Thursday, March 25, 2010

Senators want data on military prescription drug use

Senators want data on prescription drug use

By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Mar 25, 2010 9:21:40 EDT

Several senators expressed concern Wednesday about increasing psychiatric drug usage among service members and called on top military health officials to provide detailed data about how many troops are on anti-depressants and other mind-altering drugs.

At a hearing on Capitol Hill, Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s military personnel panel, cited a recent Military Times report about the spike in psychotropic drug use in the military community, pointing to evidence that overall psychiatric drug usage has risen about 76 percent since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We’ve seen recent reports of increased prescription drug use that are deeply troubling … in fact, the data is stunning,” Webb told the surgeons general from the Army, Navy and Air Force and the Marine Corps’s top health official, who all appeared at the hearing on the military health system.
read more here
Senators want data on prescription drug use

Community comes to veteran's aid

Community comes to veteran's aid
By MARY WESTON - Staff Writer
Posted: 03/24/2010 10:39:40 PM PDT
OROVILLE -- Richard Duffett Sr., a disabled Vietnam veteran, was evicted from his Southside home of 22 years Wednesday morning, but the community has come to his aid.
Butte County sheriff's deputies and an agent for the bank that had foreclosed on the property owner arrived at about 9 a.m. to carry out the eviction.

Duffett had lived in the house for 22 years. He worked for the former owners of the house, and Duffett said they added to their will a clause stating he could live in the house for the rest of his life.

However, a son inherited the house, refinanced it and the bank foreclosed on the loan.

Tuesday, Duffett was served with a 24-hour notice to vacate the premises by 6 a.m. on Wednesday or he would be evicted at 9 a.m.

"I thought yesterday was a bad day, but today was even worse," Duffett said.

Duffett had to roll out of the yard in his cart at about 9:30 a.m.

Friends came by to help the man they called "Bear." They moved some items to store at a neighbor's house and moved Duffett's personal belongings out by the street.
read more here
http://www.chicoer.com/news/oroville/ci_14753850

Vietnam Vet Andrew Elmer Wright found a home as a homeless vet


A simple casket with an American flag for Vietnam Veteran Andrew Elmer Wright.







A simple bouquet of flowers was placed with a simple photo a church member snapped.





By all accounts, Andrew was a simple man with simple needs but what was evident today is that Andrew was anything but a "simple" man.





A few days ago I received an email from Chaplain Lyle Schmeiser, DAV Chapter 16, asking for people to attend a funeral for a homeless Vietnam veteran. After posting about funerals for the forgotten for many years across the country, I felt compelled to attend.

As I drove to the Carey Hand Colonial Funeral Home, I imagined an empty room knowing how few people would show up for a funeral like this. All the other homeless veteran stories flooded my thoughts and this, I thought, would be just one more of them.

When I arrived, I discovered the funeral home was paying for the funeral. Pastor Joel Reif, of First United Church of Christ asked them if they could help out to bury this veteran and they did. They put together a beautiful service with Honor Guard and a 21 gun salute by the VFW post.

I asked a man there what he knew about Andrew and his eyes filled. He smiled and then told me how Andrew wouldn't drink the water from the tap. He'd send this man for bottled water, always insisting on paying for it. When the water was on sale, he'd buy Andrew an extra case of water but Andrew was upset because the man didn't use the extra money for gas.

Then Pastor Joel filled in more of Andrew's life. Andrew got back from Vietnam, got married and had children. His wife passed away and Andrew remarried. For some reason the marriage didn't work out. Soon the state came to take his children away. Andrew did all he could to get his children back, but after years of trying, he gave up and lost hope.

A few years ago, after going to the church for help from the food pantry, for himself and his cats, Andrew lost what little he had left. The tent he was living in was bulldozed down in an attempt to clear out homeless people from Orlando. Nothing was left and he couldn't find his cats.

Andrew ended up talking to Pastor Joel after his bike was stolen again, he'd been beaten up and ended up sleeping on church grounds in the doorway. Pastor Joel offered him the shed in the back of the church to sleep in so that he wouldn't have to face more attacks.

The shed had electricity and they put in a TV set, a frying pan and a coffee maker. They wanted to give Andrew more but he said they had already given him enough.

Pastor Joel told of how Andrew gave him a Christmas card with some money in it one year. Pastor Joel didn't want to take money from someone with so little, but Andrew begged him to take it saying "Please, don't take this away from me" because it was all he had to give and it meant a lot to give it to the Pastor. Much like the widow with two cents gave all she had in the Bible, Andrew was truly grateful for what little he had been given from the church.

What was soon made clear is that Pastor Joel gave him even more than he imagined. Andrew took it on himself to be the church watchman. While services were going on after Andrew greeted the parishioners, he would travel around the parking lot to make sure the cars were safe. At night he made sure any guests of the church were equally watched over. Pastor Joel not only gave him a roof over his head and food, he gave him something to make him feel needed.

More and more people came to the service and there was a lot of weeping as Pastor Joel spoke. What was very clear this day is that Andrew was called a homeless veteran but he was not homeless. He found one at the church. He lost his family and his children, but he found a family at the church.

From what was said about Andrew, he was a Vietnam veteran with PTSD and he wanted no help from the VA. Too many of them feel the same way and they live on the streets, depending on the kindness of strangers to help them out. Andrew wasn't one of the panhandlers we see in Orlando. He refused to beg for money and he wanted to work for whatever he was given. His health got worse but he still did what he could. Right up until March 16, 2010 when Andrew passed away, no matter what happened to him during his life, Andrew proved that this veteran was not hopeless, not helpless because he found the fulfillment of hope in the arms of strangers who took him in and he found help as he asked as well as gave.

The legacy of this homeless veteran is that he touched the lives of so many hearts and will never be forgotten.

Behind this church, in a tiny shed, Andew spent his last hours on this earth. Born in Riverside Park NJ on November 5, 1938 he returned to God on March 16, 2010.


John 14:2-3
In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.


Matthew 25

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'


UPDATE to what happened after this story came out.

Homeless veterans hearing ends due to GOP grandstanding

What has happened to these people? Do they care about anything other than just trying to stop what they can? Now they hurt homeless veterans waiting for someone to step up and take care of them? Is this going to end up like healthcare insurance reform and they leave behind hatred against other people waiting for some kind of help? For heaven's sake! I just got back from a funeral for a homeless Vietnam veteran! (read post later today)

Are level headed Republicans going to take back their party and restore common sense and common decency? Will they set aside their differences to get something done? Their opposition is hurting homeless veterans!
Senate veterans hearing shut down due to partisan obstruction

MEDIA RELEASE

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, held a hearing Wednesday, March 24 on VA’s plan to end veteran homelessness in the next five years. It is estimated more than 100,000 veterans – including at least 800 in Hawaii – are homeless in the United States on any given night.

The hearing ended abruptly at 11 a.m. after opponents of health insurance reform objected to allowing most committee hearings, including the Veterans’ Affairs hearing, to continue. Senate rules require unanimous consent on the Senate floor for committees to meet two hours after the Senate convenes. Objections to the routine procedure are extremely rare.

“The Senate should be a place for debate, but I cannot imagine how shutting down a hearing on helping homeless veterans has any part of the debate on the health insurance reform. I am deeply disappointed that my colleagues chose to hinder our common work to help end veteran homelessness,” Akaka said.

The hearing included witnesses from the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Labor, and Housing and Urban Development, as well as community providers who help homeless veterans, and a veteran in transitional housing.

Chairman Akaka was forced to gavel the hearing to an end in the middle of testimony from witness Dr. Sam Tsemberis from Pathways to Housing, a service provider with hands-on experience helping homeless veterans, particularly those with psychiatric disabilities and addiction disorders.

“With a growing commitment from Congress, the federal government, and community providers, we are on track to end veteran homelessness in five years. We must stay focused and work together to accomplish this important and ambitious goal,” Akaka said.

VFW vs VFW Tradewell

If you ever want to know the truth when people say terrible things, always check the record.

VFW Officer Hits VFW’s Tradewell in Testimony on Health Care
March 25, 2010 by Michael Leon
U.S. Rep Chet Edwards (D-Waco), member of the House Appropriations Committee and Chair of the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, slammed the Veterans for Foreign Wars’ (VFW) discredited attack on Health Care Reform as a “betrayal” of American veterans in a Congressional hearing as a VFW witness refused to defend his own national commander’s “betrayal” remarks.

The line of attack against health care reform pushed by Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., national commander of the Veterans for Foreign Wars’(VFW) and a political opponent of health care reform, has been buried by a mountain of criticism as the VFW’s political credibility has been in free fall since Thomas J. Tradewell penned his screed over the weekend that that Health Care Reform harms Tricare and betrays veterans.

Edwards who voted No on Health Care Reform and Rep Sam Farr (D-CA) fairly humiliated the VFW’s Eric Hilleman (deputy director-VFW National Legislative Service) in Congressional testimony Tuesday appearing as a witness before the hearing of the House Appropriations Committee.

Hilleman repeatedly refused to defend Tradewell’s “betrayal” remarks, stating to the Committee in his sworn testimony that “(t)here is clear demonstration that this Congress and the administration has put forward an incredible effort on behalf of America’s veterans” in direct questioning on Tradewell’sremarks, and refering the Committee to the “the commander (Tradewell) on his own actions” and “remarks.”

A remarkable exchange among Chairman Edwards, the VFW’s Hilleman and Rep Sam Farr (CA) is below. Looks like Thomas J. Tradewell Sr. has been thrown under the bus and then backed over. The only question is how quickly the VFW will push out the discredited Tradewell.

.....in the last 3 years that I have chaired this subcommittee and Democrats have been a majority in the House, we have increased funding for veterans by more funding levels by higher amount, probably by a huge magnitude, in fact, than any other 3-year period in Congress.


read more here
VFW Officer Hits VFWs Tradewell in Testimony on Health Care

This is a war zone - not an amusement park

Goodbye, Burger King: Top U.S. General Orders Closure of Western Comforts in Kandahar

FOXNews.com

Western troops prepare to say goodbye to many of the comforts of home that currently populate the Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan.


The boardwalk at Kandahar Airfield is lined with many American standards that remind international forces fighting in the Taliban heartland of the Western culture of home. But it will soon be gone, the Miami Herald reported.

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has ordered the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to close many of the restaurants (Burger King, Subway and TGI Friday's included), stores, sports venues and concert stages that provide U.S. troops with some comforts of home while fighting a war abroad.

The decision seems to be geared toward the military image and perception of Western forces as much as it is about logistics, the Miami Herald reports. Some say the Western material comforts do not provide the impression Gen. McChrystal is trying to put forward that the U.S. is not trying to force American culture on Afghanistan.

"This is a war zone - not an amusement park," the Herald quoted Command Sgt. Maj. Michael T. Hall from an ISAF blog.
read more here
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/03/25/goodbye-burger-king-general-orders-closure-western-comforts-kandahar/

As amputee ranks grow, wounded warriors bond

As amputee ranks grow, wounded warriors bond
STILL FIGHTING: Afghanistan, Iraq war vets face new enemy -- broken bodies
THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2010


WASHINGTON POST

Aug. 11, 2009, Afghanistan:
After the blast, something didn't feel right, so 1st Lt. Joe Guyton looked down. Through the swirling dust, he glimpsed the white of his left shinbone. His right leg was gone, instantly vaporized, his uniform abruptly ending at the knee.

The pain would hit at any moment. He knew that. But for now, just after a bomb rocked his convoy while on patrol in Kandahar province, he was so amped up on adrenaline that he felt nothing more than an odd discomfort.

Don't look down, he told himself. Don't think about it.

Guyton, a recently married 28-year-old with soft blue eyes and red hair, had to hurry before he would be overwhelmed with agony. He shouted to his fellow soldiers to keep moving through the danger zone, to keep an eye out for the enemy, to report their wounds — as he finally did himself. Soon, two soldiers were wrapping his legs in tourniquets.

He woke up in a military hospital in Germany.

Guyton, from Burke, Va., became one of nearly 1,000 service members who have suffered amputations in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — wars that, thanks to advances in battlefield medicine, are measured as much by wheelchairs and prosthetics as tombstones.

In the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, 967 American service members have lost at least one limb, as of March 1. Of them, 229 have lost more than one. The number of amputees mounted steadily as the U.S. military stormed into Afghanistan in late 2001, then focused on Iraq — with an invasion in 2003 and a "surge" in 2007. More recently, the number has edged up again as the Obama administration has pumped more troops into Afghanistan.
read more here
As amputee ranks grow wounded warriors bond

Staff Sgt. Josh Olson: A soldier's new reality

Staff Sgt. Josh Olson is an incredible young man but that is nothing new when you know the men and women serving in the military and the veterans of war. Staff Sgt. Olson lost his leg in Iraq but after that, he still wanted to serve. He wanted to help others.

He is teaching other soldiers how to shoot at Fort Benning but that was still not enough for him. Now he wants to help the people of Haiti recover from losing their limbs.

When I first heard about the Haiti earthquake I remembered what I was going through at an American hospital and I can only imagine what it's like in a country like Haiti. I'm a soldier; I was in a war zone. I knew I could get hurt. But they didn't see it coming.





Staff Sgt. John Olson was on patrol in Iraq with his Army unit on Oct. 27, 2003 when he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade that tore off his right leg.

Josh Olson: A soldier's new reality
News Type: Event — Wed Mar 24, 2010 5:35 PM EDT
By Linda Dahlstrom

About the project
When the ground shook in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 12, the magnitude-7 earthquake left behind an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 instant amputees in a land where there's little mercy for disability.

This project follows one prosthetic team's efforts to help those victims, and also explores a grim truth: In the United States and around the world, the number of amputees is rising dramatically, driven by war, disease and natural disaster.

Through stories of U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and Haiti earthquake victims, msnbc.com explores the experiences of those who've lost limbs and the struggle they say is not just to survive, but to build a life worth living.

Josh Olson became one of the first soldiers to lose his leg at the hip level in the Iraq war when he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade while on patrol in 2003. He was a 23-year-old Army staff sergeant when he had to grapple with the situation so many Haitians are suddenly facing.

His story, told in his own words, continues msnbc.com's special series of essays from amputee veterans recounting what it means to rebuild your life after losing a limb.

By Josh Olson, with Linda Dahlstrom

I always thought being a soldier was a best job in the world – I still do.

Ever since I was a young kid I wanted to enlist. It's kind of what the men in my family do. My grandpa, father and uncle were all in the military. When I turned 17 I enlisted in the Army; I was 18 when I shipped out.

A few years later my unit was one of the earliest to get to Iraq. We arrived in February 2003, a few months before the U.S. invasion. When we first go there it was pretty chaotic. All the Iraqi military and police were gone and there was a lot of looting in the streets. I wouldn't really say it was anarchy but pretty close to it. Our job was to reclaim government buildings and vehicles.

The night of Oct. 27, 2003, we were patrolling town when a rocket hit the back of the vehicle. A second rocket, the one that hit me, came about 90 seconds later. At first I thought I'd just gotten shot and I tried to walk it off. I did a quick physical inventory like they teach us: I checked my arms and hands and they were OK, but when I reached down to my right leg, I realized I had a problem.

I knew I was injured but didn't realize my leg was gone, blown off at the hip. I tried to crawl back to the vehicle and then my driver saw me.


read more here

A soldiers new reality

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Crowds flock to see replica Vietnam Veterans Memorial

No matter how we treated them, no matter how we ignored them they did overcome. Older generations of veterans wanted nothing to do with them. They overcame that and then started their own groups to take care of each other. Then they took on the fight for all veterans to be taken care of. The newer generation is treated with a lot better care and appreciation because of what they went through. These men and women have always been remarkable and this nation is a lot better off for them having been here.


Forrest Cormany plays "Amazing Grace" on his bagpipes for the "Clearing of the Wall" during the Opening Ceremony for the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier on Tuesday March 23, 2010. The wall is a three-quarter-scale traveling exhibition replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.The 8-foot tall, 240-foot-long replica is inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 service members who died or are missing in Vietnam. The wall will remain on display, 24 hours a day, through March 30.(SGVN/Staff Photo by Keith Durflinger/SWCity)

"We overcame that disrespect, that disregard," Ramos said.


Crowds flock to see replica Vietnam Veterans Memorial
By Ruby Gonzales Staff Writer
Posted: 03/23/2010 08:10:45 PM PDT

WHITTIER - John Perez of Pico Rivera once more stood before a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to thank his friends and the medic who treated his wounds in October 1968.

"I come here just to honor my friends and there's one special name I come to see, Robert Haig. He patched me up when I got wounded. When I came back, he was killed," Perez said.

The Army veteran was among hundreds to attend Tuesday's opening ceremony at Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary for the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall, which is a three-quarter-size copy of the memorial in Washington, D.C.
read more here
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_14744320

Fort Hood hosts Army’s new Master Resilience Training course

Fort Hood hosts Army’s new Master Resilience Training course
By Sgt. 1st Class Gail Braymen, Div. West Public Affairs
March 18, 2010 News

More than 60 Soldiers joined the Army’s team of master resilience trainers when they graduated March 10 from a session of the Army’s new Master Resilience Training program at Fort Hood.

The 10-day course, held at First Army Division West headquarters and conducted in conjunction via video teleconference with another class of Soldiers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, is only the fourth MRT session conducted so far Army-wide. The first course, also using video teleconferencing, was held concurrently at Fort Jackson, S.C., and Philadelphia during November 2009.

“The overall goal (of Master Resilience Training) is to be more resilient, to be able to face an adversity, to go through something and, on the other side of it, come out stronger,” said Sgt. 1st Class Charles Barrow.

Barrow, a physical therapist stationed at Fort Jackson, attended the pilot MRT program last August and then became a facilitator, traveling to wherever courses are conducted. As a facilitator he helps Soldiers acquire life skills of self-awareness, self-regulation and optimism that will help them cope with deployments and other personal and professional challenges.
read more here
http://www.forthoodsentinel.com/story.php?id=3381

Stress dogs can be Soldier’s best friend


Spc. Eliezer Pagan poses March 10 with the therapeutic dog with which he has been training. The 85th Combat Stress Control Unit from Fort Hood will deploy at the end of the month and its troops will work with dogs that can help Soldiers cope with combat stress. Pfc. Sean Mcguire, 4th Sust. Bde. Public Affairs


Stress dogs can be Soldier’s best friend
By Pfc. Amy M. Lane, 4th Sust. Bde. Public Affairs
March 18, 2010 News
It can be difficult for some Soldiers to open up after a traumatizing event or if there are problems at home while they are overseas. But the 85th Medical Detachment, 1st Medical Brigade, a combat stress control unit, is learning to work with some unique emotional ice breakers.

The 85th’s Soldiers, who are deploying to Iraq at the end of the month, have been training all week with four therapeutic dogs that were bred, trained and donated to the Army by America’s VetDogs.

Stress control dogs can help Soldiers open up and start conversations flowing, whether troops come to the clinic seeking help or encounter a trained dog while walking around the compound.
read more here
http://www.forthoodsentinel.com/story.php?id=3373

Connecticut Guardsmen reflect on recovery mission at Hotel Montana

Connecticut Guardsmen reflect on recovery mission at Hotel Montana
By Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy
National Guard Bureau
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (3/19/10) - The earthquake that rocked this city left many of its structures damaged or destroyed, including one landmark that many say represented a sense of stability within the city.

The Hotel Montana, a four-star hotel where diplomats, dignitaries and other world leaders often stayed, collapsed during the Jan. 12 earthquake trapping many of its guests in the rubble.

A few made it out alive, and the task of finding and identifying those who didn’t fell to a variety of organizations, including search and recovery teams from France, Mexico, Canada and members of the U.S. military.

As a member of the services flight for the Connecticut Air National Guard’s 103rd Airlift Wing, Tech. Sgt. Bambi Putinas said her job encompasses not only personnel issues, food services and lodging, but also mortuary affairs.

“We all volunteered to come here, but we had no idea what we would be doing,” she said. “In the back of our minds, we all thought possibly mortuary affairs.”

When a call for volunteers to assist at the Hotel Montana site was put out, Putinas was one of many from her unit to volunteer for the mission.

“We would help with the preliminary identification of remains and make sure they got back home safely and also any articles, luggage, personal effects,” she said. “We helped to document what we found, and those also would be shipped home.”

Putinas said it was an important job to do, but also a difficult one.
read more here
http://www.ng.mil/news/archives/2010/03/032310-Connecticut.aspx

Behavior training ordered for servicemembers on Okinawa

Behavior training ordered for servicemembers on Okinawa
Mandate comes after string of off-base incidents
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, March 25, 2010
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A recent rash of off-base incidents involving servicemembers on Okinawa has prompted commanders to call for mandatory behavioral training.

Marine Lt. Gen. Terry G. Robling, the senior commander on Okinawa, has ordered all servicemembers and civilian employees to take part in unit training “to review what is expected of them (in order) to ensure good order and discipline,” according to a news release issued Tuesday afternoon.

On Okinawa, even minor incidents involving U.S. troops are used as ammunition for opponents of the U.S. bases on the island. The latest incidents come at a time when the prefectural government and anti-base factions are stepping up their campaign to scrap a plan to build a new Marine air facility on Okinawa.

Robling met with senior commanders from all services Saturday to discuss measures “to reduce incidents and accidents to the greatest extent possible,” according to the release.
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=68864

After Fort Hood, Muslim American soldier battles on friendly ground

After the Fort Hood shootings, a Muslim American soldier battles on friendly ground

By William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 24, 2010

At 2 o'clock on a Monday morning, the sound of angry pounding sent Army Spec. Zachari Klawonn bolting out of bed.


THUD. THUD. THUD.

Someone was mule-kicking the door of his barracks room, leaving marks that weeks later -- long after Army investigators had come and gone -- would still be visible.

By the time Klawonn reached the door, the pounding had stopped. All that was left was a note, twice folded and wedged into the doorframe.

"F--- YOU RAGHEAD BURN IN HELL" read the words scrawled in black marker.

The slur itself was nothing new. Klawonn, 20, the son of an American father and a Moroccan mother, had been called worse in the military. But the fact that someone had tracked him down in the dead of night to deliver this specific message sent a chill through his body.

Before he enlisted, the recruiters in his home town of Bradenton, Fla., had told him that the Army desperately needed Muslim soldiers like him to help win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yet ever since, he had been filing complaint after complaint with his commanders. After he was ordered not to fast and pray. After his Koran was torn up. After other soldiers jeered and threw water bottles at him. After his platoon sergeant warned him to hide his faith to avoid getting a "beating" by fellow troops. But nothing changed.

Then came the November shootings at Fort Hood and the arrest of a Muslim soldier he'd never met: Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people and injuring more than 30 in a massacre that stunned the nation. And with it, things only got worse.
read more here
Muslim American soldier battles on friendly ground

Kentucky Senate passes bill to take care of combat veterans

Bill meant to help veterans passes Ky. Senate

A bill that has passed the Kentucky Senate would have pretrial officers ask people arrested whether they served in combat.

The measure's goal is to connect combat veterans with services to help deal with problems stemming from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The bill cleared the Senate on a 35-0 vote Tuesday. The measure now returns to the House, which will decide whether to accept a change made by the Senate.

Under the bill, as part of a pretrial release investigation, a pretrial officer would ask someone arrested if they had been in combat. If the suspect is a combat veteran, that person would be given contact information for assistance programs.

The legislation is House Bill 377.
http://www.fox41.com/Global/story.asp?S=12192683

Oregon Law enforcement agencies prepare for return of National Guards

Across the nation things like this are happening and it's a good thing. The problem is there will always be some part of society treating the combat veterans like criminals instead. If they commit crimes, then they need to be arrested but more often than not, they should receive help instead of incarceration. The reason is simple. These are not self-centered, selfish people with no regard for others. They proved that when they decided to enlist in the National Guards, become Reservists or enter into the regular military. They knew their lives would be on the line on these dangerous jobs. They put other people first.

The same men and women we cheer as we send them off to fight our battles return home with all the burdens of what they went through. Coming home is often harder than leaving because they expect more out of themselves as the people they love wait for the day they "just get over it" and get back to normal. The problem is while everyone is waiting for that day to come PTSD is getting a stronger hold on them. The veteran then tries anything and everything to kill off what PTSD is doing to them. In the process, the family falls apart and the veteran sinks deeper into PTSD along with making bad choices they would normally not have allowed to enter into their minds.

It would be really supporting the troops if this type of program was repeated in every city, in every state since the numbers of PTSD veterans will only rise.

Law enforcement agencies prepare for return of deployed ONG soldiers

By Tove Tupper

March 23, 2010

MEDFORD, Ore. - Law enforcement agencies are teaming up to welcome home National Guard soldiers.

Troops deployed in Iraq are set to return to Oregon in a little over a month.

When 23-year-old Veteran Shane Hornbeck arrived home from his 15-month tour in Iraq, he had a rough time. He suffered PTSD, abused drugs, ruined relationships with his family and was eventually convicted of two felony charges.

"You feel like you're being forced into poverty. And you know that basically when you're in the criminal system that's what happens," Purple Heart Veteran Shane Hornbeck said... "They need to know that these soldiers are coming back with plaguing issues and they don't necessarily know how to deal with them or cope with them."

The Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs says 10-percent of those behind bars in Oregon are veterans.
read more here
http://kdrv.com/news/local/167300

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Vietnam Veterans of America Decries Health Care Reform “Scare Tactics”


Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Decries Health Care Reform “Scare Tactics”
March 23, 2010 by Robert L. Hanafin


Despite the media spin and scare tactics of opponents of health care reform as reported in previous articles on Veterans Today, Sec Def Gates Knocks Down Fox/VFW Report on Tricare, AND American Legion Says Health Care Reform Won’t Harm VA, DoD


Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) has joined in chorus with the American Legion, Pentagon officials, and Congressional Veterans Affairs Committees to reassure Veterans, our troops, and military retirees that health care reform will have no impact on Veterans benefits or TRICARE the health care plan covering active duty and military retirees.

Robert L. Hanafin, Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired, Veterans Today News


Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Applauds Passage of Skelton Bill Ensuring Protection of TRICARE, VA health care, and CHAMPUS; Decries “Scare Tactics”

“We thank and applaud passage of H.R. 4887 yesterday in the House of Representative, by a vote of 403-0. Passage of this bill ensures that health care programs for veterans, active duty military, retired military, and their families/survivors will not be affected negatively by the pending health care reform legislation.” said John Rowan , National President of Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). .

“It is unfortunate that some continue to raise what is now even more clearly a false alarm that is apparently meant to frighten veterans and their families in order to prompt them to oppose the pending legislation. While there is legitimate debate as to whether or not the pending health care measures should become law, VVA does not appreciate spreading rumors that are not accurate by any political partisan from any point of the political spectrum.” continued Rowan

“Last summer there was a similar incident, also involving partisans in the health care reform debate that VVA soundly condemned. We said then: “It is our hope that sane minds reject fear-mongering, and that veterans recognize these scare tactics for what they are.”

Rowan concluded by saying: “VVA has always worked hard for justice for veterans of all generations, and their families. We have always, and will continue to, work with public officials representing all political parties and points of view. Issues affecting veterans and their families are not, should not, and must not become partisan footballs to bat around. VVA decries any effort, by anyone, that would do just that.”
read more here
Health Care Reform Scare Tactics

VFW Lies for the GOP, Attempts to Kill Health Care

When I did this post earlier today, Officials Reassure Troops On TRICARE
I didn't think the answer would come so fast as to who is behind the lies being told. I'm heartsick. The VFW does great work for our veterans. The members of the VFW, at posts across the nation are dedicated. They are Republicans. They are Democrats. But above all, they are our American veterans of foreign wars. The political action committee however must be answering to an agenda that is not about veterans or taking care of them. Had this been the case, when the Bush Administration had two wars going on, producing more and more wounded, they would have been shouting as loudly as possible that the troops were not being taken care of.

Most of the members of the VFW were not told the truth about this. Most of the members of other service organizations had no clue the Gulf War had more doctors and nurses employed than were employed with Iraq and Afghanistan returning wounded at a higher rate than during any other war. We look at the fatalities, but while those numbers are lower than other wars, the casualties are higher. Battlefield medical advances have saved the lives of soldiers that would have died of their wounds before. This meant there would be a greater need for doctors and nurses working for the VA along with case workers, claims processors and mental health professionals. No one put the needs of the troops we sent into combat before paying contractors.

The lines grew and the claims piled up higher and higher as wounded, disabled veterans were forced to suffer while waiting. For the most part the PAC of the VFW was silent. When some in congress began to scream about the failings of the VA, others in congress were complaining there were two wars to pay for and they couldn't afford to increase funding for the VA. You'd think the VFW PAC would have been screaming about this, but the ones calling for increasing the VA budget were Democrats and the Republicans were saying there wasn't enough money to do it. It's doubtful the VFW PAC watched CSPAN.

While the members of the VFW expect to be told the truth their leadership has let them down. Having legitimate disagreements about what politicians do is part of what makes America work but when politics come before the truth, the veterans are the losers in the end. Once they discover their leadership has lied to them, they leave the VFW and other organizations. That's the greatest loss of all because these members are more interested in the troops and other veterans than anyone else in the country.

Posts have been taking the lead on helping combat veterans heal from PTSD and find the support they need. They have been doing great work but if they keep allowing some in their organization to betray the members with political games, the veterans they have been trying to help will lose.

I go to a lot of veterans functions and hear them talk about what they heard here and there or read in some kind of viral email. What they say is just repeating what they heard instead of knowing the facts. Their hearts are deeply committed to caring for the troops and other veterans but when they are mislead, when they are not told the truth, they feel betrayed by the people they trusted. All organizations need to be aware of what the truth is and what the spin is.
VFW Lies for the GOP, Attempts to Kill Health Care
Richard Allen Smith
Editor of the VoteVets.org blog VetVoice
Posted: March 21, 2010 04:41 PM
Among all of the Congressional elections in 2006, there were two that were particularly interesting. In Virginia, an incumbent Republican Senator who received a deferment from service in Vietnam was endorsed by the VFW's political action committee over a former Navy Secretary who was awarded the Navy Cross while serving as a Marine Officer in the conflict. Also, in a House race that same PAC endorsed a Republican candidate with no service record over an Iraq Veteran who left two legs on the battlefield.

Surprising? Shouldn't be. VFW PAC operates as little more than a subsidiary of the Republican Party, as does the leadership of their parent organization.

Today, that organization issued a statement toeing the GOP line on the health care vote. Of course, in order toe to that line, the VFW had to make things up:

"The president and the Democratic leadership are betraying America's veterans," said Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran from Sussex, Wis., who leads the 2.1 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and its Auxiliaries.
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Civil War hero from Delafield in line for Medal of Honor


Library of Congress
First Lt. Alonzo Cushing of Delafield (middle, standing) was among Union officers at Antietam in 1862. At Gettysburg the next year, a wounded Cushing refused to abandon his post and was killed. A group has been pushing to honor him.

Civil War hero from Delafield in line for Medal of Honor
By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
In the hell that was the battle of Gettysburg, in the hailstorm of shells and shrapnel that extinguished so many lives on a hot July day, one bullet struck a blue-clad soldier from Delafield, Wis., in the head.

A shell fragment already had pierced Alonzo Cushing's shoulder and shrapnel tore through his abdomen before the shot that felled the 1861 West Point graduate.

Cushing died July 3, 1863, during Pickett's Charge at Cemetery Ridge next to the artillery guns he refused to leave. It was the third and final day of the Gettysburg battle. Cushing was just 22.

The 1st lieutenant's body was returned to his family and buried at West Point beneath a headstone inscribed "Faithful until death." Cushing's name didn't fade away - it graces a park in Delafield, and a white obelisk monument was dedicated there in 1915.

However, a small but dedicated group wanted more for Cushing; they wanted his heroism recognized with the nation's highest military honor.

Now, it appears that Cushing will be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on that Pennsylvania battlefield 147 years ago.
read more here
http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/88882607.html

Combat troops get 15 extra days for R and R

Combat troops get 15 extra days of leave

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 23, 2010 8:11:40 EDT

A new nonchargeable rest and recuperation leave policy for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan announced by the Pentagon on Monday gives those deployed for 270 days or more 15 days of administrative absence on top of their regular annual leave.

“This designation provides an additional benefit specifically for those service members deployed to the most arduous combat areas,” Sam Retherford, the Pentagon’s director of officer ane enlisted personnel management, said in a statement. “Administrative absence days, in conjunction with government-funded transportation for R&R, allow service members to save and use their annual leave for reintegration with their families and communities when they return home.”

The benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan are effective Tuesday, March 23, the Pentagon said.
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Combat troops get 15 extra days of leave