Hidden Wounds And Hidden Strengths Of Our Military Families

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Team VCS

From the Huffington Post

By Joseph Bobrow,Found and President,Coming Home Project

Stephanie’s husband, Michael, returned from Iraq in body, but he was plagued by unrecognized post traumatic stress. After six months stateside, he committed suicide. Stephanie’s church, their main support system, uncharacteristically condemned him and shunned her.

Stephanie felt both isolated and blameworthy, a toxic brew which did not help as she struggled to maintain stability and to raise Ben, the couple’s 2-and-a-half-year-old son.

Claudia sustained a traumatic brain injury in Iraq that kept her from remembering details of the birth of her 20-month-old daughter. She was desperate to recapture critical elements of herself, that she felt had been stolen from her. Thankfully Claudia’s sister was helping with her care and responsibilities.

Jeremy and his wife were struggling. After two long tours, he was drinking too much, shouting at the kids, and taking his frustration out on his wife. The couple had broken up and gotten back together twice.

Tonia helped her husband, Kenny, a Marine Master Sergeant, take back his life after he sustained a devastating head injury in Iraq. When Ken entered a VA Polytrauma unit, Tonia was instructed to return home so as not to interfere with his treatment. But Tonia didn’t take a back seat in her husband’s rehabilitation. She fought to have family members recognized as playing an integral role in the treatment of TBI survivors. Follow bubdesk for more updates.

Tasha and Alishya, Tonia and Ken’s teenage daughters, and Brittney, the daughter of Jesse, a retired Sergeant Major who had been blinded in combat, wrestled silently with the stresses of having a seriously wounded father and overextended family members, while doing everything they could to make life easier for their parents.

These examples, drawn from the first Coming Home Project retreat in January 2007, are just a few of the tens of thousands similar stories of military families struggling to push forward.

“When a service member deploys, the whole family deploys” is a saying that is often repeated. But even though nearly 3 million service members have served in a war zone since September 11, this phrase is rarely grasped.

The family members, like their service members and veterans, often feel that civilians, providers, and the government just don’t “get it,” don’t understand their experience. And with good reason. On the home front, there are no overt signs of war, and few signs of shared sacrifice. When you calculate the number of extended family members and close personal friends and associates for each of the 3 million service members, the numbers add up.

When military and veteran family members come together at Coming Home Project retreats, they connect in a non-judgmental, safe and confidential environment with others — fellow spouses, girlfriends and boyfriends, parents, grandparents, step-parents, teens, children, siblings, uncles and aunts — who, like them, have also been through it. The isolation disappears, stigma vanishes, hope returns, they feel understood and they come back to life.

Rand Corporation studies, and other reviews, detail the impacts of recent deployments on children and spouses. Among the results: Wives of soldiers sent to war suffered significantly higher rates of mental health issues than those whose husbands stayed home. This includes an 18 percent higher rate of depression, than those whose husbands did not go to war. When deployments were 11 months or longer, wives had a 24 percent higher rate of depression. Children of deployed parents suffer more emotional issues, particularly if separations are long or the parent at home is troubled. Confirming decades of child development research, children do worse when the spouse who is caring for them does worse.

When a service member goes to war, their family and the entire community goes to war too. We have all, in some way, been impacted by 10 years of constant war. Even if we were not asked to sacrifice, we are still all connected and so the scars run deep and wide.

On Veterans Day 2011, Coming Home helped bridge the chasm between veteran families and civilian families, a gulf that benefits neither. We were hosted a benefit concert at the Freight and Salvage Coffee House in Berkeley. Our first community forums and retreats in 2007 were held at the First Congregational Church, also in Berkeley, and our first Veteran Toolkit Workshop, an innovative holistic approach to career development, was held at the UC Berkeley’s Veteran Transition offices. We’ve since held retreats in Texas, Virginia, San Diego and welcomed people from 45 states. In some way or another, each of these programs, including our equine-assisted therapy workshops, created a genuinely cross-cultural experience for all participants, both veteran and civilian.

In the afternoon, before the benefit, Coming Home held our first veteran and civilian community art experience, patterned after a simple ritual we developed at our retreats to bring adults and children together in an intergenerational dialogue. Through expressive art, civilians and veterans and their families crossed the unseen divide, discovered surprising similarities, and came to treasure the differences in their experience of 10 years of war. It is not only the civilian military and veteran divide that needs to be healed; connections within our military and veteran families need to be repaired and strengthened too. At Coming Home Project retreats we have children and teens express their experience of deployment and hopes for the future through art, drawing, music and poetry. In a simple but powerful ritual, the adults really see and hear what the children have created, and respond to the children’s experience with a single word. Children listen closely as the adults “get” what they, the children, have been through. Then it’s the adults’ turn; reflecting on their own experiences of war, as well as their hopes for their and all kids present, they create an expressive piece which they perform for the children and teens.

I cannot convey the emotional power of seeing the children taking this in and getting to comment on it. Nor can I convey the experience of the adults, listening to the responses of the children gathered. In this safe, mutually supportive setting, participants become capable of expressing how they truly feel in the presence of those they love, and of listening with loving attention to their stories and feelings.

In the closing circle, a single military father comments that he never knew what was going on inside his teenage daughter’s head. Tears came to his eyes as he spoke of how powerful it was to witness her now coming back to life like a blossoming flower, “the smile returning to her face after 5 years,” as she connected with fellow teens.

After pushing his teenage son during a post-traumatic rage episode, and storming out of the house, a veteran father did not see his son for two years. Shame kept him from returning to their home. With the support of his fellow vets though, the father-son reunion hug at the retreat’s conclusion surprised and brought tears and cheers from all those gathered.

Stephanie was taken in like family by fellow spouses and mothers at the retreat, bonds that grew over time. While playing with another toddler from a veteran family, her young son, Ben, was able to voice his experience in the retreat’s first moments of silence. He told his new buddy Isaiah: “My Daddy died in Iraq.” Out of the mouths of babies: although Michael committed suicide back home, something had indeed died in him in Iraq. Something he never got to repair.

Tonia and Kenny renewed their wedding vows as the retreat ended, before all those gathered. Her eyes reached out for Ken’s, while Ken strained to respond and to make eye contact with Tonia, in spite of being unable to see much because of his TBI. It was heart-warming and heart-wrenching.

Claudia, afraid or unable at first, shared with her fellow veterans pieces from her journaling, expressing with surprising clarity her experience of having parts of her self stolen, and prompting deeper sharing from others. When her lovely daughter later danced playfully in front of her, making a bid for her attention, a responsive smile appeared on Claudia’s face, replacing for a moment the frozen blankness.

Mark, a father, Marine officer and helicopter pilot during the first Gulf War, and now a priest, was recruited to be a small group facilitator. He described how he began the teen group with a moment of silence, and then asked “How are you doing?” Tasha was quick to respond, “You really want to know?” And she immediately started crying. Alishya, strong like her mom, said she was fine and told Tasha not to open things up. Jesse’s daughter, Brittney, was feeling isolated, had no one to talk to, and didn’t want to burden her suffering parents with her own feelings. She said her father can’t see her face and he doesn’t know if she is sad or happy. She uses that to hide her feelings, but she feels bad about it. She wants to communicate but is afraid that she will upset her father. Tasha and Alishya both shared their drawings in the closing circle and spoke about how isolated they felt and how hard it was to speak their thoughts and feelings to their parents. Tonia and Ken were able, with some difficulty, to listen and take it in, allowing their daughters this freedom of expression and learning from it too.

Jeremy and his wife won the impromptu family kayak race back from Heart’s Desire Beach on Tomales Bay. When they hit shore, he exclaimed, “Joe, I’m so high!” His face and his wife’s face showed the natural high of connection within themselves, between one another, among other veteran families, and with the sheer beauty of nature.

Aliveness is our natural birthright, but Jeremy had been unable to reclaim this quality from the adrenaline-fueled surges of the war zone. On the beautiful, rushing waters of Tomales Bay, together with his wife and children and other supportive military and veteran families and civilian volunteers, he found a way once again to enjoy life giving exhilaration and share nourishing connection.

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Soldiers voice concerns about Bragg’s Warrior Transtition Battalion

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Team VCS

by Greg Barnes, Fayetteville Observer

 

Leaders of Fort Bragg’s Warrior Transition Battalion are wrongly accusing soldiers of faking illness or injury in an effort to keep them from getting full military benefits, some soldiers in the battalion said during a meeting Monday night.

One of those soldiers, Sgt. Daryl Shaw, said he will become homeless April 19 – when he is separated from the Army – because he is being accused of feigning his illnesses. That, he said, means he will receive only 60 percent of his medical retirement benefits – or between $900 and $1,200 a month to feed his family of six.

As it stands now, Shaw said, two of his children will have to live with friends from his church; the other two will stay with him and his wife in an old RV that has no electricity.

Shaw was among about two dozen soldiers or their family members who spoke during the meeting, which was called in an effort to strengthen the voice of battalion soldiers who feel wronged and betrayed.

Nine of the soldiers indicated they have been accused of malingering, a military term that means faking illness or injury in an effort to receive some form of benefit.

Sgt. Jody Lee Piercy, a battalion member who organized the meeting, believes an inspection of the battalion that began in February will find no wrongdoing.

“They are going to come out and say everything is all right,” Piercy said.

Findings of the inspection, ordered by Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, commander of Fort Bragg and the 18th Airborne Corps, are due to be released to the public by April 18.

Helmick called for the inspection after hearing from Vickie Ray, a leader of a loose-knit group of advocates that has been trying to help soldiers in the battalion.

Ray, who lives in Texas and spoke during the meeting via computer link, said her organization of about 75 advocates is looking into getting legal representation for soldiers who need assistance.

Some of the soldiers who attended the meeting said they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other injuries that have become common since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began. A study commissioned by the Army in 2008 found that as many as one in five soldiers could suffer from PTSD.

Some of the soldiers say their medical records are being improperly changed.

Shaw, who has 17 years in the military, said his original diagnosis of traumatic brain injury was changed to adjustment disorder. He said he also suffers from severe depression, anxiety and degenerative disks. He said he lost benefits because a doctor wrote on his medical evaluation board that he was feigning the illnesses.

“It’s just a shame that I see people get messed with all the time,” Shaw said. “It makes me furious.”

Soldier Robert Zimmer said he has been in the Warrior Transition Battalion for a year and a half. In that time, he said, “I have never seen such poor treatment.”

“I’ll tell you right now, I’ve had it. My family has suffered,” said Zimmer, who has six children.

Another soldier, Spc. Victor Lewis, accused the battalion of overmedicating the troops, saying they “make you feel like a junkie.” Overall, Lewis said during a break in the meeting, he is now being treated better by the battalion’s command.

The soldiers’ complaints were echoed by another group from the battalion that met the day Helmick ordered the inspection. Only a few of the soldiers attended both meetings.

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Why It’s Criminal to Lie About Military Honors

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Team VCS

  From the Atlantic  By: LINDSAY WINDSOR & ARTHUR RIZER 

 

As the Supreme Court decides whether to uphold the Stolen Valor Act, the public should note the damage that fraudulent veterans have already done.

honor-body.jpgAP IMAGES

Rick Duncan was a politician’s dream. A former Marine Corps Captain and a graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, he was awarded the Purple Heart due to combat injuries he sustained from an IED while serving on one of his three tours in Iraq. Mr. Duncan, with his unassailable credentials, served as the perfect mouthpiece for anti-Iraq War candidates during the 2008 elections. He took center stage and spoke with authority about the failed Bush policies in Iraq, commanding attention from politicians, reporters, and even other veterans. For almost two years, Duncan continued to be a fierce anti-war advocate, creating the Colorado Veterans Alliance and speaking at length about the plight of his brethren.

But there was a problem with Rick Duncan. He did not actually earn the Purple Heart, go to Annapolis, or serve even one tour of duty. In fact, he had never served one day in the military. His name was not even Rick Duncan; rather, it was Rick Strandlof and he was a total fraud. For his lies, Strandlof was convicted of violating the Stolen Valor Act.

Rewards for some of these fraudulent lies may be as simple as an undeserved free drink, but others have been extremely costly.

This Act, as codified in Title 18, Section 704 of the United States Code, makes it a crime to lie about having received a military award such as the Purple Heart or the Medal of Honor. The law has its origins in history dating back to the Founding Fathers, but it is now being challenged before the Supreme Court on the grounds that it infringes upon free speech rights. Strandlof’s was one of the first cases to be overturned by a Denver federal judge, on the grounds that the statute was “facially unconstitutional” as a violation of the First Amendment.

This law, though, does not restrict the free speech protected by the First Amendment, because lies are inherently fraudulent. Fraud, alongside obscenity and incitement, is among the categories of speech recognized by the Supreme Court whose “prevention and punishment . . . have never been thought to raise any Constitutional problem.” A statute that punishes fraud therefore comports with First Amendment freedoms. As the name of the Act implies, every lie about a military honor defrauds true heroes and American society, polluting the very meaning of heroism and causing harms that Congress can constitutionally criminalize.

Restrictions on who can claim to be a recipient of military honors date back to George Washington, who created the first American military award, the Purple Heart, during the Revolutionary War. Then General Washington immediately established the first ban on the unauthorized wearing of such awards by ordering, “Should any who are not entitled to the honors, have the insolence to assume the badges of them, they shall be severely punished.”

Before the current Stolen Valor Act was passed by Congress in 2006, a long-standing statute codifying Washington’s order prohibited wearing military service medals or military uniforms without authority. Four decades ago, the Supreme Court in Schacht v. United States declared this to be valid law, writing that “making it an offense to wear our military uniforms without authority is, standing alone, a valid statute on its face.”

Recent trends in society have clouded the situation somewhat. Two weeks before the Stolen Valor Act was introduced to Congress, the hit comedy Wedding Crashers was released in the United States. It featured Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn lying about being Purple Heart recipients to get free drinks and to pick up women. The movie’s official website offered a printable Purple Heart advertised as a gimmick so moviegoers could do the same. The website advertised, “To get one of these babies, some dudes have to prove their physical, mental and spiritual strength with great feats of bravery on the battlefield. All you need to do is press the button below.”

The current challenge to the Stolen Valor Act presumes that the characters in the Wedding Crashers, while they may be despicable, are not criminals. Such opponents of the Act argue, if a guy gets a free drink at a bar or a little extra sympathy by claiming an award, what’s the problem? Even the Supreme Court pondered this question in oral argument about the Stolen Valor Act. Justice Sotomayor compared it to a boyfriend who lies to her on a date, asking, “Outside of the emotional reaction, where’s the harm?”

The issue is that these are not few or isolated events, and each one defrauds. According to Congressional records, prior to the enactment of this statute, more than twice as many people claimed to have received the Medal of Honor as had actually received it. In the 18 months after the statute was enacted, the Chicago Tribune estimated there were 20 prosecutions under the Act. According to the Washington Post, the FBI investigated 200 stolen valor cases in 2009 and typically receives about 50 tips a month. According to Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion (who filed briefs supporting the Stolen Valor Act in this case), imposters have included a United States Attorney, Member of Congress, Ambassador, Judge, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and bestselling author, manager of a Major League Baseball team, Navy Captain, police chief, top executive at a world-famous research laboratory, director of state veterans’ programs, university administrator, pastor, candidate for countywide office, mayor, physician, and more than one police officer.

Rewards for some of these fraudulent lies may be as simple as an undeserved free drink, but others have been extremely costly. Perhaps the most egregious example is a Marine Sergeant who used false claims of Silver Stars, Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, and Air Medals to secure $66 million in security contracts from the military. When the military learned of the man’s fraudulent combat record, they revoked the contracts, but he had already fled the country.

In another instance, 12 men defrauded the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs out of more than $1.4 million in veteran’s benefits by alleging military medals they had never received. In 2003, 642 people claimed exemption from Virginia state taxes for having received the Medal of Honor; however, at the time, there were only four living recipients in the whole state. Others have used their lies to publicize books, get VIP tickets to rock concerts, and obtain free hunting and fishing licenses.

Additionally, imposters rewrite history because they are given unique access to the media on account of their claimed awards. They distort historical accounts of military events by providing fictitious “memories” that have been reported in newspapers, magazines, memoirs, and documentaries. Along with Rick Strandlof, for instance, Jesse Macbeth fraudulently used his claim of being a Purple Heart recipient to lend credibility to his fabricated stories about mass murders and other war crimes he purportedly witnessed American troops committing during the liberation of Iraq. Even the Library of Congress was deceived: In a project concerning veterans’ oral histories, it found 25 of the 49 Medal of Honor recipients it identified, as well as 32 Distinguished Service Cross recipients and 14 Navy Cross recipients, had lied about having been awarded those honors.

The third aspect of these lies’ harm involves stealing honor and respect from true recipients of the military awards. Recipients of these awards are recognized for a character of selflessness, bravery, and heroism, whereas imposters brag about credentials they have never earned. This denigrates society’s overall impression of medal recipients and increases skepticism about those who have rightfully received these awards.

Moreover, protecting the integrity of military awards has been long seen as an important aspect in maintaining a motivated military. As Napoleon Bonaparte recognized, “A solider will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.” Our soldiers are not driven by medals, but this recognition of their bravery and excellence is a kind of code — a “language” that lets others know that an individual has reached a level of performance and patriotism, and that he or she deserves the respect of peers.

In one such case of stolen valor, David Weber, a 69-year-old veteran of the Marine Corps, falsely claimed to be a two-star Major General at a Marine Corps birthday celebration near San Diego, California. Mr. Weber said he had been awarded a Purple Heart, along with other medals that he did not earn. Because of his status as a wounded warrior and senior officer, Mr. Weber was offered the first slice of birthday cake. At the same celebration was a veteran who had fought in the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II, a battle that ended with over 7,000 dead Americans and 31,000 dead Japanese. While it is true that the monetary value of the first slice of cake may be infinitesimal, the honor he stole from the other veterans is priceless. Recognition of the Guadalcanal veteran was muffled by the attention-grabbing antics of Weber.

Finally, those who lie about receiving an undeserved military honor swindle unearned sympathy and respect from the American people. The Supreme Court recently recognized the significance of this unquantifiable sentiment in Porter v. McCollum, where it held that a defendant’s military decorations were so important to a jury’s verdict that the failure of his attorney to bring the awards to the jury’s attention constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. In the Court’s words, “Our Nation has a long tradition of according leniency to veterans in recognition of their service, especially for those who fought on the front lines.” Unearned credibility in the community was one of the harms Congress explicitly contemplated in this statute. When imposters claim this status, they steal leniency, credibility, respect, and sympathy from the American public.

In the case of Rick Strandlof (aka Rick Duncan), the New York Times reported that his ability to “fool so many people for so long says much about the power of veterans in Colorado, a swing state with numerous military bases.” People do not want to question a warrior’s story. Indeed, Mr. Strandlof reported that he lost a finger in Iraq when it was blatantly apparent he had all ten digits. Even with this obvious discrepancy, his copious lies went on for months. He specifically used the respect for veterans to campaign for Jared Polis, who won a seat in the House of Representatives, and for Mark Udall, who won a seat in the Senate.

It is true that it is difficult to determine the actual harm done in each stolen valor case, but it not hard to see that each case harms someone or something. When Congress spoke of how “imposters . . . cheapen the value of these honors,” it didn’t mean that the Medal of Honor becomes worth less in dollar value on the black market. They meant that there is a cost to each military hero and to the American people for each of these lies, even when the only quantifiable profit comes in the form of a slice of cake.

For these reasons, the Act was passed in 2006 by an overwhelming majority in Congress, and should be upheld by the Supreme Court. Because someone who falsely claims these honors cheats his audience, dilutes the positive perception of the honors, and benefits in tangible ways from his fraud, these lies are not and should not be protected by the Constitution.

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Helping those who serve avoid financial hardship

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Team VCS

Bу Elliot Raphaelson, Tribune Media Services

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Evеn іf dеbt fіnаnсіng іѕ оftеn рrеfеrrеd by buѕіnеѕѕ оwnеrѕ, however thеrе are still a lоt оf companies which аrе fundеd bу private or іnѕtіtutіоnаl іnvеѕtоrѕ іn еxсhаngе for an еԛuіtу оwnеrѕhір ѕtаkе.

Angеl Invеѕtоrѕ

Angеl іnvеѕtоrѕ саn be уоur wіngѕ to gеt fundѕ, thеу fіll the gap bеtwееn frіеndѕ аnd fаmіlу and vеnturе capitalists. Angеl іnvеѕtоrѕ nоw seldom еvеn take a lооk at іnvеѕtmеntѕ bеlоw $1 mіllіоn. Thеу made their nаmе аѕ bеіng warm аnd friendly аnd раtіеnt about thеіr іnvеѕtmеntѕ аѕ wеll аѕ by рrоvіdіng thеіr buѕіnеѕѕ wіѕdоm and priceless rеlаtіоnѕhірѕ аlоng wіth thеіr mоnеу. So whу dоn’t you gеt a knowledgeable buѕіnеѕѕ fіnаnсе аdvіѕеr tо plan thе dеаl.

Strаtеgіс Invеѕtоrѕ

Strаtеgіс іnvеѕtоrѕ соuld асtuаllу hеlр if реrhарѕ уоu need tо gеt tо mаrkеt without dеlау. They brighten uр thе іnvеѕtее’ѕ outlook for more іnvеѕtmеnt and success bу means оf putting value tо the funds іt invests wіth its соntасtѕ, еxреrіеnсе, аnd knоw-hоw оf mаrkеt. Nеvеrthеlеѕѕ уоu rеаllу nееd tо bе саrеful thаt thеу can prohibit уоu frоm selling tо уоur competitors, саn swamp уоur business wіth орроrtunіtу, manipulate уоu іntо rеаllосаtіng your company’s аѕѕеtѕ іn a lорѕіdеd wау аѕ wеll as еnd thеіr buѕіnеѕѕ rеlаtіоnѕhір wіth уоu on in just аn instant! Whісh means thаt уоu need to make certain you knоw what уоu’rе gеttіng іntо.

Thе bоttоm lіnе іѕ, сhооѕе іntеllіgеntlу. Bе аwаrе thаt еvеn ѕоmе small buѕіnеѕѕ fіnаnсе орtіоnѕ can be соmрlеx аnd rіѕkу аnd you hаvе to mаkе thе rіght choice. It’ѕ vеrу іmроrtаnt thаt уоu соmрlеtе уоur homework; request thе rіght amount, get thе rіght source at the bеѕt time. Wіth thіѕ уоu can gеt thе funding for уоur ѕtаrt uр company whісh іѕ rіght fоr your buѕіnеѕѕ аnd ѕtау рrераrеd to асhіеvе business success.

Thе head оf thіѕ CFPB office, Holly Petraeus, іѕ аn excellent asset tо servicemembers. (She іѕ married tо retired U.S. Army General David Petraeus, thе current director оf the Central Intelligence Agency.) Shе hаѕ bееn instrumental іn developing workshops аt thе Better Business Bureau, аnd оnе оf hеr objectives іѕ tо track scammers whо target servicemembers, іn order tо make sure thаt ѕuсh fraudulent behavior іѕ stopped.

The CFPB website for servicemembers is a great clearinghouse for information, including a section called “Protecting your finances.” Thе site describes оnе common соn game іn whісh a person knocks оn a servicemember’s door оr makes a cold саll bу phone, offering tо help hіm оr hеr apply fоr U.S. Department оf Veteran Affairs (VA) benefits. Thіѕ іѕ аlmоѕt аlwауѕ a scam, ѕіnсе thе VA generally doesn’t make house calls оr uѕе telemarketers.

If thіѕ happens tо уоu, dо nоt provide аnу personal information thаt саn bе used tо access уоur financial information. If уоu believe thе caller mау bе legitimate, whісh іѕ unlikely, ask fоr credentials, whісh уоu саn verify independently wіth thе VA. Undеr nо circumstances ѕhоuld уоu provide аnу personal information based оn аn initial contact wіthоut verification wіth thе VA.

Information аnd access tо veteran benefits іѕ available online thrоugh thе VA. Military personnel аnd veterans саn register wіth thе VA online аt vabenefits.vba.va.gov іn order tо gеt information regarding benefits.

Longstanding laws fоr servicemembers hаvе bееn updated tо address thе financial stresses thаt аrе аll tоо common today. Thе Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) provides, аmоng оthеr benefits, credit card іntеrеѕt limitations. Thе maximum allowable rate іѕ 6 percent fоr thе аmоunt thаt іѕ outstanding bеfоrе active duty. Send уоur credit card issuers a copy оf уоur military orders wіthіn 180 days оf enlistment, аnd thе 6 percent maximum wіll bе retroactive frоm thе date оf enlistment. Thе act аlѕо applies tо reservists аnd guardsmen. Thе credit card company саn charge іtѕ normal іntеrеѕt rate fоr new purchases.

Thе SCRA аlѕо hаѕ оthеr provisions thаt benefit servicemembers wіth respect tо rental leases аnd mortgages. Fоr example, servicemembers аnd families аrе protected frоm eviction whіlе оn active duty duе tо nonpayment оf rents covering leases uр tо $2932.31 реr month. A servicemember whо receives permament change оf station orders аnd іѕ deployed tо a new location fоr 90 days оr mоrе hаѕ thе right tо terminate a lеаѕе. If уоu believe уоur rights hаvе bееn violated, уоu ѕhоuld contact thе nearest Armed Forces Legal Assistance Program.

Thе Uniformed Services Employment аnd Re-employment Rights Act provides protection tо servicemembers аftеr thеу separate frоm active duty. Specifically, thе act provides protection regarding re-employment іn thе jobs held prior tо going оn active duty. In addition, іt provides protection regarding health аnd life insurance, аnd allows servicemembers tо make uр retirement-plan contributions thеу missed whіlе serving. If уоur rights hаvе bееn violated, contact Veterans Employment аnd Training Service.

Our servicemembers hаvе mаdе significant financial sacrifices. Fortunately, Holly Petraeus аnd thе CFPB аrе providing a useful service іn educating оur military аbоut existing programs аnd legislation thаt provide financial assistance, аnd remedies tо protect thеіr rights. Make sure thе servicemembers іn уоur family аnd іn уоur community аrе aware оf thеѕе rights.

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Policy fraught with danger

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Team VCS

From Hearld Net. Since the start of the Iraq war in 2003, the rate of suicide among U.S. Army soldiers has soared, according to a study by the U.S. Army Public Health Command.

The study shows an 80 percent increase in suicides among Army personnel between 2004 and 2008, ABC News reported. The rise parallels increasing rates of depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions in soldiers, the study said. The high number of suicides are “unprecedented in over 30 years of U.S. Army records,” the researchers wrote.

With suicides at Joint Base Lewis-McChord mirroring the national problem — including five suicides last summer in an eight-week period — Washington Sen. Patty Murray last month began an investigation into whether military hospitals are denying treatment to service members with post-traumatic stress disorder because of cost considerations, The News Tribune of Tacomareported.

In the midst of all this, on March 11, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales allegedly went on his rampage in Afghanistan, killing 17 civilians. Bales spent more than a decade based at Lewis-McChord and previously deployed three times to Iraq. He will be examined to determine whether he is mentally fit to stand trial.

Now the Los Angeles Times reports on a contributing factor to the mental health problems plaguing all branches of the military that has not been part of the discussion — the heavy use of psychotropic drugs to keep troops going.

In a small but growing number of cases, lawyers are blaming their clients’ illegal behavior and related health problems on the medications, the paper reported.

“We have never medicated our troops to the extent we are doing now. … And I don’t believe the current increase in suicides and homicides in the military is a coincidence,” said Bart Billings, a former military psychologist.

With most soldiers serving multiple deployments, creating growing levels of combat stress, more than 110,000 active-duty Army troops last year were taking prescribed antidepressants, narcotics, amphetamines, sedatives, antipsychotics and anti-anxiety drugs, according to figures from the U.S. Army surgeon general, the L.A. Times reported. This is a total reversal in military policy. “Prior to the Iraq war, soldiers could not go into combat on psychiatric drugs, period. Not very long ago, going back maybe 10 or 12 years, you couldn’t even go into the armed services if you used any of these drugs, in particular stimulants,” Peter Breggin, a New York psychiatrist, told the paper.

Like forcing repeated deployments, supplying psychotropic medications to troops without thorough monitoring and follow-up by medical and mental health professionals shows a shocking lack of concern for the troops we send back to combat again and again.

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Nursing groups promise PTSD, TBI training

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Team VCS

From Stars and Stripes By LEO SHANE III Published: April 10, 2012

WASHINGTON — A coalition of nursing schools and medical organizations will train more than 3 million nurses in coming years on how to recognize and respond to post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other unseen war wounds in veterans, White House officials announced Tuesday.

The news comes three months after officials from the nation’s leading medical colleges announced they’d work similar lessons on war wounds into their curricula.

But Amy Garcia, chief nursing officer of the American Nurses Association, said the new initiative should have a more immediate impact on veterans care, because officials can introduce the lessons into professional development courses, medical journals and other nursing resources in a matter of weeks, not years.

She also noted that many of the nurses involved are already working with veterans in their communities, and can immediately put the new knowledge into practice.

“Our goal is to raise awareness of these issues, teach nurses to recognize the signs and symptoms, and help reduce the stigma of seeking care,” she said.

Officials from the White House’s Joining Forces campaign said that roughly one in six veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq suffer from PTSD or TBI.

While medical staff within the Veterans Affairs health system are familiar with the injuries, campaign staffers noted that the majority of veterans still receive care outside that system, where private physicians often have less experience and knowledge with the issues.

As part of the effort, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association has already developed online continuing education courses on PTSD focusing on pain management, sleep disturbances and issues specific to women veterans. Other groups are launching similar efforts.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the Joining Forces campaign, launched to highlight the sacrifices and struggles facing returning troops and military families.

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Attention Please Share this Very Important Resource

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Team VCS

Welcome to the Veterans Crisis Line Website

The Veterans Crisis Line connects Veterans in crisis and their families and friends with qualified, caring Department of Veterans Affairs responders through a confidential toll-free hotline, online chat, or text. Veterans and their loved ones can call 1-800-273-8255 and Press 1,chat online, or send a text message to 838255 to receive confidential support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. More about the Veterans Crisis Line

 

For more information..http://veteranscrisisline.net/

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Military career skills program for spouses under scrutiny

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Team VCS

 

By FREDREKA SCHOUTEN

USA Today Published: April 9, 2012

Dana Kendall adored her dog, Toni, but struggled to manage the brindle-coated pit bull terrier she rescued from dog-fighting. The dog was unruly, had not been housebroken and did not respond to simple commands.

“She didn’t even know she was a dog,” says Kendall, 29. “I needed something that could help me help her.”

So the young Navy wife enrolled in dog-training lessons in 2009 through a California-based obedience school, Animal Behavior College. And the U.S. military picked up the entire tab as part of a Defense Department program to give military spouses career skills they can use no matter how often their families move.

The program, known as the My Career Advancement Account, has proved wildly popular: More than 147,000 spouses have participated since it began in 2009, and demand was so high the military briefly suspended the program, retooled it to apply only to the spouses of junior servicemembers and reduced the maximum benefit from $6,000 to $4,000.

The program now is facing scrutiny from Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and other lawmakers, who are examining the growing share of military education benefits going to for-profit schools. In fiscal year 2011, for instance, for-profit colleges got $280 million — half the money the military gave to active-duty personnel for tuition assistance, according to Harkin’s committee.

Harkin also is concerned about the program’s use of for-profit vocation schools, such as Animal Behavior College, which is not subject to federal education oversight but has received $5.7 million from the program over three years, according to Defense Department data analyzed by Harkin’s staff.

Congress, states attorneys general and the U.S. Justice Department all have examined for-profit schools’ recruitment practices and the high loan-default rates among their graduates. For-profit colleges, many of which have online operations, have marketed their services heavily to military families, touting their ability to provide distance education to deployed servicemembers.

A 1998 federal law required for-profit colleges to obtain at least 10 percent of their revenue from sources other than federal student aid administered by the U.S. Department of Education. The military’s education assistance doesn’t count as federal student aid, however. As a result, every servicemember using Defense Department benefits to attend a for-profit college allows the school to enroll nine other students using federal education benefits, said Holly Petraeus, who works to protect military families from scams as an assistant director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

That has given some for-profit schools “an incentive to see servicemembers as nothing more than dollar signs in uniform,” she told a Senate panel last year.

Steve Gunderson, the new president of the for-profit colleges’ trade association, said the schools do a good job serving military families by offering distance learning and flexible schedules. “The reason we get so much of that business is we design our courses in a way that works for them,” he said.

Legislation introduced this year by Harkin and Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, would bar colleges from receiving more than 85 percent of their revenue from federal sources, including military education benefits available to veterans, active duty personnel and their spouses. Gunderson’s group, the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, opposes the bill.

Four of the 10 schools that received the most money from My Career Advancement Account Program in fiscal year 2011 were not subject to federal education oversight. Advocates for military families say they’d like to see more publicly available data about the participants, so spouses can comparison shop.

In an interview, Petraeus said she is worried that servicemembers and spouses are being misled. She said she was taken aback when the wife of a soldier described herself as attending a “military” for-profit school during a Petraeus visit last year to Fort Campbell, an Army installation straddling Kentucky and Tennessee. Petraeus declined to name the school, but said “it was obviously not anything that had a military affiliation.”

“You only get one chance to spend these benefits,” said Petraeus, the wife of CIA director and retired general David Petraeus. “I don’t want them spending it on something that won’t guarantee success.”

For her part, Kendall, who lives in Converse, Texas, had a positive experience with the Animal Behavior College. She said the program offered everything she wanted and more. She suffers anxiety attacks because of a childhood trauma, and she learned how to train Toni to act as her service dog.

When Kendall starts to feel anxious, Toni nudges her until Kendall pets her. “It calms me down,” Kendall says. She also completed the school’s veterinary assistance program — taught through a combination of home study and an internship — and started a business that trained about 35 dogs in its first year.

The pricetag for the dog training and veterinary-assistance programs: $5,100.

“I feel like it’s a good allocation of resources and should be continued,” Kendall says. “When I am working with dogs, I have a huge sense of fulfillment.”

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Veterans’ Push for GWI Treatment Research Funding Spreads to U.S. Senate

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Team VCS

VCS supports these efforts. Please let your elected officials know that you do as well.

——

 

Written by Anthony Hardie, 91outcomes.comApril 8, 2012

(Washington, DC – 91outcomes.com) – This year’s push for funding the Peer Reviewed Gulf War Illness Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP), which last month garnered the largest number of House cosigners in the program’s history, continues with a parallel Senate effort led by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and launched on Friday.

In his letter requesting other U.S. Senators sign on to the “Dear Colleague” letter to Senate appropriations committee leaders and requesting $25 million in Fiscal Year 2013 Defense appropriations to adequately fund the program, Sanders notes, “over the past two years, three dramatic milestones have been achieved,” the direct result of broad, bipartisan Congressional support for the program.

Among those milestones are the 2010 recognition by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) – essentially the high court of U.S. medical science – that the Gulf War Illness “affecting 250,000 Gulf War veterans is a serious disease;” that IOM recognized GWI “affects other U.S. military forces;” and that, “the IOM report called for a major national research effort to identify treatments.”

The Sanders letter noted that, “the scientific community has responded with a dramatic increase in the quantity and quality of proposals submitted,” to the GWI CDMRP.  According to CDMRP staff, scientific merit review scores for final applications for the most recent year (FY11) had increased on average by a full point since the program’s first year (FY06) — a remarkable achievement in such a short time and on just a five-point scale.

Sanders also noted that, “most encouraging, GWIRP-funded researchers have completed the first successful pilot study of a medication to treat one of the major symptoms,” of GWI — post-exertional fatigue.  The study’s principal investigator, Dr. Beatrice Golomb of the University of California-San Diego, will be presenting her findings to another IOM committee on Thursday, April 12, at the National Academy of Sciences facilities in Irvine, Calif.

The level of funding proposed by Sanders (and members of the House) would be sufficient to finally accomodate funding for all three highly promising interdisciplinary, inter-institutional GWI medical research consortia that have been in development for the last year, a long-sought goal of Gulf War veterans’ health advocates.

Sanders also notes in his letter that, “continued funding is essential for more pilot studies of promising treatments and diagnostic markers, for clinical trials of treatments shown effective in earlier pilot studies, and for the execution of collaborative treatment research plans developed by consortia of scientists funded in FY2010.”

Launched on Friday afternoon after significant behind the scenes work by Senators, Senate staff, and Gulf War veterans’ advocates, Sanders’ target of $25 million in FY13 Congressionally directed Defense appropriations also carefully coincides with the specifically recommended $25 million funding level by Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Gulf War Veterans and Health chair Dr. Stephen Hauser  in letters to Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Haw.) and Ranking Member Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.).  It also coincides with the $25 million level recommended by the Congressionally mandated Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses (RAC-GWVI) in its groundbreaking November 2008 report.

The FY13 Independent Budget, authored by four of the largest veterans service organizations (VSO’s) including DAV, VFW, PVA, and AMVETS and supported by nearly 60 other organizations, contains equally strong support of the GWI CDMRP:  ”For FY 2013, the IBVSOs urge Congress to provide the funding level necessary for this research program to achieve the critical objectives of improving the health and lives of Gulf War veterans.”

To date, VA research funding officials have tended to fund Gulf War related research proposals by researchers working alone, who must also be VA employees. VA’s Office of Research and Development has been invited to collaborate with the GWI CDMRP – which among other unique and efficient aspects, is open to any researcher anywhere – to help advance GWI treatments and to ensure more efficient use of resources, particularly with research conducted by VA employees that could be funded through VA’s existing mechanisms. CDMRP panelists and RAC members alike have expressed hope that VA might be able to aid in a renewed effort based on more recent evidence helping to unravel some of GWI’s previous mysteries, including discoveries of neurological damage, neuro-immune dysregulation, and a chronic inflammatory state in GWI patients.

The three consortia currently in development involve dozens of key researchers from a multitude of research institutions and labs, and are aimed squarely at treatments for Gulf War Illness patients.  Most are not VA employees and are therefore not eligible for VA research funding.

The consensus among GWI medical researchers is increasingly clear, including as publicly expressed by all three RAC scientific directors past and present:  With the right efforts, effective treatments can indeed be found for the neurologically-rooted GWI. 

Gulf War veterans and their advocates were successful in garnering 65 cosigners – by far the most ever in the history of the program — on a similar bipartisan effort in the U.S. House of Representatives led in March by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.) and Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.).  Among the cosignatories was Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), Chair of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

After much behind the scenes meeting and coordinating, it is now up to veterans and their advocates to help convince their Senators to sign on to the Sanders “Dear Colleague” request to provide $25 million in FY13 Defense appropriations for the Gulf War Illness Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.  

 

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VCS Special Commentary: Closer Look at Veteran Unemployment

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Team VCS

 By Christopher Miller LLB(HONS) VCS Advocate and Truman National Security Fellow                Unemployment among veterans remains above the national average by many measures, sometimes doubling or tripling it in certain categories. The fact that veterans are struggling to find employment is one of the few pointsCongress and President Obama agree and have taken some positive action on. Strangely, there seems to be bipartisan agreement among both the House and Senate Veteran’s Affairs committees that America will have to meet growing demand and continuing issues with a flat budget for the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. Despite positive veteran employment efforts by some private firms, the private sector continues to be an unfriendly place for vets. Despite some good faith efforts by both the government and private employers, it is clear that veterans are continuing to struggle to find employment.              A problem in the debate is that there is disagreement upon what the unemployment rate among veterans actually is. The answer to the question also depends upon who one includes. America has vets stretching back to the WWII era. Data shows that employment among veterans of the first Gulf War era and earlier is roughly equivalent with their non-veteran counterparts. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the rate among all vets in 2011 was 8.3{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d}, on par with the current national average. But among vets serving since 9/11 to today the rate was 12{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d}, higher than the national average. The worst statistic to come out was that unemployment among post-9/11 vets aged between 18 and 24 was at 29{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d}, 12{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} more than the non-veteran average for the same age group.                The Department of Veterans Affairs argues that veteran unemployment has been trending down since 2010, but it is still higher than average. The numbers tend to indicate that the youngest of our newest generation of veterans are struggling hardest to find work. These are men and women that have four to six years of service under their belt, may still be serving in the Reserves, and likely have one or more combat deployments. Their non-veteran civilian counterparts are struggling to find work as well; their unemployment rate was at 17{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d}. Most of this group are high school grads, many are recent college grads.               That is a tough demographic to be a part of since the 2008 downturn. But that veterans, all at least high school grads and many with college, with four to six years of military work experience under their belt should experience a rate over 12{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} above average exposes a real problem. When they do find employment, there’s a one in four chance it’s a government job, a rate twice that among non-veterans. There is also a one in four chance they have a service-connected disability.                Things get a little better with age. Post-9/11 vets aged 25 to 35 experienced 13{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} unemployment in 2011, half that their younger compatriots, but still 4{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} more than their non-veteran counterparts of the same age group. This suggests that after a few years of settling back into civilian life, many veterans have been able to find employment. However, the number of those that continue to struggle to find a job is higher than average and is happening at a time when the U.S. economy is still struggling. There is general agreement the economy is improving and hopefully veteran employment statistics and outlooks will improve with it.                But why does this disparity exist? Some suggest that the economic downturn cuts jobs in industries returning veterans are most likely to work in. These tend to be entry level jobs or blue-collar jobs, categories where there has been the greatest retraction in positions. Most servicemembers also tend to come from areas of the country where the shift in the global economy has emptied factories or office towers.                But it would also seem that there continues to be the view in many industries that four to eight years in the military and skills and experience earned while serving doesn’t equate to experience in the private sector. It is, essentially, a black hole on a resume. Many private sector employers will not recognize years of military service as a qualification. It is an unknown quantity for many of them. Only around 2-3{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} of Americans ever served in the military. Contrast this with the almost universal American experience of high school, college for some and training for others, then getting a job. A private sector employer is unable to quantify something they do not understand.               For many employers, our newest generation of veterans comes from another planet, another style of life they do not understand and haven’t experienced. No amount of resume classes given by the military before separation or by unemployment offices afterwards will be able to overcome the inability of many non-veteran employers to determine if the veteran applicant before them is qualified for the job. For many, the resume might as well come from another country.               In order to really address the problem of unemployment among veterans, especially for more jobs in the private sector, there must be a concerted national effort to recognize the skills and experience veterans have after serving. The military today is a different one from those even other vets joined in the 1980’s. Today America has an all-volunteer force that is driven by Noncommissioned Officers, just as much as it is Commissioned Officers. Soldiers and Sailors today are not sitting around peeling potatoes like in black and white movies. America’s leaner, more professional military is the most technologically advanced and the most experienced since WWII.               The combat veteran former-Sergeant who used to lead convoys in Baghdad is qualified to manage the lawn and garden department. The Senior Airman who unloaded Medevac helicopters in Kandahar can be your receptionist. The Petty Officer who ran a communications station in Kuwait can lead a cable installation team. The Lance Corporal who set up fighting positions in Al-Anbar can push a construction crew. Veterans didn’t let the country down while in uniform. We shouldn’t let them down when they come home and need a job.

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