House Passes COLA Bill for Vets
May 22, 2013
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
The House on Tuesday passed a cost-of-living adjustment bill for veterans that guarantees a raise each year. However, the American Heroes Cost of Living Adjustment Act still contains some provisions that veterans groups don’t like.
Veteran advocates feared that the legislation could tie future increases to a more conservative Consumer Price Index (CPI) formula. Before the bill passed, those fears were resolved.
Lawmakers introduced what is often called “chained CPI” as a measure to lower Social Security spending. Chained CPI more conservatively calculates inflation. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a chained CPI could reduce the deficit by about $340 billion.
Along with Social Security, CPI is also used to determine a veteran's COLA. Veterans groups worried that the American Heroes Cost of Living Adjustment Act would protect the COLA from political interference, but it could also lock them into a lower rate. But before the bill was passed, a compromise was struck.
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Reflections of Vietnam
REFLECTIONS OF VIETNAM
Citizen Times.com
Local man fights effects
Written by Barbara Hootman
Staff Writer
May 21, 2013
Greg Miller served in Vietnam in 1969, and remembers it as six months that has affected his entire life.
“I was stationed in Lay Binh in south Vietnam,” the Black Mountain resident said. “I was in the Army Signal Corp. I helped coordinate communications from the bottom half of Vietnam to 28 different sites every day. Then I would trouble shoot, figuring out what they needed and making sure they got it.”
Miller describes the area as one not under fire a lot of the time.
“On a stress level of one -10, it would rank about a four or five,” he said. “We were stationed across from a Medi-Vac hospital and there were lots of wounded soldiers coming in.”
Miller had been a divinity student in the States, but had grown tired of college and decided to volunteer for the Army.
“I probably could have served as a chaplain, but I was interested in electronics, and that put me in communications,” he said.
read more here
Citizen Times.com
Local man fights effects
Written by Barbara Hootman
Staff Writer
May 21, 2013
Greg Miller served in Vietnam in 1969, and remembers it as six months that has affected his entire life.
“I was stationed in Lay Binh in south Vietnam,” the Black Mountain resident said. “I was in the Army Signal Corp. I helped coordinate communications from the bottom half of Vietnam to 28 different sites every day. Then I would trouble shoot, figuring out what they needed and making sure they got it.”
Miller describes the area as one not under fire a lot of the time.
“On a stress level of one -10, it would rank about a four or five,” he said. “We were stationed across from a Medi-Vac hospital and there were lots of wounded soldiers coming in.”
Miller had been a divinity student in the States, but had grown tired of college and decided to volunteer for the Army.
“I probably could have served as a chaplain, but I was interested in electronics, and that put me in communications,” he said.
read more here
MLB teams are wearing camouflage for Memorial Day for PTSD and TBI
MLB teams are wearing camouflage for Memorial Day
Memorial Day uniforms unofficially unveiled
USA Today Sports
By MIKE FOSS
May 21, 2013
These authentic uniforms are being sold for $256.99 at MLB.com, and before you balk at the price, consider 100% of MLB’s proceeds are going to Welcome Back Veterans, which is a program designed to provide grants to hospitals and clinics that provide post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury treatment to veterans.
read more here
Memorial Day uniforms unofficially unveiled
USA Today Sports
By MIKE FOSS
May 21, 2013
These authentic uniforms are being sold for $256.99 at MLB.com, and before you balk at the price, consider 100% of MLB’s proceeds are going to Welcome Back Veterans, which is a program designed to provide grants to hospitals and clinics that provide post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury treatment to veterans.
read more here
Army Specialist Mason Van Kuiken missing since March from Fort Carson
Where is this missing soldier from Bradenton?
WTSP News
Tammie Fields
May 21, 2013
BRADENTON, Florida - In Manatee County, there's a mystery over a 22-year-old missing soldier who seems to have vanished without a trace.
The parents of U.S. Army Specialist Mason Van Kuiken say they've made phone numerous phone calls to try to figure out what happened to their son. Dru Love and Mike Van Kuiken say so far this is the best timeline they've been able to develop:
Army specialist Mason Van Kuiken from Bradenton is stationed at Ft. Carson, Colorado. He left the base without permission on March 14 when he had three days off.
He drove to the Fort Hood, Texas area to visit his best friend, Will, who is also from Bradenton but is stationed there.
But as Mason was headed back to Colorado a deputy pulled him over in the small town of Goldthwaite, Texas on March 15.
A Mills County Sheriff's Office deputy told the family weapons were found inside Mason's vehicle that he didn't have proper permits for so he was arrested and his car impounded. Mason bonded out of jail the evening of March 17, and a bail bondsman employee took him to a motel in Early, Texas, where Mason's debit card was used to stay the night.
read more here
Recent missing reports
Iraq Veteran missing in Gainesville Larry Vantassel, Gainesville.
Marine Combat Vet Jonathan Pablik is missing in the Seattle
WTSP News
Tammie Fields
May 21, 2013
BRADENTON, Florida - In Manatee County, there's a mystery over a 22-year-old missing soldier who seems to have vanished without a trace.
The parents of U.S. Army Specialist Mason Van Kuiken say they've made phone numerous phone calls to try to figure out what happened to their son. Dru Love and Mike Van Kuiken say so far this is the best timeline they've been able to develop:
Army specialist Mason Van Kuiken from Bradenton is stationed at Ft. Carson, Colorado. He left the base without permission on March 14 when he had three days off.
He drove to the Fort Hood, Texas area to visit his best friend, Will, who is also from Bradenton but is stationed there.
But as Mason was headed back to Colorado a deputy pulled him over in the small town of Goldthwaite, Texas on March 15.
A Mills County Sheriff's Office deputy told the family weapons were found inside Mason's vehicle that he didn't have proper permits for so he was arrested and his car impounded. Mason bonded out of jail the evening of March 17, and a bail bondsman employee took him to a motel in Early, Texas, where Mason's debit card was used to stay the night.
read more here
Recent missing reports
Iraq Veteran missing in Gainesville Larry Vantassel, Gainesville.
Marine Combat Vet Jonathan Pablik is missing in the Seattle
Finally healing from ‘the forgotten war’
This is a great example of many things. One is that we didn't take care of older veterans properly and they suffered but above that, they survived. Some of them took their own lives many years ago. Some are still doing it. We don't know how many but then again, we still don't know how many take their own lives today. There are too many unknowable with questions left behind. No suicides notes. Drug overdoses are not always known to be accidental or on purpose. Vehicle accidents are another puzzle because there have been reports that the driver was suffering. We will never really know for sure.
Another lesson is that it is never too late to get help to heal.
My Dad was a Korean War veteran and he was 100% disabled. We knew he was an alcoholic but he very well could have had a mild case of PTSD. He passed away when he was only 58. We know that PTSD comes with a long list of health issues and one of them is damage to the heart. The VA took care of his physical health but back then, mental healthcare was not so great.
He went to AA.
Another lesson is that it is never too late to get help to heal.
My Dad was a Korean War veteran and he was 100% disabled. We knew he was an alcoholic but he very well could have had a mild case of PTSD. He passed away when he was only 58. We know that PTSD comes with a long list of health issues and one of them is damage to the heart. The VA took care of his physical health but back then, mental healthcare was not so great.
He went to AA.
Finally healing from ‘the forgotten war’
Montgomery Herald
May 22, 2013
By Linda Beaulieu
It used to be called shell shock or battle fatigue. Today, the term is post traumatic stress disorder – PTSD. And while it can affect the life of anyone who goes through some horrific event, it’s most closely connected to members of the armed forces who have survived physical battle only to face a mental and emotional battle that can go on for the rest of their lives.
Today, the military provides help for soldiers and veterans with PTSD. But in 1954, when young men returned from the horrors of what is often called “the forgotten war” in Korea, they were on their own.
One of those young men was James McQueen, of Star.
McQueen grew up in Okeweemee, left school in ninth grade and went to work driving a delivery truck for FCX farm supply.
read more here
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