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

Category: Veterans Issues

  • Kris Goldsmith and the Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act

    We met Kris Goldsmith years ago under less than ideal conditions. He had an other than honorable discharge from the Army and he was rudderless in his life after the Army. After a while, he pulled himself up by his bootstraps, took responsibility for his actions, and set out to do something about it. These days you can find him wandering the halls of Congress as a tireless advocate for veterans. I’m sure that we can all agree that “bad paper” shouldn’t be a death sentence – that there are veterans out there who deserve a second chance. Kris’ latest cause is the Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act – it would provide authorization for the VA to provide initial mental health assessment and health care services related to suicide prevention.

    Kris asked us to link to his latest piece at Task and Purpose in regards to the bill, because he’s genuinely interested in your opinions in regards to his latest efforts.

    In light of this, I’d remind my fellow veterans that we’re supposed to take the warrior ethos to heart and never leave a fallen comrade.

    Here are the facts: Veterans with less-than-honorable discharges are more likely to suffer from substance abuse issues, become homeless, become incarcerated, and go for years without treatment for the physical and mental wounds of war. Important to note, they’re also three times more likely to die by suicide.

  • Joe Morici, CVS manager, veteran fired

    Joe Morici

    Bobo sends us a link to the story of veteran, Joe Morici, who left the service and was managing a CVS store in Beltsville, Maryland in the Metro DC area. Last Friday, a couple of druggies stormed over the counter at his pharmacy and scooped up a bunch of narcotics from the safe. They headed for the door with Joe in hot pursuit;

    Morici says fearing for the safety of his customers and co-workers, he pursued the suspects to the front door where one of the suspects attacked him with this screwdriver.

    Morici says, “He tried to hit me again with the screwdriver. I disarmed him of the screwdriver, while having the other guy pinned against the one door.”

    Morici says he even managed to retrieve most, if not all, of the stolen pills during the struggle. The suspects got away.

    Morici says while customers and co-workers praised him for his heroics, he feared his actions would get him in trouble. He says CVS has a strict policy against confronting robbers. He says he was fired later that day.

    In my opinion, CVS should reconsider their actions in this case. It was dangerous drugs headed for the street, Morici’s concerns, I’m sure, weren’t only for the innocent people who were in the immediate vicinity at the time of the crime, but also for the community. If they had been allowed to get away with their theft, I’m sure they’d be back around in the near future. Of course, now that Batman Morici isn’t at the store anymore, they may be back anyway.

  • Bergdahl Court-Martial On Hold

    It appears that Bergdahl’s court-martial is now on hold.

    Bergdahl is facing court-martial for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.  His defense team has asserted that they need access to certain classified materials to defend Bergdhal.  The prosecution disputes this.

    The trial judge granted Bergdahl’s defense be given access.  However, the prosecution has appealed this decision to a higher military court.  We’re now awaiting that appeals court decision – and everything else is on hold until that decision is announced.

    As Political Insider notes here, the defense’s assertion is bull regarding the charge of desertion. Proving the specific form of desertion with which Bergdahl is charged merely requires proving that he absented himself to avoid hazardous duty. Leaving post without authorization in a combat zone to go AWOL constitutes exactly that, and proving that is simple – he either did or he did not absent himself. Nothing classified about that, and nothing classified needed to defend the case.

    Bergdahl’s legal team may or may not need access to classified materials in order to defend him against the charges of misbehavior before the enemy. Depending on precisely what evidence or theory the prosecution plans to present to prove that charge, the defense could indeed need access to classified information to defend.

    However, I think it’s far more likely that this is a classic instance of graymail. My guess is that the defense team is merely trying to prevent the public from finding out just how badly Bergdahl behaved while enjoying Thursdays with the Taliban and/or the Haqqani Network. Doing so might be necessary to preserve future book deals and such. So they’re requesting info to material that’s highly classified and hoping that the government flatly refuses to comply and the judge pitches the case.

    Stay tuned.

  • An Interesting Case – and Dilemma

    I’m serious about the title. And I’ll admit I’m somewhat torn on this one.

    Decades ago, Otto Macias left Cuba. He came to the US, then enlisted in the Army.

    Macias fought in Vietnam. He returned from Vietnam in 1969, allegedly “broken and suffering from PTSD and schizophrenia” per his family.  It appears he really did have significant issues; he was in and out of hospitals repeatedly after his return.  And the VA apparently recognized something as being service-connected; they were paying him a relatively small monthly payment.  (The linked article calls it a “pension”, but I’m guessing it was some modest level of disability compensation.  Macias wasn’t old enough to qualify for a veteran’s pension, and the payment was only around $60/month in 1980.)

    Macias had relatives in Cuba. In 1980, he went to visit them.  He stayed.

    Since Cuba was under an embargo, after a relatively short period his payments from the VA also stopped. But now the US is in the process of normalizing relations with Cuba (IMO a huge mistake until Cuba ends its support for revolutionary movements worldwide) – and it’s now allowable for US funds to be sent to Cuba.

    Macias has asked for his VA payments to be resumed.  And though he now lives in Cuba with family and will probably stay (he’s now elderly and in bad health), he apparently doesn’t have any ill will towards the USA.

    As I said, I’m a bit conflicted.  Yeah, he earned that compensation through service in combat; Macias doubtless needs the money.  But he’s also not living in the US, or in any friendly nation – he’s living in a country that still is a US adversary.  Resuming his VA payments would help support Cuba’s economy, and would also set a precedent that I’d hate to see established.  Adversaries are adversaries; as a nation, we shouldn’t be helping nations that are our enemies.

    On balance my position would be, “Sorry– not if you’re in Cuba, or any one of the other nations in the world that are US adversaries.” But it’s a tough call, and I can certainly understand the opposite point of view.

    Fox News has an article on Macias.  IMO, it’s worth reading.

    Thoughts?

  • Military Service and “Real Jobs”

    A comment made here recently brought this little bit of history to mind.

    After retiring from the USMC, John Glenn entered politics. He ran as a candidate for the US Senate in 1974 from his native Ohio as a Democrat.

    His opponent in the Democratic primary was Howard Metzenbaum – a successful businessman and the incumbent Senator against whom Glenn was running.  (Metzenbaum had been appointed to fill the Senate vacancy created when Senator William Saxbe resigned to become US Attorney General earlier in 1974.)

    Metzenbaum was not a military veteran. During the primary campaign, he made the statement to the effect that Glenn – because he’d been career military – had “never worked for a living”.

    The following was Glenn’s response, delivered on 4 May 1974 during Glenn’s public remarks at the Cleveland City Club in Cleveland, OH.

    “Howard, I can’t believe you said I have never held a job.

    “I served twenty-three years in the United States Marine Corps. I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on twelve different occasions. I was in the space program. It wasn’t my checkbook; it was my life on the line. It was not a nine-to-five job where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank.

    “I ask you to go with me, as I went the other day, to a Veterans Hospital and look those men, with their mangled bodies, in the eye and tell them they didn’t hold a job. You go with me to any gold-star mother and you look her in the eye and tell her that her son did not hold a job.

    “You go with me to the space program, and go as I have gone to the widows and orphans of Ed White and Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee, and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their Dad didn’t hold a job.

    “You go with me on Memorial Day coming up and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends than I’d like to remember, and you watch those waving flags. You stand there, and you think about this nation, and you tell me that those people didn’t have a job.

    “I’ll tell you, Howard Metzenbaum, you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there were some men – some men – who held a job. And they required a dedication to purpose and a love of country and a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself. And their self-sacrifice is what made this country possible.

    “I have held a job, Howard!”

    Glenn won the primary handily.  He was elected to the Senate in the general election that year.

    For what it’s worth:  in my view, Glenn got it exactly right.  The military is called “the profession of arms” because it is exactly that:  a profession, on par with any other professional occupation.

    It may be different from most, but yes:  it’s a “real job”.

    Sources:

    https://library.osu.edu/documents/ohio-congressional-archives/documents/Gold%20Star%20Mother%20speech.pdf

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Metzenbaum

    (Edited to add:  I’d forgotten that at least partial video of Glenn’s speech exists.  If you’re interested, you can view it here.)

  • TCU boots vet from Journalism class for his opinion

    GDContractor sends us a link to a story at Hypeline about a disabled veteran and student, Matthew Monahan, who was booted from a Journalism class at Texas Christian University because the teacher of the particular class decided that Matthew’s class assignment was “dark, offensive and inappropriate”. I’m not sure we’re getting the whole story, but then the University isn’t answering any questions.

    The University sent a detective from the University’s police unit to investigate the incident. They told the police that Monahan had been confrontational and indignant during a class discussion of his blog post, but there are no details of that discussion – only the emotional reaction of the teacher, Ms. Melita Garza. The police note in their report (at the Hypeline link) that Monahan had no prior offenses and that he was completely cooperative with the officer and the school’s administration. The teacher, however disagreed;

    The professor gave the student an “F” on the blog post. Then the professor reported the disabled student veteran to the department chair stating, “the student’s degrading references to women and disturbing video elicited concerns for my safety,” the professor said. “I was concerned about the safety of other students in the course, most of whom were women.”

    Now, if it’s true that the teacher’s assessment was about the blog post that I linked above, I don’t see what she’s talking about. The “disturbing video” is just an interview with the two female soldiers who graduated from Ranger School last year – I don’t know what could be disturbing about it. But then, I never did understand Leftists’ tendency towards hyperbole when it comes to their feelings.

    Like I said, we’re probably not hearing the whole story, but then the University isn’t being cooperative in giving us their side, so what are we to do? They should say something because, at this point they look like a-holes who don’t like disabled veterans.

  • This Just Doesn’t Seem Right

    During the early part of World War II, the US Army Air Forces had a pilot shortage.  A relatively small group of women helped mitigate that shortage through various programs.  The first two such programs were the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS).  In 1943, these two programs and organizations were merged to form the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs.

    The WASP program, like the US Merchant Marine, at the time was technically a form of civilian wartime service – a paramilitary organization vice uniformed military service.  Congress did consider making the WASPs a formal part of the Army Air Forces, but ultimately declined to do so.  Later in the war, sufficient USAF male pilots had been trained to eliminate the pilot shortfall.  The WASP program was then terminated and its members were released.

    Both WASPs and US Merchant Marine personnel serving during World War II were later granted military veteran status by Congress with the passage of the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977 – though it took a Federal court decision in 1988 before US Merchant Mariners were recognized as veterans under that act.  And since 2002 each group has been deemed eligible for inurnment (the placement of cremated remains in a cemetery storage area, often above ground) in Arlington National Cemetery as a military veteran.

    Until last year, that is.

    Sometime last year the Secretary of the Army, John McHugh, determined that WASPs and World War II Merchant Mariners were no longer eligible for inurnment at Arlington National Cemetery.  Curiously enough, both groups apparently remain eligible for both inurnment and in-ground burial at National Cemeteries run by the VA.  (The Army operates Arlington National Cemetery and the US Soldiers’ & Airmen’s Home National Cemetery in DC; the VA operates all other US National Cemeteries.)

    You know, this seems just plain wrong to me.  One can legitimately debate whether or not Congress should have granted members of the WASPs or World War II US Merchant Mariners veteran status.  However, the fact remains that Federal law did exactly that in 1977.  Both groups performed hazardous duty in support of the national war effort under the direction and control of military officials.  Both groups suffered a substantial rate (3.5+%) of fatalities.  And for the last 38+ years, members of both groups have been, by law, World War II veterans.

    Under Title 32 Code of Federal Regulations Part 553, section 15a, any former member of the Armed Forces who served on active duty (other than for training) and whose last service terminated honorably is eligible for inurnment at Arlington..  It seems to me that people declared by Congress to be military veterans due to service as WASPs or Merchant Mariners during World War II who served honorably deserve the same.  If all other vets whose service ended honorably are eligible for inurnment in Arlington, I can’t see any good reason why members of these two groups should be excluded.

    But maybe that’s just me.

  • Veterans behind bars

    Medic09 sends us a link to National Public Radio, surprisingly, which reports on a US Bureau of Prison survey which focused on military veterans doing time. The results are that veterans are less likely to be in jail than non-veterans. In 1978, when the BoP started keeping records, that wasn’t the way – veterans were more likely to be imprisoned than the rest of folks. But, that was probably because of the draft which had ended just a few years before. NPR also credits “veterans’ courts” for the decline.

    The survey also found that combat veterans are less likely to be prison inmates than non-combat veterans.

    Those veterans in prisons and jails reported higher rates than civilians of mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Less than a third of veterans behind bars actually saw combat, but those who did also reported higher rates of mental health issues, according to the report.

    On average, veterans doing time are almost 12 years older than nonveterans and are less likely to have multiple previous offenses.

    I noticed that the survey used self-reported PTS, not actual diagnoses and all criminals who are also veterans claim that they committed their crime because of PTS, even though actual PTS doesn’t make you engage in criminal behavior.