Committee for Veterans Affairs mission “serve as a point of contact for matters relating to veterans and the military"

Already busy, York’s veterans committee has big plans

Seacoast Online
By Dan Bancroft / Yorkweekly
January 7, 2020

Waddell sees the committee’s work as an opportunity to do more for the veterans who live and work in York. Building a meaningful database of those veterans is high on his list. “We just don’t know who they are,” he says.

YORK -- For a group that was formed just over eight months ago, the Committee for Veterans Affairs has accomplished quite a lot.

Nancy and Barbara Leigh of York stand with LT. Commander Ryan Gieleghen, Master Chief Eric Frank and crew members of the USS California while they await the start of York's Festival of Lights Parade December 7, 2019

The group has held 12 formal meetings since it was created by the Board of Selectmen April 8, 2019, according to member Mike Dow.

The committee’s mission is to “serve as a point of contact for matters relating to veterans and the military, to develop and maintain a broad perspective on the town’s approach to and participation in all such matters, to help ensure the town honors veterans and the military, and to advise the Board of Selectmen accordingly,” according to its charter.

Chair Barry Waddell takes that mission seriously. “Our job is to aid and assist the board,” he says, “but we are not a service organization.” Sometimes, that is a distinction without a difference.
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Florida lawmakers for trying to cap THC levels for medical marijuana?

Medical marijuana patients lash out at Florida lawmakers for trying to cap THC levels

Orlando Weekly
Posted By Dara Kam
News Service of Florida
Apr 9, 2019

“A bill that was supposed to be about helping a community that is plagued with drug addiction and drug overdose … a bill that was supposed to be about helping a veteran community that is plagued (with) suicide is now being used as leverage by lawmakers to try and impose their will on the people."

Photo via Florida House of Representatives State Rep. Ray Rodrigues

After fiery exchanges with veterans and patient advocates who accused a legislative leader of relying on faulty research, members of a House committee on Tuesday pushed forward a proposal that would cap the level of euphoria-inducing THC in smokable medical marijuana.

The House plan would also give veterans free, state-issued medical marijuana identification cards, a sweetener that angered veterans who lashed out at the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ray Rodrigues, during an emotionally charged House Appropriations Committee meeting.

Jimmy Johnston, a veteran who is president of the North Florida chapter of Weed for Warriors Project, lashed out at the committee for linking the free ID cards for veterans, a savings of $75 per year, with the THC cap.

Rodrigues, a soft-spoken Estero Republican who serves as chairman of the House Health & Human Services Committee, was visibly shaken following a meeting that became so heated the House sergeant and his aides were summoned.

Rodrigues has shepherded House medical-marijuana legislation since the state first authorized non-euphoric cannabis for a limited number of patients in 2014.
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Orlando Rocks for Veterans Benefit number #7

Combat PTSD Wounded Times

Kathie Costos

March 24, 2019

Yesterday at VFW Post 4287 in Orlando, a large crowd gathered to support a Marine veteran who is in need of some help. Hayward Merritt was injured as a veteran...but as a veteran, the community came together for him!

Four Chaplains Brotherhood Award for Gold Star Mom

Duty Calls: Minister earns Four Chaplains Brotherhood Award

Times Union
Terry Brown
February 17, 2019

She is also a Gold Star mother of Army Staff Sgt. Thomas Robbins, who died in action in Iraq on Feb. 9, 2004, attempting to save the lives of his soldiers during a mortar explosion while serving with Troop A, 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment (Stryker) near Mosul, Iraq.

The Rev. Charlene Robbins of Delmar, a Gold Star mother active in veterans circles, has been selected to receive the 54th annual Four Chaplains Brotherhood Award from the Albany Post 105 of Jewish War Veterans.

Robbins will receive the award during a Four Chaplains Award and Remembrance ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the First Reformed Church, 8 N. Church St., Schenectady.

The Rev. Charlene Robbins of Delmar, a Gold Star mother active in veterans circles, has been selected to receive the 54th annual Four Chaplains Brotherhood Award from the Albany Post 105 of Jewish War Veterans.

Robbins will receive the award during a Four Chaplains Award and Remembrance ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the First Reformed Church, 8 N. Church St., Schenectady.

The honor commemorates the sacrifice four military chaplains made after a German submarine torpedoed the USS Dorchester, a troop ship, on Feb. 3, 1943, off the coast of Greenland.

One of the four was Army Chaplain 1st Lt. Clark Poling, who ministered at the First Reformed Church just before he enlisted.

The other chaplains were 1st Lt. Alexander Goode, a Jewish rabbi; 1st Lt. George Fox, a Methodist minister; and 1st Lt. John Washington, a Catholic priest.

"Charlene inspires us in her devotion to others, and in particular her focus on serving veteran organizations," said Fred Altman, Post 105 commander. "As a Gold Star mother, Charlene stands among our veterans as a cherished and honored family member. Her sympathy and enthusiasm to give back to the many veteran groups and causes is a shining example of the commitment to others that the Four Chaplains gave their lives for."
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New CBS Radio Station Devoted to Veterans and Families

CBS RADIO LAUNCHES FIRST-EVER COMPREHENSIVE, MULTI-MEDIA RESOURCE EXCLUSIVELY FOR MILITARY VETERANS

Connecting Vets Every Day,” all of whom are veterans themselves or the spouse or child of a veteran. While most content will air across all three platforms – online, on demand and on-air – some of the programming will be tailored to fit an individual platform according to how audiences consume that content.

Covering a Range of Relevant Topics Online, On-Demand and On-Air, the Platform Gives Vets Easy and Immediate Access to Services, Solutions and Each Other

NEW YORK, NY, June 5, 2017 – Today, CBS RADIO launched the new “CBS RADIO Presents ConnectingVets.com…Connecting Vets Every Day,” a national, multi-media resource linking military veterans and their families to relevant information, resources, solutions and, most importantly, each other.

The content will be produced and presented by fellow vets who understand the complexity and stages of transitioning from the military ranks back into civilian life. It will cover such important topics as health and fitness, employment and entrepreneurialism, education, finance, and issues particularly impacting female veterans and veterans’ families. Programming is easily accessible online at connectingvets.com and Radio.com, with audio on-demand available at connectingvets.com/podcasts, and programming on-air in Washington, D.C. on local station WJFK 1580(AM). Equally passionate about helping veterans, our sponsorship partners, including Freedom Mortgage and Harley-Davidson Motor Company, will be integrated seamlessly in and around content in non-traditional ways to ensure a user-friendly experience.

With a passion and a dedication to serving our nation’s veterans, the platform is designed to help this very important and growing group cut through the clutter and confusion of what’s available to them to ensure easy access to the benefits and resources they have so rightly earned.

“This new resource is a testament and a dedication to the selfless acts of U.S. veterans and all they do to ensure our freedoms and our very way of life,” said Steve Swenson, Senior Vice President & Market Manager, CBS RADIO Washington, D.C. “We have created a streamlined, solutions-based product that will provide our vets with immediate and easy access to all of their available resources, and to their fellow veterans. We’re confident that together with our partners this dedicated resource will become a go-to source for our nation’s heroes and those around them.”

Included within each morning and afternoon news briefing will be short-form features covering the following areas:

Book Shelf – authors reading excerpts of military or veteran-focused literature
Global Security Watch – updates on current conflict flashpoints and U. S. military involvement
Going Back – following veterans visiting sites of their long-ago battlefields or bases where they were once stationed
Military Life Hacks – veterans share how military skills have made life easier out of uniform
Podcast Roulette – best of podcasts by veterans and conversations with podcast creators
Still Serving – stories about the varied ways veterans contribute to their communities
Stolen Valor – following stories of people attempting to profit by pretending to have served, or by falsely claiming military heroism
The Troubleshooter – finding solutions to problems vets tell us they encounter
VetSports – veterans involved in athletics, including Wounded Warrior competitions
What Goes Around – military history quiz, plus conversations with military historians
Who Knew? – profiling Americans you may not have known served their nation in uniform
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Combat Medic Gets Help From Veterans Community to Heal

Wounded veteran finds healing in community
Daily Sun
Taylor Mahoney
Special to the Daily Sun
January 7, 2017

In Iraq in 2005-06, as an army combat medic assigned to sappers (sappers go first, clear the obstacles, clear the land mines so the infantry can follow), he attended to wounded soldiers, hunted IED’s, survived the focus of an infamous sniper, and helped save more than 2,500 lives.

Blood, pain, earth shaking explosions: William Golliher knows about these. Golliher experienced hell in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now the Flagstaff man, like millions of war veterans across the ages, carries that hell within him. His journey continues as he struggles to find a new normal. Critical to that process, he said, is the company of other veterans.

Marine veteran Ralph Boyer knows Golliher through the Marine League Charities Flagstaff group.

“What you have is a hero here,” Boyer said. “That’s what.”

Golliher immediately protests.

“I don’t consider myself a hero. I did a tour in Iraq and in Afghanistan,” he said.

Golliher proudly traces his family's military history back to a soldier in the Revolutionary War and continuing unbroken through subsequent conflicts involving the United States. His grandfather fought in World War II. His father is a United States Coast Guard veteran.

Despite this, he has found healing through family and community. Although he can’t work, he keeps busy volunteering. Last September he got married. His wife, Philan Tree, just found out she’s pregnant. Golliher has trouble concentrating but has found it helps him to keep to a routine. His wife and a service dog are constant companions.

But his biggest source of support, he said, is other veterans who speak the same language. He has a support network of veterans who understand what he has had to live through and the nightmares he now has to live with.
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Veteran Suicides, The Stories of Their Lives Lost

Reporting on Veteran Suicides Easier Than Living With The Stories
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 7, 2016

The reporters at San Diego Union Tribune did a fabulous job reporting on suicides. You really should read their stories and of those from the families left behind.

This report is on the simple fact it is hard to cover these stories for reporters but even harder if you have a personal connection to them. Families talk about their suffering, not for someone to feel sorry for them, but more for the sake they don't want others to know that level of pain they wished someone had stopped them from feeling.

Going on 34 years of doing this I remember what that felt like.  First I wanted to understand my husband.  He's a Vietnam veteran.  After growing up surrounded by veterans, I needed to know why he as so different and experiencing what my Dad called "shell shock." After all these years, he's living a good quality of life and we proved that no one is stuck suffering. Marriages don't have to end.  

I started to research it to understand him, then to help save him and his friends. Along the years I understood myself as well.  What I didn't understand was I couldn't save everyone.  I couldn't save my husband's nephew, who was also a Vietnam veteran.

I knew it all! I knew what he needed to know and how to explain it so that he wouldn't think it was his fault anymore than what happened to him after service was his fault alone.  The trouble is, I didn't know how to get him to listen.  He committed suicide and ever since then, every time I read about another suicide, it is like a dagger to my heart and I run through all the "what if" questions that never seem to be answered.

Back then, no one was talking about veterans surviving combat only to lose their lives by their own hands years afterwards.  I hoped someday they would stop suffering in silence and families would no longer feel shame for something that was not their fault.

Now they are talking and to me, these families are heroes.  Reporters finding value in telling their stories are vital in all of this.  With that said, there is still a lot of misinformation out there that never really seems to get corrected.

First is the number "22 a day" when that number is wrong. It freaks me out to hear it repeated by a charity taking care of the families as much as it nauseates me to read a politician using that number. They should know better.  As long as reporters do not learn the facts ahead of time, veterans will go on questioning the other information in the report. If they can't get that number right, what else are they getting wrong?

The CDC reports over 40,000 Americans commit suicide every year.  Every state has reported veteran suicides double the civilian population rate. That means there are over 26,000 a year ending the lives that survived military service.

Reporters do not remind folks that the vast majority of these veterans are over the age of 50 any more than they cover the simple fact that those are the veterans all the new charities won't care about.

Are all veterans equal? Our generation thought so but that was only after Vietnam veterans decided to fight for all generations despite how they were treated by older veterans.

Reporting on suicides is hard but telling the truth is harder when the majority are taking the easy way out repeating a number that is just easy to remember.

None of this is easy for the veterans and nothing is easy on the families they leave behind. PTSD does not have to win or defeat survivors of combat.

SUICIDES: TOUGH BUT NECESSARY REPORTING
The San Diego Union-Tribune
By Jeanette Steele
Feb. 5, 2016

For journalists, writing about suicide is walking a knife’s edge.

On one hand, it’s a major issue that deserves attention.

“We have an ethical commitment to tell the truth about a public health problem,” said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University.

If you don’t report on suicides, he said, “You might as well not cover the dangers of smoking.”

On the other hand, he and other experts said news coverage that makes suicide seem inevitable, or like a legitimate solution, could lead to more people taking their lives.

News stories also should not disclose information that might prompt people in despair to copycat the event, such as writing about a particular train platform where people have jumped to their deaths.

For this project about younger U.S. military veterans, perhaps the biggest issue is whether the life challenges they face are presented as hopeless and unsolvable.

But the hurdles can certainly be overcome, according to those who specialize in the topic.

“There’s no need to suffer, there’s no need to end a life by suicide. It’s a health problem that has solutions,” said Kim Ruocco, a spokeswoman for Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS, a nonprofit group that helps military families deal with grief.

“You can show that, yes, we have some cracks in our system that need to be repaired, but there are lots of places where you can get hope,” said Ruocco, whose late husband, a Marine Corps officer, died by suicide in 2005.
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