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Vietnam Veterans of america
Vietnam Veteran of america
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
VVA Publications
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Thursday's Interments
From: akan01@centurylink.net
To: akan01@centurylink.net
Subject: Thursday's Interments
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 21:19:23 -0700
To: akan01@centurylink.net
Subject: Thursday's Interments
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 21:19:23 -0700
Subject: Re: Thursday's Interments
Hi Everyone
>
> As of today, this Thursday Aug 1st the following funerals are scheduled for 8:40 at the Southern Nevada Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery, 1900 Buchanan Blvd, Boulder City, 89005. These funerals are for Veteran’s that have no one. This weeks people scheduled are:
>
> From the Navy: Wade Beck
> From the Army: Curtis Hertz and C. Walden
>
>
>
>> As a side note, for anyone interested in riding over together, we will meet for breakfast at IHOP diagonally across the street from Sam’s town on Boulder Hwy around 6:50. It will be KSU at 7:50 to head to BC. Today maybe a small breakfast since we will be eating again at 10:00.
>>
>>> Thank you Bob Donaghy
>
Thursday, July 25, 2013
VVA 17 Nellis Retiree Appreciation Day
Nellis will be holding it's annual Retiree Appreciation Day September 14th. It will run from 0800 - 1300 with free lunch for attendees who sign in. Place is the Thunderbirds Hangar.
I have been a volunteer at the Nellis RAO Office since 1996. I have seen several organizations recruit new members from an information table with literature from the organization. I had a table last year and brought in two new members for one organization and three for another.
I reserved a table for the Vietnam Veterans of America but on second thought may do one for Henderson, NV Veteran organizations or any others in the Valley looking for military retirees to join. - sort of a combined effort. All I would need from your organization or activity would be a stack of flyers or brochures with organization information and contact information such as meeting place, time, date and a POC. National military organizations are always represented like AUSA, AFA, and several other fraternal and veteran service organizations usually have a table.
Commercial activities can also request tables. If you are interested in recruiting for your organization, send me an email. If you want a table, hurry and call Jean Putney, RAO Director at 898-1888 as there are only a few left.
There will be medical and dental screenings, TRICARE info, base activities info and similar areas.
Lou
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Please this how true it is
You can be Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative, Independent or Libertarian and I bet this will hit a nerve. Our country is in real trouble.
This gentleman is obviously quite smarter than the two senators he sent it to.
All I can say is amen to everything he said. A very articulate letter sent to the two U.S. Senators from Washington State.
April 3, 2013
Senator Patty Murray
Senator Maria Cantwell
Washington , DC , 20510
Dear Senator:
I have tried to live by the rules my entire life. My father was a
Command Sergeant Major , U.S. Army, who died of combat related stresses
shortly after his retirement. It was he who instilled in me those
virtues he felt important - honesty, duty, patriotism and obeying the
laws of God and of our various governments. I have served my country,
paid my taxes, worked hard, volunteered and donated my fair share of
money, time and artifacts.
Today, as I approach my 79th birthday, I am heart-broken when I look
at my country and my government. I shall only point out a very few
things abysmally wrong which you can multiply by a thousand fold. I
have calculated that all the money I have paid in income taxes my
entire life cannot even keep the Senate barbershop open for one year!
Only Heaven and a few tight-lipped actuarial types know what the
Senate dining room costs the taxpayers. So please, enjoy your haircuts
and meals on us.
Last year, the president spent an estimated 1.4 $billion on himself
and his family. The vice president spends $millions on hotels. They
have had 8 vacations so far this year! And our House of
Representatives and Senate have become America 's answer to the Saudi
royal family. You have become the "perfumed princes and princesses" of
our country.
In the middle of the night, you voted in the Affordable Health Care
Act, a.k.a. "Obama Care," a bill which no more than a handful of
senators or representatives read more than several paragraphs, crammed
it down our throats, and then promptly exempted yourselves from it
substituting your own taxpayer-subsidized golden health care
insurance.
You live exceedingly well, eat and drink as well as the "one
percenters," consistently vote yourselves perks and pay raises while
making 3.5 times the average U.S. individual income, and give up
nothing while you (as well as the president and veep) ask us to
sacrifice due to sequestration (for which, of course, you plan to
blame the Republicans, anyway).
You understand very well the only two rules you need to know - (1) How
to get elected, and (2) How to get re-elected. And you do this with
the aid of an eagerly willing and partisan press, speeches permeated
with a certain economy of truth, and by buying the votes of the
greedy, the ill-informed and under-educated citizens (and
non-citizens, too, many of whom do vote ) who are looking for a
handout rather than a job. Your so-called "safety net" has become a
hammock for the lazy. And, what is it now, about 49 or 50 million on
food stamps - pretty much all Democrat voters - and the program is
absolutely rife with fraud with absolutely no congressional oversight?
I would offer that you are not entirely to blame. What changed you is
the seductive environment of power in which you have immersed
yourselves. It is the nature of both houses of Congress which requires
you to subordinate your virtue in order to get anything done until you
have achieved a leadership role. To paraphrase President Reagan, it
appears that the second oldest profession (politics), bears a
remarkably strong resemblance to the oldest.
As the hirsute first Baron John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834 -
1902), English historian and moralist, so aptly and accurately stated,
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great
men are almost always bad men." I'm only guessing that this applies to
the female sex as well. Tell me, is there a more corrupt entity in
this country than Congress?
While we middle class people continue to struggle, our government
becomes less and less transparent, more and more bureaucratic, and
ever so much more dictatorial, using Czars and Secretaries to tell us
(just to mention a very few) what kind of light bulbs we must
purchase, how much soda or hamburgers we can eat, what cars we can
drive, gasoline to use, and what health care we must buy. Countless
thousands of pages of regulations strangle our businesses costing the
consumer more and more every day.
As I face my final year, or so, with cancer, my president and my
government tell me "You'll just have to take a pill," while you,
Senator, your colleagues, the president, and other exulted government
officials and their families will get the best possible health care on
our tax dollars until you are called home by your Creator while also
enjoying a retirement beyond my wildest dreams, which of course, you
voted for yourselves and we pay for.
The chances of you reading this letter are practically zero as your
staff will not pass it on, but with a little luck, a form letter
response might be generated by them with an auto signature applied,
hoping we will believe that you, our senator or representative, has
heard us and actually cares. This letter will, however, go on line
where many others will have the chance to read one person's opinion,
rightly or wrongly, about this government, its administration and its
senators and representatives.
I only hope that occasionally you might quietly thank the taxpayer for
all the generous entitlements which you have voted yourselves, for
which, by law, we must pay, unless, of course, it just goes on the $17
trillion national debt for which your children and ours, and your
grandchildren and ours, ad infinitum, must eventually try to pick up
the tab.
My final thoughts are that it must take a person who has either lost
his or her soul, or conscience, or both, to seek re-election and
continue to destroy this country I deeply love and put it so far in
debt that we will never pay it off while your lot improves by the
minute, because of your power. For you, Senator, will never stand up
to the rascals in your House who constantly deceive the American
people. And that, my dear Senator, is how power has corrupted you and
the entire Congress. The only answer to clean up this cesspool is term
limits. This, of course, will kill the goose that lays your golden
eggs. And woe be to him (or her) who would dare to bring it up.
Sincerely,
Bill Schoonover
3096 Angela Lane
Oak Harbor , WA 98277
Senator Patty Murray
Senator Maria Cantwell
Washington , DC , 20510
Dear Senator:
I have tried to live by the rules my entire life. My father was a
Command Sergeant Major , U.S. Army, who died of combat related stresses
shortly after his retirement. It was he who instilled in me those
virtues he felt important - honesty, duty, patriotism and obeying the
laws of God and of our various governments. I have served my country,
paid my taxes, worked hard, volunteered and donated my fair share of
money, time and artifacts.
Today, as I approach my 79th birthday, I am heart-broken when I look
at my country and my government. I shall only point out a very few
things abysmally wrong which you can multiply by a thousand fold. I
have calculated that all the money I have paid in income taxes my
entire life cannot even keep the Senate barbershop open for one year!
Only Heaven and a few tight-lipped actuarial types know what the
Senate dining room costs the taxpayers. So please, enjoy your haircuts
and meals on us.
Last year, the president spent an estimated 1.4 $billion on himself
and his family. The vice president spends $millions on hotels. They
have had 8 vacations so far this year! And our House of
Representatives and Senate have become America 's answer to the Saudi
royal family. You have become the "perfumed princes and princesses" of
our country.
In the middle of the night, you voted in the Affordable Health Care
Act, a.k.a. "Obama Care," a bill which no more than a handful of
senators or representatives read more than several paragraphs, crammed
it down our throats, and then promptly exempted yourselves from it
substituting your own taxpayer-subsidized golden health care
insurance.
You live exceedingly well, eat and drink as well as the "one
percenters," consistently vote yourselves perks and pay raises while
making 3.5 times the average U.S. individual income, and give up
nothing while you (as well as the president and veep) ask us to
sacrifice due to sequestration (for which, of course, you plan to
blame the Republicans, anyway).
You understand very well the only two rules you need to know - (1) How
to get elected, and (2) How to get re-elected. And you do this with
the aid of an eagerly willing and partisan press, speeches permeated
with a certain economy of truth, and by buying the votes of the
greedy, the ill-informed and under-educated citizens (and
non-citizens, too, many of whom do vote ) who are looking for a
handout rather than a job. Your so-called "safety net" has become a
hammock for the lazy. And, what is it now, about 49 or 50 million on
food stamps - pretty much all Democrat voters - and the program is
absolutely rife with fraud with absolutely no congressional oversight?
I would offer that you are not entirely to blame. What changed you is
the seductive environment of power in which you have immersed
yourselves. It is the nature of both houses of Congress which requires
you to subordinate your virtue in order to get anything done until you
have achieved a leadership role. To paraphrase President Reagan, it
appears that the second oldest profession (politics), bears a
remarkably strong resemblance to the oldest.
As the hirsute first Baron John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834 -
1902), English historian and moralist, so aptly and accurately stated,
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great
men are almost always bad men." I'm only guessing that this applies to
the female sex as well. Tell me, is there a more corrupt entity in
this country than Congress?
While we middle class people continue to struggle, our government
becomes less and less transparent, more and more bureaucratic, and
ever so much more dictatorial, using Czars and Secretaries to tell us
(just to mention a very few) what kind of light bulbs we must
purchase, how much soda or hamburgers we can eat, what cars we can
drive, gasoline to use, and what health care we must buy. Countless
thousands of pages of regulations strangle our businesses costing the
consumer more and more every day.
As I face my final year, or so, with cancer, my president and my
government tell me "You'll just have to take a pill," while you,
Senator, your colleagues, the president, and other exulted government
officials and their families will get the best possible health care on
our tax dollars until you are called home by your Creator while also
enjoying a retirement beyond my wildest dreams, which of course, you
voted for yourselves and we pay for.
The chances of you reading this letter are practically zero as your
staff will not pass it on, but with a little luck, a form letter
response might be generated by them with an auto signature applied,
hoping we will believe that you, our senator or representative, has
heard us and actually cares. This letter will, however, go on line
where many others will have the chance to read one person's opinion,
rightly or wrongly, about this government, its administration and its
senators and representatives.
I only hope that occasionally you might quietly thank the taxpayer for
all the generous entitlements which you have voted yourselves, for
which, by law, we must pay, unless, of course, it just goes on the $17
trillion national debt for which your children and ours, and your
grandchildren and ours, ad infinitum, must eventually try to pick up
the tab.
My final thoughts are that it must take a person who has either lost
his or her soul, or conscience, or both, to seek re-election and
continue to destroy this country I deeply love and put it so far in
debt that we will never pay it off while your lot improves by the
minute, because of your power. For you, Senator, will never stand up
to the rascals in your House who constantly deceive the American
people. And that, my dear Senator, is how power has corrupted you and
the entire Congress. The only answer to clean up this cesspool is term
limits. This, of course, will kill the goose that lays your golden
eggs. And woe be to him (or her) who would dare to bring it up.
Sincerely,
Bill Schoonover
3096 Angela Lane
Oak Harbor , WA 98277
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
EX Board meeting and chapter meeting
This is just to remind everyone that there is no meetings for August 2013 See everyone in Sept. And as you can see I have been updating our blog
Just thought I would Share
The Sandpiper
by Robert Peterson
She was six years old when I first met her on the beach near where I live.
I drive to this beach, a distance of three or four miles, whenever the world begins to close in on me. She was building a sand castle or something and looked up, her eyes as blue as the sea.
"Hello," she said.
I answered with a nod, not really in the mood to bother with a small child.
"I'm building," she said.
"I see that. What is it?" I asked, not really caring.
by Robert Peterson
She was six years old when I first met her on the beach near where I live.
I drive to this beach, a distance of three or four miles, whenever the world begins to close in on me. She was building a sand castle or something and looked up, her eyes as blue as the sea.
"Hello," she said.
I answered with a nod, not really in the mood to bother with a small child.
"I'm building," she said.
"I see that. What is it?" I asked, not really caring.
"Oh, I don't know, I just like the feel of sand."
That sounds good, I thought, and slipped off my shoes.
A sandpiper glided by.
"That's a joy," the child said.
"It's a what?"
"It's a joy. My mama says sandpipers come to bring us joy."
The bird went gliding down the beach. Good-bye joy, I muttered to myself, hello pain, and turned to walk on. I was depressed, my life seemed completely out of balance.
"What's your name?" She wouldn't give up.
"Robert," I answered. "I'm Robert Peterson."
"Mine's Wendy... I'm six."
"Hi, Wendy."
She giggled. "You're funny," she said.
In spite of my gloom, I laughed too and walked on.
Her musical giggle followed me.
"Come again, Mr.. P," she called. "We'll have another happy day."
The next few days consisted of a group of unruly Boy Scouts, PTA meetings, and an ailing mother. The sun was shining one morning as I took my hands out of the dishwater. I need a sandpiper, I said to myself, gathering up my coat.
The ever-changing balm of the seashore awaited me.. The breeze was chilly but I strode along, trying to recapture the serenity I needed.
"Hello, Mr. P," she said. "Do you want to play?"
"What did you have in mind?" I asked, with a twinge of annoyance.
"I don't know. You say."
"How about charades?" I asked sarcastically.
The tinkling laughter burst forth again. "I don't know what that is."
"Then let's just walk."
Looking at her, I noticed the delicate fairness of her face.
"Where do you live?" I asked.
"Over there." She pointed toward a row of summer cottages.
Strange, I thought, in winter.
"Where do you go to school?"
"I don't go to school. Mommy says we're on vacation"
She chattered little girl talk as we strolled up the beach, but my mind was on other things. When I left for home, Wendy said it had been a happy day. Feeling surprisingly better, I smiled at her and agreed.
Three weeks later, I rushed to my beach in a state of near panic. I was in no mood to even greet Wendy. I thought I saw her mother on the porch and felt like demanding she keep her child at home.
"Look, if you don't mind," I said crossly when Wendy caught up with me, "I'd rather be alone today." She seemed unusually pale and out of breath.
"Why?" she asked.
I turned to her and shouted, "Because my mother died!" and thought, My God, why was I saying this to a little child?
"Oh," she said quietly, "then this is a bad day."
"Yes," I said, "and yesterday and the day before and -- oh, go away!"
"Did it hurt?" she inquired.
"Did what hurt?" I was exasperated with her, with myself.
"When she died?"
"Of course it hurt!" I snapped, misunderstanding,
wrapped up in myself. I strode off. A month or so after that, when I next went to the beach, she wasn't there. Feeling guilty, ashamed, and admitting to myself I missed her, I went up to the cottage after my walk and knocked at the door. A drawn looking young woman with honey-colored hair opened the door.
"Hello," I said, "I'm Robert Peterson. I missed your little girl today and wondered where she was." "Oh yes, Mr. Peterson, please come in. Wendy spoke of you so much. I'm afraid I allowed her to bother you. If she was a nuisance, please, accept my apologies."
"Not at all! she's a delightful child." I said, suddenly realizing
that I meant what I had just said.
"Wendy died last week, Mr. Peterson. She had leukemia
Maybe she didn't tell you."
Struck dumb, I groped for a chair. I had to catch my breath. "She loved this beach, so when she asked to come, we couldn't say no. She seemed so much better here and had a lot of what she called happy days. But the last few weeks, she declined rapidly..." Her voice faltered, "She left something for you, if only I can find it. Could you wait a moment while I look?"
I nodded stupidly, my mind racing for something to say to this lovely young woman. She handed me a smeared envelope with "MR. P" printed in bold childish letters.. Inside was a drawing in bright crayon hues -- a yellow beach, a blue sea, and a brown bird. Underneath was carefully printed:
A SANDPIPER TO BRING YOU JOY.
Tears welled up in my eyes, and a heart that had almost forgotten to love opened wide. I took Wendy's mother in my arms. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," I uttered over and over, and we wept together. The precious little picture is framed now and hangs in my study. Six words -- one for each year of her life -- that speak to me of harmony, courage, and undemanding love. A gift from a child with sea blue eyes and hair the color of sand
-- who taught me the gift of love.
That sounds good, I thought, and slipped off my shoes.
A sandpiper glided by.
"That's a joy," the child said.
"It's a what?"
"It's a joy. My mama says sandpipers come to bring us joy."
The bird went gliding down the beach. Good-bye joy, I muttered to myself, hello pain, and turned to walk on. I was depressed, my life seemed completely out of balance.
"What's your name?" She wouldn't give up.
"Robert," I answered. "I'm Robert Peterson."
"Mine's Wendy... I'm six."
"Hi, Wendy."
She giggled. "You're funny," she said.
In spite of my gloom, I laughed too and walked on.
Her musical giggle followed me.
"Come again, Mr.. P," she called. "We'll have another happy day."
The next few days consisted of a group of unruly Boy Scouts, PTA meetings, and an ailing mother. The sun was shining one morning as I took my hands out of the dishwater. I need a sandpiper, I said to myself, gathering up my coat.
The ever-changing balm of the seashore awaited me.. The breeze was chilly but I strode along, trying to recapture the serenity I needed.
"Hello, Mr. P," she said. "Do you want to play?"
"What did you have in mind?" I asked, with a twinge of annoyance.
"I don't know. You say."
"How about charades?" I asked sarcastically.
The tinkling laughter burst forth again. "I don't know what that is."
"Then let's just walk."
Looking at her, I noticed the delicate fairness of her face.
"Where do you live?" I asked.
"Over there." She pointed toward a row of summer cottages.
Strange, I thought, in winter.
"Where do you go to school?"
"I don't go to school. Mommy says we're on vacation"
She chattered little girl talk as we strolled up the beach, but my mind was on other things. When I left for home, Wendy said it had been a happy day. Feeling surprisingly better, I smiled at her and agreed.
Three weeks later, I rushed to my beach in a state of near panic. I was in no mood to even greet Wendy. I thought I saw her mother on the porch and felt like demanding she keep her child at home.
"Look, if you don't mind," I said crossly when Wendy caught up with me, "I'd rather be alone today." She seemed unusually pale and out of breath.
"Why?" she asked.
I turned to her and shouted, "Because my mother died!" and thought, My God, why was I saying this to a little child?
"Oh," she said quietly, "then this is a bad day."
"Yes," I said, "and yesterday and the day before and -- oh, go away!"
"Did it hurt?" she inquired.
"Did what hurt?" I was exasperated with her, with myself.
"When she died?"
"Of course it hurt!" I snapped, misunderstanding,
wrapped up in myself. I strode off. A month or so after that, when I next went to the beach, she wasn't there. Feeling guilty, ashamed, and admitting to myself I missed her, I went up to the cottage after my walk and knocked at the door. A drawn looking young woman with honey-colored hair opened the door.
"Hello," I said, "I'm Robert Peterson. I missed your little girl today and wondered where she was." "Oh yes, Mr. Peterson, please come in. Wendy spoke of you so much. I'm afraid I allowed her to bother you. If she was a nuisance, please, accept my apologies."
"Not at all! she's a delightful child." I said, suddenly realizing
that I meant what I had just said.
"Wendy died last week, Mr. Peterson. She had leukemia
Maybe she didn't tell you."
Struck dumb, I groped for a chair. I had to catch my breath. "She loved this beach, so when she asked to come, we couldn't say no. She seemed so much better here and had a lot of what she called happy days. But the last few weeks, she declined rapidly..." Her voice faltered, "She left something for you, if only I can find it. Could you wait a moment while I look?"
I nodded stupidly, my mind racing for something to say to this lovely young woman. She handed me a smeared envelope with "MR. P" printed in bold childish letters.. Inside was a drawing in bright crayon hues -- a yellow beach, a blue sea, and a brown bird. Underneath was carefully printed:
A SANDPIPER TO BRING YOU JOY.
Tears welled up in my eyes, and a heart that had almost forgotten to love opened wide. I took Wendy's mother in my arms. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," I uttered over and over, and we wept together. The precious little picture is framed now and hangs in my study. Six words -- one for each year of her life -- that speak to me of harmony, courage, and undemanding love. A gift from a child with sea blue eyes and hair the color of sand
-- who taught me the gift of love.
NOTE: This is a true story sent out by Robert Peterson. It happened over 20 years ago and the incident changed his life forever. It serves as a reminder to all of us that we need to take time to enjoy living and life and each other. The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less.
Life is so complicated, the hustle and bustle of everyday traumas can make us lose focus about what is truly important
or what is only a momentary setback or crisis..
This week, be sure to give your loved ones an extra hug, and by all means, take a moment... even if it is only ten seconds, to stop and smell the roses. This comes from someone's heart, and is read by many
and now I share it with you..
May God Bless everyone who receives this! There are NO coincidences!
Everything that happens to us happens for a reason. Never brush aside anyone as insignificant. Who knows what they can teach us?
I wish for you, a sandpiper.
VVA Chapter 17 & 1076
Subject: Re: Thursday's Interments 07/25/2013
Hi Everyone
As of today, this Thursday July 25th the following funerals are scheduled for 8:40 at the Southern Nevada Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery, 1900 Buchanan Blvd, Boulder City, 89005. These funerals are for Veteran’s that have no one. This weeks people scheduled are:
From the Navy: Calvin McCain
From the Army: Joseph Pono, and Jerry Laock
There is a chance that up to 3 more people may be added this week.
This week also marks the 1 yr anniversary where we (The Patriot Guard) started meeting regularly on Thursday for the Vets who have no one. To celebrate we are meeting at Railroad pass after the funerals. The buffet opens at 10:00 and should be pretty close to when we finish. I would love to see as many people as possible show up for this one.
For those of you driving down with me, I intend to join the Patriot Guard at the Railroad Pass after the ceremony. ---Joel
As a side note, for anyone interested in riding over together, we will meet for breakfast at IHOP diagonally across the street from Sam’s town on Boulder Hwy around 6:50. It will be KSU at 7:50 to head to BC. Today maybe a small breakfast since we will be eating again at 10:00.
Thank you Bob Donaghy
Monday, July 22, 2013
FYI Blog info
Hi every one I have added tabs on top of our blog for different pages just click page tabs to different pages please let me know what you think leave a comment.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
veteran hand salute
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B11axbziSq-EZXpENzNHakptcXc/edit?
usp=sharinghttps://docs.google.com/file/d/0B11axbziSq-ET1p6cENyVng1dmc/edit?
usp=sharinghttps://docs.google.com/file/d/0B11axbziSq-EaG83OEE1YTN5aWc/edit?usp=sharing
From: Bob Griffith [ mailto:bob.griffith@comcast.net]
Military salute by veterans at flag ceremonies
The U.S. Code was amended by Congress in 2008 to authorize the military salute for veterans and members of the armed forces when not in uniform. Yet, today, Congresss’ patriotic intention to acknowledge our veterans service and sacrifice remains disappointingly unfulfilled. There are 25,000,000 veterans and to see a person rendering the hand salute is a very uncommon occurrence.
We need to change that! Our citizens want our veterans to be standing tall, together, rendering a proud salute in full recognition of their service to the nation. The attached letter clarifies the reasons that we do not, to date, see saluting veterans everywhere. Moreover, it identifies the plan to promote the Veteran Salute program, primarily through the cooperation of the major sports networks. This is not a plan for the future but one in place now to be implemented completely in the next several months.
As an important veterans support organization, your help is needed to help realize the goal. Please,
1. Print out the attached letter Veteran Salute Program for details of Veteran Salute.
2. Email the attached Concurrence Statement to veteransalute@comcast.net
by July 31st, 2013; it will be used to support our appeal to the sport franchises.
3. Begin planning efforts to disseminate information to your membership
Congress did its job by mandating the military salute privilege for our veterans. Now it is time for us to implement the change. Please join other veteran organizations in encouraging our veterans to exercise the distinct privilege of rendering the military salute at flag ceremonies. These saluting veterans will enrich our traditional flag ceremonies for generations to a grateful nation.
Robert E Griffith
CDR, USNR(Ret)
2190 Lake Shore Circle
Arlington Hts, IL 60004
veteransalute@comcast.net
847 380-0462
July 19, 2013
Endorsements: Rep. Jeff Miller, Chairman, House Committee on Veterans Affairs; Senator Mark Kirk; Senator Richard Durbin; Rep J. Schakowski
Military salute by veterans at flag ceremonies
The U.S. Code was amended by Congress in 2008 to authorize the military salute for veterans and members of the armed forces when not in uniform. Yet, today, Congresss’ patriotic intention to acknowledge our veterans service and sacrifice remains disappointingly unfulfilled. There are 25,000,000 veterans and to see a person rendering the hand salute is a very uncommon occurrence.
We need to change that! Our citizens want our veterans to be standing tall, together, rendering a proud salute in full recognition of their service to the nation. The attached letter clarifies the reasons that we do not, to date, see saluting veterans everywhere. Moreover, it identifies the plan to promote the Veteran Salute program, primarily through the cooperation of the major sports networks. This is not a plan for the future but one in place now to be implemented completely in the next several months.
As an important veterans support organization, your help is needed to help realize the goal. Please,
1. Print out the attached letter Veteran Salute Program for details of Veteran Salute.
2. Email the attached Concurrence Statement to veteransalute@comcast.net
by July 31st, 2013; it will be used to support our appeal to the sport franchises.
3. Begin planning efforts to disseminate information to your membership
Congress did its job by mandating the military salute privilege for our veterans. Now it is time for us to implement the change. Please join other veteran organizations in encouraging our veterans to exercise the distinct privilege of rendering the military salute at flag ceremonies. These saluting veterans will enrich our traditional flag ceremonies for generations to a grateful nation.
Robert E Griffith
CDR, USNR(Ret)
2190 Lake Shore Circle
Arlington Hts, IL 60004
veteransalute@comcast.net
847 380-0462
July 19, 2013
Endorsements: Rep. Jeff Miller, Chairman, House Committee on Veterans Affairs; Senator Mark Kirk; Senator Richard Durbin; Rep J. Schakowski
Veteran Service Organizations
Air
Force Assn; Air Force Sergeants Assn; American Legion; Amer Ex-Prisoners of
War; Amer GI Forum of the U.S.; Amer Military Retirees Assn; AMVETS; Disabled
American Veterans; Fleet Reserve Assn; Iraq/Afghanistan Vets of America; Korean
Veterans of America; Korean War Veterans Assn; Marine Corps League; Mil Order
of the Purple Heart; Military Officers Assn of America (MOAA); Natl Assoc for
Uniformed Services; Naval Enlisted Reserve Association; Navy League of the
United States; Non Commissioned Officers Assn; Paralyzed Veterans of America;
Reserve Enlisted Association; TREA; USCG Chief Petty Officers Association;
Veterans of Foreign Wars; Veterans of Vietnam War; Vietnam Veterans of America;
Wounded Warriors
Friday, July 19, 2013
VA update FYI
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Recent VA News Releases
To view and download VA news releases, please visit the following Internet address:
VA Has Converted Over 30 Percent of Disability Claims into Digital Files
165 Million Pages Have Been Scanned and Uploaded to Help Transform Paper-Based Claims Process to Digital Environment
WASHINGTON(July 18, 2013)—The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has reached another milestone in its disability claims transformation process – over 30 percent of the current disability claims inventory is now digital and accessible to claim raters in VA’s electronic claims processing system, which has now been fielded ahead of schedule at all 56 Regional Offices across the country. This effort is a key part of transforming outdated paper processing into an electronic system that is delivering disability claims decisions for Veterans more quickly. In addition, all incoming paper claims are transformed into digital records for electronic processing using VA’s new claims processing software and electronic repository.
“A key element that slows our process is the thousands of tons of paper documents we handle each year related to Veterans’ claims,” said Undersecretary for Benefits Allison A. Hickey. “While we continue to expand our ability to process claims electronically, we still have to handle those we receive in paper form— the Veterans Claims Intake Program (VCIP) is our answer to this and helps us move into a fully digital environment.”
On Sep. 28, 2012, VA established the VCIP program to maximize the use of electronic intake for all claims, creating digital, searchable files. The document conversion service, part of VCIP, has now been implemented at all 56 VA regional claims processing offices across the country. VCIP is a capability that enables high-speed document scanning to help VA end its reliance on paper-based claims. With VCIP, a new paper claim that is received at a regional office is recorded in VA’s electronic claims processing system—called the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS)—and shipped to one of three document conversion locations to be scanned and converted into digital images. The document images, which are made keyword searchable in the conversion, are placed into a VBMS electronic folder for use by the VA employees who work the Veteran’s claim.
Digital conversion improves processing timeliness by eliminating paper folder transport, reducing manual data entry, streamlining the review of medical records, and standardizing correspondence with Veterans and beneficiaries. To date, VA has converted more than 165 million pages of claims documents to digital images, and continues to add over 1 million images into VBMS every day.
“Finding a key piece of evidence in a thick paper file folder takes time,” said James Thomas, a claims specialist at the Salt Lake VA Regional Office. “With digital claims records, we can find all the key information related to the claim with a key stroke.”
At the same time, VA is working closely with the Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Service Organizations to urge Veterans and separating Servicemembers to file their disability claims electronically and, when possible, to file a Fully Developed Claim through the joint DoD/VA online portal, eBenefits (www.ebenefits.va.gov/
VA is continuing to implement several initiatives to meet Secretary Shinseki’s goal to eliminate the claims backlog in 2015. In May, VA announced that it was mandating overtime for claims processors in its 56 regional benefits offices to increase production of compensations claims decisions, which will continue through the end of FY 2013. In June, VA announced that under an initiative launched in April to expedite disability compensation claims decisions for Veterans who have a waited a year or longer, more than 65,000 claims nationwide – or 97 percent of all claims over two years old in the inventory – had been eliminated from the backlog.
Today, VA’s total claims inventory remains at lower levels not seen since August 2011 and the number of claims in the VA backlog – claims pending over 125 days – has been reduced by nearly 12 percent since the “oldest claims first” initiative began.
VA continues to prioritize disability claims for homeless Veterans, those experiencing extreme financial hardship, the terminally ill, former Prisoners of War, Medal of Honor recipients, and Veterans filing Fully Developed Claims, which is the quickest way for Veterans to receive a decision on their compensation claim (http://www.benefits.va.gov/
Claims for Wounded Warriors separating from the military for medical reasons will continue to be handled separately and on a priority basis with DoD through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES).
Veterans can learn more about disability benefits, and register and/or upgrade to a free Premium account on the joint Department of Defense/VA web portal eBenefits atwww.ebenefits.va.gov.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
VVA Chapter 17
just you would like to see this it is a picture of Vietnam veteran memorial in Punxsutawney Pa
vva chapter 17
I had a buddy named Frank who was an army civil affairs type who served in Vietnam supporting the Marines in their CAP program up on the DMZ. I can't remember the MACV Compound he was at, perhaps Team 5. They never exchanged fire in that little area right on the red line while he was there. In some of his pictures you could see both Vietnamese flags on their respective sides of the red line quite close by. He had one with the rainbow like this picture ending on an outhouse with the flags in the background as well. l wish I would have made a copy before he moved on to better things. Perhaps there is some significance or symbolism here. What attracts the rainbow to these outbuildings anyway?
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
VVa Chapter 17
Please share with your friends
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