The American Legion Department of Colorado Blog

Steve Brooks | The American Legion – March 11, 2010

When a soldier knows his family is being taken care of, it’s one less worry to deal with and makes focusing on the task at hand a little easier. That is why the U.S. Army has taken several steps to make sure the loved ones left behind have a few less worries of their own.

Maj. Gen. Reuben Jones, commander of Army’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command, briefed Legionnaires during the Washington Conference on the Army’s many family-support programs in place. Included in the briefing was an overview on Army OneSource, a Web site dedicated to providing support – via live chat, links to various programs, and online training for financial planning, managing a deployment and battlemind training for spouses. OneSource was created through the Army Family Covenant program.

“The Army Family Covenant has delivered so many different things … Things that, when you served, would have made you say ‘wow,’” Jones said. “This is what our Army has committed.”

Created two years ago under the direction of Army Secretary Pete Geren, Army Family Covenant resulted in the immediate hiring of 703 Family Readiness Support Assistants and directed $100 million to be targeted to Family Readiness Programs at 23 installations most impacted by the troop surge. The Army’s budget for family programs from 2007 to 2009 doubled, and the base request for fiscal year 2011 is $1.7 billion.

Other programs and improvements that were created through the Army Family Covenant are:

Supporting 249 enduring Army National Guard Family Assistance Centers; 
Increasing staffing and funding to hire 1,099 Family Readiness Support Assistants;
Increasing hours of respite care from 16 to 40 for families with exceptional Family members;
Providing 13 New Parent Support home visitors for high-risk families; 
Creating 477 Army Community Service staff positions to meet operational demands and staffing shortfalls; 
Increasing the number of Military Family Life Consultants; 
Establishing Soldier Family Assistance Centers for servicemembers in transition; and
Establishing Army Survivor Outreach Services, a standardized, multi-agency, decentralized approach to improving support for survivors of fallen soldiers.

“It’s important to reach out to our survivors,” Jones said. “Every time I call to them, I passionately say … ‘I’m making the same promise to you that I made to your soldier: That I will never leave a fallen comrade.’ This office keeps that Army promise.”

There also has been a heavy focus on Children, Youth and School (CYS) Services within the Army. There are now 25 states that are members of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, as opposed to 11 in 2008. The compact’s goal, through a variety of methods and programs, is to remove barriers to educational success imposed on children of military families because of frequent moves and deployment of their parents.

The Army has also:

Increased respite child care availability; 
Eliminated CYS registration fees; 
Increased support for warriors in transition families, including no-cost hourly child care to families and caregivers during medical treatment appointments;
Sustained 100 percent Department of Defense Certification for all garrison Child and Youth Programs and achieved current external accreditation for 99 percent of Child Development Centers and 100 percent of school-age programs by national professional accrediting agencies.
Expanded community-based outreach services in 50 states to deployed active, National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers through Operation: Military Kids, Operation Military Child Care and Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood; and
Initiated a comprehensive CYS construction program.

The day care aspect is critical, Jones said.

“An outside agency, about three months ago, issued their report, and they praised our child care as the best in the world. Not the Army. Not DoD. Not America, but the world. That’s because we invest so much money in it,” Jones said. “We want the soldiers, when they are doing their missions, we don’t want them worrying about where (their) kids are staying.”

http://www.facebook.com/FamilyMWR

Wide-Ranging Partnerships and VA Commitment Credited

WASHINGTON – The number of Veterans homeless on a typical night dropped 18 percent as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) entered the second year of its campaign to eliminate homelessness among Veterans within five years.

“It will take the dedication, creativity and hard work of many parts of American society to end homelessness among Veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.  “But mostly it takes the resolve to say: It is unacceptable for a single Veteran to spend the night on the streets of America.”

VA’s Community Homeless Assessment Local Education and Networking Groups (CHALENG), which conducts a widely cited, annual census of homeless Veterans, estimated 107,000 Veterans were homeless each night last year.  That figure was 131,000 in 2008 and 154,000 in 2007.

“The reduction was achieved through VA’s commitment to end homelessness among Veterans through enhanced collaboration with other federal, state, faith-based, Veteran service organizations and community partners,” Shinseki said.

VA has approximately 4,000 agreements with community partners.  Last year, more than 92,000 homeless Veterans were served by VA’s specialized homeless programs.  This is an increase of 15 percent from the previous year.

An important program that has helped Veterans leave homelessness began in June 2008 when VA partnered with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  VA provides dedicated case management to homeless Veterans, and HUD provides housing vouchers to Veterans and their families.  Since the program, called HUD-VASH, began, 20,000 housing vouchers have been given for homeless Veterans.

A recent VA study of Veterans discharged from VA-funded residential rehabilitation and transitional housing programs indicated that 79 percent remained housed one year after discharge.

Many homeless Veterans are treated in VA mental health programs.  National policies on suicide prevention, medication management and substances abuse have improved the lives of homeless Veterans.

“To eliminate homelessness, we must help more than Veterans currently without a place to live,” said Shinseki.  “We must prevent approximately 27,000 new Veterans who are at risk of becoming homeless from crossing that tragic line each year.”

The American Legion – March 3, 2010

By sheer coincidence, The American Legion commemorated its 50th Washington Conference by sending to Capitol Hill a national commander named “Hill.”

    Clarence Hill started his trip to Congress soon after his Commander’s Call on Tuesday at the Renaissance Washington Hotel downtown, accompanied by a six-person entourage that included Steve Robertson, the Legion’s Legislative director.

    The commander’s first stop was meeting the delegation from the Department of Michigan at the Cannon House Office Building. He shared a fine lunch spread with them, and then met the Legion delegation from Florida.

    While there, Hill spoke with Rep. Thomas Rooney, R-Fla., who showed up to address the Legionnaires from his state.

    The commander wrapped up his Hill visit by meeting with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. She listened to Hill and Legionnaires from her state as they discussed several veterans’ issues, including the VA claims backlog and its new guidelines concerning service-connected illnesses of Gulf War veterans.

    The group also expressed concern over the unreasonable delays – sometimes up to six months – that some veterans and their spouses in Maine have experienced before receiving benefit payments from VA.

    Hill noted a recent Capitol Hill victory for Legionnaires: passage of a bill in Congress that allows advance funding for the VA health-care budget.

    Many Legionnaires from across the country descended upon Capitol Hill. Delegations from many departments could be seen in the halls of the Cannon, Longworth, Dirksen and other congressional buildings.

    For 50 years, The American Legion has gone to Washington, reminding Congress of its obligations to veterans, servicemembers and their families. And for 50 years, the Legion’s efforts have contributed to many legislative successes on veteran’s issues.

Real Warrior Describes Post-traumatic Stress

By: Elaine Wilson American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2010 – When Staff Sgt. Megan Krause returned home from a deployment in Iraq in 2006, she thought the scariest moments of her life were over.

At her homecoming, “I ran to my mother in that hangar; we both cried tears of joy,” said Krause, now an Army Reserve medic attached to a combat engineering unit in Pennsylvania. “I told her it was over and I was fine, “Boy, was I wrong.”

Krause later found herself waging a terrifying war with post-traumatic stress disorder. She described the battle and her road to recovery here today during the Real Warriors Campaign session at the 2010 Suicide Prevention Conference sponsored by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

Krause said she hit rock bottom while a student at Penn State University about two years after her deployment.

“It was when I found myself face down in the mud pit, in the middle of a pigpen in State College, Pa., running from the insurgents that I thought were chasing me, that I realized I had not yet survived,” Krause said. “I might not have been having suicidal ideations, but I was well on my way to killing myself.”

Krause said she drank a bottle of red wine every night just to get to sleep. “It’s scary because you know you party harder than the average college kid and then get behind the wheel of your car because you just don’t care anymore,” she said. “It’s scary because you know you’re not going to class or work and you’re throwing your life away.

“And you don’t know how to stop the cycle.” Her nights, she said, were filled with nightmares of explosions and friends she couldn’t save in time.

“I didn’t want to die, but I wasn’t leaving myself with many other options – until I asked for help,” she said. Help came in abundance, she said. “My [Reserve] unit wanted nothing more than to help me. They encouraged me to talk to the VA, talk to them.” Her first sergeant admitted he, too, was seeking help for post-traumatic stress and told Krause it was the best decision he ever made.

“His words were ringing in my head that scary night as I rolled over [in bed] and called (the VA) for help,” she said. “I knew I couldn’t keep going down the path I had chosen.” Two “battle buddies” showed up at 3 a.m. to drive her to the hospital.

Through the VA, Krause found the help she needed and, despite her initial embarrassment, “I discovered here was no shame in admitting that I was in trouble and needed help,” she said.

“In fact, I earned more respect for seeking help and facing my problems head on than I ever had while failing to be the [noncommissioned officer] I wanted to be.”

Wanting to help others waging similar psychological battles, Krause volunteered to share her story through the Real Warriors Campaign.

This initiative, launched by the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, features stories of servicemembers who have sought treatment and continue to maintain successful military or civilian careers, according to the campaign’s Web site. These efforts are aimed at combating the stigma associated with seeking psychological health care and treatment.

Krause appears in several public service announcements on the campaign’s site at realwarriors.net. The response to her coming forth with her story has been amazing, she said.

A short time ago, Krause said she received a late-night call from a college friend, also a veteran, who had seen her PSA. He “was driving his Mustang down the back roads of Pennsylvania at 70 mph, drunk, willing himself to turn into a tree,” she said, fighting back tears. Her friend was the same “battle buddy” who had driven her to the hospital a year prior, “and now he needed a return favor.”

 He asked her to tell him her story and she poured forth every detail — the sleepless nights, drinking, terror, stress and that “moment of clarity, all the while begging him to pull over to the side of the road.”

 He did pull over and, like Krause, sought help for his post-traumatic stress.

“He said, ‘Promise me you will keep doing what you’re doing because there are people out there who need to hear it,’” she said.  Krause encouraged conference attendees to use the Real Warriors site, which includes links to resources, a live chat room, and information about the Defense Centers of Excellence Outreach Center, a 24/7 call center staffed by health resource consultants. The Outreach Center can be reached toll-free at 866-966-1020 or via e-mail at resources@dcoeoutreach.org.

Krause said coming forth takes courage, but it’s well worth the effort.  “Our stories need to be shared with anyone who has struggled or may struggle in the future, so they too can win this terrifying battle,” she said.

“I’m winning the battle with PTSD and you can too.”

The American Legion – January 14, 2010

Legionnaires are asked to rally support for the flag amendment in both the House and Senate.

House Joint Resolution 47, introduced by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., currently has 80 co-sponsors.

Thanks to the efforts of Legionnaires in the departments of West Virginia, Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana and Idaho, all of those respective states’ representatives have signed on as co-sponsors.

The amendment, which reads, “The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States,” currently is assigned to the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties. H.J. Res 47’s companion piece in the Senate – S.J. Res. 15, introduced by Sen. David Vitter, R-La. – has 26 co-sponsors. The measure has been referred to the Senate’s Committee on the Judiciary.

To keep up to date on the flag amendment and all other pieces of legislation moving through Congress, visit the Legislative Action Center

The American Legion – January 14, 2010

A scheduled $1 increase in veterans’ medical co-payments will be delayed until June 30, VA has announced. Out-of-pocket payments were formerly set to rise to $9 for pharmaceuticals treating ailments not connected to military service, per 30-day supplies of medicine.

During this period, VA will also keep $960 as the maximum for annual out-of-pocket payments for pharmaceuticals for non-service-related conditions. The $960 cap will not apply to veterans in Priority Groups 7 and 8. The yearly maximum out-of-pocket payment was scheduled to increase to $1,080.

There are no copayments associated with the treatment of conditions related to military service.

Marriage: WWII and Today

January 13th, 2010 by Yellow Rose

Today would have been my parents wedding anniversary. They “ran off” to a little town 40 miles from home and got married. It was the middle of WWII and my dad was going back on duty after being home on leave.

It got me to thinking, why do couples do that? Get married during wartime, I mean. Do they feel they would regret it if they waited? Do they want to have an heir just in case their GI doesn’t come home? Do they really consider the consequences or do they do it in the heat of the moment?

“Most of these relationships were forged when the world was a dangerous place and life was uncertain. Couples were forced to confront the profound emotions and passions that come with the reality of separation and the prospect of death.” Tom Brokaw – The Greatest Generation

I don’t know exactly why my parents married at that particular time. Why they felt they had to do it then and not wait. My parent’s marriage lasted till death did them part. Today, many war time marriages are taking place. Unfortunately, many of them are ending as quickly as they happened.

What’s different now than it was during WWII? Is divorce just so much more easy and common? Is it because there isn’t as big a social stigma attached to it? Are the horrors of war that different? Do people just give up easier? Or were there just as many then?

Lots-of-questions? Have you got any thoughts on this subject?  If you do, go to www.burnpit,legion.org and write it on their blog.

The American Legion – January 12, 2010

Minnesota Legion family members are requesting help in rounding up global positioning system units to donate to U.S. servicemembers deployed to the Middle East.

The American Legion, Auxiliary and other organizations have been buying and donating Lowrance iFINDER GPS units to U.S. servicemembers; through Operation Waypoint, the St. Augusta American Legion Post and Auxiliary Unit 621 have given away over 200 of these units to date. But with new technology, Lowrance has improved its handheld GPS units, so the sale and distribution of iFINDERs has been discontinued. The company’s new handheld Endura does not have the chip developed for navigation in the Middle East at this time.

With the deployment of 30,000 U.S. troops in the next few months, Operation Waypoint is asking that anyone with a Lowrance iFINDER, H2O, Hunt, Expedition or Pro GPS unit in working condition consider donating them to the troops. The GPS units can be dropped off at any American Legion post or Gander Mountain store. The donor will receive a note of appreciation from the American Legion Auxiliary, with a statement of donation value for tax purposes.

Those donating GPS units (Lowrance only) need to provide their name, address and phone number. The GPS units, along with the personal information, should be shipped to the St. Cloud Gander Mountain store. Store employees will inspect the units and then load the Middle East details on a chip before shipping the units and chips to the deploying troops.

DENVER, COLORADO – U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – Eastern Colorado Health Care System will host a grand opening ceremony for its new, state-of-the-art Primary Care Telehealth Outreach Clinic (PCTOC) at the Heart of the Rockies Medical Campus, 1000 Rush Drive, Salida, CO on January 15, 2010 at 11 a.m. VA Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Policy and Planning, Ms. Pat Vandenberg will attend and offer remarks.

This Primary Care Telehealth Outreach Clinic represents the VA’s commitment to moving top-quality health care into rural areas to speed delivery and increase convenience for rural veterans.  This commitment was demonstrated in May 2009 when the VA Office of Rural Health announced a grant award of over $7 million to create ten PCTOCs in VISN 19.  The Salida Clinic is the first of the ten PCTOCs to be opened.

Medical care will be delivered to veterans at the Salida PCTOC using the latest in telehealth technology.  Telehealth is the delivery of health-related services and information via telecommunications technologies. Veterans at the Salida clinic will see and be treated by a physician located at the Pueblo, CO VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic via sophisticated videoconferencing equipment.  Medical staff is also on sight to attend to veterans’ needs.

Veterans enrolled and receiving health care through VA may change their preferred facility to Salida. They will be assigned to the primary care provider and issued an appointment if necessary.

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