Category Archives: Veterans Benefits

Important Notice To All Veterans

life is the first gift,love is the second, understanding the third.

Subject: Veterans Notice

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The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is warning Veterans not to give credit card numbers over the phone to callers claiming to update VA prescription information. Veteran Service Organizations have brought to VA’s attention that callers are misrepresenting the VA to gain personal information over the phone. They say VA recently changed procedures for dispensing prescriptions and ask for the Veteran’s credit card number. Veterans with questions about VA services should contact the nearest VA medical center or call, toll-free, 1-877-222-8387.

You are subscribed to Veterans’ Benefits for Disability.gov. This information has recently been updated, and can be read by visiting this link:

http://www.disability.gov/benefits/other_benefits_programs/veterans.

Legislative Update

We offer our continued thanks to the diligence that comes from the Legislative, Policy and Government Affairs people at Vietnam Veterans OF America.

LEGISALTIVE ALERT Support passage of S. 252 Take Action!

Veterans Health Care Authorization Act of 2009

Congress has now returned from its August recess. A number of bills important to veterans and their families have been approved and reported at the Committee level but are waiting for a full vote and final Congressional passage. One extremely important measure in the U.S. Senate is S. 252, the Veterans Health Care Authorization Act of 2009. This bill was sponsored by Senator Daniel Akaka (HI), Chairman of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and is co-sponsored by Senator Richard Burr (NC), the Committee’s Ranking Member, as well as seven other Senators. This comprehensive bill includes provisions to improve Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) personnel programs; improvements in VA health care services; enhancements in women veterans’ care; expansion of mental health services, new programs in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and expansions in VA programs for homeless veterans.

VVA has testified on many of the provisions incorporated into this bill. In fact Congress considered many of these provisions in 2008, but they were not passed due to disagreements over unrelated issues. Veterans and their families need your help to get this bill enacted into law this year.

VVA urges you to contact your two U.S. Senators to request their support for passage of S. 252, the Veterans Health Care Authorization Act of 2009.

As always, VVA thanks you for your advocacy on behalf of our nation’s veterans.

A Call For Assistance/ Marine Corps League

New MC League Charter in Tucson
New MC League Charter in Tucson
The proposed Marine Corps League, Nighthawk 72 Detachment, has asked for our assistance here at the Citizen.

This newly chartered Marine Corps League is searching for 9 more Marines to join this fine group of men and women to fulfill the legal charter requirements. They just learned that transfer members are not to be counted in the roll call for a new charter. They have plenty of active and vibrant members, it is just that many are transfers. They need brand new members.

MCL is one of the finest advocacy organizations for veterans in the nation. Help us get this Charter up and going, so we can begin to further the work needed to support our men and women returning home.

For information contact Don LaVetter at 520-623-7471 “dontfg@cox.net” or
Fernando Leon Jr. 520-400-4096

Advocacy or Veracity

Okay Citizens of the World, and the astute and quick to respond TucsonCitizen.com bloggers and commenters, I anticipate that I will be nabbed here for being “partisan”, as some of our fans see it everywhere to the point where I think that during a Monday Night Football match they would want the game to be stopped because the opponent does not agree with them, and are therefore ‘partisan!’ Whatever.

Here is my educated and small world take on Health Care, colored with 34 years industry experience. VA System, St.Marys and UMC Mental Health, while in Nursing School, and as a Veterans Benefits Counselor.

This is small stuff folks so be gentle now, the summer of aberration is over.

All the flap about the Government destroying free market enterprise does not pan out. Most all Health Care markets are a near monopoly pre-determined by the giant HMO”s who pretty much decide who will take a certain market and leave another alone. Retired health care professionals will testify to this gimmick. It is very much like the old Mob families. Except the mob was managed better.
But here’s the thing. The VA Home Loan program, which I know intimately, has been sitting side by side with FHA el al, since the 1940’s. Has it dented, damaged or demeaned the competition in the home loan industry? No, not one iota. In fact it has bolstered the entire competitive nature of the home loan industry, and regulated itself so as to not have the internal fraud, and disgusting greed and malice that we have seen this past 5 years.

I beseech you, who do you want as your trustworthy Uncle in this scenario, Uncle Sam, or Uncle Guido? The argument of the Government,(which is still us, last time I woke) destroying Capitalism in America is pure nonsense. Even the icon, Reagan knew this well as he vociferously defended deficit spending. Without the Government intervening, Capitalism is but a paper dream, especially now.

And last, from my small world, I just want this one on the record, as my bookie told me to!

In the next few weeks or so, we are going to witness the VA Health Care system come off the bench and enter the health care game as a ringer. They are going to make some 3 point shots from, “downtown” as the sportscasters say, and blow partisanship right out of the saddle.

Not unlike Ted Kennedy’s Title lX Legislation for gender equity in sports that passed 35 years ago, no Donkey or Elephant will ever squawk about their daughter getting an athletic scholarship for a College sport that heretofore they never would have been awarded. My cousin Christine Caliway got one for the UofA Basketball team. This never would have happened without that fine bi-partisan legislation. Something tells me this debate is similar. If 24/7 Cable television took a 30 day break like Congress does, it may happen faster.

So, stay tuned, I say the VA is coming to a theater near you.

Agent Orange on the March

Only in the ranks of dark veteran humor will you hear the phrase, “Agent Orange, the gift that keeps on giving”. But then how else are you going to handle getting sprayed with chemicals by your own Government?

Agent Orange Linked to New Diseases

In its recent review of medical research into the long-term effects of exposure to herbicides in Vietnam, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded that there is a suggestive link between exposure to Agent Orange and Is chemic Heart Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and certain rare cancers.

In the same review, the IOM affirmed its earlier conclusion that there is a significantly increased risk of developing hypertension in those who served in Vietnam.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars is calling on the VA to fully recognize these findings and award presumptive service connection for veterans suffering from these diseases who were exposed to Agent Orange.

In 2000, a similar study found a link between Agent Orange and Type II Diabetes. Those findings led the VA to recognize presumptive service connection for Vietnam veterans suffering from the disease.

“Based on this data, the VA should take swift action,” says Gerald Manar, Deputy Director, National Veterans Service. “The VFW is pushing for full recognition of conditions linked to Agent Orange exposure, along with proper medical care and timely compensation.”

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New Veteran Club in Town

This past Friday, September 4th, a group of Iraq and Afghan Vets gathered at the Downtown Campus of Pima Community College to form a new Veterans Club. The timing is right and the energy is high for these young warriors to gather together in a brotherhood of common experiences and guide themselves through the trails of academic life.

I only wish we had such camaraderie after the Nam. Possibly college life would not have been laced with as many obstacles as the war itself. With only 10 years to use the GI Bill, it took many vets that long to adjust, and by then the benefits were gone.

These men and women are on their game. The organizational skills of many of the first time attendees were impressive. The group of soldiers, sailors and Marines wasted no time in electing a slate of officers and establishing meeting times, currently to be on Fridays at 1pm in the Student Life Conference Room at the Downtown Campus.

The club members submitted a variety of names and selected the name; PCC Vets4Vets.

The officers for the Charter Organization are as follows:

President: Scotty Scotton/ United States Army veteran of 5 Conflicts

Vice President: Chris Clemens/ United States Army

Secretary: Levi Godkin/ United States Navy

Treasurer: Sam Rodenberger/ United States Army

Faculty Advisor: Tim Kelliher/ Army Ranger/ 206-7207

Student Life Coordinator: Bill Marshall/ Work Study/ Former Parachute Instructor.

Staff Program Coordinator: Mike Lopez/ 206-7528

At Large Resource Staff: Bob Hyde/ United States Navy Submarines/ Adjunct Teacher in
Business and Tutor. Owner of Artistic Gifts on 4th Ave.

Michael Brewer/ United States Marine Corps/ Chaplain for Pointman
Ministries Inc/ Service Officer Marine Corps League Nighthawk 72
Detachment/ Mentor for Merritt Retreat Center for Returning
Veterans. 540-7000

Community Business Boosters: Civano Hair Salon in La Placita Village/ Sandra
Century 21 Heritage Real Estate/ Steve Sisson PhD.dog-tags
Cars4Vets

For more information contact the PCC Vets4Vets President; Scotty Scotton at 272-7031 or the Campus staff; Mike Lopez at 206-7528

SERV/ Supportive Education for Returning Veterans

The University of Arizona has a tremendous vanguard program for transitioning to academic life. The University Teaching Center in collaboration with the Southern Arizona VA Health Care, are offering an academic and workforce success program for returning veterans. The program consists of three college-credit courses that are cohort based wherein you will take these classes with other veterans. This program is tailored made with all of the veterans concerns at heart.
The classes increase your resilience and ability to manage stress, something I wished I had learned how to do prior to starting my college coursework right out of Vietnam…. a mistake. Ergo; 10 years to complete my degree!

There is a focus on memory improvement, problem solving skills, and working with the residual symptoms that linger from war. The fact that these classes are taken in the safe environment of peers is testimony to its innovative approach.

Call Maralynn Bernstein at the Veterans Affairs Service Office at the U of A. 520-621-950142-15560571

33 Million in Grants For Job Training

The Department of Labor expects to outreach to at least 18,000 veterans in the form of 115 Grants to help them find jobs. These funds will be distributed amongst public agencies and non-profits in 33 States.

A huge portion of those grants are earmarked for homeless veterans. $25 million to be exact.
The Department of Labor says these grants will provide vets with the following services;

Skills assessment
Individual Job Counseling
Class room training
Skills upgrading and retraining.

One of the assets to this program is that all you have to show is your DD-214. You do not have to have a disability rating.

Another 7.5 million is intended to help approximately 3000 vets find “green jobs” through the Veterans Workforce Investment Program. The jobs are to be in energy efficiency, renewable energy and clean vehicles. (does that mean more car washes!) Information can be gained at “wwwdoleta.gov” “Green Jobs” Also at “www.dol.gov/vets

For The Good of the Order

President Barack Obama and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs met with a group of journalists recently to declare their promises to restore faith in the the VA System. Those declarations were thus;

To reach out to all Veterans and bring them into the system. Enrollment is open again for Priority 8 clients.

The electronic medical records system is to be installed at every facility

More resources dedicated to mental health

Veterans health benefits will not be reduced or impacted in any way by national health care reform. (note this is health care reform, not insurance reform).

Insure that veterans are not denied benefits because links have not yet been made to war-zone burn pits. Evidence is still coming in and no premature decision should be made, like the exposure to the atomic tests in the 1950’s. Agent Orange in Vietnam,( which is now known to have been utilized 2.4 times more often than was reported), or toxins in the 1991 Gulf War.

Boosting the VA funding is going to be a necessity for many years to come as the Iraq and Afghan vets rotate home for maybe the next 10 years. We know this will be the case, and this time around we can plan ahead instead of crimping the VA budget, just to go begging and then have the media shout that we are not taking care of our troops.
The bean counters are struggling with this, as we have never in the history of modern warfare had so many survivors who have lost limbs and mental faculties. As we provide a guardianship for the world this going to pester us for years to come

Get By With a Little Help From My Friends; At Toastmasters.

As a member of Toastmaster Eyeopeners club, it stuck me that the value of training that Toastmasters International provides when coupled with men and women who are taking advantage of the new GI Bill, could afford us one incredibly empowered crop of Graduates.

As one of our senior members; Jim Davis stated at one of our breakfast meetings, “can you imagine four years of Toastmasters along with four years of College?” Well, I can. And knowing how difficult it was for me to communicate when I returned from the Vietnam War, the notion of refining communication skills in a safe and fun environment like Toastmasters is quite appealing. So appealing that I think we should find a way to sponsor a returning veteran in one of the many area clubs. Now that would be called, “Support the Troops” par excellance!

The purpose of Toastmasters is to provide a mutually supportive and positive environment in which every member has an opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self- esteem and personal growth. Kinda like the Armed Forces itself! The whole aspect of self-actualization in a safe, caring, help your buddy setting seems to be the perfect assist for a college student.
And,the core values of Toastmasters, integrity, dedication to excellence, service to the member, and respect for the individual are just the right recipe for a veteran transitioning to civilian life. My hope is to make this a codified national outreach program for Toastmasters International. Tell me what you think. Or leave a message on a hot-line for Vets. 540-7000