{This blog is not affiliated with the VA. Though a Veteran, four yrs. all shore in Navy last year In-Country Vietnam, I don't work for the VA}
**USN All Shore '67-'71 GMG3 Vietnam In Country '70-'71 - Independent**

In 2003 some 72% of Americans fully supported the Abandoning of the Missions and those Sent to Accomplish so extremely Quickly after 9/11!!
At least some 95%, if not more as less then 1% serve them, not only still support the, just below, total lack of Sacrifice, they ran from any and all Accountability and left everything still on the table to be continually used if the political/military want was still in play in future executive/legislative wants!!
DeJa-Vu: “With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11", Decades and War From, All Over Again!!
Especially for the Corporate and Wealthy Community, investors in Defense Industries, and for these, Afghanistan and Iraq, came Two Huge Tax Cuts, with more sweetheart deals to same from states and the fed!!


Thousands of people across America don’t just talk about honoring Veterans; they walk the walk. Dedicated Volunteers Serve Veterans for Decades

On this Executive Administration, it's Cabinet and those directly around same, "Best - Ever": "We haven't had this kind of visibility from the White House—ever." Joyce Raezer National Military Family Association - Dec. 30, 2011, and plenty more of similar since Joyce, others, spoke and continues!

Ask yourself: If the Veterans Administration is so corrupt and mismanaged, as the conservative ideology, under which the seeds of are planted when they control, wants everyone to buy into as they obstruct the budgets and do extremely little after they charge same, then why does the Private sector, many problems within rarely heard about, adopt so many practices and advanced technologies developed within the VA, for free?! The VA, DoD, and in partnership with Universities and Colleges, not just Health Care are constantly in R&D and that developed that works is quickly moved into the private, for profit, sector, even as the VA is long under funded, decades, and especially during and after our wars that the few are sent into!

* * * * *
President Obama 26 August 2014
Fact: "This is not just a job of government. It’s not just a job of the veterans’ organizations. Every American needs to join us in taking care of those who've taken care of us. Because only 1 percent of Americans may be fighting our wars, but 100 percent of Americans benefit from that 1 percent. A hundred percent need to be supporting our troops. A hundred percent need to be supporting our veterans. A hundred percent need to be supporting our military families."

Fact: "We’ve been able to accomplish historic increases to veterans funding. We’ve protected veterans health care from Washington politics with advanced appropriations. We’ve been able to make VA benefits available to more than 2 million veterans who didn't have them before, including more Vietnam vets who were exposed to Agent Orange. We’ve dedicated major new resources for mental health care. We’ve helped more than 1 million veterans and their families pursue their education under the Post-9/11 GI Bill."

August 26, 2014 - Secretary Robert A. McDonald's Remarks for the American Legion's 96th Annual Convention, Charlotte, NC
Fact: "Unlike, P&G, VA may not be concerned about quarterly profit and loss statements or shareholder value, but it does have a bottom line—Veterans. "
{which is why No Government agency should be turned into a private corporate entity feeding for profit off the Countries duty and responsibility, especially the VA}
* * * * *

Fact: “We are dealing with veterans, not procedures—with their problems, not ours.” —General Omar Bradley, First Administrator of the Veterans Administration

Facts: Matthew Hoh {former Marine and foreign service officer in Afghanistan}: "We spend a trillion dollars a year on national security in this country."
"And when you add up to the Department of Defense, Department of State, CIA, Veterans Affairs, interest on debt, the number that strikes me the most about how much we're committed financially to these wars and to our current policies is we have spent $250 billion already just on interest payments on the debt we've incurred for the Iraq and Afghan wars." 26 September 2014

Fact: "If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American." -Andrew Rosenthal 10 Feb. 2013

Fact: "12 years also is a long time. We now have a lifetime responsibility to a generation of service members, veterans and their families." Dr. Jonathan Woodson 11 Sep. 2013: With 9/11 Came Lifetime Responsibility
 {two tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, came with these two recent unpaid for wars, nor the results of, DeJa-Vu all over again from the previous decades and wars from! Ignore the many issues, by those served, no need to fund!}

Fact: Sen. Bernie Sanders told Republicans: “If you can’t afford to take care of your veterans, than don’t go war. These people are bearing the brunt of what war is about, We have a moral obligation to support them.” February, 26th, 2014

Fact: 25 June 2014 U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller: Veterans' Affairs issue an 'all too similar' scene

Fact: How We Could Do More For Our Vets: "We need to go into debt to pay our debt to U.S. veterans to make sure they get the care and services we owe them."

Fact: “Why in 2009 were we still using paper?” VA Assistant Secretary Tommy Sowers “When we came in, there was no plan to change that; we’ve been operating on a six month wait for over a decade.” 27 March 2013

WHY? GOOD QUESTION THOSE SERVED SHOULD ANSWER!


Bob Herbert Losing Our Way : "And then the staggering costs of these wars, which are borne by the taxpayers. I mean, one of the things that was insane was that, as we're at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush administration cut taxes. This has never been done in American history. The idea of cutting taxes while you're going to war is just crazy. I mean, it's madness." Bill 'Moyers and Company': Restoring an America That Has Lost its Way 10 Oct. 2014

Presidential Proclamation -- Veterans Day, 2013: "As we pay tribute to our veterans, we are mindful that no ceremony or parade can fully repay that debt." read more>>>


Under two previous Executive administrations and wars from, father and son. With son and conservative congresses leading the extremely quick abandoning of the missions and those sent to accomplish after 9/11:

ProPublica and The Seattle Times Nov. 9, 2012 - Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans
"DeLara's case is part of a much larger problem that has plagued the U.S. military since the 1990 Gulf War: a failure to create and maintain the types of field records that have documented American conflicts since the Revolutionary War."

Part Two: A Son Lost in Iraq, but Where Is the Casualty Report?

Army Says War Records Gap Is Real, Launches Recovery Effort

3/27/15 - U.S. Nerve Gas Hit Our Own Troops in Iraq
"During and immediately after the first Gulf War, more than 200,000 of 700,000 U.S. troops sent to Iraq and Kuwait in January 1991 were exposed to nerve gas and other chemical agents. Though aware of this, the Department of Defense and CIA launched a campaign of lies and concocted a cover-up that continues today."
"When Brown and others tried to obtain their medical records to prove their illnesses were service-related, they learned that the records had disappeared."



Add in the issues of finally recognizing in War Theater and more Veterans, by the Shinseki Veterans Administration and the Executive Administrations Cabinet, what the Country choose to ignore from our previous decades and wars of: The devastating effects on Test Vets and from PTS, Agent Orange, Homelessness, more recent the Desert Storm troops Gulf War Illnesses, Gulf War Exposures with the very recent affects from In-Theater Burn Pits and oh so so much more! Tens of Thousands of Veterans' that have been long ignored and maligned by previous VA's and the whole Country and through their representatives!

How does a Country HONOR It's Fallen, by Their Own 'Sacrifice' in Taking Care of the Brothers and Sisters They Served With!!


"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." - Abraham Lincoln

"To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan" - President Lincoln

She wrote that she's proud of her service but added this: "That doesn't change the fact that I contributed - however indirectly - to human beings vanishing from the earth in a moment of sheer agony."



Homeless Veterans/Stand Downs

Are You Concerned About a Veteran? The Veterans Crisis Line Can Help>>>

For our sisters: National Women Veterans Hotline, call 1-855-VA-WOMEN1-855-VA-WOMEN (1-855-829-66361-855-829-6636) New Hotline now up and running

Saturday, June 11, 2011

"Veterans Unplugged" WIMS Radio AM 1420

From a VVAW, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, mailing we get the announcement of a new radio show by and for veterans, and everyone else, that everyone out of the listening area can stream online live or listen to in the archives. This is the send out received:

Three former Marines--Vince Emanuele, Jason Lewis and Mark Strudas,
each Iraq war veterans--have now established a weekly two-hour radio
show called "Veterans Unplugged" on radio station WIMS, AM-1420 in
Michigan City, Indiana, on the south shore of Lake Michigan. The show
can be heard live on Tuesday nights between 6-8 pm, Central time. The
web site is WIMS Radio.

This is a show that can be heard live-streamed over the internet, plus
they archive each show in the station's "audio vault," which can be
listened to at your leisure--and is organized by date.

They did a special "introduction" show on Saturday, May 28, and then
this week (June 7), shifted to the Tuesday night spot.

I haven't listened to the complete Introduction show, but this week
they had Johanna "Hans" Buwalda on for the first hour, talking about
mental health of veterans, including PTSD and associated problems.
Hans provides mental health care to veterans for free, as her work is
supported by VVAW. (VVAW is the only veterans organization who has a
trained mental health professional on its payroll.) There was a
caller from Findlay, Ohio who called in during the second part of the
show, and a local Michigan City nurse, Robin Lewis, called in to
provide some support and information to this Iraq vet after Hans had
ended her segment of the show.

For the second hour, as Mark had another engagement, the guys asked me
to sit in and talk about the wars, media coverage, US foreign policy
and a number of other interesting things.

Altogether, a very interesting two hour show, by veterans and for them
and everyone else. The program encourages people to call-in.

Also, all three of the hosts have been union members--in the
ironworkers, steelworkers and United Transportation Union--and are
strong supporters of the labor movement. Vinnie and Mark traveled to
Madison and Indianapolis earlier this spring as members of Iraq
Veterans Against the War (IVAW), supporting the struggles against
attacks on collective bargaining and other freedoms.

I encourage EVERYONE to check out this program: these guys are smart,
articulate, concerned, and I think you'll find they are creating damn
good radio. They plan to address a particular issue every week in the
first hour--next week is to be on veteran homelessness--with a more
general discussion the second hour.

Check it out, and please spread widely. Anyone with an internet
connection can listen to the show live--even if you are overseas!

In solidarity--

Kim Scipes
Former Sgt, USMC
Chicago

The archived links to the 'introduction show' for Memorial Day

Veteran’s Unplugged 5/28 pt 1
A Song by Jason Moon and introductions and backgrounds of our three hosts, the guys discuss the confusion when transitioning from active duty to civilian life

Veteran’s Unplugged 5/28 pt 2
Donna calls in to talk about the In Attendance Project for retired veterans, the guys talk about how to get funding and attention for veteran programs, students have been having problems getting their checks, Vinny talks about the history of Memorial Day, the corporate hijacking of Memorial Day, the guys discuss how they will celebrate Memorial Day, a lady calls in to talk abut the Crafts for Veterans program and the guys talk about how you know if a charitable program is genuine.

Veteran’s Unplugged 5/28 pt 3
A Josh Birchfield Memorial is taking place in Westville, discussion and the history of the “Bonus Army”, a rundown of local Memorial Day events, Aaron from Texas talks about “Operation Recovery” and the events that happened at Fort Hood, a caller has “adopted a soldier” and wants to know what to send, the guys talk about some of their favorite gifts while serving overseas.

Veteran’s Unplugged 5/28 pt 4
Another song by Jason Moon, Pam calls and talks about all the men in her life that served our country, Ryan calls in and talks about his work with the VA and how people can take advantage of those programs, what kind of questions should you NEVER ask a veteran, a call about a local community that displays flags throughout the season and thanks Ken for setting it up, talking about the issues veterans face when returning to civilian life.

I bring you the first regular Tuesday night show with players below.


Veteran’s Unplugged 6/7 Pt 1
Jason Lewis and Vinny Emanuele talk about singer/songwriter Jerry Hunt and play his song “Here in Chicago”. Johanna Hans Buwwalda joins the show to talk about counseling for veterans, PTSD and much more.

Veteran’s Unplugged 6/7 Pt 2
Jason Lewis and Vinny Emanuele talk with Johanna Hans Buwwalda about counseling for veterans, PTSD, returning from war and much more.

Veteran’s Unplugged 6/7 Pt 3
Jason Lewis and Vinny Emanuele are joined by Kim Scipes who is a professor at PNC. They listen to another song by Jerry Hunt and talk with Dr. Scipes about a variety of issues.

Veteran’s Unplugged 6/7 Pt 4
Jason Lewis and Vinny Emanuele are joined by Kim Scipes who is a professor at PNC.

Tune in and give support to the show and the topics and information covered and let your friends know as well!

Follow them on their Facebook page or at the Twitter site

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