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

Category: Veterans Issues

  • A Forgotten Hero Remembered

    In 1892, Luke M. Griswold died.  He was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Springfield, MA.

    Griswold had been a sailor.  He had been in the US Navy, and had served in the Civil War. 

    Griswold was far from common, however.  He was a Medal of Honor recipient. 

    Sadly, he was also a forgotten Medal of Honor recipient.  His grave was a common and plain one.  Indeed, there was not even a headstone marking his life and passing.  Instead, only a stone with the engraved number “297” marked his resting place.

    For over 120 years, that was the situation.  And that’s how things would have probably stayed.  Except . . . one man found that unacceptable.

    Some years ago, J. Donald Morfe of Baltimore, MD – an Army veteran – learned that the final resting places for many Medal of Honor recipients were not marked with proper headstones.  He found this troubling.

    Since learning of that sad situation Morfe, working together with other volunteers, has convinced various government or private organizations to fund proper headstones for many these heretofore unmarked heroes.  They’ve arranged markers for 220 so far.  Griswold’s was the latest.

    Some might ask, “Why this is important?” 

    The answer is simple:  “Poor is the Nation that has no Heroes, but beggared is the Nation that has, and forgets them.”

    Kudos, Mr. Morfe.  Many thanks.

  • Memorial Day thought

    There are some people for whom every day is Memorial Day;

    Memorial Day Unknown Soldiers 043

  • American Legion allocates $1 million for Oklahoma tornado victims

    Someone at the American Legion sent us this link to a PRNewswire link;

    The American Legion announced that it is allocating $1 million to veterans affected by the tornadoes in Oklahoma. The money will be used to cover relocation expenses for veterans and their families whose homes were devastated by the disaster.

    The American Legion, the nation’s largest veterans organization, has previously assisted emergency efforts following Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters.

    The American Legion has set up a hotline for veterans needing emergency assistance. They can call 1-800-504-4098. If they have legal custody of minor children, they can seek help though the Legion’s Temporary Financial Assistance Program. Veterans without children can seek assistance through The American Legion National Emergency Fund. Individuals wishing to donate to The American Legion National Emergency Fund should call 1-800-253-7000, donate online at www.legion.org/emergency/help or mail checks to The American Legion NEF, PO Box 1055, Indianapolis, IN 46206.

  • Discharges of combat troops increase

    The Associated Press reports that discharges for minor offenses are on the rise in the military in recent months.

    The newspaper reported Sunday that the investigation based on Army data found that annual misconduct discharges have increased more than 25 percent since 2009, mirroring the rise in wounded. Among combat troops, the increase is even sharper.

    Total discharges at the eight Army posts that house most of the service’s combat units have increased 67 percent since 2009.

    “I’ve been working on this since the 70s, and I have never seen anything like this,” said Mark Waple, a retired Army officer who now tries military cases as a civilian lawyer near North Carolina’s Fort Bragg. “There seems to be a propensity to use minor misconduct for separation, even for service members who are decorated in combat and injured.”

    Of course, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Marty Dempsey, disagrees that the military is drawing down for financial by booting their wounded first;

    “I can tell you that 10-plus years of war has placed significant stress on many of our service members, sometimes manifesting itself in their health and even their discipline,” he said. “We go to great lengths to try to rehabilitate those who don’t meet or maintain required standards prior to initiating separation.”

    An Army spokesman said the military branch does not track the number of soldiers wounded in war who were later kicked out.

    I guess that’s Marty’s way of reassuring us that the government isn’t balancing the budget on the backs of veterans, like the President told us he wouldn’t, but then did.

    I hope these generals remember that it was the combat veterans who stayed after Vietnam who trained the force that went to Iraq in 1991. The Colin Powells, the Schwarzkopfs, the McMasters, and the nameless thousands who became squad leaders and platoon sergeants and taught my generation how to soldier.

  • Still not mad at the IRS?

    Maybe, if you’re still not mad at the IRS for being political animals in the arena of battle, you can get mad at this; a veteran who was wounded in Iraq and spent part of 2010 recovering from those wounds had his checking account seized by the IRS, because somehow they figure that he made six-figures that he didn’t pay taxes on that year. Well, he’s 60% disabled and they seized his disability check, which is technically against the law;

    I kindly read the federal code mentioned above to the lady I spoke with at the IRS, reminding her that VA disability money is 100% exempt. She placed me on hold for another age (I could see a man coming- bearing water- over the horizon) and then she came back on the line and told me, “We do not take veterans’ disability money. We wait until the funds are deposited from the VA and then we take all of the funds from your bank account.”

    The good news is that through my persistence, and my refusal to accept their answer, that it is okay to launder VA disability money, I was able to get the IRS to refund all of the money they’d taken from my bank. I am working with the IRS to remedy their great misunderstanding of my earnings for 2010, and I am reaching out to all disabled veterans to let them know that if this is happening to them, they do have rights, and they need to stand up for them.

  • Not balancing the budget on the backs of veterans

    Chief tango sends us a link from Stars & Stripes which reports that some pack of morons who call themselves the Stimson Center (named after former U.S. Secretary of War and Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson) have ‘discovered” a way to save the Department of Defense “$900 billion over a decade without sacrificing significant combat capabilities”. Sounds tempting, doesn’t it? Well this is their plan;

    Among Stimson’s cost-cutting recommendations: pegging pay to specialization in high-demand areas; requiring military retirees to pay more for health care; curtailing the number of health care beneficiaries; and reforming military retirement plans to more closely resemble civilian-style retirement options.

    The report suggested, among other actions, trimming the number of civilian and contractor employees, using service members to perform “inherently military functions” and reducing redundant support services inside each military branch. The report also outlined better management acquisition practices.

    This year, the Air Force must cut $10.8 billion by the end of September. Among other actions to cut spending, the service has drastically slashed flying hours, grounded aircraft and deferred maintenance. It could furlough 13,000 civilian employees at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, among tens of thousands possible furloughs in the Defense Department.

    I’m not surprised that first words out of their crooked little mouths is to make veterans pay more for something that we always understood was going to be without cost to us – you know one of the reasons that we sacrificed our youth and health to a career, thinking we were going to be taken care of. Why am I not surprised that I find the only member of their Board with military service is a Rear Admiral? Just more of that stuff from civilians who are jealous that we get something they think we don’t deserve.

    And, oh, you can bet that the thing about slashing contractors means that active duty troops will be scrubbing pots on KP duty rather than on the ranges training.

  • Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Veterans with Disabilities Foundation

    Our buddy, Anonymous in JAX sends us a link to a 60 Minutes program about the Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Veterans with Disabilities Foundation.

  • House bill would ban VA bonuses

    The House Veterans Affairs Committee passed a bill today that would grant in-state tuition rates to all veterans attending public universities as well as ban all VA executive bonuses for five years.

    Senior executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs would be banned from receiving any bonuses for five years under legislation approved by a congressional committee Wednesday.

    The move comes after two weeks of criticism over how the department awards bonuses, and reports of several five-figure awards for VA officials despite questionable performances.

    “Questionable performances” is inaccurate – piss-poor performance is better.

    Representative Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the head of the committee issued a statement on the bill.

    “The fact that so many VA executives collected huge performance bonuses year after year while continually failing at their jobs calls into question whether department leaders even know the meaning of the word ‘accountability,’” he said in a statement.

    “Until we have complete confidence that VA is holding executives accountable – rather than rewarding them – for their mistakes, no one should get a performance bonus.”

    The VA suspended bonuses for fiscal year 2012 last month, but lawmakers, including Miller, complained that the VA decision didn’t go far enough.

    Additionally, the bill calls for an increase in the amount of disability compensation equal to increases in Social Security increases.

    The bill will have to pass the full House and the Senate before it becomes law.

    The full text of the bill can be found here.

    Cross posted from After the Army.