Fort Worth dad deploying to country that took his son
By CHRIS VAUGHNcvaughn@star-telegram.com
FORT WORTH — In a few days, Francisco Martinez will land in Iraq.
He is one of tens of thousands of men and women who, with various motivations, enlisted in the armed forces, knowing that they’d someday end up there.
For Martinez, Iraq is a kind of perdition, a receptacle for all the dark emotions, anguish and guilt that have buffeted him for the last three years.
When Martinez steps off the airplane, he will be in the country that took his only son, a 20-year-old skateboarder and budding graphic artist whose loss is felt every single day of his father’s life.
This deployment — in fact, his entire enlistment — is completely his doing. Nobody forced this on Martinez, except maybe the sniper who put one well-placed bullet in Spc. Francisco G. Martinez on March 20, 2005, in Ramadi.
Joining the Air Force Reserve, after a 17-year break in his military service, was Martinez’s way of making sense of and coping with his son’s death, a way to remember him by being around young men his age serving their nation.
As a condition for her support, he promised his wife, Maria, that he wouldn’t volunteer for a tour in Iraq, that he would only go if ordered. But Martinez broke his promise this year and raised his hand, hating that he broke his word but feeling that he could not honorably serve with people doing more than him.
"He was such a part of me," he said, "and a part of me died that day. But it is so important to keep him alive in some way. I can’t let such an important piece of me die."
Protecting others
Martinez leaves for Iraq with all the usuals — rifle, night-vision goggles, cold-weather gear, a sleeping bag, in all hundreds of pounds of gear issued by the U.S. government.
Packed tightly in one of his trunks is his son’s camping chair, used by "Paquito" during his tour in Iraq. Big Francisco has always been known as Paco; by extension, his son was Paquito, a 2002 Eastern Hills High School graduate.
"My son sat in this chair," Martinez said. "I’ve taken it on every exercise we’ve had, and now it’s going to Iraq with me."
Martinez is old enough — 44 years — to be the father of many of the men he will share a trailer with in northern Iraq.
A computer programmer and systems analyst accustomed to a six-figure salary, Martinez now wears the stripes of a staff sergeant, the equivalent of a buck sergeant in the Army, pulling down half (about $4,400 a month) of what he used to earn.
As a member of the security forces responsible for protecting the combined Army and air base, he will work in a guard tower, perform searches, work the gates or patrol the fence lines, possibly all of them. He doesn’t know yet.
He will be deployed for six months, a long time by Air Force standards but only half the deployment of soldiers.
Martinez’s unit, the 610th Security Forces Squadron at Naval Air Station Fort Worth, is responsible for providing airmen for just such missions and has for several years. About 25 airmen from the Fort Worth unit will leave on this deployment.
The 610th has not sustained a casualty in Iraq.
He watched other men and women volunteer during his time in the unit, and he saw some get tagged for an involuntary deployment when there weren’t enough volunteers.
Increasingly he felt conspicuous because he had not deployed, while others had already been more than once. He felt the time had come for him to step up and fulfill his duty, promises to his wife or not.
"It just felt wrong to be the one guy who hadn’t deployed even once," he said. "I could have always waited until they exhausted all the other people and called me up. But I wasn’t going to wait until all that happened. These are my friends and my co-workers."
Beyond politics
Monica, the 7-year-old daughter of Paco and Maria and the spoiled little sister of Paquito, moved her bed into her parents’ room a few weeks ago.
When her father leaves, she will move the bed out again and just start sleeping with her mother. Her father already carries a drawing by Monica of a little pond and a parent duck and two baby ducks and a big purple heart.
"I’m goin to miss you," it says.
For all the difficulties and adjustments of this deployment, they seem to have fallen hardest on Monica, whose fears have reared up in drawings and nightmares.
"Going to Iraq, for her, means you don’t come back," Martinez said. "She has had a very hard time with this."
Martinez landed on an idea some months ago — to show his daughter that there are happy homecomings, that deployments don’t all end in funerals.
Three times, he took her to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport to see troops return home, some of them Martinez’s friends from the Air Force Reserve.
"We never received her brother, except in a casket," he said. "I went with her for one motive, to see this is what it’s like when people come home. All these embraces and the happiness with these families. It was fantastic. We all needed to experience that."
Unexpectedly, it steeled Martinez’s resolve to go to Iraq. The only way those embraces and tearful reunions happen, he reasoned, is because someone else stepped up and took their place overseas.
"I will have a direct impact on that happy reunion, that moment of pure joy," he said. "I won’t actually get to see it, but I know what it will look like, and that’s a big deal to me. These are not strangers, either. I know them. I’ve gone to the family picnic with them, and their kids have played with my kid.
"Who knows? My altruism might fly out the window after I’ve been there three months and I’m sick of it, but for now, it helps me."
It has always shocked people, especially people who know Martinez well, that he signed up for the military after Paquito’s death and volunteered for Iraq. He has always opposed the Iraq invasion, even before Paquito was killed, and nothing has shaken him from his belief that the war is wrong.
In that, he and his ex-wife, Paquito’s mother, Carmen Hernandez, are alike. Hernandez is a leader in a Puerto Rican organization, Madres Contra La Guerra, or Mothers Against War.
But his path is, of course, much different. The whole reason he joined the military was out of his conviction that — wrong war or not — he could do something to keep another young man alive.
"We are responsible for everybody’s security on that base," he said. "For me, it’s very clear. It’s not at all abstract. If the Kurds and the Sunnis and Shia get along better and everyone’s lives are improved and they have fair elections, great. But my job is to make sure that everyone who is on that little clump of land comes back alive and well for their airport reunion. That transcends politics."
Forever 20
Twice a month, Martinez drives to the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery so he can talk to his son. He plans to go there this evening, for the last time this year.
He, the father, is now in the unenviable position of seeking his son’s approval.
"I have to live up to him," he said, staring at the photo of Paquito given to him by his son’s old unit.
Now that it has been more than three years, he is increasingly aware that his son is forever stuck at 20 and everyone else is getting older. Every year, Paquito’s baby sister gets a year closer to his age.
"He doesn’t grow up," he said. "I wanted him to grow up with me. There are times when I just want to immediately turn to him and share something. My fear is not that I’ll forget his voice. I have many digital recordings of that. The hardest part is that he is frozen in time, and that’s when I know he’s really gone."
He wonders how he’ll react when he lands in Iraq. In the months after Paquito’s death, he wanted nothing more than to go to Ramadi and see what his son saw when he was shot, to learn more about his final days, to exact revenge on someone.
But grieving and learning to cope with a loss isn’t a static thing, and those thoughts aren’t the same as they once were.
"I get emotional about a lot of things, but I don’t think I will about that," he said of finally setting foot in Iraq. "Honestly, I don’t know what I will feel like. Maybe it will be transformational, but right now it’s not like that. Right now I’m thinking about the job and what I have to do. It’s all work. It’s all mission."
He points upstairs, where his wife and daughter are, by way of explanation.
"You don’t know how important it is that I make it back," he said, and it is then that his voice catches and he pauses.
"They couldn’t take it again," he said. "They are my motivation to remain focused on my job."
CHRIS VAUGHN, 817-390-7547
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Fort Worth dad deploying to country that took his son
Friday, July 11, 2008
Settlement Reached With Group Soliciting Donations
Settlement Reached With Group Soliciting Donations
Last updated Friday, July 11, 2008 6:40 PM CDT in News
By The Morning News
Email this story Print this story Comment on this story LITTLE ROCK - American Veterans Coalition has been banned from soliciting donations in the state for the next five years and must pay the state $34,000 under a settlement agreement announced Friday by Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.
The money will be redirected to organizations in Arkansas that provide assistance to Arkansas veterans, the attorney general's office said.
McDaniel sued the Washington-based group last year in Pulaski County Circuit Court, alleging that less than 1 percent of the donations they solicited actually went to veterans or to support causes supported by veterans. The lawsuit also alleged none of the funds raised by the organization went to veterans or veterans' causes in Arkansas.
The $33,749 settlement represents the amount donated by Arkansas residents, McDaniel's office said.
After five years, the coalition will be allowed to solicit donation in Arkansas, as long as 60 percent of the funds it raises goes directly to helping veterans. The consent agreement limits to 40 percent the amount of donations that can be used for fundraising costs or management salaries.
A telephone message left at the coalition's Gig Harbor, Wash., office Friday afternoon was not immediately returned.
Obama Won’t Commit to Event at Military Base
Obama Won’t Commit to Event at Military Base
A coalition of military groups is planning a nationally televised town-hall-style meeting with the presidential candidates near Fort Hood, Tex., the largest active-duty military installation in the country. But so far, only Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, has agreed to attend.
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CBS has agreed to broadcast the meeting live from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Aug. 11. The candidates would face questions directly from an audience of 6,000 people, made up of veterans, service members and military families from the base.
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has not agreed to participate.
“Senator Obama strongly supports America’s veterans and military families and has worked hard on their behalf in the Senate,” said Phillip Carter, director of Mr. Obama’s veterans effort and an Iraq war veteran. “While we unfortunately had a previously scheduled commitment on the date proposed, Senator Obama looks forward to continuing the dialogue he’s been having throughout the country with veterans on how we can better serve our men and women in uniform as they serve us.”
Carissa Picard, managing director of the Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall Consortium, said she had suggested Aug. 11 and asked the campaign to suggest other dates if that was not convenient, but after several conversations she had not been able to work anything out.
“I’m having extreme difficulty getting the Obama campaign to commit to this event, and we do not understand why,” said Ms. Picard, whose husband is deployed in Iraq. “We made it very clear to them that if they would commit to the event, we would work with them on dates.”
The organizers released details about the event in hopes that it would pressure the Obama campaign to agree to the event.
“This was a decision that was made with tremendous difficulty, to publicize it,” Ms. Picard said. “We were at a point where we had no other option. We got the impression that they could talk us to November.”
The meeting would be at the Expo Center in Belton, Tex., about 25 miles from Fort Hood.
A military audience might seem more hospitable to a Republican candidate, particularly one like Mr. McCain, who has made his support for the war in Iraq the heart of his campaign. But the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a heavy toll on Fort Hood; one of the groups organizing the event estimates that up to 800 of the service people who have died in Iraq have come through the base.
And organizers say many Fort Hood residents — the base serves about 218,000 people, including service members, retirees and military families — have grown tired of the war and agree with Mr. Obama’s declaration that it must end.
Still, Mr. McCain prefers the town-hall-style format. He had proposed a series of 10 similar events with Mr. Obama, and the two campaigns were said to be working out details for a more limited series of meetings.
Organizers say the veterans and military population in the United States, including families, totals about 44 million people.
“McCain and Obama are asking to be the next commander in chief,” Ms. Picard said. “What’s a more compelling audience than this, the people that you have asked to maintain our security? It would be tremendous for the morale of this community.”
Organizers include American Veterans, Disabled American Veterans, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Veterans for Common Sense and Military Spouse Corporate Career Network.
Principi prodded VA on Chantix
Principi prodded VA on Chantix
Audrey Hudson and Jen Haberkorn
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
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EXCLUSIVE: Former Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi contacted colleagues at his old agency as the chief lobbyist for drug maker Pfizer Inc. earlier this year, looking for updates on whether his company's smoking-cessation drug Chantix would remain on the VA's list of approved prescription drugs amid new warnings of dangerous side effects.
The government had just banned Chantix for use by pilots and air traffic controllers because of potential side effects on alertness and motor skills and had more broadly warned that the medicine could cause depression, suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide. Pfizer wanted insight on the VA's intent for the drug, which has been prescribed to thousands of veterans.
Pfizer officials maintain that Mr. Principi's contacts at his old agency did not amount to lobbying and that all he did was pass along requests via e-mail asking whether an internal study that examined 27 veterans hospitalized for psychotic episodes while taking Chantix would be made public.
E-mails reviewed by The Washington Times also reveal that Mr. Principi forwarded inquiries from Pfizer about Chantix's status on the VA's list of prescribed drugs, at one point stating, "I really hate to be a pain, but I keep getting asked these questions."
Mr. Principi's private work after serving as President Bush's first VA secretary from 2001 though early 2005 provides what ethics analysts say is a textbook case of the "revolving door," in which former Cabinet secretaries, powerful lawmakers and well-connected regulators land lucrative jobs helping corporate America influence federal policy and decisions by their former colleagues. The practice is legal, but frequently raises concerns about the appearance of conflicts of interest.
The Clinton administration addressed the issue with a sweeping order that banned top officials from lobbying the government until five years after they left public service for the private sector.
But President Clinton ended that five-year ban just before he left office, in January 2001. The Bush administration then reverted to the one-year ban that was enacted as part of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989. Congress in 2007 increased the waiting period to two years, but by that time it did not apply to Mr. Principi.
Mr. Principi declined to be quoted for this story, including answering whether he began interviewing for the Pfizer job while he was still VA secretary in 2004.
But his company's dealings with the VA have taken on new importance as Congress investigates why the veterans agency took months to alert its patients about Chantix's new side effects, such as suicide and psychosis, even when it knew veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were among those taking the drug.
The first hearings, prompted by a series of stories in The Times over the past month, is set to open today before the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.
As one of his final acts as VA secretary, Mr. Principi signed an order eliminating co-payments for smoking-cessation counseling in December 2004. That was just months before he joined Pfizer, whose smoking-cessation drug Chantix was on the fast track for government approval. Mr. Principi's order implemented the change while skipping the ordinary period that allows the public to comment on such proposals.
"The intended effect of this interim final rule is to increase participation in smoking cessation counseling by removing the copayment barrier ... because this rule is beneficial to the public and is unlikely to generate adverse comments, we find that prior notice and opportunity to comment are unnecessary," the regulation reads.
Pfizer officials, who also declined to be formally quoted in this story, said Mr. Principi did not know about the existence of Chantix or its status in the approval process when he signed the VA order. They added that his only contacts at the VA about the drug occurred this year, when he was "passing along" the inquiries. VA officials said they never submitted any of their internal findings about the smoking-cessation drug to Mr. Principi.
Today, more than 32,000 veterans have received prescriptions for Chantix, which produced revenues of more than $880 million in 2007, up from $101 million in 2006, the year the drug was first approved to go on the market.
Mr. Principi and 15 other lobbyists are registered as having lobbied Congress on dozens of laws, but no VA contacts are listed for Mr. Principi. In the lobbyist disclosure form for mid-year 2007, Mr. Principi and nine others are listed on one form as lobbying for eight specific pieces of legislation and "veterans healthcare issues." Offices lobbied included the executive office of the president, the House, the Senate and the Food and Drug Administration.
In all, Mr. Principi's government affairs team at Pfizer has reported spending at least $31 million on lobbying during his tenure as its chief lobbyist. In addition, a private company where Mr. Principi serves as executive chairman has won $140 million in contracts from the VA through competitive bidding.
Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight and one of the authors of a 2005 report on revolving-door relationships in government, said that the laws aiming to prevent top administration officials from lobbying their former agency soon after leaving office have many loopholes.
Associated Press
Anthony J. Principi forwarded inquiries from Pfizer about Chantix's status on the Department of Veterans Affairs' list of prescribed drugs.
"As people are leaving the administration, we have to be concerned whether people are going to be promoting new regulations or altering regulations that will benefit entities in the private interest," Mr. Amey said.
Mr. Principi is hardly alone among former Bush administration officials who have received lucrative jobs in the private sector that involve lobbying or contacting their former colleagues.
For example, Christie Whitman served as Republican governor of New Jersey and then headed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Mr. Bush from 2001 to 2003. She subsequently founded the Whitman Strategy Group when she left office to advise businesses on environmental issues.
One of the group's first clients was FMC Corp., a chemical company negotiating with the EPA over the cleanup of arsenic-contaminated soil at a factory near Buffalo, N.Y. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation listed the FMC site one of the state's most-seriously contaminated sites, and FMC has been subject to 47 EPA enforcement actions.
Similarly, Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr., undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics at the Pentagon, left the agency in 2003 to join the board of Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon's largest contractor.
Weeks before he left the Pentagon, Mr. Aldridge approved a $3 billion contract to build 20 Lockheed planes. That decision was made after he criticized the plan and threatened to cancel the contract.
While serving on the Lockheed board, Mr. Aldridge was picked in 2004 by Mr. Bush to chair the Commission on the Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy - a decision that drew criticism only from Sen. John McCain of Arizona, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who said Lockheed was one of NASA's biggest contractors and called for Mr. Aldridge's removal because of a conflict of interest.
Mr. McCain's concerns went unheeded.
In addition to his work for Pfizer, Mr. Principi was employed by QTC Management, the largest government contractor for occupational health and injury or disability examinations, before he was named to the VA. He returned to the company after leaving the agency and now serves as its executive chairman.
QTC has won more than $140 million in competitively bid government contracts since 2007 to conduct disability medical examinations for the VA in Atlanta; Boston; Houston; Los Angeles; Muskogee, Okla.; Roanoke; Salt Lake City; San Diego; Seattle; and Winston-Salem, N.C. Pfizer officials said Mr. Principi had nothing to do with that company's winning bids at VA.
Amy Fagan contributed to this report.
Senate passes Medicare Bill; Docs avoid payment cuts
Senate passes Medicare Bill; Docs avoid payment cuts
The Senate avoided a planned cut in Medicare payments to doctors today when Democrats secured enough votes to pass a controversial Medicare bill.
And in a perfect bit of stagecraft, the vote marked the first appearance on the Senate floor of Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts since he was diagnosed with brain cancer.
Kennedy, greeted by cheers and applause from both sides of the aisle, has been a longtime champion of the elderly health insurance program. He missed the initial attempt to pass the bill last month, which failed by a single vote.
"I return to the Senate today to keep a promise to our senior citizens, and that’s to protect Medicare," Kennedy, a familiar presence in the Senate chamber for half a century, said in a statement. "Win, lose or draw, I wasn’t going to take the chance that my vote could make the difference."
But the measure passed with a comfortable cushion of nine, 69-30, including the votes of Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, a Democrat, and Pat Roberts of Kansas, a Republican.
GOP Sens. Kit Bond of Missouri and Sam Brownback of Kansas opposed it.
"With a strong bipartisan vote, which has a veto-proof majority, I now urge President Bush to sign this bill immediately so that our seniors can continue to get the care that they need and deserve," Roberts said.
Of the presidential candidates, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama voted for the bill, but Republican Sen. John McCain didn’t show up to vote. He missed the first vote, too.
Physician payments under Medicare faced a more than 10 percent cut. So did fees paid to doctors under Tricare, the military’s health care program, which follows the same payment schedule.
The Medicare pay cuts were due to go into effect July 1, but the Senate extended the deadline for two weeks after the June vote in hopes of reaching a settlement. The proposed Tricare cut was put off longer
The bill also included measures to expand preventive care coverage, more quickly reimburse pharmacies and improve rural health programs.
The White House and many Republicans opposed some of the offsets in the bill that would help pay for it. Among them was a cut in payments to private, taxpayer-subsidized Medicare plans, known as Medicare Advantage, which are operated through HMOs.
Republicans complained that the Democrats, who control the chamber, wouldn’t allow any amendments. Some of lawmakers who opposed the bill last month ended up backing it this time.
Election year politics was also a factor.
Supporters believe they have enough votes to override a threatened presidential veto.
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When the war comes back home
When the war comes back home
During 21 years in the Marine Corps, Jeff Johnson saw young adults walk into his recruiting office and newly minted marines walk out of boot camp just a few months later. Now working at the other end of that pipeline at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, he sees far different, troubling changes in those coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The changes were dramatic. I'd never seen these kinds of changes in people," says Mr. Johnson of those wrestling with the mental and physical trauma of war.
The once upstanding service members were getting arrested for domestic violence and bar fights, and being pursued by police as they raced along streets at 100 miles per hour – often with drugs or alcohol involved – seeking to replicate the adrenaline rush of combat or to commit suicide by motorcycle or police bullets.
He was moved to action, creating a presentation about the mental injuries of war for police and other first responders, usually the ones called when a veteran hits bottom.
A year later, he's delivered his message more times than he can count and he's been in demand from police departments across the country, hungry to prepare for what they worry is a coming surge of mentally injured veterans.
"A lot of them were getting in trouble with police. If [the police] know what resources are out there then they can funnel them into that," says Johnson, who has one son who is an Iraq veteran and another entering the service.
Police departments, veterans groups, and individuals from California to Colorado to Massachusetts are taking similar steps. At the other end of the criminal justice system, a "treatment court" in Buffalo, N.Y., dedicated to veterans opened this year.
The flurry of action is spurred by numbers like these: Some 40,000 cases of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were diagnosed by the military among troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan from 2003 to 2007. The Rand Corp. estimates 300,000 troops are suffering from PTSD from those wars. Many mental-health experts expect those trends to continue, or even worsen, as the wars go on.
Police Sgt. George Masson in Riverside, Calif. – home to many military families and near several bases – shares those concerns. When he began his career in 1980, he encountered many troubled Vietnam War veterans. Almost 30 years later, those early experiences weigh on him.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Sergeant Masson. "We're going to be paying for this for a while."
He helped organize a large, multi-agency training session this year focused on handling troubled veterans. Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton role-played such scenarios as hostage taking and suicide attempts. They invited mental health experts and combat veterans who suffered from traumatic stress to lecture.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Police Department's crisis intervention team has added a segment on veterans to its training, says public information officer Sgt. Wilfred Williams.
Updated statistics are few, but a 2004 US Department of Justice report found 10 percent of all state and federal prisoners had served in the military, mainly during the Vietnam era. But about 4 percent were Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
In Colorado Springs, which neighbors the Army's Fort Carson, police have attended town hall meetings with military and community members to discuss how to help returning soldiers. The urgency was underscored last year when a suicidal soldier led police on a manhunt.
Police pursued the man in a long car chase after he violated a restraining order, tracking him by his cellphone as he fled, says community relations officer Sgt. Creighton Brandt. Finally, a police detective called the man's cellphone and convinced him to pull over and surrender.
"The suspect admitted he was suicidal and had contemplated suicide by cop several times that day and suffered from PTSD from serving in Iraq," said Sergeant Brandt reading from an incident report.
Across the country, Norfolk County Massachusetts District Attorney William Keating held a 2005 summit with police departments, veterans groups, and clergy to discuss support for returning veterans. The result was a video for first responders, describing traumatic stress and how it might affect veterans in their communities. In the three years since, it has racked up some 8,500 hits on YouTube, and Mr. Keating's office has had requests for copies from across the country.
Presiding over "treatment courts" in Buffalo for mental illness and drug addiction, Judge Robert Russell began seeing lots of veterans recently – some 300 last year. So he created a treatment court just for them that opened this year, the first of its kind.
Treatment courts first appeared in 1989 to address causes of crime rather than just punishing a particular incident. The courts have a therapeutic feel and the focus is on keeping defendants on track with treatments and medication.
Nationwide, nearly 70 percent of prisoners will end up back in jail, according to Judge Russell. But defendants in drug abuse treatment courts have a recidivism rate ranging from 13 to 25 percent nationally, says Russell. Of the over 40 cases he has seen since the veterans court began in January, he struggled to think of one that has returned to crime.
Most of the veterans that come before him are charged with nonviolent offenses or, occasionally, domestic violence or a bar fight. As his court gains more attention, Russell says he's gotten calls from judges across the country.
The goal is to avoid cases like Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Travis Twiggs, deployed to Iraq four times. He was already unusually irritable and unable to sleep after his second deployment, according to an article he wrote of his struggles with PTSD in a January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette.
After losing two marines from his platoon during his third deployment, his symptoms worsened and he began a long battle to get better. The article detailed his struggle to heal, overcoming fears he was a "weak Marine," imploring others to seek help as he had. But just five months later, police were chasing him and his brother as they sped through the Arizona desert in a stolen car. He finally halted the car then killed his brother and himself.
In his article he had written: "We have got to make our Marines and sailors more aware of PTSD before they end up like me and others."
Then why does the VA only hold the National Summit on Women Veterans' Issues every four years?
SECRETARY PEAKE SAYS VA IS REINVENTING TO BE
"WOMEN-CENTRIC" -- Then why does the VA only hold the
National Summit on Women Veterans' Issues every four years?
Below is another self-serving press release from the VA.
Secretary Peake brags about all the VA is going to do for women veterans...just like in the past, right?
But, what's interesting about this release is the acknowledgement that the VA only holds their National Summit on Women Veterans’ Issues every four years!
This Summit should be held twice a year so the VA can adequately address the needs of women veterans.
For more about women veterans, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=women+veterans&op=ph
VA press release here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/vap08/vap071108-1.htm
Press release below:
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Summit Brings Renewed VA Drive for Women Veterans
July 11, 2008
Peake: Reinventing to be “Women-Centric”
WASHINGTON – An aggressive push to ensure women veterans receive the highest quality of care in VA medical facilities was pledged by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake at a recent VA National Summit on Women Veterans’ Issues.
Although VA already has services for women patients equal to those men receive, Peake told the audience of more than 400 women-veteran advocates, “We are reinventing ourselves by expanding our women-centric focus to initiate new programs that meet the needs of women veterans.”
Citing the demographic shift that brings increasing numbers of women to VA for care and the need for changes, Peake announced formation of a work group to focus on women’s needs in prosthetics and rehabilitation, hiring women’s advocates in VA medical centers, developing quality measurements specifically for women patients, purchasing more state-of-the-art, specialized women’s health care equipment, and expanding medical education in women’s health for VA care providers.
Summit attendees also learned that VA recently established a work group whose goal is to ensure every female veteran enrolled in VA care has a women’s health primary care provider, especially to meet gender-specific needs.
The June 20-22 conference in Washington focused on how to ensure VA meets women-specific health needs and how to inform more women veterans of their VA benefits. It was the fourth women’s summit, which VA holds every four years.
Summit co-sponsors included the American Legion Auxiliary, AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Other assisting veterans groups included the Blinded Veterans Association, Military Officers Association of America, Paralyzed Veterans of America, the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America and TriWest.
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posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
Don't forget to read all of today's VA News Flashes (click
CBS shows how the Army has messed up "warrior transition units"
The Army's Warrior Transition Units are not working the way they're supposed to. Are you surprised?
Video is from the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, Friday, July 11, 2008.
Length of video is 2:21.
Posted on YouTube here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZFHSAm0IWY
VETS UNDER SIEGE: HOW AMERICA DECEIVES AND DISHONORS THOSE WHO FIGHT OUR
BOOK REVIEW -VETS UNDER SIEGE: HOW AMERICA
DECEIVES AND DISHONORS THOSE WHO FIGHT OUR
BATTLES -- Readers will be angered to learn of the legions
of veterans who are routinely denied benefits to which they
are entitled and who die while awaiting benefit reviews
that are stalled by institutionalized delays.
This new book is now available on our Books for Vets page...click here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/books%20for%20vets.htm
Synopsis and reviews are below:
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title: VETS UNDER SIEGE: HOW AMERICA DECEIVES AND DISHONORS THOSE WHO FIGHT OUR BATTLES
author: MARTIN SCHRAM
Synopsis
AFTER MEMBERS OF OUR ARMED forces bravely serve their nation, they sometimes come home to find themselves battling another enemy- within their own government. Using decades of case histories, statistics, and firsthand accounts, Martin Schram exposes a shocking culture of antagonism toward veterans by the very agency- the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)- that was formed to serve them.
Schram places our veterans' current struggles within a historical context, going back to the Bonus Army of beleaguered World War I vets who camped out of Washington's National Mall in 1932, demanding their promised benefits, only to be turned away by their own brethren in the U.S. Army- led by future military heroes Douglas MacArthur, George S. Patton Jr., and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Readers will be angered to learn of the legions of veterans- from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars- who are routinely denied benefits to which they are entitled and who die while awaiting benefit reviews that are stalled by institutionalized delays. And they will be downright outraged by the results of a 2002 Mystery Caller test that showed VA representatives treating help-line callers with condensation and even ridicule- one service rep is shown laughing and hanging up on a caller- and providing "completely correct" answers to questions regarding care and compensation just 19 percent of the time.
In the most intimate segment of the book, we meet Gulf War vet Bill Florey, who contracted a rare cancer after his exposure to Iraqi chemical weapons that were mistakenly detonated by the U.S. Army. Florey's crucial medical tests were delayed, he was denied service-related compensation he deserved, and he died before a government study finally linked the exposure to his form of cancer. Schram also highlights accounts of shameless deception of our soldiers, including misleading information provided by recruiters, and discloses how Iraq and Afghanistan war vets were being denied benefits for post- traumatic stress disorder- even after diagnoses by the VA's own doctors.
The author not only exposes a chilling pattern of institutional neglect, delay, and denial, but also points us toward solutions: the outsourcing of expertise, the institution of a "Vet-med card," and the elimination of negative incentive bonuses for VA officials, to name a few. Schram's bold bugle call, sounded on behalf of our nation's beleagured servicemen and women, culminates with a proposal to reinvent what has become a department of veterans' advesaries by giving the VA a new name that makes clear ots true mission: The Deparment of Veterans' Advocacy.
REVIEWS
From the Publisher
AFTER MEMBERS OF OUR ARMED forces bravely serve their nation, they sometimes come home to find themselves battling another enemy- within their own government. Using decades of case histories, statistics, and firsthand accounts, Martin Schram exposes a shocking culture of antagonism toward veterans by the very agency- the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)- that was formed to serve them.
Schram places our veterans' current struggles within a historical context, going back to the Bonus Army of beleaguered World War I vets who camped out of Washington's National Mall in 1932, demanding their promised benefits, only to be turned away by their own brethren in the U.S. Army- led by future military heroes Douglas MacArthur, George S. Patton Jr., and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Readers will be angered to learn of the legions of veterans- from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars- who are routinely denied benefits to which they are entitled and who die while awaiting benefit reviews that are stalled by institutionalized delays. And they will be downright outraged by the results of a 2002 Mystery Caller test that showed VA representatives treating help-line callers with condensation and even ridicule- one service rep is shown laughing and hanging up on a caller- and providing "completely correct" answers to questions regarding care and compensation just 19 percent of the time.
In the most intimate segment of the book, we meet Gulf War vet Bill Florey, who contracted a rare cancer after his exposure to Iraqi chemical weapons that were mistakenly detonated by the U.S. Army. Florey's crucial medical tests were delayed, he was denied service-related compensation he deserved, and he died before a government study finally linked the exposure to his form of cancer. Schram also highlights accounts of shameless deception of our soldiers, including misleading information provided by recruiters, and discloses how Iraq and Afghanistan war vets were being denied benefits for post- traumatic stress disorder- even after diagnoses by the VA's own doctors.
The author not only exposes a chilling pattern of institutional neglect, delay, and denial, but also points us toward solutions: the outsourcing of expertise, the institution of a "Vet-med card," and the elimination of negative incentive bonuses for VA officials, to name a few. Schram's bold bugle call, sounded on behalf of our nation's beleagured servicemen and women, culminates with a proposal to reinvent what has become a department of veterans' advesaries by giving the VA a new name that makes clear ots true mission: The Deparment of Veterans' Advocacy.
Publishers Weekly
Former Washington Post correspondent Schram (Avoiding Armageddon) airs a long list of grievances in this impassioned exposé of government callousness toward veterans. While including other issues, this indictment focuses on the Department of Veterans Affairs' slow, disputatious processing of disability claims, which can drag on through years of arbitrary decisions, byzantine appeals and lost paperwork, with claimants sometimes dying before a final ruling. Drawing on eye-glazing excerpts from bureaucratic reports, Schram blames these problems not just on red tape but on an adversarial mindset at the VA, where the operating principle, he says, is "safeguard the money and not the vets." Schram unearths some egregious injustices: the VA declined one Iraq veteran's disability benefits because " '[s]hrapnel wounds all over the body [are] not service connected.' " But most cases involve disability claims for cancer, diabetes or psychiatric problems, where the VA puts on the vet the burden of proving a link with decades-past exposures to Agent Orange or traumatic stress; Schram contends these should get the benefit of the doubt from a revamped "Department of Veterans' Advocacy." His is an eye-opening, if one-sided, j'accuse.(July)
Kirkus Reviews
Schram (Avoiding Armageddon, 2003, etc.) combines history, investigative journalism, advocacy and diatribe as he criticizes each branch of the federal government for its abysmal treatment of needy war veterans. During the first Gulf war, Army E4 Specialist Bill Florey suffered exposure to chemical weapons while in a combat zone. First the Pentagon denied that troops had been exposed. Then the Department of Veterans Affairs, a federal agency, denied benefits, even after Florey developed cancer consistent with exposure to chemical weapons. He died in his mid-30s after more than a decade of pain, refusing to complain and proud of having fought in the U.S. military. Schram opens the book with Florey not because his case is extreme, but because it is in many ways typical of the callous treatment meted out to loyal veterans by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives and all levels of the judiciary. After playing out the Florey melodrama, Schram adds other case studies that demonstrate failures by each branch of government. His strong and empathetic reporting reflects his experience as Washington bureau chief for Newsday and national correspondent at the Washington Post. When the author manages access to secretive, defensive officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs, his confrontational interviews prompt some to stonewall, others to concede that they poorly serve their constituency. Promises of reform are usually empty words, Schram emphasizes. Most Americans assume that the proud words about our troops uttered by the Bush White House and previous administrations have been accompanied by proper care for theseverely injured and the survivors of the dead. The author does his best to blast that comforting idea out of the water. Overheated prose and much repetition, not to mention the grim subject matter, make this an unpleasant-but vital-read.
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posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
BOOK REVIEW - VETS UNDER SIEGE: HOW AMERICA DECEIVES AND DISHONORS THOSE WHO FIGHT OUR BATTLES
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I don't normally recommend books to read especially if you have to buy them and can't get them from the library, but this book seems to be worth while to spend some moeny on to read. Pass it on to your friends I suggest you write your name it so you can get it back hopefully.
After 6 years of fighting with the VA Regional Offices and Congressmen and Senators, the White House, 2 different VA Secretaries, all about a Cold War human experimental program that was classified and the government still tries to deny it ecer took place, they tested drugs and chemical weapons on 7120 enlisted men in experiments that violated the Nuremberg Codes of 1947. The last health study in March 2003 showed that 74.43% are either deceased or disabled, 3098 dead, and 2200 disabled.
Senators Hagel and Webb on GI Bill Passage
there are also comments by Paul Reickoff and the IAVA Legislative Director
All I can say is SALUTE to all involved in the passage of the new G.I. Bill and it was NOT the people named by President Bush in his news cast Senator McCain did not even show up to vote and Senator Graham and Senator Burr vited against it.
Law to protect vets slows claims process
Law to protect vets slows claims process
By Tom Philpott, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, July 12, 2008
In the last decade, the Department of Veterans Affairs has doubled the number of disability claim processors on staff, and yet the average time to process a claim has climbed during that period from four months to six.
From January 2007 through June 2008, as VA added 2,700 claim processors to its inventory of 8,000, the average time to process a claim still fell unimpressively, from 183 days to 181.
"Something’s going on here that isn’t right, that needs to be fixed. I don’t know what the hell it is," said a frustrated Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., during a hearing Wednesday of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
"In the 1990s you were at 120 days" to process a claim. "Was there something in the process that changed," Tester asked Michael Walcoff, deputy undersecretary for benefits for the Veterans’ Benefits Administration.
Yes, Walcoff said. Congress in 2000 passed the Veterans Claims Assistance Act. Since then, two-thirds of the time required to process a claim is committed to blocks of time set up to develop evidence to support the claim. A recent study of VA claims processing, conducted by IBM, confirmed that compliance with the VCAA has created bottlenecks for processors.
"It’s good law … set up to guarantee that veterans have certain rights and they are protected. It’s something we all agree with," Walcoff said. But courts have interpreted that law "in various ways that have made it very difficult to administer and have added time to the process."
Passage of the VCAA, in effect, overturned a 1999 decision by the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims that veterans had to submit a "well grounded" claim for VA officials to be required to help them obtain further evidence — such as doctor files or witness statements — to prove their claim.
While the VCAA lowered evidentiary standards for veterans, it also spelled out in great detail what actions VA had to take, and what deadlines it had to set, to help veterans develop evidence to support claims.
When a claim is filed, the VCAA mandates that claim processors carefully analyze it and send a letter to the veteran explaining evidence on file and evidence still needed. The letter also must explain that VA will help obtain evidence if names and addresses of doctors or witnesses are provided and that VA will obtain government records pertinent to the claim.
But the VCAA letter also tells a veteran that he or she has 60 days to submit the required evidence. And if the claim is to be based on the medical findings of a private physician, the doctor too is given a 60-day deadline to submit medical records.
The process can be delayed further if their original claim fails to include a signed privacy form required for VA to request medical records from private physicians. "We then have to go back to the veteran to get the privacy form," Walcoff said. All of this, he said, is required by VCAA.
Some veterans’ service organizations and lawmakers have criticized VA for implementing the VCAA, and follow on court rulings, like a lumbering bureaucracy rather than like a dynamic agency bent on speeding up the claims process. VA officials told senators they soon will implement some of the IBM report recommendations to speed the claims process.
The study said, for instance, that the VA should reduce the 60-day period given veterans to provide evidence supporting their claim.
"We are shortening that to 30 days so we can act faster," said retired Navy Rear Adm. Patrick W. Dunne, acting undersecretary for benefits for the Veterans Benefits Administration. VA also will make the VCAA letter more understandable for veterans and make it available electronically in November after a software update.
VA disability claims have climbed by 5 percent from last year, to 883,000, the result of Iraq, Afghanistan and an aging veteran population. The claims backlog is still a hefty 390,000. Though decision timeliness remains a concern, said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, committee chairman, decision finally are being handed down faster than claims are being filed.
But North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, ranking Republican on the committee, said claim timeliness remains very frustrating for veterans and their families.
"Simply drawing more money and more personnel to the problem clearly — clearly — has not been the solution," Burr said. It’s time "to seriously explore other options" including conversion to paperless claims and overhauling VA’s overly complex disability rating system.
Howard Pierce, chief executive officer of PKC Corp., testified that his company in 2001 was tasked to set up a computerized decision model that could be used by VA disability raters and claim adjudicators. PKC analysts were stunned by the complexity of the decisions.
"What a rater is asked to do on a day-to-day basis is extraordinarily complicated. We live in a world of complexity in my company. We work with very challenging science. We have never seen anything more complex" than the VA claims system, Pierce said.
But Kerry Baker, with Disabled American Veterans, suggested other ways for VA to speed claim decisions and be fairer too. He said most claims still hinge on medical opinions, and VA should be more willing, as is the Social Security system, to accept well documented private medical opinions.
VA also should be required, "as a matter of fairness," to inform claimants on basic elements that render a private medical opinion adequate for rating disabilities. "VA relays this exact information to its own doctors when it seeks medical opinion," Baker said.
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The VA uses IMO's that we veterans obtain from private doctors at our personal expense that ranges from hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars to have their doctors at the C&P exams specifically knock down the IMO's line by line, by whatever excuse they can come up with. Many IMO's that veterans obtain are a waste of money at the local VARO level but will allow the veteran to win upon appeal to the Board of veteran Appeals a process that takes 3-7 years. Hopefully the veteran will live long enough for the claim to be fairly adjudicated.
Summit Brings Renewed VA Drive for Women Veterans
Summit Brings Renewed VA Drive for Women Veterans
Peake: Reinventing to be "Women-Centric"
WASHINGTON (July 11, 2008) - An aggressive push to ensure women veterans
receive the highest quality of care in VA medical facilities was pledged
by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake at a recent VA
National Summit on Women Veterans' Issues.
Although VA already has services for women patients equal to those men
receive, Peake told the audience of more than 400 women-veteran
advocates, "We are reinventing ourselves by expanding our women-centric
focus to initiate new programs that meet the needs of women veterans."
Citing the demographic shift that brings increasing numbers of women to
VA for care and the need for changes, Peake announced formation of a
work group to focus on women's needs in prosthetics and rehabilitation,
hiring women's advocates in VA medical centers, developing quality
measurements specifically for women patients, purchasing more
state-of-the-art, specialized women's health care equipment, and
expanding medical education in women's health for VA care providers.
Summit attendees also learned that VA recently established a work group
whose goal is to ensure every female veteran enrolled in VA care has a
women's health primary care provider, especially to meet gender-specific
needs.
The June 20-22 conference in Washington focused on how to ensure VA
meets women-specific health needs and how to inform more women veterans
of their VA benefits. It was the fourth women's summit, which VA holds
every four years.
Summit co-sponsors included the American Legion Auxiliary, AMVETS,
Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Other
assisting veterans groups included the Blinded Veterans Association,
Military Officers Association of America, Paralyzed Veterans of America,
the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America and TriWest.
VA Orders New Drug Protocols in Wake of Chantix Debate
VA Orders New Drug Protocols in Wake of Chantix Debate
By AARON KATERSKY and RYAN SIBLEY
July 9, 2008
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SHARE The Department of Veterans Affairs promised today to review drug protocols for combat veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The Secretary of the VA, James Peake, appeared before Congress today to answer questions about why his administration continued to recruit veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan for studies of pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side-effects. The controversial tests were the subject of an ABC News/ Washington Times investigation last month.
VA Secretary James Peake said he is ordering a full review of drug protocols for PTSD vets in the...
VA Secretary James Peake said he is ordering a full review of drug protocols for PTSD vets in the wake of an ABC News/ Washington Times investigation into veterans who were recruited for studies using pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side-effects.
(ABC News Photo Illustration)Today, before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Peake said his department will now review all drugs prescribed by the VA to veterans with PTSD. Part of that review will be to examine the risks of medications on PTSD vets and to review proper notification procedures.
In one of the human experiments at the VA involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, VA doctors waited more than three months after a statement was issued by the Food and Drug Administration before warning veterans about the possible serious side-effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.
Peake said following the initial ABC News/ Washington Times report that letters would be sent to 32,000 veterans informing them that they are using a drug linked to suicide or violent behavior. Peake has said he "wished" the VA had not taken so long to warn veterans being used in the Chantix test. Today he reiterated his commitment to drug research using veterans.
"I commit to veterans, and to you, that I will be comprehensive and thorough in my investigations of how this study has been, and is being, conducted," Peake said in his statement to the committee. "I am determined that VA will remain a leader in the protection of human subjects and in veteran-centric research."
Committee chair Bob Filner (D-Ca) asked Peake repeatedly why the Chantix study hasn't been ceased.
"Why don't you just stop?" asked Rep. Filner, "if you know the drug induces suicidal thoughts?"
Lt. Col. Roger Charles (Ret.) who is now with the organization Soldiers for Truth said that giving Chantix to vets with PTSD is the equivalent of "mental health roulette".
Chantix has been linked to at least 40 suicides and 400 attempted suicides in the population at large, according to the FDA which published its first alert about the potential dangers of the drug on Nov. 20, 2007.
The FDA issued a second warning, and there was an alert from the drug's maker, Pfizer, before the VA finally began to warn veterans in the study on Feb. 29, 2008.
But even then, the VA omitted the word "suicide" from the cover letter sent to veterans.
Peake said the new VA warning letter he is sending will specify that suicide is one of the possible side-effects of Chantix.
Pfizer has maintained that the drug's benefits outweigh the risks and that it continues to do further studies on the drug.
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Tip of the hat to Larry Meirow on this story
Man facing prison in fed benefits scam
Man facing prison in fed benefits scam
SCRANTON — A city man pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud Thursday for stealing $100,000 in disability benefits meant for his dead stepfather.
Terry Gordon, age and address unavailable, remains in prison awaiting sentencing. The charge carries up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.
Court records indicate Mr. Gordon continued depositing payments made from Veterans Affairs for a service-related injury for five years after Marion D. Glass died. In court Thursday, Mr. Gordon admitted to doing so.
Mr. Gordon is scheduled for sentencing in the fall.
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This happens to be a common crime now with direct deposits, many families do not notify the government of the death of a benefit recipient. The family members continue to spend the money, and then act surprised when they get caught, why? I doubt if restitution will ever be made, but I know this man will have plenty of time to reflect on his mistake in federal prison.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Soldier in 18-hour standoff to leave hospital
Soldier in 18-hour standoff to leave hospital
Mother says sergeant is suffering from PTSD, needs more treatment
By Rob Perez - Honolulu Advertiser
Posted : Thursday Jul 10, 2008 8:36:36 EDT
A Schofield Barracks soldier who was hospitalized last week after threatening suicide during an 18-hour standoff with police is scheduled to be released as soon as Thursday despite concerns from his family that he is not ready.
Stephanie Kerry, the mother of Sgt. Jesse Kerry, said her son still is having trouble dealing with the traumatic effects from deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq and questioned whether the military has provided adequate treatment for him and many other soldiers in similar situations.
“I think Jesse and other soldiers like him are battling things that require more time,” she said. “This is extremely serious, and people need to realize that.”
A spokeswoman for Tripler Army Medical Center, where Kerry was taken for psychiatric evaluation after the June 30 standoff in Waipahu, said federal law prohibited her from commenting on individual cases. But the hospital issued a general statement: “Every patient is assessed individually. Based upon clinical evaluation, a personalized treatment plan is given, which works toward a discharge date.”
In a phone interview from her Valley, Ala., home yesterday, Stephanie Kerry said she was told by her son’s physician Monday that the soldier probably would be released tomorrow.
She said that when she expressed concern that her son wasn’t ready to be released, the doctor told her the military can’t hold someone for an involuntary psychiatric evaluation for more than 72 hours.
Stephanie Kerry said her son told her previously that he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and that the effects are so serious that she believes he needs more treatment. She wasn’t sure whether he would be able to stay at Tripler beyond tomorrow, even if he asked to do so.
Since Jesse Kerry’s 2004-05 tour in Afghanistan and a 2006-07 deployment to Iraq, where he witnessed two friends in his convoy killed by a roadside bomb, the 23-year-old married man and father of a son has been drinking more and battling depression and nightmares, his mother said.
Apparent suicide try
About two weeks before the standoff, which forced the evacuation of nearby homes in a Royal Kunia townhouse complex, police were called to Kerry’s home because of a domestic dispute, several neighbors said as the standoff unfolded. His wife was escorted away, and the woman and son later left for the Mainland, the neighbors said.
When Kerry surrendered to police and the standoff ended, he had cuts on both wrists.
Stephanie Kerry said her son started having psychological problems after his deployment to Afghanistan and had a serious incident in May 2006 that prompted his command to “red flag” his file.
Yet he was deployed to Iraq a few months later, she said.
An Army spokeswoman said she could not comment on Kerry’s case because of privacy laws. But the spokeswoman said that, speaking generally, a soldier’s file can be flagged for many reasons ranging from obesity to misconduct.
Stephanie Kerry said she didn’t know whether her son was formally diagnosed with PTSD, but he told her he had the disorder and was prescribed sleep medication and an anti-depressant. She said her son didn’t seem to be getting the care he needed, and his current treatment didn’t appear to reflect the seriousness of PTSD and what happened last week.
“It seems as though he’s just being fast-tracked” out of the hospital, she said.
When Kerry’s father, Freelon, asked his son in a phone conversation Monday night whether he was doing OK, the soldier replied, “Not really,” Stephanie Kerry said. After a short pause, she said, her son added, “Yeah, I’m OK.”
Invisible wounds
About 20 percent of military service members who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan report symptoms of PTSD or major depression, according to a study released in April by the RAND Corp., a nonprofit research organization.
Returning soldiers who have trouble dealing with the stresses of war have access to a variety of services, ranging from outpatient programs to intensive in-patient treatment. But critics nationally say the military’s mental health network falls far short of what is needed, partly because of a shortage of personnel. Also, many troops simply don’t seek treatment.
A specialist with the nonprofit Helping Hands Hawaii said the symptoms Kerry’s mother described were similar to what many other soldiers have described.
“The battle does not end on the battlefield,” said William “Clay” Park, a Helping Hands case manager and Vietnam War veteran. “It comes home with you. A lot of these guys self-medicate themselves with alcohol or drugs.”
McCain and his real record with veterans
I wrote a lengthy Kos diary yesterday that was based on Senator McCains voting record on military and veteran issues since 2001. It shows his NO notes far outwieghing his yes votes for programs that help veterans and military members and their families.
John McCains voting record on military and veterans & Barack
Bottom Line is that Senator Mccains claim to support veterans does not match his voting record, shame on him.
McCain is confronted by a Vietnam Vet about his voting record at a town hall meeting and as usual Senator McCain, obfuscates the issues, ignores his poor voting record by claiming he has received the highest awards that all veterans organizations can award. He refuses to explain his grade of D from the Disabled American Veterans on his voting record of their issues, he ignores the 20% record of voting for American Legion sponsored legislation, and he does not even touch his record with the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) he voted yes 9 times and voted No 15 times on their issues
Yet he has the gall to say that veterans organizations totally support his candidacy for President, why, Senator Obama has a B+ from the Disabled American veterans and similar high percentages from the other major veterans groups.
I am a totally disabled Infantryman, SSG, 11B3M, from Vietnam to Desert Storm, I support Barack Obama for the fact that he actually DOES support veterans and their families, he has respect for the men and women that wore this nations uniforms in service to the nation, somehow that same reciprocation is NOT available from Senator McCain.
All I can say the Senator Mccain is you need to change your name to Senator McShame....
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Kennedy returns to decide Medicare vote
Kennedy returns to decide Medicare vote
By J. Taylor Rushing
Posted: 07/09/08 04:13 PM [ET]
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) returned to the Senate Wednesday to break a stalemate on stalled Medicare legislation, making his first appearance in the chamber since he was diagnosed two months ago with brain cancer.
The 76-year-old senator entered the Senate through the first-floor entrance.
Doctors announced that Kennedy had cancer on May 20 after he was hospitalized. The longtime chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee underwent successful brain surgery at Duke University Medical Center on June 2 and has been undergoing cancer treatments in Massachusetts for the tumor.
Kennedy was greeted on the Senate floor by a long, sustained burst of applause from other senators and public visitors watching from the gallery.
His vote on the measure is critical; the Senate fell one vote short of the needed 60 on June 26 when considering the bill that would have prevented a scheduled 10.6 percent cut to physicians who treat Medicare patients.
With Kennedy in the chamber this time to cast the decisive vote, several Republicans flipped and a procedural vote was approved, 69-30. The two party leaders had an agreement to then consider the legislation passed, based on the outcome of the vote.
Wearing a dark suit and a wide grin, Kennedy gave a grand gesture during the Medicare roll-call vote.
"Aye," he said, to laughter.
Kennedy looked fine and fit, shaking hands with a crowd of senators. His white hair was largely intact and perhaps even longer than before his absence
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SALUTE to a fine statesman and a friend to the average working families of America
Low approval rate for vets' chemical tests claims
Low approval rate for vets' chemical tests claims
Erica Werner - Associated Press Writer - June 19, 2008
WASHINGTON -- The Veterans Affairs Department has granted only 6 percent of health claims filed by veterans of secret Cold
War chemical and germ warfare tests conducted by the Pentagon, according to figures obtained Thursday by The Associated
Press.
Veterans advocates called the number appallingly low.
By comparison, about 88 percent of processed claims from Gulf War vets were granted as of last year, according to VA
documents. More than 90 percent of processed claims from Iraq and Afghanistan vets were granted as of earlier this year.
In a statement the VA said it was "incorrect" to make such comparisons because of the unique circumstances of different groups of
veterans.
The VA noted that most of the veterans of the chemical and germ tests ended their service more than three decades ago and a
study by the advisory Institute of Medicine - dismissed by veterans as shoddily done - found no clear connection between the tests
and the cancer, respiratory illnesses and other problems the veterans are now having.
During the tests thousands of service members were exposed, often without their knowledge, to real and simulated chemical and
biological agents, including sarin and VX.
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This is only for the SHAD/112 veterans, the veterans of the other Cold War classified experiments conducted at Fort detrick, Maryland and Edgewood Arsenal that were funded by DOD and the CIA, DR Sidney Gottlieb, have an even worse approval rating for compensation claims. I am in contact with 20 other "medical volunteers" from the 1955 thru 1975 period and the VA refuses to address anything related to toxic exposurez. WHY?
U.S. Journalist Photographs Grisly Aftermath of Attack in Iraq, Gets
U.S. Journalist Photographs Grisly Aftermath of Attack in Iraq, Gets
Booted by Military
Dahr Jamail - IPS News - July 5, 2008
U.S. journalist Zoriah Miller says he was censored by the U.S. military in the Iraqi city of Fallujah after photographing Marines who
died in a suicide bombing. On Jun. 26, a suicide bomber attacked a city council meeting in Fallujah, 69 kms west of Baghdad,
between local tribal sheikhs and military officials. Three Marines, Cpl. Marcus Preudhomme, Capt. Philip Dykeman, and Lt. Col.
Max Galeai, assigned to 2d Battalion, 3rd Marine Division based in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, died in the attack.
… Miller explained to IPS that he meticulously showed his photos to the Marines he was with to make sure he was not going to
show any photos that would upset the family members of the deceased Marines. "They were all okay with them, so then about 96
hours after the bombing I published the photos on my blog." - Then things got interesting.
Army veteran tired but 'resolute'
Army veteran tired but 'resolute'
Associated Press July 1, 2008
KILLEEN — A three-decade Army veteran called a "steel spine" by the defense secretary says he and most other soldiers would
prefer never to deploy and fight again because they are tired, undermanned and under-equipped.
"We, the Army, have been rode hard and put up wet," said Command Sgt. Maj. Neil Ciotola, Fort Hood's senior noncommissioned
officer. "We're catching ourselves coming and going. ... In all honesty, ladies and gentlemen, I and the majority of us in uniform,
and those that repeatedly support us are tired."
… "Yet I willingly embrace the reality we still have confronting us; this is a long war, an era of persistent conflict and much is
expected of us, both in and out of uniform," Ciotola said
The PTSD Lawsuit Update
Veterans Groups to Appeal Judge's Decision Over VA's Treatment of PTSD
Cases
Jason Leopold - The Public Record - June 28, 2008
A federal Judge has ruled that he lacks the legal authority to force the Department of Veterans Affairs to immediately treat war
veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and could not order the VA to overhaul its internal systems that
handle benefits claims and medical services.
Two veterans advocacy groups, Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) and Veterans United for Truth, filed a lawsuit seeking classaction
status against the VA last year claiming a systematic breakdown at the agency had led to an epidemic of suicides among
war veterans.
The lawsuit claimed that some war veterans were turned away from VA hospitals after they sought care for PTSD and later
committed suicide.
Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Washington, D.C.-based Veterans for Common Sense, said his organization and Veterans
United for Truth would immediately appeal the ruling.
“This ruling will only cause us to redouble our efforts and our pursuit of justice for our nation’s veterans,” Sullivan said. “We will not
rest until our job is finished.”
Gordon Erspramer, the lead attorney representing the veterans advocacy groups, said if the decision is upheld on appeal it “would
suggest that veterans have no enforceable rights in America, and the Constitution does not apply to veterans.”
Here is a link to the legal documents on the laws
American families in Japan grow accustom to Japanese manners
After a tour in the Pacific, many servicemembers find it difficult to get back into the American swing of things
By T.D. Flack, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Stars and Stripes
American families in Japan grow accustom to Japanese manners — from taking off their shoes and sitting at a low table on tatami to using chopsticks.
Ashley Rowland / S&S
Servicemembers who have driven amid heavy traffic and aggressive drivers in South Korea say it’s difficult to get used to relatively mild driving in the States.
Teri Weaver / S&S
Even at American fast food restaurants like McDonald’s, service in Japan comes with a smile and a bow.
Teri Weaver / S&S
Americans who have lived in Japan for years say they maintain the adopted tradition of leaving shoes in the doorway when they return to the States.
Japanese customs
Greetings are very formal and ritualized, and it’s important to show the correct amount of respect and deference to someone based upon their status relative to your own. And plan on doing some bowing. The deeper you bow, the more respect you show.
Gift-giving is highly ritualistic and meaningful, and the way something is wrapped is just as important as the gift itself. Good quality chocolates or small cakes are good ideas. But lilies, camellias or lotus blossoms are not — they are associated with funerals.
When entering a home, remove your shoes before entering and put on the slippers left at the doorway. If you go to the toilet, put on the toilet slippers and remove them when you are finished.
It will yield tremendous dividends if you learn to use chopsticks. Never point your chopsticks nor use them to pierce your food. Place them on your chopstick rest when you drink or speak. And never have two people pick up the same piece of food together with chopsticks. The use of chopsticks together is only done at a special cremation ritual.
South Korean customs
Greetings follow strict rules of protocol. Many South Koreans shake hands with expatriates after the bow, thereby blending both cultural styles. The person of lower status bows to the person of higher status, yet it is the most senior person who initiates the handshake.
Gifts express a great deal about a relationship and are always reciprocated, so it is inconsiderate to give someone an expensive gift if you know that they cannot afford to do the same. Fruit, good quality chocolates or flowers are a good choice if visiting someone’s home. Giving four of something is considered unlucky, but seven of an item is considered lucky.
When dining at someone’s home, wait to be told where to sit. There is often a strict protocol to be followed, with the oldest or most senior person initiating the eating process.
Don’t be surprised if your host walks you to the gate or car because it is insulting to wish your guests farewell indoors.
Spend a week in Japan or South Korea and you’ll quickly find yourself adopting local habits, from taking your shoes off at the door to deftly wielding the chopsticks you thought you would never figure out.
Spend two or three years in Asia, troops and their families say, and those habits — good or bad — have fully embedded themselves into your way of life. And returning to the States can bring a rude shock, some say.
"The biggest shock was when I got behind the wheel of my car my first few days back in Arizona," said Army Sgt. 1st Class Mark Porter, who served five years in South Korea on two tours. "Traffic in Korea is much more dense than most areas I’ve driven in the States, and you have to be very aggressive to get where you’re going. Back in Arizona, I would constantly catch myself driving more aggressively … it was like I was in a race but the other drivers didn’t know it."
Even with the crazy traffic, Porter said that he didn’t worry as much about his children while stationed in Seoul.
"I do miss being able to send our kids out to play without worrying that someone might do something bad to them," he said from his current base in Maryland. "I know that doesn’t happen very often here, but it’s unheard of in Korea … I never worried that someone might harm our children while we were living in Seoul."
Like most people assimilating to a new culture, Porter picked up some of the language, a tough habit to break back in America.
"I said ‘ne’ to almost everyone over the first couple weeks," he said. Koreans pepper their conversations with "ne," a form of acknowledgement or agreement.
And he still follows the Korean custom of placing his left hand under his right arm when giving something to someone, including "paying at a store or tipping the bagger at the commissary."
Maj. Robert Marshall, who spent three years outside Tokyo at Yokota Air Base with his wife and children, said his family still answers questions with the Japanese affirmative "hai" at their new base in Florida.
His family also fell into the Japanese habit of taking their shoes off at the door before entering a home.
"Once we buy a house, we definitely will continue to remove our shoes when we enter the house," he said. And favorite Japanese foods and snacks "will become staples," he said.
Leaving a country famed for its customer service and returning to America was a shock, Marshall said.
"The biggest shock to my wife and I is the difference in personal pride between U.S. citizens and Japanese citizens," he said. "Go to a McDonalds and see the difference in work ethics and products. No matter what the job is, the Japanese workers I remember always performed to the best of their ability. That is not the case in the U.S. anymore."
And Chief Warrant Officer-3 Shane Studer experienced the shock of moving home twice: he’s now back on Okinawa for a third tour. This time, however, he’s with his family.
They quickly noticed the differences between customer service on Okinawa and what they were used to in America.
"When you go into one of their stores (on Okinawa), they appreciate it," he said. "You learn to communicate enough that everyone is happy."
He compared that with what he found in a popular American department store.
"Try getting help and it’s like you’re bothering them," he said.
Studer liked Okinawa enough to return with his family. Marshall and his family said they wouldn’t mind another overseas tour after leaving Florida.
And when asked if he ever thinks about another tour in South Korea, Porter didn’t mince any words.
"Every day," he said. "I’d love to take the whole family back and let them experience a few years outside of America."
After a tour in the Pacific, many servicemembers find it difficult
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I spent years in Korea and in Germany I never had a problem coming home.......
VA Vet Centers Coming to 39 Communities
VA Vet Centers Coming to 39 Communities
Peake: Provide counseling for all combat veterans
WASHINGTON (July 9, 2008) - Combat veterans will receive readjustment
counseling and other assistance in 39 additional communities across the
country where the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will develop Vet
Centers by fall 2009.
"Community-based Vet Centers -- already in all 50 states -- are a key
component of VA's mental health program," said Dr. James B. Peake,
Secretary of Veterans Affairs. "I'm pleased we can expand access to
bring services closer to even more veterans, including screening and
counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder."
The existing 232 centers conduct community outreach to offer counseling
on employment, family issues and education to combat veterans and family
members, as well as bereavement counseling for families of service
members killed on active duty and counseling for veterans who were
sexually harassed on active duty.
Vet Center services are available at no cost to veterans who experienced
combat during any war era. They are staffed by small teams of
counselors, outreach workers and other specialists, many of whom are
combat veterans. The Vet Center program was established in 1979 by
Congress, recognizing that many Vietnam veterans were still having
readjustment problems.
The centers have hired 100 combat veterans who served in Iraq and
Afghanistan as outreach specialists, often placing them near military
processing stations, to brief servicemen and women leaving the military
about VA benefits.
VA's 2009 budget proposal seeks $20 million more than this year's budget
for Vet Centers, to include operating and leasing space for the new
centers. Eighteen of the counties that will have new centers already
have one or more; the other 21 do not.
A list of the new Vet Center locations is attached.
Communities Receiving New VA Vet Centers
Alabama - Madison
Arizona - Maricopa
California - Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San
Bernardino, San Diego
Connecticut - Fairfield
Florida - Broward, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Volusia
Georgia - Cobb
Illinois - Cook, DuPage
Maryland - Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Prince George's
Michigan - Macomb, Oakland
Minnesota - Hennepin
Missouri - Greene
North Carolina - Onslow
New Jersey - Ocean
Nevada - Clark
Oklahoma - Comanche
Pennsylvania - Bucks, Montgomery
Texas - Bexar, Dallas, Harris, Tarrant
Virginia - Virginia Beach
Washington - King
Wisconsin -- Brown
Who is really standing up for the disabled veterans?
VA Official Scolded for Ties to Advocacy Group
"Washington Watchdogs," a periodic feature of the Post's Investigations blog, looks at the findings of the federal government's official investigators.
(Updated at 3:49 p.m. to include information from Disabled American Veterans)
A top Department of Veterans Affairs official has been scolded by the government agency for his involvement with a prominent lobbying organization, a group that helps disabled veterans get benefits that the official is charged with dispersing.
The official, Robert T. Reynolds, became a member of the Cold Spring, Ky.-based Disabled American Veterans before he began working for the Veterans Affairs Department, he said. But audtiors said the situation is "fraught with possibilities for running afoul" of department ethics policies and he will have his activities "closely monitored" and be instructed on what "matters may require his recusal," according to a government audit obtained by Watchdogs this week through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The audit, while redacted, references Disabled American Veterans (DAV), which has 1.4 million members, on page five of the report and, indirectly, Reynolds, the organization's national commander who also serves as the executive management officer for the Veterans Benefits Administration in Washington, D.C.
A photo of Reynolds is prominently displayed on the organization's Web site. Reynolds was elected national commander during the organization's national convention in August 2006 in New Orleans.
During his introductory speech, Reynolds "proclaimed the DAV the undisputed service organization for veterans and reaffirmed the organization's mission to build better lives for America's disabled veterans and their families through the finest advocacy and service programs in existence."
Reynolds, 42, a disabled veteran from Arlington, Va., served in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division from 1984 to 1990. He was injured in a parachute accident while assigned to a U.S. Army Special Forces unit; the injury required two years years of multiple surgeries before he was honorably discharged.
Larry Scott, founder and editor of VA Watchdog, an online magazine that focuses on veterans issues, said top positions at so-called veterans services organizations are often reserved for government workers such as Reynolds.
"What we find is that people who are politically motivated, not partisan per se, but politcally motivated, use VSOs as a stepping stone to Washington," said Scott, referencing politicians like Gordon H. Mansfield, the deputy sectetary of Veterans Affairs and a Bush appointee who served as executive director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America.
A former executive director of DAV, the late Jesse Brown, served as secretary of Veterans Affairs in the Clinton administration.
Scott, who is also a member of DAV, said he asked members of the national disabled veterans organization about Reynolds' potential conflict of interest when the government worker was elected president of the disability organization nearly two years ago.
"They said that, 'We don't see him doing anything wrong. He's very careful,'" Scott said. "This is how things have been done. This how things will be done. This is the way business is done.'"
Reynolds, reached at his Washington office this morning, said he had yet to read the report. David W. Gorman, executive director of DAV, read a copy of the report provided by Watchdogs, calling it a "waste of valuable government resources"
"We're in this game together, the game being how do we best take care of disabled veterans," Gorman said. "Personally, I don't see any conflict."
Gorman added that officials are aware of the sensitive nature of Reynolds' dual roles and that Reynolds had been "kept clean" from advising or influencing DAV's positions and policies.
Investigators did not find specific examples of wrongdoing but Reynolds told auditors he "stood for both VA and DAV and that the missions were one and the same."
"He clearly could not distinguish between these two distinct organizations which, at times, have adversarial or opposing viewpoints," the audit said.
-- Derek Kravitz
By Derek Kravitz | July 7, 2008; 1:10 PM ET Washington Watchdogs
Previous: DC Region: Sweetheart Deals in Prince George's | Next: Don Young's Pitch to the Lobbyists
Comments
Please email us to report offensive comments.
Heaven forbid that anyone with some level of knowledge about the strengths and weaknesses of government programs and who has some empathy for the people those programs are created to serve goes to work for that agency. If you really want to scold someone for a conflict of interest, why not all those government contractors and industry executives who are appointed by politicians to high posts in agencies that regulate those industries and award billion of dollars in contracts their former employers?
Posted by: David Autry | July 7, 2008 2:21 PM
Thank you David, but please don't forget the VA officials (Principi, McPeake) and more who came from industry and are illegally using their power and influence to contract with their former employers (QTC). And please don't forget their research projects in which the experiment on veterans with drugs (Chantix)and unauthorized treatments, or the undue influence on the NAS/IOM to change protocols, withhold information, or stop avenues of research in order to deny veterans nexus to disease, service connection, and benefits. THE DVA should be under investigation for violation of the Rico Act, and numerous other acts and Congressional passed public laws.
Instead the media just lets them get away with it.
Posted by: K9USAFRET | July 7, 2008 5:33 PM
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DAV Service Officers refuse to return phone calls to veterans who have compensation claims pending, they have a tendency to let deadline dates come and go without filing the correct forms, this is not only the DAV, I have fired them, the American Legion and the PVA in the past 6 years, I have now hired an attorney, because of their mishandling of my compensation claim, due to severe medical probelsm I contend that are related to the chemical weapons and drug experiments the Army used me in during 1974 at Edgewood Arsenal Maryland. It was a classified program that ran from 1955 thru 1975 and used 7120 enlisted men, they used 254 different substances, from Sarin, Mustard Agents, Scopolomine, LSD, Ecstacy, and untold other substances, the EPA reports on the environment shows that there are 77 toxic substances in the drinking water and soil of the bases training areas, where we worked.
The Army has sent letters stating that I was mistaken, like many soldiers who felt they were used in so called "secret experiments" I was having fantasy moments. The trouble with their theory is I have a copy of the Medical volunteer file from Edgewood Arsenal and it has statements from DRs, Van Sim and Frederick Siddell, our nations foremost authority on chemical weapons and the civilians in charge of the human experimentation program, they were also the liasion to the CIA agent DR Sidney Gottlieb of Fort Detricks Special Operations Division (SOD) these men also worked with the British scientists at Porton Downs, England doing similar experiments on British volunteers, who thought they were working on the cure for the "common cold".
The American Legion, the DAV and the PVA have been totally useless in my compensation claims with the VA, they refuse to address the exposure incidents, they demand information the volunteers were never given, the names of the researchers, the dosage of the substances and what the substance was, we were never told, then they want dates and times, who can remember what date and time you did something 34 years ago? I can't, so they claim there is insufficient evidence to process the claim.
Of the 7120 men used, the last health study in FY 2000 published in march 2003 shows that 3098 men are assumed dead, and of the 4022 survivors, 54% of them are disabled, which combines for a 74.43% death and disability rate. The VA and the Army still maintain there is no relationship to the experiments and these high death and disability rates. They ignore health studies done by independent agencies such as the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) that show damage caused by low level exposures.
Instead of being a revolving door from veterans agencies and the VA and QTC and other private Contractors, there needs to be some lines drawn to make it impossible for veterans to even have to question exactly who are the Service Officers really working for, the veterans or the VA, right now most of us can't tell the difference.
VA and DOD would love this proposal
This isn't news.. we have been shouting about this for years
Disabled war vets pay more for health care, report shows
also see http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/08/ap/cabstatepent/main4242692.shtml
BLOOMBERG NEWS SERVICE http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080709/news_1n9vets.html
July 9, 2008
Many former U.S. service members who were disabled while fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and live far from government facilities pay more for health care than other military retirees, a government report found.
To address this “inequity,” Congress should pass legislation waiving the requirement for disabled service members to pay premiums to enroll in the federal Medicare program, the report said. Under existing rules, the wounded military personnel must pay $1,157 a year for their premiums until they turn 65, according to the report.
Disabled veterans who don't live near clinics and hospitals operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Defense Department can use Medicare, the government health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, or buy private health insurance. Either way, they pay more, said the report by inspectors general of the two departments.
The report is one of several government reviews prompted by a series of articles in The Washington Post describing the poor quality of care for wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The investigators focused their recommendations on three issues not covered by other reports.
The report also urged the Defense Department to create an office to ensure that wounded service members have a “seamless transition” as they transfer out of the military health care system and into the system operated by the VA.
In a third recommendation, the inspectors general urged the VA to propose legislation in Congress that would provide grants to help disabled veterans remodel their homes for wheelchair ramps, accessible showers and other needed amenities.
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AP) Some military retirees disabled in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan pay more for health care than other retirees, and a new report recommends waiving their insurance premiums to correct the inequity.
The report Tuesday by inspectors general of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs suggests waiving for life the Medicare Part B premiums for service members who have been medically retired and are unlikely to get another job.
Service members judged unfit for continued service after a service-related injury or illness are called "medically retired" and are eligible to continue receiving care through the military health care system. But those who don't live near VA facilities can enroll in Medicare and go to civilian providers, the report said.
Such retirees pay roughly $1,160 annually in monthly premiums until reaching the age of 65, while other retirees remain in the military health care system and don't need the Medicare plan.
The proposed change is among recommendations made after a review of services available for troops injured in Afghanistan and Iraq as they transition from active duty in the military to the responsibility of the VA.
The review, started two years ago, didn't study the quality of medical care or individual cases, but rather efforts to improve the transition process. Release of the report was delayed to take into account legislation passed or proposed since the study started _ as well as recommendations by more than a half-dozen commissions and task forces that have looked at veteran and troop health care in recent years.
Those other studies made more than 400 recommendations _ now in varying stages of review or implementation.
"Since 2005, DOD and VA made significant progress modifying, updating and improving the systems supporting injured service members and veterans," the report said. "The final step will be to ensure implementation."
Some veterans have complained bitterly about falling through the cracks of the bureaucracy as they leave the Pentagon's care and transition to the VA. Some have complained about long waits to get appointments or about being discharged at a fraction of their pay, then waiting for months before their full disability payments arrive.
Cynthia O. Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said that among other efforts, the two departments have provided coordinators to guide wounded warriors and their families through medical recoveries and have set up a pilot program to simplify what was two exhaustive medical exams into one at the start of the disability process.
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If they can get disabled veterans out of the VA medical system and into Medicare, the vets would have to pay the co-payments to civilian doctors and hospitals, unless they find a way to waive all co-payments, but it would reduce the amount of funds the VA medical facilities would require to care for veterans, doctors could be released and nurses, as many veterans would rather be able to get same day treatment from civilian doctors than wait months for VA appointments. Somehow the veterans will be the losers in this area.
