's bureaus review inventories annually, she said. But when pressed about who has oversight of the bureaus to ensure that fleet money is spent wisely, Sonderman hesitated, only to add, "Well, there's a budget for one thing." Translation: If the money's there, spend it. "Kind of a rule of thumb is the more cars you control, the more powerful you are, and so that sort of attitude of kingdom building is part of the problem here," Sen. Grassley said in an AP interview. Only a handful of agencies said they have conducted annual audits to ensure their fleets are the right size. The Department of Homeland Security said it hasn't conducted a department-wide audit since the agency was created five years ago. The agency said it is "working toward that end" but doesn't yet have the resources to analyze its 41,000-vehicle fleet. At Veterans Affairs, an audit last year by the inspector general's office found potential savings of about $83,000 for underutilized vehicles, but it looked at only three VA medical centers. The VA has more than 150 centers, raising the prospect of additional underused cars and more savings. In the case of a Cleveland VA medical center, a government-leased vehicle was driven only 16 times in nearly a year; another was driven only twice in the three months after it arrived. One sedan at the center was missing and apparently hadn't been seen in months. All agencies are supposed to report their annual fleet numbers to the General Services Administration. However, the cost and inventory estimates in the GSA's annual report do not include Congress, which isn't required to report to GSA on its fleet. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iBPhfDHhJmYSwZhwB6O1kmoM7sKAD928TB480 |
| VA error cost Iraq veterans
outreach Agency thought 37,000 ineligible for benefit packages By McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs failed to send benefit packages to nearly 37,000 National Guard and Reserve members who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan because it mistakenly thought they were ineligible. http://wvgazette.com/News/200807230671 And dead men tell no tales. |
| Rockland finally gets vets'
names - a 20-foot list BY LAURA INCALCATERRA THE JOURNAL NEWS • JULY 19, 2008 NEW CITY - More than a year after beginning the effort, the Rockland Veterans Service Agency has finally succeeded in obtaining the names of returning war veterans. Jerry Donnellan, director of the county agency, said yesterday that although the state never came through with the information, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had provided the names and addresses of local men and women who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. "We got the list," Donnellan said. He isn't kidding. The VA literally sent Donnellan a computer printout of mailing labels that measures about 20 feet long, he said. He isn't sure how many veterans are listed, because he hasn't had a chance to count the names. He'll next try to get an electronic form of the list, or create a database himself, Donnellan said. More than a year ago, Donnellan asked the state Department of Veterans Affairs to provide the contact information. He wants to encourage veterans to sign up for their benefits, even if they don't think they need or want to take advantage of them right now. Some of the benefits have sign-up deadlines, and if veterans miss the eligibility period, they may not be able to tap into medical, educational and other benefits in the months or years ahead. Donnellan wants to write to each veteran to provide information about benefits and to say he is available to discuss those benefits or just have a cup of coffee. Donnellan served in the Army in Vietnam, where he was severely wounded. The state has so far declined to provide the information, citing the federal Privacy Act, even though Donnellan determined that several other states release the information to their county veterans service agencies. Under then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer this year, the state sent out information packets to veterans that contained general letters from the governor and Donnellan. Donnellan said he received few responses. Meanwhile, the county launched two efforts this year that helped it connect with veterans. The Vets FAVOR program, which stands for Find and Assist Vets of Rockland, allows any veteran to sign up and obtain discounts from local merchants. It is sponsored by the County Executive's Office and the Rockland County Clerk's Office. The Public Service Medal was created to honor those who served in Afghanistan or Iraq, or as part of the global war on terrorism. More than 50 veterans have already received the award, which is sponsored by the County Executive's Office and the Veterans Service Agency. After getting nowhere with the state, Donnellan reached out to the federal Veterans Affairs Department, where he was lucky enough to connect with "a decent soul," he said. "I laid it all out for him," Donnellan said. He had to agree to certain privacy rules, including not providing the list to third parties, to prevent solicitors from obtaining the veterans' contact information. He'll have to reapply for the contact information every March, so the list won't ever be up-to-date, but Donnellan said the information that is available will go a long way to reaching the veterans. County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, who has supported Donnellan's efforts, agreed that the list would help matters. "Receiving this list will help us to reach out to those who have served us so well and make sure they know about the services we can now offer them in return," Vanderhoef said. Andrew Komonchak, who served in the Army in Iraq, where he was stationed for 13 months, praised Donnellan for continuing to fight for the contact information. "It's obviously great," Komonchak said. "If you don't know what's available to you, then you're not going to get what you deserve for going through what you went through." Komonchak said there were veterans who just wanted to put the war behind them, adding that they were not seeking out their benefits as a result. But he encouraged veterans to sign up now, in case they want to use any benefits in the future. As of March, 854 Rockland residents have served or are serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, Donnellan said. His next task is to write notes to several veterans each day until he has reached out to everyone on the 20-foot-long list, he said. "I think they'll be more responsive to a letter like that than something that just came just as a printout," Donnellan said. "This is going to be a good outreach tool." Reach Laura Incalcaterra at lincalca@lohud.com or 845-578-2486. |
| By Amy Macavinta Deseret News Published: Thursday, July 17, 2008 12:04 a.m. MDT At a glance, the group of young men boating at Jordanelle Reservoir on Tuesday were just your average guys, out for a good time. But they all know it was so much more than that. This particular group was made up of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They all carry some mark that notes their willing service in the U.S. military on their bodies — and on their hearts and souls. The Wounded Warrior Project brought nearly two dozen veterans to Park City this week as a Project Odyssey event, where they spent several days at the National Ability Center. They spent the days hiking, horseback riding, boating and water skiing. And at night, they gathered around a campfire, in a "circle of trust," sharing the kind of ghost stories that only they would understand. Juan Arredondo, San Antonio, is working with Wounded Warrior Project now, but there was a day when he was the one lying in a hospital bed after being injured in Iraq. He lost his left hand to the blast of an improvised explosive and had severe flesh wounds on both legs. While he was in the hospital, he received a backpack full of clothing, toiletries and other items that brought a bit of comfort at what was perhaps the lowest point of his life. Story continues below "It made me feel more at ease," Arredondo said. Since then, Arredondo has gone on to mentor his fellow soldiers. John Roberts, one of the founders of Wounded Warrior Project, is himself a veteran who survived a helicopter crash in Somalia in 1992. He said the organization's mission is best signified by its logo — one warrior, carrying an injured warrior over his shoulder. Veterans have mentors who help them through the healing process, with hopes that they will in turn reach out to another veteran in need, just as Arredondo did. Wounded Warrior Project is a nonprofit organization based in Jacksonville, Fla. Roberts said that soldiers injured in combat are flown to hospitals with nothing but what they had on them, if that. However, as the word spread and donations kept pouring in, Wounded Warrior Project has grown to include programs like Project Odyssey and Warriors to Work, a program to help veterans seek employment outside of the military. And the organization has also been able to obtain funding for a disability insurance program to help families cover expenses while their loved one is hospitalized. "It is the American public that makes this happen," Roberts said. This week's event is the second time Project Odyssey has been to Park City. The National Ability Center's basic belief is that recreation is as important to people who have disabilities as it is for anyone else. Outreach manager Ryan Jensen said the NAC supports a wide variety of veterans' organizations. E-mail: amackavinta@desnews.com http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700243682,00.html |
| Veterans who donated their
bodies to get military burial Monica Rodriguez, Staff Writer Article Launched: 07/16/2008 11:02:54 PM PDT POMONA - Ni a McCoy made phone calls and mailed letters as part of her search for the relatives of nine men who had donated their bodies to Western University of Health Sciences' Willed Body Program. McCoy, the director of the program, found disconnected phone numbers. Her letters were returned. When she ran out of leads, she began to research who these men were and found they were all veterans. "They served our country in uniform," McCoy said Wednesday. "Then they made the last contribution they could by donating their bodies for medical education." The cremated remains of the nine men - five of them veterans of World War II - will be laid to rest with military honors during a ceremony starting at 2:45 p.m. Aug. 6 at Riverside National Cemetery, 22495 Van Buren Blvd., Riverside. The ceremony will take place at Shelter G. Members of the public are welcome. "Who can you think of who deserves more (of) an honorable ceremony?" McCoy asked. The Willed Body Program allows people to donate their bodies to the university for research and the education of medical professionals, she said. As part of the agreement between the donor and the university, their identity is kept confidential. After about two years of study, the bodies are cremated and it's up to McCoy to receive them and return them to the family or have them scattered at sea, depending on the wishes of the donor, McCoy said. McCoy said every donor and every family she works with is important to her, but there is something a little different about veterans. "I have a really, really soft spot for veterans," she said. Her father, an Army Ranger, served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, where he was killed. Her husband served in the military, and she has other family members serving now. McCoy and several veterans organizations are involved in organizing the ceremony for the nine donors. Among them is the Missing in America Project. The Missing in America Project is a volunteer organization that is working with funeral homes, cremation facilities, state hospitals and other institutions to identify cremains that have not been claimed by families and determine whether they are those of veterans. Volunteers help track down families, said Fred Salanti, founder and executive director of the organization, which has its headquarters in Redding. If family members aren't found, the organization works to make arrangements to have the cremains interred in a state or national cemetery, he said. Around the country the cremated remains of veterans, as well as those of many non-veterans, are being stored in vaults because they haven't been claimed by families, Salanti said. This will be the first ceremony in Southern California that the Missing in America Project has been involved in, Salanti said. "This is a big step for us to have our first mission" in Southern California, he said. It could help raise awareness of the problem and possibly encourage more organizations to allow the group to help identify the remains of veterans, he said. http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/sanbernardinocounty/ci_9904156 |
| Cross County to be site of new
veterans cemetery Published: July 15, 2008 Ninety-nine acres of land in the Birdeye area of Cross County will become the fifth veterans cemetery in Arkansas. Gov. Mike Beebe received the deed recently during a special ceremony. Currently, there are national veterans cemeteries in Little Rock, Fort Smith and Fayetteville and a state veterans cemetery in North Little Rock. Little Rock National Cemetery is full and no longer accepts burials. The veterans cemetery in Cross County will be a state cemetery. According to the governor’s Web site, the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs will oversee a committee to select the design for the new cemetery and the United States Veterans Administration will have final approval. Depending on when federal funding is approved, the East Arkansas cemetery is anticipated to open in 2011. The site is expected to accommodate between 125 and 150 years of burials. “This cemetery has long been needed for our veterans in East Arkansas,” Beebe was quoted as saying. “This will make it easier for families and friends to pay their respects when we bestow the final honor upon those who have served our country.” Also quoted was Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs Director David Fletcher. “We strive not just to provide services to our veterans, but to do so in the most convenient way possible for them,” Fletcher said. “East Arkansas needs this facility, especially with the advancing age of our vets.” According to the Associated Press, Fletcher also said there is a large pool of World War II veterans in the region. The AP also reported that Jerry Bowen of Jonesboro, a former undersecretary in the federal Veterans Affairs Department, said that of all veterans in the state, 46 percent live in central Arkansas, 34 percent in northwest Arkansas, 16 percent in northeast Arkansas 4 percent in southeast Arkansas and 5 percent in southwest Arkansas. The land was sold to the state by the family of Maurice Smith, a veteran and former director of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, for $150,000. The cemetery will be established and operated by the state, but primary funding, including more than $5 million in construction costs, will still come from the federal government. The effort to obtain that funding as quickly as possible will be led by U.S. Representative Marion Berry and Arkansas’s congressional delegation. © Copyright Times-Herald Publishing Co. Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.thnews.com/article.php?id=5935 |
| Lottery to release games that
benefit veterans Associated Press 4:30 AM CDT, July 14, 2008 DES MOINES, Iowa - Officials from the Iowa Lottery and Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs are touting new lottery games that are supposed to benefit veterans' causes. They plan to unveil the games at a news conference on Monday. They'll also detail how the proceeds from the games will support the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. In March, Gov. Chet Culver signed into law a bill that authorizes the lottery to create two instant-scratch games and two pull tab games each year. All the proceeds must support the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-ia-lottery-veterans,0,7743832.story |
| Helping Veterans with ALS posted 10:53 pm Mon July 14, 2008 - Mt. Pleasant, SC reporter: Shawn Smetana posted by: Brian Heins For years, only veterans of the Gulf War suffering from ALS were provided maximum benefits from the department of Veterans Affairs. That all changed Monday, now all veterans suffering from Lou Gehrigs disease will receive full disability thanks in large part to the efforts of retired Brigadier General Tom Mikolajcik, battling the terminal disease himself. During a conference call Monday afternoon with VA secretary James Peake, the retired Brigadier General found out his battle to bring light to this disease and its effect on veterans ended with victory. Diagnosed in October 2003 with Lou Gehrig’s disease, General Tom Mikolajcik vowed to never quit, never give up. "Some doctors are reluctant to tell people they have ALS cause it's a death sentence, no cause, no cure," said Mikolajcik. Unlike his battles on front lines in the Gulf and Vietnam, this mission would take him to Washington D.C. facing a house sub-committee on Veteran's Affairs. He, like all veterans face a greater risk of developing ALS than the general public. "Nobody knows why that is, that's why we need more awareness, more research," said Mikolajcik. In 2001, the VA decided to offer ALS care to gulf war vets only. Mikolajcik's push resulted in policy change. Seven years later all veterans suffering from ALS, regardless of when they served, will receive all services the VA provides. "Everybody treats adversity in a different way, I could put my head on my stomach and cry or I could see what I could do to help," said Mikolajcik. Helping in so many ways, an ALS support group, and an ALS clinic all in Charleston. Now benefits for ALS veterans across the country. U.S. Representative Henry Brown, who also fought for this change says it's doubtful this could have been accomplished if not for the work of Tom Mikolajcik. His work not done, Mikolajcik says he plans on heading back to Washington D.C. to push for an ALS task force. http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0708/535840.html |
| Lawmakers want US-made flags By LIBBY QUAID – 23 hours ago WASHINGTON (AP) — The American flag has many labels: Stars and stripes. Old Glory. And sometimes, made in China. Congress can't halt the flow of Chinese-made flags, but lawmakers can try to control where they are flown. The House declared Monday that any flag flown on federal property should be made in the U.S.A. "It's not a major problem facing the nation," admitted Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif. "But it's an irritant." Chinese-made flags seemed to pop up everywhere after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. People rushed to show their sense of patriotism by buying American flags, and U.S. manufacturers couldn't keep up with demand. Foreign imports of American flags, worth around $1 million annually at the time, surged to nearly $52 million in the weeks that followed. Then as demand subsided, lawmakers took action, requiring the Defense Department to buy American-made textiles and the Veterans Affairs Department to use American-made flags for burials. And in the city where Congress meets, only U.S.-made flags fly over the nation's Capitol. Still, more than 8,000 other federal buildings — courthouses, post offices, border stations, office buildings, among others — are under no such obligation. Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, wanted to force the government to buy only American-made flags. "But we were told that this mandatory stuff runs into trade agreements," the eight-term congressman said. That is because the U.S. has gone to great pains to hammer out trade deals with other countries and can't impose new limits after the fact. His solution was a nonbinding "sense of Congress" resolution that cleared the House on Monday. It doesn't have any teeth, he admitted, but it's a start. In the meantime, state governments are beginning to weigh in. A new law in Minnesota says all flags sold in the state must be made in the U.S., with violations subject to a fine of up to $1,000 and jail time of up to 90 days. The industry says similar measures have cropped up in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida. The country's flag makers can easily make enough flags for the government, said Michael Liberman, president of Valley Forge Flag Co. in Wyomissing, Pa. "That would be a very, very small part of our domestic demand; there's no problem with that," he said. "Right after Sept. 11, the U.S. flag industry couldn't keep up with demand. But that only occurred for probably four or five months." It's not just the government — several retail chains have decided to buy American-made flags. Liberman's company sells flags to Ace Hardware, Target and Lowe's. But he's had trouble selling flags to some retailers. "Others have not had a problem selling flags saying they are made in China or made in Korea," he said. "We're constantly trying to convince them there is a difference in quality and usability." http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g6OMXJfpF0z9QTaW0pz2uc_jRDJwD91TSUQO0 |
| Veterans Affairs Canada Jul 14, 2008 12:12 ET Media Advisory: Veterans Return From Anniversary Events in South Korea OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - July 14, 2008) - Dozens of Veterans are returning home after an eight-day journey of remembrance in South Korea. Thirty-five of these Veterans either served during the Korean War or shortly thereafter to restore peace and stability to South Korea. The Veterans are part of the official Government of Canada delegation led by the Honourable Greg Thompson, Minister of Veterans Affairs. They participated in commemorative events marking the 55th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice. Media are invited to cover the delegation's return home, scheduled at 11:00 a.m., July 15 at the Vancouver International Airport. Please keep in touch with the Veterans Affairs Canada contact listed below to confirm the arrival time as it is subject to change. While in South Korea, the delegation participated in ceremonies of remembrance at the Republic of Korea National Cemetery in Seoul, the Korean War Memorial to the Armed Forces of the British Commonwealth in Gapyeong, the Canadian Korean War Memorial Garden in Naechon, and the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan. For more information on the Korean War, photos of the delegation's experiences in South Korea or details on events in Canada, visit the Veterans Affairs Canada Web site at www.vac-acc.gc.ca. http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Veterans-Affairs-Canada-878604.html |
| VA Official Scolded for Ties to
Advocacy Group "Washington Watchdogs," a periodic feature of the Post's Investigations blog, looks at the findings of the federal government's official investigators. (Updated at 3:49 p.m. to include information from Disabled American Veterans) A top Department of Veterans Affairs official has been scolded by the government agency for his involvement with a prominent lobbying organization, a group that helps disabled veterans get benefits that the official is charged with dispersing. The official, Robert T. Reynolds, became a member of the Cold Spring, Ky.-based Disabled American Veterans before he began working for the Veterans Affairs Department, he said. But audtiors said the situation is "fraught with possibilities for running afoul" of department ethics policies and he will have his activities "closely monitored" and be instructed on what "matters may require his recusal," according to a government audit obtained by Watchdogs this week through a Freedom of Information Act request. The audit, while redacted, references Disabled American Veterans (DAV), which has 1.4 million members, on page five of the report and, indirectly, Reynolds, the organization's national commander who also serves as the executive management officer for the Veterans Benefits Administration in Washington, D.C. A photo of Reynolds is prominently displayed on the organization's Web site. Reynolds was elected national commander during the organization's national convention in August 2006 in New Orleans. During his introductory speech, Reynolds "proclaimed the DAV the undisputed service organization for veterans and reaffirmed the organization's mission to build better lives for America's disabled veterans and their families through the finest advocacy and service programs in existence." Reynolds, 42, a disabled veteran from Arlington, Va., served in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division from 1984 to 1990. He was injured in a parachute accident while assigned to a U.S. Army Special Forces unit; the injury required two years years of multiple surgeries before he was honorably discharged. Larry Scott, founder and editor of VA Watchdog, an online magazine that focuses on veterans issues, said top positions at so-called veterans services organizations are often reserved for government workers such as Reynolds. "What we find is that people who are politically motivated, not partisan per se, but politcally motivated, use VSOs as a stepping stone to Washington," said Scott, referencing politicians like Gordon H. Mansfield, the deputy sectetary of Veterans Affairs and a Bush appointee who served as executive director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America. A former executive director of DAV, the late Jesse Brown, served as secretary of Veterans Affairs in the Clinton administration. Scott, who is also a member of DAV, said he asked members of the national disabled veterans organization about Reynolds' potential conflict of interest when the government worker was elected president of the disability organization nearly two years ago. "They said that, 'We don't see him doing anything wrong. He's very careful,'" Scott said. "This is how things have been done. This how things will be done. This is the way business is done.'" Reynolds, reached at his Washington office this morning, said he had yet to read the report. David W. Gorman, executive director of DAV, read a copy of the report provided by Watchdogs, calling it a "waste of valuable government resources" "We're in this game together, the game being how do we best take care of disabled veterans," Gorman said. "Personally, I don't see any conflict." Gorman added that officials are aware of the sensitive nature of Reynolds' dual roles and that Reynolds had been "kept clean" from advising or influencing DAV's positions and policies. Investigators did not find specific examples of wrongdoing but Reynolds told auditors he "stood for both VA and DAV and that the missions were one and the same." "He clearly could not distinguish between these two distinct organizations which, at times, have adversarial or opposing viewpoints," the audit said. -- Derek Kravitz http://blog.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations /2008/07/officials_political_ties_promp.html |
| New Iowa Veterans Cemetery is
dedicated Associated Press 4:31 PM CDT, July 4, 2008 DES MOINES, Iowa - A new Iowa Veterans Cemetery located west of Des Moines on Interstate 80 has been dedicated. Patrick Palmersheim is the executive director of the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs. He says the cemetery will honor all men and woman who defended and restored freedom around the world. The cemetery project has been awarded $7.6 million in federal funding. The land was donated. Officials say up to 80,000 people could eventually be buried at the 100-acre site, which is next to the Van Meter Exit on Interstate 80. |
| REMEMBERING A SOLDIER Veteran's legacy written in stone New grave marker gives final salute to Georgia soldier wounded in World War II By MONI BASU The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 07/04/08 A round stainless steel pin marked his grave: "17-A-6," it said. That's how he has been known since the 19th day of March, when he was put in the ground at Lakeside Memorial Gardens. Only this week was his grave in Palmetto adorned with a headstone bearing his name. He died Dec. 11, 2007, and his body was kept in the county morgue for three months while investigators at the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office tried to piece together his life and find his next of kin. His friend, Barry Wiener, an Atlanta attorney, says the man had no family. Mike Alsip, of the medical examiner's office, says no one stepped forward. He was buried in a pauper's grave. Wiener was there that March day, distressed that the man he knew as a lawyer and a veteran would lie unnamed, unrecognized. A short obituary in last month's Georgia Bar Journal held the spare details of a life of 83 years: He was born in Evans in 1924. He graduated from high school in Augusta and served as a private in the U.S. Army. He fought in France during World War II. In December 1944, his body was shredded by shrapnel from a Nazi grenade, and he was sent back to recuperate in the Veterans Administration hospital on Clairmont Road. He was an outpatient for the rest of his life. He graduated with an engineering degree from Georgia Tech, then earned his law degree from the now-defunct Woodrow Wilson College of Law. He was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1959. He practiced general law and represented veterans like himself, disabled. He deserved to rest with dignity, to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Wiener says. Instead, he was interred in an unmarked grave in a Palmetto cemetery that has a county contract and 1,800 such graves. Hundreds of veterans — many from the Vietnam War who recoiled from society after returning home — end up in unmarked graves, according to the Georgia Department of Veterans Services But Wiener refused to let his friend remain one of them. He contacted local veterans organizations, and ultimately the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs issued a standard granite marker, 2 feet long, 1 foot wide and 4 inches deep. On Monday, the new marker was unveiled at a memorial ceremony at the cemetery. Wiener, a few veterans and state Sen. John Douglas (R-Social Circle) laid roses on the headstone, etched with a Star of David. A rabbi prayed. A bugler sounded taps, and then a hush fell over the green fields lined with tall pines. A flag was unfurled over the grave, and a man who served his nation and lay unknown for all these months finally regained his identity: Jean William Levy. NOTE: Because of this man and many many many others ... I have the right to say " Fuck you G.W. Bush. And every mother-fucker that thinks like you or supports you! I have the right to freely say without persecution EAT SHIT AND LIVE! ( In Toledo,Oh. these are offenses that a county prosecuter will back every dirty filthy move their boys and girls in blue can come up with just to point out that "You have no rights!" And shut the fuck up. ) - Mutant |
Thompson veterans bill prompts hearing By Star Staff Thursday, July 03, 2008 Legislation introduced by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena to help veterans who were unknowingly tested with chemical and biological weapons in the 1960s and ‘70s, recently prompted a House of Representatives subcommittee meeting. The House Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs held a hearing on a bill introduced by Thompson and Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., that would give these veterans health benefits and compensation for illnesses resulting from “Project 112” weapons tests. In a statement, Thompson said he hopes the hearing will ultimately push his bill toward consideration by the House. Project 112, which included ship-based Project SHAD, was conducted between 1963 and 1973 by the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. The DoD now admits that during these projects, unknowing military personnel were involved a number of chemical weapon tests, such as VX nerve gas and Sarin nerve gas and were exposed to biological weapons such as E. coli, tularemia (rabbit fever), and Q fever. “First the government denied the tests existed. Then they said the tests happened but were harmless. Now they admit dangerous substances were used on our military personnel, yet they still refuse to give them care for their illnesses,” said Thompson. “We can’t change the past, but we can begin to right this wrong by giving these men the proper health care and compensation they earned.” After the DoD admitted to Thompson that the tests did exist and included harmful agents, they released more than 6,000 names of military personnel used in the tests. However, the GAO reported in February that the DoD had halted their efforts to disclose additional names and many veterans remain unaware that they were even involved. Thompson’s legislation would require the DoD to hand over all the names to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which must then notify the veterans. http://www.sthelenastar.com/articles/2008/07/03/ news/local/doc486bebb0537f1480731104.txt |
VA denies hypertension claims linked to herbicides By Chris Roberts / El Paso Times Article Launched: 07/03/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT Copyright 2008 The Veterans Administration will not grant disability claims for hypertension related to Agent Orange or other herbicide exposure, according to Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake, who decided existing research doesn't clearly establish a link between the two. "The science didn't support it," Mark Brown, director of VA's Environmental Agents Service, said Tuesday. However, Peake agreed to allow AL amyloidosis -- a rare incurable disease that can lead to organ failure and death -- as a service-connected illness related to herbicide exposure, Brown said. El Paso-area veterans advocates said they weren't surprised by the denial of hypertension because it is a relatively widespread condition. "I can tell you very simply (why Peake denied the hypertension claims), it's one word and it's five letters long -- money," said Jeri Elena Mark, an El Paso advocate who also suffers from hypertension and was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam, where she served on a Hawk missile crew. "I think it's a load of bull." Mark and other veterans advocates point to numerous studies they say support the connection, including a long-term study of a 1976 accident in Italy referred to by Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt in a 1990 report commissioned by the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Zum walt's report also mentions hypertension developed by agricultural workers exposed to herbicides. The study of the accident in Italy, updated earlier this year in an Advertisement American Journal of Epidemiology article, lists hypertension as a contributing cause to deaths of people exposed to dioxins, which are used in the herbicides. Brown, a toxicologist, said Peake's decision was based on a broad review of existing research done by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, which veterans advocates have criticized for a lack of objectivity. However, Brown said the review -- which Congress requires every two years, the most recent of which was released about a year ago -- examined about 25 studies, and was "very exhaustively thorough." The Institute of Medicine does not make recommendations to the VA on policy, said Christine Stencel, an institute spokeswoman. "There are scientific studies of adequate quality that have yielded information that points to a possible statistical link or plausible biological means, by which exposure to Agent Orange, the herbicides, the dioxins that contaminated them could result in the increased risk of developing hypertension," Stencel said. "But at the same time, it's not clear-cut. There are contradictory results from other studies." On June 10, Peake sent a letter notifying the veterans affairs committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate that he would not allow the "service-connected" status for hypertension. "It's ambiguous," Brown said, "which is, in some ways, the worst situation." Brown said recommendations from the team Peake formed to look at the issue didn't mention cost. He also points to type 2 diabetes, an illness he said is very costly to treat and fairly common, which was recently added to the list. "I would argue that, really, the decision was driven by the science," Brown said. When the Institute of Medicine released its review in July 2007 with a finding of "limited or suggestive evidence" linking hypertension to herbicide exposure, the VA was required by law to determine whether it should be listed as "service-connected," according to an internal agency document obtained by the El Paso Times. The document -- called a "fast letter" and distributed to all VA regional offices and centers -- states that a decision was expected by Sept. 1. Veterans who served during certain time periods in Vietnam, in vessels off the shore of Vietnam, and in Korea along the Demilitarized Zone would have been eligible for the benefit if Peake had approved it, according to the document. It concludes that, if the service connection is not warranted, "we will not, of our own initiative, take any additional action on this issue." AL amyloidosis was added to the list because it was very similar to a type of cancer linked to herbicide exposure and "it made sense to make a service connection," Brown said. In the past, it has taken about six months between approval of a new illness for service-connected status and new regulations being issued that allow claims to be processed, he said. Part of the reason veterans exposed to the herbicides are angry is that their cases were more extreme than those of most people exposed in non-military situations. The Zumwalt report quotes Dr. James R. Clary: "When we (military scientists) initiated the herbicide program in the 1960s, we were aware of the potential for damage due to dioxin contamination in the herbicide. We were even aware that the 'military' formulation had a higher dioxin concentration than the 'civilian' version due to the lower cost and speed of manufacture. However, because the material was to be used on the 'enemy,' none of us were overly concerned. "We never considered a scenario in which our own personnel would become contaminated with the herbicide. And if we had, we would have expected our own government to give assistance to veterans so contaminated." Although there are no lack of studies on hypertension's relation to herbicide exposure, Brown said, there also has been nothing definitive -- either way. "This could change, of course," Brown said. "We had a similar situation with pro state cancer. ... There were new developments and new scientific studies and we had to reconsider that position. This is not static." Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136. http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_9771350 |
The following is from an MRC press release calling out the liberal mainstream media for covering up House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) recent remarks chalking up the success of the U.S. military in Iraq to the "goodwill of the Iranians." Alexandria, VA-- Last Thursday, a collection of reporters and members of the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle sat down for a nearly 80-minute interview with Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California. At the 62-minute mark, Pelosi slandered and demeaned the hard-won successes of our armed forces in Iraq, saying "Whatever the military success and progress that may have been made, the surge didn't accomplish its goal. And some of the success of the surge is that the goodwill of the Iranians -- they decided in Basra when the fighting would end, they negotiated that cessation of hostilities -- the Iranians." No one at the Chronicle reported the Speaker's vicious slander. Nor did NBC, ABC or CBS, CNN or MSNBC deem it fit for broadcast, either Thursday evening or at any point on Friday. The vaunted New York Times likewise did not deem this fit to print. L. Brent Bozell: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb-staff/2008/06/02/ liberal-media-cover-speaker-pelosis-slander-american-troops |
| By KATE ZERNIKE Published: June 30, 2008  Years ago, when William Miller talked about being in the Vietnam War — if he talked about being in the Vietnam War — he would tell people he served on a Swift boat. “It’s taken on the connotation of political sport versus honoring those that sacrificed everything.” FRED SHORT, Swift boat veteran who served with John Kerry At least now they have heard of it. But not in the way he would like. “I was proud of what I did, and all the guys I was with,” Mr. Miller said. “Now somebody says ‘Swift boat’ and it’s a whole different meaning. They don’t associate it with the guys we lost. That’s a shame.” “Swift boat” has become the synonym for the nastiest of campaign smears, a shadow that hangs over the presidential race as pundits wait to proclaim that the Swiftboating has begun and candidates declare that they will not be Swiftboated. Swift boat veterans — especially those who had nothing to do with the group that attacked Senator John Kerry’s military record in the 2004 election — want their good name back, and the good names of the men not lucky enough to come home alive. “You would not hear the word ‘Swift boat’ and think of people that served their country and fought in Vietnam,” said Jim Newell, who spent a year as an officer in charge on one of the small Navy vessels in An Thoi and Qui Nhon. “You think about someone who was involved in a political attack on a member of a different party. It just comes across as negative. Everyone who is associated with a Swift boat is involved in political chicanery.” Sure, Watergate will never be just the office complex. And the name Willie Horton will always refer to more than just a criminal. But for Swift boat veterans, the name theft is more personal. When they talk about Swift boats, they recall friends and crewmates killed, countless moments of sheer terror in their young lives, the pain of coming home to a country that offered less than a hero’s welcome. “It’s completely inappropriate,” said Michael Bernique, a highly regarded Swift boat driver who led missions up a canal that became known as Bernique’s Creek. “The word should connote service with honor, which is what was conducted. Anything that demeans that honor is shameful.” In an April column in Proceedings magazine of the United States Naval Institute, Harlan Ullman, a Swift boat driver in Vietnam and a Pentagon consultant known as a creator of the “shock and awe” concept, wrote: “It is time to ban a word that is at once offensive, demeaning and obscene both to and for anyone serving in the naval profession. That word is ‘Swiftboating.’ ” This month, a group of veterans who served with Mr. Kerry took up the challenge by Boone Pickens, the billionaire Texas oilman who helped finance the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004, that he would give $1 million to anyone who could disprove anything in the group’s campaign against Mr. Kerry. “One of the prime reasons we’ve done this is the way it’s taken on the connotation of political sport versus honoring those that sacrificed everything,” said Fred Short, who was in the gun tub of a Swift boat during one of the firefights that the veterans group said Mr. Kerry had exaggerated. Before 2004, Swift boats — also known as Patrol Craft Fast, or P.C.F.’s — were 50-foot aluminum boats, just big enough for an officer, five enlisted men and a Vietnamese interpreter. There were about 110 of them as part of the so-called brown water navy in Vietnam, boats agile enough to patrol the shallow waters near shores where the North Vietnamese were sending small craft filled with munitions and supplies. They conducted some of the most harrowing missions of the war. “The bad guys shot you on the way up the river, and they knew you had to come back down,” said John Scholl, who served as an officer in charge from May 1968 to May 1969. There was no room for politics. “What you cared about was the five guys on the boat,” Mr. Scholl said. “You didn’t get involved in what Johnson was doing, you all just wanted to make sure you succeeded in the operation. I always say, ‘I was 24, and I was much older than I am now.’ ” The Swifties, as they call themselves, were a fairly loose fraternity until the mid-1990s, when they gathered at the dedication of a refurbished boat in Washington. Now, the Swift Boat Sailors Association holds a reunion every two years. On Swiftboats.net, Larry Wasikowski tends to a crew list, a history of the boats and even archives of newsletters that various crews sent home to their families from 1966 to 1969. Mr. Wasikowski and the sailors’ association grant the designation of “Swiftie” meticulously, requiring extensive official documentation from anyone who claims the title. By the association’s count, about 3,600 men served aboard Swift boats in Vietnam, 600 officers and 3,000 enlisted. About 200 signed the letter that became the basis of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign in 2004. In advertisements, a best-selling book and extensive news media appearances, they accused Mr. Kerry of fabricating exploits to win his military decorations and a discharge just four months into a yearlong tour. Navy documents contradicted many of their accusations, but the claims undermined what Democrats had hoped would be Mr. Kerry’s strength. Regardless of what they thought of Mr. Kerry, many Swift boat veterans objected to the attacks. “It was unconscionable,” said Stan Collier, who served as an officer in charge on a boat based in Qui Nhon. “I thought those boys struck a new low.” Mr. Collier considers himself a conservative and did not agree with Mr. Kerry’s politics, but he voted for him to protest the Swift boat campaign. “We’ve all been attributed to the sleaziness that those guys assigned to Kerry,” he said. “I think we’ve all been demeaned.” As Mr. Miller said, “People don’t know about us; they know about those few TV advertisements.” Mr. Wasikowski, who signed the original letter, said some Swift boat veterans dropped out of the sailors’ association because they thought it was connected to the campaign against Mr. Kerry. And many former sailors watched with dismay as the noun became a verb. “When someone’s Swiftboated, it’s like being waterboarded,” said Sandy Wilcox, who keeps a model of the Swift boat he skippered on the credenza in his office in Wisconsin. The new meaning of Swift boat stings worst for the men who served with Mr. Kerry, who say that, by implication, the attacks tarnished their military decorations. “I don’t have a lot in this world — my service means a whole lot to me,” Mr. Short said. “It’s been besmirched, I guess would be a good word. Whether they meant it or not.” Mr. Pickens refused to pay on his challenge, and he suggested that the Swift boat colleagues who submitted records and other materials in defense of Mr. Kerry take up their disagreement with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. For their part, group members say they take nothing back. “We didn’t back down,” Mr. Wasikowski said. Still, even some Swift boat veterans associated with the anti-Kerry group say they do not like what “Swift boat” has become. “It’s taken on a life of its own,” Mr. Wasikowski said. “The problem is, it’s on the wrong side. We would like to be remembered as the one operation in Vietnam that succeeded, totally.” The Swift Boat Sailors Association has attached a disclaimer to its Web site disavowing any “express or implied” political ties. Signing the association’s online guestbook in October, “Carlo” expressed his appreciation: “I think it’s disgraceful that a handful of people have managed to turn ‘Swift boat’ into a synonym for ‘To smear somebody with lies,’ ” he wrote. “I hope you guys can take the term back to connote bravery, courage and sacrifice, like it always has.” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/us/politics/30swift.html? pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp&adxnnlx=1214831036-OKwo4SmHH%20uqAbyr73Q88Q |
|
Judge dismisses suit over veteran health care  By Jim Christie Two groups had sought a court order to require the department to improve the way it cares for veterans and processes benefits. U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti said Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth were demanding an overhaul of the VA system, "something clearly outside this court's jurisdiction." "Congress has specifically precluded district courts from reviewing veterans' benefits decisions and has entrusted decisions regarding veterans' medical care to the discretion of the VA Secretary," Conti wrote in his 82-page decision. "The court can find no systemic violations system-wide that would compel district court intervention," he said. Lawyers pressing the suit said in April that veterans commit suicide between three and 7.5 times more often than the national average. That kind of evidence was used to bolster the argument that the VA has systemic problems treating mental health problems. But Conti disagreed. "He adopted a definition of 'systemic' that is very, very limited," Gordon Erspamer, a lawyer with the firm Morrison & Foerster, said during a telephone conference call. "We think the bar was set too high." The VA, which has come under fire for its care of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, said in a statement that it was "pleased with the decision." 'SHH!' Conti cited a study by the RAND Corp that found 18.5 percent of U.S. service members who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan now have post-traumatic stress disorder, about half of those who need treatment for the condition seek it, and of those who get treatment, only slightly more than half get minimally adequate care. The decision also referred to a December 2007 e-mail by a VA official saying that there were about 18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans, and that VA data showed four to five suicides per day among those who receive care through the system. In a February e-mail, the VA official wrote, "Shh! Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see in our medical facilities. Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?" The head of one of the veteran groups said an appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco was planned. "This ruling will only cause us to redouble our efforts and our pursuit of justice for our nation's veterans. We will not rest until our job is finished," Paul Sullivan, director of Veterans for Common Sense, said in a statement. Arturo Gonzalez, another Morrison & Foerster attorney, told Reuters that lawyers for the veterans groups will ask the circuit court to back the kind of broad judicial powers Conti said he lacked. "We believe a federal judge is obligated to act when confronted with facts as egregious as the ones in our case," Gonzalez said. Additional reporting by Andrew Gray in Washington D.C) (Reporting by Jim Christie; Editing by Mary Milliken and Xavier Briand) http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2527490520080626 |
| Widows on warpath over lack of
compensation Published Wednesday June 25th, 2008 By MICHAEL STAPLES staples.michael@dailygleaner.com The Lincoln woman and about 50 other widows are angry and fed up with the federal government in general and the Department of Veterans Affairs specifically. They are demanding to be included in the $95.6-million compensation package announced by the federal government last fall for veterans and civilians affected by the U.S. military's spraying of Agent Orange at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown during the 1960s. Those who qualify and meet a number of medical requirements are eligible for a one-time, $20,000 ex-gratia payment. But payouts are only considered for primary caregivers of individuals who died on or after Feb. 6, 2006 - the date the government of Stephen Harper took office. "I find that ludicrous," said Hudson, spokeswoman for the group called Military Widows on a War Path. "I am very disgusted with the government and the DVA in general and there is no need of it." Hudson said her husband Sgt. Ralph Hudson, an artillery officer, was at CFB Gagetown from 1964 to 1966, the latter period covers the first spraying by the U.S. military of Agent Orange. Ralph Hudson died of lung cancer in 2004 at the age of 64. Like many other widows in a similar situation, Hudson said her husband had the misfortune of not dying within the parametres identified by the Tory government, "This, even though he was out in the area slogging his way through Agent Orange and other chemicals.'' She said the letter of denial received from the Department of Veterans Affairs Canada acknowledged her husband was at Gagetown during the spraying, but wasn't in the right spot. "It's not the money but the principle of the thing. Why would they do this? They knew who was dead before they set the date." Hudson said her group, which includes members from around the province, intends to keep the pressure on the federal government to correct what it says is an injustice. She said the government refuses to adopt a presumptive clause that, if accepted, would mean "if you were there, you would be compensated." "We feel we deserve that $20,000," Hudson said. "We don't begrudge the people who have received the money but our husbands have died. My God! Give us a break. What's the big problem?" Hudson said she hopes membership will spread across the country and that government will get the message. Veteran John Chisholm of Douglas, who sat on an advisory board for the Base Gagetown and Area Fact-Finders Project, said the women are wasting their time. "The government would have to change its whole policy on how they awarded these claims," he said. "I have been after the minister more times than enough to open up the qualifications on the claims. It (the compensation parametres) were established, it went through the House of Commons, was settled and that's all they are going to do. It's a dead issue." Chisholm, who qualified and received the payment, said the best option for those left out of the compensation package is to become part of the ongoing class-action suit and take the government to court. Lincoln's Wayne Cardinal, who served at Gagetown with the Black Watch Regiment during the spraying years, but didn't qualify for the compensation, said he doesn't want the widows to give up, although he doesn't know if they'll be successful. "I think they stand a pretty good chance of getting them shook up," he said. Updated figures on how many Canadians had received compensation under last fall's program wasn't available from the Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday afternoon. As of last December, 861 individuals had completed applications, of which 350 have been approved. http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/cityregion/article/336055 |
| Inmates Maintain Grounds Of Vet
Cemetaries... A new joint community works project underway by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs is providing an opportunity for inmates to give back to Maryland’s veterans and their memory by maintaining the grounds of the State veteran cemeteries. The first project is occurring at the Crownsville Veterans Cemetery in Anne Arundel County. Five days a week, a Division of Correction inmate crew assists in maintaining and improving the grounds, and performs general maintenance for the grave sites of over 15,000 men and women, and their dependents, who served this country. The cemetery detail is comprised of five to six inmates, who are themselves veterans, from the Brockbridge Correctional Facility, a minimum/pre-release institution in Jessup. To be considered for this duty, inmates must not have been dishonorably discharged from the service, and must be eligible for burial in a veteran cemetery as well. Their status is verified through the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs. This pilot project is part of a DPSCS push to help Veterans Affairs maintain their five veterans cemeteries located across the state. The goal is to create and sustain a partnership between the two state agencies as a way for offenders to not only give back to surrounding communities, but to learn work skills that are transferable upon release. staff 06-25-08 4:30 http://www.wcbcradio.com/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=11965&Itemid=35 |
| VA execs get state's top federal
bonuses By THEO EMERY • Staff Writer • June 20, 2008 The largest bonuses for federal workers in Tennessee last year went to two Nashville-based executives in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, with each receiving amounts near the top tiers of bonuses given to VA employees nationwide. Federal pay data shows that Michael A. Dusenbery, the southern area director for 11 regional offices of the Veterans Benefits Administration, received a $33,000 performance cash award last year, on top of his salary of $165,000. Advertisement The Benefits Administration is the arm of the VA that processes and resolves claims from veterans. Brian T. Corley, the Veterans Benefits Administration's regional office director, received $30,920 on top of his salary of $154,600. Both men are career service VA employees, and were given the bonus for being "meritorious executives." Corley, who has been regional director for almost six years and with the VA for 35 years, said the award was due to the performance of the regional office in processing and resolving claims of veterans, a quality that he said has distinguished the office for many years. "We were one of the highest quality offices in the nation last year, and we are this year, too," he said. Dusenbery was on vacation, and could not be reached for comment. The extra pay troubled Bill Hartley, 68, a Vietnam veteran and an officer with the Nashville chapter of Disabled Veterans of America. Hartley praised the care that he has received from the VA in Nashville — he also has worked for the agency — but thought the awards were "out of proportion." "When the crunch is on to cut everything else, and especially patient care and the number of patients that they're actually able to see because of that money crunch… I think that money should be poured into serving more and treating more veterans," he said. The average per capita income in Tennessee in 2006 — the most recent year for which statistics were available — was $22,074, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Average bonus $363 While Dusenbery and Corley were among many federal workers in Tennessee who received some form of bonus in 2007, the amounts they received were by the far the biggest — the next largest for any of the state's 16,689 federal employees listed was $4,265. The average among the 1,720 who received extra pay was about $363. The amounts stand out not just in Tennessee, but nationally. Among VA employees, Dusenbery's award was the fourth-largest sum nationally — only two other VA employees outside of Washington received higher amounts — and was the 36th largest among about 979,000 federal employees included in the data. Corley's was the seventh-largest among VA employees, and 85th among all the federal workers included. In 2006, Corley received an $18,000 bonus from the VA on top of his base salary; that bonus was one of the three highest in the state that year. The 2007 awards were made the same year that a VA review pointed out problems at the Nashville VA Medical Center and the Alvin C. York VA Medical Center in Murfreesboro, including "substandard cleanliness conditions" and a closed therapy pool at the Murfreesboro campus. Hospital care is provided by the Veterans Health Administration, a separate arm of the VA from the Veterans Benefits Administration. Corley said that his work overseeing veterans claims was not connected to the VA's hospital care. Chris Alexander, a spokesman for the VA's Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, said the therapy pool remained closed due to lack of funding, but every other finding in the report had been addressed or was in the process of being addressed. Records exclude some The pay records made public to Gannett News Service do not include employees involved in security work, such as the FBI, CIA, Department of Defense, or Internal Revenue Service. While most executive branch employees are included, it excludes the White House, Congress, the U.S. Postal Service and independent agencies and commissions. The two VA executives received the cash awards after the U.S. Office of Personnel Management designated both in 2007 as winners of Presidential Rank Awards. The president "recognizes and celebrates a small group of career Senior Executives with the President's Rank Award for exceptional long-term accomplishments," according to the office Web site. The award, which is for 20 percent of the base salary, was given to federal employees across numerous departments. A higher level award is for 35 percent of salary. "Winners of this prestigious award are strong leaders, professionals, and scientists who achieve results and consistently demonstrate strength, integrity, industry, and a relentless commitment to excellence in public service," the site said. The nominations come from the department head. Leslie Paige, a spokeswoman for the government watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste, said that generally pay bonuses belong in the private sector, where benchmarks are clearer and there's more accountability. "The government doesn't make widgets, and they don't have a bottom line, and they don't have shareholders, really, and the motivations that drive bureaucrats — it's not efficiency. So we're always a little leery" about bonuses, she said. Corley dismissed that view, saying "everybody's got an opinion." "I think where performance is involved, wherever it is, it should be rewarded if it's excellent performance." http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID =/20080620/NEWS02/806200423/1009/NEWS01 |
| War
'Memory Project' threatened by Veterans Affairs Giuseppe Valiante , Canwest News Service Published: Friday, June 20, 2008 MONTREAL - Alexander Hall has lots of war stories - like the time in 1940, when British Defence Minister Winston Churchill was inspecting the troops on HMS Ganges and stopped to ask Hall his age. When the young sailor from Glasgow said he was 19, Churchill scrunched his pudgy face in disbelief and exclaimed, "My God!" "He didn't believe me. I looked twelve," said Hall, now 87. For decades, Hall said, he refused to talk about the war, not even with his family. His wife, Helen, said he would wake up at night screaming. All that changed when he started to visit elementary and high school classrooms as part of the Memory Project to share his experiences with students. "It's not bottled up anymore," Hall said. But the popular project's future might be in jeopardy. Jeremy Diamond of the Dominion Institute, a charity dedicated to educating Canadians about history, said Veterans Affairs Canada, has not decided whether it will keep funding the program for the 2008-09 academic year. "It's disappointing and frustrating on our side that it's taken a year of conversations . . . to still not know if they're able to come back as a (sponsor), and unfortunately we don't have the luxury of time," Diamond said. The Memory Project co-ordinates speaking engagements for 1,500 volunteer veterans across the country. Since its inception in 2001, veterans have shared their stories with more than 150,000 students a year. Veterans Affairs is its primary sponsor. A spokeswoman for Veterans Affairs Canada, Heather MacDonald, said the Dominion Institute's funding request is still under review and no decision has been made. The ministry feels the Memory Project "is well established" with the $780,000 she said has been given to the project in the past five years, she said. Diamond suggests that by not giving an answer, Veterans Affairs has effectively said no to more funding, at least for the next year. Hall was a sailor in the Royal Navy from 1940 to 1946 on HMS Emma, an old Dutch passenger liner converted to transport troops and equipment to the front lines in France, Germany, Italy, North Africa and the Pacific. He helped train and transport Canadian troops to Dieppe. Hall said he thought he was going to die many times at sea, especially when the craft he was on before the Emma was sunk by Italian aerial bombers in the Mediterranean. His company lost 37 men and Hall spent the next four days on a lifeboat with 14 other sailors - he made slicing motions with his hand to describe the one piece of canned beef they were allowed per day. The Dominion Institute says it's stories like these that help students understand the sacrifices older generations made, and the history of the world they live in. Hall pulled out a bound volume of 50 letters from children that a teacher at Honore Mercier School compiled for him. "Did you ever lose hope? Did you think of your family? Thank you for fighting for us," say some of the messages sent by the young students along with drawings and pictures. "They asked him for autographs" and called him a hero, said Rocco Speranza, a spiritual and guidance councillor from the English Montreal School Board who has asked Hall to speak at several schools. "People in Europe sometimes understand what Canadians did in the war more than actual Canadians. . . . I can't tell their story. To actually hear it from people who were there, that's what makes it comprehensible," Speranza said. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id= eb56e5cf-7908-4b16-8b56-3459263c9556 © Montreal Gazette 2008 |
| Chicoutimi crew exposed to toxic
chemicals: report Fire crippled submarine in 2004. But health risks 'slim to none,' navy insists Richard Dooley, Canwest News Service Published: Friday, June 20 HALIFAX - In a report on the fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi, navy officials recommend that former crew members be monitored for unexpected health problems that could be linked to the fire that crippled the submarine almost four years ago. The report concludes that smoke released during the fire contained a toxic soup of chemicals, including some cancer-causing agents, but there is likely no increased risk of illness as a result of the exposure. In a private briefing Wednesday night to about 30 of the 57 crew members who were aboard the Chicoutimi on Oct. 5, 2004, naval health brass said they were recommending periodic monitoring of the crew's health. "It's part of the due diligence we have to perform," Cmdr. Jeff Agnew said yesterday. Agnew said the navy has also learned to communicate with its sailors better in the aftermath of the Chicoutimi fire. Part of that is to appoint two of the submarine's officers as "champions for life" to act as liaisons between the crew and navy headquarters and Veterans Affairs Canada. "Our medical folks said we weren't doing a good job communicating with our sailors, but we are fixing that," Agnew said. He said the report shows the chances of long-term health effects of inhaling smoke from the fire are "slim to none." "But you can never say never," he said. The fire aboard Chicoutimi happened in the mid-Atlantic when a rogue wave crashed through a conning tower hatch, causing a short circuit and electrical fire in the main electronics compartment. The fire spread through a significant portion of the used former British submarine, effectively disabling it. Lieut. Chris Saunders suffered severe smoke inhalation and died in an Irish hospital hours after the fire. Several other crew members suffered various degrees of smoke inhalation while others among the 56 survivors reported illnesses over the last four years that they believe could be related to the smoke and toxic ash they lived in for days following the fire, while the submarine was towed to Faslane, Scotland. The tests performed by the National Research Council concluded that significant amounts of carbon monoxide and other chemicals were released by the fire and that it is reasonable to conclude the crew was exposed to carcinogenic material in the smoke. © The Gazette (Montreal) 2008 http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id =5f3a01cd-b5d0-4005-bab7-c7dfddb69959 |
| Norman Veterans Center Under
Fire The Norman Veterans Center is being investigated on various allegations including abuse, and a lack of care. This week a public meeting was held, and the lines have been drawn throughout the community. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs concluded their time in Norman this afternoon, while private investigator Gary Glover continued his search to see if workers at the facility are mistreating patients. "We firmly believe that our employees are taking care of the residents there, but at the same time we're taking the allegations seriously," said Mark Beutler, the Director of Communications for the OPEA. KSBI was allowed to tour the facility with permission from the center's director. The Oklahoma Public Employees Association say its workers do the best job that they can. "Our OPEA who work at the Norman vets center for the pay they could go to work somewhere in the private sector and make more money there, so it's their passion to take care of our war heroes, these men and women who served our country," Beutler described. But State Representative Al Lindley has heard the voice of those being mistreated. "I was distraught," Lindley, who represents district 93 said. "I was really concerned when i got that phone call and the fax." With hopes that the problems will be uncovered. "I would hope that maybe some policies would change, and maybe change some personnel," Lindley explained. Officials will now compile the data and decide if action needs to be taken. "Both from residents of the veterans center and those who work there, 90% of those people said they don't see problems there they're doing the best that they can," Beutler added. "Each individual, whether they be male or female, deserves our utmost respect and care when they do come back injured and in need of permanent care," Lindley concluded. The OPEA says the problem lies in the lack of funding, since there is a 96% turnover rate in the past year. The US Veterans Affairs agency will release their findings in the next few weeks. The Norman facility opened in November of 2006, with 300 beds. http://www.ksbitv.com/news/20612389.html |
| Once-forgotten veterans buried
in
Oregon 6/20/2008, 1:21 a.m. PDT The Associated Press EAGLE POINT, Ore. (AP) — Harry Fish was born in Ohio and served in the Army during World War I. He married Mima Fish and died in Grants Pass on April 18, 1974 — 10 days after Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record. Little else is known about Fish, except that his ashes sat unclaimed for the past 34 years in a locker at a Grants Pass funeral home. On Thursday, the remains of Fish and seven other forgotten servicemen were buried with full military honors at the Eagle Point National Cemetery. The remains were discovered as part of the Missing in America Project, a 2-year-old group that finds, verifies and arranges burials with full military honors for veterans whose remains lie unclaimed in funeral homes. Project volunteers have found and buried 175 veterans and are searching funeral homes in 44 states. Though the project was born in Oregon, Thursday's service was the first in the state. The group's president is Fred Salanti, disabled from the Vietnam War. He was volunteering on veterans issues in Grants Pass when his chapter of the Oregon Veterans Motorcycle Association started attending monthly services for forgotten veterans at Eagle Point National Cemetery. Then he heard of unclaimed ashes at a funeral home in Idaho and a man there who found the veterans among them and arranged a proper burial. Then more forgotten veterans were found in a Nevada funeral home. That's when Salanti got the idea for the Missing in America Project. "No country abandons its dead," said Salanti, who moved to Redding, Calif., last year. "You even let the enemy bury its dead on the battlefield." Fish's remains were found by Bud Thieme, a Vietnam veteran who started visiting southern Oregon funeral homes in January 2007, informing funeral directors of the project and trying to persuade them to open their storage units and files. Fish's remains were at Hull & Hull Funeral Directors in Grants Pass, which has cared for the dead in that city since the 1920s and has dozens of unclaimed cremains in basement lockers. It took Thieme about a year to get permission to inspect the cremains; once inside, he painstakingly recorded the name, date of death and identification number from a cremain's cardboard box and checked each with the funeral home's file for clues to service records. If there was a hint that the cremains belonged to a veteran, Thieme would send a query to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs records office in St. Louis. "It's interesting because you form an identity for that person; it becomes very personal," Thieme said. His effort was honored when he was chosen Thursday to read the names of the 20 veterans who were buried in the past 30 days at Eagle Point. Each name was followed by a single ringing of a bell. Besides Fish, the veterans whose unclaimed remains were buried Thursday included Carroll Pope, Bruce King, Robert Herr, Albert Lester, Herbert Heyer, Carl Reinhardt and Jack Hodges. |
| Sweeping
new GI Bill plan gets final approval By Rick Maze - Staff writer Posted : Friday Jun 20, 2008 6:35:44 EDT A sweeping new veterans’ education package has been approved as part of the 2008 war budget. The package is designed to fully cover the cost of completing four years of college — including tuition and fees, books and living expenses — and to let career troops share those benefits with dependents. The new “GI Bill for the 21st Century” will offer a benefit worth an average of $80,000, double the GI Bill’s current value. The new benefit would pay up to the in-state rate for tuition and fees for the most expensive four-year public college or university in the state where a veteran attends school. The package also includes a monthly living stipend, an annual book allowance, and money for tutorial assistance, along with many other features. The House of Representatives passed the war funding bill Thursday night. The Senate is expected to follow suit next week. Benefits increases take effect as soon as the war funding bill is signed into law by President Bush, which will happen in the next few weeks. But veterans now in school will not get the higher amounts right away because lawmakers are giving the Veterans Affairs Department until Aug. 1, 2009, to calculate and pay amounts that will vary by state and by school. Retroactive payments will have to be made. Also, anyone who had not previously enrolled in the GI Bill will have to wait until Aug. 1, 2009, to collect any payments. Under the package’s new family transfer option will give active-duty, National Guard and reserve members the right to transfer benefits to spouses or children after meeting certain time-in-service milestones. No transfer rights would be available until regulations are issued by the Pentagon. “It has been seven years since the 9/11 attacks, and the operating tempo and strain on the troops has not diminished,” said Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., the chief sponsor of the new GI Bill package. “It is long past time to do this.” Much more detail on the new GI Bill plan will be in next week’s Military Times newspapers. |
| Jury:
Wachovia Mistreated Reservist By EDMUND H. MAHONY | Courant Staff Writer 2:28 PM EDT, June 18, 2008 A federal jury in New Haven has found that Wachovia Securities, one of the nation's leading investment houses, deliberately violated the law by denying a broker and U.S. Air Force reservist his former position after he had been called to active duty following the September 11 terror attacks. After a four-day trial before U.S. District Judge Janet B. Arterton, the civil jury found that Wachovia's treatment of Michael Serricchio violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, a federal law enacted to encourage military service and protect veterans from being penalized as a result of that service. The law requires employers to reinstate returning veterans within two weeks to their former positions, with no loss of salary, status or seniority. Serricchio charged -- and the federal jury agreed -- that when he sought to recover his old position after a three year call up, Wachovia's salary and employment offer was so unsatisfactory that it amounted to an effective dismissal. What's more, Serricchio charged in his lawsuit that while he was on active duty in Saudi Arabia and at Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts, his erstwhile Wachovia colleagues carved up his client list and the millions of dollars in investments that he managed. Serricchio said in the suit that when clients asked for him specifically, Wachovia employees replied that he was on vacation or out sick. Serricchio said in his suit that he was making about $200,000 a year in commissions when he was called to active duty in 2001. When he tried to return to work in 2003, Serricchio said Wachovia waited three months before offering him $2,000 a month and the opportunity to make cold calls to the owners of dormant investment accounts. "I couldn't be any happier with the outcome," Serricchio said Wednesday, about the verdict. "There are still hundreds and hundreds of people over seas that are in the guard and reserves and there are more on the way. They are going to play a very big part and it is scary to come back and almost seem like you were punished as opposed to rewarded." David Golub, Serricchio's lawyer, said the verdict has implications for veterans and employers around the country. "This is not like Joe's mom and pop business down the street," Golub said. "This is a major national business that basically dumped an employee who was called to serve in the military. He was in the first wave of activations following 9/11. The implications of this case apply to all employers. Hopefully, other veterans and other employers will pay attention." Because the jury found Wachovia willfully violated the law, Golub said Serricchio is entitled to double the amount of his back pay from Wachovia and reinstatment to his old job. Arterton is expected to award damages at an upcoming legal hearing. Wachovia had no immediate comment. |
| http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/military_severance_061708w/ Vets group claims DoD violates severance law By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Jun 18, 2008 7:40:30 EDT At the end of a boisterous House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing in which lawmakers lambasted Veterans Affairs Department and Pentagon officials for not meeting various deadlines for improving care for wounded combat troops, Disabled American Veterans dropped a quiet bombshell. The Pentagon “knowingly violated the law and ignored the intent of Congress” in implementing a provision of the 2008 Defense Authorization Act that lawmakers designed to enhance disability severance pay for wounded and injured service members, wrote Kerry Baker, associate national legislative director for DAV. Baker argued that Congress created Section 1646 of the 2008 Defense Authorization Act with the intent that service members injured in combat, in a combat zone, or performing tasks related to combat — such as training — would not have to pay back any disability retirement severance pay they receive from the Defense Department before becoming eligible for VA disability compensation, as has been the case under long-standing policy. But Baker said David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, sent out a “directive-type memorandum” March 13 instructing that only those injured in a combat zone in the line of duty or as a direct result of armed conflict do not have to pay back their severance money. “This action has intentionally read ‘hazardous service,’ ‘conditions simulating war,’ and ‘instrumentality of war’ completely out of the law,” Baker wrote. Chu’s action, he wrote, “forces one to question his true resolve to care for those he sends into battle, or orders to train for battle.” Baker said he believes the decision was purely monetary. “We can think of no other conceivable reason … to circumvent the law as he has done here,” Baker wrote. “To answer the question of ‘why,’ Congress need only determine in whose budget the disability compensation is deposited once offset by VA. We believe the answer to that question is the [Defense Department] budget.” Defense Department spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said that was not Chu’s intent. “Rest assured that saving money was not the driver in the implementation,” she said in an e-mail. “The statutory intent of [the law] clearly and appropriately focuses the ‘enhanced disability severance’ to those service members where the unfitting condition is a result of direct participation and performance of duty in the war effort.” |
| http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/ jun/18/congress-demands-va-investigation/ Congress demands VA investigation Obama, Pelosi, others hit drug testing Audrey Hudson (Contact) and S.A. Miller (Contact) Wednesday, June 18, 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle Tuesday called for investigations into the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) failure to inform in a timely manner veterans participating in medical tests that a drug they were taking has side effects that can lead to psychosis and suicide. Responding to an investigative report published in The Washington Times Tuesday, Mr. Obama, a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, said the VA's actions in sponsoring the drug tests were "outrageous" and "unacceptable." "Our veterans - particularly those suffering from mental health injuries - should have the very best health care and support in the world, they should never be needlessly exposed to drugs without proper notification of the dangers involved or effective monitoring of the side effects," said Mr. Obama, Illinois Democrat. Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, sent a letter to the VA inspector general and the VA's chief research and development officer requesting an investigation. "I am troubled by allegations that these safeguards may have not been in place for this study and I am requesting an immediate investigation into this matter and I asked that VA report back to me as soon as possible," he said. A spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, said Congress also will look into the matter. For photos, multimedia and official FDA documents, visit the interactive Disposable Heroes investigative report site. "This report raises many disturbing questions about the treatment of our veterans and the House Veterans' Affairs Committee will get to the bottom of this," said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami. "We expect full and immediate cooperation from the VA." The VA took three months to notify its patients about severe mental side effects of the anti-smoking drug Chantix, after the Food and Drug Administration issued an alert about side effects that could lead to psychosis and suicide. The VA said notification letters were tied up in bureaucracy, but thought the three-month time frame was not unrealistic. The VA also said warnings about suicide were omitted from the letter notification because many veterans are elderly or have eyesight problems. "This is the most pathetic excuse that can be dredged up; it's insulting," retired Marine Lt. Col. Roger Charles, editor of DefenseWatch, the Internet newsmagazine of Soldiers for the Truth, said Tuesday. "And then to brag you got it done in three months because of a cumbersome bureaucracy? What if people's lives were at risk? Oh wait, they are," Col. Charles said. The VA continues to test Chantix on veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), even as the Federal Aviation Administration has banned airline pilots and air traffic control personnel from taking the drug, citing the adverse side effects. Arthur Caplan, one of the nation's premier medical ethicists, said the VA's behavior in the anti-smoking study violated basic protections for humans in medical experiments, The Times reported. The White House on Tuesday defended the VA, saying the program is designed to help soldiers with PTSD. "The VA is doing everything they can to be mindful of the safety of these veterans in all their programs and try to help them. This is the [VA], under wonderful leadership by [Secretary James B. Peake], who is interested in the health and safety of these veterans that are under his care, and every other member of that VA system is the same," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. "These are people who care for our veterans. They care for the troops that have been out there every day, fighting for this country. And they're interested in their safety," he said. "Remember, this is a program dealing with former soldiers with PTSD. And it's a smoking-cessation program. And they're interested in helping these veterans. So that's my reaction to it." Nearly 1,000 veterans with PTSD were enrolled in the VA study to test methods of ending smoking, with 143 using Chantix. Twenty-one veterans reported adverse effects from the drug, including one who suffered suicidal thoughts, a three-month investigation by The Times and ABC News found. "I was very concerned to read this morning's Washington Times and learn that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has yet again failed to take appropriate steps to safeguard the health and well-being of veterans participating in drug trials," Mr. Obama said in a letter Tuesday to Mr. Peake. Mr. Obama cited a Government Accountability Office investigation of VA health care in Los Angeles that resulted in the suspension of all human testing because of numerous problems, including "failures to provide adequate information to subjects before they participated in research." "Accordingly, I call on you to conduct a full and thorough investigation of the process by which VA conducts clinical trials and to take immediate corrective action to address the problems that were first identified by GAO eight years ago," he said in the letter. Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also requested that Mr. Peake review the studies and identify everyone involved, as well as provide care "to any veterans who have undergone this testing and ensure that any unethical practices are immediately brought to a halt." "Our wounded troops and veterans deserve the very best in care, but unfortunately, recent studies and incidents illustrate that some VA services have failed to live up to the standard of excellence that is expected," Mr. Cornyn said. In addition, Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka said his panel will question the ethics of the clinical trial involving the drug Chantix. "The suggestion that VA researchers are not properly informing veterans about possible risks is troubling and deserves further investigation," the Hawaii Democrat said. Sen. Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, ranking Republican on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, also is questioning the VA clinical trial - in particular the timing of notification to study participants. "VA should make every effort to quickly inform participants of any new drug information," Burr spokesman Mark Williams said. Added Kevin Bishop, spokesman for Sen. Lindsay Graham, South Carolina Republican: "Advances in medicine should not come at the expense of our troops." Stephen Dinan and Jon Ward contributed to this report. |
| Veterans Affairs Tells Court It
Can't Imagine Voter Registration Drives for Its Wounded Veterans
and the Homeless By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted June 12, 2008. An attorney for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs hospitals and homeless shelters for veterans, told a federal appeals court Thursday that the VA could not conceive of any circumstance where voter registration drives could occur at its facilities. "This |