VA Director Reply to Sexual Harassment Claim--Leave?

VA director apologizes for comments about sexual harassment claims 
CBS News 
May 3, 2017

When we first told Stockwell about the women's claims, he defended the investigative process and said this about employees: "They can certainly vote with their feet about their employment decisions of working with the VA."

CBS SF Bay Area pressed him further, asking if his answer is that they should leave.

SAN FRANCISCO -- CBS SF Bay Area has covered claims of sexual harassment and assault at a Bay Area Veterans Affairs clinic for months.

One woman recently described an incident in which she says her boss tried to grope and kiss her.

Now, a VA director is apologizing, CBS SF Bay Area reports. read more here

Secretary Veterans Affairs Wants to Close 1,100 Facilitates and Kill Jobs?

This is how they kill off the VA instead of honoring the fact veterans pre-paid for the best care this country could provide them with, but have had to fight the country for it since the Revolutionary War. We really should be ashamed of ourselves for letting Congress get away with all of this!

Shulkin says he’s considering closing 1,100 Veterans Affairs facilities 
ASSOCIATED PRESS 
BY HOPE YEN 
May 3, 2017

The department recently announced hiring restrictions on roughly 4,000 positions despite the lifting of the federal hiring freeze and also left open the possibility of “near-term” and “long-term workforce reductions.” Shulkin is also putting together a broader proposal by fall to expand the VA’s Choice program of private-sector care.

WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin says his department is seeking to close perhaps more than 1,100 VA facilities nationwide as it develops plans to allow more veterans to receive medical care in the private sector. 

At a House hearing Wednesday, Shulkin said the VA had identified more than 430 vacant buildings and 735 that he described as underutilized, costing the federal government $25 million a year. He said the VA would work with Congress in prioritizing buildings for closure and was considering whether to follow a process the Pentagon had used in recent decades to decide which of its underused military bases to shutter, known as Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC. read more here

Stolen Valor Perpetrators Found Guilty and Despicable!

Army veteran sentenced for lying to get nearly $395K from VA
News4Jax
By Jodi Mohrmann - Managing Editor of special projects
May 02, 2017

Florida woman claimed she lost her vision due to her military service

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A Florida veteran is sentenced to federal prison for lying for years about being blind and collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Sixty-year-old Veronica Dale Hahn of Bonifay, Florida, received nearly $395,000 from VA for 100 percent service-connected blindness in both eyes. Over 15 years -- from 2001 to 2016 -- the Army veteran told doctors she was almost completely blind.

However, within a year of receiving her disability benefits for loss of vision, investigators say Hahn got driver’s licenses with no vision restrictions in New Mexico, Alabama, and Florida -- passing vision exams in all three states with at least 20/40 vision.

During this time, Hahn was observed driving her personal vehicle on numerous occasions and she worked full time as a case manager and transition counselor at several state correctional facilities. All of these activities required normal eyesight to perform her duties.

“Instead of providing benefits and assistance to worthy veterans who are justifiably in need, significant resources from the Department of Veteran’s Affairs were diverted to uncover an extensive and persistent fraud by Ms. Hahn, who repeatedly gave dishonest information and collected hundreds of thousands of dollars to which she was not entitled," said Christopher Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. This case sends the message that you cannot make false disability claims and just walk away from such a crime.”
read more here

Purple Heart faker gets VA benefits, free house by stealing another Marine's combat story
San Diego Union Tribune
Jeanette Steele Jeanette SteeleContact Reporter
May 2, 2017

“This scumbag lied to try to get s—t. You don’t do that. It’s not honorable. It’s not how we are. It’s personal for me, especially, as a friend of Casey’s,” said Andrew Rothman, a 1/7 Navy corpsman who was a key player in exposing Blackstone’s fraud.

A former Southern California Marine has been handed a 21-month federal sentence for faking a Purple Heart and lifting from another Marine's combat story to get years of disability benefits and a free house.

In a rare prosecution under the 2013 Stolen Valor Act, a 35-year-old Iraq War veteran will also have to pay back more than $300,000 to the U.S. government and a Texas charity.

Brandon Blackstone served with 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment out of Twentynine Palms in the Mojave Desert in 2004. He deployed to Iraq in August, during a period of fierce fighting on the Syrian border.

So did Casey Owens, another 1/7 Marine.
read more here

Former officer found guilty in Purple Heart case
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Raisa Habersham
May 2, 2017

A former Holly Springs police officer was found guilty Tuesday of falsely claiming he was a Purple Heart recipient four years after an investigation showed he lied about his military affiliation.

Shane Ladner of Canton was accused of claiming he earned the medal awarded for combat wounds and using the alleged honor to receive free license plates.

After five days of testimony and 13 hours of deliberation, the jury convicted him of five counts of making false statements to the Cherokee County sheriff’s office and the county’s tax commissioner to get the license plates. He was also convicted of a theft by taking charge.
read more here

Colden couple admit $1.2 million fraud against VA, Postal Service
Buffalo News
By Phil Fairbanks
Published Wed, Mar 22, 2017

Richard L. Klaffka posed as a severely disabled veteran and postal worker.

He also pretended to be in a wheelchair, unable to walk, drive or care for himself.

Klaffka and his wife, Cathleen, both residents of Colden, admitted Wednesday it was all a hoax.

They also admitted netting $1.2 million in fraudulent benefits as part of their 10-year scheme.

'The defendant knew he wasn't 100 percent disabled and, in fact, knew he was mobile, able to care for himself without assistance," Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul E. Bonanno told the federal court Wednesday.

As part of his guilty plea to wire fraud, Klaffka agreed to pay $1.2 million in restitution and on Wednesday made an initial payment of $325,000. He also agreed to forfeit property he and his wife own in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

With Klaffka, who walks with a cane, standing just a few feet away, Bonanno read from a laundry list of evidence against him, including surveillance of his comings and goings at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Buffalo.

Federal agents claim they saw Klaffka drive to the VA, get out of the car and then lift and open his wheelchair without help. They said his wife would then push him into the offices at the medical center.

Bonnano said the government also had witnesses, including neighbors who were prepared to testify that they saw Klaffka hunting, riding a bicycle, chopping wood and playing horseshoes.
read more here

Humble Hero Wears Air Force Cross

Marin war hero receives Air Force’s highest award for valor
Marin Independent Journal
By Paul Liberatore
POSTED: 04/30/17

Out in the open, he started directing air support on the Taliban positions firing on his team with machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and sniper rifles.

Christopher Baradat is how you might imagine an ideal war hero to be: humble, soft-spoken, self-effacing, quick to point out the heroism of others before himself.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein presents the Air Force Cross to Novato resident Chris Baradat on April 20 at Hurlburt Field in Florida. (U.S. Air Force photo)

But nobody else did what the former Air Force staff sergeant did one April day in 2013: Stand unwilting under enemy fire for three hours to help rescue a squad of his fellow soldiers pinned down by the Taliban in a death trap of a valley in Afghanistan.

For his “extraordinary heroism,” the 28-year-old Novato resident was awarded the Air Force Cross, the service’s highest decoration for valor.

The Air Force Cross is so rarely given that Baradat’s medal is one of only nine awarded since the end of the Vietnam War.

“You represent the finest traits America can ask of its warriors,” said Gen. David Goldfein, 21st Air Force Chief of Staff, during ceremonies April 20 at Hurlburt Field in Florida. “When lives were on the line, you moved carefully and deliberately into harm’s way with protection of others in mind.”
read more here

Department of Defense 2016 Suicide Report Released

The Department of Defense released the 2016 4th Quarter Suicide report

For the fourth quarter of 2016, the military services reported the following: 

• 76 deaths by suicide in the Active Component 

• 20 deaths by suicide in the Reserves 

• 30 deaths by suicide in the National Guard

On the last page of the report are the totals. It is 275 for Active Duty, plus 203 for Reservists and National Guards

This is the whole chart

What the chart does not show is the reduction of members of the military by the thousands since 2012.

2013 there were 1,131,285 E1-E9

2014 there were 1,090,759

2015 there were 1,070,546

2016 there were 1,060,084

This is after a decade of DOD Prevention training and over a decade of folks running around the country screaming about how they are raising awareness. So why didn't anyone think to tell them of all the reasons they have to live after surviving combat?

Why didn't anyone hold members of Congress accountable for funding all these "efforts" when the results are this heart crushing? 

Why didn't anyone hold military leaders accountable for any of this?

Why didn't the press report on any of this?