Why didn't FOX discover Trump's disdain for military before he became Commander-in-Chief?

Republicans missing out on facts watching FOX

Just stunned and checked FOX earlier today to see if they had this story. They did not early this morning. Then again, it seems that they are not reporting on a lot of things. 

Do they understand that most in the GOP are for the troops and our veterans and deserve to know what is going on with both of those groups?

Well, just one more example of the hoodwinking of patriotic folks who are giving up on the GOP and FOX. No need to wonder why so many of them are switching to Independent~

When candidate Trump went after members of the military, that was not enough for people to wake up and understand what they were approving of.

When POTUS Trump went after the VA and tried to cut benefits for millions of senior veterans, that was not enough for people to wake up to what they had approved of.

When POTUS took money out of the military budget for the wall he wanted to build, even as hundreds of military families were subjected to living in squalor in their homes, that was not enough to wake up people.

The list of offenses committed is so long that it would take days...or weeks, to put together. What did it for me last night was hearing that POTUS had such disdain for the military, he threatened to cut off child support for one of his daughters if she joined it! 

It was not just about if she went to work, but he had to make sure he mentioned military service above any other job!

Does anyone still approve of supporting him? Why didn't FOX tell us any of this?


TIFFANY TRUMP CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS WOULD HAVE BEEN STOPPED BY DONALD IF SHE JOINED THE MILITARY: PRENUP 
NEWSWEEK
BY JESSICA KWONG
6/4/19

President Donald Trump's newly revealed prenuptial agreement with his second wife Marla Maples contains rules regarding their daughter Tiffany Trump — specifically on circumstances under which his child support payments for her would end early.

The 1993 prenup, obtained and reported by Vanity Fair on Tuesday, established that Donald Trump would halt $100,000 child support payments for Tiffany Trump when she turned 21 years old, or earlier if she joined the military, the Peace Corps., or landed a full-time job.

"The way it was drawn up is ironclad and shows how wary he was," divorce lawyer Raoul Felder, who has represented Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani, told the magazine after reading the prenup. "He was leaving nothing to chance."

The prenup was a reflection of Trump's fierce desire to guard his money at a time when he faced bankruptcy from three Atlantic City casinos and debt.

Trump negotiated to pay Maples just $1 million if they divorced within five years, and an additional $1 million to purchase a house. Maples reportedly had requested $25 million.

Maples gave birth to Tiffany Trump in October 1993 and wanted to marry soon after. Besides that, Donald Trump warmed up to the idea of marrying Maples because his conservative parents were not happy he had a daughter out of wedlock, and the marriage could calm investors as he prepared to go public with his casinos to pay his debts.

Donald Trump and Maples eventually settled the prenup at $14 million. Maples tried to negotiate better terms but was forced to cave, 24 hours before thousands of guests were set to arrive at their wedding.
read more here

Electronic health records from VA and DOD not working still?

VA, DoD Electronic Health Records Still Aren't Compatible, and Lawmakers Are Angry

Military.com
By Richard Sisk
1 May 2019

"For 10 years we've heard the same assurances" that the electronic health records problem will be solved," Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Kentucky, said. "It's incredible that we can't get this fixed."

Maj. Catherine Anderson, chief nurse for the 915th Forward Surgical Team, uses MC4, an electronic healthcare record system developed by the military, at the Medical Treatment Facility at Contingency Operating Base Basra., December 31, 2009. (U.S. Army/Pfc. J.P. Lawrence)

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan was grilled by lawmakers Wednesday on the lengthy and costly effort to develop compatible electronic records systems between the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"I don't ever recall being as outraged about an issue than I am about the electronic health record program," Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, told Shanahan at a House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the DoD's proposed fiscal 2020 budget.

She said a hearing last month with DoD and VA health program managers on the progress of meshing the records "was terrible."

"I can't believe that these program managers think that it is acceptable to wait another four years for a program to be implemented when we've spent billions of dollars and worked on it for over a decade," Granger said.
read more here

"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" or worth billions?

Why can't veterans trust members of congress?

No need to think too hard on this one. Considering there was a time when no member of Congress really wanted to serve on the Veterans Affairs Committee before it was turned into a money maker for anyone who can profit off their suffering, it is everyone's game now.

To think, these con-artists actually think they can get away with subjecting veterans to deplorable conditions by failing to fix the problems at the VA just for the sake of their rich buddies and fat retirement funds. 

Why else would they be pushing to turn your care over to for profit companies instead of making sure you got the best care possible at the VA?

Read this story from NPR back in 2016 and see what he was up to back then...like this,

SIEGEL: Ten billion dollars put into Veterans Choice, and there are now more vets waiting for care than before. What do you do now? What's next? What happens?

MILLER: We continue to work with the department, with the secretary, with the veterans service organizations that are out there. I believe that many folks now accept the fact that Choice is going to be here. I think it's going to take some time. I mean, nobody expected this to be resolved overnight. You can go back and check the transcripts of most of the interviews, and nobody thought that it was going to be resolved immediately.

Hell, people like Jeff Miller could have saved a lot of lives and caused a lot less heartache had he not been more focused on his own retirement while he served as head of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Now we know why!

The Congressman Who Turned the VA into a Lobbying Free-For-All

POLITICO
By JASPER CRAVEN
April 04, 2019

Jeff Miller helped open up the VA to private contractors. Now he’s out of office and lobbying for those businesses.

The Indian Treaty Room is a grand two-story meeting space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, with French and Italian marble wall panels, a pattern of stars on the ceiling and the image of a compass worked into the tiled floor. Over the years, it has hosted signing ceremonies for historic foreign policy pacts such as the Bretton Woods agreement and the United Nations Charter.

On Nov. 16, 2017, it hosted a different kind of gathering: an intimate meeting called by the White House to discuss the future of the Department of Veterans Affairs. In the 10 months since Donald Trump had taken office, his administration had been pushing a bold and controversial agenda to privatize more of the VA’s services.

The Trump administration’s ambitions are well documented. But what has not been publicly revealed until now is the extent to which the VA—a sprawling agency with a $180 billion (FY2017) annual budget that includes the nation’s single largest health care system, a network of cemeteries and a massive bureaucracy that administers the GI Bill and disability compensation for wounded veterans—has become a massive feeding trough for the lobbying industry.

The VA’s then secretary, David Shulkin, was at the previously undisclosed meeting, along with a contingent of conservative thinkers on veterans policy, including current and former members of Concerned Veterans for America, known as CVA, an advocacy network largely backed by conservative donors Charles and David Koch. Also present were “Fox & Friends” host Pete Hegseth, a former CVA executive repeatedly floated to be Trump’s pick for VA secretary, and David Urban, a right-leaning CNN commentator who served as a senior adviser on the Trump campaign.

According to emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the group drafted a strategy to “echo/amplify” Trump’s “priorities/initiatives” for accelerating the privatization process. According to three people who were there, the participants discussed how best to respond to expected resistance from traditional veterans advocates, who historically have opposed privatizing key agency services. Representatives from “the Big Six” major veterans organizations, including the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, were not invited.

But it was the presence of the most powerful lobbyist for the companies now trying to get a piece of the VA’s budget—a tan, affable Floridian named Jeff Miller—that would have raised the most eyebrows, had his attendance been known at the time.

As the head of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Miller helped write the very privatization legislation that opened the door to his lobbying operation. As an early Trump backer and a name repeatedly floated as a potential VA secretary, Miller personally shaped the president’s policy; he drafted the Trump campaign’s 10-point veterans policy paper, largely based on proposals he was unable to pass in his time on the Hill. (Moran said Miller also has communicated directly with Trump “on occasion” since joining McDermott.)
read more here

VA pushes slogan instead of solution on suicides

VA suicide high priority claim equals enduring slogan

This is the headline from NWA News

Boozman Seeks VA Improvements to Reduce Veteran Suicides

And this is what the article boils down to.

“The VA has indicated that suicide prevention is its highest clinical priority and, with the alarming number of suicides in the veteran community, it absolutely must be. Congress is appropriating resources and the VA is turning that into action, but the numbers continue to trend in the wrong direction. This is why it is vital that we have metrics to measure the effectiveness of the VA’s mental health and suicide prevention programs. This bill will help Congress and the VA isolate meaningful suicide prevention programs so we can ensure resources are focused on efforts that save lives.”

This was in the article too.

The GAO released a report in 2018 entitled Improvements Needed in Suicide Prevention Media Outreach Campaign Oversight and Evaluation. The GAO reveals in the report that the VA had failed to establish targets to evaluate the efficacy of its campaigns, that leadership turnover led to a dramatic decline in media outreach activities and that the VA spent a fraction of its budget for suicide prevention media outreach during the last fiscal year. 

This is what it was like back in 2008
Retired Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn:

Veterans with PTSD, he noted, have “much greater loss of employment and earnings” than those with physical disabilities.
McGinn recommended separate criteria on the rating schedule for PTSD, as well as a way to compensate unemployable veterans for lost quality of life, not just their inability to work.
So-called “individual unemployability” veterans may have formal VA disability ratings of less than 100 percent, but are still rated fully disabled because of their inability to work. The commission found that almost half of the 223,000 IU veterans have primary diagnoses of PTSD or other mental disorders.

The problem is that if a veteran has physical disabilities that lead to a 100 percent disability rating, he can still work and keep his full compensation. But a veteran who has a 100 percent disability for a mental disorder tries to work, he loses his compensation. 

And yet, they are still trying to take that away when a veteran reaches retirement age...not thinking about what the reduction actually means to them suddenly losing their 100% and all that goes with it. Guess they didn't figure on the fact these veterans stopped paying into Social Security BECAUSE THEY WERE TOO DISABLED TO WORK in the first place...plus actually believed permanent and total meant something they never had to worry about again.

While in the same year, the GAO found that there was no accountability for claims processors, we kept seeing the same every year after year, and doctors were accused of trying to blame the veteran as if PTSD was a matter of greedy and looking for a free ride the rest of their lives...like when Norma Perez had to apologize for telling counselors to start making fewer diagnosis's of PTSD...and some still do.

I think the worst thing out of all of this is, we keep hearing how it is a top priority for the VA...as well as the DOD, but the evidence is showing it has become a top priority to use the slogan instead of find solutions.

We also knew that female veterans were lacking in the care they were supposed to be receiving from the VA...and while they did some outreach to OEF and OIF veterans, they forgot about the veterans from previous wars...not just ignoring them, but pushing them to the back of the line for claims and services...and still do.

There was also a huge effort beginning on educating members of law enforcement about PTSD. Give what we've seen among officers and firefighters, they still have not learned what they needed to know...and still do.

We knew that veterans in rural areas of the country were lacking in services....and still are.

THIS CRAP IS FUBAR

Veterans love their country but now you may understand why they fear the government

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 16, 2019


Erosion: The gradual destruction or diminution of something. The Latin version means to "wear or gnaw away." No one ever thought that this would be happening to the debt this nation owes our veterans, but some members of Congress are not even ashamed it is happening. 

They are actually pushing to do even more gnawing away of benefits disabled veterans fought for.

Veterans risked their lives for this country. They became disabled doing it. They were promised to be taken care of. Then they had to fight the government to have their claims approved. All too often, it took years of suffering medically and financially.

Once their compensation was granted with a "total and permanent" rating of 100%, they though this was a guarantee that they would never have to worry about again.

For the last few years, they have been discovering that word "permanent" was subject to change. 

Some want to say that cutting the "unemployable" percentages from ratings makes sense because senior disabled veterans were retired like everyone else. What they do not want to acknowledge is the fact that once the disabled veterans stopped working because of their disability, they stopped paying into the system.

Social Security benefits are based on how much they paid into the system. That means most of our disabled veterans, especially Vietnam veterans, will not be able to survive. If you think that the rate of senior veteran suicides is high now, this will push even more over the cliff.

What most people do not know is how far the rating goes.

A veteran with 100% disability receives $3,057.13 per month. If they are married, it is $3,227.58. For the rest of the breakdown, go to the VA chart.

If they cut the unemployable and reduce the claim, to 90%, that reduces the amount down to $1,833.62. At 80% it is $1,631.69. At 70% it is down to $1,403.71. 

How can they pay their mortgages and rents with that huge drop in compensation? They will not be able to.

We cannot make plans for our "golden age" when we do not know what Congress will pull next. We cannot depend on the VA when it is being sold piece by piece to private "providers" accountable to no one, being pushed into the healthcare system members of Congress keep trying to kill off.

THIS CRAP IS FUBAR

But, this gets even worse.

Losing that 100% rating, will also cause the loss of most of their medical coverage not tied to their claim, and for their spouses and kids. 

It will cost them college benefits and their kids. Not that they even have that working the way it should.

They lose real estate tax breaks from their states as well as reduced fees from their cities and towns.

Discounts offered from businesses to disabled veterans will end because they are no longer 100% disabled.

This is why veterans and families like mine are freaking out. 

Yet again, the Congressional Budget Office, the CBO, has put out another report that this benefit should be cut to save money. They were not even ashamed to admit it December 13, 2018.

"End VA’s Individual Unemployability Payments to Disabled Veterans at the Full Retirement Age for Social Security"

And if you think I'm kidding on the Vietnam veterans part, here you go!

"VA's regulations require that IU benefits be based on a veteran's inability to maintain substantially gainful employment because of the severity of a service-connected disability and not because of age, voluntary withdrawal from work, or other factors. About 48 percent of veterans receiving the IU supplement were 67 or older in September 2017, up from about 40 percent in September 2010. That rise is attributed largely to the aging of Vietnam War veterans."

And then there is this part.

Option
This option consists of two alternatives, both beginning in January 2020. Under the first alternative, VA would stop making IU payments to veterans age 67 or older (the full retirement age for Social Security benefits for those born after 1959). That restriction would apply to both current and prospective recipients. Therefore, at age 67, VA disability payments would revert to the amount associated with the rated disability level.

Under the second alternative, veterans who begin receiving the IU supplement after January 2020 would no longer receive those payments once they reach age 67. In addition, no new applicants who are age 67 or older would be eligible for IU benefits after that date. Unlike under the first alternative, veterans who are already receiving IU payments and are age 67 or older after the effective date of the option would continue to collect the IU supplement.

Thank God they are no longer running Congress and did not push their through but what about the next time? Why should we have to worry about this one thing we were supposed to be able to trust from our government?

Here are a few thoughts I can actually publish other than the ones I am thinking: 

How about making permanent actually mean that? 
How about never subjecting our disabled veterans to these nightmarish threats ever again? 
How about actually making sure the veterans who have 100% rating right now, no matter how the VA has decided to break it up--down--all around, and make it a flat 100% they never have to worry about again?

As for when to reduce the ratings, start when you guys in Congress reduce the tax cuts you gave the wealthy first. You always manage to find the money for them...but not for our disabled veterans!

Those who serve...paying beyond what is acceptable

Supreme Court rejects appeal over military burn pits

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 14, 2019

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is rejecting appeals from military veterans who claim they suffer health problems because of open burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The justices on Monday left in place a federal appeals court ruling that more than 60 lawsuits over the burn pits could not go forward.

The lawsuits said military contractor KBR dumped tires, batteries, medical waste and other materials into open burn pits. The suits claimed the resulting smoke caused neurological problems, cancers and other health issues in more than 800 servicemembers. The complaints said at least 12 servicemembers died. #ExposedAndBetrayed
read more here

Commandant tells Coast Guard families: ‘You have not, and will not, be forgotten’

By STARS AND STRIPES
Published: January 14, 2019

Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Karl Schultz drew attention to ongoing missions around the globe and expressed his support for Coast Guard families as the service prepared for about 41,000 members to go without paychecks on Tuesday as part of the ongoing partial government shutdown.

A Coast Guard Cutter Munro crewmember embraces his children after the cutter returned home to Alameda, Calif., Dec. 24, 2018. MATTHEW MASASCHI/U.S. COAST GUARD

"While our Coast Guard workforce is deployed, there are loved ones at home reviewing family finances, researching how to get support, and weighing childcare options—they are holding down the fort," Schultz wrote on Sunday. "Please know that we are doing everything we can to support and advocate for you while your loved one stands the watch. You have not, and will not, be forgotten."
read more here

And then there is the latest news that the Congress is once again thinking about the term permanent and totally disabled should be followed up with "just kidding." They managed to cut the taxes on their wealthy friends, but now they want to cut the budgets of the disabled veterans who cannot afford to lose their compensation. Gee, wonder how much the heads of all the corporations get for their compensation after that sweetheart deal?

In other words folks...mostly cutting Vietnam veterans off at the knees!

Background

In 2017, 4.5 million veterans with medical conditions or injuries that were incurred or that worsened during active-duty service received disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The amount of compensation such veterans receive depends on the severity of their disabilities (which are rated between zero and 100 percent in increments of 10), the number of their dependents, and other factors—but not on their income or civilian employment history.

In addition, VA may increase certain veterans' disability compensation to the 100 percent level, even though VA has not rated their service-connected disabilities at that level. To receive the supplement, termed an Individual Unemployability (IU) payment, disabled veterans must apply for the benefit and meet two criteria. First, veterans generally must be rated between 60 percent and 90 percent disabled. Second, VA must determine that veterans' disabilities prevent them from maintaining substantially gainful employment—for instance, if their employment earnings would keep them below the poverty threshold for one person. In 2017, for veterans who received the supplement, it boosted their monthly VA disability payment by an average of about $1,200. In September 2017, about 380,000 veterans received IU payments. Of those veterans, the Congressional Budget Office estimates, about 180,000 were age 67 or older. That age group has been the largest driver of growth in the program.

VA's regulations require that IU benefits be based on a veteran's inability to maintain substantially gainful employment because of the severity of a service-connected disability and not because of age, voluntary withdrawal from work, or other factors. About 48 percent of veterans receiving the IU supplement were 67 or older in September 2017, up from about 40 percent in September 2010. That rise is attributed largely to the aging of Vietnam War veterans.

But the tax cuts for the wealthy they managed to make permanent!

House passes GOP bill to make new tax cuts permanent

• Republicans have sped legislation through the House to expand their massive new tax law, capping their session for the year as they rush out of town to face voters in the November elections.
• The new bill would make permanent the individual and small-business tax cuts in the law.
• It's the second tax-cut proposal that Republican leaders have pushed in less than a year.

125,000 veterans — have been furloughed or forced to work without pay

VA secretary slams union comments on government shutdown as politicizing veterans’ suicide

Military Times
By: Leo Shane III
2 hours ago

In a news interview last week, AFGE Local President Edward Canales said that if the shutdown doesn’t stop soon, “we are going to have fatalities, we’re going to have suicides.”

American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. speaks to federal employees gathered outside the AFL-CIO headquarters about the partial government shutdown on Jan. 4, 2019. On Monday, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie demanded an apology for the union suggesting that the ongoing shutdown could caused mental health distress for some veterans. (Jessie Bur/Staff)

WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie on Monday accused union officials of politicizing veterans mental health care by saying the ongoing government shutdown could cost some veterans their lives.

In a letter to the American Federation of Government Employees leadership, Wilkie demanded an apology for the “reckless comments” and asked for officials to “outline the steps you plan to take to ensure AFGE leaders demonstrate proper respect for our nation’s heroes.”

The move is the latest chapter in ongoing friction between federal workers’ unions and President Donald Trump’s administration, and the VA leadership specifically. In a response statement, AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. called the Trump administration “one of the worst on record for our country’s heroes” and pushed back on Wilkie’s accusations.

“Federal government employed veterans are hurting right now,” he said. “Regardless of their continued service to our country the President and his cabinet have left them out in the cold, forcing them to work without pay or subjecting veterans and their families to the uncertainty of not knowing when or where their next paycheck will come from.”

At the heart of the dispute is the decision of congressional Democrats and other Trump critics to invoke the impact of the ongoing government shutdown on veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is fully funded for the year, meaning VA employees and veterans support programs are not affected by the ongoing partial shutdown. But about 800,000 employees from other departments — including more than 125,000 veterans — have been furloughed or forced to work without pay because of the ongoing budget dispute.

In a news interview last week, AFGE Local President Edward Canales said that if the shutdown doesn’t stop soon, “we are going to have fatalities, we’re going to have suicides.”
read more here

Press release on prevention?

OP-ED: The VA is making real progress on suicide prevention for veterans

By Robert Wilkie, Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Press Release
Under President Trump, VA has done more in the last two years than it has in decades in reforming the department and improving care and benefits for our nation’s heroes.

VA has made groundbreaking progress, particularly in the areas of accountability, transparency and efficiency across the department while achieving an unprecedented series of legislative successes, including giving greater choice in care to our nation’s Veterans through the MISSION Act.

As part of these efforts, the department is making great strides in our top clinical priority -- suicide prevention -- and in improving mental health care for Veterans, including through Telehealth, and same-day mental health services.

In his first year in office, President Trump issued an executive order to support Veterans during their transition from uniformed service to civilian life. The order focuses on transitioning service members and Veterans in the first 12 months after separation from service, a critical period marked by a high risk for suicide.

This executive order helps ensure that service members learn about VA benefits and start enrollment before becoming Veterans, and any newly transitioned Veteran can go to a VA medical center or vet center and start receiving mental health care right away. Transitioning service members and Veterans will be able to find information quickly online about their eligibility for VA care. Former service members with other-than-honorable discharges can also receive mental health care from VA medical centers.

We’ve also taken a number of other important steps to reach Veterans at risk. Since becoming VA’s director of suicide prevention, Dr. Keita Franklin has added more than 20 staff to her team, worked to improve the office’s organizational structure and brought clear lines of responsibility and accountability to VA’s suicide prevention efforts.

We also ramped up our spending on suicide prevention outreach in a big way. VA spent $12.2 million on suicide prevention outreach in fiscal year 2018, including $1.5 million on paid media. During fiscal year 2019, our total budget for suicide prevention is approximately $47.5 million, and we plan to spend $20 million of that budget on outreach.

We’ve also made great use of unpaid media through our partnership with Johnson and Johnson to produce a public service announcement featuring Tom Hanks—at no cost to VA. That partnership helped put VA in the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings for PSAs.

More and more Americans are taking advantage of VA’s suicide prevention resources. The Veterans Crisis Line helps about 2,000 callers every day. In the past 10 years, it has answered over 3.5 million calls, engaged in over 413,000 online chats, and responded to over 98,000 text messages. And our suicide prevention coordinators conducted over 22,000 outreach events last year, reaching 2.2 million Veterans and family members.

Also, a recent pilot study found that a Safety Planning Intervention program currently in use at five VA facilities has shown to reduce suicidal behavior by 45%, and this intervention will be expanded to all VA facilities nationwide.

Tragically, an average of 20 Veterans die by suicide each day. Of those 20, 14 have not received recent VA care. The goal of VA’s suicide prevention efforts is not to get every Veteran enrolled in VA care, but rather to equip communities to help Veterans get the right care, whenever and wherever they need it.

This means using prevention approaches that cut across all sectors in which Veterans may interact, and collaborating with Veterans Service Organizations, state and local leaders, medical professionals, criminal justice officials, private employers and many other stakeholders. We’re doing this through the Mayor’s Challenge in which we work with cities to develop community plans to end Veteran suicide, and we’re expanding that program to work with Governors on the same approach in their states in February.

Put simply, suicide prevention is much more than intervention at the point of crisis – it is about creating and fostering cultures where Veterans and their families thrive. We’re all in this together. We must approach this matter compassionately and clinically and build on the important lessons from the past, while expanding our efforts in new directions that make sense.

If any Veteran is in crisis, we encourage him or her to visit the closest VA facility, as all VA health care locations provide same-day urgent mental health care services, or call the Veterans crisis line at 800-273-8255.

While it is true that veterans are less likely to commit suicide if they go to the VA...and there are increasing calls to the crisis line, the rest, not so much on the facts.

Seems more like a push to send them into private care instead of the VA....but then again, we all remember this too.

WASHINGTON — Despite public pronouncements on their continued focus on preventing veterans suicide, Veterans Affairs officials failed to spend millions available for outreach campaigns in 2018 and severely curtailed their messaging efforts, according to a new report released Monday.

The Government Accountability Office study found that of $6.2 million set aside for suicide prevention media outreach in fiscal 2018, only $57,000 — less than 1 percent — was actually used.

In addition, social media content from VA officials on the subject dropped by more than two-thirds from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018. Two planned new public service announcements on the topic were delayed, and no public outreach messages were aired on national television or radio for more than a year. 

Then we have the 27 public suicides last year, plus a lot more. 

Rush to spend funds headline made advocates cringe

VA in rush to spend funds for suicide prevention? Seriously?

This is the headline that made advocates cringe! VA vows to spend full suicide prevention budget after revelation it left millions unused in 2018

This is December 20th! They had no plans for spending the funds, all of the nearly $5 million!

“This year, I’m making sure that we are spending the funding 100 percent,” said Dr. Steven Lieberman, who is in charge of the Veterans Health Administration. “I’m reviewing the budget monthly and making sure we have obligated all the dollars. We have to get it right.”

Excuse me? Then why didn't they before the GAO reported about them not doing it? Didn't they notice?

Well, not really that hard to believe there are a lot of things they did not notice.

Like the fact California is just adding on veterans status to death certificates so they have a clue how many veterans committed suicide there. Yes, California with the largest veterans population in the country. No need to wonder why out of the known suicides reported, Texas and Florida are tied for first place with 530.

The article went on to say a lot. Like this.

The GAO report also revealed the VA had no means to measure the effectiveness of its suicide prevention outreach campaigns. Lieberman told lawmakers that they would have a system in place to do so sometime in 2019.

So, we have had veterans, at least 26 of them, doing their own outreach work, screaming for help for other veterans, because it was too late for them. Yes, that's right. At least 26 veterans committed suicide in very public ways this year.

Would be great to know exactly who gets the money and what they plan on doing with it BUT WOULD BE EVEN BETTER IF SOMEONE COULD EXPLAIN WTF HAPPENED TO ALL THE MONEY ALREADY SPENT THAT PRODUCED THE RESULTS WERE ARE SEEING EVERY DAY?

If you want to actually be aware who has been paying the price for this lack of urgency, it is loaded into a double barrel Howitzer!

 In January, a Michigan veteran went to an elementary school and killed himself. In February, a Texas Army veteran was dead after facing off with SWAT. 

Let's not forget about March when a veteran who was kicked out of a PTSD program in Yountville California, killed women who had dedicated their lives to help veterans, and then killed himself. But safe bet you didn't hear about the Vietnam veteran committing suicide in the Sheridan Police Department parking lot, or the Joint Base Lewis McChord Airman who committed suicide after killing his family. Or the Waterbury veteran who committed suicide by cop. Or the Air Force veteran in Oklahoma, or the soldier at Aberdeen Proving Ground, or the 62 year old veteran who committed suicide at the John Cochran VA Medical Center.

How about the 76 year old veteran in April, who killed himself in the Boynton City Hall Parking lot?

A Cannon Air Force Airman's body was found in Ned Houk Park in May. In June it was a 21 year old who committed suicide at Clarksville High School. A 38 year old veteran decided to record his awareness message in Colorado Springs and in Georgia, a Navy Veteran decided to set himself on fire at the Georgia State Capitol. A Sailor had his awareness message via walking into a helicopter blade at Norfolk Navy Yard.

Then there was July when an Air Force veteran shot his family and then himself after he set his house on fire in Alabama. In Chicago, a Police Officer/Marine veteran decided he had enough and he committed suicide in the parking lot of the police station.  Here in Florida, an 85 year old veteran pulled out his gun at the VA and killed himself. In Arizona, a veteran shot himself in the VA hospital Chapel.

In August a veteran/VA employee committed suicide in Topeka VA medical center and in Mishawaka VA parking lot a veteran shot himself in the parking lot.

In September, there was the veteran who committed suicide in Minneapolis VA parking lot. a day after he was discharged. 

How about October when a Greenville veteran video taped himself just before he committed suicide begging his family to forgive him?

In November, a veteran pulled out a gun in the Nashville VA lobby and ended his awareness message.

Here in Florida 10 days ago, a Retired Marine Colonel killed himself at Bay Pines.

So, please tell me if you think that the funds could have helped if they were spent during all these months. 

If they are in a rush to spend the money, maybe they should pay the families for the funerals that had to take place because NO ONE TOLD THESE VETERANS THEY COULD HEAL AND HOW TO GET IT!

VA spent less than 1% of suicide prevention funds

When I read a headline like this, it makes me sick to my stomach.

Trump’s VA vowed to stop veteran suicide. Its leaders failed to spend millions set aside to reach those at risk.

The Washington Post
By Lisa Rein
December 18, 2018

The agency had no permanent director of suicide prevention for months. So the staff spent its resources updating the website of the crisis hotline. Its employees also began reporting to VA’s Office of Mental Health, which pulled them away from suicide prevention, the report says.

President Trump hands then-VA Secretary David Shulkin a pen after signing an executive order in January. A VA spokesman blamed Shulkin, who was fired in March, for problems with outreach to veterans.
(Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

The Trump administration said from its first days that preventing suicide was its top clinical priority for veterans.

The performance of its national outreach campaign shows otherwise, though, because of a leadership vacuum at the Department of Veterans Affairs and nonexistent means to measure effectiveness, a new report by the Government Accountability Office found.

As the number of veterans taking their own lives climbed, VA’s media outreach plunged in fiscal years 2017 and 2018 — with fewer social media posts, public service announcements and paid advertisements compared with the agency’s efforts during the Obama administration, auditors said.

About 20 veterans die by suicide every day, VA data shows. That’s nearly twice the suicide rate among Americans who did not serve in the military.

VA set aside $6.2 million this year alone to advertise its crisis hotline — the centerpiece of its suicide-prevention efforts — online, on billboards, buses and trains, and via local and national radio commercials. But as of September, the agency had spent $57,000 — less than 1 percent of that budget, auditors wrote.
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I have been involved in all of this for over 3 decades. While they continue to die after their service, the claims of how important it is to prevent suicides, boils down to just a bunch of words. It is just about as bad as not fixing something so the next time it happens the government offers their "thoughts and prayers" but no plans. They do not even acknowledge how many times they have failed our veterans.

There are plenty of thoughts and prayers standing next to caskets with the American flag over it. Plenty of thoughts and prayers as Taps plays and salutes slowly drop from brow to hip. Plenty of thoughts and prayers as the flag is folded and handed to a grieving family member. Or to strangers when the veteran had been sent away from their families and no relative came to attend their funeral.

There are plenty of things that sound good until people actually look at the results.

Now add in these reports

Police: Man playing Russian roulette calls VA crisis line during SWAT standoff in southwest Houston

ABC 13 News
December 10, 2018

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A standoff ended in southwest Houston after a SWAT negotiator talked a suicidal man out of his apartment.

Police said the VA crisis hotline received a call just before 2 a.m. from a man in his 60s threatening suicide at an apartment complex on Beverly Hill near Richmond Avenue.
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Man taken into custody after nearly 4 hour long standoff with MPD

The suspect surrendered to police shortly after 11 a.m. without any shots being fired. No firearms were recovered. Police say the man may have mental health issues, and possibly is a military veteran with ptsd. read more of this here 

But this is the most telling thing of all.

Most Veterans Who Kill Themselves Are 55 Or Older. The VA Is Trying to Learn Why.

KSTX
Steven Walsh
December 19, 2018

The VA National Suicide Data Report for 2005 to 2016, which came out in September, highlights the alarming rise in suicides among veterans age 18 to 34, who had the highest rate of suicide - 45 per 100,000 veterans. But those 55 and older still represent the largest number of suicides among veterans.

76 year old Army veteran Robert Neilson writes notes of encouragement to fellow veterans who have contemplated suicide. He's struggled with mental health issues since he left the Army in the 1960s. MATT BOWLER / KPBS

Veterans are about twice as likely as non-veterans to die by suicide. But the majority of those suicides are among veterans aged 55 or older -- whose military service was decades earlier.

Robert Neilson's military service ended decades ago. He was drafted in 1961 and spent two years in the Army just before the Vietnam War.

But that experience still weighed on him three years ago, when he sought help from the San Diego VA after contemplating suicide.

"That's what brought me into the emergency room," said Neilson, who's now 76.

It wasn't Neilson's first time seeking treatment. He said he also considered suicide shortly after getting out of the service. He remembers standing on a subway platform in New Jersey watching a speeding train.

"And I just figured if I just hold my hands in the air, I could just let it suck me in," Neilson said. "Somebody shouted, 'What are you doing?' And that snapped me out of the trance."

Neilson traces his mental health issues to the trauma of a sexual assault he suffered while in the military. Still, didn't seek help for fifty years.

"I just figured I'll struggle through life," he said.
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