Veterans News for Tuesday, May 31, 2011. part 2

Thanks as usual to Kevin Secor at VA HQ!

29.                       Paw Paw Couple Joins Gov. Rick Snyder For Signing Of Bill On Gold Star License Plates. Kalamazoo (MI) Gazette  "A Paw Paw couple whose son died in Iraq joined Gov. Rick Snyder on Thursday as the governor signed legislation creating a 'Gold Star Family' license plate that allows immediate family members of fallen servicemen and women to honor their loved ones. David and Laura De Roo of Paw Paw lost their son, Army Sgt. Gabriel De Roo, on Aug. 20, 2006, in Mosul, Iraq." Mrs. De Roo founded and serves as current president of a local chapter of the Blue Star Mothers of America.

30.                       Illinois Unveils Veteran's Exhibit At Lincoln Library. APIllinois Gov. Pat Quinn "started the Memorial Day weekend by unveiling the Portrait of a Soldier memorial exhibit at Springfield's Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Quinn was joined yesterday by Air Force Col. William Cobetto of Hillsboro and families of service members. Cobetto says 235 service members from Illinois have died abroad since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001."

31.                       USFK To Interview Ex-Employee In Agent Orange Probe. Korea Times  "The US military in South Korea said Saturday it will interview one of its former civilian employees who claims he witnessed the burial of toxic chemical Agent Orange inside a US army camp in the South in the 1970s. South Korea and the US are jointly investigating claims by retired US soldiers that they had helped dump large amounts of the toxic chemical in 1978 inside Camp Carroll in Chilgok, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. In another claim that could support the allegations, Koo Ja-young, a former South Korean contract worker living in Washington, told Yonhap News Agency earlier this week that he had witnessed the burial of Agent Orange at that time." A 33-year employee of US military forces in Korea, Koo claimed that other harmful chemical were buried elsewhere at the installation, naming its bachelor officers' quarters and base fire department.

32.                       US Army Dumped Chemicals In Imjin River In 1960s. Korea Times  "A new allegation has surfaced over the US Army's involvement in the disposal of toxic chemicals, including Agent Orange, into Korean waterways during its massive defoliation campaign in the 1960s. According to a document that The Korea Times obtained Sunday, a US veteran claimed that he released 25 to 100 gallons of leftover herbicide agents into major waterways, including the Imjin River, and by roadsides on a daily basis. 'It was common maintenance practice for us to release the remaining agents on to road ways, road sides, in rivers including the Imjin River or into creek beds,' Steve Witter stated in a letter to the State of Washington in 2004."

33.                       NBC Publicizes Federal Appeals Court's Harsh Words For VA Mental Healthcare. NBC Nightly News  A federal appeals court "has come down hard on the Department of Veterans Affairs, accusing it of 'unchecked incompetence' in providing mental healthcare for vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan." Correspondent Lisa Myers cites the case of former Marine Clay Hunt, who after being diagnosed with PTSD after combat duty in Iraq, committed suicide. His mother says he had to fight to get help from VA. "If he had had better care, he maybe would not be dead today," she states. Myers also notes that the court found "85,000 vets languish on waiting lists for mental healthcare. The seriously depressed sometimes wait more than eight weeks to see a mental health professional." She added that the agency "would not comment on the ruling or on whether it will appeal, but officials say they have placed high priority on reducing backlog and improving mental healthcare."

34.                       Top Veterans Affairs Official Visiting Alaska. Alaska Public News Radio Secretary Shinseki "will be in Alaska on Memorial Day" and will participate with Sen. Mark Begich at Memorial Day events in Anchorage, before they "travel out to rural Alaska that afternoon, which Begich says will give Shinseki insight into what Alaskan veterans face when trying to get services. Begich says it's important that Shinseki really see what it means when you can't hop in a car and drive across the state for treatment. To that end, they'll go together to Bethel and the village of Kwigillingok." With Sen. Lisa Murkowski, they will also hold a listening session in Anchorage on Tuesday afternoon.

35.                       After Combat, The Unexpected Perils Of Coming Home. New York Times For combat veterans ending tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, "One would think that going home would be the easiest thing troops could do. But it is not so simple. The final weeks in a war zone are often the most dangerous, as weary troops get sloppy or unfocused. Once they arrive home, alcohol abuse, traffic accidents and other measures of mayhem typically rise as they blow off steam. Weeks later, as the joy of return subsides, deep-seated emotional or psychological problems can begin to show." Some veterans also face the challenge of reconnecting with their children and spouses grown more independent in their absence.  

36.                       Troubled Veterans And Early Deaths After Iraq. New York Times  "an obscure government database called the Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem death file" contains records for veterans d benefits since 1973. It "provides a detailed portrait of the mental and physical wounds of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the high rate of suicides and risky, sometimes-fatal behaviors." A Freedom of Information request revealed that the VA "is aware of 4,194 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who died after leaving the military. More than half died within two years of discharge. Nearly 1,200 were receiving disability compensation for a mental health condition, the most common of which was post-traumatic stress disorder."

37.                       Aging And Returning Vets Putting A Strain On VA Benefits System. York (PA) Daily Record   York County's Director of Veterans Affairs Phil Palandro, assessing the challenges awaiting the VA from "10 years' worth of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seeking assistance in the form of PTSD treatment, drug and alcohol counseling or assistance with job placement," sees the agency as "strapped." He says, "They're working hard. There's not enough of them." Even though he sees the agency doing a much better job caring for veterans than it did in the years immediately after Vietnam, "he said the agency is still understaffed and underfunded at the state and federal level, resulting in a backlog of claims. He said local veterans frequently have to wait months for claims to be processed."

38.                       Elmira Museum Struggles To Attract Female Veterans. Elmira Star-Gazette  "As the Vietnam War Museum begins its third year, organizers say they are seeing more visitors and receiving more donations of photos and other items from veterans and their families. But the members of the Vietnam Veterans of America Maj. Robert H. Schuler Jr. Chapter 803 of Elmira, the operators of the museum, say they face a big challenge this Memorial Day weekend: how to attract more female Vietnam veterans from the area to their chapter and museum."

39.                       Veterans Memorial At Lake Nona Still Work In Progress. Orlando Sentinel   "In the shadow of the Orlando VA Medical Center taking shape at Lake Nona, a 4-by-8-foot red, white and blue banner announces: 'Future Site of Veterans Memorial Park.'" Vietnam-era veteran Jerry Pierce, who leads the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park Foundation, "has been working to build the region's largest veterans memorial next to the hospital at the Medical City in southeast Orange County." The group says that it has raised $400,000 of the $1.5 million needed to complete the memorial, and having added a professional fundraiser, it now plans to start construction in January and to complete work by the time the new Orlando VAMC opens in October next year.

40.                       Nurse At Truman VAMC Wins Award For Excellence. Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune Faith Andrulot, a licensed practical nurse at Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital, "was one of six national recipients of the Excellence in Nursing Awards from Eric Shinseki, secretary of Veterans Affairs, in an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. Andrulot, an employee at the hospital since 1994, works on the red team in primary care."

41.                       Mobile Clinic Brings Care To Local Vets. Sterling (CO) Journal-Advocate "On a weekend that we are remembering those who died for our country it seems appropriate to also honor our veterans and to note that many are dedicated to providing services throughout the year to those veterans. One of the current important services is that of healthcare that is brought to the veteran by the Cheyenne VA Medical Center's (CVAMC) outreach program. The VA Mobile Telehealth Clinic is set up at the American Legion every Tuesday with hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The clinic is a part of the Cheyenne VA Medical Center's outreach and emergency management programs."

42.                       50K Vets' Graves In Mass. Get First Flags. AP  "Hundreds of volunteers have traveled to Bourne to plant 50,000 flags at a military veteran's cemetery that until now has forbidden flags on the markers. The effort Saturday at the Massachusetts National Cemetery was organized by the family of Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti, a Medal of Honor recipient killed in Afghanistan in 2006." The cemetery "was designed to display rows of flags along the road in, but not near its flat markers, so it's easier to maintain the grounds. Under a new agreement, the flags can be placed at markers on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and removed a week later."

43.                       La. Museum Says Memorial Day Losing Identity In US.  AP   A survey done for the National World War II Museum in New Orleans "found that Memorial Day was losing its identity as a day to honor those who died defending the United States. 'We asked for the study to be done because we had a feeling the understanding of Memorial Day was tapering off,' said museum president Nick Muller. 'And it confirmed what we had been gathering anecdotally. Eight out of 10 people said they did not understand what the holiday was for.'"

44.                       Fiscal Worries Delay Opening Of Seneca County Veterans Cemetery. Rochester Democrat & Chronicle  Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery may not open, because the Seneca County, New York board of supervisors "now isn't certain it can afford it." The remains of at least 60 veterans are awaiting interment there. Local officials, who received 162 acres of land from New York State for the facility, "say they didn't know until February that the county would have to pay for the cemetery's operation."

45.                       United Warrior Survivor Foundation. CBS Evening News  "Since 9/11 more than three hundred elite special operations US personnel have been killed in Afghanistan and elsewhere." Correspondent Elaine Quijano profiles the United Warrior Survivor Foundation, who provides support to widows of Special Forces troops.

46.                       Veterans' Advocate Will Go To Prison. Peoria (IL) Journal Star  "An East Peoria man who had worked the past few years to help disabled veterans get additional money from the federal government was sentenced Thursday to just less than three years in federal prison. Authorities say John Haeffele stole more than $400,000 from the trust fund of a severely disabled woman." Haeffele had been appointed legal guardian and fund trustee for a 30-year-old woman with severe epilepsy, but put unauthorized withdrawals into his own account. He pled guilty last fall to one count of mail fraud; he will spend three years on supervised release after completing his 33-month prison sentence. A company Haeffle led also offered fee-based service for assisting veterans and their families with VA benefits.

47.                       Marine Corps League Auxiliary Sends Care Packages From The Heart To Troops.  St. Petersburg (FL) Times  Members of the Marine Corps League Auxiliary Holiday Unit 130 "gather once a month to send off care packages to members of the military stationed overseas -- many of whom they don't even know." Many of them wives or relatives of Vietnam era veterans, they include in every package they send a Marine Corps flag, and a note thanking the recipient for serving.

48.                       Doghouse Decorating Event In Temecula Will Benefit Veterans. Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise  "Volunteers are sought to help complete doghouses that have been donated for an upcoming event to benefit disabled veterans. On Sunday, the Temecula Vet Center will host the event, which runs from 4 to 6 p.m. Participants are asked to bring a paintbrush and decorations that they think would be appropriate." Next month, during "Dog Days of Summer" events, thee doghouses will go on display on the town mall, then be auctioned off, with proceeds going to two non-profits assisting disabled veterans.