This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Veterans Issues

  • George W. Bush to the 99%

    Former President George W. Bush made a rare public speech at his Presidential Center in Dallas today and it was largely about taking care of the troops – a subject the current resident of the White House largely ignores. From CNN;

    “They are the 1% of America who kept the 99% safe,” Bush said of the 2.5 million military members who have served since 9/11. “While it never hurts to say thank you, that is not really the point.”

    […]

    It’s “troubling” that 84% of veterans say the public isn’t aware of the challenges they face and that 71% of Americans agree, Bush said, citing a survey by the Bush Institute and Syracuse University to be released later this year.

    […]

    Bush announced that his Military Service initiative has launched a multi-faceted, public-private partnership aimed at helping veterans assimilate back into civilian life.

    The straight-talking former President said employers need to tailor their recruiting and hiring practices to accommodate post-war employees.

    “I mean you don’t see many job postings that say “Wanted: experience hunting insurgents and terrorists willing to risk their lives for co-workers,” Bush said. “I mean, what’s a veteran supposed to put down? `My last office was a Humvee?’”

    Bush also said Post Traumatic Stress Disorder needs to drop the ‘D’ out of PTSD. He referred to it as an injury that can be treated, and he referred to it as PTS.

    “Employers would not hesitate to hire an employee getting treated for a medical condition like diabetes or high blood pressure and they should not hesitate to hire veterans getting treated for post-traumatic stress,” he said.

    I have no idea why, but CNN quoted Paul Reickhoff in the middle of the article – Paul Reickhoff was rabidly anti-Bush and formed the anti-Bush organization, OpTruth, from which sprang the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. In fact, do a Google search on OpTruth and IAVA is top the top search result. So, the first thing out of Reickhoff’s mouth is that we have find a way to pay for it.

    But the Bush Institute calls for a coalition of public and private institutions to de-stigmatize PTS, so the money thing is being handled, Paul. Bush isn’t sniping from the sidelines looking for government money, he’s bringing together government, universities, nonprofits and private companies.

    “We’ll be … relentless in serving our vets,” Bush said. Somehow, he is more believable than that fellow who said he’s not going to balance the federal budget on the backs of veterans. Or that Hollywood “Got Your 6” bullshit. Or Paul Reickhoff.

  • Obama restores cuts to COLA

    The Associated Press reports that President Obama restored the planned cuts to future cost of living allowances for widows, retirees and disabled veterans yesterday when bills were flown to California for his signature, you know because he was on a golf weekend there.

    Separate legislation passed in December would have held annual cost-of-living increases for veterans age 62 and younger to 1 percentage point below the rate of inflation, beginning in 2015. The measure was designed to hold the line on the soaring cost of government benefit programs, which have largely escaped trillions of dollars in deficit cuts over the past three years.

    The cuts were enacted less than two months ago, with a projected savings to the government of $7 billion over a decade. Veterans groups and some lawmakers said the cut was a mistake, and they began campaigning to have the benefits restored.

    While it’s good that thy restored the reduction before it could affect anyone, the Congress and the president shouldn’t have done it in the first place. It just demonstrates that the politicians are more than willing to make the easy decisions to screw troops and take the politically expedient route rather than make the difficult choices which might endanger their own pay checks.

    It was the Veterans’ Service Organizations that got this issue the press that it deserved and, consequently, forced the change. The MOAA, The American Legion and the VFW have been very vocal about it in the past several weeks.

  • Vet denied benefits, killed by cops in WA (Updated)

    UPDATE: According to one of our readers, there’s reasonable doubt that Killmer actually filed a claim with the VA. He was getting medical treatment from them, however.

    Eagle Keeper sent us this article last night about Jedadiah Zillmer, who according to the article, was shot in the foot in Afghanistan, lost a piece of his toe, got out of the Army, applied for VA benefits, was denied, and threatened to kill civilians, then finally was shot by police. I checked AKO and there was no Jedadiah Zillmer, but he got out in mid-2012. By itself that doesn’t mean anything. But there were claims on his Facebook page that Zillmer was a sniper. According to the article, Zillmer’s family says that he was denied VA benefits because “the nurse who helped treat him failed to check boxes on paperwork indicating whether he was personally familiar with the limitations that the injury had created”.

    See, it gets fishy smelling. But facts that aren’t in dispute follow;

    Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said Wednesday that the young man had threatened to shoot civilians. Zillmer claimed to be a U.S. Army sniper on his Facebook page.

    He was stopped by pursuing law enforcement near the intersection of Sullivan Road and Indiana Avenue. “If he would have gotten to the mall, something tragic may have happened,” Knezovich said.

    The man was wearing body armor and pointed a gun at himself while threatening to shoot civilians, Knezovich said.

    Although authorities have yet to identify Zillmer, the young man’s friends and family have confirmed his identity.

    When I see someone post on Facebook that they were a sniper, my first reaction is to disbelieve them. It indicates that they’re trying to draw attention to themselves. I don’t know any real snipers because real snipers are just like the other folks who just keep it to themselves. They know who they are. Just like the Rangers, SEALs, Special Forces folks who don’t put that shit on their Facebook profiles.

    I have to think that there was more than a checked box at issue here. And I doubt the denial of the benefits was the cause of Zillmer’s theater. But it sure makes for good press, doesn’t it?

  • Obama; GI Bill is welfare

    The President did an interview with Bill O’Reilly, in case you missed it, in which he used the example of the GI Bill to defend government benefits as building the middle class not part of the nanny state. Here’s the video and the discussion they had on Fox this morning;

    This is from the text of the interview;

    So, the, uh, so my point is is that that’s not a nanny state. That’s an investment in the future generation. G.I. Bill — is that a nanny state? My grandfather came back for World War II, you’re about to write a book on World War II. Smartest thing we ever did was make an investment in the American people. When those guys came back from war, that’s what created our middle class. We-we suddenly trained up and created skills for folks. We gave ‘em subsidies so they could go out and buy homes. Through the FHA, those things weren’t giveaways. We-we understood that what that would do would create a base middle class of folks who were able to, uh, work hard and get ahead.

    He’s right in that it wasn’t a give away. It was earned, earned in a way that most Americans aren’t willing to earn their college education. Most would rather have their parents pay for it at great sacrifice from their parents, as opposed to the sacrifice that a service member must make to finish their education.

    Yeah, I wouldn’t have a college degree if I hadn’t joined the Army. I went to college at nights and earned my Associate degree entirely while I was assigned to infantry units (not an easy way to do it). I wrangled an ROTC assignment out of the Hoffman Building and knocked out another year that the university paid for and then finally did three semesters on the GI Bill, while I went to school full time, had a full time job and a part time job – because no one was giving me food stamps.

    But no one handed it to me like a welfare benefit. I worked for it. No one gave me a loan or a grant. And I know most of you did the same thing. I had some professors who said the same thing as the President. I set them straight. Someone should set the President straight, too.

    Thanks to Twist and John for the link.

  • Wounded vets turn to comedy

    One of my soon-to-be-former-workmates sent us a link from Fox News in regards to a new documentary coming out about wounded veterans who turn to being comedians to help them recover from their injuries;

    “Comedy Warriors” features five severely wounded veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:

    — Marine Corps Reserve vet Rob Jones, who was wounded by an IED and underwent above-knee amputations in both legs.

    — U.S. Army warrior Bobby Henline, whose Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad in 2007, burning 38 percent of his body. His head burned to the skull and his left hand had to be amputated.

    — Former Army Captain and helicopter pilot Darisse Smith, who suffered a lower back injury that led to permanent nerve damage, forcing her to have a spinal cord stimulator implanted to block the pain signal between her leg and her brain.

    — Joe Kashow, who served with the 4th Infantry Division in Iraq and was wounded by a roadside bomb, leading to the amputation of his right leg below the knee.

    — Steve Rice, a retired US Army 1st lieutenant, who lost his left leg below the knee after he was blown up by an IED in Iraq in 2003.

    Now all five American heroes have stepped into new territory, exploring the mending powers of comedy with cameras on them every step of the way. “Comedy Warriors” follows them as they work with professional comedy writers and A-list comedians, including Bob Saget, Zach Galifianakis, Lewis Black and B.J. Novak, who help them create and deliver stand-up comedy routines, culminating in a big performance night at two of L.A.’s top comedy clubs.

    The documentary is being rolled out to theaters and on-demand markets. You can find out where you can see it at Comedy Warriors. Watch the trailer;

    Yekra Player

    Yekra is a revolutionary new distribution network for feature films.

    Comedy Warriors

    Take five wounded veterans and four top comedians, the result… laughter and the healing power of humor.

  • Republicans were played

    Remember how the Republicans in Congress went along with Democrats in Congress last month to slash disabled veterans and their survivors cost of living allowance? And then they broadcast their victory getting a budget passed by their willingness to work with Democrats. Well, Harry Reid is willing to restore the cut to COLA according to the National Journal;

    Sen. Bernie Sanders, a liberal independent from Vermont and chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is pushing a broad veterans measure that would restore veterans’ pensions and expand their access to health care and educational benefits.

    Sanders got a leg up Wednesday when Majority Leader Harry Reid took steps to put that legislation in line for Senate debate. And Sen. Dick Durbin, Reid’s right-hand man, said he anticipated Sanders’s bill would move to the floor soon.

    Are you imagining how that’s going to play out in November during the mid-term elections. Something like this; “the Republicans cut military pensions and Democrats restored them”. Yeah, if you believe that avowed communist, Bernie Sanders cares about the troops beyond their value as a campaign slogan, you’re kidding yourself. Scads of bills have been bouncing around Congress to restore the COLA cut, but Harry Reid chooses Sander’s bill to put on the floor of the Senate. Gee, I wonder why.

    So, veterans get to play the props again.

    Thanks to Chockblock for the link.

  • Retired Senior NCOs remember how to do their jobs

    Chief Tango sends us a link to Army Times‘ article about a group of senior NCOs who have banded together to voice their opinions publicly about the impending Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) cuts to military retirees’ pay;

    “You don’t join the military to get rich. There are a lot of sacrifices. There are PCS moves. There are bullets flying overhead. We’re still fighting a war, and now we are talking about reducing the COLA? I don’t get it,” recently retired Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Roy said.

    In interviews, Roy and the others denounced the reductions, calling them unfair to the average enlisted troops who often struggle to find decent-paying jobs when they leave the service.

    The six senior enlisted leaders said they decided to speak out after four retired generals and flag officers issued a statement Jan. 13 voicing support for the cuts.

    So I guess they figure it’s still their job to speak up for the enlisted soldiers, unlike folks like Ray Chandler, the current Sergeant Major of the Army who sees his job to be protecting his political masters from criticism. I haven’t heard any of the current most senior NCOs sticking up for their troops. Yeah, I know, that’s not really their job, but, ya know what? When the Clinton Administration started making policies with which I disagreed, I retired rather than try to defend those policies to my troops.

    Those four generals are just feathering their own nests. Who is going to listen to a retired general preaching about our duty to take pension cuts in the ass? At least some senior NCOs haven’t forgotten that their main job is to speak for the troops even though their officers aren’t listening.

  • Timothy Flaherty; telling tales to stay out of jail

    Chris sends us a article from the Pocono Record Writer in which they tell the tale of Timothy Flaherty who was facing several counts of DUI and used a story of his injuries in Afghanistan as an excuse for his behavior. So the judge got a hold of his records to sort it all out.

    Flaherty told the court initially that he was the lone survivor of a 4-man vehicle crew which hit a roadside bomb. Flaherty tells quite frequently around town, according to the article, that he was dead until a helicopter-bourne medic revived him and he was evacuated. Well, the real story is a little different;

    In May 2006, Flaherty, then a staff sergeant, was on duty, standing guard outside a residence in which a U.S. Army colonel and a local Afghan official were meeting.

    He suddenly became ill and passed out.

    Flaherty’s tongue was blocking his breathing, so a medic and a physician’s assistant performed a tracheotomy on him to restore his breathing.

    Once he was stabilized, he was sent back to the United States.

    That is according to a signed affidavit from Mathew Novak, a 20-year veteran who held the rank of sergeant first class at the time, and was present when it happened.

    “The incident was non-hostile in nature, Mr. Flaherty was not in a Humvee, nor was he involved in any incident involving an I.E.D. at the time, nor were any fellow service members killed or hurt during the incident,” Novak wrote.

    Flaherty took a few months to recover and returned to Afghanistan.

    The article continues that Flaherty was reduced in rank from [either staff sergeant or sergeant depending on how you read the article] to private E-1 for alcohol- and cocaine-related offenses as well as AWOL and discipline offenses until he was finally honorably discharged. The record also says that he was screened for TBI and PTS and the doctors found nothing.

    So basically, he thought he could get away anything and then hide behind his spotty military record with some heart-wrenching phony stories. The judge had given him several chances to redeem himself, of which Flaherty didn’t take advantage. It looks like the Army gave him a couple chances, too, but he didn’t avail himself. So the next time a veteran is front of that judge, the ghost of Flaherty will be in the court room. Thanks, buddy, from all of us.