Plans unveiled for Eisenhower memorial in Washington

Plans unveiled for Eisenhower memorial in Washington
He was a two-term president and World War II commander who has buildings, schools, an aircraft carrier, a highway tunnel and even a mountain named after him. Now, President Dwight David Eisenhower, or Ike, will have what only six other occupants of the Oval Office seem to share: A national memorial in the nation's capital.

Unlike the well-known presidential memorials for Washington and Lincoln set amid green, open spaces, the Eisenhower design would be nestled among federal agencies that all came into being during his presidency: the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services — which originally were combined as Health, Education and Welfare — the federal Aviation Administration, and the Voice of America.

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Is state denying benefits to jobless who qualify

Is state denying benefits to jobless who qualify?

By Jim Stratton ORLANDO SENTINEL

11:53 p.m. EST, March 25, 2010
At first, Bonnie Lewis thought her boss was joking.

He had told her that the Longwood call center where she worked was closing. But he was offering Lewis a sales job, one that meant driving around Central Florida.

"I have cataracts so bad I can't see," thought Lewis, 59. "I have no depth perception. I don't have a car."

So she declined the offer and applied for unemployment. After one check, the money stopped because her employer told the state that she had quit, making her ineligible for benefits.

"She didn't quit," says Sally McArthur, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Orlando who got Lewis' benefits restored. "They eliminated her job and offered her something she couldn't possibly do. … They were looking for reasons to turn her down."

The state said it cannot readily determine whether the rate of initial denials is rising, but several lawyers who handle such cases say they have seen similar instances in which the state or employers appear to be stepping up efforts to disqualify out-of-work Floridians.
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Is state denying benefits to jobless who qualify

Teen charged with 2d Wal-Mart announcement

Teen charged with 2d Wal-Mart announcement
By Jan Hefler

Inquirer Staff Writer

WASHINGTON TWP., NJ - A 16-year-old Atlantic County boy arrested after the racially tinged announcement at the Turnersville Wal-Mart this month did the same thing Dec. 28, police reported yesterday.

The youth, whose name has not been released because he is a juvenile, is now charged with two counts each of harassment and bias intimidation, Washington Township police said.

He is accused of announcing over a Wal-Mart telephone March 14 that "all the black people" should leave the store, on Route 42. Police arrested him after examining surveillance cameras and social Web sites such as Facebook and YouTube.

Wal-Mart representatives have apologized and secured their public address system to prevent future problems.
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Teen charged with 2d Wal-Mart announcement
linked from CNN

And Now Veterans: 'We Owe Them'

And Now Veterans: 'We Owe Them'
BY JORDAN SMITH

Travis County is embarking on a new project that will establish, later this spring, the courthouse's newest addition: veterans' diversion court. The impetus for the court came nearly three years ago, from Precinct 4 Constable Maria Canchola, who knows well the reintegration difficulties faced by many vets. Her uncle and cousin came back from war changed men, troubled by "shell shock" they medicated with alcohol. And for 26 years, she has helped her partner – a "stoic veteran" – a former Marine who served as a reconnaissance sniper in Viet­nam. He suffered for nearly 30 years before finally seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, which he never connected to his drinking and which invariably led to run-ins with the law and more than one night in jail.
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http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A985573

Deceased Vietnam Veteran CIA Agent Finally Recognized

Deceased Veteran Finally Recognized for Vietnam Service

The Salem News; March 15, 2010
'He gave a lot for his country' Deceased veteran finally recognized for Vietnam service By Cate Lecuyerstaff writer
DANVERS — Robert Krisko is not one of the 58,261 names engraved on the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The Peabody man was part of the Airborne Infantry, and one of the original Green Berets. But when he died in Vietnam in 1967 — at 34 years old — he was working deep undercover for the CIA.
Since he wasn't in the service at the time, his name didn't make the cut when the memorial went up in 1982.
"Every time I'd go there, it just kind of irked me," said his son, Hugh Krisko. "I saw all these names, and my dad's was not on the wall. I just thought it wasn't right."
His widow, Claudette, tried 14 years ago to get him recognized, but had no luck.
"About two months ago, I said I'm going to try this again," she said. "I've got nothing to lose."
She sent out letters, including one to Sen. John Kerry's office, which notified her about "In Memory Day."
"The In Memory program was created to pay credit to people who died as part of the Vietnam War," said Lisa Gough, communications director for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. "It honors those service members whose deaths don't fit the guidelines (to be on the monument)."

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link sent from Shelia at AgentOrgangeQuiltoftears.org

Who lied to veterans over Tricare?

Most of this week there have been several posts on this issue. What it boils down to is that when politicians decided to lie to veterans and the troops to scare them, they betrayed the men and women risking their lives as well as the veterans of combat for the sake of this country. This betrayal requires they be held accountable. If they lied because "they didn't know better" it was their job to know what the hell they were talking about. Vote them out because they have proven they are not interested in working for the people. If they knew they truth but lied anyway to score political points, then they should be kicked out of office. We all need to stop letting politicians get away with telling us lies but it is more disgraceful when they use the troops and veterans to get what they want.

Dems: Health reform threat to Tricare overblown
By Tom Philpott, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, March 27, 2010
Republican lawmakers raised the specter of military families and survivors of veterans seeing health care costs rise as a result of the national health reform law that President Obama signed March 23.

But the threat was never more than a notion and it is fading away. That’s the consensus among most military associations and veterans groups, as reinforced by statements from the secretaries of defense and veterans affairs, the White House and chairmen of key congressional committees.

White House officials were angered, and some veterans groups perplexed, by press releases issued last Sunday from Republicans on the House armed services and veterans’ affairs committees, and by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, hours before the House voted to approve the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

The VFW said "the president and the Democratic leadership are betraying veterans" by not adopting a Republican amendment that explicitly would list Tricare and VA survivor health benefits as meeting the health reform bill’s minimum essential coverage standard.

Without that status, ranking committee Republicans Howard "Buck" McKeon (Calif.) on armed services and Steve Buyer (Ind.) on veterans’ affairs, argued these beneficiaries and even some veterans’ children could be forced to pay a penalty or buy extra health insurance.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=140&article=68932

New Law Gives Huge Tax Breaks to Companies who Hire Veterans

New Law Gives Huge Tax Breaks to Companies who Hire Veterans

On March 18, 2010, President Obama signed the new Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE) into law. This federal legislation creates brand-new tax breaks for hiring and retaining unemployed workers. Here's an overview on this job creation tax break and a clear path to capitalizing on it.. Read More >>

Old Soldiers Still Fighting for Veteran's Disability

Old Soldiers Still Fighting for Veteran's Disability
March 26, 2010. By Gordon Gibb

Albany, NY: While the US Department of Veterans Affairs is adding new diseases and conditions to the list of those which quality for compensation, securing veterans' disability benefits can be painfully slow—and for some, impossible.

On Monday the Albany-based Times-Union revealed the maddening situation of those who came into contact with Agent Orange while serving during the Vietnam War.

Agent Orange is a toxic herbicide used by the US military to defoliate the dense forest and allow US soldiers to better see the enemy. It was later found that military personnel who ingested dioxins and the various toxic chemicals associated with the herbicide have become susceptible to illness. The VA long ago ruled that military personnel who served on Vietnamese soil and became ill from the aftereffects of Agent Orange should be compensated.

However, those who did not actually serve on Vietnamese soil—including those who served in the air or on the sea—are ineligible for compensation unless they can prove their illness is directly service-oriented. That, it turns out, is not easy. Even when doctors verify the connection, benefits can be painfully slow in coming.

The Times-Union told the story of Robert Hug, who served in the Gulf of Tonkin and South China Sea aboard the USS Hancock from 1967 to 1970. Hug, a non-smoker, eventually developed cancer of the larynx and required surgery. Doctors blamed his illness on Agent Orange. However the VA denied his claims for cancer-related benefits four times in nine years before finally allowing him benefits last fall.
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Old Soldiers Still Fighting for Veterans Disability

35 years later, Vietnam vets welcomed home

35 years later, Vietnam vets welcomed home
By Claudette Langley

Veterans of the 25-year conflict and war in Southeast Asia received their due at the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.

On behalf of Chapter 391, Vietnam Veterans of America, Dan Brown accepted a resolution from the board honoring Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day, which is March 30. Supervisors Merita Callaway and Gary Tofanelli presented the resolution to Brown during the consent agenda period of the regular meeting.

“Whereas, beginning in 1950 and ending with troop evacuations in 1975, the Vietnam War was the longest conflict in American history,” the resolution reads. “Whereas, 324,000 Californians, including Calaveras County residents, served in Vietnam...”

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35 years later Vietnam vets welcomed home

A Matter of Life and Death: Suicides in the Army

I have long believed that Chaplains are the best treatment for not only heading off PTSD, but helping to heal it after it has taken hold as well.

Troubled veterans of combat don't want to talk to just anybody. They want to talk to someone they know they can trust, someone they know will not judge them or feel repulsed by what they have to say. They need to know opening up will not harm their career. These, obvious reasons are only part of it. When you consider PTSD is a wound to the emotional part of the brain striking after traumatic events, it is really hitting the soul of the man/woman. When they begin to heal spiritually, every other treatment works better because of it.

The following article points out how important chaplains are for the men and women serving. This should also offer more evidence that the clergy in the civilian world need to become more involved in helping them heal when they come home.

March 26, 2010, 11:19 am
A Matter of Life and Death: Suicides in the Army
By TIMOTHY HSIA
The Army faces a battle over the life and death of its soldiers. The battle is not being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in the minds and tortured souls of soldiers contemplating suicide. Last year the Army again reported an increase in suicides, and in response the Army now requires every soldier to complete an online assessment of their physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

The Army’s suicide problem is worse than the official numbers presented because the suicide statistics that are tabulated do not include the family members of soldiers. When I attended suicide prevention training sponsored by the Army, several chaplains who were leading the class told the participants that beyond just counseling service members they also had assisted in helping soldiers cope with a family member’s suicide. The official numbers also do not include veterans who have left the military.

While suicides are most pronounced in the Army, the other branches of the military also face this problem, which extends beyond just soldiers returning from combat and even to the service academies. Moreover, the pain and emotional strain of deployment and suicides is not simply limited to soldiers in the junior ranks. Even generals, like Gen. Carter Ham, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe, has encouraged soldiers to seek help for their mental wounds.

The Army’s response to the uptick in suicides has been swift and pronounced. Beyond just having soldiers fill out individual risk assessments, soldiers are also required to role-play scenes in an interactive DVD video that mirrors the emotional issues that may be encountered. Perhaps more important, within the Army there has been a substantial shift in the army’s organizational ethos concerning how leaders view mental strain. Going to talk to a chaplain or mental health professional is no longer looked down upon. Leaders have also emphasized that official policy does not automatically prevent one from gaining security clearance if they see a psychiatrist.

When my unit returned from Iraq the first time, there was no emphasis on the soldier’s mental health. The one solace that soldiers seek out, then and now, are military chaplains. Were it not for the listening and compassionate ear of my unit’s chaplains, my unit’s morale would have plummeted while deployed. While many civilians probably presume that there are numerous military health professionals — particularly in light of the notoriety of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan and the Fort Hood Army Base shootings in Texas — in actuality there are very few psychiatrists at the unit level.
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http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/a-matter-of-life-and-death-suicides-in-the-army/