Tammy Duckworth Tapped for VA Assistant Secretary

This will make a lot of people as happy as I am.

Recent VA News Releases

Duckworth Tapped for VA Assistant Secretary

WASHINGTON (Feb. 3, 2009) - President Barack Obama has announced his
intent to nominate L. Tammy Duckworth, director of the Illinois
Department of Veterans Affairs, to be the Assistant Secretary of Public
and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA).



"Effective communications with Veterans and VA's stakeholders is key to
improving our services and ensuring Veterans receive the benefits they
deserve," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "Tammy
Duckworth brings significant talent, leadership and personal experience
to this important work."



As assistant secretary, Duckworth will direct VA's public affairs,
internal communications and intergovernmental relations. She also will
oversee programs for homeless Veterans, consumer affairs and special
rehabilitative events.



Duckworth was appointed director of the state Veterans office in
Illinois in 2006. In previous testimony before Congress, she expressed
her commitment to Veterans and the need for transformation of the
Department. "The VA system faces new challenges as a result of the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan." She also noted "the patient profile is
changing. More wounded soldiers are surviving very serious injuries."



She is serving as a major in the Illinois National Guard and was
previously deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom where, as a captain, she
was assistant operations officer for a 500-soldier aviation task force.
She also served as a logistics officer and company commander. As a
helicopter pilot flying combat missions in 2004, she suffered grave
injuries when her helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade,
losing both legs and partial use of one arm.



Her previous managerial experience includes coordinating the Center for
Nursing Research at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, and working
for Rotary International's Asia-Pacific region from 2002 to 2004.



Duckworth earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Hawaii and a
master's degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Born in Thailand, she is the daughter of a U.S. Marine who fought in
Vietnam. She is married to Iraq war Veteran and National Guard officer,
Major Bryan Bowlsbey.

National Guard Soldiers laid to rest

Rockland bids a soldier farewell
Boston Globe - United States
February 2, 2009
By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

ROCKLAND -- A bagpipe player led a winding procession today past several thousand mourners standing on Union Street, his tune echoing off storefronts, city offices, and homes.

They cried as the white, horse-drawn caisson carrying the casket of Massachusetts National Guard Specialist Matthew Pollini passed. Members of the military stood at attention, and veterans offered a salute. Schoolchildren waved small US flags through the air.

The caisson stopped in front of the Holy Family Church, where six servicemen and women carried the flag-draped coffin into the half-filled church. Within moments, 800 of the mourners who had waited outside for the procession filled the church.
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Wading River soldier remembered
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA

Sgt. Jonathan Keller, Army National Guardsman, front left, of Wading River is seen here training at Fort Bragg, NC in 2008 prior to deploying to Afghanistan. (Photo by Charles Eckert)

A Wading River soldier who died nine months after he was wounded in a firefight in Afghanistan was remembered at his hometown church Monday before being laid to rest at Calverton National Cemetery.

Spc. Jonathan Keller, 29, an Army National Guardsman, was shot in the arm and shoulder during a firefight near the Pakistan border in April.

He died Jan. 24 in Fort Bragg, N.C. His death is under investigation and the circumstances remained unclear on Monday.

During his funeral at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, packed with more than 400 friends and family, the Rev. James Pereda recalled Keller's "infectious smile" and said he had "a boyish and youthful enthusiasm for everything in life."
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Soldier on 1st skydive leads dying instructor down

Soldier on 1st skydive leads dying instructor down
By JEFFREY COLLINS

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Strapped to his dying instructor a few thousand feet from the ground on his first skydive, Daniel Pharr found himself floating toward a house and some trees.

The military taught the 25-year-old soldier not to panic. And TV taught him to pull the toggles on the already-deployed parachute to steer.

So Pharr grabbed the right handle and pulled to avoid the house and tugged again to miss the trees, landing safely in a field about a third of a mile from their intended landing spot.

Pharr said he wrestled out of the harness binding him to his instructor, George "Chip" Steele, and started CPR trying to save him from an apparent heart attack.

Steele was later pronounced dead, but the tragedy could have been worse: Other instructors at the skydiving school told Pharr if he had pulled the toggle too hard, the chute would have spun out of control, and he could be dead, too.

"They told me afterward that it was amazing that I knew to do that. This is my survival instinct at that point. I just kind of did what I had to do," said Pharr, taking a break Monday from his job at Fort Gordon near Augusta, Ga.

The jump was a Christmas gift from Pharr's girlfriend. The two went to Skydive Carolina in Chester on Saturday to jump from 13,500 feet in the air while attached to instructors.
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Memorial service set for Fort Wainwright soldier

Memorial service set for Fort Wainwright soldier
February 02, 2009 19:01 EST


FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska (AP) -- A memorial service for an Alaskan-based Tennessee soldier is set for Thursday afternoon.

The Army says Spc. Cody Lamb was found dead at his family's home while he was on a mid-tour leave.

Unicoi County Sheriff Kent Harris said last week foul play is not suspected and suicide has been ruled out.

Lamb was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks.

Officials say the brigade was deployed to Iraq in September.

The artilleryman entered the Army in November 2006 and was assigned to Fort Wainwright four months later.

Alabama National Guard selects 1st female general

Ala. Guard selects 1st female general
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Feb 2, 2009 20:21:47 EST

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Sheryl Gordon, a member of the Alabama National Guard for nearly 30 years, has been selected for promotion to become its first female general.

Gordon, who retired recently as an assistant principal at Benjamin Russell High School in Alexander City, took command Sunday of the 62nd Troop Command in Montgomery, where she started her Guard career.

The unit at Fort Taylor Hardin is the state’s largest with about 5,000 troops.

In taking command, the paperwork process began for her to officially rise to the rank of one-star general.
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Judge sets date for soldiers’ suit vs. KBR

Judge sets date for soldiers’ suit vs. KBR

The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Feb 2, 2009 20:21:47 EST

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — A federal judge has set a trial date for a lawsuit by 16 Indiana National Guard soldiers who claim they were exposed to a toxic chemical in Iraq.

Judge Richard L. Young on Monday set 10 days for the trial beginning May 3, 2010, in U.S. District Court in Evansville. He also scheduled a settlement conference for Aug. 17.

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry, filed a federal lawsuit in December against defense contractor KBR Inc., saying its employees knowingly allowed them to be exposed to sodium dichromate, a known carcinogen, while guarding a water plant in Iraq in 2003.

KBR has said it notified the Army Corps of Engineers after finding the chemical at the site and the Corps concluded the company’s efforts to remediate the situation were effective.

DOD releases another non-combat death in Afghanistan

DoD Identifies Army Casualty


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

CW4 Milton E. Suggs, 51, of Lockport, La., died Jan. 30 at Camp Lemonier, Djibouti, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 38th Operational Support Airlift Detachment, Hammond, La.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.

http://icasualties.org/oef/

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class David A. Cedergren was electrocuted in Iraq

AP NewsBreak: Sailor electrocuted
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- A third U.S. service member has been determined to have been electrocuted in a shower in Iraq, and Navy criminal investigators are investigating, The Associated Press has learned.

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class David A. Cedergren, 25, of South St. Paul, Minn., died Sept. 11, 2004, while showering. His family was told he died of natural causes.

Late last year, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology changed the manner of Cedergren's death to "accidental," caused by electrocution and inflammation of the heart. The Naval Criminal Investigative Services has reopened an investigation into his death, Ed Buice, a NCIS spokesman, said Monday.

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Linked from ICasualties.org

Potential VA benefits chief has new ideas

No I don't have ESP and I did not go to Harvard. I just pay attention and read about people like Linda Blimes thinking it would be a great idea to take care of the veterans by pushing their claims thru. Ironic as it is this showed up today on Army Times, but hey, anyone paying attention feels the same way.

Potential VA benefits chief has new ideas/

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 2, 2009 17:36:26 EST

A Harvard University researcher with some radical ideas about how to reduce the backlog of veterans disability claims appears to be in line to head the Veterans Benefits Administration.

Linda Blimes, a public policy lecturer and research at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, wants the Department of Veterans Affairs to operate like the Internal Revenue Service — on an honor system that trusts veterans claiming service-connected disabilities. All veterans claims would be approved as soon as they are filed, with a random audit conducted to “weed out and deter fraudulent claims,” Blimes told the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee in testimony in 2008.

Ninety percent of veterans disability claims end up being paid after they make it through the system, she said — proof, she said, that most veterans are asking only for what they deserve.

Immediate payment of at least a minimum benefit would help to reduce the average 180-day waiting time for initial benefits claims to be processed and allow VA to redeploy the employees processing those claims to work on more complicated appeals, she said.

Blimes also has talked of a vastly simplified disability rating system that would have just four ratings instead of the current 10 for service-connected disabilities and illnesses.

Blimes has not been formally announced as a nominee, but her name is being circulated among lawmakers and congressional staff in what has become a standard procedure to determine whether there is any strong opposition to her taking the key post.

Her idea of a streamlined claims process has some prominent supporters, among them Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., the House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman who has talked of automatic claims approval as a way to quickly eliminate the claims backlog.

Proud to announce Military Spouses of America new site

Dear Friends and Colleagues:
I am pleased to announce that Military Spouses for Change (MSC) is now Military Spouses of America (MSA). MSA seeks to be a voice for the American military spouse and her family, in a MEANINGFUL way. MSA will help our spouses understand and utilize all resources available to them, both within the Departments of Defense and VA (if applicable) and outside of them. MSA will also encourage spouses to share their insight and experiences with each other, DoD leadership, elected officials, and the American public.
Why? Because Military Spouses of America believes (and is committed to promoting) the following facts:
1. Family readiness is vital to mission readiness.
2. The well-being of the spouse cannot be divorced from the well-being of the servicemember or veteran (and vice-versa).
3. Both the military and veteran communities benefit from well-informed and well-connected military spouses.
4. The spouses of servicemembers and veterans face unique challenges--challenges for which spouses can, and have, come up with the most effective and creative solutions (individually and collectively).
5. Servicemembers are not the only veterans in military marriages!
Military Spouses of America can be found at www.militaryspousesofamerica.org.
Please make a note of this change and pass this on to anyone you know who may be interested in our organization. Our site also provides fairly in-depth information on PTSD and TBI (as those are issues of particular importance to our community in this time of prolonged military conflict).Take care,Carissa-- Carissa Picard, Esq.PresidentMilitary Spouses of Americawww.militaryspousesofamerica.org

I am on the Board of Directors and have been excited about this for a while but I was waiting for the new site to be up and for Carissa to announce it publicly. She has been working tirelessly to get this up and running.

I will be doing a Q & A session every night very soon where you can ask questions and get some insight to help you understand what is "normal" with PTSD and to learn a lot easier than I did.

What a lot of people do not understand is that older veterans and their families made all the mistakes already and found out what works to live with PTSD in their lives. This is not hopeless, marriages do not have to fall apart and end if love is there and you have the tools to help you navigate through all the changes it brings. Naturally as a Chaplain I can, and probably will more often than not, address the spiritual issues that lead to reconnecting with God and your own faith, or finding faith when you had none before.

Keep in mind that I am not a minister, so I don't push one faith over another nor do I recommend one branch of Christianity over another. I'm too complicated for that. I'm Greek Orthodox, which is a minority in the Christian faith but is the oldest, so I tend to stay out of supporting one denomination over others. As a Chaplain, I'm here to address spiritual needs as you are and where you are spiritually. So if you happen to be of another faith, I will address the faith you have as well as I can. Your spirit called you to your faith for a reason.

The only thing I stay away from as much as possible is medication. That's for your doctor to decide and not someone like me. Your body is too complicated for me to recommend any medication over any others. I will post up warnings when I see them and will post stories on medications but I draw the line on what I will and will not say.

I am not in competition with the VA psychologist and social workers. My job is to get you to understand what PTSD is so you go to them for help and above all, get enough of them there so they are there to help you.

Please go to the new site for Military Spouse of America and go over the pages. A lot of information there. I'll post up when the Q & A begins. Hope to see you there.