Lake Nona VA Hospital Dedication

Published on May 26, 2015 Dedication of Lake Nona VA Hospital was this morning. VFW Post 4287 was there and the National Anthem was beautifully sung by a VA employee Sharon Stephens. As for the speeches, enough said.

Congressman Daniel Webster

Congressman Jeff Miller

Congressman Alan Grayson, late arrival

All the news crews blocking view of veterans behind them.

I left before the speeches but I am sure all those news crews managed to record every word said. You'll just have to try to figure out which ones actually have the coverage online.

Speakers, Mayor Buddy Dyer, Congressman Ron DeSantis, Congressman Bill Posey, Congressman Daniel Webster, Congressman John Mica, Congressman Alan Grayson, Congresswoman Corrine Brown, Congressman Jeff Miller and Secretary Department Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald.

If the news stations don't have the speeches up, check their YouTube pages later.


UPDATE
Orange County Welcomes Orlando Veterans Administration Medical Center To Lake Nona
Rejoice Magazine Staff
Temia Brinson
May 30, 2015

The VA Medical Center includes a 134-bed inpatient diagnostic and treatment hospital, a 120-bed nursing home, a 60-bed domiciliary and an outpatient clinic. The Center will continue to open in phases through 2015.

With more than 1.8 million veterans in Florida, the new facility is capable of providing the highest quality of health care and services to local veterans and their families. The $616-million facility will provide access to state-of-the art health and medical services to approximately 400,000 veterans in Central Florida. According to VA Public Affairs Officer Heather Frebe, the new center should see about 100,000 patients a year.

Secretary McDonald recognized the steadfast efforts of the Central Florida community whose dedication contributed to opening of the nation’s newest VA Medical Center.

“Florida veterans have been lucky to have these advocates speak for them,” McDonald said during his remarks. “The VA can’t do things like this on our own; we depend on congress, Veterans Service Organizations and private partners.”
read more here

Veterans Response To Tampa Bay Jeff Miller Report

Jeff Miller forgets that he has been head of the House Veterans Affairs Committee since 2011.

United States Representative Jeff Miller serves as Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is responsible for authorization and oversight of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA.) VA is the second largest department in the federal government with over 300,000 employees and a budget of over $150 billion.

But Miller has also been on the Committee since 2001! Yep! So who does he blame? He blames the VA.

After taking the oath of office in 2001, Congressman Miller was appointed to the House Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. He quickly established himself within Washington as a strong advocate for veterans' concerns and immediately supported changes to concurrent receipt and policy changes such as a greater co-sharing between the military and veterans' clinics.

In that video Miller asked for Veterans to give their thoughts,,,,,,Here's some thoughts from veterans right here in Florida. "We're not gonna take it anymore!"

A year after VA scandal, House veterans committee chairman wants more progress
Tampa Bay Times
William R. Levesque
Times Staff Writer
Monday, May 25, 2015

The scandal has lifted Mil­ler's profile as he has become a sought-after quote by journalists reporting on the agency's deficiencies. And Miller, 55, is considering a 2016 Senate run for the seat expected to open as Marco Rubio seeks the presidency.

SEMINOLE — Whenever U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller attends a public event, veterans and Department of Veterans Affairs employees find him for short, intense conversations about one VA issue after another.

It happened after his Memorial Day speech at the Bay Pines Veterans Cemetery, where a short line of people waited to get a minute with the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs committee.

This is life for one of the VA's biggest Capitol Hill critics, who told the Tampa Bay Times on Monday he remains frustrated by the slow pace of reform at an agency hit in the past year by the worst scandal in its history.

"The VA did not get into the situation that exists today overnight," Miller said. "And it's not going to be resolved in a year's time. It is going to take an entire culture change within the department. There has to be transparency and accountability."

And too often, he said, those two qualities are still lacking.

The Pensacola Republican has been in the forefront of debate since the VA scandal erupted in April 2014 when a doctor at a Phoenix VA hospital said that 40 veterans there had died after delays in care and that the hospital kept a secret patient waiting list to hide its shortcomings. What followed was a series of revelations about the VA's widespread tactic of manipulating hospital performance measures nationally, its retaliation against whistle-blowers and patients lost in VA red tape.
read more here

There is absolutely nothing that has happened at the VA that should have surprised Miller since all the reports have come out repeatedly since 2001....actually even before that, but admitting that would assume members of Congress have a conscience.

Memorial Day Event Remembered Deaths After War

Combat Deaths, Suicides Memorialized at Claquato Ceremony 
Remembering the Fallen: Annual Memorial Day Commemoration Draws Large Crowd
Chronicle
By Justyna Tomtas
May 25, 2015

Hawkins said the senseless deaths that continue after bullets stop flying are unnecessary. He urged everyone to remain beside the dying and injured on the “battlefield of life,” just as one would not leave those on an actual battlefield.

Pete Caster
Memorial Day at Claquato
People gather around the American flag at Claquato Cemetery
as the pay their respects to veterans on Monday morning in Adna.

CLAQUATO — Jeff Hawkins worked as a hospital corpsman for the Navy in the early 1990s.

Throughout his four years of service, he saw three deaths. One was in combat. The other two were suicides.

The pastor and Chehalis resident said Memorial Day is a time to give thanks to those who died protecting America’s values, and also a day for remembering those who are plagued by the atrocities of war long after leaving the battlefield.

Observers listened to the message, and others, Monday morning at an annual ceremony at Claquato Cemetery outside of Adna.

Hawkins spoke of the more than 1.3 million American military members who have given their lives service of the country since 1775, noting that number does not include those who later commited suicide after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

“A veteran is a person who wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to and including one's life, and there is no expiration date on that check,” Hawkins said, later adding that statistics show 22 veterans commit suicide each day. “We’re here this morning to pay tribute to those who died fighting for our country, but there are many discharged veterans who never left those battles. They are still losing those battles, and they are still dying.”
read more here

Iwo Jima Veteran Shows It Is Never Too Late For Help With PTSD

Iwo Jima Marine vet fights the demons of war
WIVB 4 News
By Rich Newberg, News 4 Senior Correspondent
Published: May 25, 2015

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Ted Drews. a World War II veteran of Iwo Jima, had witnessed five of his fellow Marines and a Navy Corpsman plant the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi, in Japanese territory.

He witnessed it from his strategic position on the water near the mountain.

“They were brave to be doing that out in the open,” he recalls.

While many are drawn to that iconic image that came to represent World War II, Drews continued to fight the demons of war long after the Japanese surrendered.

He was nineteen years old when he was shipped off to Guam, and then Iwo Jima.

His job was to carry supplies, and, if possible, transport the wounded and the dead.

The images he carried home with him in his head after the war, remained hidden from his family for the longest time.

“People aren’t buried with their arms across their chest,” he recalled. “They’re buried the way they’re found. Some are sitting up. Their arms and legs are extended, and it’s just awful to see the way these nice young guys died.”

So awful are some of the memories, that Ted would suffer from terrible depression. He sometimes withdraw from his family, and had fitful dreams. The condition would manifest itself has the month of February approached. That was the month in 1945 that the Battle of Iwo Jima began.
read more here

Veterans Dying of Suicide Have Mom Remembering Them

Mother creates memorial wall for veterans who died of suicide 
Janine Lutz creates memorial as way to honor son, others
Local 10 News Author: John Turchin, Crime Specialist
Published On: May 25 2015 Weston Florida

Not all who lost their lives serving the United States died in battle.

An astounding number of veterans commit suicide after they return home. The mother of one of them believes they deserve to be remembered and honored on Memorial Day.

Janine Lutz created an 8-foot-tall, 50-foot-long wall displaying the faces and stories of veterans who died of suicide.

"With every tick of the clock, we are losing veterans," Lutz told Local 10 News. "With every 65 minutes, another veteran is dying of suicide."

Lutz has named the memorial wall after her son, Lance Cpl. Janos Lutz. The 24-year-old committed suicide two years ago.
read more here

Taking Care of Our Veterans More Like Impossible Dream

In 2010 I used "The Impossible Dream" by Luther Vandross for a memorial tribute.

I put it back up on YouTube in March. While it has the quote about how veterans are treated attributed to George Washington, back then I thought it was but I've discovered the quote was not his. It should be the quote from all of us. It seems more like an impossible dream to far too many of them to receive the care they deserve.

This is from 2010. The numbers are higher now and the debt we owe them has still not been paid yet. Music

Special Forces Soldier from Florida Died in Afghanistan

DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Release No: NR-197-15
May 25, 2015

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Freedom's Sentinel.

Sgt. 1st Class Pablo A. Ruiz, 37, of Melbourne, Florida, died May 24, in Bagram, Afghanistan, from a non-combat related incident.

He was assigned to Group Support Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Memorial Day at Brevard Veterans Memorial Center

Today at the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center there was a fabulous Memorial Day event at this gorgeous combo center/museum.

Life size mannequins

I will have the video up on this sometime tomorrow after the Lake Nona VA event.
UPDATE here's the video

Troops Medical Care Was Outsourced to Defense Contractors?

The following is just a part of what the Department of Defense paid out to contractors to take care of our wounded. Bet you're as shocked as I am to discover that medical care was not always done by servicemembers including the "care" we read about at Warrior Transition Units.

$1.9 billion bonanza
Brevard startup lands lucrative Air Force deal
Orlando Business Journal
Chris Kauffmann
Staff Writer
Sep 18, 2006

MERRITT ISLAND -- Not even a case of pneumonia could keep Jim Barfield from crawling out of bed and going to work Aug. 14.

That was the day the president of Luke and Associates Inc., a tiny, Brevard County startup staffing company that had never generated any contracts or revenue, signed a 10-year, $1.9 billion contract -- that's billion with a "B" -- with the U.S. Air Force to supply medical personnel to bases all over the country.

"I signed a contract for more zeros than I have ever seen in my life," says Barfield, who started the Merritt Island firm two years ago with partners Rich Hall and Glen Bottomley. "I wasn't surprised we got it once I woke up from passing out."

About 18 months of meticulous preparation, planning and research helped ease the shock of winning the contract, not to mention that Barfield is hardly unacquainted with the intricacies of winning government contracts.

As head of Barfield and Associates Inc. for the past 13 years, the 52-year-old former Bechtel Corp. employee has helped major aerospace and defense contractors (names cannot be revealed because of non-disclosure pacts) make proposals to win more than 100 government contracts with values up to $3.5 billion.
read more here

Luke and Associates, Inc. Awarded $20 million Contract at Fort Bliss, Texas
Space Coast Business
May 22, 2014

Luke and Associates, Inc. (Luke), a leading provider of medical and clinical services for the U.S. military, announced today the award of a contract to provide medical services at the Ft. Bliss Continental United States (CONUS) Replacement Center (CRC). Luke will medically assess personnel to ensure readiness for deployment and redeployment. This is a new contract which was awarded under full and open competition and is valued initially at $20 million.
read more here

Oviedo Florida Rock and Brews Memorial to Fallen Soldier

Tribute to Local Fallen Soldier
Unveiling of a memorial to Oviedo fallen warrior Army Spc. Brenden N. Salazar, KIA 2012 Afghanistan at the age of 20. Rock and Brews Restaurant, Dave Matthews, Never Forgotten Memorials.org presented a tribute to Brenden and all who gave their lives for this country.

Patriot Guard Riders

Next time you go to Rock and Brews, you'll know how this memorial got there.

Spc. Brenden Salazar Dedication January 26, 2013

On Friday, January 25, 2013, Hagerty High School of Oviedo FL dedicated a plaque and held a service to honor the life of Spc. Brenden Neal Salazar, killed in action in Afghanistan on July 22, 2012. Members of Patriot Guard Riders surrounded the area with flags in tribute to this young man. Both of his parents are Army Reservists and Brenden was born on Fort Bragg March 24, 1992. Brenden's sister Hannah has cystic fibrosis. woundedtimes.blogspot.com