Message to Australian Veterans and all veterans

Looks like Australia isn't much better at taking care of their veterans than we are. We all remember the statements some of our own elected use when it comes to the VA. Welfare program. A burden. You name it, we heard it.

Direct threat from DVA

Hi,
All Veterans' should oppose this. From National President Tim McCombe, via Blue Ryan, National TPI President.
Regards,
Vic


VIETNAM VETERANS’ FEDERATION

8 Mary Street Granville PO Box 170 GRANVILLE NSW 2142,

Phone (02) 9682 1788 Fax (02) 9682 6134

Incorporating

Vietnam Veterans Peacekeepers and Peacemakers Association NSW Branch

Vietnam Veterans Federation Queensland Branch

Vietnam Veterans Federation ACT Branch

Vietnam Veterans Federation Victorian Branch

Vietnam Veterans Federation South Australian Branch

Vietnam Peacekeepers Peacemakers Federation of Tasmania

Vietnam Veterans, Peacekeepers and Peacemakers Federation of Australia WA Branch



Dear Presidents,

Rewarding Illness?

Some senior officers of the Department of Veterans Affairs and Defence have a new way of looking at those being compensated for war-caused illness and injury; these senior officers say we are being ‘rewarded for illness’.

The promise of this reward, it is suggested, actually ‘causes’ illness or at least causes an exaggeration of it and that receiving compensation ‘causes’ illness to persist.

In other words, they are claiming that veterans are scamming illness or degree of illness so we can stop work and get and keep our hands on compensation.

We have had twenty seven years experience of advising sick and troubled veterans at our Sydney (Granville) headquarters and round Australia. In that time thousands of veterans have come to us for help. It is our overwhelming experience that those who have come to us have done so reluctantly. Often, veterans have been dragged to our office by their worried and wearied wives or have arrived at our doorstep only after dramatically ‘hitting the wall’. Not infrequently, the veteran has ‘hit the wall’ a number of times before seeking our help, each time changing his job and hoping for the best. In most cases the veterans could have and should have stopped work and sought help and compensation years earlier; their strong desire to remain in the workforce preventing them from doing so. This reluctance to cease work has often damaged their health and the health of their families.

The assertion that compensation ‘encourages’ veterans’ illness finds no support in our long experience. Indeed, we suspect the idea springs from the mind of an economic fundamentalist with a primitive view of human motivation and with no practical experience of sick veterans.



‘Compensation’, these fundamentalists believe should be completely replaced by ‘rehabilitation’. Indeed, one very senior Department of Veterans Affairs bureaucrat has told us that almost all disabled war veterans can and should be rehabilitated into paid employment.

This claim shows a dangerous misunderstanding of war-caused disability.

There are some 18,000 Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Vietnam veterans. Of these a high percentage suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is notoriously resistant to treatment.

Our long experience suggests PTSD comes in three categories. A few sufferers will respond to treatment and be cured. At the other extreme, there will be quite a few who are doomed to a nightmare of a life, even institutionalisation, whatever the treatment. The bulk, whilst their condition is not curable, can be treated and counselled to manage their condition more or less successfully.

It is this later group that the Department’s economic fundamentalists think are being kept ‘ill’ by their receipt of the TPI pension. Surely, they argue, there must be some menial, un-stressful, paid jobs for which PTSD sufferers can be trained.

They are mistaken. Paid employment requires predictability. The employer must be able to predict with reasonable accuracy when his employee will turn up for work. As those with practical experience know, PTSD sufferers are unable to provide this predictability; days of feeling able to work and days of almost complete dysfunction, occurring randomly.

Ex-service organizations like ourselves that are manned mainly by volunteer TPI pensioners know that these volunteers, despite their good intentions, may not be able to turn up. We understand that at any time of the day they may simply have to get up and go home. We understand that, at any time, a TPI volunteer may announce that they need a couple of weeks break and that, regardless of their intention, may not be well enough to return at the end of that fortnight. Our office can have no inflexible deadlines and only very flexible expectations. And that’s with TPI pensioners well enough to do some voluntary work. That is the reality. PTSD sufferers as employees are simply not a commercial proposition.

Expecting these disabled veterans to undertake rehabilitation with a view to rejoining the paid workforce would be futile. But worse, it would damage their health. The thought of having to re-shoulder the stress of the workplace including the strong expectation of regularly turning-up would send many into breakdown and some to suicide.

What must be done with most PTSD sufferers is to first remove the horror of actual or impending financial collapse with financial compensation, then offer them voluntary rehabilitation of a different kind; not work-related rehabilitation but the kind of rehabilitation that encourages them to emerge from isolation and despair and participate in society as much as their disability will allow.

We agree with the offending senior bureaucrats that more resources are needed for rehabilitation, but much of those resources should be devoted to disabled war veterans after they are granted compensation. Indeed compensation should be seen, for many, as a vital part of their rehabilitation.

The offending senior departmental officers are wrong about veterans’ motivation and they are dangerously wrong in claiming work-related rehabilitation is a universal solution.

Their preaching should cease.

Yours sincerely,


Tim McCombe

President
http://www.vvfact.org.au/?p=1278

Vietnam Vets 5th annual Memorial Motorcycle Run

This was sent by one of my friends Jan Benoit, mentioned in this article.

GARDNER — As the sun shone brightly over Elm Street Sunday morning, President Norman Webb of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 907 had a simple message for the hundreds of motorcyclists gathered in the parking lot of American Legion Post 129.

“Find your bikes,” he said, “and let’s get ready to rock.”

The group’s fifth annual Memorial Motorcycle Run and Barbecue brought together more than 600 bikers and hundreds more members of the community for a day of riding and remembrance, a way to honor those who died while serving in the military, while celebrating the freedom for which they sacrificed their lives.

Mr. Webb, who helped create the event as an alternative for veterans unable to travel to the Vietnam Veterans of America’s annual gathering at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington , D.C. , said this year’s ride was focused on honoring all of the area’s veterans and fallen soldiers.

He did, however, make particular mention of the 11 soldiers from Gardner who died in Vietnam , each of whose names are inscribed on the national memorial. He said his organization is currently working to gather information about those soldiers in order to create a tribute on its Web site, http://www.vietnamveterans907.com.

“We’re doing it actually for all the vets,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the 11 people down on the wall.”

After opening ceremonies at the American Legion Post — including Tara Morgan’s rendition of the national anthem and a firing squad and color guard from the legion — the gathered riders traveled to Rindge , N.H. for a service at the Cathedral of the Pines.

The group then traveled back to Gardner , meeting an already-in-progress barbecue at the Gardner Fish and Gun Club on Clark Street .

“This is our best year yet,” said James Benton, the secretary of the local Vietnam veterans chapter, outside the club as people formed a long line for barbecued chicken. Both the sunny weather and the high turnout, he said, were “absolutely perfect.”

The event has become a significant fundraiser for the group, said Mr. Benton, allowing for outreach into the community and collaborative efforts with other organizations. Tom Cross, a member of the veterans group, noted that before the success of the motorcycle run — which has more than tripled in size since its inception — the group “couldn’t afford to buy a stamp.”

Janice Benoit, another member of the group who has taken part in the yearly event since it began, agreed that it has become increasingly successful. She also noted the time and energy needed to plan and put on the run and barbecue, adding that planning has already started for next year.

“It gets bigger every year, it really does,” she said. “I’m amazed at how great people are.”

The author of a recent book about post-traumatic stress syndrome, Ms. Benoit also stressed the importance of remembering that the basis of the yearly event — and of the Memorial Day holiday — is to honor the sacrifice of fallen servicemen and women and remember those who have and continue to serve. For service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, she said, ailments like PTSD and the basic challenge of reintegrating into civilian life make the need for continued support all the more critical.

The community’s support for Sunday’s event was clear, with vendors setting up tables, volunteers raffling off a number of donated prizes and local band The Game providing live musical entertainment.

Police Officer Richard Braks led the motorcycle run on the Police Department’s new Harley-Davidson FLH motorcycle, which was officially put into service Sunday. The bike bears the number “907” in honor of the local Vietnam veterans group, which made a donation for the vehicle’s graphics.

“It’s kind of the maiden voyage,” said Officer Braks, who said the city previously had a police motorcycle before budget cuts forced the department to discontinue the vehicle. Bringing a motorcycle back into service, he said, provides police with both a versatile law enforcement tool and a valuable means through which to improve community outreach.

“It’s a conversation starter with the community,” he said, particularly with younger people and those with an interest in motorcycles.

Like Ms. Benoit, Officer Braks spoke of the “great cause” that led to the annual race and the theme of remembrance at the heart of Memorial Day. While bringing together the community to honor the military’s fallen is a positive and appropriate way to celebrate the day, he said such gatherings can never truly give the thanks that is owed.

“The ceremonies are definitely not enough for those that have served us,” he said.

dkittredge@thegardnernews.com



"As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man."
Proverbs 27:19

Jan Benoit
janicembenoit@yahoo.com

Monroe welcomes home women who served in Vietnam

- Evening News photo by KIM BRENT Betty Cannon (left) and Juanita Shellito applaud Saturday after taking part in the unveiling of a statue and plaque at Heck Park honoring the women who served in the armed forces during the Vietnam War.

Women in Vietnam
by Ray Kisonas , last modified May 10. 2008 10:47PM

During a three-month period in 1965, Juanita Shellito flew to Vietnam seven times to help evacuate dozens of wounded American soldiers."I took care of the men," she said. "Sometimes they wanted me to hold their hand."

On New Year's Day, 1970, Betty Cannon of Erie was flown to Saigon, where she spent six weeks, working 12- to 16-hour days, fixing an underground computer that was responsible for reinforcing the front lines with supplies, including casualty replacements."I made sure the men in the field had food and ammo and anything else they needed," she said. "I went in and did my job. The guys were awesome. They treated me like a queen."

The two were members of the armed services who have gone, for the most part, unrecognized in society. They are women who served in Vietnam and, in Monroe County, they are unrecognized no more.On Saturday under a blue sky, officials and uniformed soldiers saluted the women of Vietnam with their own memorial at Heck Park on N. Dixie Hwy.

The statue of a servicewoman, standing about 5 feet tall and painted bronze, commemorates the 265,500 women who served overseas during the campaign."Everyone who visits this park knows we haven't forgotten," said Don Reed, president of Monroe County Post 142, Vietnam Veterans of America.
go here for more
http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080510/NEWS01/213120612

News: VVA Calls for $5 Billion More for Health Care and Better Outreach

News: VVA Calls for $5 Billion More for Health Care and Better Outreach
Posted on March 08, 2008 by editor

VVA praised and damned Congress for actions taken and not taken and hit on legislation that could make a huge difference for veterans
by Vietnam Veterans of America

In testimony before a joint session of the Senate and House Committees on Veterans' Affairs, VVA National President John Rowan both praised and damned Congress for actions taken and not taken, and hit on legislation that, if enacted, could make a huge difference in the lives of veterans and their families.

"Congress deserves our thanks for the significant increases in appropriations for veterans health care in the current fiscal year, although you must exercise stringent oversight to ensure that the funding goes to where it's supposed to go," Rowan said. "And we hope you will be firm in adding the $5.24 billion that VVA believes is needed for FY'09, part of which would enable so-called 'higher income' veterans to enroll in the VA healthcare system.

"Still, we remain staunch in our advocacy for the passage of an assured funding bill that would end the annual wrangling over veterans healthcare funding," Rowan said. "We have endorsed H.R. 2514 and companion legislation in the Senate, S. 331, and we again urge you to give these your consideration particularly now, at a time when the VA should be anticipating an influx of 100,000 new veterans during the next fiscal year." (continued...)
http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2909

I find it very odd that with all the people in this country, there are not more people in this country taking action for the sake of the veterans and the troops who will become veterans. How can this still fail to touch the minds and hearts of all the American people? When will every single man and woman in this country pay attention to what is going on and make sure the veterans do their fighting in combat and not here when they have to fight the VA to have their own needs taken care of?

I became a Chaplain in order to serve the veterans better. After being out here on my own, investing most of my free time on their needs, and then most of my day on them, I needed to find people of like mind because there are just not enough people taking the time to care with action. I'm not saying that everyone should throw away their careers but how much time does it take to make a phone call? How much time does it take to write a letter or send an email? How much time does it take to write a letter to the editor of their local newspaper? It takes very little time but can make a world of difference to each and every one of them along with their families.

Outreach work is very important but as we try to get them into the help they need to heal, we are finding there are very few places to send them because nothing was ready for them. Changes are coming but they will take time to filter in and take care of more veterans but what will happen to the veterans we are getting through to who need help but have up until now been reluctant to seek it? What happens to them when they are up against a sea of other veterans needing help?

There is so much that needs to be done for them and all of us had better hurry up and do it. If we don't, we will prove the words "grateful nation" are just two words we like to use just like "support the troops" instead of actually doing it.

President Bush's VA Budget is $3 Billion Short

Vietnam Veterans of America: President Bush's VA Budget is $3 Billion Short

February 13, 2008 - "The annual exercise of debating the merits of the President's proposed budget is flawed," said John Rowan, National President of Vietnam Veterans of America, before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. "Medical Center directors should not be held in limbo as Congress adjusts this budget and misses, yet again, the start of the fiscal year.

"These public servants can be more effective and efficient managers if they are able to properly plan for the funding needed to care for their patients. We ask that you consider an immediate alternative to the broken system we currently have," Rowan said.

Rowan characterized as "inadequate" the FY'09 request for $2.34 billion more than the FY'08 appropriation. This "barely keeps up with inflation" and "will not allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to continue enhancing its physical and mental health care services for returning veterans, restore needed long-term care programs for aging veterans, or allow working-class veterans to return to their health care system."
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9380

Bush can say he supports the troops, as far as their mission goes, but he sure as hell doesn't support the veterans.

Experts to testify on preventing vet suicides

Experts to testify on preventing vet suicides

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Dec 11, 2007 17:18:49 EST

The parents of an Army reservist who committed suicide after returning from Iraq will testify before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Wednesday as lawmakers explore the Veterans Affairs Department’s challenges in helping veterans deal with mental health issues.

Mike and Kim Bowman are on the first of six panels of witnesses who were scheduled to testify at the hearing, which will focus on suicide prevention and treatment within the VA health care system.

Two authors of books about post-traumatic stress disorder also will testify, as will veterans’ advocates from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, Vietnam Veterans of America, the American Legion and Disabled Veterans of America. After the testimony from other panelists, including officials from the VA’s Veterans Health Administration and inspector general’s office, the authors and veterans service organizations’ representatives will return to share their reflections on that testimony.

According to the committee, the Veterans Health Administration estimates there are about 1,000 suicides per year among veterans receiving care through VHA, and as many as 5,000 suicides per year among all living veterans.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/military_suicidehearing_071211w/