POTUS Pardons and Harvey Pounds Texas

What was POTUS getting ready for as Harvey headed to US?

1. President Trump Grants Pardon for Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio
NBC News
by PHIL HELSEL and VAUGHN HILLYARD
August 25, 2017

President Donald Trump on Friday pardoned former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt for ignoring a judge’s order not to detain suspected undocumented immigrants, the White House said.

Trump at a campaign-style rally in Phoenix strongly suggested he would pardon Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County. Arpaio had said he would appeal his conviction on misdemeanor contempt.
read more here

Is that what he as focused on as the monster Harvey was headed toward Texas? It looks like he had something else on his mind as well.

2. Trump Halts Pentagon Payments for Transgender SurgeryNBC Newsby ALI VITALI August 25, 2017
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday stopped funding for sex-reassignment treatment for transgender people currently in the military and barred the Pentagon from accepting any more transgender people into the services.

The president signed a memo giving new guidance to his previously-tweeted ban on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military, according to a senior White House official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

Trump signed the memo, the details of which were first reported by The Wall Street Journal, on Friday and directed the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to stop funding of sex-reassignment procedures and deny entry of transgender individuals into the military.
Openly transgender individuals will be barred until the Secretary of Defense "provides a recommendation to the contrary that I find convincing," Trump's memo reads. read more here

Hurricane Harvey Slams Texas, Risk of ‘Catastrophic Flooding’

NBC News

Saphora Smith

August 26, 2017

More than 200,000 people were without power Saturday after Hurricane Harvey smashed into Texas, bringing prolonged rainfall that was expected to cause "catastrophic flooding."

It made landfall near Corpus Christi as a Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 130mph, and weakened as it moved slowly inland to become Category 1 by 6 a.m. ET.

But while the winds eased to 90mph, forecasters warned that torrential rain would be a major threat.

"It's hard to imagine just how horrific and destructive this amount of water will be," NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins said.

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Adm. William Moran "Our testimony today may seem like a broken record," But Congress Did Nothing About Any of This!

Many warnings of readiness 'crisis' before latest ship accidents

CNN

Jeremy Herb and Dianna Gallagher

August 25, 2017

"Our testimony today may seem like a broken record," Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William Moran said at a February House armed services committee hearing. "Our Navy faces increased demand without the size and resources required to properly maintain and train for our future. And every year we've had to make tough choices often choosing to sacrifice long-term readiness to make sure we be ready to answer the call today."

(CNN) Military leaders, Congress and government watchdogs have all warned for years that the military faces a possible readiness crisis as it has slashed training and maintenance to keep up with budget cuts and increased operations around the globe.

Monday's collision between USS John S. McCain and a tanker off the coast of Singapore — where one sailor was found dead and another nine are missing and presumed dead — has sparked a new round of questions about the Navy's readiness and training, as it's the fourth major collision for the Navy in the Pacific this year.

But the warnings about the military's readiness problems are nothing new, and the Navy isn't alone in seeing a spike in major non-combat incidents and fatalities.

"I think it's probably approaching a readiness crisis," Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican and Air Force veteran. "You have, in many cases, a Navy that is highly operational and may not get the time or the chance to train as deeply or as much as they want. You have old equipment. You have failing equipment because it's not being repaired or invested in. These are all concerns when it comes to this."

After the McCain collision, the Navy ordered a one-day operational pause across the entire fleet in order to examine the root causes of the accidents. The commander of the Navy's 7th Fleet, which operates in the Pacific, was dismissed in the fallout.

read more here

And all of this is thanks to Congress who did not want to make sure there was a budget to take care of any of our troops! They play politics and troops pay with their lives.

Maine Soldier and Family Assistance Center Specialists Face Pay Cut?

Supporting our veterans is about more than talk

The Hill
BY STATE REPS. RYAN FECTEAU AND BRADLEE FARRIN,
OPINION CONTRIBUTORS
08/09/17

Some were forced to give up a job that they describe as a calling because they could no longer afford to pay their bills. Others are hanging on, taking second jobs and facing severe hardship at home.

As a Republican and a Democrat who serve in the state house in the great state of Maine, we spend our days on opposite sides of the aisle.

More often than not, we disagree.

However, we came together today because we believe that some things are more important than party affiliation.

Before we are Democrats, Republicans, or even Mainers — we are Americans. And as Americans, there is no more important issue than supporting our troops.

As Catherine Rampell recently reported in the Washington Post, the workers who are actually supporting our troops are not getting the respect they deserve.

More than 400 men and women across our country make it their mission to support our troops.

Known as Soldier and Family Assistance Center specialists, they are the people who military service members or veterans turn to in crisis — they do whatever it takes to connect them, and their families, with a broad range of legal, medical, financial and psychological services.

In fiscal year 2015 alone, SFACs addressed more than 2.7 million inquiries, referral requests and outreach calls.

We are speaking out for SFACs today because their wages were recently slashed in half by the federal government.
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War Veterans At Food Banks--UK Shame, US Disgrace

This is the headline from the UK

BRITAIN’S SHAME: Poverty-struck war veteran was told to use FOOD BANKS

BRITISH war veterans are being sent to food banks in a shocking failure from the Government to provide adequate support for those who served in the forces – despite a national promise to honour them.

By ZOIE O'BRIEN

PUBLISHED: 16:39, Sat, Jul 22, 2017

After shocking revelations over nurses relying on hand-outs, an ex-serviceman has told express.co.uk he too has been told those who served their Queen and country have no right to expect extra help.A

Former Coldstream Guard, Joe Greensmith, revealed he was told to go looking for hand-outs – and offered a loan – when he went to the Jobcentre in Lowestoft, Suffolk.

Mr Greensmith, who toured in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and the first Gulf war, informed he should seek the free meals, despite having been diagnosed with severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), when he fell into hard times.

Former Coldstream Guard, Joe Greensmith, revealed he was told to go looking for hand-outs

Mr Greensmith had won a pay-out for an injury in the workplace and had lived off that for the last seven years, reluctant to seek help from the state.

Yet when he needed to, he was left disappointed.

He said: “On one side I am being told I have severe PTSD and on the other I am having to fight tooth and nail just to be able to eat and pay my rent. 

“It is a disgrace.
read more here on this

Strange thing is, they act as if this is some kind of shock. Wonder if they know what has been happening right here in the US?

Here are some headlines that may help them catch up on when shame became a disgrace.

It isn't bad enough our disabled veterans also have have to use Food Banks. For the US, it is our current servicemembers and their families.

Study Finds 25% of Troops Use Food Banks report from 2014

Move on to National Guard citizen soldiers

National Guard Turns to Food Banks Because Rick Perry Hasn't Paid Them Yet

The National Guard troops Texas Gov. Rick Perry ordered to the U.S. Mexico border last month are using food and gas aid from a local food bank because they haven't been paid in weeks. report from 2014

 And from this year

Why we need Congress to help more military families qualify for food aid

When Active-Duty Service Members Struggle To Feed Their Families

Congress Unlikely to Expand Military Food Stamp Eligibility This Year 

A 2016 Government Accountability Office report citing U.S. Census Bureau data said that about 23,000 active-duty troops received food stamps in 2013.

And then remember how many reports we've had on veterans having to use the Food Banks, the same way they have to use shelters and then maybe, just maybe, you'll remember what a "grateful" nation actually does...and does not actually do.

Florida Military and Veterans Assistance Program to Protect Protectors

Florida's military, veterans getting more protection against scammers

Attorney General launches 'Military and Veterans Assistance Program'

By Jodi Mohrmann - Managing Editor of special projects

Posted: 12:35 PM, May 17, 2017

“Florida has more than 90,000 active duty and reserve military members and more than 1.5 million veterans,” said Bondi.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Service members, military veterans and their families are often targeted by scammers, and now Florida's Attorney General is doing something new to help protect all of them.

Today, Attorney General Pam Bondi launched the Military and Veterans Assistance Program or MVAP. It's a new consumer protection program that will directly assist the military and veteran communities with consumer protection-related issues.

More Military Headlines

• Veterans beware of scam Choice Program phone line
• Service members, veterans often targeted in ripoffs

“Florida has more than 90,000 active duty and reserve military members and more than 1.5 million veterans,” said Bondi. “To the men and women who have put on a uniform to protect our country, we will continue to do everything we can to protect you from these scammers. As Memorial Day approaches at the end of this month, I am honored to have the opportunity to assist the heroes who lay their lives on the line to keep us safe.”

Members of Bondi’s MVAP team will provide resources and information to base JAG officers, county veteran service officers and other organizations across the state to help service members and veterans learn how to protect themselves from scams and file complaints.

read more here

Paul Ryan Forgot He Wrote the Budgets?

Did Paul Ryan forget that he is the one who wrote the budgets that caused the Sequestration in the first place and they never did anything Obama wanted anyway? Does he forget on purpose or is he just that dumb?

Does he really think Republicans are that stupid and didn't know the GOP controlled the House and Senate?

Paul Ryan's Pants on Fire claim on Air Force pilots forced to scrounge for airplane parts in museums

By Tom Kertscher on Thursday, May 11th, 2017

So, this is a sweeping claim: Air Force pilots, crippled by inadequate funding, being forced to scavenge for parts in museums to keep their own planes flying.
Typically we don’t use many quotes in our fact checks. But in this case, they seem to tell the story about Ryan’s claim:
"That’s a grotesque distortion," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis for the Teal Group Corp., which does research on the aerospace and defense industry.
"It’s grossly misleading," said Benjamin Friedman, a Cato Institute defense and homeland security studies research fellow.
"While I admire Ryan, and agree that there are some problems in military readiness, this kind of hyperbole needs to be called out," said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution.

click link for me once you stop shaking your head. 

Some Navy SEALs "Selling the Trident"

Navy SEALs accused of profiteering, putting lives "in danger"
CBS News
April 12, 2017

As Navy SEALs talk publicly to CBS News about drug abuse in the ranks for the first time, some members of the elite force say drugs aren’t the only problem.

According to interviews, e-mails and text messages from nine current and former SEALs, “...there’s been a corruption within the teams,” one of them wrote. “The death of our quiet professionalism continues to erode at our ethos, and endangers our teammates overseas, not to mention our families at home.”

Three Navy SEALs -- one active duty, two retired -- agreed to talk to CBS News on camera if we disguised their faces and change their voices to protect them from retribution.

One SEAL told CBS News correspondent David Martin that “the community has got to stop seeking the limelight and exposing what they do or it continues to put people in danger.”

They accused fellow SEALs of profiteering -- or as they called it -- “selling the Trident,” a reference to the insignia they earn after making it through basic training. Fitness routines based on SEAL training have become a cottage industry as have books by former SEALs.

“They are just guys that are going in to try and sell the brand, to sell that trident on their chest, to make a buck from it,” said one SEAL. “And frankly if that’s all they were doing, so what? But the thing they’re selling is information.”

These men say movies like “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Captain Phillips” are all too accurate in showing the way SEALs operate. One movie, “Act of Valor,” included active duty SEALs in the cast.
read more here

Canada Veterans Need to Look At US Reports on Mefloquine

In 2008 the VA issued a warning about Mefloquine, and there are other stories on this report going back to 2002.

Senator Dianne Feinstein wanted answers from Donald Rumsfeld in 2003

Veterans, families want answers over Forces' use of Mefloquine
Toronto Sun crime reporter Chris Doucette. (Sun files)
By Chris Doucette, Toronto Sun
Monday, January 23, 2017

The call for accountability over the Canadian Forces’ use of a controversial anti-malaria drug is growing louder and veterans and family members hope Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hear their cries for help.

A former medic who served in Somalia, the wife of a soldier disgraced in the Somalia Affair, the mother of a soldier who killed himself in Rwanda and a doctor with expertise in the neuropsychiatric effects of Mefloquine toxicity recently submitted written statements to the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs outlining the drugs’ devastation.

Marj Matchee writes her husband, Clayton, suffered paranoia and hallucinations prior to his 1993 arrest for the deadly beating of a Somali teen.

“You see things when you sleep. You see it in the daytime too,” she recalls him saying.

Many veterans who were forced to take the drug before it was licensed still suffer from side effects that Health Canada and AA Pharma, the Canadian supplier of the drug, quietly added to Mefloquine’s warning label last year.

“We must do more to reach out to these veterans, to acknowledge the harms that Mefloquine has caused them, and commit to funding research to study and ultimately try to reverse these effects,” Matchee writes.

Dr. Remington Nevin, of Johns Hopkins University, says Mefloquine toxicity can cause brain damage that mimics PTSD, so sufferers may receive the wrong treatment and symptoms such as suicidal thoughts persist.
read more here

These may help their case

Lariam Psychiatric and Suicidal Side Effects Research shows the anti-malaria drug mefloquine hydrochloride—formerly sold under the brand name Lariam—might cause psychiatric abnormalities, suicidal ideations and behaviors, and potentially permanent nerve damage. Because of these psychiatric side effects, the drug’s manufacturer, Hoffmann-La Roche, pulled it from the market in 2008. The U.S. Army continued to administer it to soldiers, however, until 2011, when the army ceased prescribing Lariam even for soldiers deployed in malaria-prone regions such as Afghanistan. In July 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified the public that mefloquine products’ drug labels would be updated with a black box warning—the agency’s most serious kind—concerning the aforementioned side effects.

Twelve Year Old Care Packages Operation Make Their Day

Santa's soldier: Granger boy sending care packages to deployed military
WNDU News
By Maria Catanzarite
December 11, 2016 

GRANGER
Ever since Tristan Badia was a little boy, he had a giving spirit. It started with feeding little sister Haylie.

"Always getting out, getting her bottles -- stuff like that, and it just kind of pushed on and on from there," said Jason, Tristan's father

Now, it's on to Operation Make Their Day, the second year the 12-year-old from Granger is making care packages for deployed service members. Last year, when NewsCenter 16 met Tristan, he sent 26 cardboard boxes of goodies overseas. In 2016, he and Haylie have compiled 30 packages -- and the mission isn't over.
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House of Warriors Healing US Female Veterans in Israel

U.S. Veterans With PTSD Find 'Common Bond' and Healing in Israel
NBC News
By Dave Copeland and Peter Jeary
September 25, 2015

Miguel, 27, recently returned from one such trips, which included visiting the Beit Halochem — 'House of Warriors' — rehabilitation center in Tel Aviv, which supports wounded veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces.

U.S. veterans Katherine Ragazzino and Jackie Ann Kirkwood hug after being baptized in the Jordan River in northern Israel. Dave Copeland / NBC News

Female U.S. war vets are finding help for their post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) far from home.

Thanks to a pioneering program, they've gone to Israel — and speak of a "common bond" shared with their Israeli counterparts.

"I came with the goal that I needed to meet people that I could talk to," said Kamilla Miguel, who was only 17 when she enlisted in 2007 on the advice of her grandmother.

She returned from Afghanistan aged only 22 but drifted, avoided her family, turned to alcohol and hung out with the wrong crowd.

Heroes to Heroes, which is nondenominational, was established by Judy Schaeffer, the daughter of a World War II veteran. Schaeffer said she felt she "had to do something to help" after visiting wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2009.
read more here

Remember when Sebastian Junger said that "incidence of PTSD is low" in Israel? Well, this pretty much blows that theory. PTSD happens after traumatic events. That is the only way to get it and the best way to heal it is with peer support. Had the female veterans in Israel not had a problem, there wouldn't be anything like this for them.

Contractors Serving Side-By-Side-By-Side of US Troops in Afghanistan?

29,000 contractors versus 9,000 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan
Digital Journal
BY KEN HANLY
August 18, 2016

Kabul - Data compiled by the Congressional Research Service shows that private contractors outnumber U.S. troops in Afghanistan by more than a three to one margin.

A detailed 12-page report called "Department of Defense Contractor and Troop Levels in Iraq and Afghanistan: 2007-2016" can be found at the Congressional Research Service website.

During the 2007-2016 period, the U.S. Defense Department spent more than $220 billion on contractors in both Iraq and Afghanistan for a large variety of services and support.

Even as early as the middle of 2011, when there were still many U.S. troops in Afghanistan, they were outnumbered by private contractors. The number of private contractors peaked in 2012 at more than 117,000 while there were around 88,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Almost 23 percent of contractors worked as supplementary security personnel. A whopping 70 percent were actually foreign nationals that received money from U.S. companies and agencies.
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Combat Docs Need to Be Ready For Next War

The plan to keep military combat docs ready for America's next war
Medill News Service
Ruojing Liu
July 16, 2016

According to the report, trauma deaths of about 1,000 service members in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts between 2001 and 2011 could have been prevented with more proficient trauma care. About 20 percent of civilian deaths from serious injuries at home in 2014 could have been prevented as well.

Soldiers from the 5-20 Infantry Division carry a comrade onto a stretcher after he was wounded in a mortar blast on the outskirts of Baghdad in 2007.

(Photo: David Furst/AFP/Getty Images)

About 1,000 mortally wounded troops a year could have been saved in a decade of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan if more military doctors had been more skilled in trauma care, a top medical organization reports, A proposal under consideration on Capitol Hill is directed at ensuring that military doctors gain and maintain proficiency in those skills by working with civilian trauma centers.

The proposal calls for grants for civilian trauma centers to hire military doctors and staff.

The idea would be to use military medical professionals in the civilian trauma system so both sides could share information about treating patients in life-or-death situations.
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When Fallen Fathers Are in Mansions of the Lord

For all the Fathers who loved so much they gave their lives. They are not forgotten.

May this bring comfort to the families.
Ronan Tynan Singing Mansions of the Lord at the National Memorial Concert in Washington D.C.
John 14:2

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

John 15:13

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

When I was Digital Media student at Valencia College, we had an assignment to do a music video. My professors were used to me just doing projects with a veterans theme. I did "Dance With My Father Again" and students offered to help.

Military Spends Fortune Training For Combat, Pittance To Come Home From It

Our military spends a fortune on war but little when our forces come home 
Washington Post
By Roger Boas
May 27, 2016

"The Army spends a fortune training its troops to kill but almost nothing to train us for coming home." Roger Boas is the author of “Battle Rattle: A Last Memoir of World War II.”

A recent study by the Rand Corp. concludes that the U.S. military is unable to provide adequate therapy sessions for thousands of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. 

The February study of 40,000 cases, the largest ever, found that only a third of troops with PTSD received the minimum number of therapy sessions needed after being diagnosed. As a veteran, I am appalled.

Though my war experience was 70 years ago, it haunts me to this day. I can still remember the sound that froze my blood. The stomach-churning whistle of a field artillery round, like a thousand shrieking pigs, increasing in a ghastly crescendo until it finally explodes — and bodies fly in every direction.

Anyone who has served in ground combat knows that sound. It’s our worst nightmare. You never know where the incoming projectile is going to hit. You’re either dead or you’ve managed to squeak out alive one more time, deeply shaken. It happens nonstop, any hour of the day or night. It seeps into your bones.
read more here

Austin Police Warn Public About Charity Claiming to Support Troops

Police warn of group claiming to raise money for soldiers
By WSLS.com Staff
Published: April 29, 2016

“It’s almost like an act of stolen valor. They [are] basically taking people’s patriotism and taking advantage of it,” said Alvarez.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Neighbors and police are raising concerns about a group claiming to raise money in order to send care packages to military members deployed overseas.

“Just the fact that we have somebody out here that’s portraying that they want to do that and that’s preying on the heart strings of our community is just unacceptable,” said Leander Police Chief Greg Minton.

Callers in Leander, Texas reported someone soliciting donations earlier this month for a group called United Soldier Outreach. Minton noticed a few red flags. First, the organization was willing to accept cash. They also seemed willing to break city rules. Minton says Leander requires a permit for solicitors and the city does not allow going door-to-door on a Sunday. He says United Soldier Outreach didn’t have a permit and they were soliciting on a Sunday.

Leander is hardly the only community raising concerns about United Soldier Outreach. Media in the Houston and San Antonio areas also found neighbors and police reporting similar interactions. Now, potential donors report seeing them in Steiner Ranch, Leander, Cedar Park, Georgetown and Wells Branch.
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DOD Thinking of Cutting Funding to Stars and Stripes?

If you read Wounded Times or follow on Google+ you are well aware of how many reports come from Stars and Stripes. Had the national press been interested in what is happening the way Stars and Strips does, then there would be no reason to be upset with the prospect of the DOD cutting funding of it. 

When I am in work on breaks or lunch, I check Stars and Stripes to see what is going on and then link to their reports so no one misses the news.  It is the first place I look when my time is limited because I know I'll find something worth sharing.  With the national news the way it is, all too often, they just don't seem to be able to even make time for our troops or our veterans.

Don’t rush to judgment on Stars and Stripes funding
Stars and Stripes
By Tobias Naegele
Stars and Stripes Ombudsman
Published: April 21, 2016

The Defense Department is considering a proposal to stop funding Stars and Stripes.

Such a cut would likely kill the newspaper. It must not be made in haste or in secret.

Stars and Stripes receives about $12 million a year in appropriated funding. That’s about 40 percent of its overall budget, according to Stars and Stripes Publisher Max Lederer, with the balance coming from advertising and circulation sales. Of the appropriated funds, $7 million comes from the regular defense budget and $5 million from overseas contingency operations funds — the war budget — mostly to pay for printing and distributing the paper downrange.

Some might argue the Pentagon would save money by shuttering Stripes and instead delivering a commercial newspaper to our troops overseas. But those papers won’t come without a price and they won’t be tailored, as Stripes is, to the interests of military readers. The beauty of Stars and Stripes is not just that it’s a daily paper available overseas, but that it’s a daily paper written and edited for military members. Its blend of staff-written articles and news culled from the nation’s leading providers — The Washington Post, The Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times — is unique, and provides depth and balance to military readers.

Another difference: Most newspapers endorse political policies and candidates, creating political baggage in the process. Stars and Stripes doesn’t take political positions.
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The Proud, The Few, The Hajabed?

Citadel mulls allowing Muslim cadet to wear hijab, first religious uniform exception
The Washington Times
By Kellan Howell
April 15, 2016

The historic Citadel military academy is considering granting its first ever uniform exception to a female cadet who has asked to be allowed to wear a hijab in keeping with her Muslim faith.

Citadel spokeswoman Kim Keelor said Friday that is it the first such request that has been made, although the school has had a number of Muslim cadets, The Associated Press reported.
read more here

Australia: Need for Annual Mental Health Screenings Pushed

Here in the US there is already a law requiring it however, when asked by our Senate, they said they didn't do post-deployment screenings. 

ADF members should have annual mental health screenings, Senate inquiry recommends 
ABC News Australia 
By Kristy O'Brien 
March 22, 2016

Since 2000, 96 serving members have killed themselves and a further 13 veterans have taken their own life.

Alex Kasmarek struggled with mental illness for eight years after returning from Iraq. ABC News

An Iraq veteran has spoken out about his experience with mental illness following his service abroad, saying he felt suicidal every day for eight years.

Alex Kasmarek has told the ABC his life spiralled out of control after he returned from an eight-month rotation of Iraq, left the military and found himself homeless.

His comments come after a Senate inquiry found nearly one in four returned soldiers had experienced a mental disorder in the previous 12 months, and the rate of suicidality - which the Federal Government defines as serious thoughts about taking one's own life, suicide plans and suicide attempts - was double those of the general population.

"Every day of my life for eight years I had an undesirable will to shoot myself. Every single day. And I just didn't know why," Mr Kasmarek said.

"I didn't know what PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] was exactly, and Army doctors told me I was fine. I just thought I was going mentally insane."
read more here

When you watch this clip, you'll hear how low the suicides were back then, so please remember, they were important enough to hold a hearing like this back then but things got worse and we received no accountability from anyone. Their answer was a half day course for "non-commissioned officers" to take.

Getting Onto Military Bases Harder in 5 States

Military Bases No Longer Accepting IDs from Five States 
Military.com
by Amy Bushatz
Jan 13, 2016

U.S. military installations are no longer allowing visitors to gain base access using official ID cards from five states -- and other installations may soon follow.

State-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards from Illinois, New Mexico, Missouri, Washington and Minnesota can no longer be used to obtain a visitor’s pass because those cards don’t comply with federal standards, officials said. DoD officials did not say whether or not enhanced driver's licenses (EDL) from Minnesota or Washington would still be accepted.

Guidance has already been issued by such installations as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, Fort Drum in New York, Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

"Effective immediately, residents of these five states can no longer use their driver’s license to get a visitor’s pass," Tom McCollum, a Fort Bragg spokesman said in a release today. "Driver's licenses and identification cards issued by these states cannot be used to access not just Fort Bragg, but all federal facilities, to include other military installations."

Nate Allen, a spokesman for the Army, in an email confirmed the changes affect all military installations in the U.S.
read more here

Commissary Food Stamp Use Down in 2015

Military Commissary Food Stamp Use Drops
Military.com
Posted by Amy Bushatz
JANUARY 13, 2016

Food stamp use in the military’s grocery store system dropped by about 6 percent last year, down from $84.5 million in fiscal year 2014 to $79.5 million in fiscal year 2015.

The decline comes after a big drop between 2013 and 2014 when use went down by 18 percent. That fall, however, can be blamed at least in part on a reduction in the benefit, known as SNAP, at the end of fiscal 2013.

We could spend a lot of time quibbling over what these numbers mean, but we probably wouldn’t come up with many answers. Did usage drop because there are fewer families in the military? The latest numbers show a drop of about 102,000 military family members between 2013 and 2014. Could it be because fewer people know that they can register for SNAP? Is it because fewer people are using SNAP at the commissary and instead taking it elsewhere? Are the bulk of these commissary transactions even active duty families, or are they other types of shoppers (guard, reserve and retiree)? (For what it’s worth, I’ve been trying to get an answer to that question for about a year.)
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