VA Claims backlog of 915,000

Amazing when you actually discover the year this happened.

Bill: Have VA pay old claims automatically
Marine Corps Times
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jun 30, 2009

A North Carolina lawmaker proposes tackling the backlog of veterans’ disability claims by awarding benefits to veterans after 18 months if their claim hasn’t been processed.

Veterans Affairs Department officials have told Congress they are, on average, processing disability compensation claims within 162 days and have a goal of cutting the average to 120 days. But Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., is one of many lawmakers who think there is a limit to how patient veterans could be in waiting for money they are due.

“Backlogs are at the point where veterans must wait an average of six months for a decision on benefits claims and some veterans are waiting as long as four years,” Butterfield said in a statement. “Veterans deserve better than this.”

Butterfield introduced a bill on Friday, HR 3087, that would automatically approve a veteran’s claim if no decision is made by the VA within 18 months. The bill doesn’t say exactly how the VA would do this, but creates a task force to monitor VA to make sure the 18-month deadline isn’t met with an arbitrary denial just before the claim must be paid.

The bill comes as the number of unprocessed veterans claims exceeds 915,000 — a 100,000 jump since the beginning of the year. In testimony two weeks ago before a House committee, VA officials said the current 162 days is 17 days less than one year ago, a sign that they are beginning to make process. click link for the rest

Fort Hood Master Sgt. arrested for refusing to put weapon down

While I do not agree with what Master Sgt. Grisham did I have to agree with the fact that just because a veteran or member of the military has PTSD, they should not lose their gun rights. They are not the ones civilians have to worry about any more than they have to worry about anyone else with PTSD. Do some commit crimes? Yes, just like the minority of civilians do. Do they commit suicide with a firearm? Yes, the majority use guns but again, as with civilians, most with PTSD do not commit suicide. The means is not as important as the reason. If they had the proper help instead of programs that do not work, we wouldn't see so many killing themselves. If they were not given medications that were not intended to treat PTSD and have terrible side effects, we wouldn't see so many of them going from being willing to die for the sake of someone else into killing someone else.

NCO arrested for refusing to put down weapon
Army Times
By Jon R. Anderson
Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 30, 2013

Army Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham, a conservative military blogger and vocal gun rights activist, was arrested March 16 in Temple, Texas, after a scuffle with a local police officer.

The incident unfolded after someone spotted Grisham carrying “an assault-style rifle” as he and his teenage son were walking along rural roads near the Temple airport west of town, said Temple Police Department spokesman Cpl. Chris Wilcox.

Wilcox said walking on a road with a rifle is not against the law, but “if you have an AR15 or an assault weapon of some type and someone calls that in, we’re going to go and investigate it. I imagine any police department in the country is going to do that in light of all of the shootings that have taken place.”

An officer was dispatched to check things out. Wilcox said the officer approached Grisham and told him to set down the loaded rifle that was slung across his chest so the two could talk.

Instead, Grisham “became very irate and angry and yelled at the officer he was not going to take his gun,” Wilcox said.

A scuffle ensued, with the officer eventually drawing his service pistol and pinning Grisham against the patrol car until backup units arrived. A search also revealed that Grisham, a counterintelligence agent stationed at nearby Fort Hood, was carrying a concealed pistol, for which he had a permit.

The arrest came the same weekend Grisham was quoted in Military Times defending gun rights for troops with post-traumatic stress. He has been open about his own diagnoses following tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
read more here

Texas District Attorney and wife found dead

Mike McLelland, Kaufman County District Attorney, Found Dead With Wife In Texas Home
03/30/13

KAUFMAN, Texas -- A sheriff's deputy says authorities are investigating the deaths of a North Texas county district attorney and his wife who were found dead in a home.

Kaufman County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Justin Lewis said Saturday that the county District Attorney, Mike McLelland, and his wife, Cynthia, were found dead in a home in an unincorporated part of the county. Authorities have blocked off the street where the couple's last known address is located.
read more here

Saving a Fort Carson soldier's life

Saving a Fort Carson soldier's life
Straight talk to talk down a man threatening suicide
Eric Singer, Weekday Evening Anchor
Mar 29, 2013

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo
Seconds count when you get a call that someone you know is threatening suicide. Captain John Rigsbee got the call at the end of January at his home. A fellow soldier was holed up at his residence, "The service member had barred himself in the bathroom with a weapon threatening to kill himself."

Captain Rigsbee and others got to the Fort Carson soldier's home to make sure he didn't end his life, "It was two hours of trying to talk him down and taking the gun from his head." Captain Rigsbee and another man stayed the first night with the soldier to make sure he was in a good safe place and wouldn't try to harm himself. Captain Rigsbee told me, "I think it's something people should do, not only as a part of a job but as part of being a decent human being that's what we should do."
read more here

Soldier celebrate Easter in Afghanistan

Soldiers, civilians celebrate Easter with sunrise service
DVIDS
4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs
Story by Staff Sgt. Richard Andrade

LAGHMAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Before the sun began to rise over the Afghan mountains, music and prayer filled the air as service members and civilians gathered to celebrate Easter Sunday at Forward Operating Base Gamberi, March 31.

U.S. Army chaplain Maj. Steve Prost, (right), a native of Platte City, Mo., speaks with soldiers and civilians during the Easter sunrise service at Forward Operating Base Gamberi, March 31, 2013. Prost serves as the brigade chaplain for 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based out of Fort Hood, Texas. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Richard Andrade Task Force Long Knife Public Affairs)

The early morning service began with the invocation by U.S. Army chaplain Maj. Steve Prost, brigade chaplain, assigned to 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, and native of Platte City, Mo., said there couldn’t have been more perfect weather.

The service featured a pastoral prayer, scripture reading, and a musical performance by U.S. Army Sgt. Amelia Shields, unit supply specialist assigned to Company C, 27th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based out of Fort Hood, Texas.

The native of Stone Mountain, Ga., said she was grateful to be asked to participate in the morning service. “I am honoured to be here amongst my fellow soldiers this glorious morning,” read more here