VVA Newsletter 24-09

Vietnam Veterans of America
Pinellas County Chapter 522
“Five Double Deuce”
“Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
Serving Veterans
and the
Community
September, 2015
Volume 24
Issue Number 09
Mailing Address
PO box 551
Indian Rocks Beach, FL
33785-0551
Meeting Location
VFW Post 4256
12901 Gulf Boulevard
Madeira Beach
Florida 33708
www.vva522.org
Chapter 522 needs approximately 20 volunteers to work the beer concessions at the First Friday Street Party in St. Petersburg on Friday,
September 4th. This is one of the easiest events that we do each year
and we have some fun while enjoying the music and participants.
If you can work, please contact Mike Bousher at 813-917-2688 as
soon as possible so we know who will be attending that evening.
Thank you for your support.
PAGE 2
FIVE DOUBLE DEUCE
VOLUME 24, ISSUE
09
So Now the POW/MIA Flag Is Under Fire — as a Symbol of ‘Racist Hate’
by DAVID FRENCH August 11, 2015
Another day, another argument that a flag must come down. Today’s target is a bit
surprising — the POW/MIA flag that flies from government buildings, honoring the hundreds
of Americans still missing and unaccounted for in Vietnam. Writing in the pages of Newsweek,
a very angry Rick Perlstein is simply not having it, declaring, “That damned flag: It’s a
shroud. It smothers the complexity, the reality, of what really happened in Vietnam.” In fact,
he claims the entire emphasis on American missing and POW’s was nothing but a political
trick designed to detract from alleged American deceptions and war crimes:
During the Nixon years, the Pentagon moved [missing, downed pilots] into a newly invented “Missing in Action” column. That proved convenient, for, after years of playing down
the existence of American prisoners in Vietnam, in 1969, the new president suddenly decided
to play them up.
He declared their treatment, and the enemy’s refusal to provide a list of their names,
violations of the Geneva Conventions—the better to paint the North Vietnamese as uniquely
cruel and inhumane. He also demanded the release of American prisoners as a precondition
to ending the war.
This was bullshit four times over: first, because in every other conflict in human history, the release of prisoners had been something settled at the close of a war; second, because these prisoners only existed because of America’s antecedent violations of the Geneva
Conventions in bombing civilians in an undeclared war; third, because, as bad as their torture
of prisoners was, rather than representing some species of Oriental despotism, the Vietnam
Communists were only borrowing techniques practiced on them by their French colonists (and
incidentally paid forward by us in places like Abu Ghraib): see this as-told-to memoir by POW
VOLUME 24, ISSUE 09
FIVE DOUBLE DEUCE
PAGE 3
and future senator Jeremiah Denton. And finally, our South Vietnamese allies’ treatment of
their prisoners, who lived manacled to the floors in crippling underground bamboo “tiger
cages” in prison camps built by us, was far worse than the torture our personnel suffered.
It’s not common to see a leftist still carrying the torch for the Viet Cong and the NVA,
but it’s a useful reminder of the rage that beats within some leftist hearts, a rage that can
even take a symbol meant to honor and remind Americans of the undeniable fact that there
are — in fact — men who are missing in Vietnam, men we can’t account for an may never be
found, and turn it into a symbol of — you guessed it — racism.
Never mind that Americans were dying to defend people of the exact same race as the
enemies they fought. Never mind that families fly the flag to remind their neighbors of their
sacrifice, and our nation flies it to remind citizens of the men of courage who fought a deadly
Communist enemy. It’s not a battle flag, nor is it a flag of conquest. It’s a flag of remembrance.
But that’s the entire point. Perlstein hates that people don’t remember the Vietnam
War the way he wants it remembered, as a racist, unlawful enterprise. The POW/MIA flag is
merely a pretext for him to repeat the tired arguments of the 1970s, arguments that lost
their sting when the NVA finally triumphed, and the world watched a Communist dictatorship
work its vengeance on the South Vietnamese population. He won’t bring down the flag, but
he apparently does want to re-start a historical battle that the Left has largely and rightly lost
since the Fall of Saigon. His piece is further evidence that the defense of history — like the
defense of liberty — requires constant vigilance.
The POW/MIA flag is an American flag designed as a symbol of citizen
concern about United States military personnel taken as prisoners of war (POWs)
or listed as missing in action(MIA).
The POW/MIA flag was created by the National League of Families and
officially recognized by the Congress in conjunction with the Vietnam War
POW/MIA issue, "as the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families
and the Nation."
The original design for the flag was created by Newt Heisley in
1972. The National League of Families then-national coordinator, POW
wife Evelyn Grubb, oversaw its development and also campaigned to gain its
widespread acceptance and use by the United States government and also local
governments and civilian organizations across the United States.
In 1971, while the Vietnam War was still being fought, Grahme Wilkin, the wife of a service member missing in action
and member of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, recognized the need for a
symbol of U.S. POW/MIAs, some of whom had been held captivity for as many as seven years. The flag is black, and bears in the
center, in black and white, the emblem of the league. The emblem was designed by Newt Heisley, and features a white disk
bearing in black silhouette the bust of a man (Jeffery Heisley), watch tower with a guard on patrol, and a strand of barbed wire;
above the disk are the white letters POW and MIA framing a white 5-pointed star; below the disk is a black and white wreath
above the white motto: "You are not Forgotten."[4] The POW/MIA was flown over the White House for the first time in September 1982[5] The flag has been altered many times; the colors have been switched from black with white – to red, white and blue
– to white with black; the POW/MIA has at times been revised to MIA/POW.
On March 9, 1989, a league flag that had flown over the White House on the 1988 National POW/MIA Recognition Day
was installed in the U.S. Capitol rotunda as a result of legislation passed by the 100th Congress. The league's POW-MIA flag is
the only flag ever displayed in the rotunda, and the only one other than the Flag of the United States to have flown over the
White House. The leadership of both houses of Congress hosted the installation ceremony in a demonstration of bipartisan congressional support.
On August 10, 1990, the 101st Congress passed U.S. Public Law 101-355, recognizing the National League of Families
POW/MIA Flag and designating it "as a symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates
of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the
Nation." Beyond Southeast Asia, it has been a symbol for POW/MIAs from all U.S. wars.
PAGE 4
FIVE DOUBLE DEUCE
VOLUME 24, ISSUE
09
Arming Troops at Home
Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Wednesday ordered the military services to develop
new policies that could potentially arm more military personnel who are not regularly
engaged in law enforcement responsibilities.
Entitled "Force Protection Recommendations Following the Chattanooga Shooting,"
the secretary's memorandum orders the services to review their force protection and
security policies, programs and procedures, particularly for the military's 7,000 offbase facilities located on college campuses, in leased shopping mall office space, and
elsewhere.
His memo focuses on a review of DOD Directive 5210.56, in which the arming of personnel not regularly engaged in security or law enforcement could be extended to
qualified personnel based on the threat and immediate need to protect DOD property
and lives. Also under consideration could be the application of the Law Enforcement
Officers Safety Act of 2004, which in 2013 was extended to allow credentialed military
personnel who actively work in law enforcement to conceal carry while off duty in all
50 states and the District of Columbia.
It does not, however, authorize them to conceal carry while on duty, unless their military duties require it. The service secretaries have until Aug. 21 to submit their
courses of action.
VOLUME 22, ISSUE 09
FIVE DOUBLE DEUCE
PAGE 5
Do You Know “X-104”?
While researching archived files for information regarding remains of WWII unknowns,
our group found the attached set of photos. They are known as “escape” photos, prepared by
AAF units so that pilots, if they parachuted safely, might contact resistance groups who would
use the photos to prepare identity documents alleging the holder was a civilian.
The remains of X-104 now buried in the Normandy American cemetery, were those of a
6’2” man. His parachute type indicated that he was likely a fighter pilot. He was shot down
sometime on or before 10 July 1944 in the general area of the invasion.
Your help is requested in publicizing this photo as widely as possible. We are doing the
same with our various groups.
Thanks
Ken Breaux
Houston, Tx
Tel 281-496-5028
In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough
shadows to blind those who don’t.
Blaise Pascal
When opportunity knocks, answer the door.
PAGE 6
FIVE DOUBLE DEUCE
VOLUME 24, ISSUE
09
Military Hospitals to Seek More Challenging Patient Mix
By Tom Philpott, July 09, 2015
The Department of Defense will ask Congress for new authorities to funnel more challenging
cases into military treatment facilities, a move aimed at sustaining wartime specialty skills and overall
medical readiness, said Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.
The effort to enrich the patient mix, particularly for inpatient care, will focus on treating more
elderly patients, more veterans with complex conditions who might otherwise be ineligible for on-base
care, and more military retirees who also are DoD civilian employees.
Woodson and the surgeon generals of the Army, Navy and Air Force appeared before a House
panel in June and largely rejected the sweeping reforms to military health care and the TRICARE benefit recommended by the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission.
But the commission’s report had Woodson and the uniformed medical leaders defending the effectiveness of military treatment facilities as wartime training platforms, and discussing new ways to
attract a more demanding case mix and to expand the workloads of physicians at base hospitals.
“There are going to be some new authorities we’ll need, to allow patients to flow from the market to the MTFs [military treatment facilities] to ensure we have the proper case mix,” Woodson told
the House armed services subcommittee on military personnel.
“This is to include new ways of attracting Medicare-aged patients” and perhaps to “actually define a sort of Medicare Advantage within the MTFs. We [also] need to be given broader authorities that
relate to taking care of veterans,” Woodson said. “There’s even an opportunity for us to take care of
DoD civilians [because] we have a lot of dual-eligible folks who work for the federal government and
they have TRICARE benefits. So why not allow them to use their TRICARE benefits within MTFs?”
These steps, he said, “would lead to a proper utilization of the MTFs, proper market management [for] the case-mix, skill-mix issue” that worries commissioners, and “extraordinary service to the
beneficiary population.”
Asked when he will seek these authorities, Woodson told us Wednesday that internal discussions to “optimize” use of MTFs continue. He said DoD would work closely and transparently with Congress to give the military health system “greater agility to shape the delivery of healthcare in today’s
evolving and fast-moving market place.”
However, any action taken to enhance case mix also would preserve “timely access to care for
our existing beneficiaries and enrollees,” he said.
As to which facilities would use new authorities to corral more challenging cases, Woodson said
the service medical departments would decide that “based on specific readiness requirements, capabilities and capacity. All decisions will need to be tailored to the geographic locality of the MTF and what
those local needs and requirements are.”
The compensation reform commission had urged creation of a four-star Joint Readiness Command to be responsible for preserving medical readiness gains after 14 years of war. In arguing for the
new command, commissioners sited data from the health system’s self-analysis during an ongoing
VOLUME 24, ISSUE 09
FIVE DOUBLE DEUCE
PAGE 7
modernization study that show many military physicians have light inpatient workloads compared to
civilian peers and a mundane case mix when measured against what’s needed to stay ready for war.
The commission’s other major health reform idea is to replace the triple-option TRICARE benefit
with TRICARE Choice, a menu of private sector health insurance offerings for military families and retirees to pick their desired coverage. Premiums and co-payments of mid-range plans would be covered
for active duty families by a new monthly health allowance.
Woodson and the surgeons general rejected the readiness command as unnecessary and TRICARE Choice as potentially stressful for families and harmful to readiness. By forcing base hospitals to
compete with civilian insurers for patients, they said, TRICARE Choice could result in military doctors
seeing even fewer patients, aggravating the readiness challenge.
Greater choice through commercial insurance would leave military treatment facilities “at a significant disadvantage in attracting patients,” Rear Adm. C. Forrest Faison, Navy deputy surgeon general, told the House panel.
Army supports “increased choice” for beneficiaries,” said Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho, Army surgeon general. But the TRICARE Choice plan “would negatively impact readiness of our entire health
care team and present financial challenges to both active duty families and retirees.”
The surgeons general concurred with commissioners that the military health care system should
set training and resource levels so as to preserve essential medical capabilities or EMCs. But the list of
EMCs should be more comprehensive than commission’s targeting of combat casualty clinicians and
logistical capabilities.
“Those EMCs must address the whole spectrum of health rather than focus solely on combat
trauma and surgical capabilities,” said Horoho. She noted that less than one of every five service members evacuated from Iraq or Afghanistan were wounded. Most had diseases or non-battle injuries.
It is true clinical skills needed for wartime deployment “don’t always exactly match up with our
day to day practices at home station,” conceded Lt. Gen. Mark A. Ediger, Air Force surgeon general.
But the services have known that and have processes in place to track and to augment that experience
through partnerships with VA and civilian trauma centers.
Air Force for example, for each of its medical specialties, defines the “case volume and mix and
skills that translate into the deployed environment,” Ediger said. “Then we keep records and we track
the extent to which we are able to meet those requirements and keep clinicians ready.”
For this year at least, Congress opted not to adopt the commission’s major health reform recommendations. Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) is one lawmaker who said his opinion was changed by
department testimony.
“I started as an advocate for change,” MacArthur said as the hearing came to a close. “But
sometimes the cure can be worse than the illness.”
To comment, write Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120 or email [email protected] or twitter:
@Military_Update Read more: http://militaryadvantage.military.com/2015/07/military-hospitals-to-seek-morechallenging-patient-mix/#ixzz3idC8FTtI MilitaryAdvantage.Military.com
PAGE 8
FIVE DOUBLE DEUCE
VOLUME 24, ISSUE
09
New Elite Fighting Force
The US Navy announced today the formation of a new 900-man elite fighting unit, called the
United States Redneck Seal Forces (USRSF).
These Mountain boys will be dropped off in Iraq, with plenty of cold beer,
ammo and weaponry.
They have been given only the following facts about ISIS:
1. The season opened today.
2. There is no limit.
3. They taste just like chicken..
4. They hate beer, pickup trucks, nude women, country music and Jesus.......... AND
5. They are directly responsible for the death of Dale Earnhardt.
The Pentagon expects the ISIS problem in IRAQ to be more or less over by next Friday.
VOLUME 24, ISSUE 09
FIVE DOUBLE DEUCE
PAGE 9
Why Men Are Seldom Depressed - Men Are Just Happier People (Part 1)
What do you expect from such simple creatures?
Your last name stays put.
The garage is all yours.
Wedding plans take care of themselves.
Chocolate is just another snack.
You can never be pregnant.
You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park.
You can wear NO shirt to a water park.
Car mechanics tell you the truth.
The world is your urinal.
You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.
You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.
Wrinkles add character.
Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100.
People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them.
New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
One mood all the time.
Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
You know stuff about tanks.
A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.
You can open all your own jars.
If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.
Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.
Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
Everything on your face stays its original color.
The same hairstyle lasts for years, even decades.
You only have to shave your face and neck.
You can play with toys all your life.
PAGE 10
FIVE DOUBLE DEUCE
VOLUME 24, ISSUE
Important Dates
First Friday Fundraiser
Friday, September 4th
1700-2200 hours
2nd Avenue, St. Petersburg, FL
Event Sponsor: Optimist Club of St. Petersburg
September Monthly Meeting
Monday, September 7th (Labor Day), 1900 hours
12901 Gulf Boulevard, Madeira Beach, FL 33708
Grouper Tuesday
Sponsored by Chapter 522 & VFW
Tuesday, September 8th, 1200 hours VFW
12901 Gulf Boulevard, Madeira Beach, FL 33708
POW/MIA Flag Day
Bay Pines (Bill Young) Medical Center (At Entrances)
Friday, September 18th
0700-1000 hours
Gold Star Mothers Dinner
Sunday, September 20th
Time and Place TBD
Gold Star Mothers Day Ceremonies
(Chapter 522 Color Guard)
Sunday, September 27th
1000 hours
Oldsmar Veterans Park
Oldsmar, Florida
The Vietnam Veterans of America
currently has a one time special offer.
From August 1st through December 31st
you can enroll as a Life Member for
$100.00.
This is a great opportunity for you if you have not already signed up as a Life
Member. Go to www.vva.org for additional information.
09
VOLUME 24, ISSUE 09
FIVE DOUBLE DEUCE
PAGE 11
VVA, Veterans Victorious in Lawsuit Over Military's Chemical Testing Program
Press Release From VVA
"Six and a half years ago, in an unprecedented legal action, Vietnam Veterans of America,
along with San Francisco-based veterans organization Swords to Plowshares, joined with half
a dozen veterans who 'volunteered' to participate in experiments that tested chemical and
biological agents," said John Rowan, VVA National President. "Our law firm, Morrison & Foerster, was informed yesterday that a three-judge appellate panel in the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals had affirmed an injunction ordering the U.S. Army to provide all former test subjects
with any newly acquired information about the substances to which they were exposed and
which might impact their health. The panel also concluded that the military still has an obligation to provide the test subjects with medical care.
"We are heartened by the court's affirmation of our position," Rowan said. "Agencies of government can no longer ignore the complaints and questions of veterans who may have been
harmed after having participated in the testing of more than 400 chemical and biological substances, including hazardous agents such as sarin and mustard gas and mind-altering drugs,
including LSD."
The testing program, which was centered in Maryland at Edgewood Arsenal and at Fort
Detrick, was conducted at military installations throughout the nation, from Natick Laboratories in Massachusetts to Fort Ord in California. The highly secretive program, which involved
the CIA and the Department of Defense, along with other branches of the military, spanned
more than five decades.
The late Gordon Erspamer, then a litigation partner in the San Francisco office of Morrison &
Foerster, explained why his firm had taken on a pro bono basis, the lawsuit: "Until this case is
concluded, and all the victims are found and made whole, we cannot close this sad chapter in
our history, when our government exploited the very citizens . . . it was supposed to protect."
Quarterly Suicide Report
The Department of Defense released the Quarterly Suicide Report (QSR) for the first
quarter of calendar year 2015. The report summarizes confirmed suicide counts for all
services and components during the months of January through March. There were
57 suicides among service members in the active component, 15 suicides among service members in the reserve component and 27 suicides among service members in
the National Guard. The QSR is available at
http://www.suicideoutreach.org/Docs/suicide-data/DoD-Quarterly-Suicide-ReportCY2015-Q1.pdf. Additional information is available on the Defense Suicide Prevention
Office website at www.suicideoutreach.org.
The crisis line phone number, online chat, and text-messaging services for all service
members (active, National Guard and reserves) and veterans 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week, 365 days a year by visiting the Military Crisis Line website at
http://veteranscrisisline.net/ActiveDuty.aspx; Online Chat at:
http://www.veteranscrisisline.net/ChatTermsOfService.aspx; sending a text to:
838255 or calling toll free at: 1-800-273-8255, Press 1.
PAGE 12
VOLUME 24, ISSUE 09
FIVE DOUBLE DEUCE
VVA Chapter 522 Contact Information
Position
Name
Telephone
E-Mail Address
President
Mike Bousher
813-917-2688
[email protected]
Vice President
Dick Ammon
727-816-9080
[email protected]
Secretary
Paul Laurence
Treasurer
Jack Meyers
727-776-9341
[email protected]
Chaplain
Larry Lee
727-365-7400
[email protected]
[email protected]
Director
Bruce Witham
Newsletter Publisher
Mike Bousher
Director
Rick Goodfellow
Newsletter Editor
Dick Ammon
Director
Joe Ellenberger
Website Administrator
Dick Ammon
For additional information, please visit our website at www.vva522.org.
Disclosure Statements
“100% of your gift/donation will be used by VVA, Chapter 522 of Vietnam Veterans of
America, Inc., Pinellas County, Florida. Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services Registration Number CH11513.”
Registration does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by the state.
Call 1-800-HELPFLA (1-800-435-7352) for a copy of the official registration and financial
information.
Disclaimer
The views or opinions expressed within this publication are not necessarily the opinions of
the publishers, advertisers, members, National Headquarters or that of Pinellas County
Chapter 522.