Navy Veterans Help Others Ride "One More Wave"

Surfing veterans ride the wave to recovery
San Diego Union Tribune
Pam Kragen
November 22, 2016

“Getting people out of the hospital, off the meds, out of the dark place they’re in, treating them like the men they are and not talking to them like kids ... I mean, really, depending upon where some guys are at, it could save their life,” McFadden said.

One More Wave volunteers Micah Shanahan, left, Kyle Buckett and Alex West at Shanahan's Addict Surfboards in Sorrento Valley.

(Peggy Peattie / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Alex West and Kyle Buckett didn’t become friends until two years ago, but their lives have long followed parallel paths. Each of the San Diego men has served more than 15 years in the Navy, each completed more than a dozen deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and each is passionate about the healing power of surfing.

Together, they’re now the volunteer force behind One More Wave, an 18-month-old San Diego nonprofit that provides free custom-designed surfboards to wounded military veterans.

Over the past year-and-a-half, West, Buckett and surfboard shaper Micah Shanahan have delivered boards to 31 veterans who’ve lost limbs in combat, suffered disabling injuries or struggle with post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). Another 14 boards are now in the finishing stages at Shanahan’s Addict Surfboards in Sorrento Valley.
read more here

204,000 women are serving in the armed forces right now

Female service members find their identity through Ms. Veteran America
10TV CBS News
November 24, 2016

“When people look at my uniform, they see Major Boothe; they don’t see me as a wife, they don’t see me as a mother. We have to somehow erase a little bit of our identities as women in order to blend in and serve in the military.” Maj. Jas Boothe

More than 204,000 women are serving in the armed forces right now, making up nearly 16 percent of service members. When women retire from the military, they often don’t get the same treatment or access to services that men do. But an event featuring hundreds of active and retired military women is trying to change that.

Through poise, grace and service, the competition for Ms. Veteran America unites them all for a common mission, reports CBS News correspondent Dana Jacobson.

“When I was really struggling with PTSD and I just got out of the military, I felt a bit worthless,” Molly Mae Potter said.
read more here

Fort Campbell Welcomes Home 101st Airborne from Iraq

Soldiers return home to spend Thanksgiving with families
ABC 3 News
Posted: Nov 24, 2016

WSIL -- This Thanksgiving, members of the 101st Airborne out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky can celebrate with their families after returning home from the battle to retake Mosul in Iraq.

Fort Campbell troops are greeted by no shortage of cheers after returning from a deployment in Iraq last week. Family and friends embrace these soldiers who spent nine grueling months training and advising Iraqi troops, under the command of Major General Gary Volesky.

Volesky says the 101st Airborne Division leaves the Middle East with no regrets.

"We said it was a marathon but we are going to sprint the whole way and they hit that tape sprinting so I couldn't be more proud of them," he said.

Their focus was on helping the Iraqis retake the key city of Mosul from Islamic State.

"The enablers we bring the fires and the advise assist and the training clearly are getting them where they need to be," said Volesky.

Much of the training from U.S. and coalition forces focused on Iraqi commanders.

"Leadership matters you can have the best unit, but if you don't have great leaders they won't be as effective," added Volesky.
read more here
WSIL-TV 3 Southern Illinois

Election is Over But Will We Hold Them Accountable?

What Do Veterans Hope For?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 25, 2016

In 2008, when most of the bad reports of how our veterans were being failed by members of Congress came out, it was stunning. That is, stunning for some folks. The rest of us had been living with all the problems for decades. 

To this day, there is absolutely no excuse for any disabled veteran to be unaware of all of this. Civilians, sure they have an excuse, considering they have better things to do than think about veterans, especially when they are too busy complaining about how "offended" they are over tiny little things. No time to care about the men and women risking their lives to make sure they keep those rights of free speech and the right to protest.

The thing is, with all the social media capabilities the younger veterans have in the palm of their hands, they seem more interested in what is happening to them right now than what has been happening all along.

Veterans are mostly Republican, according to reports, yet they are fast becoming more Independent than Democratic.

The stunner came when Military Times delivered poll results with this message to the would-be next Commander-in-Chief

In a new survey of American military personnel, Donald Trump emerged as active-duty service members' preference to become the next U.S. president, topping Hillary Clinton by more than a 2-to-1 margin. However, in the latest Military Times election survey, more than one in five troops said they’d rather not vote in November if they have to choose between just those two candidates.

Most of us figured out a long time ago, that it really doesn't matter much which party controls what because historically, both have been bad for veterans. This is something I wrote back in 2008 when there was another Presidential election with politicians yet again, making promises they didn't keep. Oh, no, this isn't just a slam against those seeking the highest office, but against all politicians we elected, then neglected to hold them accountable.

With all the hearings by the House and the Senate, why is there so little being done to correct these problems while the veterans are suffering? Good motives and plans do not put food on their table or a roof over their heads. Building new hospitals does not take care of the veterans facing wanting to end their lives today or having to deal with having their wound go untreated. Can't they understand that these veterans need help yesterday? They still need to work on the future but they have to take care of today first!

Not much has changed. Back then John McCain was talking about how bad the VA was and the need to privatize it instead of demanding the Congress be held accountable for fixing it. After all, since they have had since 1946, you'd think everything would be running perfectly because veterans like him deserved nothing less. Ya, right!

We need to relieve the burden on the VA from routine health care,” McCain told the National Forum on Disability Issues last month. “If you have a routine health care need, take it wherever you want, whatever doctor or health care provider and get the treatment you need, while we at the VA focus our attention, our care, our love, on these grievous wounds of war.”

The Republican senator argues that giving veterans a VA card that they can use at private doctors would shorten the long wait times many veterans face in seeing government doctors, who are nearly universally viewed as among the best in the world.

McCain and veterans groups aren’t always on the same page and he was yet again pushing for it. Guess it didn't matter that only about 20% of our veterans go to the VA, as it is, while the majority are in fact seeing private healthcare providers.

While about 40 percent of veterans get some health care from the VA, only about 20 percent of all veterans rely totally on the VA, according to a 2015 government survey of health and health care use.

Let that sink in for a minute.  Only 20%, yet every session of Congress, and every President elected, has promised to do the right thing for our veterans. We noticed. For the younger veterans, it is time you got caught up to what we've been living with for decades. This veteran was waiting 17 years.

POST FALLS, Idaho - It was a shocking scene outside a large church in Post Falls Sunday as hundreds of worshipers were gathered at Real Life Ministries, when a Gulf War veteran took his own life right outside the church doors. 59-year-old Dale Belieu had suffered from debilitating illness for years and spoke out against the lack of help from the Veteran's Administration.

Here are a few more reports to get you more informed on how things got so bad for your generation.

VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008, up 188,781 since 2004, said Kerry Baker, associate legislative director of the Disabled Veterans of America, during a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will treat about 333,000 sick and injured veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in 2009, according to VA statistics released last week. That number is a 14 percent increase over this year's casualty total. Yet, despite the Bush administration's promises to prioritize the VA even as other domestic departments' funds are cut, its annual budget request for next year places more financial burdens than ever on many returning soldiers.

Now what are you going to do about it? Will you hold the folks you just sent into office accountable or, will you once again, find it regrettable you didn't pay attention all along?

DAV Chapter 1 Delivers Gift Cards to Disabled Veterans

Disabled American Veterans present gift cards to VA Medical Center
Cranston Herald
Posted Wednesday, November 23, 2016

DISABLED AMERICAN VETS SUPPORT VA: From left to right are Raymond Denisewich, John S. Hill Sr., Donna Russillo, Kenneth R. DiLeone, Alfred “Gus” Pagel, Charles R. “Chuck” Palumbo Sr., Debra Veasey, Pasco R. “Pat” Rinaldi and Joseph R. Gagner.

Continuing their long standing tradition of supporting Veterans and their families, members of the Giovanni Folcarelli Chapter #1 Disabled American Veterans visited the Providence Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) to make their annual holiday season donation. Meeting with Donna Russillo, Chief of Voluntary Services for the Providence VAMC and Debra Veasey, Program Support Assistant, members of Chapter #1 made a presentation of $1,000.00 in Stop and Shop and $1,000.00 in Best Buy gift cards.

These cards will be given to Veterans and their families during the holiday season. According to Donna Russillo, many of the cards will find their way to the medical centers annual giving tree. While the Stop and Shop cards are generally focused on the food needs of Veteran families, the Best Buy cards are specifically directed to the holiday needs of the teenage children of Veterans who, according to Donna Russillo, are routinely forgotten during the holiday season. Members conducted fundraising events during this year to raise money for this annual donation and for other programs supporting the needs of Veterans. 

The most recognized fundraising symbol used was the little blue Forget-Me-Not flower, first introduced to the public by the Disabled American Veterans on February 24, 1926 as a symbol commemorating those who had fallen in war. This small flower means simply Please don't forget me. Members of the DAV believe that the blue Forget-Me-Not flower is an appropriate symbol of remembrance and a reminder of the service and sacrifice made by Veterans and their families that make our American way of life possible.
read more here