Legislation would help cut red tape for veterans

Legislation would help cut red tape for veterans
BY KRISTINA SMITH HORN • Watchdog/enterprise reporter • November 11, 2009


FREMONT -- A U.S. senator introduced legislation Tuesday that he said could help Ohio's disabled veterans receive medical and social security benefits faster with less bureaucracy.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, introduced the Benefit Rating Acceleration for Veteran Entitlements Act to the Senate. The BRAVE Act, if approved, would allow disabled veterans to apply at the U.S. Veterans Administration for benefits and Social Security disability at the same time, Brown said.

Currently, they must apply separately to the VA and Social Security. "It's a cumbersome process," Brown said. "It takes weeks, sometimes months, for people to go through this. If you can meet VA criteria, you automatically should meet Social Security disability requirements."
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http://www.thenews-messenger.com/article/20091111/NEWS01/911110304/-1/newsfront2

More than 1.5 million vets do not have health insurance

When veterans die -- from lack of health insurance
More than 1.5 million vets don't have it, and 2,200 vets die every year because of it
By Joan Walsh
It's Veterans Day, and members of both parties compete to show service members the most respect. How about passing health insurance reform?

Two Harvard researchers chose today to release a study showing that 1.5 million American veterans have no health insurance, and more than 2,200 die every year because of it. Working-poor veterans are at particular risk -- they earn too much money to qualify for certain Veterans Administration programs, but they work in jobs that don't provide insurance and they don't earn enough to buy it themselves.

"The uninsured have about a 40 percent higher risk of dying each year than otherwise comparable insured individuals," David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, told Agence France Presse. "Putting that all together you get an estimate of almost 2,300 -- 2,266 veterans who die each year from lack of health insurance." Fourteen times as many vets died for lack of health insurance than were killed in Afghanistan last year.

Meanwhile, conservative Sen. Tom Coburn continues to block a needed veterans' healthcare bill because it's too expensive.
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http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joan_walsh/politics/2009/11/11/veterans_day/

Veterans Administration says 900 World War II vets pass away every day

Four brothers in my husband's family were part of WWII. Louis DiCesare, my husband's father was in the Army. He had a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. His uncle John was a Marine and killed in action. Another uncle Tony was in the Navy and Uncle George was a Merchant Marine. While three brothers survived, George never recovered from WWII. His ship was hit by a kamikaze pilot and he spent the rest of his life living on a farm for what they used to call "shell shock."

On my side of the family all of my uncles were in the service as well and my father was a Korean War veteran. Growing up, I was surrounded by veterans but aside from the a few pictures they had on their walls, it was hard to imagine them any different than any other family. Once in a while there were war stories told with a great sense of humor but sooner or later, their eyes would cloud, a tear or two would fall and the subject was quickly changed.

When I was young, I would read about war in history class and imagine my relatives being part of what I was reading about, yet when I was in their company again, I never asked them any questions. The fact they were there, in real time, faded and they were just my uncles and my dad.

They are all gone now. I have memories of the stories they told but above all, I have memories of them as who they were and the love they gave. None of them thought of themselves as heroes. They were just your average "Joe" because most of the people they knew were also in the service at one time or another. Unlike Vietnam when most of the people my husband grew up with didn't go except for one of his nephews, who was the same age as he was at the time. Jack had an older sister with two sons and a daughter. One son went and the other didn't. When they came home, they didn't feel like heroes either. They felt like outcasts. No one wanted to hear their stories. It was almost as if they wanted to dismiss the year out of their lives as if they had been away on vacation. "Shell shock" was understood when George went to live on the farm but it was not understood when my husband and his nephew came home with the same kind of inside wound.

Veterans Administration says 900 World War II vets pass away every day
By Randy Conat
GENESEE COUNTY (WJRT) -- (11/11/09)--While we pause the honor those who have served their country on Veterans Day, we have to face the fact that their numbers are dwindling.
The Veterans Administration says 900 World War II vets pass away every day.
One of the oldest vets in Genesee County fondly remembers answering when his nation called.
He's 91 years old, but Eugene Glass of Flint Township can still clearly remember his time in the Army over 60 years ago. Glass was living near Grand Rapids when he was drafted.
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http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=7113176

Alleged Army gunman's former patients need follow-up care, observers say

Alleged Army gunman's former patients need follow-up care, observers say
By Katherine McIntire Peters kpeters@govexec.com
November 12, 2009 If your doctor went on a killing spree, you might question the kind of care he provided, especially if he was ministering to your mental health. Thus, after law enforcement officials took Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan into custody at Fort Hood, Texas, last Thursday after he allegedly shot dozens of fellow soldiers and civilians, killing 13, service medical personnel should have started contacting patients formerly treated by the doctor, experts say.

"First, I'd get a list of all the patients he'd ever treated and get in contact with them," said Dr. Thomas P. Lowry, a psychiatrist who served two years as a doctor in the Air Force and then held the top psychiatry positions at four hospitals before retiring in 1999. It's important to know how the doctor's former patients perceived him and understand the care they received, he said.

Dr. Jonathan Shay, who spent 20 years as a Veterans Affairs Department psychiatrist specializing in the treatment of combat trauma before retiring last year, said some of Hasan's former patients might worry that the stories they shared in therapy sessions could have contributed to the doctor's state of mind, or even feel some responsibility for the killings.
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http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1109/111209kp1.htm

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Aftermath of Fort Hood shootings may be worse

Vietnam veteran will finally retire from military service

Vietnam veteran will finally retire from military service
Published: Saturday, November 14, 2009
By JOHN M. ROMAN
jroman@delcotimes.com

Senior Master Sgt. Ralph E. Miller Jr., 59, of Sharon Hill, of the Delaware Air National Guard, an aircraft mechanic during the Vietnam War and in Afghanistan, will finally be putting down his wrenches after nearly 30 years of combined military service.

He is the last member of the Vietnam War era still serving in the 166th Airlift Wing of the Delaware Air National Guard, according to Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Matwey, public affairs specialist for the unit.

“I’m a little anxious. It’s going to be interesting to see what my next career’s going to be — I’ve been around these guys for 20-plus years,” said Miller, a full-time enlisted man at the air base at New Castle County Airport.
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Vietnam veteran will finally retire from military service