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Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on Wednesday directed the Pentagon to seek new healthcare management software that would better integrate military health care records with the Department of Veterans Affairs. snip

As I type my thoughts for this coming Memorial Day, it is my prayer that are worthy of surviving the flurry of other current events and will have an impact on those who read them and perhaps, will be referred to on other occasions and perhaps help drive the remembrance on future Memorial Days. I always experience a bit of dread as I ponder how to say something of relevance that goes beyond the standard “honoring those who gave all for our freedom” which gets circulated by so many writers while so many Americans head to the beach or prepare...

You know what the IRS is really great at? Breaking its own laws. In addition to targeting conservative groups, the corrupt government agency has also been singling out disabled veterans. They do this by using banks to launder and then stealing the veterans’ disability checks. Shameful. The Veterans Disability Act of 2010 exempts VA disability from withholding of any sort. But the IRS has been stealing disabled veterans’ money anyways. Kevin Lake is a 60% disabled veteran of the Iraq War. A few months ago, he noticed that his VA disability check had not been deposited, and that his bank...

WASHINGTON — A House panel has approved legislation that would greatly curtail when veterans deemed mentally incompetent are reported to the FBI’s background check system. --snip-- But the House Committee on Veterans Affairs approved legislation requiring a judge’s order before a veteran’s name is submitted to the database. Lawmakers said veterans who are not a threat to harm themselves or others should not be denied a constitutional right to buy and possess guns.

Last January, Walmart announced their upcoming initiative to offer a job to any honorably-discharged U.S. military veteran, set to begin on May 27. It was an idea that the White House applauded, with Michelle Obama saying that “Wal-Mart is setting a groundbreaking example for the private sector to follow.” As you might imagine, the AFL-CIO doesn’t like that at all. Behold, a statement from their president, Richard Trumka, on the “White House facilitating Walmart’s public relations move”: Walmart’s recent announcement of a plan to hire returning honorably discharged veterans is more about public relations than honoring our heroes. That this...

AFL-CIO blasts White House over Walmart veterans program By Justin Sink - 05/07/13 10:00 AM ET AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka blasted President Obama and Vice President Biden for championing a Walmart program that guarantees a job to returning veterans. "Walmart’s recent announcement of a plan to hire returning honorably discharged veterans is more about public relations than honoring our heroes," Trumka said in a statement. "That this effort was valorized by President Obama and Vice President Biden reflects an acceptance of economic failure out of line with America’s history or future." Last week, the president and vice president spoke at...

A wounded Marine veteran who owns a bar and grill in a city outside Tallahassee is fighting a city ordinance that calls for him to remove military flags from in front of his establishment, or face a $300-a-day fine. MyFoxOrlando.com reports that Eddie Colosimo, who owns the Holy Hill's Bikers for First Amendments Rights, a non-profit that helps support military veterans, was informed that the flags violate new city codes that were passed in March. "You're going to tell me that I can't honor them… show respect for them?" Colosimo told the station. "I'm sorry; bring your handcuffs. I'll go...

When Jane Fonda was cast as former First Lady Nancy Reagan in Lee Daniels’ forthcoming film “The Butler,” some Reagan fans were not pleased. Now, with the biographical due to hit theaters in October, a movement to boycott the movie is gaining some momentum. Larry Reyes, a Navy veteran and founder of the “Boycott Hanoi Jane Playing Nancy Reagan” Facebook page has been particularly vocal about the casting decision, given Fonda’s past frolicking with the enemy during the Vietnam War. “Growing up in a military family I heard my father and uncles talk about what Jane did, so from an...

The White House said Friday it is proposing a 13.6 percent increase in funding for the handling of veterans benefits, an effort to reduce the Veterans Affairs Department’s massive backlog of disability claims. ~snip~ The number of pending claims filed by veterans seeking compensation stood this month at 885,000, 70 percent of which have been pending for more than 125 days. Veterans can wait a year or more for a decision at particularly overloaded regional offices, among them Baltimore...

Open Letter to the U.S. House of Representatives April 8, 2013 To:  Members of The U.S. House of Representatives Subject: The Benghazi attacks on 9/11/ 2012 The undersigned are a representative group of some 700 retired Military Special Operations professionals who spent the majority of their careers preparing for and executing myriad operations to rescue or recover detained or threatened fellow Americans. In fact, many of us participated in both the Vietnam era POW rescue effort, The Son Tay Raid, as well as Operation Eagle Claw, the failed rescue attempt in April of 1980 in Iran, so we have been...

Seven hundred retired Military Special Operations professionals from the organization "Special Operations Speaks" sent a letter to the House of Representatives urging members to support H.Res 36, which will create a House Select Committee to investigate last September’s deadly terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. “It appears that many of the facts and details surrounding the terrorist attack which resulted in four American deaths and an undetermined number of American casualties have not yet been ascertained by previous hearings and inquiries,” the letter states. It continues further, "Additional information is now slowly surfacing in the media, which makes a comprehensive bipartisan...

This is a month for painful anniversaries.... It was an absolutely terrible day for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, especially those looking for jobs. It was a day--yet another day--when the headlines were about a trooper gone berserk. This is true far too often: veterans involved in gun violence, suicide or domestic abuse, homeless veterans, addicted veterans. The woes are endless. The problems are real. But the vast majority of veterans don't suffer from them. And there were no high-profile public figures to stand up and speak for the majority in the days after the Bales massacre, especially for the thousands...

A Fort Hood soldier is fighting charges after he says police violated his gun rights, and he says they're still being violated weeks later.

A New York veteran’s hospital may have exposed more than 700 of its patients with HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C by mistakenly reusing its insulin pens, which are used to inject diabetes patients with a hormone produced by the pancreas.

Ron White calls his remarkable capabilities "Operation Enduring Memory," a one-man tribute to those who lost their lives in Afghanistan. White, a former Navy Intelligence Specialist who served in Afghanistan in 2007, has memorized the name of every service member, and many U.S. civilians, killed during the Afghanistan war. A memory expert, it took him about 10 months to learn rank, first and last name of almost 2,200 people. Then, on Feb. 28 in Fort Worth, he used a white pen to write the names on a 50 foot long, 7 foot tall black wall, creating a finished product that...

Long time St. Louis Post Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan is advocating ending the practice of giving most veterans military honors at their funerals. His reason? Government can't afford it. Certainly, men and women killed in combat deserve full military honors. It's a way for the country to say, "We honor the memory of those who died in our service." These military honors - and the thought behind them - are intended to provide some solace for the families of the fallen. But what about the guy who spends a couple of years in the military and then gets on with...

CBS finally apologized Sunday night one week after the television show “Amazing Race” broadcast what critics called an “anti-American” segment that offended Vietnam War veterans. “We want to apologize to veterans – particularly those who served in Vietnam – as well as to their families and any viewers who were offended by the broadcast,” said host Phil Keoghan in a statement at the beginning of Sunday’s night’s episode. “All of us here have the most profound respect for the men and women who fight for our country.” The episode caused widespread outrage among war veterans. James Koutz, the national commander...

The unemployment rate among veterans is beginning to shrink, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki says, citing the impact of a program spearheaded by first lady Michelle Obama. "We all look for the opportunity to increase veteran employment. I think the latest employment numbers do reflect some impact," Shinseki said in an interview aired Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "The president has been forward and leading on this," Shinseki added, noting that the Joining Forces initiative had the goal of finding 100,000 new jobs for military spouses and veterans. "They passed that in 2012, and I think we're up...

COOS BAY — Local veterans are rallying to defend a cross-shaped Vietnam War memorial in Coos Bay’s Mingus Park. “We do not see the cross as having anything to do with religion,” said Mark Winders, himself a Vietnam veteran and director of Pointman Ministries.

Nationally, about 900,000 veterans are waiting to learn if they will receive compensation for conditions as serious as post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. Internal VA documents obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting reveal that veterans filing their first claim, including those returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, wait more than 600 days for a decision from the Los Angeles and Oakland offices. The internal documents show that despite the VA’s public tallies of thousands of new claims processors hired under President Barack Obama, staff at the VA’s 58 regional offices has increased by 289 since September 2010....

Benjamin M. Wassell, an Iraq War hero who, despite a traumatic brain injury from an improvised explosive device that destroyed his vehicle back in 2006, was able to lead other wounded Marines through a minefield to safety, was the first person charged in violation of the New York State Safe Act. (VIDEO AT LINK) Iraq War hero Benjamin Wassell faces seven years in prison for the violation. Wassell pleaded not guilty today. Guns.com reported: A Western New York man now faces seven years in prison for violating Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s new gun control-law, the NY Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement...

SIERRA VISTA — They were soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and a member of the Merchant Marines. They ranged in age from 58 to 87. They were combat veterans or had served in peace time. Their commonality was they were homeless or indigent veterans. On Wednesday, the 20 honorably discharged veterans were laid to rest at the Southern Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery. Although their end days may have been lonely, going to their final resting place wasn’t, as nearly 300 people were present when their cremains were placed in a number of columbarium niches.

The deportations of undocumented veterans may follow convictions of felonies such as homicides or sexual assaults, but, as Shagin said, “they don't have to be felonies at all. They often are misdemeanors or unclassified crimes. Of course, I don’t look at the crime. They were punished for the crimes, whatever they were. As veterans who served this country, they should not face deportation. minor, minor, crimes can lead to deportation,” Shagin added. “Under U.S. immigration law, there are certain offenses SNIP ICE spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs: "ICE carefully reviews any potential enforcement action involving a veteran. Prior to removing an alien...

<p>This is what the end of a decade of war looked like in Oklahoma a few weeks ago: ex-soldiers in cheap new business suits; human resources managers with salesman smiles and stacks of glossy fliers; a former Marine speaking to a television news crew about the “tough times” and “nightmares” he has had since coming home.</p>

Local students from the Aransas Pass High School Art Club paint a mural in honor of Veterans. The idea for the mural came from my mother (the lady in the video). She did a lot of leg work to get this project going to make something good out of "that ugly wall".

The federal Department of Veterans Affairs says it won’t follow a provision of New York’s gun law which would require them to report the names of patients they believe may be a danger to themselves or others. …

At a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Thursday, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) opposed an amendment to her Assault Weapons Ban legislation that would allow military veterans to continue to buy the firearms that would be banned. Feinstein says a veteran may be mentally ill and should be prevented from purchasing firearms.

During Friday’s marathon gun control hearing in the Colorado Senate, Republican Sen. Kent Lambert offered an amendment to exempt active military members, veterans and their families from the gun magazine ban. Enter Sen. Mary Hodge, a disgraceful Dem who urged fellow lawmakers to oppose the exemption because “some of them come back with significant mental health problems.” …

At a Senate judiciary committee hearing on Thursday, California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein shot down a proposed amendment exempting veterans from her “assault weapons” ban, bizarrely arguing that it’s legal to hunt humans with high-capacity magazines. “The time has come, America, to step up and ban these weapons,” Feinstein said. “The other very important part of this bill is to ban large capacity ammunition feeding devices — those that hold more than 10 rounds. We have federal regulations and state laws that prohibit hunting ducks with more than three rounds. And yet it’s legal to hunt humans with 15-round, 30-round,...

I caught this story being posted, and asked for permission to blog it – it’s pretty harrowing: J.R. Salzman @jrsalzman I've had veterans tell me a very similar story: Kids forced to go hungry for hours during Michelle Obama media event http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/04/lets-starve-kids-forced-to-go-hungry-for-hours-during-michelle-obama-media-event/ … 5:12 PM - 04 Mar 13 J.R. Salzman @jrsalzman .@AZ_Susan She told the soldiers and caregivers from Walter Reed they were receiving an award and having a luncheon. Neither one existed. After considering whether to tell the story, J.R. relented: J.R. Salzman @jrsalzman In light of Michelle Obama using hungry school kids as props, let me tell...

More prosecutorial indiscretion. Really, why does our government waste its resources on cases like the fight to prevent Jefferson Wayne Schrader from purchasing a firearm? This case demonstrates what happens when a bureaucracy deprives someone of a right just because the bureaucracy can, and then the full force of the U.S. government goes to bat against the individual for no reason other than it can. The case is Schrader v. Holder. In a January 11, 2013 decision, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the government’s position, but the question is why is the government exercising such a ridiculous discretion?...

Here’s the story: a patient (who doesn’t want to be named) was at a VA hospital for a colonoscopy — not a routine one, but because of a problem that could be serious. As he tells it: 9 am in or prep room IV and muscle relaxant … given- they’ll give me heavier dose of something before they go in. Sat there near an hour when lady walks in “Govt Shut down. If you’re not in, they’re out.” that was it. Went to patient advocate she had been sent home almost as soon as she arrived I’m guessing to head...

<p>A bill designating March 29 as Vietnam Veterans Day has passed the Alaska Legislature.</p> <p>The Senate followed the House's lead and this week passed HB67 from Fairbanks Rep. Steve Thompson. The measure now goes to the governor.</p>

Guns: Veterans who bore arms to defend their country are receiving letters that they may be declared mentally incompetent and have their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms stripped from them. Welcome home. The contempt by the Obama administration for our Constitution and our rights has reached a new low with news the Veterans Administration has begun sending letters to veterans telling them they will be declared mentally incompetent and stripped of the Second Amendment rights unless they can prove to unnamed bureaucrats to the contrary. On Thursday, Michael Connelly, executive director of the United States Justice Foundation,...

On Thursday, Michael Connelly, J.D., executive director of the United States Justice Foundation​, said that veterans are receiving letters informing them that the government is about to declare them incompetent to handle their own affairs. As a result, Connelly said, the government will "appoint a stranger" to handle their affairs at their expense, and restrict them from owning firearms. Worse yet, he says, this is being done without due process. “A determination of incompetency will prohibit you from purchasing, possessing, receiving, or transporting a firearm or ammunition. If you knowingly violate any of these prohibitions, you may be fined, imprisoned,...

Red Flag News has the story on what this is all about. While I'm trying to make fun of it, it frankly is quite frightening what DHS is doing to our vets (and all of us by extension).

How would you feel if you received a letter from the U.S. Government informing you that because of a physical or mental condition that the government says you have it is proposing to rule that you are incompetent to handle your own financial affairs? What if that letter also stated: “A determination of incompetency will prohibit you from purchasing, possessing, receiving, or transporting a firearm or ammunition. If you knowingly violate any of these prohibitions, you may be fined, imprisoned, or both pursuant to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, Pub.L.No. 103-159, as implemented at 18, United States Code 924(a)(2).”?...

How would you feel if you received a letter from the U.S. Government informing you that because of a physical or mental condition that the government says you have it is proposing to rule that you are incompetent to handle your own financial affairs? Suppose that letter also stated that the government is going to appoint a stranger to handle your affairs for you at your expense? That would certainly be scary enough but it gets worse. What if that letter also stated: “A determination of incompetency will prohibit you from purchasing, possessing, receiving, or transporting a firearm or ammunition....

Feds OK first burial of a veteran's same-sex spouse in a national cemetery Published February 16, 2013 | Associated Press The government has cleared the first burial of a same-sex spouse of a veteran in a national cemetery, but it's far from certain how easy it will be for other gay military couples to win the same benefit. Who gets buried where is one of the practical decisions that the federal government is grappling with following repeal of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. At first glance, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki's decision to grant burial to a same-sex...

A television movie like An American Story couldn't get greenlit today. In fact, it's still surprising the Hallmark Hall of Fame and CBS joint production actually got broadcast back in 1992.  Yet this fictionalization of the Battle of Athens, the last and best modern example of American citizens forcefully asserting their Second Amendment rights, was actually shown only 21 years ago. The telepicture earned two Primetime Emmy nominations, one for music and another for cinematography.This well made TV movie, starring Brad Johnson and directed by John Gray, depicted the last time in modern American history when a large group of...

SEAL who killed Bin Laden reportedly knew he’d lose benefits Published February 15, 2013 | FoxNews.com The former Navy SEAL who says he shot Usama bin Laden reportedly knew he was leaving the service well short of a retirement and without benefits, according to the commander of Naval Special Warfare. The “man who killed" bin Laden — featured in the March issue of Esquire — made headlines earlier this week when the former SEAL asserted was “screwed” and abandoned by the military after losing his military health insurance benefits upon leaving the service in September. But Rear Adm. Sean Pybus...

If the federal government is forced to furlough civilian employees in the event of sequestration, the burden will fall heavily on a population that Congress and the White House have vowed to support: veterans. More than two out of five of the approximately 800,000 Department of Defense employees facing furloughs are veterans, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Wednesday. “Forty-four percent of them are veterans,” Carter told the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on the potential effect of sequestration on the military. ”Very soon we’re going to have to furlough the great majority of them.” The Pentagon expects...

Reports out of Capitol Hill reveal that just-reelected turncoat West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin is about to stick a big knife in the back of American gun owners. And to make matters worse, he's lying about what he’s doing. Both Manchin and House anti-gun crazy Carolyn McCarthy are claiming to be “working with NRA” to enact gun bans and national gun registries. NRA says flatly that Manchin is lying, and we believe he is. (The Hill, 1/24/13) Ironically, Manchin was the “gun owner's best friend” on November 5 -- the day before his reelection to a six-year term let him...

I will be at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Monday, and I know I will take many of you with me in spirit. But apparently not everybody. The occasion will be the Texas memorial service for Chris Kyle, an American hero in every sense of the term. But if it is one battlefield where he earned his honor as our most prolific sniper, it is another battlefield that has sprouted since his death. This arena is a war of words, sparked by the strong opinions of a variety of people on what Chris Kyle meant to our nation. To...

Countering the Republican-led opposition to President Barack Obama’s nominee for defense secretary is a less flashy but powerful constituency: military veterans. Veterans’ organizations have praised Chuck Hagel, a twice-wounded combat veteran of Vietnam and deputy administrator in President Ronald Reagan’s Veterans Administration. The Veterans of Foreign Wars has called him uniquely qualified to become Pentagon chief. The Military Officers Association of America said his experience gives him “a range of perspectives.” The American Legion said he was a longtime advocate for veterans. … VoteVets, a left-leaning veterans group, has campaigned for Hagel through social media, old-fashioned letters to editors and...

Ron Paul �@RonPaul Chris Kyle's death seems to confirm that "he who lives by the sword dies by the sword." Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn't make sense (screenshot just in case it is removed)

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) - The results of a new study indicate that suicide rates among veterans in the United States are increasing. An estimated 22 military veterans take their lives every day in America, according to the study helmed by Robert Bossarte, an epidemiologist and researcher who works with the Department of Veterans Affairs. While the percentage of all suicides reported as Veterans has decreased, the number of suicides has increased,” the conclusion of the study stated. Specific trends were observed during the course of the study regarding the age and gender of veterans who most frequently committed suicide. “A majority...

It’s a little-known fact that about 30% of returning soldiers are diagnosed with PTSD. These brave men and women, mentally scarred from their service to our country, deserve nothing less than our unwavering support. Instead, they are now in the crosshairs of the gun control lobby. With the VA’s existing massive information sharing with NICS, we already have a precedent for large-scale revocation of veteran’s rights. All it takes is for one of Eric Holder’s decrees to include PTSD, and suddenly one of the most passionate, patriotic segments of Americans will be labeled a danger to society. Ask yourself: Do...

Also inaccurately accuses veteran of seeking to take over the government by force and crowd of hurling racial insults. Lee Goodman of Stop Concealed Carry was one of the panelists at the Chicago-area anti-gun forum featured in my prior post, Veteran stands up for 2nd Amendment at Chicago anti-gun forum. During that event Goodman and Iraq war veteran Kevin Tully had a back-and-forth discussion of the 2nd Amendment. In a video I took, which now has over 160,000 YouTube views, Tully is seen calling for an end to partisan divide in the country, and giving an impassioned defense not only...

Killeen's homeless have nowhere to go, and that means dozens, possibly hundreds of our veterans are stuck out in the cold. More than 62 thousand American veterans are living on the streets. Nickie, a 58-yr old Vietnam Marine veteran, is one of them, but the Fort Hood area doesn't have any homeless shelters, turning cold nights into life or death battles that leave Nickie wondering. "Am I going to make it until tomorrow? Am I going to make it, straight up," said Nickie with tears in his eyes. A few warming centers open, but only when temperatures dip below freezing,...