See messages below and
http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nfmay09/nf051209-4.htm
and
http://iava.org/press-room/press-releases/statement-tragic-shooting-incident-camp-liberty
IAVA and Rieckhoff sent out a “pooorly” written and thought out press release.
Veteran’s have almost always been divided..the Pols love that… my war was better/worse than your war, you must have been a REMF, oh you were in the reserves, corp, a grunt, a flyboy, a cook, etc, it was tougher when I was in, my service did good work, while yours did…,I spent more time in the chow line, than you did in the service, etc, etc… vote those other Bums out of office… my Pol is OK, it’s those dam liberals, Dems, commies, etc…. no it’s those nazi, right wingers, those Repubs, My side is patriotic, yours is un-American… so on.. and so on..the crap and BS I get everyday about Bush regime, or McCain, or Obama, or…etc… mostly all lies depending on one’s agenda. I hate wings… left wings or right wings
Go into any post… hear how great the VA is, or how bad it is… want to start an argument? Just bring up the VA…. Hear how the well they treated my brother.. my dad, or hear how they killed them…. Get 2 guys one 100% s/c, and one 10%, talking… usually 2 different perspectives.
See how many foreign cars are parked in the Post parking lot, how many employees are veterans… hell go to the VA and see how many vets work there.. Spend some time in the neighborhood, at different times, and see how many homeless vets are nearby the Post area… many barred from the post as trouble makers, drunks, bums, etc. How many VSO’s hang up on veterans, who are unhappy with what/ how their claim is going. You got a vet that suffers from depression, PTSD, anger, homelessness, any or all, etc.. the guy that needs the most help..usually gets the least. The family throws them out, the post won’t serve him, and the VSO won’t return his calls, and despite many years of service, or multiple tours, has been discharged with a pre-existing personality disorder, or non-retained.. Any military service is stressful to some extent, and affects some more than others.. then to feel abandoned by family, the system..well that will create some anger issues, and the VA and VSO’s better get better at dealing with it..
Almost every message I send out to a large group of vets, gets some kind of a response…either thanking me for the great info, or how dumb I am to send out such rubbish. Just serve the vets, all vets, Focus and… Keepon’ Keepin’ On
e mail address removed
For your information. I, like many others, were sadden by yesterday's events at Camp Liberty and I have always said (and agreed with others) that sending someone on two, three - five tours to Iraq and/or Afghanistan is like playing a game of "Russian Roulette." Mental health issues are going to be a major issue for the foreseeable future, and long after these wars have ended. Now, I have known Paul for a number of years, including when his organization was OpTruth and I have known Larry for a number of years as well. In Larry's case, his VA Watchdog site is considered a bible to many veterans and elected officials. I originally did not see/read Paul's comments but having looked at both, I will guess that everyone who reads Paul's (IAVA's) PR and Larry (and Jim's comments) may read them with a jaded eye depending on your era of service. However, once again, we must stick together as a community or we can/will be easily divided, and everyone knows I have been saying this regarding MOVA and our local elected officials for years. In this regard, I agree with Jim's comments: "a warrior is a warrior is a warrior...no matter the era, we stand united, we fall divided." Decide for yourself what this is all about...Joe
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http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nfmay09/nf051209-4.htm
IAVA CHIEF, RIECKHOFF, DISSES VIETNAM VETERANS
Calls Vietnam veterans unprofessional and takes a swipe at all draftees.
by Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org
In 2004, Iraq War veteran Paul Rieckhoff founded Operation Truth.
Operation Truth was an almost-anti-war, definitely anti-Bush organization funded by vast amounts of left-wing money ... which is not necessarily bad, but it always helps to know where the money comes from. (The editor at a well-known military web site names George Soros as the source of much of the funding.)
The goal was to co-opt veterans' issues by using the media contacts of the left-wing money ... to make the country think of "veterans" as those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rieckhoff became a star on such programs as the Rachel Maddow Show on Air American Radio and MSNBC-TV.
Realizing that he needed a broader base, Rieckhoff changed the name of the organization to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).
IAVA became a lobbying powerhouse on Capitol Hill. Even though Iraq and Afghanistan vets make up just 3% of the veteran population, and IAVA membership is just a few thousand of that 3%, IAVA became a loud voice.
Rieckhoff's agenda has always been a divisive force in the veteran community.
Because of Rieckhoff's work, we now have a two-tiered VA system, with vets from Iraq and Afghanistan getting priority treatment for health care and first-in-line status for disability claims ... while the other 97% of veterans just have to wait.
In fairness, Rieckhoff has worked hard for his constituency, and it has paid off ... to the detriment of other veterans.
Now, we see Rieckhoff's feelings about other veterans, especially those who served in the Vietnam War.
Today, it is reported that a GI in Iraq killed five fellow soldiers. Rieckhoff issued a press release about this, and said, in part:
"Unlike during the Vietnam War, today's military is a professional, all-volunteer force."
The full press release is here...
With the above statement, Rieckhoff has shown his true colors. Divide ... conquer. My vets first ... the unprofessionals later.
Not only does his statement diss Vietnam veterans, but all vets who served during times of a draft ... and that would include my Father who served with distinction during World War II.
So, while Rieckhoff uses his connections to party with the elites of Broadway, 97% of veterans wait for their health care and benefits.
Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland also has strong feelings about Rieckhoff's comment:
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by Jim Strickland
The boss over at IAVA issued a press release earlier today. In it he defended the murder of five soldiers by a madman in part by saying, "Unlike during the Vietnam War, today’s military is a professional, all-volunteer force."
Somehow that remark is supposed to divert your attention that there's been a whole lot of friendly fire goin' on in Iraq.
I can't remember a moment in the last 30 years where I've been more offended. The sentence neatly insults the more than 58,000 US personnel who died for our country in Vietnam and the millions of the
rest of us who served honorably.
The "Vietnam Era" ran from 1961 to 1975. It wasn't until 1979 that Public Law 96-22 established the first Vet Centers in recognition of what the war had done to the nearly 3 million veterans who had served
"In Country". That's 3 million minus 58,000 of course.
The current veterans who are arriving home are finding that there is a better understanding of their physical wounds and the PTSD that stalks them because of those 3 million Vietnam veterans and the millions more of us "Vietnam Era" veterans who served back then.
That the leader of IAVA would make such a divisive statement is shocking and almost unbelievable. We can debate for months about which group of soldiers was better educated, more patriotic, better equipped or who fragged who the most. But the fact is that a warrior is a warrior is a warrior...no matter the era, we stand united, we fall divided.
The VBA is enjoying the game of playing the groups against one another. There is no possible gain for our own leaders to support such nonsense.
I guess the next thing we may expect from IAVA is a quick one about how much smarter the current soldier is when compared to the WWII veteran. Those farm hands and dirt laborers who couldn't read nor
write sure weren't much of a "professional, all volunteer force" were they?
But somehow those farmers like Audie Murphy and 440 Medal of Honor recipients (250 awarded posthumously) managed to become what is now commonly known as The Greatest Generation. Ten's of thousands of them haven't made it home yet...I know, I've visited their graves all over Europe.
Back off Paul. We didn't need this slap from you.
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We are all veterans from the time this nation began my family has served in every war since the Revolutionary War and many others served during the "peace time" military over the centuries. My father served before WW1 in D Troop 7th Calvary he went on the Mexican Punitive March out of Douglas Arizona, my Uncle Gideon was in the same unit, they followed and served under General Pershing chasing Pancho Villa, and luckily they had completed their enlistments before WW1 started. They missed the trench warfare and the Spanish Flu of 1918 that decimated the military.
My step father flew with the 8th Army Air Force and bombed Germany, he could not even watch the movie "The Memphis Belle" he knew the crew they were in the same unit, but the flak scenes took him back to 1942, you could see the terror in his eyes, just before he walked out of the room, after he had tore the arms off his easy chair.
My cousins served in Vietnam as draftees, their numbers were called and away they went, they did not go to Canada, they went and did their duty. My brothers and I enlisted he wanted to go to Nam, I let the Army decide where they wanted to send me, some how we both ended up on the DMZ in South Korea, at the time it was still considered hazardous duty and the men assigned to the 1/31st Infantry stationed north of the Imjin River doing patrols, living on compounds north of the river, were still paid hazardous duty pay and awarded the 2nd ID Patch as a "combat patch" for the right shoulder of their uniforms.
I left the Army in 1982 as a Staff Sergeant 11B3M, I missed the Army and decided to get my 20 years in by joining the National Guard, surprise the summer of 1990 Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and my firends and neighbors called me back to active duty for the First Gulf War as it is now called.
I have served my nation for my entire life, my family has served this nation since it began, no veteran is better than any other veteran and any statements that are made to try and seperate the men or women and their service by claiming asteriks like they were draftees, WW2 soldiers didn't have the equipment modern soldiers now have to carry, etc, none of it matters, did you wear this nations uniform, and did you show up when and where you were ordered to? That is all that matters, attempts to make different tiers of veterans is wrong, all veterans should be treated the same, no differences, no extra privileges, no jumping older vets to get "new vets" claims handled faster, process the claims as they enter the VA compensation system.
The last thing veterans need is for us to be fighting each other.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
IAVA and Rieckhoff sent out a “pooorly” written and thought out press release.
