Veterans day and Military

Here is a short slide show of military and veteran pictures and those that gave there all

number one legislative priority for the year into law - advance funding for VA healthcare.

http://www2.iava.org/o/436/t/8492/tellafriend.jsp?tell_a_friend_KEY=5761

Semper Fortis

The slaps were audible from across the cemetery. The story about Navy Petty Officer Mike Monsoor

		PO2 (EOD2) (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Mike Monsoor, a Navy EOD Technician, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously for jumping on a grenade in Iraq, giving his life to save his fellow Seals. (Notice: Mike was not a Navy SEAL, he was EOD. He gave his life to save a group of Navy SEALS.) During Mike Monsoor's funeral in San Diego , as his coffin was being moved from the hearse to the grave site at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery , SEAL's were lined up on both sides of the pallbearers route forming a column of two's, with the coffin moving up the center. As Mike's coffin passed, each SEAL, having removed his gold Trident from his uniform, slapped it down embedding the Trident in the wooden coffin. The slaps were audible from across the cemetery; by the time the coffin arrived grave side, it looked as though it had a gold inlay from all the Tridents pinned to it. This was a fitting send-off for a warrior hero... This should be front-page news instead of the crap we see every day... Since the media won't make this news, I choose to make it news by forwarding it... I am very proud of our military. If you are proud too, please pass this on.  These fine men and women of our military will continue to serve and protect.     Let them know that they are truly appreciated... God Bless our Troops  --------- Larry Stephenson , (Proud U.S. Army Vietnam Veteran) Suthin Computer Company,LLC. 892 Ridout Road La Crosse, VA. 23950-2806 Phone - 434 636 8006 Fax - 434 636 8005 Cell - 703 431 0977     http://www.suthin.com Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business

Young Vets face financial hardships

Young veterans face financial battles

By James Key
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/12/young-veterans.html?csp=34
The ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the global financial turmoil, have eclipsed a story I know too well: Veterans returning from the war zones are now battling for their financial lives here at home.
Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal published a summary of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs study on discharged veterans' employment and wage prospects. The study revealed that young veterans are earning less and having more difficulty finding work than their civilian peers. For example, the percentage of veterans not in the labor force jumped from 10% in 2000 (prewar) to 23% in 2005. Veterans ages 20-24 had an unemployment rate of 12% 50% higher than for all adults in that age category. Even employed vets are barely getting by: Half of those ages 20-24 earned less than $25,000 a year. And this study was done before the latest economic crisis.
My recent conversation with Josh Gilchrist, a 24-year-old Army veteran, confirmed for me that things have not gotten better. When I entered the fast-food restaurant where Josh works, he noticed my uniform, took my order and eagerly began to tell me his story.
At 19, Josh was a high school dropout who once lived under a bridge in Alpharetta, Ga. Eager to make something of his life, he joined the Army. After a three-year tour in Germany, he decided military life wasn't for him. Upon his discharge, Josh was unable to find full-time work and settled on several low-paying, part-time jobs. "If things don't get any better
I'm seriously considering going back into the Army," Josh said.
Other veterans, of course, find a way. With no college education, Jason Lederfine took on a few low-paying jobs after graduating from high school in Long Beach, Calif. Inspired to join the military after the Sept. 11 attacks, he chose the Army in 2002. Today, Jason is taking full advantage of the Army's educational-assistance program and is completing the application process with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Jason, like many veterans, participated in the Army Career and Alumni Program, which helps soldiers transition into civilian life. Yet for every Jason, there's a Josh. While some employers are inclined to hire veterans, according to a VA study, others fret about their mental health or skill set. Should these veterans be put at the front of the lines of those seeking jobs? Of course not. But all veterans who have the training, skills and work ethic should have opportunities. Make no mistake especially during this Christmas holiday a nation is only as strong as its weakest citizen.
Capt. James Key is an Army chaplain at Fort Jackson, S.C.

VA destroying Claim forms

Department of Veterans Affairs regional offices have been ordered to immediately stop shredding documents after an investigation found some benefits claims and supporting documents among piles of papers waiting to be destroyed.
Claims often include personal records supplied by veterans that are not duplicated in government files and might be difficult to replace, such as certificates for births, deaths and marriage.
In a statement, VA Secretary James Peake said only a handful of documents were found among piles of documents set aside to be shredded. But he is not pleased.
“I insist on the highest possible standards for processing and safeguarding information in VA’s custody,” Peake said. “It is unacceptable that documents important to a veteran’s claim for benefits should be misplaced or destroyed.”
Peake said three of VA’s 57 regional offices were involved, without naming them. Veterans of Foreign Wars said they were told four regional offices — in Detroit, St. Louis, St. Petersburg, Fla., and Waco, Texas — were identified as having documents in shredding bins that should not have been there.
VFW National Commander Glen Gardner said the problem could be significant.
“The VA inspector general conducted a routine investigation of Detroit’s mailroom and discovered five documents in the shredder bin, then three pieces are found in St. Louis, two in Waco, and some more in St. Petersburg,” he said. “The question that begs to be asked and answered is how many veterans had their disability and compensation claims disappear down a paper shredder?”
Peake said VA’s inspector general continues to investigate and that anyone who violated policies on protecting documents will be held accountable.
Among the records found waiting to be shredded were applications for disability compensation, education benefits, home loans and pensions for low-income veterans, officials said.
The halt in shredding was ordered by Patrick Dunne, the retired Navy rear admiral sworn in just weeks ago as VA’s new undersecretary for benefits.
Dunne’s order aims to prevent any documents from being destroyed until officials can determine if this is a widespread problem.
VA officials said a new policy will require regional office directors to certify, in writing, that none of the documents being destroyed are original copies of key documents or records.
Current VA policies require that original copies of documents supplied by veterans or their families — including discharge papers and marriage and death certificates — be returned when they are no longer needed, but they allow duplicates to be destroyed, a practice intended to help protect privacy.
VA officials discussed the problem in a conference call with veterans’ service organizations on Thursday, saying that the shredding ban is so sweeping that it includes the removal of portable shredders from beside the desks of VA workers.
Garner, who was in on that conference call, said VA needs to establish internal controls. “We have to believe that the VA will right this wrong,” he said in a statement.
He suggested that some claims may have been set aside for shredding by employees who did not want to complete them or were trying to hide a backlog.
“Secretary Peake must hold everyone involved personally accountable for this disgraceful management failure,” he said. “Someone who intentionally destroys paperwork, or supervisors who allow employees to interpret their own rules, are … doing serious damage to a great public image that took the VA years to build. Our veterans and our nation deserve much better.”
The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman, Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said the shredding ban makes sense as a temporary measure, “but this is not a long-term solution.”
“VA needs an enforced and understood policy which preserves documents relevant to pending claims, without leaving veterans’ personal information open to identity theft,” Akaka said.
He said he understands VA does not have room to store everything. “Some documents must be properly disposed of due to space constraints and privacy issues,” he said.
Still, he said, veterans “must be able to trust VA to safely keep their records. If they cannot, VA will not be able to do its job, and veterans will not get the benefits they have earned through their service.”

 

Please pass this information around to all veterans, their families, their friends and all appreciative Americans.   The VA practice of losing (Destroying) veterans' documents must be stopped immediately.

 

Please contact your members of the United States Congress.

Going to bat

On Friday October 2nd after much concern and orginizations such as IAVA going to bat for veterans the VA disbursted one time checks in the amount of  three thousand dollars to help eleviate the transistion of the new post 9/11 G.I Bill.
I am glad to see that someone in Washington is going to bat for the veterans.

Refuse

On a subject of something more serious and a issue that is closer to home is that while attending the local VA clinic I had been informed after a poly trauma screening that it would be in my best interest to fire my current primary care provider.
You have a choice and a voice in your health care and you dont have to settle for just anyone!
If you feel that you are not getting the proper treatment there is a OIF/OEF clinic and they will point you in the right direction.
Also there is the Governors Veterans Center in Greensburg who will give some input as well.