H.R.679 - Honor America's Guard-Reserve Retirees Act

H.R.679 - Honor America's Guard-Reserve Retirees Act Veterans
We must honor the sacred contract between a grateful nation and our veterans who make unselfish sacrifices in defense of freedom and democracy.

Our goal as a nation is to provide the men and women who return from service in the U.S. military with the opportunity to achieve the American Dream in civilian life.

As a 24-year veteran of the Army National Guard and the highest ranking enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress, I have been extremely honored and humbled to work directly on behalf of veterans and their families with a position on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

We owe it to our veterans to ensure that they are healthy, happy, and employed when they return home, and I am working hard to get results for veterans.

Rep. Runyan, Jon [R-NJ-3]*
Rep. Denham, Jeff [R-CA-10]*
Rep. Hunter, Duncan D. [R-CA-50]*
Rep. Latham, Tom [R-IA-3]*
Rep. Matheson, Jim [D-UT-4]*
Rep. Rahall, Nick J., II [D-WV-3]*
Rep. Bordallo, Madeleine Z. [D-GU-At Large]
Rep. Connolly, Gerald E. [D-VA-11]
Rep. Cotton, Tom [R-AR-4]
Rep. Hanna, Richard L. [R-NY-22]
Rep. Kline, John [R-MN-2]v Rep. Loebsack, David [D-IA-2]
Rep. Capito, Shelley Moore [R-WV-2]
Rep. Luetkemeyer, Blaine [R-MO-3]
Rep. Nugent, Richard B. [R-FL-11]
Rep. Nunnelee, Alan [R-MS-1]
Rep. Palazzo, Steven M. [R-MS-4]
Rep. Stewart, Chris [R-UT-2]
Rep. Ryan, Tim [D-OH-13]
Rep. Shea-Porter, Carol [D-NH-1]
Rep. LoBiondo, Frank A. [R-NJ-2]
Rep. Takano, Mark [D-CA-41]
Rep. Noem, Kristi L. [R-SD-At Large]
Rep. Southerland, Steve II [R-FL-2]
Rep. Veasey, Marc A. [D-TX-33]
Rep. Keating, William R. [D-MA-9]
Rep. Womack, Steve [R-AR-3]
Rep. Brown, Corrine [D-FL-5]
Rep. Kildee, Daniel T [D-MI-5]
Rep. Kind, Ron [D-WI-3]
Rep. O'Rourke, Beto [D-TX-16]
Rep. Carney, John C., Jr. [D-DE-At Large]
Rep. Daines, Steve [R-MT-At Large]
Rep. Latta, Robert E. [R-OH-5]
Rep. Bustos, Cheri [D-IL-17]

Army vet struggling to find a place to live

Army vet struggling to find a place to live
By Thor Jourgensen
The Daily Item

LYNN — A disabled veteran who lost her apartment to an arson fire said she could lose her temporary home downtown any day now if she can’t find longer-term housing.

“I don’t have many choices right now,” said Kim Valenti.

The Army veteran said her 30-day tenancy in a Liberty Street apartment ran out April 29 and she has scrambled to find a new home she can share with cats Lefty and Righty and her bird, Luca.

Luca and Valenti fled from 145 Lewis St. on March 25 when a fire, subsequently determined to be arson by investigators, started in the building. The cats spent several days in the burnt-out building before being rescued, and Valenti received help in finding her current apartment from the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, local shelter workers, city officials and her former landlord.
read more here

Manhattan VA Center One Of Slowest To Process Veterans' Claims

Manhattan VA Center One Of Slowest To Process Veterans' Claims
Newsday
By Martin C Evans
Posted: 04/30/2013

The New York-area center that processes veterans' disability claims is one of the slowest in the country, taking nearly four times longer than the Department of Veterans Affairs' targeted schedule, federal data show.

Veterans filing disability claims for ailments such as bomb blast brain injuries, spinal fractures, post-traumatic stress disorder or maladies related to Agent Orange exposure wait an average 480 days before the claim is processed at the department's Manhattan office.

The VA's target for handling claims is 125 days. As of April 27, 11,914 claims were pending in the New York office. Nearly three-quarters of them languished longer than 125 days.

Paul Plante said he waited nearly two years for a response.

Plante, 63, a Vietnam War vet, filed the claim with the Manhattan office when he could no longer hold a job as a painter because Type 2 diabetes left him with no feeling in his lower left leg.

But despite nearly two years of repeated inquiries, the Huntington resident got no answer until his congressman, Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington), had his staff call the VA on his behalf.
read more here

Spielberg to direct “American Sniper” film adaptation

Steven Spielberg to direct “American Sniper” film adaptation
The legendary director joins Bradley Cooper's project about Navy SEAL Chris Kyle
Salon.com
BY PRACHI GUPTA
MAY 2, 2013

The “American Sniper” project is moving forward, adding legendary director Steven Spielberg to its credits, reports THR. Spielberg will also co-produce the film, along with Andrew Lazar and Peter Morgan and actor Bradley Cooper.

Cooper bought the rights to the film adaptation of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle’s book in May 2012, but fast-tracked the project after Kyle’s death in early 2013. Kyle was shot dead by veteran Eddie Routh, thought to have been struggling with PTSD.
read more here

Six veterans plead guilty to Agent Orange benefits fraud

Six veterans plead guilty to Agent Orange benefits fraud
Scheme allegedly run by former high-ranking state benefits claim officer
By Kevin Rector
The Baltimore Sun
May 2, 2013

Six military veterans from Maryland pleaded guilty to fraud charges this week in a scheme to obtain federal military benefits and state tax breaks with faked documentation claiming they were exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.

The veterans allegedly paid thousands of dollars in cash to David Clark, the former deputy chief of veterans claims in the state Department of Veterans Affairs Office, in exchange for $1.4 million in fraudulent benefits and tax breaks, prosecutors said.

The veterans, some of whom never even served in Vietnam, are from multiple branches of the military, the indictment says.

Clark and two others have also been indicted in the scheme, which allegedly dates back to 1995.

Agent Orange, the indictment says, "refers to a blend of tactical herbicides the U.S. military sprayed in the jungles of Vietnam to remove trees and dense tropical foliage that provided enemy cover" during the 1960s and 1970s.
read more here

The scars you don't see: what it's like to live with PTSD

The scars you don't see: what it's like to live with PTSD
I didn’t break down instantly. It was at least a month before I had the first dream where I woke up, safe in my bed, but sheeted in sweat, scared to go back to sleep.
New Statesman
BY WILLARD FOXTON
PUBLISHED 02 MAY 2013

I was standing about 40 ft away from the man when the mortar bomb hit him.

They don’t travel that fast, and I’d swear to this day I could see it coming, a little dart zipping down, hitting right at his feet. At least, that’s what happens in the dreams. The bomb was small – probably a 60mm round with no more than 2lbs of explosive in it.

I know that because I’m not dead.

That small bomb was still enough to make that man just instantaneously cease to exist as anything recognisably human. The effect was not unlike a jar of strawberry jam being struck with a sledgehammer.

I was knocked to the ground. I scrambled into the slit trench nearby and hid, terrified. As the shelling died down, I felt I had something sticky on my face. I reached up and slowly peeled a rasher of bloody human skin off my cheek. This is hard to write. I’m shaking and breathing quickly from the memory. Thinking about it is like picking at a scab.

I didn’t break down instantly. It was at least a month before I had the first dream where I woke up, safe in my bed, but sheeted in sweat, scared to go back to sleep. After a few months, I was a mess. I was incredibly irritable, and would fly off the handle at the slightest thing. I stopped enjoying reading or watching films, spent whole days doing nothing. Just eating and sleeping. Staying alive.
read more here

Jon Stewart, there is nothing funny about VA claims

Jon Stewart, there is nothing funny about VA claims
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times
May 3, 2013

The Daily Show last night focused on the VA claim backlog. It is a serious subject. While claims are tied up, the obvious issue is the lack of income to cover their lost incomes due to service connected disabilities. What is not so obvious is what the denials and waiting does to these veterans and their families.

My husband's claim took six years. We couldn't pay our bills but that was not the worst thing. The VA took our tax refunds to pay for his care because our private health insurance would not cover his treatment. They said due to the diagnosis, it was the responsibility of the VA to take care of him. When did that happen? He filed his claim in 1993 and it was not approved until 1999! The stress added to his PTSD, the very thing that he was seeking treatment for. He had great doctors and they worked with me helping him get through all of that.

While Stewart is focusing on the "issue" now, it is not a new problem and there are many reasons for the backlog being increased. It is about as bad as it was in 2008.

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.

“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)

The VA has a weekly release of the claims. As of Monday, 60% are "supplemental claims" because while the veteran has received some benefits, most of the time they have to appeal for a higher rate or have other illnesses that may be service connected as well.

Then there is the breakdown of who is filing the claims. Pending Claims has 865,989 claims with 37% coming from Vietnam Veterans, 23% from Gulf War Veterans, 20% from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, 11% listed as Peacetime and 9% from "Other Veterans." There are 606,007 considered "backlog" claims. They breakdown pretty much the same way.

Characteristics of the pending Compensation Inventory
VA tracks claims that make up the pending Compensation Inventory by a Veteran’s era of service. As of Dec 31, 2012, claims from Veterans of the following eras make up VA’s inventory (total number of claims) and backlog (claims pending for more than 125 days):

Source: Dept. Veterans Affairs, 3/28/13
Backlog: Claims pending longer than 125 days
Post-9/11 (Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts) claims make up 21% of the total inventory and 22% of the backlog
Gulf War (definition) claims make up 23% of the total inventory and 21% of the backlog Peacetime (period between end of Vietnam and Gulf War) claims make up 11% of the total inventory and 11% of the backlog
Vietnam claims make up 37% of the total inventory and 38% of the backlog
Korean War claims make 4% of the total inventory and 4% of the backlog
World War II claims make up 3% of the total inventory and 3% of the backlog
Other era claims make up 1% of the total inventory and 1% of the backlog

Original vs. Supplemental Claims
VA’s current Inventory of compensation claims contains both "original" claims—those submitted by Veterans of all eras who are claiming disability compensation from VA for the first time, and “supplemental” claims—those submitted by Veterans of all eras who have previously filed for disability compensation with VA. Below is a breakout of the original and supplemental claims in the current VA inventory:

60% of pending claims are supplemental, 40% are original.
77% of Veterans filing supplemental claims are receiving some level of monetary benefit from VA.
11% of Veterans filing supplemental claims already have a 100% disability rating (receive $2800 or more per month) or qualify for Individual Unemployability (compensated at the 100% disabled rate).
40% of Veterans filing supplemental claims are already rated at 50% disability or higher. 43% of supplemental claims are from Vietnam-era Veterans; 19% are from Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
There are 3.9 million Veterans of all eras who are currently in receipt of disability benefits from VA. Of those, 10% have a supplemental claim in the pending compensation inventory. In fiscal year 2012, VA delivered $54 billion in compensation and pension benefits.

The VBA's Office of Performance Analysis and Integrity is responsible for compiling these spreadsheets. Questions or comments should be e-mailed to VBA's Office of Field Operations which is responsible for regional office management.

There was a backlog of claims already but the rules were changed to help Vietnam veterans and they were encouraged to file claims previously denied for Agent Orange and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As you can see, the claims backlog was already at this rate without doing the right thing for Vietnam veterans.

Stewart seems to think he is doing some good by focusing on the problem that is leaving veterans and their families suffering but unfortunately, while he may have thought it was a good thing to do, making fun of a serious issue like this did no one any service but Stewart.

We should feel grateful that he is at least talking about this but unless the public is informed on what is really going on and how long it has been happening, we will repeat the same mistakes years from now.

Army Reservist-cab driver assaulted for being "Muslim" is Iraq veteran

Muslim cabdriver alleges assault by passenger who cited Boston Marathon bombing

Fairfax prosecutors said they will review the video to determine whether to prosecute the case as a hate crime, which would elevate the charge to a felony. Prosecutors would have to show that Dahlberg attacked Salim because of his religion, race or national origin.

CAIR said it has documented two suspected hate crimes elsewhere since the Boston bombing. Hours after the April 15 explosions, a Bangladeshi man reportedly suffered a dislocated shoulder when beaten at a New York City restaurant. In Malden, Mass., a woman wearing an Islamic head scarf allegedly was assaulted April 17 by a man shouting anti-Muslim slurs.

Salim, a married father of four who emigrated from Somalia 15 years ago, said the incident was particularly painful because he is a naturalized U.S. citizen and an Army Reserve sergeant who served in Baghdad and the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He has worked in intelligence and as a linguist, he said.

Exclusive cellphone video of alleged cab assault

Apr 30 2013

Taxi driver Mohamed Salim says he was attacked by a passenger who called him a terrorist. A recording of their contentious ride was captured on Salim’s cellphone.

The Fold/ The Washington Post

Suicide rates go up for middle-aged, CDC finds

Keep in mind that while the military points out the increase in suicides in the "civilian" population, they do in fact also include veterans. Last count is 22 veterans a day.

Suicide rates go up for middle-aged, CDC finds
By Maggie Fox, Senior Writer
NBC News

Suicide rates are up alarmingly among middle-aged Americans, according to the latest federal government statistics.

They show a 28 percent rise in suicide rates for people aged 35 to 64 between 1999 and 2010. Rates for children and younger adults, and people over 65, didn’t change much over the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. “Most suicide research and prevention efforts have focused historically on youth and the elderly. This report’s findings suggest that efforts should also address the needs of middle-aged persons,” CDC researchers wrote in the agency’s weekly report in death and disease.

The CDC had already noted a worrying trend for suicides. “Suicide deaths have surpassed deaths from motor vehicle crashes in recent years in the United States. In 2010 there were 33,687 deaths from motor vehicle crashes and 38,364 suicides,” the CDC’s Nimesh Patel and Scott Kegler wrote in their report.

They teased out the data by age and sex and found a clear trend for people who usually are at the height of career and family responsibilities -- those aged 35 to 64. “Annual suicide rates for this age group increased 28 percent over this period (from 13.7 suicides per 100,000 people in 1999 to 17.6 per 100,000 in 2010), with particularly high increases among non-Hispanic whites and American Indians and /Alaska Natives,” they wrote.
read more here

Forbes business writer should have stayed out of clueless claim

First read who wrote the article I am about to attack. "Tim Worstall, Contributor I write about business and technology." He should have stuck to writing about the things he knows about and stayed away from something he doesn't have a ------- clue about. Yes, I left the letters out but if you can count I am sure you can figure out what was on my mind.

This is his headline

But There Isn't An Epidemic Of Suicide In The US Military

I was very surprised to see this headline in The Guardian today:

US military struggling to stop suicide epidemic among war veterans

It’s not all that unusual for The Guardian to snipe at the US military of course, but something about the way the subject was being treated puzzled me.

Is this a story about how much better military medicine has got or one about how the system is driving huge numbers into suicide? The way the paper tells the story it’s that there is indeed some epidemic of suicide sweeping through the ranks of the military and veterans. And my problem is that having looked at the numbers I just don’t see it.

I should of course point out that any and every suicide is a tragedy. Both for the person dying and for those they leave behind. And I would go on and insist that just one suicide is one too many. However, it’s also necessary to note that suicide does indeed happen in all walks of life. What we need to know is whether there are more than the normal number in one specific profession or occupation. Only then can we start to argue that there’s something specific to that occupation that leads to suicide.

Apparently he knows about as much about the business behind addressing the epidemic of suicides tied to the military as he does about history. He doesn't seem to have a clue how much money the military has been spending on addressing this non-existant issue. BILLIONS A YEAR ARE SPENT BECAUSE THERE IS A CRISIS!

If you want to know what the crisis is, how much was spent or what can be done to stop them, read THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR and know what this "business" writer can't seem to understand. By the way my friends in the UK military are dealing with the same problem, and Canada and Australia but they are looking to the US for leadership on this.

Worstall used this quote

In 2012, for the first time in at least a generation, the number of active-duty soldiers who killed themselves, 177, exceeded the 176 who were killed while in the war zone. To put that another way, more of America’s serving soldiers died at their own hands than in pursuit of the enemy.

This is a better one.

Officials Uphold Commitment to Suicide Prevention Solutions
By Amaani Lyle
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2013 – A panel of Defense Department and service officials told Congress today their efforts to address military suicides will persist.

Jacqueline Garrick, acting director of the Defense Suicide Prevention Office, told the House Armed Services Committee’s military personnel subcommittee the service member suicide rate had increased from 10.3 to 18.3 per 100,000.

For 2010, Garrick said, the U.S. suicide rate for males, ages 17 to 60 – an age demographic that best matches the armed forces -- was 25.1 per 100,000, which rose from 21.8 per 100,000 in 2001.

“DOD fervently believes that every one life lost to suicide is one too many, and prevention is everybody’s responsibility,” she said. “This fight will take enormous collective action and the implementation of proven and effective initiatives.”

Garrick and service representatives outlined how their programs incorporate the latest research and information on suicide prevention and how leaders are tackling the problem. “While physical injuries may be easier to see, there are many invisible wounds such as depression, anxiety [and] post-traumatic stress that also take a significant toll on our service members,” said Lt. Gen. Howard B. Bromberg, the Army’s deputy chief of staff for personnel. “ … Suicidal behavior is an urgent national problem that affects all Americans across all dimensions of society, including those who have chosen to serve the nation.”

DOD officials saw leveling in suicide rates for 2010 and 2011, Garrick told the House panel, but they expect an increase in the suicide rate for 2012 upon the completion of investigations and final determinations of manner of death.

But then again he also used the wrong numbers

Army Releases December 2012 and Calendar Year 2012 Suicide Information

The Army released suicide data today for the month of December and calendar year 2012. During December, among active-duty soldiers, there were seven potential suicides: three have been confirmed as suicides and four remain under investigation. For November, the Army reported 12 potential suicides among active-duty soldiers: four have been confirmed as suicides and eight remain under investigation. For 2012, there have been 182 potential active-duty suicides: 130 have been confirmed as suicides and 52 remain under investigation. Active-duty suicide number for 2011: 165 confirmed as suicides and no cases under investigation.

During December, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were 15 potential suicides (10 Army National Guard and five Army Reserve): four have been confirmed as suicides and 11 remain under investigation. For November, among that same group, the Army reported 15 potential suicides (12 Army National Guard and three Army Reserve): 10 have been confirmed as suicides and five remain under investigation. For 2012, there have been 143 potential not on active-duty suicides (96 Army National Guard and 47 Army Reserve): 117 have been confirmed as suicides and 26 remain under investigation. Not on active-duty suicide numbers for 2011: 118 (82 Army National Guard and 36 Army Reserve) confirmed as suicides and no cases under investigation.