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I need to take a "TO" ~~~ I think the ole' "BP" reading is off the charts right now!!
Nope --- I already got YOU!
Do you need a spotter? :)
Listed right after the first amendment which these scum lean on...is the 2nd Amendment...
Seems odd they love and enjoy all the freedoms the military protects, and than glorifies in their death...nutcases
Simply disgusting ---- I'm volunteering for "sniper duty" right now!
This morning in an 8-1 decision The Supreme Court ruled that Westboro Baptist Church could protest at returning military funerals.
God help the United States
Yep it is still this way…
A REMINDER IN HISTORY
General Vo Nguyen Giap.
General Giap was a brilliant, highly respected leader
of the North Vietnam military. The following quote
is from his memoirs and is also found on the
Vietnam war memorial in Hanoi :
'What we still don't understand is why you Americans
stopped the bombing of Hanoi . You had us on the
ropes. If you had pressed us a little harder,
just for another day or two, we were ready
to surrender! It was the same at the
battle of TET You defeated us!
We knew it, and we thought
you knew it.
But we were elated to notice your media was
helping us. They were causing more disruption in
America than we could in the battlefields. We
were ready to surrender. You had won!'
General Giap has published his memoirs and confirmed
what most Americans knew. The Vietnam war was not
lost in Vietnam -- it was lost at home. The
same slippery slope, sponsored by the US media,
is currently underway. It exposes the
enormous power of a Biased Media to
cut out the heart and will of
the American public.
A truism worthy of note: ... Do not fear the enemy,
for they can take only your life.
Fear the media,
for they will destroy your honor.
I recently went to a high school with other Vietnam Vets...damn we fought that war with old codgers lol
<~~~~Slides up the recliner for EZ...hands him a Beer...now where is that shovel...I'll shovel the snow for you...with honor...<g>
Subject: Vietnam Statistics
<< passed on to me via email from Marine buddy >>
In case you haven't been paying attention these past few decades after you returned from Vietnam, the clock has been ticking. The following are some statistics that are at once depressing yet, in a larger sense, should give you a HUGE SENSE OF PRIDE.
"Of the 2,709,918 Americans who served in Vietnam, less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today, with the youngest American Vietnam veteran's age approximated to be 54 years old." So, if you're alive and reading this, how does it feel to be among the last 1/3rd of all the U.S. vets who served in Vietnam?
I don't know about you guys, but kinda gives me the chills, considering this is the kind of information I'm used to reading about WWII and Korean War vets.
So, the last 14 years, we are dying too fast, only a few will survive by 2015, if any. If true, 390 VN vets die a day. So, in 2190 days from today, if you're a live Vietnam veteran, you are lucky... in only 6 years. These statistics were taken from a variety of sources to include: The VFW Magazine, the Public Information Office, and the HQ CP Forward Observer - 1st Recon April 12, 1997.
STATISTICS FOR INDIVIDUALS IN UNIFORM AND IN COUNTRY VIETNAM VETERANS:
* 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam Era (August 5, 1964 - May 7, 1975).
* 8,744,000 GIs were on active duty during the war (Aug 5, 1964-March 28,1973).
* 2,709,918 Americans served in Vietnam, this number represents 9.7% of their generation.
* 3,403,100 (Including 514,300 offshore) personnel served in the broader Southeast Asia Theater (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, flight crews based in Thailand, and sailors in adjacent South China Sea waters).
* 2,594,000 personnel served within the borders of South Vietnam (Jan. 1,1965 - March 28, 1973). Another 50,000 men served in Vietnam between 1960 and 1964.
* Of the 2.6 million, between 1-1.6 million (40-60%) either fought in combat, provided close support or were at least fairly regularly exposed to enemy attack.
* 7,484 women (6,250 or 83.5% were nurses) served in Vietnam.
* Peak troop strength in Vietnam: 543,482 (April 30, 1968).
CASUALTIES:
The first man to die in Vietnam was James Davis, in 1958. He was with the 509th Radio Research Station. Davis Station in Saigon was named for him.
Hostile deaths: 47,378
Non-hostile deaths: 10,800
Total: 58,202 (Includes men formerly classified as MIA and Mayaguez casualties). Men who have subsequently died of wounds account for the changing total.
8 nurses died -- 1 was KIA.
61% of the men killed were 21 or younger.
11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old.
Of those killed, 17,539 were married.
Average age of men killed: 23.1 years
Total Deaths: 23.11 years
Enlisted: 50,274 - 22.37 years
Officers: 6,598 - 28.43 years
Warrants: 1,276 - 24.73 years
E1: 525 - 20.34 years
11B MOS: 18,465 - 22.55 years
Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old.
The oldest man killed was 62 years old.
Highest state death rate: West Virginia - 84.1% (national average 58.9% for every 100,000 males in 1970).
Wounded: 303,704 -- 153,329 hospitalized + 150,375 injured requiring no hospital care.
Severely disabled: 75,000, -- 23,214: 100% disabled; 5,283 lost limbs; 1,081 sustained multiple amputations.
Amputation or crippling wounds to the lower extremities were 300% higher than in WWII and 70% higher than Korea.
Multiple amputations occurred at the rate of 18.4% compared to 5.7% in WWII.
Missing in Action: 2,338
POWs: 766 (114 died in captivity)
As of January 15, 2004, there are 1,875 Americans still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.
DRAFTEES VS. VOLUNTEERS:
25% (648,500) of total forces in country were draftees. (66% of U.S. armed forces members were drafted during WWII).
Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam.
Reservists killed: 5,977
National Guard: 6,140 served: 101 died.
Total draftees (1965 - 73): 1,728,344.
Actually served in Vietnam: 38% Marine Corps Draft: 42,633.
Last man drafted: June 30, 1973.
RACE AND ETHNIC BACKGROUND:
88.4% of the men who actually served in Vietnam were Caucasian; 10.6% (275,000) were black; 1% belonged to other races.
86.3% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasian (includes Hispanics).
12.5% (7,241) were black; 1.2% belonged to other races.
170,000 Hispanics served in Vietnam; 3,070 (5.2% of total) died there.
70% of enlisted men killed were of northwest European descent.
86.8% of the men who were killed as a result of hostile action were Caucasian; 12.1% (5,711) were black; 1.1% belonged to other races.
14.6% (1,530) of non-combat deaths were among blacks.
34% of blacks who enlisted volunteered for the combat arms.
Overall, blacks suffered 12.5% of the deaths in Vietnam at a time when the percentage of blacks of military age was 13.5% of the total population.
Religion of Dead: Protestant -- 64.4%; Catholic -- 28.9%; other/none -- 6.7%
SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS:
Vietnam veterans have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups.
Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent.
76% of the men sent to Vietnam were from lower middle/working class backgrounds.
Three-fourths had family incomes above the poverty level; 50% were from middle income backgrounds.
Some 23% of Vietnam vets had fathers with professional, managerial or technical occupations.
79% of the men who served in Vietnam had a high school education or better when they entered the military service.
63% of Korean War vets and only 45% of WWII vets had completed high school upon separation.
Deaths by region per 100,000 of population: South -- 31%, West --29.9%; Midwest -- 28.4%; Northeast -- 23.5%.
DRUG USAGE & CRIME:
There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam veterans and non-Vietnam veterans of the same age group. (Source: Veterans Administration Study)
Vietnam veterans are less likely to be in prison - only one-half of one percent of Vietnam veterans have been jailed for crimes.
85% of Vietnam veterans made successful transitions to civilian life.
WINNING & LOSING:
82% of veterans who saw heavy combat strongly believe the war was lost because of lack of political will.
Nearly 75% of the public agrees it was a failure of political will, not of arms.
HONORABLE SERVICE:
97% of Vietnam-era veterans were honorably discharged.
91% of actual Vietnam War veterans and 90% of those who saw heavy combat are proud to have served their country.
74% say they would serve again, even knowing the outcome.
87% of the public now holds Vietnam veterans in high esteem.
INTERESTING CENSUS STATISTICS &THOSE TO CLAIM TO HAVE "Been There":
1,713,823 of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August,1995 (census figures).
During that same Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country was: 9,492,958.
As of the current Census taken during August, 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511. This is hard to believe, losing nearly 711,000 between '95 and '00. That's 390 per day.
During this Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is: 13,853,027. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE Vietnam vets are not.
The Department of Defense Vietnam War Service Index officially provided by The War Library originally reported with errors that 2,709,918 U.S. military personnel as having served in-country. Corrections and confirmations to this erred index resulted in the addition of 358 U.S. military personnel confirmed to have served in Vietnam but not originally listed by the Department of Defense. (All names are currently on file and accessible 24/7/365).
Isolated atrocities committed by American soldiers produced torrents of outrage from anti-war critics and the news media while communist atrocities were so common that they received hardly any media mention at all. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while communists who did so received commendations.
From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. The death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, and school teachers. - Nixon Presidential Papers.
Any man or woman who may be asked in this century what they did to make life worthwhile in their lifetime....can respond with a great deal of pride and satisfaction, "I served a career in the United States Military"
Sam Reinert
CPT MP USAR (Ret)
Founder
545th Military Police Company Association
626 1/2 South 9th Street
Richmond, Indiana 47374 USA
(765) 962 4627 phone & FAX
http://545thmpassn.com/index.html
R.I.P. Warrior
Richard "Dick" Winters
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Richard "Dick" Winters, the Easy Company commander whose World War II exploits were made famous by the book and television miniseries "Band of Brothers," died last week in central Pennsylvania. He was 92.
Winters died following a several-year battle with Parkinson's Disease, longtime family friend William Jackson said Monday.
An intensely private and humble man, Winters had asked that news of his death be withheld until after his funeral, Jackson said. Winters lived in Hershey, Pa., but died in suburban Palmyra.
The men Winters led expressed their admiration for their company commander after learning of his death.
William Guarnere, 88, said what he remembers about Winters was "great leadership."
"When he said 'Let's go,' he was right in the front," Guarnere, who was called "Wild Bill" by his comrades, said Sunday night from his South Philadelphia home. "He was never in the back. A leader personified."
An other member of the unit living in Philadelphia, Edward Heffron, 87, said thinking about Winters brought a tear to his eye.
"He was one hell of a guy, one of the greatest soldiers I was ever under," said Heffron, who had the nickname "Babe" in the company. "He was a wonderful officer, a wonderful leader. He had what you needed, guts and brains. He took care of his men, that's very important."
Winters was born Jan. 21, 1918 and studied economics at Franklin & Marshall College before enlisting, according to a biography on the Penn State website.
Winters became the leader of Company E, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division on D-Day, after the death of the company commander during the invasion of Normandy.
During that invasion, Winters led 13 of his men in destroying an enemy battery and obtained a detailed map of German defenses along Utah Beach. In September 1944, he led 20 men in a successful attack on a German force of 200 soldiers. Occupying the Bastogne area of Belgium at the time of the Battle of the Bulge, he and his men held their place until the Third Army broke through enemy lines, and Winters shortly afterward was promoted to major.
After returning home, Winters married his wife, Ethel, in May 1948, and trained infantry and Army Ranger units at Fort Dix during the Korean War. He started a company selling livestock feed to farmers, and he and his family eventually settled in a farmhouse in Hershey, Pa., where he retired.
Historian Stephen Ambrose interviewed Winters for the 1992 book "Band of Brothers," upon which the HBO miniseries that started airing in September 2001 was based. Winters himself published a memoir in 2006 entitled "Beyond Band of Brothers."
Two years ago, an exhibit devoted to Winters was dedicated at the Hershey-Derry Township Historical Society. Winters, in frail health in later years, has also been the subject of a campaign to raise money to erect a monument in his honor near the beaches of Normandy.
Winters talked about his view of leadership for an August 2004 article in American History Magazine:
"If you can," he wrote, "find that peace within yourself, that peace and quiet and confidence that you can pass on to others, so that they know that you are honest and you are fair and will help them, no matter what, when the chips are down."
When people asked whether he was a hero, he echoed the words of his World War II buddy, Mike Ranney: "No, but I served in a company of heroes."
"He was a good man, a very good man," Guarnere said. "I would follow him to hell and back. So would the men from E Company."
Arrangements for a public memorial service are pending.
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press
OT:
Major Dick Winters, the man who was the subject of the Book and mini-series Band of Brothers passed yesterday. He was 92.
He was a modest man who hated being called a hero, he would always answer that charge with the quip, "I served with a company of heroes."
God Bless a nation that produces men like Dick Winters and Easy Company.
Above and Beyond: Honoring our nation’s veterans
It was always about the names.
When I first got involved with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the most visited memorial in our nation’s capitol, our goal was to honor the 58,241 names of the men and women killed in Vietnam. We were determined that the names should not be forgotten, nor lost, in American history as the most lasting sacrifice of a tumultuous war that divided our nation. At the dedication of the Memorial in 1982, the healing process truly began as the Wall brought honor and dignity to all who died and served our country. Each soldier killed has their name equally displayed without rank or date of birth. All were soldiers who went “above and beyond” and gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Aside from Washington, D.C., the soldiers names engraved on the Memorial are permanently honored in only one other location. The “Above and Beyond” exhibit, unveiled in 2001 at the National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago, is comprised of dog tags, one for each service man and woman killed. Suspended from a fine line, each dog tag sits exactly one inch apart, allowing them to move “like a living thing with shifts in the air current”.
Hung from the ceiling in a two-story atrium, the design including all 58,241 names is haunting, breathtaking and memorable. As people enter, the breeze waves the metal dog tags creating the faintest sound of chimes, evoking a sudden silence, spiritually and unspoken dignity within the space.
The Museum has been visited by thousands of people and provides one other place for family and friends to honor and remember. This award-winning design has become an instrument to educate people about sacrifice in war. As one observer noted, visiting students “snap to silence and their jaws drop” stunned by the power of the exhibit. The Museum has become a unique and important place for veterans of all wars to display poignant and healing art. However, the museum has lost its lease and needs to relocate. As a result, the soldiers' dog tags may be boxed up and placed in storage "until further notice”. Such action would be unfortunate for our veterans and our nation for it is still about the names.
As George Washington cautioned after our war for independence “The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war...shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive veterans of earlier wars are treated and appreciated by our nation.”
As the country engages in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, many more have made the ultimate sacrifice. While there will be efforts to permanently honor the names of the more than 5,000 soldiers killed in these conflicts, we must continue to respect service to country and take care of our troops returning home. As a nation, we must not sink into the amnesia for which it may long, as reflected upon by Philip Caputo in “A Rumor of War”. Indeed, our country does need public displays and memorials so that we never forget the names of those veterans who have gone “above and beyond” for our nation.
Ronald F. Gibbs, Vietnam veteran, helped spearhead passage of the legislation establishing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C., and is a former board member of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.
For further information write email gibbsron@msn.com or visit www.NVAM.org
Ron Gibbs Background information
Ron is head of National & International Public Affairs Consulting (NIPAC) and provides strategic counsel to businesses and non-profits on public policy, legislative affairs, marketing/branding, fund raising and communications. He is a nationally recognized expert in public policy and an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy. Mr. Gibbs served for twenty-five years on the board for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and helped spearhead the passage of the legislative establishing the Memorial. As Jan Scruggs stated in his book, To Heal A Nation, "Ron spent many hours walking the halls of Congress. He never asked for public recognition or acclaim. His only desire was to see the 58,000 names inscribed in a place of honor." He served as an Army Infantry Captain in Vietnam and Germany from 1968-1972. Mr. Gibbs received a Master's Degree from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. Contact information: 55 E. Erie St.
Unit 3501, Chicago, IL 60611, 312-543-1455, gibbsron@msn.com.
http://military-online.blogspot.com/2010/11/above-and-beyond-honoring-our-nations.html
Vietnam wall figure killed in Delaware
By Paul Duggan
A former Army officer and Pentagon official who played a prominent role 30 years ago in erecting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was found dead in a Delaware landfill on Friday in what authorities said was a homicide.
John P. Wheeler, 66, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who became a special assistant to the Air Force secretary in the mid-2000s, was found dead shortly before 10 a.m. in a Wilmington, Del., dump, not far from his home, police said.
As chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund from 1979 to 1989, Wheeler was a key figure in the controversial push to build the memorial, which opened on the Mall in 1982. He lived with his wife in New Castle, Del., about 10 miles south of Wilmington, and recently had been working in Washington in the defense-consulting field, his lawyer said.
Police said Wheeler was scheduled to be on Amtrak train from Washington to Wilmington on Dec. 28, but investigators are not certain whether he was on the train. On Friday, a worker at the Cherry Island Landfill in Wilmington saw Wheeler's body in a truckload of trash that was being dumped at the landfill, according to police.
Investigators determined that the trash in the truck had been picked up that morning in Newark, Del., about 12 miles west of Wilmington. How Wheeler wound up in Newark remains a mystery, said Lt. Mark Farrell of the Newark Police Department, which is handling the case.
Farrell declined to say how Wheeler was killed but said an autopsy determined that his death was a homicide
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/paul-duggan/-a-former-army-officer.html?hpid=newswell
You be a "good boy" ~~~ Santa finalizing his list, as I type!
Back at you EZ2
MERRYCHRISTMAS and a happy holiday season to all you vets!!
I hope 2011 is a healthy and rewarding year for all!
EZ
Mandatory Viewing here!!
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=57548459
Veteran to Veteran << forwarded to me / author unknown >>
When a Veteran leaves the 'job' and retires to a better life, many are jealous, some are pleased, and others, who may have already retired, wonder if he knows what he is
leaving behind, because we already know.
1. We know, for example, that after a lifetime of camaraderie that few experience, it will remain as a longing for those past times.
2. We know in the Military life there is a fellowship which lasts long after the uniforms are hung up in the back of the closet.
3. We know even if he throws them away, they will be on him with every step and breath that remains in his life. We also know how the very bearing of the man speaks of what he was and in his heart still is.
These are the burdens of the job. You will still look at people suspiciously, still see what others do not see or choose to ignore and always will look at the rest of the Military world with a respect for what they do; only grown in a lifetime of knowing.
Never think for one moment you are escaping from that life.You are only escaping the 'job' and merely being allowed to leave 'active' duty.
So what I wish for you is that whenever you ease into retirement, in your heart you never forget for one moment that you are still a member of the greatest fraternity the world has ever known.
NOW! Civilian Friends vs. Veteran Friends Comparisons
CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Get upset if you're too busy to talk to them for a week.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Are glad to see you after years, and will happily carry on the same conversation you were having the last time you met.
------------------------------ ---------------------
CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Have cried with you.
---------------------------------------------------
CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Keep your stuff so long they forget it's yours
.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back.
------------------------------ -------------------
CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Know a few things about you.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.
---------------------------------------------------
CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that's what the crowd is doing.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Will kick the crowd's ass that left you behind.
---------------------------------------------------
CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Are for a while.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Are for life.
----------------------------------------------------------
CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Have shared a few experiences.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Have shared a lifetime of experiences no citizen could ever dream of...
---------------------------------------------------
CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will take your drink away when they think you've had enough.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over the place and say, 'You better drink the rest of that before you spill it!' Then carry you home safely and put you to bed.
.
---------------------------------------------------
CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will ignore this.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Will forward this.
----------------------------------------------------
A veteran - whether active duty, retired, or reserve- is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The Government of the United States of America ' for an amount of 'up to and including my life'.
From one Veteran to another, it's an honor to be in your company. Thank you.
Personal request ~~ I am asking all viewers of thos board to jump onto the attached board and ADD your comments! ~~ in support of this post......TY!!
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=57384193
Just a little FYI here:
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=57286934
Jefferson’s Army of Nation Builders
By DOMINIC TIERNEY
Swarthmore, Pa.
THIS Veterans Day, a great debate is going on in the American military. On one side are the traditionalists who believe that our armed forces should continue to maintain as their core mission waging conventional state-on-state wars, like the first Persian Gulf war. On the other side are the reformers, like Gen. David Petraeus, who want to build on the lessons the Army and Marine Corps have learned in the irregular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and broaden the military’s skill set to fashion a more effective counterinsurgency and nation-building force.
In this dispute, the reformers can take inspiration from a surprising quarter: the founders. From the start of the Republic, they aimed to create what the historian Michael Tate called a “multipurpose army,” designed for a wide variety of functions beyond combat. Despite the small size of the regular Army, which was capped at 6,000 men in 1821, and despite the miserly pay that led a foreign observer to wonder who would volunteer to be “shot at for one shilling a day,” the early military performed an essential role in forging the young America.
Troops cut down trees and farmed. They built schools, hospitals and, by 1830, 1,900 miles of roads. They dug canals, erected bridges and dredged harbors. Soldiers constructed everything from the Minot’s Ledge lighthouse on the Massachusetts shore to the Washington Aqueduct, which provides the capital’s water. In 1820, Col. Zachary Taylor, the future president, commented, “The ax, pick, saw and trowel has become more the implement of the American soldier than the cannon, musket or sword.”
American troops also helped to survey and map the West. In the most famous expedition, from 1804 to 1806, Capt. Meriwether Lewis and Second Lt. William Clark led a party of nearly 30 men, including three sergeants and 22 enlisted soldiers, to the Pacific Ocean. The United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, or “topogs,” became a major locus of American science, collecting flora, fauna and geological specimens, and publishing their findings in prestigious journals.
Military personnel assisted the naturalist James Audubon, and performed agricultural experiments demonstrating that the Great Plains could be a bountiful garden of America.
In addition, soldiers on the frontier delivered the mail, helped administer justice, provided medical care and offered relief to the destitute. To appreciate the value of these services, one can simply read the letters and diaries of pioneers, which are full of praise for American troops.
In the 19th century, West Point was a great foundry of nation-building. Established by President Thomas Jefferson in 1802, the academy provided the best engineering education in the United States. The first superintendent was Jonathan Williams, an engineer and former aide to Benjamin Franklin.
Most of the classroom time at West Point was spent on scientific pursuits, rather than the study of battles. A British writer predicted that, “In a short time, the United States, though with a very small army, will be able to boast of a much larger body of scientific and well-educated officers than any other country in the world.”
West Point graduates left their scientific and engineering mark on America. The top cadets headed straight for the Army Corps of Engineers and the Corps of Topographical Engineers. In the words of one, “The engineers were a species of gods, next to which came the ‘topogs’ — only a grade below the first, but still a grade — they were but demigods.” In 1850, Francis Wayland, the president of Brown University, noted that “although there are more than 120 colleges in the United States, the West Point Academy has done more to build up the system of internal improvements in the United States than all the colleges combined.”
Today, some officers warn that an army of nation-builders would lose its edge at conventional warfare. But in keeping with the founders’ belief that the soldier’s role was to build, not just to destroy, we need our own multipurpose military — an Army and Marine Corps with duties that extend far beyond winning tank battles or artillery duels against enemy states, or even fighting at all. And just as in Jefferson’s time, West Point in the 21st century should supply a nation-builder’s education, and we should encourage its efforts to emphasize in its curriculum the study of foreign languages and cultures.
The troops from America’s farming heartlands who are helping Afghans build greenhouses, grow cops and better feed cattle are not losing their identity as warriors — they’re following in the footsteps of our earliest soldiers.
Dominic Tierney, an assistant professor of political science at Swarthmore College, is the author of “How We Fight: Crusades, Quagmires and the American Way of War.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/opinion/11tierney.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
November 11th Is A Lesson For Us All
This is a true story in case you had seen this email before.
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/nodesks.asp
I found it at,
http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/veterans-day-2010.html
On the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School , did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom.
When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks.
'Ms.. Cothren, where are our desks?'
She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.'
They thought, 'Well, maybe it's our grades.'
'No,' she said.
'Maybe it's our behavior.'
She told them, 'No, it's not even your behavior.'
And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom.
By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms. Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.
The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the desk-less classroom, Martha Cothren said, 'Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.'
At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it.
Twenty-seven (27) War Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall... By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned..
Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.'
By the way, this is a true story.
Communities Embrace Veterans of Vietnam War
By KEN MAGUIRE
MANASSAS, Va. — Charles Howell, a Vietnam War veteran, wore his camouflage Army jacket and jungle hat in public for the first time in more than 40 years recently, when he attended the Veterans Day parade in this Civil War battleground city. He said he no longer cared about possible negative reactions to his military service.
A fellow veteran extended his hand and said, “Welcome home.”
“It feels good,” Mr. Howell said. “It is time to get a little recognition.”
Recognition for Vietnam veterans, many of whom feel scarred by experiences during that contentious period in American history, has been growing.
Communities in California, Delaware, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin, among others, have held parades and special events in the past year. More than 20,000 people attended a May ceremony at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis.
Several states have established a day to honor or “welcome home” Vietnam veterans. California, Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota and Wisconsin have passed laws since 2008. Other state legislatures are considering similar bills, while governors and local municipalities have issued proclamations.
The recent outpouring of support, veterans and others said, stems in part from the public embrace of troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many of today’s troops return to heroes’ welcomes, often captured by local news media.
“They’re shown coming off the plane to family and friends,” said Karen Lazar of Harrington, Del. “You see it all the time. They see this, too. These Vietnam vets had no one.” Ms. Lazar spent a year organizing a parade and reaching out to veterans in Delaware, who in turn reached out to others. The parade was held in May in Harrington.
The experience left an impression on Paul Davis, who served two tours in Vietnam with the Army. Mr. Davis was among 150 veterans who participated.
“The crowd was saying, ‘Thank you,’ and I get choked up even right now saying that,” said Mr. Davis, president of the Delaware chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. “There was not one Vietnam veteran who didn’t have tears running down their face, including myself. It was our greatest day.”
More than 1,500 Vietnam veterans showed up at Fort Campbell, Ky., for an event in August 2009. They hold similar events for current troops. “Our Vietnam vets did not receive this kind of welcome home,” Maj. Patrick Seiber of the Army, who helped organize the event, wrote in an e-mail from Afghanistan where he is deployed.
So many veterans showed up that they held three ceremonies, in a hangar, just as they do for current troops.
Connecticut’s law mandates “welcome home” ceremonies at the Capitol each March 30, a date representing the day in 1973 that the last American combat troops left Vietnam. The federal holiday for all veterans is Thursday.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut signed the bill in May and lamented at the time that some veterans were “insulted or abused” when they came home. Ms. Rell said there was now more respect: “I see it in the send-off ceremonies, homecomings and everyday interactions between our military and civilians.”
But disagreement persists. The American Legion of Ohio opposed legislation to create a special day for Vietnam veterans, saying Veterans Day and Memorial Day are sufficient. Prof. Peter Karsten, who teaches history at the University of Pittsburgh and edited the Encyclopedia of War and American Society, said he rejected the notion that the veterans were mistreated. It was “a myth,” he said, traced to the Nixon White House as a way to discredit war opponents.
“It’s a slander on the American public to believe that soldiers were disrespected,” he said.
Mr. Karsten, a Navy veteran of the early 1960s, said part of the surge in support for Vietnam veterans was mortality. They are older now, he said, and have more political power today.
Back in Manassas, which held its Veterans Day parade on Saturday, Mr. Howell, 64, said he was envious of today’s homecomings.
“I’m jealous, but they deserve it,” said Mr. Howell, who retired from a local telephone company. “I’m beginning to let some of it go, but it’s hard.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/us/11vets.html?ref=veterans_day&pagewanted=print
very good !
The War Is Over
"The war is over" Someone said
Not for the living, but maybe the dead
"The war is over" Some people said
Maybe for you, but not in my head
The war is over, and some say we lost
But it's still as pure as the first Winter's frost
The war is over for those underground
But in my head, the thunder still pounds
The war is over, it's in the past
All of my life it has seemed to last
The war is over for those who didn't go
The war can make you die very slow
The war is over, a truce was signed
It still makes me sad even in sunshine
The war is over and what was the cost?
Not in money, but the lives which were lost
The war is over, but it's not dead
To have seen so much death, the memories I still dread
The war is over, Would you do it again?
For the love of my country, just say when
http://www.vietnambogeyman.com/The_War_Is_Ove.htm
Got to get a little early start to really appreciate it ---- it tends to get shoved into the background real quick the following day !
celebrating all week, eh?
Thanks, EZ2. Applebee's is my favorite of all those listed. With super "Good Eats"...IMO!!!
Here is a list of companies who recognize Veterans and Military Personnel and show their appreciation by providing free meals, etc. this year for Veterans Day.
S/Fi
-------------------------------------------
Veteran's Day Freebies
Restaurant Freebies
Applebee’s Restaurant – Free dinners to veterans throughout Veterans Day November 11th; selections will be from a new Veterans Day menu.
Outback Steakhouse – Free Blooming Onion and beverage.
Golden Corral – Free buffet dinner from 5-9 PM, on Nov. 15, to anyone who has ever served in the U. S. military.
In celebration of Veterans Day 11 Nov 2010, Subway is showing its thanks with free six inch subs to all Veterans or Active Duty members.
On Nov. 7, McCormick & Schmick’s restaurants will offer a free entree to military veterans for its 12th annual Veteran’s Appreciation Event. Menu picks include such seafood items as parmesan crusted tilapia, roasted cedar plank salmon and almond crusted rainbow trout. “Our Veterans Appreciation Event has become a tradition that our restaurants look forward to each year,” said Bill Freeman, CEO of McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants, in a statement. For more information: www. mccormickandschmicks.com
Krispy Kreme – One free doughnut of any variety.
UNO Chicago Grill- Free entree or individual pizza with an entree or pizza purchase of equal or greater value.
Coushatta Casino Resort – The Louisiana casino and resort is offering a free seven-clans lunch or dinner buffet to veterans or active military.
MarketPlace Grill & Express – Veterans and active-duty military receive free entrees.
Masala Wok – The Northern Virginian restaurant is offering a free entree to veterans.
Hy-Vee supermarkets – The Midwestern supermarket chain is offering a free breakfast to veterans.
Abuelo’s Mexican Food Restaurants – All veterans and active-duty military receive a free entree.
Carolina Burgers & BBQ – In Matthews, NC is offering a free meal to all service members and veterans.
Retail Freebies
Brides Across America – Provides free wedding gowns to qualified military brides.
Lowe’s & Home Depot – Extra 10% off to active-duty military members, National Guard and reserve members, retirees, honorably discharged veterans and immediate family members.
Sam’s Club – Over 25,000 Hugo canes will be given away to U. S. veterans in need of mobility assistance. Membership is not required, but supplies are limited, so check with your local store.
Amazon.com – Free “Veterans Day Honor” MP3 album download. The album includes 12 songs by The Bands and Ensembles of the U. S. Armed Forces.
Cabela’s Outdoor Store – Offers their employee discount to all veterans, active-duty military and reserves, law enforcement, fire and EMS personnel Nov. 11-12. Discounts vary from 5% to 50%, depending on the item.
Build-a-Bear Workshop – Members of the armed services including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Reserve Officer Training Corps, will receive a 20% discount Nov. 11-15 on any one transaction at Build-A-Bear Workshop.
Dollar General – 10% discount for all veterans, active-duty military, National Guard and reserve and their immediate families.
Fashion Bug – 20% off all plus-size and misses clothing purchases with a copy of military ID or spouse’s military ID.
Entertainment Freebies
National parks, forests and monuments – Admission is free to everyone on Veterans Day.
Knott’s Berry Farm – Free park admission to U. S. armed forces personnel and a guest during Veteran’s Month, November 1-26.
Colonial Williamsburg – Free admission Nov. 6-11 for active-duty military, guard and reservists, retirees, veterans and their dependents.
San Jacinto Museum of History – Free visits to the Observation Deck, theatre, and special exhibit for veterans, active duty military personnel, and their families.
Historic Jamestown – Free admission to veterans, current Armed Forces members and their family members.
Battleship Cove – Free admission and a special ceremony for veterans, active, duty and reservists.
Vicksburg National Military Park – Free admission for all.
Birmingham Museum of Art – Free admission to the ticketed event “Life and Liberty” on Nov. 10-11 for veterans and active military.
Vulcan Park and Museum- In Birmingham, Alabama is offering discounted admission through November to the park and museum.
Greenbay (WI) New Zoo – Free admission to veterans and their families.
Central Florida Zoo – Free admission to the Sanford, Florida zoo with proper ID.
Strategic Air & Space Museum- Free admission for veterans Nov. 11-14 to the Ashland, Nebraska museum.
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum – in Oklahoma City, offers free admission to veterans and five guests from 9 AM to 5 PM on Veterans Day.
Natural Elements Spa & Salon – In Chesapeake, Virginia, will provide free services from 10 AM to 3 PM to both active duty and retired military
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anytime Offers
All these businesses offer military discounts; all you have to do is ask.
Restaurants
Arbys
A&W
Back Yard Burgers
Burger King
Captain D’s
Chick-Fil-A
Cotton Patch
Denny’s
Dunkin’ Donuts
Farmers Boy
IHOP (20 percent discount with military identification)
Java Café
KFC
Long John Silver
Pancho’s Mexican Buffet
Pizza Hut
Quizno’s
Sizzler
Sonic
Taco Bell
Whataburger
Services
AT&T
California Cryobank
Geico
Jiffy Lube
Meineke
Sears Portrait Studio
Travel and Leisure
Blockbuster
Movie theaters
Ripley’s attractions and museums
Professional Sports teams
Products
Apple Computers
AutoZone
Barnhill’s
Bass Pro Shop
Bath and Body Works
Big 10 Tires
The Buckle
Champs Sports
Copeland’s Sports
Dell
The Discovery Channel Store
Dress Barn
The Finish Line
Foot Action
Footlocker
Gadzooks
GNC
Goody’s
Great Party
Happy Harry’s
Home Depot
Hot Topic
Jockey
Lerner
Lowe’s
Michael’s
NAPA Auto Parts
New York & Company
Pac Sun
Payless Shoes
Play It Again Sports
Pure Beauty
Sally Beauty Supply
Spencer’s Gifts
Suncoast
Timberland Outlets
Wilson’s Leather
Cell Phone Service Discount
All Federal employees are able to get a 15% discount on their personal cell phones by calling their carrier and mentioning the “Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 – Discount to Federal Employees Past and Present.” You will need to know the military member’s supervisor’s name, phone number, and full address, so that his/her military status can be verified. Use the following contact numbers:
Cingular – 800-319-6393
Sprint – 877-812-1223
T-Mobile – 866-646-4688
Nextel – 800-639-6111
Verizon – 800-865-1825
Thanks for serving! Please pass this information along to other veterans.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hundreds of B&Bs letting military stay free for Veterans Day
B&B for Vets offers free rooms for Veterans Day at 400 bed-and-breakfasts in North America, including at more than a dozen B&Bs in Washington state.
By VICKI SMITH
The Associated Press
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A West Virginia innkeeper who started letting military families stay free for Veterans Day in 2008 has recruited 400 inns across the U.S. and Canada as part of an initiative to offer free rooms this fall.
B&Bs for Vets is a way to thank active and retired military members for their service and to raise awareness of the bed-and-breakfast industry, said Kathleen Panek, who runs the Gillum House in Shinnston.
"People don't understand that a bed-and-breakfast is about the warm and fuzzy feeling the innkeeper gets and a good experience for the guests," she said. "Because we sure aren't in it for the money."
As of early this week, nearly 400 independently owned inns, including five in Canada, had signed on to offer free rooms Nov. 10, the night before Veterans Day. (More than a dozen in Washington state are offering free rooms.)
Free B&B rooms for military
B&Bs for Vets: www.bnbsforvets.org/participants.html
Innkeepers Association: www.innkeeping.org/
Most of the establishments are small: The average size of a bed-and-breakfast in the U.S. is five or six rooms, according to an industry group. Some participants can spare just a single room, while The Colonial Inn in Smithville, N.J., is offering 20 of its 24.
A valid military or Veterans Affairs ID is required for each reservation.
"I only ask for one room because let's face it: It's an expense, a loss of revenue, and we're not looking to bankrupt anybody," said Panek, a 64-year-old Brooke County native who opened the Gillum House in 1996 after leaving a data processing job in Illinois.
Panek's first Veterans Day guest was a young Navy officer visiting in-laws in Fairmont. Last year, she hosted a National Guardsman and his wife, and the West Virginia B&B Association embraced her idea. Ten inns made a total of 23 rooms available.
This past January, Panek went to a conference of the Professional Association of Innkeepers International. A speaker asked the crowd why more people don't visit B&Bs.
"'Never thought of it.' That was the answer," Panek said. "I thought, 'I don't want to ever have that be said again."'
Panek, whose grandson in the Navy is serving in Afghanistan, decided her personal expression of gratitude could also be good for business.
"But the main object is to say thank you to the veterans," she said.
Jay Karen, president and chief executive of the New Jersey-based association for independent, mostly small inns, said a 2009 survey with TripAdvisor.com showed more than 50 percent of travelers said it had never crossed their minds to stay at a B&B, and the industry is now trying a variety of approaches to raise its profile.
But Panek's idea, which predates the survey, came from "the goodness of her heart," he said.
"The germination of this didn't come as a way to get more exposure for the industry. That may be a wonderful byproduct but it wasn't the reason," he said.
It's easy for a chain hotel — where properties often have more than 100 rooms — to offer free accommodations for veterans, Karen said, but for a tiny inn, "when you're giving up a room, it's a huge commitment."
Many innkeepers are ex-military, including 20-year Army veteran Jess Beaty, who is making two rooms available at the 5 Continents Bed and Breakfast in New Orleans, La.
"I commanded a unit three times, and I just feel very strongly we should take care of the troops," said Beaty, who offers discounts to veterans year-round.
But Martin Ramirez — who owns the Historic Mankin Mansion in Richmond, Va., with wife Paula, and relies mainly on weddings to fill three suites and two cottages — has no direct link to the military.
"We're not veterans ourselves, but we appreciate all the things they've done for us and all the privileges we have here," he said. "It seems a small thing to do for all they've done for us."
Walt and Jean Hylander, who own Rosswood Plantation in Lorman, Miss., have taken Panek's idea a step further, providing free accommodations in their four-room inn to active service members year-round
Walt Hylander is a West Point graduate who spent 29 years in the Army and earned a Silver Star for his service during the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam. "I know about the military life. I appreciate the soldiers, and I also appreciate the military wives and children. They make sacrifices, too," Jean Hylander said.
"I love the Army, and when you're in the military, they really are like family," she said.
thanks for the reminder excel
With Christmas being here before you know it how about doing something this year that you'll never forget?
Even if you don't go out and do the activity, if you donate to the cause you can be assured someone else will stand before another loved one laying that wreath on the grave site of one who gave their all so you and I can live the way we do.
Christmas time can be so hard on people who have lost a child. Let them know they nor their child who gave all for us are not forgotten.
I know times are tough. I'm out of work right now myself.
Yet............
Vince Gill said it best.........
No matter what you make, you can only take what you give away.
Give away some LOVE this Christmas won't you?
Please watch and you'll understand what I'm talking about. Thanks!
For movie buffs and memory seekers.....I caught a pretty good movie over the long weekend:
The Quiet American
Early (approx. 1952) look at VietNam and a bit of footprint leading to increased American activities in country.
The Quiet American
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258068/
FAMILY VALUE ` AUGUST 21, 2010.
War: One Thing It's Good For
Millions of families of wartime veterans are failing to take advantage of a little-known benefit that could help pay for long-term care.
The Department of Veterans Affairs' so-called aid-and-attendance benefit pays a maximum of $1,949 a month to married veterans who qualify. Single veterans and surviving spouses may be eligible for smaller payments.
To qualify, veterans must have served at least 90 days of active military service, including at least one day during a war, and not have been discharged dishonorably. (The rules are stricter for wartime veterans who entered active duty starting Sept. 8, 1980.) They also must meet certain thresholds for medical need and financial need.
Almost 105,000 veterans were using the benefit as of last year, along with a large number of widows, according to the VA. But the pool of potential recipients could be much higher: 2.3 million veterans who served in World War II still are living, according to VA estimates, plus another 2.6 million who served in Korea and 7.7 million in Vietnam.
"This can be really important not only for older Americans, but also for their kids if they're trying to deal with mom and dad and how they're going to pay" for assisted-living and other long-term-care services, says Tom Pamperin, an associate deputy undersecretary in the VA's Veterans Benefits Administration.
The benefit has been underused, he says, because "it doesn't occur to veterans in their 70s who may have had no encounter with the VA other than qualifying for a home loan 40 years ago that there are benefits payable to them."
Their children often aren't aware of the benefit, either. Kathryn Ann McKenzie's 93-year-old father, Harry "Mac" McKenzie, suffers from Alzheimer's disease. She ramped up her search for an assisted-living facility near her Maryland home two years ago after he made a late-night call from his home in Pennsylvania during a snowstorm: He said he didn't know where he was.
On a tour of a Sunrise Senior Living facility in Frederick, Md., Ms. McKenzie mentioned that her father was a World War II veteran—a cartographer and first sergeant in charge of 400 men who made maps from aerial photographs used in the invasion of Normandy. She was referred to a law firm that helps families file benefit applications.
Ms. McKenzie's father now receives about $1,600 a month, tax-free, through the VA program to help meet his assisted-living facility expenses of $5,500 and his additional medical care and insurance premiums, Ms. McKenzie says.
A couple's actual income can't be higher than $23,396 ($19,736 for an individual or $12,681 for a veteran's widow or widower). That number may sound low, but veterans whose annual earnings exceed that amount still qualify if their income falls to that level after deducting unreimbursed medical expenses, such as the cost of assisted living, home health care, prescription drugs or insurance premiums. (The veteran is responsible for his or her first 5% of medical expenses, but Medicare Part B premiums usually take care of that requirement, Mr. Pamperin says.)
Generally, if the veteran has less than $80,000 in liquid assets, not including a home or personal car, "we don't have to do a net-worth determination," Mr. Pamperin says.
The medical thresholds include needing help from another person with functions required in everyday living, such as bathing, eating or dressing, or being bedridden, blind or a patient in an assisted-living facility or nursing home due to a mental or physical disability.
Veterans hoping to qualify can seek out free help through service groups, which they can find through a regional, state or county-level veterans office, Mr. Pamperin says. (Go to www.va.gov, click on "Locations," and then click on "State Veteran Affairs offices," "Veterans Service Organizations" or "Regional Benefits Offices.")
Sunrise, a large assisted-living provider based in McLean, Va., has seen attendance triple at events about this particular benefit in the past year. "More people attend than on any other topic," says Kelly Singleton Myers, Sunrise's senior vice president of sales.
She says Sunrise sales representatives have started asking "everyone who comes in the door" if they, or their spouse, is a veteran, referring those who say yes to lawyers or other agents who have been accredited by the VA to help prepare the application and gather information.
One big caveat: Some of the groups hosting free seminars about aid-and-attendance benefits might try to sell an annuity, trust or other financial-planning instrument to help veterans trying to qualify. And those products might be costly and unsuitable, depending on the veteran's situation and age.
"I've got a case right now where we're going after a financial planner who sold an annuity with a 16-year surrender penalty to someone who was 80 years old," says James Swain, a Roswell, Ga., attorney who is accredited to prepare veteran-benefits applications.
—Email: familyvalue@wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703824304575435932585741218.html
God Bless ya' man !! ~~ Hang in there ~~
thanks nitetrak, justice for our vets is a slippery thing.....God bless
Hi Fellow Vietnam Veterans,
I swallowed my pride for some sense of Justice.
One year after coming home from Vietnam, I had a nervous break down. I spent 5 months in a VA mental Institution. I was pumped with Thorizine which I still take in a lesser dose to this day. I'm most appreciative that these meds were available for me. During my stay I saw older Vets who were institutionalized before these meds were available. More than one Pre-Frontal Lobotomy case walked those halls. Walking vegetables is what they were.
While there, the younger Vets spoke of a VA claims officer at the hospital. I found out latter that, if you spent more than 90 days in a mental institution you would receive 100% compensation to the VA. (So much for that...another story). I saw him and he told me he saw me when I was upstairs and my break down had nothing to do with Vietnam. Upstairs ...on the flight deck! I didn't even know my name at that point!
Anyway.
Not once did my Psychiatrist bring up Vietnam. Yet, references to me taking drugs were endless. I was told that I wouldn't be released till I had some knowledge on why this happened to me. I could see where this was going, so I told them that I was an intravenous drug user; although I've never bought an illegal drug in my life. (This would come back to haunt me). I was released in a matter of days.
Some years latter I thought I'd put in for a shrapnel wound I had received. (Cigarette money any way.) The VA wrote me and said that there was nothing in my military records about receiving a shrapnel wound but due to the fact that I had 2 purple hearts and I did have shrapnel in my arm; the would concede that this occurred in Vietnam. (Nice of them.) Prior to this I went to The DAV for representation. The DAV claims officer told me that my records show clear indication of PTSD. He helped me put in a claim and I was scheduled a meeting at The VA.
The DAV Officer came with me; he waited outside during the meeting. II was seated and 6 VA officials sat in a semi circle in front of me. The started in on the drugs, of which I told them I've never taken any illegal substance. They asked me how come you said, and it's in your records, that you were an intravenous drug user. I told them that, I said this to be released from the VA Hospital. A medic in Vietnam who treated me said I had probably been bitten by an insect, and he lanced it and gave me 3 stitches. The bite had blown op the size of a golf ball.
Then it started... a bombardment of questions of which nothing could have prepared me for.
"Tell us John, do you stick inanimate objects up your anus"? "How often do you have intercourse with your mother"? I got up and walked out. I told The DAV Officer what had happened. He told me ,"Look, your looking at money for the rest of your life, they're not going to make it easy on you, go back in there. I said no, and we left.
Latter in 1980, I saw a VA Physiatrist for 15 minutes and was given a 30% compensation rating by The VA.
There should have been a lump sum payment retroactive from my initial claim in 1973. But no they told me. "We never denied you compensation on PSTD, they told me, you walked out." (That would have been to the tune of about 1/4 of a million. Played me like a fiddle, they did.
Recently, I went to see a VA doctor concerning tinnitus which had developed 3-4 years back. I had been blown off a 1/4 ton truck in Vietnam and had gotten perforations in my ear drums. Of the 5 of us involved, I was the only one not sent home. The VA Doctor said it was very likely that the explosion was the cause of my tinnitus , even after all these years. Again, The VA said that there was nothing in my records of this incident. What a racket, they hold my records, of which I have no access to.
I'm happy that I've lived a productive life. I was told to stay with construction and forget college...Your just not built for it and construction is a good way to work off negative energy.
nitetrak
A POEM WORTH READING and sharing!
(Author unknown)
He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.
And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew whereof he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For old Bob has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.
He won t be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.
He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his passing,
'Tho a Soldier died today.
When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.
Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Someone who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?
The politicians stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.
While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.
It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.
Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?
Or would you want a Soldier--
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end?
He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."
Submitted by,
nitetrak
Veterans Report is the most comprehensive newsletter available to help Veterans stay current on benefits changes, learn about important legislation, get great discounts, and use the benefits earned in service. Make sure that you and your colleagues subscribe for this free update publication.
-------------------------------- 09 AUGUST 2010-------------------------------------------
TRICARE Sets Gray Area Retiree Premiums
Featured Discounts: Discounts Worthy of a Hero
Panel Calls for Reduced Pay and Retiree Benefits
VA Ordered to Release Agent Orange Rule
http://www.military.com/veterans-report/va-ordered-to-release-agent-orange-rule?ESRC=vr.nl
Servicemembers Save With ASMBA
Higher Education Just Got a Little More Affordable
Featured Job: There is More to Retail Than Sales
GI Bill Video Series: Transferability
The GI Bill Entitles You to More Than Just Higher Education...
Register for Military.com Fantasy Football to Win Prizes
The Lavelle Affair and the Afghan War
Resume Writing Isn't What it Used to Be
Navy Ships Agent Orange Exposure List
New Support -- AfterDeployment.org
Anti-Terrorism Awareness Month
Free Suicide Prevention Webinar
New Navy Message System
New Blog Launched
Job Program Helps Wounded Vets
Stop-Loss Pay Available
Gulf War: The 20th Anniversary
Gulf War Illness Hearings Held
VA Health Care Application Made Easier
American Legion Seeks Pepsi Grant
House Conducts Vet Jobs Hearing
Test Results Released
Print and Post This Week's Veterans Report
Headline Military News
Courage.
You're a 19 year old kid.
You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .
It's November 11, 1967.
LZ (landing zone) X-ray.
Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.
You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out.
Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again.
As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.
You look up to see a Huey coming in. But ... It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.
Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.
He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.
Even after the MedEvacs were ordered
not to come. He's coming anyway.
And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you
at a time on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses
and safety.
And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!!
Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs
and left arm.
He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force,
died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho.
May God Bless and Rest His Soul.
I'll bet you didn't hear about this
hero's passing, but we've sure seen
a whole bunch about Michael
Jackson and Tiger Woods.
Medal of Honor
Winner Captain Ed Freeman
Shame on the American media !!!
Now ... YOU pass this along to YOUR
mailing list. Honor this real American.
Please.
Sorry about not having Ed's photo!
Now just to give him his honor back...
Vietnam-Era General Cleared After 38 Years
WASHINGTON (Aug. 4) -- More than 38 years after being removed from command and demoted for allowing unauthorized bombing, a U.S. Air Force general has been cleared of wrongdoing and had his rank posthumously reinstated.
Air Force Gen. John Lavelle was blamed for allowing unauthorized strikes in North Vietnam and for allegedly falsifying reports related to the strikes. He was removed from command and demoted two ranks in 1972 after an inspector general investigation concluded the rules of engagement had been violated.
Bettmann / Corbis
In tapes released in 2007, President Richard Nixon expresses remorse for scapegoating Air Force Gen. John Lavelle, here in Vietnam in 1972, but in public he condemned Lavelle.
Lavelle, who died in 1979, always denied any wrongdoing and insisted his actions were authorized.
At issue was a dispute over whether strikes that Lavelle ordered against North Vietnam were in line with the military's rules of engagement. In 1972, those rules only allowed Air Force assets to strike targets in North Vietnam if they were responding to fire, or if they were targeted by the radar of a surface-to-air-missile system.
It has since come to light, however, that President Richard M. Nixon ordered the Air Force leadership to allow so-called "protection reaction" strikes against North Vietnamese surface-to-air missile sites, based on the threat they could pose to U.S. aircraft.
A decision announced today by the Pentagon clears Lavelle and nominates him posthumously to the rank of general. "[T]he Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records found no evidence Lavelle caused, either directly or indirectly, the falsification of records, or that he was even aware of their existence," the Pentagon said in a statement released today. "Once he learned of the reports, Lavelle took action to ensure the practice was discontinued."
Because of the retirement rules in effect at the time, Lavelle did not lose any pay from his demotion, so the Air Force will not have to pay any retroactive retirement benefits, Beth Gosselin, an Air Force spokeswoman, told AOL News. Gosselin also confirmed that the inquiry into clearing Lavelle was prompted by a 2008 request from his family.
The primary evidence clearing Lavelle came from tapes of Nixon that were released in 2007.
"Let me ask you about Lavelle. I was, I had it on my list this morning. I just don't want him to be made a goat. We all know what protective reaction is," Nixon is heard telling then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger shortly after Lavelle was demoted.
Nixon goes on to make repeated references to Lavelle, expressing remorse that he was punished for doing something that was authorized. In public, however, Nixon condemned Lavelle's actions.
The decision to clear Lavelle comes amid a heated debate over government secrecy and disclosure. Last month, WikiLeaks, an online transparency organization, released more than 70,000 documents related to the the war in Afghanistan.
That leak has been condemned by the White House and the Pentagon, which has also initiated an investigation into the source of the leaks.
Lavelle was cleared not as the result of any leak, but through tapes released by the National Archives. But the information that cleared his name took almost four decades to surface.
Lavelle, always denied wrongdoing. "I did what was right," he said, as part of an oral history interview quoted in Air Force Magazine. "I did what was authorized."
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/vietnam-era-gen-john-lavelle-cleared-after-nearly-40-years/19581191
Take a Ride Through Da Nang, Vietnam: Dogpatch to Freedom Hill
Vietnam Danang Today
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Moderators chunga1 HoosierHoagie *MARINE 1* |
WELCOME ALL !!!
Never forget !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgCVS2mHe0Q
In honor of all our lost family and friends and special recognition given to a really good friend ~~~
http://www.in.gov/iwm/historical/kmia-vietnam.html
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Vietnam Veteran's Terminology and Slang.
Quite a bookoo list. Many of these I've never seen in print before. Ought to bring back a memory or two. I hope most are good.
http://www.vietvet.org/glossary.htm
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