Well, at least it has gone viral with about 20 of my veteran pals!

I am not sure that anyone has quantified or set a benchmark for the definitive calculation for viral. Maybe after this little bit of flippancy, we will see what viral really means.

For sure, the small business community would endear themselves to the veteran community, as would American Express. With the massive number of us in the Boomer category, meaning the highest disposable income of all demographic groups, you know they are after us.

It was three years ago that Mayor Bloomberg and Kenneth Chenault the honcho at American Express launched this nifty idea of, ” Small Business Saturday.” I think it is working. I hear more and more folks adopting bragging rights about how they shop local. It is the latest tattoo. Even kind of chic, depending on your brand of local. Geezz, I always used to patronize local taverns!

There is clearly a celebratory aspect to this emerging movement. It has an uncanny similarity to the fondness for returning veterans. So lets just have a corporate merger here. All devised by little ole TucsonCitizen.com, with Daddy Gannett looking on.

On Small Business Saturday each business could donate $1 to the cause of Disabled Veterans. We could be all grown up like the MDA and Susan B Konen Fund. Just without the coercion and involuntary requests from all the convenience store employees. Ours would be a bit more magnanimous and sans corporate staff.

The  market researchers have indicated that this campaign to shop locally created approximately 103 million shoppers.  Can you dig it? 103 million Americans helping Disabled Veterans across America. Seems to me that American Express would get as much mileage out this marriage of causes as would one day of shopping.

Howabout just taking a combat veteran shopping on Saturday.? That makes two in the store. What do I know? I am just a street level marketer. Although, I did turn around 5 shopping centers in Tucson.

As a retired commercial property manager and landlord, I spent my adult life with local business men and women.  I think I have a feel for their community spirit.

The National Federation of Business has predicted that the consumers who are planning to shop from local merchants will be at 67%. In 2011 that percentage of all consumers was 44%.

I say, add the Veterans in  your community to the equation and we can push that to 75%.

So, lets go viral and set a new benchmark. In the process Americans will get to meet a few Veterans of War. It would look like an old Norman Rockwell painting.

Veteran Veritas  may have to copyright this scheme. I can see a new Hallmark card now!

Since the Trojan Wars soldiers have been getting clocked in combat. I suspect that thousands of the men who fought in the trenches in World War l and ll were knocked silly with blast injuries from which they never recovered nor were ever known for the permanent damage done to the neurological system.

If Grampa sat in his rocking chair a bit long, sipping whiskey and staring into space, he was very likely the victim of a serious concussion.

Now, both the Army and Marine Corps have adopted criteria to give consideration for the awarding of a  Purple Heart if a soldier/Marine experience a concussion on the battlefield.

Mild traumatic brain injuries caused by a blast or blow to the head can now qualify for a Purple Heart if the Medical Officer in charge determines that the combatant is not fit for duty for more than 48 hours as a result of lingering symptoms. The decision must be made withing seven days of the battlefield occurrence.

The Marine Corps announced the criteria in Marine Administrative Message 245/11 on April 15th. The revised memorandum states that no longer is a loss of consciousness the sole criteria.

This change is retroactive to the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism that began on September 11.2001

Marines, including veterans, whose medical records show that a prior mild traumatic brain injury was caused by enemy action since September 11, 2001 may submit a claim via the administrative chain of command.

The award criteria can be found at “http://www.marines.mil/news/messages/Pages/MARADMIN245-11.aspx/. “

Submit your request to “Commandant of the Marine Corps (MMMA) Headquarters Marine Corps, 3280 Russel Road, Quantico, Va. 22134-5103

Members of the U.S. Army  can call 888-276-9472

The advances that have been made by way of military medicine are stunning. This decision to award a Purple Heart for TBI is the right thing to do, as the complications from head injuries are for life and often much more intrusive than a scar from a bullet or shrapnel.

I know, I had two of them, and always felt sad and a bit isolated by the fact that my injuries never seemed to count, even though I have been compromised by them for 42 years.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, (PTSD) more than doubles a veterans risk of death from any cause and is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, according to the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2010.

The study states that doctors should offer as much preventive treatment for heart disease for clients with PTSD. The researchers, are Naser Ahmadi, MD, and Ramin Ebrahimi, MD.

The research studied the electronic medicals records of 286, 194 veterans, with an average age of 63, who are being treated at hospitals in Southern California and Nevada. The cohort group includes veterans of the Korean War.

The conclusion of the study indicated that veterans diagnosed with PTSD had 2.41 times the rate of death from all causes compared to veterans who have not experienced PTSD. Or at least not diagnosed with the symptoms. They then surmise that PTSD alone is an independent predictor of death from all causes.

Now, let Veteran Veritas  enter the picture. I cannot use the the adjective that first comes to mind for this study. So let your veteran imaginations take you there.

What I will say is that I first distrust this study because it smells of the subterranean influence of the Insurance industry that does not want to provide life insurance for the young soldiers returning from war, as a result of their pre-existing conditions —which is War!   A soldier who is diagnosed with PTSD cannot currently get life insurance. Truth.

Man is this a hard pill to swallow.

So, the citizen soldier who just defended the United States of America and our system of capitalism, the insurance industry being the very DNA of that system, can in turn not be defended by the very system they just defended.  There will  be an outcry beyond belief when this becomes known nationwide. Johnny can come marching home with ribbons of valor galore, but he cannot get life insurance if he seeks a little help for his nightmares of horific events, because he  is normal. All of the literature on PTSD indicates that, “it is a normal reaction to aberrant events.”  So, where am I going here? I believe studies like this should be scrutinized way beyond their practical value, for the core intent. I suspect that some of that intent is to have on record, medical data, to support the decline for life insurance.  Not unlike the bogus studies of a Psychiatrist named Sally Satel, who was on the payroll of the American Enterprise institute to conduct their dirty work in attempting to alter the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Psychiatry, DSM, so as to not have to award do many disability claims for PTSD, this study is akin to that effort that was suspended as a result of the incredible feedback from veterans, like this writer, who are up at night combing the net.  I will have more to say about this in future postings.

I would like to see what our readers have to say about this study and why from its initial reading it is laced with errors of science.  I will be revisiting this subject frequently over the next several months.

Next week I will be visiting with some high command at Camp Pendleton, and this topic is on the agenda.

As a footnote, many seasoned journalists have a bit of disdain for medical journalism as so much of it has hidden agendas of promotion of self and product, or is bent toward the pharmaceutical industry, meaning stockholders.

There is one simple reason, this legislation is vitally necessary. Veterans of War with a diagnosis of PTSD, cannot get Life Insurance.  What a rap eh? You defend your nation, including one of the largest bastions of capitalism; the Insurance industry, and you cannot get insured by the folks whose freedom to conduct business was warrantied by your bodily and spiritual sacrifice.

Doc Holiday said it best, “my hypocrisy has no bounds.”

By Rick Maze – Staff writer,  Posted : Wednesday Sep 29, 2010 17:46:43 EDT

With just days before Congress takes a six-week break for the November elections, the House and Senate veterans’ affairs committees have reached agreement on an omnibus bill making improvements in employment, job protection, housing, insurance and other benefits.

The Senate passed the bill, HR 3219, by voice vote late Tuesday. The House is expected to approve it in the next few days.

The compromise bill surfaces just as national polls are showing wide spread discontent among voters about the glacial pace of legislative act. Getting the bill done is proof that when their backs are to the wall, lawmakers can reach agreement on veterans issues, which are largely bipartisan.

Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., are largely responsible for the agreement but there are dozens of bills wrapped into a package. Final passage by the House is expected by weeks’ end, just before lawmakers leave town. Akaka is chairman of the Senate veterans’ committee while Filner heads the House veterans’ panel.

Akaka said there are some important provisions, such as an increase in Veterans’ Mortage Life Insurance that fills a need “obvious in today’s housing market.” Currently, maximum insurance in case of the death of a service-connected disabled veteran was $90,000, far short of paying the mortgage balance on most homes. The bill hikes the maximum to $200,000.

Additionally, it increases supplemental life insurance for totally disabled veterans to $30,000, a $10,000 jump.

“Many totally disabled veterans find it difficult to obtain commercial life insurance,” Akaka said. “This legislation would provide these veterans with a reasonable amount of life insurance coverage.”

Called the Veterans’ Benefits Act of 2010, the package also expands federal work-study programs to try to help veterans find jobs and it also tried to crack down small businesses trying to take advantage of veteran-owned business set asides by making the Veterans Affairs Department responsible for keeping a database of companies where the VA can show it is owned and controlled by a veteran. This addresses a hot-button issue for many veterans’ service organizations, who have complained to Congress that business are getting contracts without having veterans involved.

Here are some of the key provisions of the compromise:

• The Office of Special Counsel would be used on a test basis to enforce employment and re-employment rights for veterans when a federal agency is the employer.

• Homeless veterans grants from the Labor Department would be expanded specifically to help women veterans and homeless veterans with children by including child care services along with training, counseling and placement services.

• A pilot program would provide grants in three states to try to help veterans find jobs in energy-related fields. The states are not named.

• In an expansion of the ability of service members to cancel leases and contracts when deployed or reassigned to new duty stations, the bill would prohibit early termination fees for residential leases and also allows service members to terminate cellular telephone contracts, including family plans, at any time when they have military orders to relocate for 90 days or longer or move to an area not served by the cell phone company.

• Veterans’ burial benefits would increase to $700, effective Oct. 1, 2010, when a veteran dies in a VA facility or is eligible for burial in a national cemetery.

• Parents of deceased service members could be buried alongside their child in a national cemetery if the service member was not married and did not have a child and when the service member was killed by hostile fire or in a training accident.

__._,_.___
God Bless
Jose M. Garcia
Past National Commander
Catholic War Veterans,USA
josegarcia4@sbcglobal.net
Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.
In God We Trust

At the rate that Vietnam Veterans are dying from Agent Orange related illnesses, the cynicism in the ranks of us who have those illnesses, is such, that one might say, the contract disputes will assist in reducing the cost of delivery as many more will simply be dead before their claims are completed.

If a veteran dies with a disability rating and a service connected illness, the spouse will then be eligible for benefits.  Add those costs to the treatment costs of the returning combatants, and you have an actuarial nightmare.

There have already been grave concerns about the delays in Agent Orange claims for the past 30 years. One of those speculative concerns is that the bean counters realize, the longer the delay the less the outlay. They never quite planned for the overwhelming number of veterans with AO issues to still be in the system this long.

Now in our 60′s, we are a tenacious lot, evidenced by the 1980′s movie with the late John Ritter, titled, “Unnatural Causes.” A must see for anyone familiar with the subject. It is a docu-drama based on the true story of a Veterans Benefits Counselor named, Maude DeVictor, who refused to quit.

One thing is for sure, the true cost of war,  in prolonged real time,including the Un-Declared ones is now a matter of increasing transparency.

Must we really trouble ourselves with  wondering why there is no money left over for jobs?  How sophomoric to even worry about the answer.

While we build and prop up nations across the globe, without the substantial financial  support of our Allies, we cannot build or prop up our own.

Tax cuts, schmax cuts! Red State, Blue State.  Second Amendment

Mortality Clock

rights and Mosque mania, are all distractions from the cost of war. And they are working!

Humpty Dumpty  never did join a political party. He is awaiting his claim to be completed from his fall.

In my view, we are in an Alice and Wonderland, upside down world, America is the disabled veteran and we are the leaders, even with our Agent Orange, Senator Simpson.

The following is for your information and distribution to your members.

John A Miterko

Veterans Advocate

VA abruptly issues second contract for Agent Orange claims system

BY BOB BREWIN 09/08/2010

The Veterans Affairs Department awarded IBM a contract in July to develop within three months a system to process claims for veterans suffering from diseases related to the Vietnam-era chemical Agent Orange. But last week officials inexplicably issued another contract searching for a second contractor to do the job in one-third the time, while the IBM contract remains in place.

VA needs the new system to process up to 240,000 claims for 15 illnesses determined to be the result of military personnel being exposed to Agent Orange, a defoliant sprayed on the jungles during the Vietnam War. VA presumes all personnel who served in Vietnam were exposed to Agent Orange, and the 15 illnesses they might have are a result of coming into contact with the chemical.

According to VA, its policy of presuming the diseases are a result of exposure to the chemical will simplify the process for veterans receiving compensation because the department will forgo the normal process of requiring veterans to prove their illnesses began, or worsened, during their military service in Vietnam. Paying Agent Orange claims will cost the United States $13.4 billion.

Department officials decided this year to process the claims separate from the other systems the Veterans Benefits Administration uses. In March, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said he wanted to tap private sector skills to fast-track the development of the system. “This will be a new way of doing business and a major step forward in how we process the presumptive claims we expect to receive over the next two years,” he said at the time.

VA initially planned to award the contract in April, but delays pushed that move up to July. IBM eventually won the $9.1 million pact. The procurement calls for delivery of a production-ready prototype by October and full production by December.

VA asked IBM to develop a fully automated system and a machine-readable claims form that veterans can electronically download and, at their option, electronically submit.

Officials want the forms to be shorter than the current document, well-suited to an automated processing method, and they expect IBM to use commercial systems to the fullest extent possible. They also want employees and veterans to be able to access the system via the Web, with a separate data repository linked to existing departmental systems.

But on Sept. 3, officials quietly posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website a second procurement for the same processing system. The document was not accompanied by any public announcement. The new procurement includes roughly the samerequirements as the original contract, but a shortened delivery deadline.

VA wants the selected contractor to demonstrate the capability to electronically process claims within 15 days of the award and to provide a production-ready system 15 days later, a daunting task, according to one contractor who declined to be identified.

The system must be operational next month, and bidders must submit their proposals by Friday, only a week after the solicitation was issued, which are due Friday.

Harold Gracey, a consultant with Topside Consulting who served as chief of staff at VA from 1994 to 1998, said he assumed the department put out the second procurement as a backup plan in case IBM cannot deliver its system on time.

Gracey added VA could find a second contractor to meet its requirements, but bidders also have to recognize the negative publicity that would result if they fail to deliver. A source familiar with VA said he viewed the second source procurement as a poke at IBM to fulfill its requirements on time.

Veterans groups said whatever the reasons behind the second procurement they were worried the department might not be able to meet its deadlines. “VA’s unusual announcement for a second contract, without any details released to the public, raises significant concerns among veterans about VA’s transparency and VA’s ability to process Agent Orange claims in a timely and accurate manner,” said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense. “We hope VA issues an explanation about this and puts to rest veterans’ concerns.”

VA officials did not reply to numerous requests from Nextgov to comment on the status of the IBM contract and did not respond to a query on why they issued a second procurement. IBM executives also did not reply to calls and e-mails about the status of the company’s contract.

God Bless
Jose M. Garcia
Past National Commander
Catholic War Veterans,USA
josegarcia4@sbcglobal.net
Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.
In God We Trust

God Bless
Jose M. Garcia
Deputy National Service Officer
Catholic War Veterans,USA
josegarcia4@sbcglobal.net
Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.
In God We Trust

DENVER (Sept. 2) — A chaplain killed in Afghanistan this week was the first Army clergyman killed in action since the Vietnam War, the military said Thursday. Capt. Dale Goetz of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colo., was among five soldiers killed by an improvised bomb on Monday.

U.S. Army

Capt. Dale A. Goetz, 43, is the first Army chaplain to die in action since the Vietnam War.

Before Goetz, the last Army chaplain to die in action was Phillip Nichols, who was killed by a concealed enemy explosive in Vietnam in October of 1970, said Chaplain Carleton Birch, a spokesman for the Army chief of chaplains. The Air Force said none of its chaplains were killed later than 1970. A spokesman for the Navy Chaplain Corps, which also provides clergy to the Marines, didn’t immediately return a phone call. Goetz, 43, listed his hometown as White, S.D. He once served there as pastor of First Baptist Church, the Argus-Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D., reported. Goetz, his wife and their three sons recently joined High Country Baptist Church in Colorado Springs, where Fort Carson is located, the newspaper reported. A church spokeswoman referred questions to the Army on Thursday, and Army officials declined to comment, citing the family’s wishes. Officials said Goetz had hitched a ride on a resupply convoy when he was killed. Birch said chaplains are considered noncombatants and don’t carry weapons, but they are accompanied by a chaplain’s assistant, a soldier who is armed. A chaplain’s assistant, Staff Sgt. Christopher Stout of Worthville, Ky., was killed in Afghanistan in July, Birch said. Chaplains don’t go on combat patrols but do go onto battlefields to conduct services and counsel soldiers, Birch said. “Many of those places where they travel are very dangerous,” he said. The Army has more than 2,800 chaplains, including those in the Guard and Reserve. More than 400 are in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Isn’t it ironic that our Armed Forces spend all their waking hours hunting down bad guys in Afghanistan and Iraq, while we are training civilian security forces and a nubile Army to be our allies in hunting down the bad guys? We are training Muslims.

With the assistance of anthropologists, psychologists,(black ops ones), linguists and bankers and civilian security specialists, we as liberators are spending billions of dollars to win the hearts and minds of  two Muslim nations while we await our government in a kit program to take hold. Is it not ironic that we need the Muslim people to free the Muslims from the Muslims?

As a Marine, I know our military history has been defined as being liberators not an occupation force. Now, declassified documents will show that the rather sudden deployment of 5000 Marines, about four years ago, was at the bequest of the Marine Command  who were concerned that the Cheney-Rumsfeld  directives were tipping in the direction of occupation forces in Iraq, and loosing sight of the hunt for the bad guys, whose stronghold was and is known to be the mountains of Afghanistan. This edgy occupation stuff was seen as a violation of a long Marine Corps tradition of getting in and out. With one tactical exception, which was to win the hearts and minds of the common people of Iraq. Meaning literally make friends with a Muslim nation.  Given the scene here at home, a bit ironic eh?

The tactic of winning the hearts and minds was created and promulgated inside the Marine Corps, by General Krulak during the Vietnam War. Combined Actions Platoons they were called; CAP Units. Marines were picked to live in the villages and provide security while weeding out the terrorists, (yes we called them terrorists then too), who were embedded in the civilian population. I was assigned to a CAP Unit in 1968 as security. I know well the merits of the program and the dark side, 82% died. We were heading that way in Iraq, like the Vietnamazation program it would have taken decades to refine. No tolerance for that. And the Marines were not in the game of being an occupation force. The irony? We used to say we were saving the Vietnamese from the Vietnamese.  Now we are their trading partner. Us and the happy Communists. Irony number 3.

Fast forward to 2010. Isn’t it ironic that we pour billions into four nations to help save the Muslims from the Muslims?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our soldiers are returning home to a rising crescendo of extremism that is of the ilk of hatred and insidious racism they just spent 2-4 tours of combat to abate.

Not so long ago we trained Iranian pilots at Davis Monthan Air Force Base. They were Muslim. We train Pakistani pilots and sell them F-16′s. They are Muslim.

We are leaving 50,000 troops,( we always leave 50,ooo, Germany, Korea,), and an undisclosed number of private contractors, men with guns, to complete the training of the marginal security force and the Army of Iraq. They are Muslim.

We built the largest embassy in the history of the United States in Baghdad, so as to have peaceful relations with the Muslim world.

We are spending more money than the GDP of  Afghanistan to train their security and Army. They are Muslim.

We are deeply in debt to Saudi Arabia, who hold 11% of our national debt. They are Muslim.

Poor General Petraeus  is trying to quell the transition strains of 13 Centuries of Suni rule,with the solicitation and support of the local Muslim people, while the psychiatric aberrancy of hatred for the same people in America escalates. Isn’t it ironic?

Germany, Japan, Russia, France, Mexico, England, Vietnam, China and of course the Native Americans, have all been enemies of our State at one time. All were targets of hate and demonization.  Isn’t it ironic that everyone of these nations is now a trading partner or a creditor of the United States.  And the beat goes on.

Where are we headed, another Inquisition?  T.S Elliot once said, “how much reality can humankind handle?” I might say, how much hate can a nation absorb?

It is still, to this day, hard to imagine that an angry contingent tried to say that Roosevelt was a Jew and therefore could not be trusted. Two lies in one,and,thank God, would now be considered a hate crime.

It was not that long ago, that Catholics scared the crap out of WASP America.  Rome, Rum and Rebellion was the siren cry.” Look out for Popery.” they would say. Those Catholics are trying to take over America!

“Its like rain on your wedding day/ It’s a free ride,when you’ve already paid/ Its the good advice that you just didn’t take/ Who would’ve thought…it figures/ Isn’t ironic?

-Alanis Morisette

Is not war the cruelest irony of all?

It seems that the ancient dictum, “anger eats the vessel that contains it,” is prophecy.   I do believe the Tower of Babel has arrived. God save the children.

Suicides in the Armed Forces and the National Guard  and Reserves are still alarmingly on the rise. With all the due diligence and immense outreach that is ongoing in all 50 States, we cannot seem to abate the savage spirit that invades and intrudes the soul of our young veterans of war.

Sixty-five members of the Guard and Reserve have taken their lives in the first six months of 2010. This figure does not include veterans or the Navy and Marines. Even more alarming.

We have an epidemic of mental health issues in the military that all best efforts are not touching. Or, they are, and the numbers could be larger were it not for the ubiquitous prevention programs both in and out of the Armed Forces.  Everyone in the veteran advocacy business is on the look out for the signs of depression and deep despair.

I am trained in crisis and suicide prevention work and remain constantly vigilant through my contacts and network of associates. We man 24  hour hot-lines and spend endless hours on the phone assuring our comrades, who have weathered the horrors of war, that there is light on the other side of those nightmares.  Yet so much is related to place and timing. So few ever seem to be around when that dreaded moment and savage god enters the picture.

Just this week a Wisconsin National Guard Soldier, Matthew Magdzas, a 23 year old married man took the life of his pregnant wife and his dogs and then ended his own mortal life.  Impulse or plan? Flashbacks or internal rage? Who in God’s name knows.  It is when the antecedent conditions are not apparent that we remain impotent in the realm of prevention.  And of course the victim and victims are generally unaware moments before the act. How is that to be prevented?

I have the experience of  7 suicides in my life. Four of them Vietnam Veterans. One of them was my roommate Joe Herman, who had the world on his side, talent, looks, money. And the demons of war intruded one night and put a bullet in his head.  Could I have prevented it? I say yes. But again, we are never there, right there, when needed. How can you be there before those one car accidents when the vet elects to just run off the road, as was the case in the years from 1975-90.

58,000 died in Vietnam. It has been reported by Pointman Ministries and other Veteran Outreach programs, that another 110,000 committed suicide during those years; twice the fatalities in the war.

32 soldiers including 11 in the Guard and Reserves took their own lives in the month of June. That is a rate of  one a day and at level only matched by the period after the Vietnam War.   How do we address this as a citizenry not a military? And mind you, those are figures for active duty, not veterans who have been discharged.

Are we, are we, our brothers keeper?  Are we able to even address in polite company such a taboo subject? Are the figures simply so daunting that we are just left in a numbness of mind that has no direction of home.  When it was reported back in 2008 that a full 50% of the suicides amongst veterans were in the ranks of the Reserve and the Guard, did they slow down the deployment of these young men and women until we got a grip on the nuances of the Guard traninng? No, we needed numbers, big numbers for the General’s, “Surges”, all of them.  And now they are surging home, and the ghosts of war are at our doorstep. In the last two articles I asked our readers if we are ready for a reception that may not be as rosy as we wish.

Is it possible to have every neighborhood trained and armed with a compassionate platoon of listeners and go-to people for times of distress? We cannot just live behind the bumper stickers of support. we have to have some feet…or cliche as it sounds, some boots on the ground. We need a “surge” of  families and friends who will be at the vets side in a heartbeat. The now running national TV advertisement with all the Medal of Honor recipients, beseeching the young soldiers to get help, as many of them acknowledge they wish they had done, is a laudable move in the right direction.

The trail into the woods of suicide is dark and booby trapped. No single hypothesis has ever touched the ambiguous and complex motives that lead to suicide. Literature is strewn with attempts to grapple with the under-belly of this human particular. From Judas Iscariot, to the writings of,  T.S. Elliot’s Wasteland, the Myth of Sisphus,  Sartre’s  “No Exit,” Soren  Kierkegaard’s concept of despair that surpasses all clinical definitions of depression, to the endless tomes of poetry from the Greek tragedies to the modern Sylvia Plath, no one has captured the monster in a cage for lengthy study. It is time to come out of the closet and dance with the demons of war. so as to escort them off the floor.

“The passion for destruction is also a creative passion.”  Michael Bakunin

The massive amount of material from sociologists and clinical psychiatrists only adds  to a pile of  documentation for professional journals and epidemiologists and not one iota of helpfulness for the layman. And most all of the research is ipso post facto. Prevention is vacant.

It may well be that no one wants to enter the shabby, chaotic, tortured and agonizing world of suicide.  With all of our revered Research Foundations and think tanks- the Heritages the Cato’s the Enterprise Institutes the Rand’s, et al, is there not a one of them that could  side-step long enough to research what is killing the souls of  our  young warriors?

Is this the arena for the Jeff Bazos and Bill Gates clan to direct their foundation monies?

Is the business of life and death to subconsciously abhorrent for study?

Life and death is the reason for war. One side must win. Suicide apparently elects to not take sides.

Only the dead know the end of war.

While we slept peacefully last night  in  our cribs of freedom and prosperity, the last of the combat troops in Iraq cruised over the border into Kuwait; with papers of course, and unarmed. Much unlike our borders.

As I learned of this event by email tonight, I cannot help but think how odd it is that I was in the living room in California of my Sergeant from Vietnam, in March of 2003, as we witnessed the invasion of  Baghdad with the 3rd Infantry Division and the 7th Marines with whom we served. Neither one of us ever thought we would see a pre-emptive war again in our lifetime. Particularly one based on questionable data.  And here I am back in California with my pal, 7 1/2 years later watching the withdrawal of troops, leaving the people  of Iraq with questionable data. No question that Saddam had to go, but 13 Centuries of Suni domination morphed into a Shiite democracy, is assuredly questionable.  The 50,000 troops that are remaining coupled with some handsomely paid private contractors,(men with guns), will now fuel are 24/7 cable news for the next 7 years.

Officially, 440 troops of the Stryker Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division will be calling themselves the exit crew.  An exit that has a great deal more honor and record of accomplishment than is reported.  There are no helicopters being tossed overboard and no one fleeing Embassy compounds for safety. This is an ordered exit.  Is it a surprise? Well of course. Is it part of a grander plan? Well of course.

I think I now see why the National Security Advisor and former Commandant of the Marine Corps; General James Jones, got the job. This is a clear handing off of the baton from the Rumsfeld Department of Defense to the currently  finely tuned State Department who will now be charged with stabilizing this nation that is ruled by the Tower of Babel.

Community policing, and guiding a  judicial system is not the role of an Army. The very reason the Marine Corps balked at their continued use in Iraq and were shortly thereafter deployed to Afghanistan.

We stopped a civil war, maybe, we toppled a dictator, ooorah, and we have spent more training their cops than the entire nations  GDP. I do believe it is time to turn over the show to the locals.  Pray that the locals will stay, and that some of  the millions of middle class, highly educated Iraqi’s will return. If they can get visas. How is that for an American irony? Visas to get back in the county to be with their own families!  Let’s also hope that the thousands of interpreters, and third party contractor grunt labor; Phillipinos, Pakistanis, Indians, can safely be escorted out. Or? Remember the Vietnamese refugee boats?

We created the space and the opportunity for them to recreate their homeland. I do believe that was done by us.  But can the coalition governing body hold off Iran? The other irony, Saddam did that for us. Now they are flying solo.

In Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh was more than prepared to govern and had no one to hold at abeyance once we were gone.

For now, the grim news of  successes, that were like cotton candy, the cascade downward of American tolerance for war, ( not being attacked on our own turf is not a very enduring motive), and the domino effect of public opinion, can now take a rest as we focus on the “other” war in Afghanistan. And we wonder why there is no money to create jobs!

Will the Iraq people feel that we are abandoning them? No more than the unemployed American plumber.

Welcome home men and women of  faith and freedom. I hope we are ready for you.

Combat veterans from Iraq, Afghanistan and other theaters of war are set for some new excitement–Ecstasy! Retro man!

Recently the FDA has approved the use of Ecstasy, on a trial basis coupled with ongoing psychotherapy, for the treatment of resistant forms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Some say this experiment is a step forward in the treatment of PTSD.  Au contraire, says me and a handful of my combat veteran pals; all of whom experience chronic PTSD and have been beneficiaries of alternative treatment programs sans the pharmaceutical cafeteria.

The Denver VA appears to be the premiere location for the administration of this new zapping treatment.  The premise is that the conventional treatment regimens of anti-depressants, psychotherapy and support groups have expired their usefulness. I am not a scientist, but I had plenty of science course work in Nursing School to question both the leaps of logic and the lack of scrutiny with the variables involved with pills, psychologists and the people involved in the support groups. For brevity, lets call this the PPP approach to treatment.

I have something to say about the spiritual dimension of the wounded warrior, which is outside the parameters of drugs and Doc’s, but I will reserve that for last.

As for the variables, pills are  intended to ameliorate the symptoms of a condition so as to peel back the behavioral and bio-chemical roadblocks to our insight into the core causes of the initial imbalance. The pills are a means to an end, not the cure.

The current claim in the use of  Ecstasy is that the initial results are excellent.  So how long is “initial?” And do the families of the veterans report the same results?

Timothy Leary, Dr. Richard Alpert and Dr. Albert Hofman  reported some dramatic results with the use of  LSD in the early 60′s. The theory that you can re-boot the brain and create a clean slate with Ecstasy is identical to the hypothesis of the early apostles of  LSD. Its  proponents included the former OSS officer turned spy; Captain Afred Hubbard, the Johnny Appleseed of LSD, Richard Helms, CIA Director, Major General William Creasy, chief officer of the U.S. Army Chemical Corps,Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, chief of CIA Technical Service Staff who ran the ran the super secret MK-Ultra program in the 1950′s.  Much of the testing was conducted and financed by millionaire William Mellon Hithcock at the Millbrook Estate in New York. These men were of the ilk that you had to “blow your mind to know your mind.”  Essentially clearing the slate,(temporary amnesia), so that new programing could occur.  Ergo, the reason for its potential use in International espionage work.  These men also spoke of  the use of LSD for the cure of a myriad of brands of mental conditions.  The revolution and abuse of this drug that followed was not their intent.  Can history repeat itself with the use of Ecstasy?

There are tomes of documents to read about the use of mind altering chemicals by the Department of the Army and the CIA. My observations are of a different order as they relate they relate to the use of  powerful chemicals in treatment programs for our returning combatants. However there is clearly an uncanny and alarming similarity to the experiments with LSD  with our soldiers at the Presidio in the early 1970′s.

Back to the variables and the experimentation that is required to determine  the efficacy of any treatment program.  Keep in mind that experimentation and diligent examination of variables takes time. Time is money to the Veterans Administration. And drugs cost a ton of money,(except the ones from Canada). PTSD is diagnosed as a chronic condition, meaning the time line for the medications for a veteran could be decades. The motivation for a “zapper” drug is quite high. Just when some of the variables are being worked out for other drugs.

By example, the use of Prazosin, which once went by the name of Mini-Press and was marketed for high blood pressure, has now become one the vogue drugs of choice for the treatment of PTSD. It has been discovered to remedy many of the hyper-vigilant symptoms of PTSD and somehow abates the bizzaro dreams and nightmares embedded in the brain of the combat soldier. That took time–easily decades to come to that scientific conclusion, inclusive of longitudinal studies and reports back from the veteran community.  The VA does not have that kind of time in the budget, particularly when we remain to be the Star Wars protectorate of the galaxy.

We are an instant gratification nation, with low tolerance for pain, both  psychological and financial. The drive to find a “Lourdes” like cure for the ravages of war is at the genesis of the use of Ecstasy.  Its efficacy and value will soon be known, yet I suggest that we remain vigilant with a prejudice, as there is a truckload of social engineering occurring as we sleep. To many, a medicated America is a safe America. Look out Second Ammendmenter’s, your bullet casings may have an aerosol!

Note, that I said nothing about the potency of  Ecstasy. It may well be the elixir of day. I am just making a siren caveat emptor call to be reminded of the widespread availability of alternative treatment programs for PTSD that do not fall in the zapper column and whose efficacy is known. They are not driven or guided by the Pharmaceutical industry. Watch closely the stock in the manufacturer of Ecstasy. With our luck the Chinese will buy the company!  Headline; China has cure for American Soldiers.

But my final musing is about the true nature of PTSD. It is first and foremost a violation of the soul. The bio-chemical stuff is secondary.

“We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are”  Talmud

War at its root is an agent of negation. Our bodies and minds as warriors are the primary weapons of mass destruction. They need to be to survive. I was once one of those lean, mean, killing machines perfectly honed to warrior perfection by the Marine Corps. There is some conflicting Catholic guilt in the admission that I liked it, as I was always in the service of God, Country and Corps. However, when the show is over, the reconciling of love and death is a daily chore and a balancing act that takes decades of practice.

War remains encased in the barbed wire heart for many a moon.  War enslaves your imagination,(the Soul),  in a bunker that no pill can penetrate.  It is our soul that seeks love and intimacy. It is my body that was trained to kill. They need to re-unite. No pill can accomplish this. No pill can touch the heartstrings like some of the Native American rituals that know well the travels of the soul. Curiously, the VA uses many of the ceremonies of the Lakota Sioux in their treatment programs.

The Natives knew well that the terror of war makes the soul flee from the body. It is too dangerous to stay, so the soul leaves and gets stuck somewhere. I am not so sure that Ecstasy is the agent of the reunification of the soul and the body.

So, before trying the snap, crackle, pop of Ecstasy, I would suggest reversing the order of your existential triage.  Try some of the Retreat programs first. Many are free.

Plato spoke of soul as the seat of imagination. Attend a Retreat tailored for combat veterans and let your imagination run wild with fellow veterans. There is a high probability that you will experience your soul hopping back in your body, in the safe and secure environment of combat weary veterans. The validation of this collective experience exceeds any session with a non-combat psychologist or intern; (one of the variables).

To me, ecstasy, is the gut level laughing, crying and pain releasing roaring of battle buddies gathered together for the “soul” purpose of transcending our war.

I am not so sure that God wants us to forget war. What would that soul look like?

Resource:  Merritt Center Veteran Program/ Basic Training For Life

Merritt Retreat Center. Payson, Az.  800-414-9880– 928-474-4268

When Johnny and Joan come marching home to their beloved United States of  America after service in Iraq and Afghanistan, are we prepared?

Very soon tens of thousands of soldiers, sailors, airman and marines will be rotating to their hometowns. They will be physically rotating home but their battle minds may be lagging behind a bit. Are we prepared?

Some of us crusty Vietnam vets recall the days when, “Peace With Honor,” was  being implemented and our troops started rotating home in large numbers.  The transition to civilian life  was not the joy filled experience that many anticipated.. Given, the times have changed radically.  I believe the operative word here would be respect.  There is no question about the notable respect we have for our troops and the zeitgeist of  gratitude that fills the air. We have learned much from the tumultuous 60′s and 70″s.  The most salient of all learning being the ability to separate the war from the warrior.  But can the warrior do that? And, I say again, our we prepared to help them in that separation of parallel lives they will  lead for at least a year or two?

The times are no less adverse and probably more so in the polarization of  political  positions. Are we prepared to submerge our intractable penchant to have opinions when in the company of a soldier who may just want to be left alone?  Can Americans shut up long enough to be a bridge of support for these returning troops?

“Think where man’s glory begins and ends, And say, “My glory was I had such friends.”                      -William Yeats

Many of these soldiers will be looking for work, many will not find work.  Are we willing to be at their side while they struggle? The unemployment statistics for OEF/OIF veterans are not good.  Add them to the ranks of the currently unemployed and we have a cinder box,  not unlike 1973.

Where are the bridges? Who are the bridge people?  Maybe Tucson could have the first and finest program in the nation for training bridge people to welcome these men and women back into polite society.  Platoons of caring people trained at all the libraries in the city, with long office hours, even night shift workers, ready to listen and help.

“When you’re weary, feeling small/ When tears are in your eyes/I will dry them all/ I’m on your side/ When times get rough/And friends just can’t be found/ Like a bridge over troubled water/ I will lay me down.      -Paul Simon

I challenge Tucsonans and the leadership to the task of making Tucson, Arizona one of the friendliest places in the nation to return home from war.  I declare that Tucson is a Bridge City.

I thought I would be able to let this, “race card” storm pass, but you know the beloved main stream media have managed once again to spawn, fuel and incense America into listening to them. Give them an inch and they take a mile of storytelling, some of which is actually newsworthy, most of which is for their stockholders and ratings.

We have a race issue in America alright, it is the Narcissism Race of 24/7 cable news. They play the race card every hour of the day, waiting to trounce on the most triffling of affairs and spin them into national news stories. But this race is  more akin to a horse race card then any matter of  ethnicity.

True journalists used to work hard to scoop the competition on a breaking news story. Once the competition beat you in the race, the other moved on to another story. Not now. The race is to determine who can sensationalize the changing of the wind once the wind direction is reported, and then milk it all day.  Edward R. Murrow would puke over much of cable news.

Enter Shirley Sherod. Yawn.  A mistake was made. The parties involved were not harmed. Apologies were granted. Move on for cryin’ out loud. This is not news. America is on the brink of an all out Depression and we are at war against the most difficult enemy in our history of warfare. Lets focus and pull together and insert some leadership into the media.

Why does Veteran Veritas hold this out for discussion? Because if these folks were in the Armed Forces, this topic would last about an hour! If the level of enmity and tirade were to occur in the military over a race issue, like it does in the cranked up ADHD MSM, someone would walk away with an Article 15.

Few civilians know that an active duty soldier cannot even have a bumper sticker message on their car on a Military Base?  I like that level of  disciplined civility. Free speech is overrated.

One media outlet, even suggested that we stop and think about how many black people have helped us in our lives, like that Georgia farming family. My God, is that milking a story or what? This could be an episode on the new AMC , Mad Men! Who can give the best identity to a non-story? Get the ad men involved, like Glen Beck does with his staff Psycholgists.

Well, I did stop and think of all the Black Americans who have helped me throughout this pilgrimage. The MSM made me do it.

I learned to fish for trout on the Rock River in Illinois by black men. I learned to sing from those same black men. Four of my soul brothers in Vietnam saved my ass on many a patrol. My black Drill Sgt. in Marine Boot Camp taught me how to survive and be brave but not stupid. A sage black man standing by me on a street corner in the midst of the Watts Riots in 1965, when I was a grunt cub reporter for Norm Woodruff of KRLA News, afforded me a thumb nail sketch of how cities spend money and ignore the inner city. No change to this day.  My VA Psychologist was an Army Officer, black man.  The lady that tracked down vital records for me at the Chicago VA was a black woman named Maude. The most helpful person I could find in my claim process was a black Gunny Sgt at the Marine Corps Records Section in Quantico, Va. He penetrated all red tape and bureaucracy to get my records  amended to show additional war wounds.

So what is the point of referencing these experiences? Not once during those encounters, did I stop and think, “geeeze this is a black person.”   Racism is an implanted idea. It is not a natural human emotion. Do not let them put this weed in your garden.

Summarily, where was the media during World War ll when 80% of the officer corps believed in segregation?  Lets sensationalize that story.

What is the difference between a handicapped veteran and a disabled veteran?

Veteran Legislation as of 13 June 2010:  Of the 5518 House and 3482 Senate pieces of legislation introduced in the 111th Congress to date, the following are of interest to the non-active duty veteran community.  Bill titles in green (if any) are new additions to this summary, titles in orange have either passed either the House or Senate and been passed to the other for consideration or been incorporated into another bill, and those highlighted in blue have become public law. A good indication on the likelihood a bill of being forwarded to the House or Senate for passage and subsequently being signed into law by the President is the number of cosponsors who have signed onto the bill. An alternate way for it to become law is if it is added as an addendum to another bill such as the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and survives the conference committee assigned to iron out the difference between the House and Senate bills. At http://thomas.loc.gov you can review a copy of each bill’s text, determine its current status, the committee it has been assigned to, who your representative is and his/her phone number, mailing address, or email/website to communicate with a message or letter of your own making, and if your legislator is a sponsor or cosponsor of it.  To separately determine what bills, amendments your representative has sponsored, cosponsored, or dropped sponsorship on refer to http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d111/sponlst.html.  To review a numerical list of all bills introduced refer to http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/111search.html. The key to increasing cosponsorship is letting legislators know of their constituent’s views on issues.  Those bills that include a website in red are being pushed by various veterans groups for passage and by clicking on that website you can forward a preformatted message to your legislator requesting he/she support the bill.

H.R.32 : Veterans Outreach Improvement Act of 2009 to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the outreach activities of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. Companion Bill S.315

Sponsor: Rep McIntyre, Mike [NC-7] (intro 1/6/2009) Cosponsors (41)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 10/28/2009 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Provisions of measure incorporated into H.R. 3949 .

H.R.82 : Veterans Outreach Improvement Act of 2009 to expand retroactive eligibility of the Army Combat Action Badge to include members of the Army who participated in combat during which they personally engaged, or were personally engaged by, the enemy at any time on or after December 7, 1941.

Sponsor: Rep Brown-Waite, Ginny [FL-5] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (19)

Committees: House Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 1/30/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

H.R.161 : Social Security Beneficiary Tax Reduction Act to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the 1993 increase in taxes on Social Security benefits.

Sponsor: Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (7)

Committees: House Ways and Means

Latest Major Action: 1/6/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

H.R.162 : Senior Citizens’ Tax Elimination Act to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the inclusion in gross income of Social Security benefits.

Sponsor: Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (4)

Committees: House Ways and Means

Latest Major Action: 1/6/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

H.R.333 : Disabled Veterans Tax Termination Act to amend title 10, United States Code, to permit retired members of the Armed Forces who have a service-connected disability rated less than 50 percent to receive concurrent payment of both retired pay and veterans’ disability compensation, to eliminate the phase-in period for concurrent receipt, to extend eligibility for concurrent receipt to chapter 61 disability retirees with less than 20 years of service, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Marshall, Jim [GA-8] (introduced 1/8/2009)      Cosponsors (154)  Committees: House Armed Services; House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 2/6/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

To support this bill and/or contact your legislators send a message via http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=12406456&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id] and  http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=12888756

H.R.593 : CRSC for DoD Disability Severances Pay. To amend title 10, United States Code, to expand the authorized concurrent receipt of disability severance pay from the Department of Defense and compensation for the same disability under any law administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs to cover all veterans who have a combat-related disability, as defined under section 1413a of such title.

Sponsor: Rep Smith, Adam [WA-9] (introduced 1/15/2009)      Cosponsors (44)

Committees: House Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 2/6/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

To support this bill and/or contact your legislators send a message via http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=12918951&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]

H.R.775 : Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act to repeal the requirement for reduction of survivor annuities under the Survivor Benefit Plan to offset the receipt of veterans dependency and indemnity compensation.

Sponsor: Rep Ortiz, Solomon P. [TX-27] (introduced 1/28/2009)     Cosponsors (337)   Companion Bill S.535

Committees: House Armed Services

Latest Major Action:  3/15/2010 Motion to Discharge Committee filed by Mr. Jones. Petition No: 111-10.

To support this bill and/or contact your legislators send a message via   http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=12541746

To  support the Discharge Petition send a message via   http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=14825891&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]

S.535 : SBP DIC Offset Elimination. A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to repeal requirement for reduction of survivor annuities under the Survivor Benefit Plan by veterans’ dependency and indemnity compensation, and for other purposes. Companion Bill H.775.

Sponsor: Sen Nelson, Bill [FL] (introduced 3/5/2009)      Cosponsors (56)

Committees: Senate Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 3/5/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

To support this bill and/or contact your Senator send a message via http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=14275496&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]

H.R.2243 : Surviving Spouses Benefit Improvement Act of 2009 to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for an increase in the amount of monthly dependency and indemnity compensation payable to surviving spouses by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Sponsor: Rep Buyer, Steve [IN-4] (introduced 5/5/2009)      Cosponsors (77)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 10/8/2009 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Subcommittee Hearings Held.

To support this bill and/or contact your legislators send a message via http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=13303636&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id

S.1118 : DIC Compensation Rate Increase to 55%. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for an increase in the amount of monthly dependency and indemnity compensation payable to surviving spouses by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Sen Lincoln, Blanche L. [AR] (introduced 5/21/2009)      Cosponsors (3)

Committees: Senate Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 10/21/2009 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Hearings held.

H.R.208 : National Guardsmen and Reservists Parity for Patriots Act to amend title 10, United States Code, to ensure that members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces who have served on active duty or performed active service since September 11, 2001, in support of a contingency operation or in other emergency situations receive credit for such service in determining eligibility for early receipt of non-regular service retired pay, and for other purposes. Companion Bill S.644.

Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Joe [SC-2] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (146)

Committees: House Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 1/30/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

To support this bill and/or contact your legislators send a message via http://capwiz.com/vfw/dbq/officials and /or http://capwiz.com/ngaus/mail/compose/?mailid=13672261&azip=92571&bzip=7311

S.644 : National Guard and Reserve Retired Pay Equity Act of 2009. A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to include service after September 11, 2001, as service qualifying for the determination of a reduced eligibility age for receipt of non-regular service retired pay.

Sponsor: Sen Chambliss, Saxby [GA] (introduced 3/19/2009)      Cosponsors (13)    Companion Bill H.R.208          Related Bill S.831

Committees: Senate Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 3/19/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

To support this bill and/or contact your Senators send a message via http://capwiz.com/ncoausa/issues/alert/?alertid=12995086&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id] or  http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills/?bill=12960556

S.831 : National Guard and Reserve Retired Pay Equity Act of 2009. A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to include service after September 11, 2001, as service qualifying for the determination of a reduced eligibility age for receipt of non-regular service retired pay.

Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. [MA] (introduced 4/20/2009)      Cosponsors (29)             Related Bill S.644

Committees: Senate Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 4/20/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

To support this bill and/or contact your Senators send a message via www.ngaus.org/content.asp?bid=1805

H.R.433 : Ready Employers Willing to Assist Reservists’ Deployment (REWARD) Act of 2009 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow employers a credit against income tax equal to 50 percent of the compensation paid to employees while they are performing active duty service as members of the Ready Reserve or the National Guard and of the compensation paid to temporary replacement employees.

Sponsor: Rep Poe, Ted [TX-2] (introduced 1/9/2009)      Cosponsors (40)

Committees: House Ways and Means

Latest Major Action: 1/9/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

H.R.466 : Wounded Veteran Job Security Act to amend title 38, United States Code, to prohibit discrimination and acts of reprisal against persons who receive treatment for illnesses, injuries, and disabilities incurred in or aggravated by service in the uniformed services.

Sponsor: Rep Doggett, Lloyd [TX-25] (introduced 1/13/2009)      Cosponsors (8)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 6/9/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

H.R.1089 : Veterans Employment Rights to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the enforcement through the Office of Special Counsel of the employment and unemployment rights of veterans and members of the Armed Forces employed by Federal executive agencies, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie [SD] (introduced 2/13/2009)      Cosponsors (None)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 5/20/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

H.R.1647 : Veterans’ Employment Transition Support Act of 2009 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow employers a credit against income tax for hiring veterans.

Sponsor: Rep McCotter, Thaddeus G. [MI-11] (introduced 3/19/2009)      Cosponsors (None)

Committees: House Ways and Means

Latest Major Action: 3/19/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

H.R.293 : Homeless Women Veteran and Homeless Veterans with Children Reintegration Grant Program Act of 2009 to amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Labor to carry out a grant program to provide reintegration services through programs and facilities that emphasize services for homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children.

Sponsor: Rep Buyer, Steve [IN-4] (introduced 1/8/2009)      Cosponsors (15)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 1/8/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

S.1237 : Homeless Women Veterans and Homeless Veterans with Children Act of 2009. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to expand the grant program for homeless veterans with special needs to include male homeless veterans with minor dependents and to establish a grant program for reintegration of homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Sen Murray, Patty [WA] (introduced 6/11/2009)      Cosponsors (6)

Committees: Senate Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 1/28/2010 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Date of scheduled consideration. SR-418. 9:30 a.m.

H.R.1211 : Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act to amend title 38, United States Code, to expand and improve health care services available to women veterans, especially those serving in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. Companion Bill S.597

Sponsor: Rep Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie [SD] (introduced 2/26/2009)      Cosponsors (51)

House Reports: 111-165 Latest Major Action: 6/24/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

To support this bill and/or contact your legislators send a message via http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=12833716&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]

H.R.2583 : Women Veterans Access to Care Act to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to improve health care for women veterans, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Boswell, Leonard L. [IA-3] (introduced 5/21/2009)   Cosponsors (9)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 5/21/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

S.597 : Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2009. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to expand and improve health care services available to women veterans, especially those serving in operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. Companion Bill H.R.1211

Sponsor: Sen Murray, Patty [WA] (introduced 3/16/2009)      Cosponsors (20)

Committees: Senate Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 3/16/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

H.R.1232 : Far South Texas Veterans Medical Center Act of 2009 to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to construct a full service hospital in Far South Texas.

Sponsor: Rep Ortiz, Solomon P. [TX-27] (introduced 2/26/2009)   Cosponsors (6)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 2/26/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

S.699 : South Texas Veterans’ Hospital.  A bill to provide for the construction by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of a full service hospital in Far South Texas.

Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 3/25/2009)      Cosponsors (1)

Committees: Senate Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 3/25/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

H.R.1428 : VA Parkinson’s Disease Compensation. To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide wartime disability compensation for certain veterans with Parkinson’s disease.

Sponsor: Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] (introduced 3/11/2009)      Cosponsors (83)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 3/13/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.

To support this bill and/or contact your legislators send a message via http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=12986021&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]

S.1752 : Parkinson’s Disease VA Compensation. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide wartime disability compensation for certain veterans with Parkinson’s disease.

Sponsor: Sen Sanders, Bernard [VT] (introduced 10/5/2009)      Cosponsors (1)

Committees: Senate Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 10/21/2009 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Hearings held.

H.R.2254 : The Agent Orange Equity Act to amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify presumptions relating to the exposure of certain veterans who served in the vicinity of the Republic of Vietnam.

Sponsor: Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] (introduced 5/5/2009)      Cosponsors (257)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 5/8/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.

To support this bill and/or contact your legislators send a message via http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=13301656&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]

S.1939 : Vet Presumptive Exposure in Vietnam. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify presumptions relating to the exposure of certain veterans who served in the vicinity of the Republic of Vietnam, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Sen Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [NY] (introduced 10/27/2009)      Cosponsors (19)

Committees: Senate Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 5/19/2010 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Hearings held.

H.R.2926 : VA Special Care for Vietnam-era & Persian Gulf War Vets Exposed to Herbicides.  To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide, without expiration, hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care for certain Vietnam-era veterans exposed to herbicide and veterans of the Persian Gulf War.

Sponsor: Rep Nye, Glenn C., III [VA-2] (introduced 6/17/2009)      Cosponsors (5)

Latest Major Action: 7/9/2009 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee (Amended) by Voice Vote.

H.R.3491 : Thomas G. Schubert Agent Orange Fairness Act to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a presumption of service connection for certain cancers occurring in veterans who served in the Republic of Vietnam and were exposed to certain herbicide agents, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Kagen, Steve [WI-8] (introduced 7/31/2009)      Cosponsors (8)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 9/11/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.

H.R.177 : Depleted Uranium Screening and Testing Act to provide for identification of members of the Armed Forces exposed during military service to depleted uranium, to provide for health testing of such members, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Serrano, Jose E. [NY-16] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (2)

Committees: House Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 1/30/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

H.R.2419 : Military Personnel War Zone Toxic Exposure Prevention Act to require the Secretary of Defense to establish a medical surveillance system to identify members of the Armed Forces exposed to chemical hazards resulting from the disposal of waste in Iraq and Afghanistan, to prohibit the disposal of waste by the Armed Forces in a manner that would produce dangerous levels of toxins, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Bishop, Timothy H. [NY-1] (introduced 5/14/2009)      Cosponsors (23)

Committees: House Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 6/8/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Readiness.

S.642 : Health Care for Members of the Armed Forces Exposed to Chemical Hazards Act of 2009. A bill to require the Secretary of Defense to establish registries of members and former members of the Armed Forces exposed in the line of duty to occupational and environmental health chemical hazards, to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide health care to veterans exposed to such hazards, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Sen Bayh, Evan [IN] (introduced 3/19/2009)      Cosponsors (7)

Committees: Senate Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 3/19/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

S.1779 : Health Care for Veterans Exposed to Chemical Hazards Act of 2009.  A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide health care to veterans exposed in the line of duty to occupational and environmental health chemical hazards, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Sen Bayh, Evan [IN] (introduced 10/14/2009)      Cosponsors (7)

Committees: Senate Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 10/21/2009 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Hearings held.

S.1518 : Caring for Camp Lejeune Veterans Act of 2009. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to furnish hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care to veterans who were stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, while the water was contaminated at Camp Lejeune.

Sponsor: Sen Burr, Richard [NC] (introduced 7/27/2009)      Cosponsors (15)

Committees: Senate Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 10/21/2009 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Hearings held.

H.R.568 : Veterans Health Care Quality Improvement Act to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the quality of care provided to veterans in Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities, to encourage highly qualified doctors to serve in hard-to-fill positions in such medical facilities, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Costello, Jerry F. [IL-12] (introduced 1/15/2009)      Cosponsors (4)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs; House Oversight and Government Reform

Latest Major Action: 1/15/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

H.R.952 : Compensation Owed for Mental Health Based on Activities in Theater Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Act to amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify the meaning of “combat with the enemy” for purposes of service-connection of disabilities.

Sponsor: Rep Hall, John J. [NY-19] (introduced 2/10/2009)      Cosponsors (95)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 6/10/2009 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.

S.1452 : COMBAT PTSD Act. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify the meaning of “combat with the enemy” for purposes of service-connection of disabilities.

Sponsor: Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] (introduced 7/14/2009)      Cosponsors (5)

Committees: Senate Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 7/14/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

H.R.1544 : Veterans Mental Health Accessibility Act to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for unlimited eligibility for health care for mental illnesses for veterans of combat service during certain periods of hostilities and war.

Sponsor: Rep Driehaus, Steve [OH-1] (introduced 3/17/2009)      Cosponsors (7)

Committees: House Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 3/17/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

H.R.1701 : PTSD/TBI Guaranteed Review For Heroes Act to amend title 10, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Defense to establish a special review board for certain former members of the Armed Forces with post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Jones, Walter B., Jr. [NC-3] (introduced 3/25/2009)      Cosponsors (11)

Committees: House Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 4/27/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

H.R.4051 : Cold War Service Medal Act of 2009 to amend title 10, United States Code, to provide for the award of a military service medal to members of the Armed Forces who served honorably during the Cold War, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Israel, Steve [NY-2] (introduced 11/6/2009)      Cosponsors (41)   Related bill: S.2743

Committees: House Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 11/18/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

S.2743 : Cold War Service Medal Act of 2009.  A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to provide for the award of a military service medal to members of the Armed Forces who served honorably during the Cold War, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Sen Snowe, Olympia J. [ME] (introduced 11/5/2009)      Cosponsors (7) Related bill: H.R.4051

Committees: Senate Armed Services

Latest Major Action: 11/5/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

S.1556 : Veteran Voting Support Act of 2009.  A bill to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to permit facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to be designated as voter registration agencies, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA] (introduced 8/3/2009)      Cosponsors (6)

Committees: Senate Veterans’ Affairs

Latest Major Action: 10/21/2009 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Hearings held.
God Bless
Jose M. Garcia
National Executive Director
Catholic War Veterans,USA
josegarcia4@sbcglobal.net
Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.
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