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Category Archives: Veterans Benefits
Poems From War: Volume 1
Poems from combat veterans are the Proverbs of war, they contain the wisdom of the many and the soul of one.
“Poetry is the fine art of substantiating shadows, and of lending existence to nothing.” Burke
Much can be said about the shadows of war. Little can be said in polite company. Less can be said that captures the dark night of the soul. Thinking accurately is not the end game, but feeling honestly is the only path to healing and grasping the aftermath that lingers.
“War, that mad game , the world so loves to play.” Swift
I will be posting poetry from a select group of combat veterans I have come to know over the past ten years. They have given permission to publish these for the readers of the TucsonCitizen.com. They have not given permission for any other publication.
The first poem by Bill Black, a former Army officer and Vietnam Veteran, is from the title of one of his collections by the same name, “Old Eyes, Grey Souls.” The title in itself captures a reminiscent feeling for me. I recall my first teacher on the U of A campus, Father Robert Burns OP, head of the Religious Studies program, who once told me that my eyes looked so much older than my 23 years of age. I had been home from the war for nine months.
Black holds deep convictions about the effects of war on our societal structures. “While war makes history and shapes destinies of nations, the individual effects on the people involved need further discussion,” Black states.
The second writer/poet I have selected, is Pete Bourret. Pete is also a Vietnam Veteran, and served with the 7th Marines as a combat mortarman. Pete is currently working on his first novel, and has produced a documentary about his return trip to Vietnam; ” Strands of Wire Around My Heart.”
Old Eyes, Grey Souls
The old man was sad as he walked away.
He should not have seen what he saw today.
He hoped this group would escape it some way.
He knew it well from days gone by.
He knew the anguish would not die.
The young guys were still sitting there,
Not talking, just drinking. He could swear
They each remembered some personal “there.”
They were easy to tell from the other guys,
They were the young guys with the old eyes.
His own “there” had been along a riverside
In an area so low that it had a high tide
That had colored rust brown from the blood
From the bodies from friends that had stood
As part of a team, his buddies on each side.
Their lives and times were shaped in a way
That if they mentioned the place, few could say
That they had heard or knew of the place
Or what the guys went through. A look, a word, a face,
Or a scene was all it took for the memory to race.
So they sat with a stare so far away while memories replay
Places and days they wish would go away.
The eyes mirror a soul locked on a scene from that day.
Tears that they could not cry were frozen behind old eyes
Chilled from the depths of souls already grey.
The old man sighed as he remembered other guys
Who looked this way as their nightmares flowed into the day.
Long lost, dead, but never escaping the way
The eyes showed their souls,
So young in years, but already grey.
Bill Black/ Army Officer
THE SECRET LAW OF PHYSICS
Mortar round exploding
Shrapnel
racing
timelessly
aimlessly
endlessly
through dozens of Decembers until
the grunts child feels the burning metal shards of yesterday’s war
made unfairly present by daddy’s sentence in his prison of pain.
Shrapnel has no ears to hear a child’s whimpering under the covers
Shrapnel has no eyes to see the vacant stare of a childhood stolen
Shrapnel has no lips to count the thousand smiles that never were.
Shrapnel only has perpetual velocity
And
too much time on its hands. Pete M. Bourret
Spending Grace
The priest said it was the gift of a loving God/ A loving grace for everyone/ It seemed a part of the Church facade/ To us this Church would shun.
For us grace is a fragment/ Or pennies found or lost/ Or spent to buy moments/ For someone else’s cost.
We go on day by day/ As in little moments/ We spend grace away/ In meaningless events.
Yes it was the Priests promise to the poor/ A selling point in his salvation refrain/ But the only gifts in streets and wars/ Are numbing hunger and lasting pain.
Bill Black
Untitled
Stars everywhere/ Cricket chatter/ Cold beads of sweat– meet my hand—as it roams the geography of my face.
The thought is back
Someone in the darkness
wants to kill me.
Pete Bourret
“Veterans are the light at the tip of the candle, illuminating the way for the whole nation. If veterans can achieve awareness, transformation, understanding, and peace, they can share with the rest of society the realities of war. And they can teach us how to make peace with ourselves and each other, so we never have to use violence to solve conflicts again.” Thich Nhat Hanh
Some will snicker at the mushy nature of poetry. Yet, in a time like the present when language is used and abused to the sole end of dividing, I see it differently. It is the poet who does not permit us to be distracted by the base and carnival world of politics.
Both of these gentleman are award winning poets. I will share more from their collections in future postings.
Agent Orange Exposure On Navy Ships
Thanks to the Veterans Benefits Blog for dogging this intractable issue that is taking the lives of our veterans to this day. Forty years we have been fighting for full disclosure. I feel so sad for the families who lost love ones prior to the truth being told. One wonders how long this information has been known. I too experience the symptoms of Agent Orange, but praise be, it was discovered early enough to ameliorate some of the conditions. It is still difficult for me to allow into my consciousness that I was sprayed with chemicals by my own country. Desert Storm soldiers are just now being accepted for chemical exposure. And then Iraq of course, with Depleted Uranium et al. Is is possible that the WMD is in the dust?
Be sure to rent a real sleeper movie, starring the late John Ritter. It is titled, “Un-Natural Causes.” 1986. It is the true story about the history of the VA’s struggle with accepting the effects of AO, and the saga of one Maude DeVictor who was a benefits counselor at Hines Hospital in Chicago.
Just think, we are still treating sailors who were exposed to asbestos during WWll!
VA Creates List of Ships for Vietnam Agent Orange Presumed Exposure
by Audrey Beebe on September 7, 2011
Vietnam veterans who served on ships have been asking for decades for medical benefits due to exposure to Agent Orange. Until now, most of these veterans were not considered under the presumed exposure idea which covers the majority of Vietnam veterans who served on land.
The VA has listened. There is still a list of criteria that has to be met, and of course proof of service must be shown. There are several groups of ships and boats that are on this list.
The first, is a set of two categories: Mobile Riverine Force and Inshore Fire Support (ISF) Division 93. Both of these two groups are on the list.
The second, is a list of boat/ship designators:
- LCM (Landing Craft, Mechanized)
- LCU (Landing Craft, Utility)
- LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel)
- LST (Landing Ship, Tank)
- PBR (Patrol Boat, River)
- PCF (Patrol Craft, Fast or Swift Boat)
- PG (Patrol Gunboat)
- WAK (Cargo Vessel)
- WHEC (High Endurance Cutter)
- WLB (Buoy Tender)
- WPB (Patrol Boat)
- YFU (Harbor Utility Craft)
A veteran who served on a ship or boat with one of these designations will also have this information shown in their service records.
The third, and largest category, is simply an alphabetical list of every ship that counts for presumed exposure. There are a LOT of ships on this list. When looking for the one you served on, look under the first letter of the ship’s formal, full name.
If you cannot find the boat or ship you served on, but are certain that it should be included, there are ways to get it on the list. You will need to first file a claim for a condition that is related to Agent Orange, and provide proof that it was developed due to Agent Orange exposure, in Vietnam, on your ship.
Photo thanks to Kevin H. under creative commons license on Flickr.
Why I Write
In June of 2009 when the Tucson Citizen editor Mark Evans extended the offer to join the ranks of a handful of bloggers and lend some attention to Veterans Affairs, I accepted, but not without some trepidation about holding my own with genuine journalists. The likes of, Rene Shaefer-Horton and Hugh Holub, have decades of journalistic integrity and a loyal reader base.
With the guidance and tutelage of Mark Evans, a University of Arizona journalism instructor, and the the occasional rebuking and syntax correction of fellow blogger Carolyn Classen, I have managed to hang in with content that I hope is timely and compelling.
The feedback from the TC.com software indicates that Veteran Veritas, when disciplined, hovers in the 45-50 percentile range of reader interest. Sports rules! That tells me that it has been worth the modest dedication and rigor it takes to keep this Blog chugging.
There are days I feel like the “little engine that could,” yet in reading over the past two years of comments and private emails I am assured that Veteran Veritas has been helpful and occasionally enlightening for our community of veterans. It is for them I write and remain invigorated.
Cliche as the journalistic dictum may be, “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,” it remains as a guide.
When I received a call from the Department of the Air Force Public Information Office about a posting that spoke of planes at Davis Monthan being contaminated with Dioxin,(Agent Orange), I knew we were serving the interest of our population of veteran readers. They have not called again.
I write to connect. It seems to be have been my lot in life since childhood. Even as a young paper boy for both the Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Citizen, (my brother and I delivered for both in the same day), I was connecting my subscribers with each other. As the first paper boy for El Con Mall in 1959, everyone on my route knew of all the special sales at Dave Bloom and Sons, Mills Touche and Steinfelds and Gruenwald Jewlers. Connecting is a joy and blogging permits the flowering of a natural tendency.
The one aspect that provides the most fuel for blogging is the outreach to our veterans who bore the weight of battle. They deserve the best and most useful information available to enhance their quality of life.
Veterans of war frequently do not hold the same divisive and charged viewpoints as the dominant culture. It is vital that we remain connected and with solidarity–if only for the sake of vigilance. To protect our democracy we must grasp the historical meaning, burdens and ramifications of war, with all its consequent impact on society and the individual psyche.
Many of the postings of the past two years are no more than informational direction, with attribution, while others have been intended to heal and advocate for the disabled veteran. I try to leave editorial for the pros. There are plenty of them, including the self proclaimed ones! At times it is hard to resist or may even seem irresponsible to not add opinion, especially when a commenter is off base. But then that is the beauty of entering dialogues that only blogging affords.
As a 100% disabled veteran of the Marine Corps and a combat squad leader in Vietnam, I know well the dark night of the soul and the travails my comrades have experienced. For 12 years I worked as a Veteran Service Officer shepparding hundreds of men and women through the disability claim process. I have walked Point on that patrol and know well the nuances of the Congressional Federal Register Title 38 that dictates the process. Never did I imagine that we would be engaged in a now 11 year long war sending home so many wounded men and women. August was the deadliest month in the Afghan war.
It is for them I write and connect, with the full awareness that the validation of their experiences and the fellowship, as temporal as it may be, is the space that heals. I pray that Veteran Veritas has served that end.
As a student of history, it strikes me that the ecology of our society is more transformed by the connectors than the trench workers. Without the connectors, the bankers, politicians, automakers and pharmaceutical companies, have no juice.
The waterways, railroads, highways and phone companies have connected us for a century. It is now the Internet that trumps and transcends all of them as the world above the world that connects us in cyberspace and is the new unregulated democracy.
Journalism will survive and blogging is its ship. Veteran Veritas is a small cabin on that big boat. I invite you to continue to sail with us.
“Only the dead know the end of War.” Plato
” I am but a small pencil in the hand of God.” Mother Theresa
Veterans For Peace Gathering
PRESS RELEASE
The Wars Come Home
Veterans for Peace (VFP) monthly meeting
View the DVD “Crosswise” to learn what the cemeteries of Arlington West mean to U.S. soldiers coming home from and going to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan
Monday September 12 from 7-8:30pm at Ward 3 Council Office 1510 E Grant Rd Tucson
FREE EVENT call 298-7498 for more info
Gems From Veterans for Peace (VFP) Annual Convention
Highlights of the 2011 Annual VFP Convention will be presented at the monthly VFP meeting
Monday October 10 from 7-8:30pm at Ward 3 Council Office 1510 E Grant Rd Tucson
FREE EVENT call 298-7498 for more info
Veterans Symposium September 9th, 2011
PRESENTED BY
SOUTHERN ARIZONA VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
Activating Veterans Through Healthy Peer Relationships
Engaging Veterans to develop and sustain lasting peer relationships focused on healthy behaviors and activities: Empower Veterans to identify their own wants/needs
Enhance collaboration among current programs in Pima County Area in support of Veteran driven activities
Establish a network of mentors to offer coaching in healthy skills development .
Utilizing Technology and Social Media to promote peer driven relationships
Building 4,
Conference Room A & B
Where: Southern AZ VA
Health Care System
3601 S. 6th Ave.
Tucson AZ, 85723
Date: Friday, September 9, 2011
Time: 8:30 am to 3:30 pm
RSVP: Jeffrey Winter
Jeffrey.Winter2@va.gov
Sheila Sedig
Sheila.Sedig@va.gov
William Patterson
William.Patterson7@va.gov
For more information about the Southern AZ VA Health Care System
Visit: www.tucson.va.gov
Veterans Lead Symposium
Introduction and Mission Dr. Jeffrey Winter 8:30 – 9:00 a.m.
of the Symposium Health Behavior Coordinator
Southern Arizona VA Health Care
Social Skills Development Dr. Chris Segrin 9:00 – 9:30 a.m.
Chair, Department of Communications
University of Arizona
Resiliency Training M. Sgt William Naney 9:30 – 10:00 a.m. Arizona National Guard
Break 10:00 – 10:15 a.m.
Intergenerational Communication Dr. Jake Harwood 10:15 – 10:45 a.m.
University of Arizona
Therapeutic Recreation and Exercise Beth Lucas 10:45 – 11:00 a.m.
Therapeutic Recreation Supervisor
Tucson Parks and Recreation
Social Media as a Networking Tool Will Patterson 11:00 – 11:30 a.m.
OEF/OIF Patient Transition Coordinator
Southern Arizona VA Health Care
Lunch 11:30 – 12:30 a.m.
Breakout Work Sessions 12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
Utilizing the GROW Model
Goals, Reality, Options, What’s Next
Communication and Marketing
Measurement of effectiveness
Establish Priorities for this initiative
Nuts and Bolts of successful planning
Break 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Follow-up planning – What’s next 2:15 – 3:30 p.m.
Where does that leave us?
Commitments of participating organizations
Timelines
Flexibility
Veteran Veritas Gone Boatin'
I will be on vacation in Ventura and Santa Cruz, California until September 3rd, 2011. Thank you for all of your support in the past year.
While, this column is not the Tucson Citizen’s Blue Chip Blog, it has been read consistently and by way of feedback has achieved its original mission, which is advocacy for veterans and the creation of an open dialogue regarding all matters that impact the life of veterans, their families, and our nation. I have learned as much from the readers as I have offered. That is the clear and present beauty of blogging. Sort of like sitting in a coffee shop mulling over current events.
On a humorous note, one time last Fall, Veteran Veritas had as many readers as the sports blogs. It was Veterans Day and Marine Corps birthday,which helped a bunch. I was elated. Then my son called and mentioned the reason may have been that the U of A lost that week!
See you in September. Mike
Veterans For Change Press Release Regarding Agent Orange
Veterans-For-Change
11901 Samuel Drive
Garden Grove, California 92840
MEDIA RELEASE
Written by: Jim Davis IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Edited by: Barbie Perkins-Cooper
Date: July 31, 2011
Contact: Jim Davis, Founder & CEO – Veterans for Change – Jdavis92840@sbcglobal.net
Veterans Serving in Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and CONUS Still Denied…Denied…Denied
Garden Grove, CA – 08/04/11 – As the founder and CEO of Veterans-For-Change, an advocacy group for Veterans rights, benefits, and treatment, my co-members and I would like to bring to your attention the ever-increasing problems affecting veterans and their families every day.
Among the issues we would like to address are the following:
AO, TCE/PCE, Benzene Contamination (CONUS, Including Alaska, HI, and Canada, Panama Canal):
Every day, thousands of veterans who served in Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and CONUS are denied benefits they are entitled to for exposure to dioxin from Agent Orange and other defoliants. According to the website: http://www.vetshome.com/agent_orange_use_outside_of_viet.htm — “VA has received a listing from the Defense Department of locations outside of Viet Nam where Agent Orange was used or tested over a number of years. The information gives periods of time, locations and chemicals used. It does not contain units involved or individual identifying information. The listings are almost exclusively Army records although there are an extremely limited number of Navy and Air Force records. These listings relate only to chemical efficacy testing and/or operational testing. The records do not refer to the use of Agent Orange or other chemicals in routine base maintenance activities such as spraying along railroad tracks, weed control on rifle ranges, etc. Information on such use does not exist. VA will develop the listing for proof of exposure for claims for disabilities resulting from Agent Orange exposure outside of Viet Nam. VA does have significant information regarding Agent Orange use in Korea along the DMZ. DoD has confirmed that Agent Orange was used from April 1968 up through July 1969 along the DMZ. DoD defoliated the fields of fire between the front line defensive positions and the south barrier fence. The size of the treated area was a strip of lane 151 miles long and up to 350 yards wide from the fence to north of the civilian control line. There is no indication that herbicide was sprayed in the DMZ itself.
In addition to service overseas, we have countless thousands of veterans who served on many military bases stateside who were exposed to TCE, PCE, Benzene and approximately 35-45 more harmful chemicals, never provided safety and use instruction or equipment, and are now just as equally ill.
In both S.E. Asia and CONUS Agent Orange was used as a defoliant. In S.E. Asia, the chemicals were used to protect our troops and prevent the enemy from hiding in the foliage to kill many more of our fighting men and women. (Est. time frame of 1962-1975)
In the CONUS, [Continental United States] these harmful, debilitating herbicides were used to keep surroundings of various military buildings free from unwanted vegetation growth and keeps it clean and neat looking.
On all military bases, on board ships, everywhere mechanical components were cleaned and re-used TCE was the chemical of choice as a degreaser. PCE is the chemical of choice for dry cleaners, again never used with any protective gear.
Veterans who served in Korea and on the DMZ are denied benefits due to erroneous reports about where these chemicals were deployed and that there is no “residual life” of Agent Orange Dioxin which if it were true then why are we in Viet Nam helping the Vietnamese government to clean up the land that was contaminated some 40 years ago?
According to the reliable website, http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/ “October 13, 2009 Secretary Shinseki decided to establish service-connection for Vietnam Veterans with B cell leukemia, such as hairy cell leukemia; Parkinson’s disease; and ischemic heart disease. This is based on an independent study by the Institute of Medicine showing an association with exposure to Agent Orange. Vietnam veterans with these diseases may be eligible for disability compensation and health care benefits.”
Based on our research, interviews with veterans and additional resources as advocates for our military, Veterans-For-Change believes exposure to Agent Orange is truly exposure to a deadly chemical, regardless of the location where it was deployed. Please review the website http://thewe.cc/weplanet/asia/vietnam/agent_orange_victims_of-US_herbicide_spraying_vietnam.htm for further details. There have been far too many reports of illness, including cancers, Diabetes, heart disease, and many, many more – all related to service or tour of duty in a combat zone, or in a contaminated zone!
One of the chemicals in the Agent Orange herbicide combination contained contaminating traces of TCDD (dioxin). Dioxin has been shown to cause a variety of illnesses in laboratory animals. http://veteransinfo.tripod.com/Background_on_Agent_Orange.pdf. Studies also suggest that the chemical may be related to a number of cancers and other health effects in humans. http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/health_effects.asp The research data speaks for itself – Agent Orange was and is a deadly, toxic chemical, destroying the health and lives of many Veterans, including those who served in Korea and on the DMZ.
Many of these Veterans are continuously denied as the missions they served on were, and still to this day remain, classified by the DoD even though former President Bush signed executive order 13292 on March 28, 2003 http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/pdf/03-7736.pdf directing classified missions beyond 25 years be declassified. Veterans-For-Change, as an advocacy group, has as its mission to broadcast and inform all veterans about their rights concerning Agent Orange, regardless of when and where the military veteran was exposed. You, the legislators of our proud and courageous country owe a debt of gratitude and benefits and care to our veterans. Please take a stand and help us to provide the best care for our veterans. Take action today!
Block TRICARE Rate Increases
Veterans-For-Change joins with USDR and the National Association of Uniformed Services (NAUS) on this issue.
Military retirees and their families have earned the TRICARE benefit through 20 or more years of arduous uniformed service. What they have earned and what they have been promised should not be first in line for budget cuts when there are so many lower priority programs that should be chopped first.
As there have been no Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) http://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/colasummary.html for military retired pay for the past several years this increase in TRICARE fees will result in reduced military retirement pay.
You can block the Pentagon plan and stop the Pentagon from making a 13 percent increase in TRICARE Prime fees.
President Obama has said: “We have a sacred trust with those who wear the uniform of the United States of America, a commitment that begins with enlistment and must never end.” This statement was published in April, 2009. Isn’t it time for Congress and our Government to make these strong, compelling words come true for our precious Veterans who are finding living with the difficulties, physical and emotional wounds of combat more than they can tolerate?
If our nation rescinds its promises and ignores its obligation to those who have fought to preserve freedom throughout the world, we compromise the right to ask our men and women to serve and defend our national principals. The choice is yours.
Isn’t it time America and the VA treated our soldiers and veterans with the respect, and the benefits so promised.
Veterans-For-Change has been crying out to all 535 members of Congress now for four years as of April 2006, as President Wilson said, a leader’s ears must ring with the voices of the people! Do you hear us?
Veterans and their families are tired of campaign promises and yellow ribbons and endless speeches that mean absolutely nothing. We need politicians on Capitol Hill to take immediate action to truly support all Veterans. It has been said that “Actions speak more than words…perhaps now is the time to truly take action and show our Veterans, we are America. We are proud, and we support and service our Veterans who served so proudly to defend our Nation.
Vietnam Veterans Of America Praise PTSD Settlement
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Budget Smudget And Other Freakonomics
What astounds me the most about this budget process is how vacant the media is in the education arena. There are tremendous opportunities for, “The American People,” a phrase we hear 1000 times a day, and “the next generation,” which we hear another 200o times., to provide some insight and content about the actual budget process, wherein one would discover that there is so little wiggle room in discretionary spending that it makes most of this theater look like sandbox play. End the wars and the budget is balanced. Amen.
The “Other America,” has indeed been watching and listening, and we hold the media as culpable as the duopoly of ideational cotton candy.
As the saying goes the news today is, “coverage not content.”
Caterpillar Corp. has about 98,000 employees, with only 40,000 or so in the United States. Why? Lets answer that in front of the “American people.” You will then get closer to the revenue problem that cannot possibly be handled with political wrangling. I honestly think Newt Gingrich was right on when he made his faupa in front of fellow GOP members, by stating, “they are too engaged in social engineering.” That is the sponsoring thought my friends, and the cat is out of the bag. With the likes of the Carlyle Group buying up water rights around the nation and the sale/leaseback of public buildings to foreign investors, the budget debates are the grandest red herring in our democratic history. We are selling off our water and wind energy to Communist nations in the middle of the night, and no one seems to care or know.
This bullpucky about “The President has no plan,” is repeated in rote like it is some religious prayer. Presidents do not have their OWN plan. Never have. That happens to be our system of governing. Yet people suck it up on a Monday and by Thursday the entire nation are moo-cows repeating Rush Bimbaugh with ditto head phrases that even trick their own brains into thinking they are thinking.
As a long time non-partisan registered voter, I recall the wonderful ” Swiftboat” days where anything that came from the mouth of a veteran with a piss cutter on was gospel truth. Did you know that 3 of those men had to retract their stories,(that were paid for btw), because they were too stupid to realize the VA was listening? So, if there was no valor on that particular day for John Kerry, ( I do not like him btw), then they would have to turn in their own medals and give up their disability pensions. No news story ever followed.
The drum beat from the media was deafening as it is now, but nearly absent of accuracy and self correction. Remember the siren cries about Kerry not signing an SRF-180 form? You would have thought it was an act of sedition. It is only a damn request for records. He is a friggin Senator. They just send him his records. Period! Bimbaugh made it sound like the man would not take an oath and the whole nation fell for it. And we used to think only the Russians and Pravda were skilled at brainwashing.
The other doozy, sorry for the long analogies, but they are now current, is the blasting over the air waves about the Overseas ballots not being post marked in 2004. We must have heard that 100 times a week. Ladies and gentleman, mail from troops who are deployed has not been postmarked via the USPS since World War l. It comes through the Armed Forces network. Yet the nation fell for it and the media did nothing to correct, educate, or adhere to any standard of accuracy in reporting.
Now, today, this hour, we are witnessing the advent and implementation of the Supreme Court. Citizens United decision. Corporations can sponsor and say just about anything they want, with total impunity and not an ounce of rebuking from our once sacred Fourth Estate that has now been co-opted by pretty face journalism.
Add to that, the Supreme Court decision about “Stolen Valor,” the simple upshot that it is not unconstitutional to lie, and you have the ground work for unraveling a nation and inserting your private agenda. That is what Newt meant by social engineering.
I believe Satan just landed at LAX and is traveling America on bus tours.