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

Category: Veterans Issues

  • Claims of alleged corruption and sexual misconduct in 841st Engineer Battalion.

    I found this when it was posted by our friends at ARMY WTF. It seems that there are things going on at the 841st Engineer Battalion according to this Captain.

    The following is a video on the falsification of Army training documents, the endangering of Soldiers’ lives, concealment of a sexual assault, and the perpetuation of an atmosphere a sexual harassment at the 841st Engineer Battalion in Miami, Florida.

    To date no one has been held responsible for any of these actions.

    I made this video as a record of my last official act as a commissioned officer in the United States Army.

    The 841st EN BN has fostered a command climate ripe in the demoralizing atmosphere of sexual harassment and corruption.

    Not only have the officers of the 841st EN BN fallen disgracefully short of meeting their moral, ethical and legal obligations to the Soldiers assigned to the unit, but our higher commands – the 926th EN BDE and the 412th Theater Engineer Command, are equally responsible for their lack of oversight and their tacit complicity following my initial reporting of these issues over 1 ½ year ago.

    This is my last avenue for addressing these issues, as I have utilized my chain-of-command, the office of the inspector-general, and even my former-congressional representative, the Honorable Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart and my current representative, the Honorable Ms. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

    I personally cannot understand why no one has been held accountable for falsifying training documents, endangering the lives of Soldiers, concealing a sexual assault, and perpetuating an atmosphere a sexual harassment, given the amount of evidence I and others have provided or offered to provide.

    Very respectfully,

    CPT Marcelo A. Lucero
    United States Army

    Not sure what is going on but if any of this is true it needs to be looked into.

  • Veterans’ Virtual Job Fair

    TPM sends us a link to a virtual job fair that’s happening today. We’re getting this on short notice, so get started now. Here’s a link to the website and a video to help you get started;

  • New York Film Academy Supports the Yellow Ribbon Program for Veterans

    The folks from the New York Film Academy asked if they could write a guest post about their Yellow Ribbon Program for Veterans. If it interests you, contact them;

    NYFI

    A great deal has been done in recent years to help our returning veterans transition back into civilian life following the time they’ve selflessly given in military service. There’s still a lot to do, of course, but every year more and more employers and education providers are joining the list of military friendly institutions.

    The New York Film Academy is one such institution, and is honored to be recognized on militaryfriendly.com’s list of Top 100 Military Friendly Schools.

    Prospective students will be pleased to hear that many of NYFA’s programs are approved for veterans education benefits, most notably the Post-9/11 GI Bill and via the Yellow Ribbon Program. As such, it’s the first port of call for veterans interested in a career in film.

    The Post-9/11 GI-Bill and How it Benefits Veterans

    The Post-9/11 Bill was introduced in 2008 as a revision to the long outdated previous bill which had been in effect, relatively unchanged, since WWII. As of last summer, around 750,000 Middle Eastern combat-era veterans have taken advantage of the new bill.

    While some benefits of the GI Bill are open to those on active duty, it is mainly geared towards those who have received an honorary discharge and for the latter category most veterans who have been on active duty for 90 or more days (since September 10th of 2001) will be eligible.

    The main benefits of the bill include:

    Up to 100% Coverage of Tuition Fees – This depends on the length of service (for instance, 100% coverage is generally only offered to those having served over 36 cumulative months since 9/11). However, most veterans can expect at least 40% coverage but see the caveat below regarding public versus private funding.

    Monthly Living and Housing Allowance – A massive benefit to veterans studying full-time, the housing benefit stipend can be as much as $2,700 (and averages $1,368) per month.

    Book Stipend – Useful for textbooks and other supplies, students may receive up to $1k a year (paid in installments at the beginning of each term).

    Relocation Allowance – If you have to relocate at least 500 miles to attend the NYFA, or cannot get to the LA campus (the dedicated location for veteran studies) by any other means except by flying, you may be eligible to a one-off payment of $500.

    It is important to note that the full 100% tuition fee coverage may only be available to those pursuing education in public schools. The New York Film Academy is a private school, the GI Bill may not entitle students to full tuition funding.

    But fret not. That’s where the Yellow Ribbon Program comes in.

    The Yellow Ribbon Program

    The Yellow Ribbon Program goes hand in hand with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and is in fact a provision of the same law that lead to the bill’s creation.

    As some private tuition expenses exceed the threshold limits some of the GI Bill benefits listed above, the Yellow Ribbon Program can cover the shortfall. However, it’s important to note that eligibility for funding under the GI Bill does not necessarily entitle students to additional funding under the Yellow Ribbon Program.

    It’s also worth mentioning that not all schools are part of the program. It’s an opt-in system whereby the institution in question can contribute 50% of the remaining expenses and the State will match that figure. Between the two sources of funding, veterans often receive full funding for their tuition and other expenses.

    Finding out Which Educational Benefits You’re Entitled To

    As with many aspects of bureaucracy, it’s not always clear what funding and financial aid is available for prospective students (particularly for those coming from out-of-state or those seeking private education).

    The New York Film Academy is committed to bucking this trend. Veterans can expect clear, concise information as to what funding they are eligible to as well as how to secure it. If a question is not answered on the site, the Office of Veterans Services will be happy to help and can be contacted on 1-818-295-2020 (or via email on veteran@nyfa.edu).

  • CO Senator Mary Hodge pulls a Feinstein

    Mary Hodge

    According to Twitchy, in the late night hours, the Colorado Senate debated whether veterans and active duty soldiers should be exempted from their impending magazine ban in an amendment by Republican Senator, Kent Lambert. When he introduced the bill, Mary Hodge objected to the amendment because “some of them come back with significant mental health problems”.

    Senator Lambert objected to her generalization.

    LAMBERT: Thank you Mr. Chair. Of course our active duty military people suffer from traumas of war. They have since the Civil war. They’ve gone through battle fatigue. They’ve gone through soldier’s disease, in the Civil War is what they called it.

    But to stereotypically say that we’re just going to have a blanket policy in this state saying that military veterans, who if they have mentally deficient problems or if they have traumatic stress and they’ve been diagnosed they’re not eligible to get weapons anyway. It’s already part of the law.

    It does raise a point: are we doing enough for our veterans? Maybe not, but that’s not part of this bill. But please don’t stereotypically identify military veterans and active duty members as being disqualified for arms ownership simply because they’ve served our country.

    CHAIR; Senator Hodge

    HODGE: Thank you Mr. Chair, and I did not say “all” had mental problems. I said “some.”

    Yeah, but “all” will be effected by the magazine ban because “some”, a very tiny, miniscule number of “some”, have problems. The media has done it’s job, apparently, by poisoning the image of veterans.

    The exchange is at about 13:13 of the video;

  • Iraq vet amputee tries out for the Dodgers

    Daniel Jacobs

    More pictures at Pasadena Star News

    Fox News has an all-too brief article about Daniel “Doc” Jacobs, a Navy corpsman who left his leg in Iraq and tried out for the LA Dodgers;

    He lost his left leg below the knee and also sustained foot and hand injuries. He went through more than 50 surgeries.

    Jacobs said it was an honor to try out for the Dodgers. He later threw out a ceremonial first ball before the Dodgers beat the Los Angeles Angels 10-8.

    From NBC Sports;

    Daniel “Doc” Jacobs already made history. He was the first amputee to return to active duty in the Navy, doing so after an IED explosion in Iraq took his lower left leg and led to 50 surgeries. Yesterday he did something else that was pretty impressive: he tried out for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

    It was an open tryout, and Jacobs participated after being encouraged to do so by Tommy Lasorda, who Jacobs met at a disabled veterans event last year.

    From the LA Daily News;

    “It’s all about the experience, and letting America and these guys know that not all disabled veterans are going to be a statistic in the news,” he said. “I’m here to combat the suicide rate, homicide rate, divorce rate statistics. I just want to get out there and prove to America there are awesome disabled veterans out there and we are making a stand against that.”

    These guys inspire me.

  • The 1999 Kosovo BSM Fiasco

    In a couple of earlier comments and a previous article, I’ve referenced something I’ve called the “1999 Kosovo BSM Fiasco”.   However, it occurs to me that many regular readers of TAH – especially those who are younger – might not know the history of that little escapade, and might have also missed the references.  So I decided to write and post a brief summary of what happened and what resulted afterwards.

    Background

    In 1999, the US found itself engaged in hostilities with Serbia as part of NATO.  The primary hostile actions were US and NATO airstrikes against targets in Serbia and Kosovo.  The NATO operation was called Allied Force; the US operation was called Noble Anvil.

    USAF and USN forces participated in this air campaign.  Since the campaign involved hostilities, the Bronze Star Medal (BSM) was an authorized award for those participating in the operation.

    Unfortunately, the USAF and, to a lesser degree, the USN decided to interpret the phrase “in connection with military operations against an armed enemy” inanely loosely.  The resulting fiasco severely cheapened the BSM.

    (more…)

  • Why Combat Decorations Are So Screwed Up Today – and How to Begin Fixing It

    It’s common knowledge that there are serious issues with military combat decorations.  To most civilians, this seems to be a minor issue.  But as anyone in the military knows, to folks in uniform this is indeed a big deal.  Inequity in awards is at the least a morale killer, and at worst can kill a unit’s faith in its chain-of-command – and thus seriously degrade its effectiveness.

    I’ve done a bit of thinking about the situation over the past few months.  And since you’re reading this, well, you probably already have figured out that I’m about to wax soporific on the subject.  (smile)

    I don’t personally think the situation is FUBAR at this point.  But things are IMO seriously out-of-whack; corrections are needed.  I also think I have a few decent suggestions as to how to improve the situation.   They don’t constitute a perfect solution, but they should IMO improve the current situation substantially.

    Anyway:  that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. (smile)

    Introduction

    I won’t attempt to detail all the known “gripes” about combat decorations today.  A partial list:

    1. Decorations are rank-preferential
    2. Decorations are awarded inconsistently in different units and services
    3. Combat service is not properly recognized
    4. Noncombat service is improperly recognized with combat decorations
    5. Favoritism in award of decorations

    There are, of course, many others.

    IMO, many of these gripes are based on reality; some are at least partly perception.  In some cases there is a reasonable explanation, while in other cases it’s simply due to abuse of the system.  My purpose here is to identify some of the factors that have contributed to this situation – and to suggest how to reduce the magnitude of the problem.

    As my background is Army, I’m going to discuss this from the perspective of Army decorations and practices.  Fair warning:  this article is kinda long.

    (more…)

  • Another “crazy vet” story

    43-year-old Julian With got on the New York State Thruway going in the wrong direction last Friday and had a head-on collision with a group of people in a mini-van. With and a passenger in the mini-van died. So while looking for answers to his motivation for the clearly erratic behavior, WNYT dug up some things in his life;

    With recently wrote on his facebook page that his wife had left him. Just hours before the crash, he was arrested by Bethlehem police for violating an order of protection in a domestic dispute. Add to that a post on his facebook page that said his mother had three months to live.

    So, their conclusion is that his service in Iraq that drove him to the suicide.

    “On one hand it could have been something very deliberate, another word a total loss of hope,” says Dr. Ferraioli.

    On the other hand, he says it could have been a total disconnect with reality brought on by PTSD.

    “Another possibility is trying to numb that pain with drugs or alcohol,” he explains.

    The exact cause of the crash is still unknown.

    The cause is still unknown, but you know as soon as someone mentioned that he was an Iraq War vet, in the news room there was a collective “oh, well, that explains it” murmur. Even though there are hundreds if not thousands of combat veterans driving on the New York Thruway right this moment and they’re all going with the traffic.

    Thanks to Adirondack Patriot for the link.