Veterans In Crisis Waiting On Hold Still After All These Years?

Gee sounds really bad to put veterans on hold when they are in crisis. It is ever worst when you understand this all started back in 2007 with the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act and Congress has been hearing about all of this for years. Just take 2010 for example. Answering the bell

The number of calls to the national Veterans Crisis Line in Canandaigua in the past six fiscal years:

2007: 9,379
2008: 67,350
2009: 118,984
2010: 134,528
2011: 164,101
2012: 193,507

Troubled vets need help sooner, lawmakers told
Army Times
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 14, 2010

“The suicide hotline is too much of a last alternative,” said Melvin Cintron, an Army veteran who served as a flight medic in Desert Storm and in aviation maintenance in the current war in Iraq. “Either you don’t have enough of a problem and you can wait for weeks for an appointment, or you have to be suicidal.”

Cintron spoke Wednesday before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s oversight and investigations panel.

In Florida there was this

Military, veteran suicides account for nearly one in every four in Florida ... but the numbers don't explain why
Rate is one of the nation's highest
Florida Times Union
By Clifford Davis
Apr 26, 2014
“Since its inception, the crisis line has had over 1,150,000 calls,” said Thompson of the VA’s suicide prevention program. “That’s pretty extraordinary. We’re so glad we’ve had that many calls, but of course it’s heartbreaking that people need to reach out that much.”

And in May of 2015 there was this tidbit of news,

Senator Bill Nelson Calls for Veterans Crisis Line Investigation
VA Crisis Line under investigation
Military Times
By Patricia Kime, Staff writer
May 2, 2015

Amid concerns that the Veterans Affairs Department's suicide hotline has left veterans stranded during high-volume call periods, a senator has asked VA to investigate the service to ensure it is meeting veterans' needs.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., recently sent a letter to VA Secretary Bob McDonald asking for data on the Crisis Line's call volume, hold times, and average wait times between when a call is made and the caller can see a VA therapist or counselor, or a community provider, in person.

Nelson's request was made in response to a news report by Tampa television station WFTS that Air Force veteran Ted Koran was placed on hold repeatedly for up to 10 minutes at a time as he fought off suicidal thoughts.

Yet now we have the same headline as it happens to even more veterans.

Calls to veterans suicide hotline went to voicemail, report says 
Military Times
By Patricia Kime
February 15, 2016

At least 23 veterans, troops or family members who called the Veterans Crisis Line in fiscal 2014 were transferred to a voicemail system and their calls never returned, according to a Veterans Affairs Department Inspector General report.

The VA watchdog's investigation into the hotline's performance launched last year also found that the centers responsible for the voicemail errors, who were contractors hired to provide backup services when the VA-run Crisis Line is operating at peak, may not have trained their counselors adequately to answer calls from those experiencing a mental health crisis.

But because the VA does not train the backup center employees or monitor the centers' training requirements, the department has no way of knowing whether their training is sufficient, the report noted.

The Veterans Crisis Line was established in 2007 to address the growing problem of suicide among veterans and service members. It has fielded more than 2 million calls and is credited with saving more than 50,000 lives. An HBO documentary highlighting the life-and-death drama of the VA suicide hotline efforts won an Oscar last year.
read more here

Homeless Veteran Gave Tent and More to Another Homeless Veteran

Homeless veteran has tent slashed but Worcester's ex-soldiers make sure he has a roof over his head 
Worcester News UK 
James Connell
February 15, 2016

John described the kindness show to him and the change in his circumstances as a 'great relief' and 'overwhelming.'

A HOMELESS veteran who had his tent slashed by vandals has a roof over his head after Worcester's ex-soldiers rallied behind him.

The veteran, who wanted to be known as "John" rather than by his real name, was gutted after returning in the pouring rain to his slashed tent in woods near Worcester Racecourse.

Two slits were cut into the two-man tent on Saturday, February 6 and, as a result, the tent was no longer able to keep out the water.

The 60-year-old, a former corporal in Royal Corps of Signals, by now drenched and cold, came to the Postal Order in Foregate Street, Worcester to try and get dry and find a replacement tent.

The next day Mr Carney, aged 44, of Merriman's Hill, Worcester, a reserve veteran with the Royal Engineers, gave John his own tent. 

read more here and discover how this story gets even better

Fairchild Air Force Base Staff Sgt Disrespectful of POW MIA?

Air Force will take ‘appropriate action’ over viral POW/MIA emblem photo 
Stars and Stripes
By Jon Harper
Published: February 15, 2014

"Second Lt. Rachelle Smith, a spokeswoman for Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., told Stars and Stripes that the airman in the photo is Staff Sgt. Cherish Byers. She is with the 92nd Security Forces Squadron stationed at Fairchild. Byers was a senior airman when the photo was taken."

This photo of an airman licking a POW sign went viral on Friday.

WASHINGTON — The Air Force is “disappointed” in the airman who appeared in a photo that is being circulated of her posing with her tongue in the mouth of the prisoner of war depicted on the iconic black-and-white POW/MIA emblem.

“We do not yet have all the details behind the photo, but it certainly is a concern; it’s a concern any time someone shows disrespect for prisoners of war and those missing in action,” Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Cody said in a statement. “They deserve our utmost respect and we must always remember their sacrifice and the legacy they’ve left for us as men and women serving our nation.

“I want to make it clear that this is not a reflection of Airmen who wear this uniform; it is a case of poor judgment of one Airman … to say we are disappointed would be an understatement. We are gathering all the details and will take appropriate action at the appropriate level,” he said. “Our Airmen fully understand the significance of the POW/MIA flag and the sacrifice of the men and women it honors.”
read more here

Family Searching for Missing Iraq Veteran in Louisiana

Family of missing Bossier City war veteran wants answers 
KSLA News
by Troy Washington 
Feb 14, 2016 

BOSSIER CITY, LA (KSLA) - A Bossier City family wants answers five days after the mysterious disappearance of 33-year-old Bernard Hall, an Iraqi war veteran.

"Police tell us that a blood trail led to the river, but we're still hopeful that he's out there somewhere,” said Hall’s mother, Pamela Hall. His car was found abandoned on the banks of the Red River. Hall was last seen Tuesday and reported missing on Wednesday. 

"Bernard, you have a loving family and we want you home," said Pamela Hall. Bossier and Caddo Parish dive teams have been searching for Hall who, according to his family, suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Bi-polar disorder and Schizophrenia. "He's missing and we have no idea where he is, we are hurting," added Pamela Hall. read more here

Candidates for President Couldn't Live up to Washington Standards

Presidential Candidates Run For Office and Away From Records?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 15, 2016

Fascinating report on how much the candidates for President actually thought about our veterans on Charlotte Observer. All candidates say they would help veterans. Who actually has a plan?

They took a look at all the speeches and then at how much thought they actually gave to veterans struggling to get the care they have been promised for generations.

Bernie Sanders: ‘We have a moral obligation’
Vermont Sen. Sanders’ public platform on veterans’ issues focuses heavily on his record in the Senate. He offers only five brief bullets points as a plan, including fully funding and expanding the VA and offering improved dental and mental care.

Sanders has been vocal on veterans’ issues since the beginning of his campaign. He has touted his record as the former chairman of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, which worked to provide billions in extra funding to boost health care for veterans. On the campaign trail, his wife, Jane, has often told the story of how Sanders decided to run for president when a disabled veteran thanked him for helping him secure benefits.

At the same time, Sanders has been criticized for defending the VA in the midst of the 2014 scandal and initially dismissing its systematic failures. When pressed on the issue in recent interviews, he admitted, “We should have done better.”

Yes, he should have done better as the Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, but we saw repeated performances of duck, dodge and hide the same way we saw all of it from all the others before him.

The really ironic thing that has escaped most reporters is the simple fact they have had jurisdiction over the VA since the 40's.

Hillary Clinton is running but no one seemed to notice that when Bill Clinton claims in the backlog for President Bush. President Bush left Obama more. Now Obama will leave even more.

By March of 2007, the Boston Globe reported that the backlog of claims had gone from 69,000 in 2000 to 400,000 in 2007 taking 177 days to process an original claim and 657 days to process an appeal. The news got worse with a staggering 915,000 in 2009 with 803,000 with the Board of Appeals.

Here is what was going on in 2008

From September 2007 to May 2008, GAO looked at four VBA regional offices, in Atlanta; Baltimore; Milwaukee; and Portland, Ore.

VA officials said it takes at least two years to properly train disability claims employees, and they must complete 80 hours of training a year. New employees have three weeks of intense classroom training before they begin several months of on-the-job training at their home offices.

But “because the agency has no policy outlining consequences for individual staff who do not complete their 80 hours of training per year, individual staff are not held accountable for meeting their annual training requirement,” the GAO found. “And, at present, VBA central office lacks the ability to track training completed by individual staff members.” GAO faults training for VA claims processors Air Force Times By Kelly Kennedy

“Backlogs are at the point where veterans must wait an average of six months for a decision on benefits claims and some veterans are waiting as long as four years,” number of unprocessed veterans claims exceeds 915,000 — a 100,000 jump since the beginning of the year.” (Have VA Pay old claims automatically, Rick Maze, Marine Corps Times, June 30, 2009)

Hey but let's just pretend all this is new and no one had anything to do with anything that has gone wrong EVEN THOUGH IT IS PRESIDENT'S DAY AND THESE FOLKS ARE RUNNING AWAY FROM WHAT THEY ALREADY LET HAPPEN?