Gen. David Petraeus hands over command in Afghanistan The V.A.

							American Legion News Clips – Monday July 18, 2001

Gen. David Petraeus hands over command in Afghanistan
The V.A. Tries to Get Beyond Its Culture of No
Vet study links brain injury, dementia risk
Court orders military to keep DADT in place
More…


Gen. David Petraeus hands over command in Afghanistan
By Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan — Gen. David Petraeus handed over command of American and coalition forces
to Gen. John Allen today, ending a year that saw the costly counterinsurgency strategy he espoused
and implemented coming under increasingly heavy criticism.
Petraeus steps down at a time when the international forces he commanded have begun transferring
responsibility for the 10-year war to the Afghans and the United States has started withdrawing nearly
one third of its 100,000 troops in the country. Violence has also spiked, with insurgents carrying out
attacks against high-profile Afghans, including the assassination last week of President Hamid
Karzai's powerful half-brother and the slaying of a close Karzai aid on Sunday.
As Petraeus departs, it is unclear whether his signature counterinsurgency strategy — with an
emphasis on protecting the local population and decisive strikes against insurgents — has made
Afghanistan any safer. Violent attacks have continued, though international military officials argue
they are not as widespread or as intense as they would have been otherwise.
His commanders in Afghanistan have employed a strategy that brought some success in Iraq —
coupling military force with an ambitious, troop-intensive plan to push insurgents from their
strongholds so the local government could build a system of services and institutions to win the
loyalty of the people.
It hoped to create the necessary groundwork for a process of reconciliation and reintegration to
encourage insurgents to re-enter Afghan society.
But the plan has been costly, with the United States now spending about $10 billion a month to fund
the effort in Afghanistan. Some of his detractors have argued that a more aggressive special
operations-centered counterterrorism strategy may be more effective.
In his farewell address, Petraeus said that despite progress made in southern Afghanistan, there was
still much work ahead for his replacement.
"Even as we note the hard fought progress of the past year and commence the transition process, we
should be clear-eyed about the challenges ahead," he said, adding that Afghan and coalition forces
"are clearly engaged in a tough fight."
He said the campaign against the insurgents was made even more difficult "when the enemy can
exploit sanctuaries outside the country," a parting shot at neighboring Pakistan. The military has often
accused Islamabad of not doing enough to fight insurgents taking refuge in Pakistan's lawless tribal
areas along the border. That fight, along with America's fractured relationship with Pakistan, will be
one of Petraeus' key issues as he takes over as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
"The progress you have made has not been without sacrifice. There have been tough fights, tough
losses along the way, setbacks as well as successes," Petraeus said. He added that he was
departing "encouraged by the progress, aware of the hard work that lies ahead and hopeful for the
future."
Allen, who officially took command at a ceremony in Kabul on Monday morning, said the drawdown of
U.S. forces that started earlier this month and the transition of some areas to Afghan control this
week does not mean that international forces are easing up in their campaign to defeat the Taliban
insurgency.
"It is my intention to maintain the momentum of the campaign," Allen said at the handover ceremony
in the Afghan capital. He acknowledged, however, that the fight won't be easy.
"There will be tough days ahead. I have no illusions about the challenges," said Allen, who was
promoted to a four-star general shortly before the handover ceremony.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, lauded Petraeus's work but also said that "a
lot of hard work, deadly work remains before us."
He said that during the past year under Petraeus "I have never seen our progress more real and our
prospects more encouraging."
The insurgents, Mullen said, have "been dealt heavy blows over the last year. They have been
pushed out of sanctuaries, they have been denied influence over local populations, they have been
hounded and hunted, their leaders killed or captured by the score, their resources diminished and
their training disrupted."
Petraeus, who is retiring from the military, and American officials in the United States have trumpeted
success in reclaiming Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan and training Afghan security forces
as signs that they are finally making progress toward peace in Afghanistan. But violent attacks have
continued, including a number of high-profile assaults and assassinations in recent weeks.
This morning, a bomb killed three international service members in the east, NATO said in a
statement. It did not provide nationalities or further details. Most of the troops in the east are
American.
At least 37 international forces have been killed so far this month in Afghanistan.
In the south on Monday, a roadside bomb killed a district police commander and his driver.
Wali Mohammad, the police chief for Argistan district in Kandahar province, was driving to work when
his vehicle struck the explosive, said Sher Shah Yosufzai, the provincial deputy police chief.
The handover ceremony in Kabul came just hours after security forces in the capital killed the final
attacker in the assassination of a close adviser to President Hamid Karzai.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack, in which two assailants gunned down Karzai
adviser Jan Mohammed Khan and a parliamentarian he was meeting with in his house. One police
officer was killed, the Interior Ministry said.
It was the second important Karzai ally in the south to be killed in the space of seven days. On
Tuesday, Karzai's half-brother was gunned down by a close associate in Kandahar city. The Taliban
also claimed responsibility for that attack.
Khan was governor of the Pashtun-dominated Uruzgan province in the south from 2002 until March
2006 and has remained influential in the area. Though he was often labeled a warlord and a thug by
the international community, presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said Karzai considered him a
key partner in the south and a bulwark against the Taliban.
"Jan Mohammed Khan was one of the most influential leaders in the south, especially in Uruzgan,"
Omar said.
Veterans groups gear up for new structure
Nathaniel Shuda


12:00 AM, Jul. 17, 2011|


Veterans from throughout central Wisconsin soon will have a new representative in the state's
executive branch.

Gov. Scott Walker plans to appoint a secretary of Veterans Affairs after signing legislation
Wednesday that gives him the power to do so.

"We're anxiously anticipating the appointment of a new secretary, and when that person is confirmed,
we'll approach him," said Rock Larson, Wood County veterans service officer. "Hopefully it's
somebody who is qualified."

The transfer of authority from the state Veterans Board to the governor was the main point of
contention in the bill, garnering mixed reviews from various veterans groups throughout the state.

Some said the changes give too much power to the governor's office, while others say the previous
system worked fine the way it was.

In a statement released Wednesday, Walker said having a governor-appointed department head will
increase accountability for what some considered a failing system for the state's more than 407,000
former military personnel.

"This law will hold the Department and Board of Veterans Affairs more accountable to Wisconsin's
veterans and taxpayers and will ensure that veterans from Superior to Kenosha have their voices
heard and interests represented," he said.

The American Legion, a powerful veterans organization, came out in opposition to the bill, with at
least one central Wisconsin post commander having said it put too much power in the hands of the
governor.

"It may be a feather in his cap, but it's a pain in our butt," said Louis LaCroix, commander of American
Legion Post 6 in Stevens Point, previously.

Meanwhile, other veterans organizations, such as Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of
Foreign Wars, supported the bill, contingent upon certain amendments, saying it likely will improve
department accountability.

Al Labelle, a Marshfield resident and judge advocate for the Disabled American Veterans' Wisconsin
unit, has called the state Department of Veterans Affairs "the poster child for a dysfunctional
government agency (that) has been incompetent and unresponsive."

As legislative chairman for the County Veterans Service Officers Association of Wisconsin, Larson
testified on the matter during an April 28 hearing of the state Assembly Veterans and Military Affairs
Committee.

While the association opposed the changes, it is important that all advocacy groups present a united
front to ensure those changes provide increased assistance to veterans, Larson said, noting he
recently met with the Department of Workforce Development's veterans chief and other
veterans advocates to ensure a smooth transition.

"We want to work with whomever is in office," Larson said. "We just want to get legislation moving in
a positive direction for the veterans.

"We shall see what becomes of it all, and if we don't like it, they'll hear from us."



The V.A. Tries to Get Beyond Its Culture of No
By LAWRENCE DOWNES
The Veterans Affairs Department says that it is not only making strides in treating post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injuries and
in preventing suicides, but is also upending its reputation for bureaucratic delays and unresponsiveness.

It is easy to be skeptical. But then there is this: a small wing of a V.A. hospital in Canandaigua, N.Y., where a staff of about 120 runs a
national phone and Internet chat service for veterans in crisis. Its mission is to connect veterans to help as quickly and efficiently as
possible. One online-chat counselor, Laurie Courtney, told me proudly that this was ―the new V.A.‖ She and three colleagues, in a
brightly lighted room with barely enough space for their computers, chairs, coats and handbags, handle online conversations all day.
Dozens of others staff the phone lines.

Their work has the relentlessness of battlefield medicine, with pleas for help coming from all sides. One Vietnam veteran has
struggled with survivor’s guilt for 43 years. Another has lost his job and his marriage, and agrees to try V.A.-sponsored therapy, ―if it
will stop these dreams.‖ Transcripts of the chats, redacted for privacy, show counselors using gentle questions and encouragement:
―How can I help you?‖ ―It sounds like you have some good friends.‖ ―Thank you for your service.‖ ―I’m going to have someone call
you right now.‖

The counselors aren’t therapists or case managers; they just tell people where and how to get care and then follow up if they can. They
can’t always know if a person really is in crisis or is even a veteran. But they say that dealing with the occasional pranksters and
harassers is a necessary part of a program that tries to be radically open and welcoming. That, for the V.A., would be a sea change.

There are now two million veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a small but growing portion of the total veteran population of
23 million. Not all saw combat; not all bear physical or psychological scars. Those who do pose a challenge this nation is only
beginning to confront.

In May, a federal court blisteringly criticized the V.A. for ―unchecked incompetence‖ in failing to provide mental health care to
veterans. The judges cited backlogs of hundreds of thousands of benefits claims and the lack of suicide-prevention experts in hundreds
of outpatient clinics. Veterans can wait months for treatment and years to have their disability claims processed.

The Veterans Outreach Center in Rochester, barely a half-hour from the Canandaigua V.A., is another part of the solution. The
independent program offers job training, art therapy and other services, and houses troubled vets with rap sheets and addictions. Its
director, James McDonough, a retired Army colonel, praises the V.A. for having skilled professionals and expert care, but says it
needs to do a much better job of working with community-based programs like his to broaden and strengthen the web of care.

Stacy Fogarty, 24, runs the center’s peer mentoring program. While in the Air Force, she served in a field hospital north of Baghdad.
Her job was in supply, but when casualties poured in, everybody was on call. Her worst memory: bringing in one soldier on a
stretcher. At first she wasn’t sure what she was looking at. Then she realized: this was a man, face down, helmet straps pinching back
his ears. He was a head and a torso. She stood by his bedside, curtains drawn. When the doctor pronounced the time of death, she was
stricken.

Ms. Fogarty, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, tinnitus and asthma, considers herself lucky: She has her life, her limbs,
a job, the ability to carry on. She is also a reminder of how much more the V.A. must do to educate veterans about their benefits and
available services.

A few months after she came home she decided she missed the camaraderie of the military. She Googled ―volunteer,‖ and found the
outreach center and her calling. Only there did she learn from other veterans that the V.A. could help her, too.

―If I didn’t stumble my way into here,‖ she said, she wouldn’t have health insurance and would still be struggling. Ms. Fogarty says
that as a proud member of what she calls an overlooked minority, she is glad to be helping veterans look out for one another.
After resisting, she said, she looked up the name of the dead soldier in Iraq. He had a wife and a child. And he had a brother serving in
Afghanistan. She found that soldier on Facebook, and told him she had been there when his brother died. She thinks of him every day.




Vet study links brain injury, dementia risk
A U.S. study found that mild brain injuries seem to raise dementia risk in older vets.
By Marilynn Marchione - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jul 18, 2011 8:27:25 EDT


PARIS — A large study in older veterans raises fresh concern about mild brain injuries that hundreds of
thousands of troops have suffered from explosions in recent wars. Even concussions seem to raise the risk of
developing Alzheimer's disease or other dementia later in life, researchers found.
Closed-head, traumatic brain injuries are a legacy of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Body armor is helping
troops survive bomb blasts, but the long-term effects of their head injuries are unknown.
Other research found a possibly high rate of mild cognitive impairment, or "pre-Alzheimer's," in some retired
pro-football players, who take many hits to the head in their careers.
The studies, reported Monday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in France, challenge the
current view that only moderate or severe brain injuries predispose people to dementia.
"Even a concussion or a mild brain injury can put you at risk," said Laurie Ryan, a neuropsychiatrist who used
to work at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and now oversees Alzheimer's grants at theNational Institute on
Aging.
Don't panic — this doesn't mean that every soldier or student athlete who has had a concussion is in danger.
Pro-football players and boxers "are almost a different species from us" in terms of the repeated blows they take
to the head, said William Thies, the Alzheimer's Association's scientific director.
It does mean you should try to avoid one, by fall-proofing your home and wearing helmets and seat belts, he
said. About 1.7 million brain injuries occur each year in the U.S.
Troops also need to prevent any further harm, said Dr. David Cifu, national director of physical medicine and
rehabilitation for the Veterans Health Administration.
"What the people who have had a head injury and read this should do is to exercise and eat right and take their
medicines and take their aspirin and do meditation to reduce stress — reduce risk factors that are modifiable,"
he said. The new study is "a great start," but limitations in its methods mean that it can't prove a brain injury-
dementia link, he said. More definitive studies are starting now but will take many years to give results.
The veterans study was led by Dr. Kristine Yaffe, a University of California professor and director of the
Memory Disorders Clinic at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. The Department of Defense and the
National Institutes of Health paid for the work.
"It's by far the largest" study of brain injury and dementia risk, she said. "It's never been looked at in veterans
specifically."
Researchers reviewed medical records on 281,540 veterans who got care at Veterans Health Administration
hospitals from 1997 to 2000 and had at least one follow-up visit from 2001-2007. All were at least 55 and none
had been diagnosed with dementia when the study began. This older group was chosen because dementia grows
more common with age, and researchers needed enough cases to compare those with and without brain injuries.
Records showed that 4,902 of the veterans had suffered a traumatic brain injury, or TBI, ranging from
concussions to skull fractures. Researchers don't know how long ago the injuries occurred. Many participants
were Vietnam War vets and their injuries were during active duty. None were due to strokes — those cases
were weeded out.
Over the next seven years, more than 15 percent of those who had suffered a brain injury were diagnosed with
dementia versus only 7 percent of the others — a more than doubled risk. Severity of the injury made no
difference in the odds of developing dementia.
"It's not just one kind of TBI or super-severe TBI" that poses a danger, Yaffe said.
That worries Ryan Lamke, 26, a medically retired Marine who lives in suburban Washington, D.C. He suffered
a traumatic brain injury from multiple blast exposures in 2005 in Iraq. "I'm diagnosed as a moderate (brain
injury) but it feels like a mild," said Lamke, who relies on electronic calendars and other gadgets to stay
organized. He's a student at Georgetown University and works part-time as a government relations intern for a
private firm.
"I have to read for twice as long as my classmates" to accomplish what's needed, he said. "I've not found a
doctor so far who can give me a true understanding of what's going to happen 20 or 30 years down the road."
Troops will need close monitoring in the years ahead and treatment for post-traumatic stress, depression and
other conditions that can lead to cognitive problems, experts said.
"While we don't want people frightened to think they're going to be permanently impaired, a mild traumatic
brain injury does not necessarily mean" no long-term problems, said Dr. Gregory O'Shanick, a psychiatrist and
chairman of the board of the advocacy group Brain Injury Association of America.
The other study is follow-up work on nearly 4,000 retired National Football League players surveyed in 2001.
New surveys were sent in 2008 to 905 of them who were over 50. Of those who responded, 513 had spouses
who could complete the part assessing the players' memory.
"We were surprised that 35 percent of them appeared to have significant cognitive problems," said lead
researcher Dr. Christopher Randolph of Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago.
Researchers sent 41 of them to the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes at the University of North Carolina
in Chapel Hill. Tests showed they had mild cognitive impairment that resembled a comparison group of much
older patients from the general population.
The results are preliminary, and suggest the players have higher rates of impairment than would be expected for
their age, but they also have more dementia risk factors, such as obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes,
Randolph said.




Court orders military to keep DADT in place
By Shaya Tayefe Mohajer - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jul 16, 2011 10:56:15 EDT


LOS ANGELES — The military’s ―don’t ask, don’t tell‖ policy is back in place for the time being, with one
major caveat: the government is not allowed to investigate, penalize or discharge anyone who is openly gay.
A San Francisco federal appeals court ordered the military to temporarily continue the controversial policy in an
order late Friday, the court’s response to a request from the Obama administration.
The order is the latest twist in the legal limbo gay service members have found themselves in as the policy is
fought in the courts simultaneous to its slow dismantling by the federal government, which expects to do away
with it by later this year.
In its three-page ruling, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the ruling was based on new information
provided by the federal government, including a declaration from Major General Steven A. Hummer, who is
leading the effort to repeal the policy.
―In order to provide this court with an opportunity to consider fully the issues presented in the light of these
previously undisclosed facts,‖ the court wrote, that it would uphold an earlier order to keep the policy in place.
The court of appeals had halted ―don’t ask, don’t tell‖ July 6 but the Department of Justice filed an emergency
motion Thursday saying ending the policy now would pre-empt the orderly process for rolling it back, per a law
signed by President Barack Obama in December.
The ruling was supported by Servicemembers United, an organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans,
but the group’s executive director Alexander Nicholson voiced frustration over the slow process of dismantling
―don’t ask, don’t tell.‖
―The situation with finally ending this outdated and discriminatory federal policy has become absolutely
ridiculous,‖ said Nicholson. ―It is simply not right to put the men and women of our armed forces through this
circus any longer.‖
The Department of Justice said in a statement that it asked the court to reconsider its order ―to avoid short-
circuiting the repeal process established by Congress during the final stages of the implementation of the
repeal.‖
It said senior military leaders are expected to make their decision on certifying repeal within the next few
weeks. In the meantime, the Justice Department said ―it remains the policy of the Department of Defense not to
ask service members or applicants about their sexual orientation, to treat all members with dignity and respect,
and to ensure maintenance of good order and discipline.‖
The Justice Department noted that the Defense Department has discharged only one service member since
Congress voted to repeal the policy, and that was done at the request of the service member.
Last year’s ruling by the appeals court stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the Log Cabin Republicans against the
Department of Justice.
The gay rights group persuaded U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips to impose a worldwide injunction
halting the ban last October, but the appeals court granted the government a stay, saying it wanted to give the
military time to implement such a historical change.
The Log Cabin Republicans asked the court Friday to deny the motion, saying ―an on-again, off-again status of
the District Court’s injunction benefits no one and plays havoc with the constitutional rights of American
service members.‖
The plaintiff said while only one service member has been discharged since the congressional vote, three others
have been approved for discharge by the secretary of the Air Force but the processing of those actions have
been ―stopped in their tracks‖ by the court’s order. Granting the stay the government wants would allow it to act
on those discharges and also allow it to put recent applicants from gay enlistees in limbo, the group said.
Justice Department attorneys said in their motion Thursday the grounds for keeping the stay in place are even
stronger today than they were when this court initially entered the stay, and that disrupting the process set out
by Congress would impose ―significant immediate harms on the government.‖
The chiefs of the military services submitted their recommendations on the repeal to Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta last week. As soon as the Pentagon certifies that repealing the ban will have no effect on military
readiness, the military has 60 days to implement the repeal, which could happen by September.
Lt. Col. Paul Hackett, a lawyer in the Marine Corps Reserve, said military officials are ready for the change and
there is no need for a delay.
―We’re already taking steps to implement it,‖ he said. ―Politicians do what politicians do for whatever their
political need is. It’s an election year, so somebody is obviously taken that into consideration. I suspect that’s
what driving this.‖
Friday’s order lays out a schedule for anticipated objections and motions from both sides: the Log Cabin
Republicans have until 5 p.m. Thursday to file opposition to today’s motion, and the federal government has
until 5 p.m. the next day to file a reply supporting it.
The court also asks the federal government to explain by close of business Monday why the information on
implementation of the Repeal Act wasn’t provided sooner.
On Saturday, a contingent of active-duty troops and veterans are expected to march in San Diego’s gay pride
parade.
Former Navy operations specialist Sean Sala is organizing what is believed to be the first military contingent of
troops and veterans to lead a gay pride parade.
Sala said the parade group will wear T-shirts showing their branch of service. They will walk with two horses
— one draped in an American flag and the other with the rainbow-colored Pride flag — to honor service
members and those who have died for equality.


DUANE MERCIER, Deputy Director, PR
The American Legion National Headquarters
700 North Pennsylvania Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
317.630.1316 (w)
317.771.2292 (c)




American Legion News Clips – July 19
VA denies censorship at Houston National Cemetery…
Honoring their service: How the American Legion reaches out to military families…
Local veterans worry about budget cuts…
White accepts vice commander role with American Legion…
Brain-injured veterans twice as likely to get dementia…
Wrong surgery down, close calls up at VA hospitals…
Post-9/11, biggest terror threat is underground…
Cyber threat grows more destructive, Lynn says…

And more.
____________________________________________________________________________
Houston Chronicle
VA denies censorship at Houston National Cemetery
By LINDSAY WISE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
July 18, 2011, 8:22PM

Department of Veterans Affairs has denied allegations of religious censorship at Houston National Cemetery —
accusations that have sparked calls for investigations from members of Congress — according to a new
document filed in federal court.
The document is the government's first detailed response to a lawsuit that accuses VA officials and cemetery
director Arleen Ocasio of closing the cemetery chapel, banning volunteer groups from saying the words "God"
or "Jesus" at burial services, and forbidding the groups from religious recitations or prayers during the services
unless families submitted the texts to her for approval.
The lawsuit's claims are factually inaccurate, argues assistant U.S. attorney Fred Hinrichs in the 21-page
document filed Friday in Houston's federal courthouse.
Ocasio and other cemetery employees never banned religious words such as God and Jesus, do not censor the
content of prayer or religious speech from burial services, do not require written approval for religious rituals,
and are not engaged in unlawful religious discrimination, according to the document.
"In every instance, defendants have sought to honor and respect the religious preferences, if any, of the families
of deceased veterans during private committal services," the document reads.
Houston National Cemetery employees give families the option of reciting any religious or non-religious text
they choose at burial services, the document explains, and do not provide any religious or non-religious text
when it is not desired by the families.
Registered VA volunteers who attend burial services at the cemetery have agreed to abide by VA policies, and
do not have "a right to interject their own religious beliefs into the private committal services of others," the
document argues.
The document also contests the lawsuit's description of the cemetery chapel's closure.
Religious symbols
The chapel was temporarily closed because of "construction fumes and noise" in 2010, but reopened July 5, the
document states, adding that the chapel bells have continued to toll each day except for one week this spring.
A Bible, cross and Star of David that had been displayed inside the chapel were removed in 2009, before
Ocasio'stenure as director, according to the document. Mourners who attended a service in the chapel had
complained the symbols gave "the appearance of government religious bias," the document states, and the items
are now stored within the chapel and available for use during a burial service if requested by a family.
Mourner's complaint
One of the most striking allegations contained in the lawsuit was that cemetery officials had ordered National
Memorial Ladies to stop telling families "God bless you," and to remove "God bless" from condolence cards.
The VA responds in the document filed Friday that the cemetery had received a complaint about a year ago
from a family member who was upset that military funeral honors had included references to Christianity
although the family had specifically requested no religious symbol on the deceased veteran's grave marker.
"Subsequently, defendant Ocasio asked the Memorial Ladies to endeavor to respect particular family members
religious preferences, and to provide only general condolences without religious reference unless the Memorial
Ladies were aware of a family's religious preference and expressions of a specific religious nature would be
appropriate," the document reads.
The nonprofit Liberty Institute, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the volunteer groups Veterans of Foreign
Wars District 4, American Legion Post 586, and National Memorial Ladies, stands by all the allegations against
the VA and Ocasio.
"Everything we said is true," said Hiram Sasser, Liberty Institute's director of litigation.
"My response is that we represent World War II and Vietnam veterans and veterans of the Persian Gulf and
veterans of other wars, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their integrity and honesty is above
reproach," Sasser said. "They have sacrificed and served this country well, and they expect to be treated with
dignity and respect by the VA."
Bradenton Herald (FL)
Honoring Their Service: How the American Legion Reaches out to
Military Families

Last November, in a Massachusetts town along the Vermont border, a young mother who had just given birth to
her second child was turned out on the streets by her parents.
The woman’s husband was a soldier serving in Afghanistan, and her parents did not approve of the war.
―They just tossed her out, along with her two children. So the Red Cross called us up and we found her a
suitable place to live,‖ says Steven Jimmo, state chairman of The American Legion’s Family Support Network.




Members of The American Legion Riders' Kansas chapter admire the challenge-coin collection of Marine Sgt. Jonathon Blank, who
lost both legs to an IED in Afghanistan. The Riders are, from left: Kenny White, Sam Langhofer and Don Behrens. Photo by James V.
Carroll.



Legionnaires moved quickly, working with the new landlord to get the homeless family settled. The night
before Thanksgiving, Jimmo drove more than two hours to hand-deliver a check to the landlord for a security
deposit. ―We also provided curtains for the apartment, additional food, furniture and toys for the children. They
made sure this young woman with her two infant children – whose father was on duty overseas – had a
memorable Thanksgiving.‖
As in other states, The American Legion works closely with Massachusetts National Guard and reserve units,
reaching out to help our troops and their families. Jimmo says the Legion often helps military families avoid
having their utilities turned off, homes foreclosed and other domestic calamities.
―We usually have companies beating down our doors, wanting to assist these families during their hour of need.
So we’ve organized them into a network willing to do things at cost, which the Legion often covers,‖ Jimmo
says. ―In all of these cases, the families in need are never asked to pay for anything.‖
Not only for veterans
American Legion National Commander Jimmie L. Foster says many people think his organization only helps
veterans, ―but that definitely is not the case. On any given day, one or more of our Legion posts is lending a
hand to military families – everything from emergency rent payments to fixing a car or mowing a lawn.‖
Foster says the Legion was founded by active-duty troops who fought in France during World War I. ―It’s a fact
that most of our members are veterans, but we also have a good number of active-duty, reserve and National
Guard members. Anyone now serving in the military – or since the Desert Shield and Desert Storm campaigns –
is welcome to join us.‖
With 2.4 million members and about 14,000 posts nationwide, The American Legion has many community-
based resources and connections that help military families in ways the Department of Defense (DoD) cannot.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently said that communities need to take the
lead in providing strong support networks for servicemembers and their families.
The American Legion is well suited, Foster says, to work with DoD in providing more assistance for military
families at the community level. ―This is something we’re very good at doing, something we’ve been doing for
more than 90 years. Anyone can go to our Legion Town website and read about many of the ways – large and
small – in which Legionnaires are honoring the service and sacrifices of our troops and their loved ones.‖
Outreach to military families
Barry Searle, director of The American Legion’s national security/foreign relations division, says much of what
the Legion does for servicemembers, their spouses, and children remains under the radar of DoD’s senior
leadership ―because most of the help we’re giving is at the local level, outside the Beltway. But just about every
day, we’re making a difference in the lives of some military family out there.‖
In a recent informal survey that Searle did on the Legion’s outreach efforts, he received many responses from
Legionnaires on how they have been helping servicemembers and military families in dire situations, including:
        A Delaware reservist, his wife (who just lost her job), and six children, who had no fuel for their home
          in the dead of winter.
        A Massachusetts family who lost everything they owned in a fire while the spouse was deployed to
          Afghanistan.
        A Wyoming veteran waiting for his VA benefits, who needed food, roof repairs, some new windows,
          and heater repair.
        An Air Force servicemember in California, with a five-year old son, who had her car broken into;
          everything was stolen, including her rent money.
        An active-duty Marine and double-amputee, who could not afford $3,000 for modifications to his home
          and vehicle to accommodate his disability.
―In each of these cases and many, many more, Legionnaires took care of the problem,‖ Searle says. ―They
bought the fuel, they paid for clothes, they bought the ticket, or fixed the roof. And what they couldn’t do, they
got patriotic businesses to do the rest. That’s another great thing about the Legion – we don’t just help as much
as we can. We go out and get other people to lend a hand as well.‖
American Legion Riders
With more than 100,000 members and about 1,200 chapters across the country, The American Legion Riders
play a major role in fundraising and outreach to military families. On their motorcycles, the Riders also
volunteer many hours as escorts for military funerals, visits to VA hospitals, veterans homes and Warrior
Transition Units.
Recently, Legion Riders in Kansas raised $125,000 to help cover medical expenses for Marine Sgt. Jonathon
Blank, who lost both legs to an IED explosion in Afghanistan. The original goal was to raise about $15,000, but
Kansas Rider Sam Langhofer says that Blank’s story ―touched everyone who heard it, and we soon realized we
were going to get much more than we anticipated.‖
―I can’t say enough about how thankful I am to have the support and respect of the Legion Riders and The
American Legion family,‖ Blank says. ―War and the consequences of war are not a mystery to them. They get
it.‖
Family Support Network (FSN)
―We wanted a program that would streamline the process of connecting military families to The American
Legion family,‖ says Jason Kees, assistant director of the Legion’s children and youth programs. ―The Family
Support Network provides a mutual introduction, so when the need arises to ask for help, no one is a stranger.‖
FSN is a highly localized program, dependent on the resources a local Legion post can bring to bear in
providing for a military family’s needs. Kees says those needs can be as simple as providing dependable child
care for a single afternoon, ―or maybe they need a new roof, because the old one leaks in seven places. That’s
when our network kicks in – the bottom line is, we’re going to try and help any family of a servicemember or
veteran who needs it.‖
Legion posts may have no good solution for some problems, but they can still provide good referrals. Kees
encourages military families in need to contact FSN’s telephone hotline at (800) 504-4098, or fill out
an assistance request online.

WHSV (VA)

Local Veterans Worry About Budget Cuts

Harrisonburg
Reporter: Tim Wronka
Budget worries and debt problems are nothing new in this country. But many feel what's lost in this endless
debate about money, are the people affected by these budget cuts.
People like our veterans.
Lorrie Gordon is a veteran who is now a service officer with the American Legion. Working with veterans
every day, she says people need to understand the impact cuts can have.
"When you have retirement that is cut, disability that is cut, benefits are cut," Gordon says. "Then you're asking
our veterans to cut their food, their prescriptions, their way of life."
Even if no one in Congress proposes specific cuts to programs for former soldiers, there's always worry that the
cuts come out in the wash. So Lorrie has a simple solution.
"Pay for what we need to pay for first," she says. "Instead of cutting it, start cutting the research, start cutting
the pork out of the bills."
Jeff Warden is a retired navy veteran who's seen first hand what cuts to programs can do to those that serve their
county. He has an easy remedy that congress should listen to:
"Those people need to understand that cutting benefits for veterans is not an option."
Litchfield Independent Review (MN)


White accepts vice commander role with American Legion
by Brent Schacherer




Stationed in the Fulda Gap with the U.S. Army’s 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment during the mid-1980s, Barry
White learned the importance of preparedness.

Almost 30 years later, he’s applying some of those lessons to a new challenge as vice commander of Minnesota
American Legion’s 7th District Area C, in which he oversees 22 Legion posts throughout the central and
southern region of the state.
―I’ve been accused of never being satisfied, of thinking that things can always be better,‖ White said recently. ―I
guess that’s what my philosophy from over there was; everything had to be just right. I’m trying not to be too
(overbearing) ... but you have to be prepared and efficient at what you do.‖

That’s important now more than ever, White said, because veterans organizations like the American Legion
need to continue to push for veterans’ benefits and to make sure soldiers are provided the best possible
equipment and resources while serving, as well as after they come home.

White’s rise within the Legion ranks has been a rapid one.

Though he left the Army in 1987, he never really considered joining the Legion until two years ago. A former
Litchfield High School classmate, John McCann had just become commander of the Litchfield post and asked if
White would be willing to help.

―So, I got involved,‖ White said.

Almost immediately, he was named chairman of the memorials committee, where he worked with longtime
member Bruce Cottington on fundraising for the field cross memorial, which wound up being installed at
Memorial Park near Lake Ripley.

―That went pretty well,‖ White said. ―I had a lot of fun working with Bruce.‖

As Legion leadership continues to search for ways to expand its membership to the current generation of
soldiers, promoting ―young guys‖ like 45-year-old White is seen as a way to bridge the gap.

―I went to the district convention and they were all excited down there that I was a young guy,‖ White said.
―What does that say? We need younger guys to get involved. I see these guys coming back from Iraq and
Afghanistan — they’re the young guys. It would be nice to see them get involved. That’s what we’re trying to
do.‖

White called his selection by 7th District Commander Richard Wog, who attained the rank of command
sergeant major in the National Guard, ―humbling‖ and said, ―I’m honored he would look at me that way.‖

Currently, White said, there are about 4 million eligible veterans in the country who are not Legion members.
Telling the organization’s story could convince many of them to become active.

MSNBC
Brain-injured veterans twice as likely to get dementia
Football players have even higher risk, say new studies linking head injuries, dementia
By Linda Carroll
msnbc.com contributor
Two new studies — one in veterans and the other in retired football players — add to the mounting evidence
linking head injuries to an increased the risk of dementia later in life.
Veterans who had been diagnosed with a brain injury, anything from a concussion to a severe head wound, were
more than twice as likely to develop dementia compared to those with no injury to the brain, researchers
reported today at the Alzheimer’s Association’ International Conference in Paris.
The results were even more striking in a study of retired football players: 35 percent of the former National
Football League players had signs of dementia, which compares to a 13 percent Alzheimer’s rate in the general
population.
For the veterans study, researchers reviewed the medical records of 281,540 military personnel age 55 and older
who received care at Veterans Administration hospitals from 1997 to 2000 and who had at least one follow-up
visit from 2001 to 2007. None of the veterans in the study were diagnosed with dementia at the beginning of the
seven year study.
Almost 5,000 of the veterans had been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Their risk of developing
dementia by the end of the study was 15.3 percent. That’s compared to 6.8 percent of those with no TBI
diagnosis.
The football player study is a follow-up of earlier research that included a survey of nearly 4,000 retired NFL
players in 2001. In 2008, new surveys were sent to the 905 players who were over 50 years old.
Of those who responded to the second survey, 513 had wives who could complete a section of questions
addressing the players’ memory and cognition. ―We were surprised that 35 percent of [the players] appeared to
have significant cognitive problems,‖ said the new study’s lead researcher, Dr. Christopher Randolph of Loyola
University Medical Center in Chicago.
The study results were scary news for Ryan Lamke, 26, a medically retired Marine who lives in suburban
Washington, D.C. Lamke suffered TBIs from multiple blast exposures when he served in Iraq in 2005.
―I’m diagnosed as a moderate [TBI], but it feels anything but mild,‖ said Lamke, who relies on electronic
calendars and other gadgets to keep his life organized.
Now a university student, Lamke feels the results of his TBI keenly every time he goes to study. ―I have to read
for twice as long as my classmates,‖ he said. ―I’ve not found a doctor so far who can give me a true
understanding of what’s going to happen 20 or 30 years down the road.‖
The two new studies add to rapidly accumulating evidence showing that head injuries, even concussions, can
lead to severe consequences many years afterwards, said Dr. Gary Small, director of the University of
California, Los Angeles, Longevity Center and author of the forthcoming book, ―The Alzheimer’s Prevention
Program.‖
Some earlier research found a two-fold increased risk of Alzheimer’s associated with head injuries that caused a
loss of consciousness lasting an hour or more, Small said. And that risk jumped to 10-fold when people also had
a genetic mutation called APOE-e4.
A study that compared soccer players to swimmers found that soccer players performed less well on cognitive
tests, Small added.
Scientists believe that each hit to the head, even concussions, causes stretching of the brain’s communication
cables, known as axons. When the axons stretch, their inner structure is damaged. Studies have shown that
damaged axons can spew out proteins that lead to plaques and tangles in the brain which are known to cause
dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Studies conducted at the University of Pennsylvania in people who sustained moderate to severe TBIs found
that an injury could spark the production of axon clogging proteins in some people. And those brain changes
just intensified as the years went by.
That may explain all the deposits of stringy tau protein found in the autopsied brains of football players, Small
said. His group has developed a scanner that will highlight tau deposits in living players. The group just scanned
their first former NFL player. The hope is that we’ll be able to see what’s going on in these former players’
brains while they’re still alive,‖ Small said.
The new research in veterans should give us all pause, said Dr. Douglas Smith, a professor of neurosurgery and
director of the Penn Center for Brain Injury and Repair.
We’ve all heard about Agent Orange,‖ he said. "That may pale in comparison to this. We don’t know how many
soldiers have been exposed to blasts or what level of brain injury can trigger long term effects. We have to be
concerned for years to come about the welfare of our soldiers. They may come home safely, but may not be
home safe. This is the injury that keeps on taking.‖
Msnbc.com wire services contributed to this report.
Linda Carroll is a health and science writer living in New Jersey. Her work has appeared in The New York
Times, Newsday, Health magazine and SmartMoney. She is co-author of the forthcoming book "The Concussion
Crisis: Anatomy of a Silent Epidemic."

Wrong surgery down, close calls up at VA hospitals
Published July 18, 2011 | Associated Press
Medical procedures and surgeries on the wrong patient and wrong body part have declined substantially at
Veterans Affairs hospitals nationwide, while reports of close calls have increased, according to a study that
credits ongoing quality improvement efforts.
These efforts include a VA requirement for doctors, nurses and other hospital workers to report medical errors
and near-misses to their bosses. The study is based on reports from mid-2006 to 2009; they were compared with
data from the previous five years.
The per-month rate of reported errors declined to about two from about three at the VA's 153 centers that do
surgery or other major medical procedures. Reported monthly close calls increased to about three from almost
two.
Skeptics might wonder if a decline in reported errors means hospital workers are clamming up, but co-author
Julia Neily, a nurse and associate director with the VA's National Center for Patient Safety, said, "Care is
becoming safer." She said the increase in close-call reports suggests doctors, nurses and their co-workers are
becoming more willing to speak up when something goes wrong or looks like it's about to.
The VA's quality improvement efforts encourage that kind of openness. Veterans facilities also are among
hospitals that have adopted pilot-style checklists, where a member of the operating team reads off things like the
patient's name, the type of procedure, anesthesia and tools needed. Body parts to be operated on are marked, and
team members are supposed to speak up if something doesn't sound right. Patients, too, are sometimes involved
before being wheeled into the operating room.
The study was published online Monday in the Archives of Surgery.
During the 42 months studied, there were 101 medical errors and 136 close calls, out of more than half a million
procedures.
The researchers and patient safety experts not involved in the study said the results show a promising trend,
including a decline in the severity of medical errors at VA hospitals.
Still, there were troubling signs — 30 procedures or surgeries on the wrong patient and 48 on the wrong body
part or wrong side of the body.
Most "wrong patient" events involved CT scans, MRIs and other radiology procedures. "Wrong" surgeries
included implanting the wrong size eye lens and the wrong type of knee joint.
Why these major errors continued to happen despite a big focus on improving safety "is THE question," Neily
acknowledged.
Sometimes patients have the same or similar names, she said.
Sometimes patients speak different languages or otherwise have difficulty communicating with their doctors,
said Dr. Allan Frankel of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, who stressed that non-VA hospitals are also
struggling to get those numbers down to zero after adopting similar systems.
Dr. David Mayer, co-director of the Institute for Patient Safety Excellence at the University of Illinois at
Chicago, said sometimes surgeons and other OR team members are distracted during "time-outs" and checklist-
reading before surgeries, thinking ahead to the operation.
At UIC's medical center, surgeons are encouraged to have these sessions outside the operating room, in a quiet
setting around patients' beds, to make it easier to focus, Mayer said. Some VA hospitals also use that approach,
Neily said.
The study lacked data on deaths related to surgery mistakes during the study, although the authors said there
were no deaths in 2009, the most recent year examined.
A 2006-08 study published last year reported an 18 percent decline in deaths at 74 Veterans hospitals that had
adopted the surgery checklist approach.
Washington Times
Post-9/11, biggest terror threat is underground
By Tom Hays
Associated Press
10:46 a.m., Monday, July 18, 2011

NEW YORK — It's the morning rush in the Times Square subway station, a routine convergence of humanity
and mass transit that makes New York City hum. Mixing seamlessly with subway riders are New York Police
Department officers with heavy body armor and high-powered rifles, commanders in blue NYPD polo shirts
carrying smart phone-size radiation detectors and a panting police dog named Sabu.
"This is the new normal," Inspector Scott Shanley of the NYPD's Counterterrorism Division says. "The only
people who sometimes get raised up are tourists."
Since terrorists brought down the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, subways have been bombed in terror attacks
across the world, including in Madrid, London and this spring in Minsk, Belarus. The possibility that New
York's sprawling, porous and famously gritty subway system could be next has become a constant worry —
leading to a new normal of suspicious package alerts, bomb-sniffing dogs, cameras trained on commuters and
passengers listening to the missive, "if you see something, say something."
The campaigns encouraging residents to report suspicious activity strike Manhattan writer Anne Nelson, 57, as
Orwellian.
"New York is about expression and life and vibrancy," she said, walking through Times Square. "It's not about
living in an atmosphere of fear."
But authorities here believe a serious attack on the 24-hour subway system with more than 400 stations, would
potentially cripple the city in ways worse than the Sept. 11 attack — a concern shared in other countries reliant
on mass transit and viewed as enemies by terrorists.
The human toll — going back when the Aum Shinrikyo cult's 1995 nerve gas attack killed 12 people and
injured thousands in Tokyo's subways — has already been devastating. In Madrid, Islamic militants set off 10
backpack bombs on the commuter rail network in 2004, killing 191 people and wounding more than 1,800; in
London, another suicide bomb strike killed 52 commuters and injured 700 in the city's deadliest attack since
World War II; and earlier this year in Minsk, a remote-controlled bomb killed 12 people and wounded 200 in
the city's main subway station.
In New York, no one has pulled off an attack, but there have been plenty of scares.
Last year, a homegrown al-Qaida operative, Najibullah Zazi, pleaded guilty to plotting a suicide bomb attack
timed for rush hour to cause the most bloodshed. The former airport shuttle driver told a judge his plan was "to
conduct a martyrdom operation on the subway lines in Manhattan as soon as the material was ready." The
NYPD also foiled a 2004 plot to bomb Manhattan's Herald Square subway station. And there were reports in
that al-Qaida considered a cyanide attack on the subway system in 2003.
New York's subway system, the largest in the country, has more than 465 far-flung stations, most with multiple
entrances, and 800 miles of track that would stretch to Chicago if laid end to end. Last year, it carried 5.2
million riders on the average weekday — well more than double the number of travelers who pass through U.S.
airports each day.
"It's really a potentially very vulnerable environment — one that you can't totally protect," said William
Bratton, a Kroll security firm executive who's headed New York and Los Angeles police departments and was
chief of the New York City transit. "That's the reality of it. ... It's a unique challenge."
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said the NYPD tries to meet that challenge by going to "extraordinary
lengths" in the subways each day "to make our presence seen and felt in different ways, giving would-be
terrorists and common criminals cause to think twice."
"We have a lot of ground to cover," he says.
Pre-9/11, covering that ground meant mostly fighting conventional crime — from robberies and assaults to fare
beating and drug possession.
Post, the department has asked its 2,500 uniformed and plainclothes transit officers to fight terror as well.
Officers have been given training in how to spot terror suspects casing the subways. They've also been
instructed to be on the alert for people walking in a stiff manner, sweating heavily and talking to themselves —
signs of a potential suicide bomber.
The counterterror arsenal includes more than 30 bomb-sniffing dogs; silent alarms and motion detectors
intended to prevent tampering with ventilation systems to make a chemical or biological attack more lethal; and
a vast system of security cameras wired with live feeds from Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal and Herald
Square.
More new normal: Random bag checks — once challenged in court as a civil rights violation — are done tens
of thousands of times each year in the subways with barely any complaints. The department uses high-tech
detection devices to screen riders for peroxides or nitrates common in homemade explosives, sometimes with
the help of agents on loan from the Transportation Safety Administration.
The security strategy also includes regular inspections of tunnels under the East River, and sending officers
periodically onto subway cars, asking passengers to beware of suspicious package. The roving teams can calm
commuters, discourage would-be attacks or disrupt plots already set in motion, police say.
Police rely on counterterrorism drills to stay sharp, said Shanley. One exercise involves having an undercover
officer with a mock device, stashed in a backpack and emitting gamma rays, slip into the subway to test the
ability to detect and neutralize a real radioactive threat.
Above ground, NYPD analysts constantly mine for intelligence about potential plots that can dictate how it
deploys forces. The department has dispatched detectives to Moscow, Madrid, London and Mumbai, India, to
see what lessons can be learned from overseas terror attacks.
London's transit system has long been affected by the threat of bombs — there are no garbage bins on the
subway or in train stations, for example, a legacy of the years when London was an IRA target.
After the 2005 attack, the emergency services were criticized for lapses in their response — confusion, a
shortage of first aid supplies and radios that did not work underground. Police have since been issued with
digital radios capable of operating throughout the subway system.
The biggest change since the bombings has been the decision to equip some members of the British Transport
Police officers who patrol the transit network with guns. Most British police do not carry firearms.
There also were intelligence lapses. Britain's domestic intelligence service, MI5, had two of the London
bombers under surveillance as part of an investigation into an earlier, foiled, bomb plot. They were never
pursued because officials were overwhelmed with other threats perceived to be more serious.
Home Secretary Theresa May, the government official responsible for MI5, said earlier this year that "a
considerable number of improvements" had been put in place since 2005 but declined to give details for security
reasons.
In Spain, the national rail company Renfe said security measures on that network have in fact been beefed up
since the massacre. But it refused to give details, calling the issue confidential and sensitive.
Another state-owned company, Adif, which manages Spain's long-distance train stations, said it has assigned
more guards at train stations and broadened use of closed-circuit security cameras. It also has sought more
coordination with various national and local law enforcement agencies to identify threats.
The heightened security in subways has become second nature in New York, though fears persist.
At Grand Central Terminal last week, 54-year-old consultant Robin Gant said the threat of terrorism still weighs
on her 10 years after the Sept. 11 attacks. But she wondered about how one can fairly point out who's a threat.
"I look at people and who's to judge? You just never know who might be the one," she said. "No matter how
safe you feel, you're always on yellow alert."

Missing World War II Soldiers Identified
        The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains
of three servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their
families for burial with full military honors.
        Army Pfc. Lawrence N. Harris, of Elkins, W.V., Cpl. Judge C. Hellums, of Paris, Miss., and Pvt. Donald
D. Owens, of Cleveland, will be buried as a group, in a single casket, on July 20 in Arlington National
Cemetery. In late September 1944, their unit, the 773rd Tank Battalion, was fighting its way east to France’s
eastern border, clearing German forces out of the Parroy Forest near Lunéville. On Oct. 9, 1944, in the final
battle for control of the region, Hellums, Harris, Owens and two other soldiers were attacked by enemy fire in
their M-10 Tank Destroyer. Two men survived with serious injuries but Harris, Hellums and Owens were
reported to have been killed. Evidence at the time indicated the remains of the men had been destroyed in the
attack and were neither recovered nor buried near the location.
        In November 1946, a French soldier working in the Parroy Forest found debris associated with an M-10
vehicle and human remains, which were turned over to the American Graves Registration Command. The
remains were buried as unknowns in what is now known as the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium. A
year later the AGRC returned to the Parroy Forest to conduct interviews and search for additional remains.
Investigators noted at that time that all remains of U.S. soldiers had reportedly been removed in the last two
years and that the crew was likely buried elsewhere as unknowns.
        In 2003, a French citizen exploring the Parroy Forest discovered human remains and an identification
bracelet engraved with Hellums’ name, from a site he had probed occasionally since 1998. The information
was eventually sent to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC). In April 2006, the man turned over
the items to a JPAC team working in Europe. A few months later a second JPAC team returned to the site and
recovered more human remains, personal effects and an identification tag for Owens.
       Historians at DPMO and JPAC continued their research on the burials at the Ardennes Cemetery, and
drew a correlation to those unknowns removed from the 1944 battle site. In early 2008 JPAC disinterred these
remains and began their forensic review.
      Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental
comparisons for the men and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA,
which matched that of each soldier’s relatives in the identification of their remains.
       At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover, identify and bury approximately
79,000 Americans. Today, more than 72,000 remain unaccounted-for from the conflict.


Cyber Threat Grows More Destructive, Lynn Says
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 15, 2011 – The cyber threat the United States faces is increasing in severity and is
accessible to a wide range of enemies, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said in a television
interview broadcast last night.
―Most of what we see today is exploitation -- that's theft, stealing secrets, either commercial or military,‖ Lynn
told Ray Suarez on ―PBS Newshour.‖ ―[But] we know the tools exist to destroy things, to destroy physical
property, to destroy networks, to destroy data, maybe even take human lives.‖
Lynn said nation-states currently are the sole possessors of sophisticated cyber tools, but the capability will
spread over time.
―It's going to migrate to rogue states, and it's going to migrate to, eventually, terrorist groups,‖ he said. ―At
some point, you're going to see a marriage of capability and
intent, and that is what we should truly worry about.‖
DOD is working both to defend its own networks and support the Department of Homeland Security’s mission
to protect systems important to national security, Lynn said.
Pentagon officials yesterday released the Defense Department’s first strategy aimed at countering the cyber
threat. The strategy document charts the increase of Internet usage since 2000, when there were 360 global
users, to 2010’s 2 billion. DOD alone has 15,000 networks and more than 7 million computing devices.

―In the first instance, we're protecting those military capabilities,‖ Lynn said. ―But we need to go further.
Working through the Department of Homeland Security, we need to think about how we might use better
defensive capabilities to protect … the power grid, the transportation network, the financial sector.‖
DOD is not committing to protecting the entire Internet, Lynn said.
―We're talking with our allies about how we have a collective
defense,‖ he said. ―We're working with them to share technologies, to share understandings of the threat, so that
we have a collective defense approach to this important problem.‖
Most cyber attacks happening now are malicious activity, some are criminal, and some reach the level of
espionage, Lynn said.
―We have seen a few cases … where it goes above that and degrades networks themselves,‖ he said, noting the
2007 attack on Estonia and the 2008 cyber assault on the republic of Georgia.
Defending the cyber domain requires a new way of thinking, Lynn said.
―It's different than land, sea, air and space,‖ he noted. ―It's largely privately owned. It crosses borders. It doesn't
respect sovereignty. And the speed at which it moves, keystrokes on one side of the globe can have an impact
on the other in the blink of an eye.‖
U.S. Cyber Command is responsible for organizing DOD’s efforts in the cyber domain, the deputy secretary
said.
―They're out hiring people, both in uniform and as civilians, with … [the] cyber skills that we need,‖ he added.
―They're different kinds of skills than we might need with conventional soldiers, but they're equally important.‖

DOD doesn’t monitor or scan commercial networks in the United States, Lynn said.

―We're trying to work with the appropriate agencies, the FBI, with law enforcement, the Department of
Homeland Security, for protection of critical infrastructure to provide capabilities … that the Defense
Department has that might be used for those critical missions,‖ he said. ―But we don't have the primary role.‖

Taiwan: China’s Military Edge Growing
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 19 JUL 11)


TAIPEI, Taiwan — China's military advantage over Taiwan is increasing amid Beijing's attempts to block
foreign forces from intervening in a possible conflict, the island's defense ministry said Tuesday.
The military balance between Taiwan and China has become a sensitive issue in the United States, which
remains Taiwan's major security partner despite shifting its recognition from Taipei to Beijing 32 years ago.

Bipartisan critics in Congress have accused President Barack Obama's administration of neglecting Taiwan's
defense needs by refusing to sell it 66 relatively advanced F-16 jet fighters. They also say the administration is
deliberately holding up the publication of a classified Pentagon report believed to highlight China's growing
aerial superiority over the self-ruled democratic island.

In its annual defense white paper published Tuesday, Taiwan's defense ministry said that China's declared 2010
defense expenditures were $77 billion, dwarfing Taiwan's $9 billion in outlays. However, the ministry said, the
actual Chinese military budget may have exceeded $200 billion, which would provide Beijing with a dollar-for-
dollar advantage of more than 20-to-1.

China also has a huge force-level advantage over the island, the ministry said, with some 2.3 million troops at
its disposal against Taiwan's 270,000.

Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949. China still claims the island as its own and threatens to attack if
it makes its de facto independence permanent.

The ministry said China was taking concrete steps to try to block foreign forces from intervening on Taiwan's
side during any future conflict with China. The reference was to the U.S., which besides bearing a
congressionally mandated responsibility to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons, has also hinted that it
might come to the island's aid if China attacked.

The defense ministry report said that in 2010 China deployed a small number of Dong Feng-21 D medium
range missiles. That is significant, it said, because the system is seen as a threat to aircraft carriers, the main
platform the United States would use if it intervened in any future Taiwan-China conflict.


Joe March
Director of Public Relations
The American Legion National Hqs.
700 North Pennsylvania Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Office (317) 630-1253
Fax (317) 630-1368
Cell (317) 748-1926




American Legion News Clips – July 20

Former NSA official says mismanagement continues at spy agency…
Pakistan’s military plotted to tilt U.S. policy, F.B.I. says…
Arizona officials, fed up with U.S. efforts, seek donations to build border fence…
Obama backs repeal of ‘so-called Defense of Marriage Act’…
Military to calculate radiation doses for those living, working in Japan following
earthquake…
Living Marine to be awarded Medal of Honor for Afghanistan heroics
Army to move hundreds of wounded troops as Walter Reed closes
Marijuana treatment sought for chronic PTSD sufferers
Expand veterans drug courts, senators told

Murray pleads for Senate action on VA funding…

And more.
___________________________________________________________________________
Washington Times
Former NSA official says mismanagement continues at spy agency
Accused leaker calls organization the ‘Enron’ of intelligence
By Shaun Waterman
The Washington Times
9:09 p.m., Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Former National Security Agency whistleblower Thomas A. Drake says continuing mismanagement and
malfeasance have turned the nation's premier electronic spy agency into "the Enron of the U.S. intelligence
community."
Mr. Drake, whose federal criminal case concluded last week, said in an interview with The Washington Times
that he thinks management failures at NSA related to electronic surveillance and other issues that he protested
— first through internal channels and then by sharing unclassified data with a Baltimore Sun reporter — are
continuing.
"The agency never even accepted the basis for the [Pentagon inspector general's] investigation in the first
place," he said, referring to the internal audit launched after he and others at NSA's Fort Meade headquarters in
Maryland complained about contract fraud and mismanagement.
He compared the agency to the Texas-based energy trading giant Enron Corp., which went bankrupt in 2001
and became a symbol of corporate fraud and corruption.
Mr. Drake was sentenced to one year's probation and community service last week after the government's 10
felony counts against him were withdrawn. He instead pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense of exceeding
authorized access to a government computer.
The judge called the prosecutors' handling of the case "unconscionable" because it took 2½ years to charge Mr.
Drake and another 14 months to bring him to trial before all the major charges were dropped at the last minute.
The Justice Department said this week that it will continue pursuing other cases against intelligence officials
accused of leaking classified information.
"The guilty plea of the Drake case has no affect on other pending matters," Justice spokeswoman Laura
Sweeney told The Times. "Each case is unique, based on its fact and circumstances, and the department is
proceeding in the pending cases."
They include the prosecutions of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling and State Department contractor Stephen
Jin-Woo Kim, both involving accusations of leaks to reporters.
Another major case is that of Army Pvt. Bradley Manning, who is facing military charges related to hundreds of
thousands of classified documents obtained in Iraq and passed to the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks.
Mr. Drake's whistleblowing is related to NSA's multibillion-dollar plan to develop a digital eavesdropping and
data storage system called Trailblazer, which would index and analyze large amounts of electronic data that the
agency gathers from monitoring computers and telephones around the world.
Even though the public version of the inspector general's report is heavily censored, Mr. Drake said: "It is clear
that NSA disputes the findings. ... They have never accepted they did anything wrong."
"There was a cover-up," Mr. Drake said. "The truth is Trailblazer was an even more abysmal failure than they
let on in public."
In 2005, NSA Director Michael Hayden told Congress that Trailblazer was "a couple to several hundred
million" dollars over budget and months behind schedule. The program was abandoned in 2006.
"In the end, they delivered nothing," Mr. Drake said of contractor SAIC, which was paid $280 million for the
demonstration phase of the program. Mr. Drake said executives at NSA, including the deputy director at the
time, William B. Black, were former SAIC employees and the contract was "hard-wired for SAIC."
Mr. Black returned to work at SAIC after his retirement from the NSA in 2006.
Through a spokesman, SAIC said the company and its executives declined to comment.
Mr. Drake, who held a senior position at NSA from 2001 until 2008, said the agency had planned to spend more
than $4 billion on the program with SAIC and dozens of other contractors, and that fraud and abuse were
widespread in Trailblazer and related programs.
"It really became a feeding frenzy as contractor after contractor bellied up to the Trailblazer bar," he said.
Mr. Drake said NSA's accounts — like most other Defense Department bookkeeping systems — were
"unauditable."
The agency's budget is classified, but even for those inside the agency, "It was very difficult to determine where
most of the money was going except at a very general level," he said.
The government "fought very hard" to keep any reference to the inspector general's report, or his other
whistleblowing activities, for instance to Congress, out of the court case.
"Why were they so afraid of that getting into court?" he asked. "It's the continuing cover-up."
The NSA press office referred a request for comment to the Justice Department.
Ms. Sweeney, the Justice spokeswoman, said: "The department has long valued the legitimate exposure of
waste, fraud and abuse if it occurs while at the same time protecting the rule of law.
"There are laws prohibiting government employees who are entrusted with the nation's most sensitive
information from disclosing classified information to anyone not authorized to receive it."
Despite the administration's pursuit of leaks, some observers say, such cases often are difficult to prosecute
without exposing secrets that the government wants to protect.
A former U.S. official familiar with the Drake case called leak cases challenging.
"You have to make absolutely sure that the victim agency understands very clearly who will be called as a
witness and what they might be asked about," the former official said. "They have to be OK with that. ... If that
is not adequately or sufficiently discussed, problems can come up."
New York Times
Pakistan’s Military Plotted to Tilt U.S. Policy, F.B.I. Says
By CHARLIE SAVAGE and ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON — Pakistan’s military, including its powerful spy agency, has spent $4 million over two
decades in a covert attempt to tilt American policy against India’s control of much of Kashmir — including
funneling campaign donations to members of Congress and presidential candidates, the F.B.I. claimed in court
papers unsealed Tuesday.
The allegations of a long-running plan to influence American elections and foreign policy come at a time of
deep tensions between the United States and Pakistan — and in particular its spy agency — amid the fallout
over the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden at a compound deep inside Pakistan on May 2.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation made the allegations in a 43-page affidavit filed in connection with the
indictment of two United States citizens on charges that they failed to register with the Justice Department as
agents of Pakistan, as required by law. One of the men, Zaheer Ahmad, is in Pakistan, but the other, Syed Fai,
lives in Virginia and was arrested on Tuesday.
Mr. Fai is the director of the Kashmiri American Council, a Washington-based group that lobbies for and holds
conferences and media events to promote the cause of self-determination for Kashmir. According to the
affidavit, the activities by the group, also called the Kashmiri Center, are largely financed by Pakistan’s spy
agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, along with as much as $100,000 a year in related
donations to political campaigns in the United States. Foreign governments are prohibited from making
donations to American political candidates.
―Mr. Fai is accused of a decades-long scheme with one purpose — to hide Pakistan’s involvement behind his
efforts to influence the U.S. government’s position on Kashmir,‖ Neil MacBride, the United States Attorney in
the Eastern District of Virginia, said. ―His handlers in Pakistan allegedly funneled millions through the Kashmir
Center to contribute to U.S. elected officials, fund high-profile conferences and pay for other efforts that
promoted the Kashmiri cause to decision-makers in Washington.‖
A spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy denied any connection to matter, saying, ―Mr. Fai is not a Pakistani
citizen, and the government and embassy of Pakistan have no knowledge of the case.‖
Law enforcement officials said Pakistan used a network of at least 10 unnamed straw contributors, which Mr.
Ahmad helped organize, to make the campaign contributions and donate the bulk of the Kashmiri Center’s
annual operating budget. The ISI would reimburse them — or their families in Pakistan — for the donations, the
officials said.
Most of the straw donors who made contributions to the Kashmiri Center and to politicians in the United States
were identified only by code in the court document, though the investigation was continuing and eight F.B.I.
field offices executed 17 or 18 search warrants related to other suspected donors on Tuesday, an official said.
The goal of the group, according to internal documents cited by the F.B.I., was to persuade the United States
government that it was in its interest to push India to allow a vote in Kashmir to decide its future. The group’s
strategy was to offset the Indian lobby by targeting members of the Congressional committees that focus on
foreign affairs with private briefings and events, staging activities that would draw media attention and
otherwise to elevate the issue of Kashmir — the disputed region between India and Pakistan that each country
controls in part but claims entirely — in Washington.
The F.B.I. said that there was no evidence that any of the lawmakers who received campaign funds from
Pakistan were aware of its origins, and it did not name any of the recipients.
However, a search in Federal Elections Commission databases for contributions by Mr. Fai showed that he has
made more than $20,000 in campaign contributions over the past two decades. The bulk of his donations went
to two recipients: the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Representative Dan Burton, a Republican
from Indiana.
Mr. Fai made numerous — though smaller — contributions to Democrats as well, including to Representatives
James P. Moran of Virginia, Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and Gregory W. Meeks of New York, and $250
donations to the 2000 and 2008 presidential campaigns of Al Gore and Barack Obama.
Mr. Ahmad also donated to Mr. Burton, records show. For at least 15 years, Mr. Burton has been a champion
for Kashmiri causes in Congress, appealing to Presidents Bill Clinton and Obama to get more involved in
attempting to mediate a settlement between India and Pakistan over the border region. He has also endorsed
allowing the Kashmiri people to vote on their own fate.
Mr. Burton said he was ―deeply shocked‖ by the arrest of Mr. Fai, because he had known him for 20 years and
―in that time I had no inkling of his involvement with any foreign intelligence operation and had presumed our
correspondence was legitimate.‖ He said he would donate the funds provided to his campaign to the Boy Scouts
of America.
Both Mr. Fai and Mr. Ahmad also donated to Representative Joe Pitts, a Pennsylvania Republican who visited
the region in 2001 and 2004, meeting with Pakistani and Indian leaders and calling for a cease-fire. He also
introduced a resolution in 2004 calling for President George W. Bush to appoint a special envoy to help
negotiate peace.
A spokesman for Mr. Pitts said he had donated $4,000 — an amount equal to the donations his campaign
received from the two defendants — to local charities in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
Among the evidence that Mr. Fai was working for Pakistan, the affidavit said, are annual budget requests he
allegedly submitted to his handlers along with lists of accomplishments and strategic-planning documents.
Other documents and intercepts showed that they sometimes quarreled over reimbursing him for the costs of
trips or about contracts for which he had not gotten advance approval.
The board of the Kashmiri American Council comprises mostly physicians and lawyers from across the United
States, and election records show that several board members have made significant donations to lawmakers
who have championed peace in Kashmir.
Gulam Hassan Butt, a retired California physician and member of the council’s board whose name does not
appear in the donor database, said in a phone interview that the council carried out a ―regular, honest, open
campaign‖ with lawmakers and the State Department to get the United States to help resolve the Kashmir issue.
He also said he was unaware of any money that Pakistan’s government might have provided to the Kashmiri
American Council, but Mr. Fai did not inform board members about all the sources of the council’s revenue:
―Where does he get the money?‖ Mr. Butt said. ―I don’t know. Who gives him the money? I don’t know.‖
New York Times
Arizona Officials, Fed Up With U.S. Efforts, Seek Donations to Build
Border Fence
By MARC LACEY
PHOENIX — Americans upset about illegal immigration have a new outlet for their rage: a fund set up by the
State of Arizona that will use private donations to build a border wall.
Critics call the state’s effort to build its own border barriers a foolhardy, feel-good campaign that will have little
practical effect on illegal border crossings. But organizers in the State Legislature, which created the fund, say it
will allow everyday people fed up with the inability of Congress to address the problem of illegal immigration
to contribute personally to a solution.
Beginning during the second Bush administration and continuing in President Obama’s tenure, the federal
government has built more than 600 miles of barriers, some designed to keep out cars and others to block
individuals from crossing. The congressionally approved construction effort is winding up, but about 82 miles
of Arizona’s 388 miles of border remain without a barrier, federal officials say.
The construction has been expensive. The Government Accountability Office said in a 2009 report that the
federal government spent $1 million to $3 million for every mile of border fencing. Arizona, though, intends to
use low-cost inmate labor to reduce those costs.
The most likely locations for the state’s planned barriers are on state or private land, organizers say. A
committee will determine the details of the wall’s construction after money comes in, according to the
legislation creating the border fund, which Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, signed in April 2010.
Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, expressed doubts about the effectiveness of physical
barriers at the border when she was Arizona’s governor and Congress first endorsed the idea in 2005. ―You
show me a 50-foot wall and I’ll show you a 51-foot ladder at the border,‖ Ms. Napolitano said at the time.
―That’s the way the border works.‖
She has subsequently argued that the border fencing is only a part of the solution and must be supplemented by
Border Patrol agents and technology. The Obama administration has significantly increased staffing at the
Border Patrol and has employed unmanned drones to patrol from above. But the administration last year halted
work on a ―virtual fence‖ along the border after a series of technical problems and cost overruns.
Even before Wednesday’s formal start of Arizona’s fund-raising Web site, organizers said they detected
considerable interest.
―We are getting e-mails, calls and letters from all over the country,‖ said State Senator Steve Smith, a
Republican who came up with the idea. ―We had a business owner from California and individuals from
Indiana. People want to do their part to help this country.‖
Donors will get a certificate acknowledging their contribution, and Mr. Smith said he expected them to become
popular items.
But not for everybody. ―This state-sponsored border wall idea is ludicrous,‖ said Sandy Bahr, director of the
Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club. ―It is just another distraction from the real issues facing Arizona,
issues this Legislature has repeatedly failed to address.‖
Arizona has had some success with private fund-raising on the contentious issue of immigration. Ms. Brewer
opened a fund to finance the state’s defense in federal court of the immigration crackdown known as Senate Bill
1070, which was approved in 2010 but never fully went into effect. Private donors have already contributed
about $3.8 million to that effort, state officials say.
But the goal of the border wall fund, $50 million, will require considerably more largess.
―People were willing to give millions to pay for lawyers,‖ Mr. Smith said of the legal defense fund. ―This is a
tangible, legitimate structure people can see, taste and feel.‖

Obama Backs Repeal of ‘So-Called Defense of Marriage Act’
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
By Penny Starr

(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama is in favor of repealing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), his
press secretary announced at a briefing with reporters on Tuesday.

―I can tell you that the president has long called for a legislative repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage
Act, which continues to have a real impact on the lives of real people, our families, friends and neighbors,‖
spokesman Jay Carney said. ―He is proud to support the Respect for Marriage Act, introduced by Sen. Feinstein
and Congressman Nadler, which would take DOMA off the books once and for all.‖

―This legislation would uphold the principle that the federal government should not deny gay and lesbian
couples the same rights and legal protections as straight couples,‖ Carney said.
The Defense of Marriage was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996, and it says, in general, that for
any federal purposes marriage ―means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and
wife.‖ It also says that no state is required to recognize same-sex marriages performed in a different state.

Supporters of homosexual behavior, including same-sex ―marriage,‖ responded positively to Obama’s
endorsement of Feinstein’s bill, which would repeal DOMA and also ensure that same-sex married couples are
entitled to receive benefits under federal law, such as medical leave and survivors’ benefits. The law would not,
however, require states without homosexual marriage laws to accept such couplings.

Feinstein’s legislation would repeal DOMA and amend Sec. 7, Title 1, USC, to read as follows: ―For the
purposes of any Federal law in which marital status is a factor, an individual shall be considered married if that
individual's marriage is valid in the State where the marriage was entered into or, in the case of a marriage
entered into outside any State, if the marriage is valid in the place where entered into and the marriage could
have been entered into in a State.‖

The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the Respect for Marriage Act on Wednesday.
―We are delighted that today, on the eve of a historic Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, President Obama
endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act,‖ Rick Jacobs, gay activist who arranged a press conference on the
legislation at the National Press Club on Tuesday where Feinstein spoke. ―It is rare that a White House endorses
a bill that has yet to pass first in either the Senate or the House.

―President Obama’s decision to do so underscores the urgency with which the Defense of Marriage Act must be
repealed,‖ Jacobs said in an e-mail sent to reporters. ―His support makes clear to all Americans that the Defense
of Marriage Act has no place in our society.‖

Jacobs said 25,000 members of his Courage Campaign signed a letter to Obama urging him to support repeal of
DOMA and the Respect for Marriage bill. Six members of the campaign – two lesbian couples that are married
and an unmarried gay couple -- attended the press conference with Jacobs.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force also praised Obama via an e-mailed press release.

―President Obama did the right thing today by announcing his support of the Respect for Marriage Act,‖ Rea
Carey, executive director of the task force, said. ―In doing so, he joins the large and growing chorus urging for
an end to DOMA, a discriminatory, unjust and far-reaching law.

―There is no sound defense of the indefensible DOMA, which singles out and selectively denies fundamental
rights to legally married same-sex couples,‖ Carey said.

While President Obama opposes DOMA, he has not said whether he supports same-sex marriage. At a June 30
press conference, when asked about his view of homosexual marriage, Obama said: ―I’m not going to make
news on that today.‖

Since his inauguration in January 2009, Obama has backed myriad pro-gay initiatives, including the ending of
―don’t ask, don’t tell‖ in the military; his Justice Department refusing to defend DOMA in federal court;
expansion of pro-homosexual programs in the nation’s public schools; pro-gay programs government-wide in
June, the administration’s month devoted to LGBT issues; the appointment of open homosexuals to prominent
positions in his administration; and public support for New York’s new same-sex marriage law.
Military to calculate radiation doses for those living, working in
Japan following earthquake
By SETH ROBSON
Stars and Stripes
July 20, 2011
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The U.S. military plans to calculate radiation doses received by each of the
approximately 61,000 U.S. personnel living and working in Japan during this year’s nuclear disaster, according
to the U.S. Pacific Command’s top surgeon.
Rear Adm. Michael H. Mittelman has been holding town hall meetings on bases in Japan telling residents about
the individual radiation dose assessments, which, he said, will be compiled in a register and added to medical
records.
―People have been potentially exposed to something that is not normal,‖ Mittelman told Stars and Stripes after
meeting with about 100 people at Yokota on Wednesday.
―While we know their exposures are very low, they are also part of this disaster,‖ he said. ―We thought it was
the responsible thing to do so if there is ever a question, 20 years from now, they can go back and look at what
their potential dose was.‖
Almost 20,000 servicemembers were involved in Operation Tomodachi – the U.S. effort to help Japan deal with
the aftermath of a massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the country March 11. The tsunami damaged the
Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Station, leading to the release of a radioactive plume that contaminated air
and water as far south as Tokyo.
The radiation fears prompted the military to authorize the voluntary evacuation of 10,000 family members from
Japan, ban some local foods from U.S. bases and stop personnel traveling within 50 miles of the Fukushima
plant.
Individual radiation doses will be calculated by applying data collected during Operation Tomodachi to models
based on those developed for health studies of U.S. atomic test veterans exposed in the 1950s and 1960s, said
Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute director, Army Col. Mark A. Melanson, whose organization is
the leading the dose assessment effort and who is visiting the bases with Mittelman.
The military will look at U.S. and Japanese government data including air, water and soil samples, as well as
ambient radiation readings taken at various sites in Japan, he said.
Daily dose estimates will be calculated for particular locations in Japan. This information will be combined with
data on individuals’ locations and how long they were there to find out how much radiation each was exposed
to, Melanson said.
―We will gather personnel data from installations in Japan to build the basis for the registry. Installations (will)
also be aware which individuals proceeded into the warm zone for relief efforts (within 125 nautical miles of
the nuclear plant) and which dependents departed Japan via the voluntary authorized departure and for what
periods of time,‖ Melanson said, adding that the registry is slated to include reports from March 11 through
June 30.
Air Force spouse Mary Nelson, whose husband is deployed to Afghanistan, said she attended the Yokota town
hall to gather information to pass on to other spouses and neighbors, but wasn’t worried about radiation.
―I did evacuate, but that was simply because my parents in the States were worried,‖ she said, adding that the
dose registry could be useful if people suffer medical complications in future.
Personnel do not need to do anything as part of the dose assessment process, Mittelman said.
―It is automatically going to be done,‖ he said. ―However, If individuals have additional travel outside of what
is tracked by the installations, we would have to talk to those individuals directly to include that data in the
registry.‖
The military has already done ―internal monitoring‖ of radiation levels inside the bodies of 7,700 personnel who
worked in parts of the disaster zone closest to the damaged power plant, he said.
The scans revealed that 98 percent of those personnel did not have elevated radiation inside their bodies, he
said. Mittelman said that among the 2 percent of servicemembers (about 154 individuals) with elevated internal
radiation levels the highest readings were about 25 millirems, equivalent to the dose that they would receive
from 2 1/2 chest X-rays.
AFFRI will work with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and other experts in radiobiology and
epidemiology to compile the radiation data, which will be reviewed by outside experts, Melanson said.
Mittelman said limiting U.S. government liability in future claims by personnel who attributed illness to service
in Japan during Operation Tomodachi was not a factor in the decision to compile the data. The radiation dose
registry might put some people’s minds at rest, he added.
―Some people worry if they have been exposed or not,‖ he said. ―This way they can work with… their health
providers (who) can explain to them the risk that that type of exposure might have presented.‖
The registry, which has been sanctioned by the assistant secretary of defense for healthy affairs, will be
available within 18 months, he said.

Living Marine to be awarded Medal of Honor for Afghanistan heroics
A Marine who repeatedly braved enemy fire in eastern Afghanistan attempting to find and save fellow members
of his embedded training team will receive the Medal of Honor, Marine Corps Times has confirmed.
Dakota Meyer was contacted by President Obama on Monday, Marine Corps Times reported. He will be the
first living Marine recipient of the nation’s highest award for valor since now-retired Sgt. Maj. Allan Kellogg
received the medal for actions 41 years ago in Vietnam, according to the newspaper.
Only two living recipients — both soldiers — have received the award for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan: Staff
Sgt. Salvatore Giunta and Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry.
The paper, citing military documents it obtained, provided this account of Meyer's heroics on Sept. 8, 2009:
"He charged into a kill zone on foot and alone to find three missing Marines and a Navy corpsman, who had
been pinned down under intense enemy fire in the village of Ganjgal, in Afghanistan’s violent Kunar province.
"Already wounded by shrapnel, Meyer found them dead and stripped of their gear and weapons, and helped
carry them from the kill zone."

Army to move hundreds of wounded troops as Walter Reed closes
By CHRIS CARROLL
Stars and Stripes
July 19, 2011




WASHINGTON — Hundreds of wounded and sick servicemembers will be on the move in August as Walter
Reed Army Medical Center enters its final weeks in existence.
About 445 troops currently are recuperating at the 102-year-old facility in Washington, D.C., which is slated for
closure next month. Two-thirds of patients will be transferred in August to the new Walter Reed National
Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., opening on the current grounds of Bethesda National Naval
Hospital.
The remaining one-third will go to the soon-to-open Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, which is replacing the
nearby DeWitt Army Community Hospital at the northern Virginia Army base.
The decision to close Walter Reed was one of the cost-savings measures outlined by the Base Closure and
Realignment Commission in 2005. The new Walter Reed will be the U.S. military’s largest hospital and will
focus on the most complex care, Vice Adm. John Mateczun, commander of Joint Task Force National Capital
Region Medical, said Tuesday.
―It will concentrate on what we would call tertiary and subspecialty care — very expert kinds of care, for
instance, transplants and things that we don’t want to replicate in many places,‖ he said.
Seriously injured Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will head to Bethesda, while the new Fort Belvoir facility will
care for patients who are ―more ambulatory,‖ Mateczun said.
The new facility in Bethesda will have 345 hospital beds, 50 intensive care beds and 20 operating rooms. Fort
Belvoir will have 120 hospital beds, along with 10 intensive care beds and 10 operating rooms.
Plenty of operating rooms will remain open at both the old and new Walter Reed facilities to handle incoming
casualties during the handoff, officials said.
―We have the capacity to meet the expected casualty flow and more,‖ said Rear Adm. Matthew Nathan,
commander of Bethesda National Naval Medical Center.
Tricare patients, nearly 40,000 of whom receive primary care at the current location of Walter Reed, are being
transferred to the Bethesda facility or other locations around the Washington area, officials said.
The cost of the hospital realignment blew far past the original budget. The base closure commission had
estimated the cost at approximately $1 billion, Mateczun said, but the final cost for reconstruction and
renovation tallied $2.6 billion
New requirements added to the cost, he said, including one for single-patient rooms that was added in the wake
of a 2007 Washington Post series that exposed shoddy treatment at Walter Reed. The rising cost of steel in the
wake of Hurricane Katrina also hurt the bottom line, he said.
―There have been cost adjustments as we’ve gone, but it was the determination of the (Defense) Department to
really get to this world-class standard,‖ Mateczun said.
The deadline for the handover from the old Walter Reed to the new facility is Sept. 15, but officials on Tuesday
said all patients will be in their new locations by the end of August.
Staff members have been practicing transporting gravely injured troops, timing the drive to Bethesda and
making sure ambulance cleaning and turnaround time is speedy, said Col. Norvell Coots, commander of Walter
Reed Army Medical Center.
―This is a short drive, but even on short drives something can go wrong,‖ Coots said. ―We’re planning for the
worst and hoping for the best.‖

Marijuana treatment sought for chronic PTSD sufferers
Stars and Stripes
July 20, 2011
Researchers are seeking federal approval for what is believed to be the first study to examine the therapeutic
effects of marijuana on veterans with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a report in The New
York Times.
The proposal, from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies in Santa Cruz, Calif., and a
researcher at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, would look at the potential benefits of cannabis by
examining 50 combat veterans who have not responded to other treatment, the paper reported Monday.
―These are people whom we put in harm’s way, and we have a moral obligation to help them,‖ Rick Doblin,
founder and executive director of the psychedelic studies group, was quoted as saying.
In April, the Food and Drug Administration said it was satisfied that safety concerns over the study had been
addressed by Doblin and Dr. Sue Sisley, an assistant professor of psychiatry and internal medicine at Arizona,
according to a letter from the FDA provided to the Times by Doblin, but noted there are other hurdles, such as
where the marijuana would come from.
One Army veteran from Texas who fought in Iraq for 18 months beginning in 2006, told the Times that he used
marijuana three times a day in lieu of the prescribed painkillers and antidepressants. He asked that his name not
be used because Texas does not allow medical marijuana.
―I have seen it with my own eyes,‖ he told the paper. ―It works for a lot of the guys coming home.‖
If the study is approved, veterans would be given up to 1.8 grams, or about three marijuana cigarettes, a day to
treat anxiety, depression, nightmares and other symptoms brought on by PTSD, the Times wrote.
Air Force Times
Expand veterans drug courts, senators told
By Gina Harkins - Medill News Service
Tuesday Jul 19, 2011 17:28:08 EDT
Actor Martin Sheen pressed Congress on Tuesday to authorize the $88.7 million needed to fund veterans drug
treatment courts in 2012, and urged lawmakers to keep expanding both civilian drug courts and those set up
specifically to help veterans struggling with substance abuse.
Veterans drug treatment courts serve active-duty service members and veterans who have committed low-level
drug crimes. The courts focus on curbing recidivism by helping veterans get treatment for substance abuse so
they can stay out of the jail system.
Sheen, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, emphasized that he is not a former president, but has
played one on TV. ―The West Wing‖ star helped set up a civilian drug court system in Berkeley, Calif., in 1996,
with a focus on the homeless addicts in the city.
―We ask so much of our men and women in uniform, and they ask for so little in return,‖ Sheen said. ―They are
often the last to ask for counseling or treatment. It is our duty to care for our veterans when they suffer as a
direct result of their service to our country.‖
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said veterans are returning from combat with invisible wounds that can lead
to alcohol and drug abuse or other kinds of serious problems.
―About 30 percent of [post-traumatic stress disorder cases] or traumatic brain injuries are undiagnosed,‖
Blumenthal said. ―This makes them candidates for committing acts of violence if they go back out into society
without understanding there are problems.‖
The Obama administration released its national drug control strategy last week. It identified issues of concern to
specific groups, including service members, veterans and military families, said Benjamin Tucker, deputy
director of state, local and tribal affairs for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Tucker said that a recent Justice Department survey of prison inmates showed that about 60 percent of the
140,000 veterans in state and federal prisons were struggling with a substance abuse problem, and that about a
quarter of them reported being under the influence of a drug at the time of their offense.
Jeanne LaFazia, chief judge of Rhode Island District Court, introduced the pilot program for her state’s first
veterans treatment court. She testified that she had been seeing more veterans and service members in Rhode
Island courts.
She added that family members often said they had never seen the defendant act that way before they were
deployed. She also advocates for the continued expansion of veterans treatment courts.

Secretary Panetta Announces Appointments to Key Defense Public
Affairs Posts
         Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today announced the appointment of two well-known and respected
government communications professionals to key Department of Defense public affairs positions.
          George Little, who served as director of public affairs during Panetta's tenure as CIA director, moves
to the Pentagon to be deputy assistant secretary of defense/press secretary.
          Capt. John Kirby, currently special assistant for public affairs for Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will become deputy assistant secretary of defense/spokesman and director of media
operations.
          Kirby and Little will fill top slots in the department's Office of Public Affairs, headed by Assistant
Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Doug Wilson, the department's senior communicator.
         "I am honored that these two talented individuals have decided to join my team and serve our
department and our country," said Panetta. "I look forward to working with them in the weeks and months
ahead."
          "John and George have earned reputations as two of the most respected and trusted communicators in
Washington," Wilson said. "Their combined experience and expertise in dealing with a wide range of military
and national security issues will make them valuable assets to Secretary Panetta and to our Pentagon
communications team."
           Kirby has served as the spokesman and senior communications strategist for the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff since October 2007, and has been a senior member of Mullen's communications team for ten
years. A native of St. Petersburg, Fla., Kirby graduated from the University of South Florida in 1985 with a
bachelor’s degree in history, working part-time in the Sports Department of the St. Petersburg Times. He
received his Navy commission in September 1986 after completing Officer Candidate School. At sea, Kirby
served aboard the guided missile frigate, USS Aubrey Fitch, as electrical officer, assistant navigator and
communications officer. He also served as public affairs officer aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Forrestal, and
on the staff of the commander, U.S. Second Fleet, embarked aboard the command and control ship, USS Mount
Whitney. Ashore, he completed tours as an instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy; and as public affairs officer
with the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron (Blue Angels), and with the staffs of the chief of naval
personnel, the commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and the chief of naval operations. He served as editor-in-
chief of the Navy's flagship monthly magazine, ―All Hands,‖ from 1997-1999. Kirby holds a master’s degree in
international relations from Troy State University and an master’s degree in national security and strategic
studies from the Naval War College. He and his wife, Donna, have a daughter and a son.
          Little was appointed director of public affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency in October 2010,
where he served as the CIA's chief media spokesman, provided strategic counsel to the director and his senior
leadership team, coordinated internal communications to CIA employees in the United States and abroad, and
managed communications and outreach to the American public. Little began his communications work at the
CIA in April 2007 as chief of media relations. From 2005-2007, he worked in the National Counterterrorism
Center's (NCTC) Directorate of Strategic Operational Planning, where he led the development of the
congressionally-mandated National Strategy to Combat Terrorist Travel, and headed an interagency group
responsible for assessing the U.S. government's progress in the fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorist
groups. Little previously worked as an intelligence community and business consultant with Booz Allen
Hamilton and IBM. He received his doctorate in international relations, with distinction, from Georgetown
University, where he has also been an adjunct professor of international relations and international law, and his
master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Virginia. His wife, Bethany Little, is chief education
counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. They have two young sons.
          Little will begin his work at the Pentagon today. Kirby will begin his transition to the Office of the
Secretary of Defense, Office of Public Affairs in August.

Officials: BRAC Medical Facilities Ready For Business
(WTOP AM WASHINGTON 19 JUL 11) ... Darci Marchese


WASHINGTON - Big changes are coming soon for the nation's wounded warriors because of BRAC.
During a Tuesday media roundtable of senior military leaders, they say medical facilities are ready.
Vice Admiral John Mateczun, commander of the Joint Task Force National Capital Region Medical, says
beginning in August all of the wounded will be flown to the new Walter Reed Bethesda campus rather than
being split up between Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center, also in
Bethesda.

Walter Reed is closing its doors forever by the September 15 deadline designated by Base Realignment and
Closure.

Leaders also say they're on track to transport the inpatients at Walter Reed to Bethesda by the end of August.

Will there be enough operating rooms to handle and properly treat wound warriors?

Mateczun says after a review was conducted last year, they decided to run the numbers again since June was
one of the deadliest months in Afghanistan.

"So we have a good idea of what capacity we're going to need in terms of operating rooms," he says.

He adds the 13 operating rooms, up and running by August 28, will be sufficient.

"We have the capacity to meet the expected casualty flow and more."

Rear Admiral Matthew Nathan, commander at the National Naval Medical Center, is also confident the number
of operating rooms will be sufficient. But if they run into any problems, they will figure out a way to
accommodate everyone.

"If we do have any limitations, it may affect some of the care we give non-wounded warriors and even then
we'll make sure they're well treated and taken care of in our Tricare partnerships," he says.

Some of those facilities include Malcolm Grow at Andrews Air Force Base and Fort Meade.

The brand new Fort Belvoir Community Hospital will also begin accepting patients in August. Fort Belvoir will
receive about a third of the patients who would normally go to Walter Reed. Bethesda gets two-thirds.

Military Times
Murray Pleads For Senate Action On VA Funding
19 JUL 11

By Rick Maze


The lawmaker who leads the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee pleaded Tuesday for passage of a $142 billion
appropriations bill for veterans programs and military construction.

The bill, HR 2055, has been pending on the Senate floor since July 11, but actual work on the bill by
considering amendments or voting on the measure has been delayed because of objections from some senators
to doing any business until Congress resolves the federal debt and spending crisis.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the veterans’ committee leader since January, said veterans and service members
who would be helped by programs funded in the bill have become pawns in a political debate because of Senate
inaction.

―There is no question that we need to make smart decisions to tighten our belts and reduce our nation’s deficit
and debt,‖ Murray said. ―American families have done it and we owe it to them to get our fiscal house in order.
But, there is also one group of Americans that we owe an even greater promise to, a group who we can never
allow to become pawns or fall through the cracks or be forgotten altogether in these budget debates, and that is
our men and women in uniform and veterans who have protected our nation for decades.‖

The VA and military construction appropriations bill is the first of 13 funding bills that Congress needs to pass
to keep the government running. The House passed its version of the bill, similar in details but with $2.6 million
less in total spending, on June 14 on a 411-5 vote, and has been waiting for the Senate to catch up so
negotiations can begin on preparing a final, compromise version.

―In the midst of whirlwind debate on deficit and debt, no matter how divided we may be over approaches to
cutting our debt and deficit, or how heated the rhetoric goes, we have to keep our commitments to our veterans
and service members, and we have to move this bill,‖ Murray said.

Murray said work on the bill is a ―test.‖

―Can we put politics aside for the good of our nation’s veterans and service members? Can we show that,
despite our differences, we will work as diligently toward getting them the benefits and care they have earned?‖
she said.

There was no direct reply. Shortly after she spoke on the Senate floor, the Senate recessed for political party
lunches to discuss legislative strategy, with no votes scheduled Tuesday on anything to do with the veterans and
construction measure.



Joe March
Director of Public Relations
The American Legion National Hqs.
700 North Pennsylvania Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Office (317) 630-1253
Fax (317) 630-1368
Cell (317) 748-1926




FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



VA Names New Regional System
Northampton VA renamed VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare
System
LEEDS, Mass., July 19, 2011 -- The Department of Veterans Affairs has approved a name change for the Northampton VA Medical Center to the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System.

The change reflects the recently approved realignment of VA facilities in central and western Massachusetts.

The Northampton VAMC‘s parent headquarters, VA New England Healthcare System in Bedford, Mass., requested the name change in May.

This fall, the VA New England Healthcare System will realign the facilities of central and western Massachusetts into one organization, merging five community-based outpatient clinics under the leadership of the medical
center in Northampton.

Under the realignment, outpatient clinics in Fitchburg and Worcester will realign from the VA Bedford Medical Center and the VA Boston Healthcare System, respectively with the Northampton medical center, located in the
village of Leeds in the city of Northampton.

The two clinics will join outpatient clinics in Springfield, Greenfield and Pittsfield that are already under Northampton‘s leadership.

The combined population of the counties of central and western Massachusetts justified the creation of a healthcare system on par with similar size regions in other parts of New England and the nation, said Roger
Johnson, director of the newly named system.

The name change, therefore, reflects the VA‘s regional health care approach and emphasizes the VA‘s focus on the needs of Veterans of central and western Massachusetts under one leadership, he said.

The population of Veterans served in central and western Massachusetts combined totals more than 100,000 Veterans.
―Despite the sizeable Veteran population in central and western Massachusetts, the VA facilities in the region have, for many years, fallen under three different leaderships – Boston, Bedford and Northampton,‖ said
Johnson. ―Our new name is about our emphasis in creating a greater concentration of services for Veterans living in this part of the state.‖

The realignment will not result in an increase or decrease in the number of employees in Northampton, and it‘s expected that people will still refer to the hospital and administrative buildings in Northampton as the
―Northampton Campus.‖

―We‘re extremely proud to call Northampton our home and our offices will remain in Northampton along with our heritage and a strong legacy of providing exceptional healthcare to Veterans,‖ said Johnson. ―At the same
time, we appreciate and understand that our healthcare system serves a population of Veteran across our entire region, and we‘re equally proud to associate the VA name with all of central and western Massachusetts.‖

The total number of VA employees in Northampton is not expected to increase although Johnson said he anticipates there will be an expansion at some of the clinics, particularly in Worcester and Springfield, where the
largest population of Veterans exists.

―Over time, we will be looking at adding certain specialty services and research components for patient care,‖ said Johnson.

Each of the outpatient clinics will continue to be named after the cities of their location as in the VA Springfield Community-Based Outpatient Clinic, or ―Springfield Clinic.‖ Similar names would be true for the Pittsfield,
Greenfield, Worcester and Fitchburg clinics.

Although the name for the Northampton center is now taking effect, the realignment is currently programmed for October 1 for administrative transfer of responsibilities with a transfer of medical supervision of patients who
access the Worcester and Fitchburg clinics expected to follow in early 2012.

―Other than the change in our Northampton name, the transfer of leadership responsibilities and medical records should be transparent to our patients,‖ said Johnson.

Regardless of the realignment actions, Veterans will be able to keep their current providers and can choose where they travel for services, although the realignment is expected to improve access to care providers by
making more services available where Veterans reside.

―Instead of traveling into Boston for appointments, our goal is that Veterans will be able to visit clinics in central and western Massachusetts when and where it makes practical sense,‖ said Johnson.

Signs on VA facilities to reflect the new name won‘t change immediately, said Johnson, but will be phased in over time, as will the name on the Northampton VA web site.

                                                                                                                ###




Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 4:43 PM
To: Public Relations Division
Subject: Release: The American Legion opposes changes to Agent Orange law
Importance: High
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


    The American Legion opposes changes to Agent Orange law
            WASHINGTON (July 20, 2011) – The American Legion has voiced its strong opposition to a cost cutting proposal by U.S. Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma that would, in the words of the Legion‘s national
commander, ―undo the good work of two decades,‖ in establishing service-connection benefits regarding ―Agent Orange.‖
     Sen. Coburn has introduced a proposed amendment to the fiscal year 2012 Military Construction Appropriations (MilCon/VA) Bill that would, in the Legion‘s opinion, possibly deny benefits to many deserving veterans
who have been exposed to the notorious Vietnam-era ―Agent Orange‖ and other toxins. The MilCon/VA bill is the legislation that funds not only military construction but the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as well.
     As it stands, the VA has the responsibility to establish a ―positive association‖ between a veteran‘s compromised health condition or disease and exposure to the toxins. Sen. Coburn‘s amendment would instead
require proof of a ―causal relationship‖ between the two.
      ―The language change sounds subtle and harmless enough,‖ said the Legion‘s national commander Jimmie L. Foster, ―but the effect of it is anything but. What this means is that veteran would have to absolutely prove
that a current health condition – such as diabetes or heart disease or cancer – was caused directly by exposure to a toxin while he or she was in service. That is an unrealistic standard and, in my opinion, changes the
‗presumption‘ of service-connected harm to a requirement of proof beyond doubt. This means that, in a quest to save the payment of benefits to some, many other veterans who fully deserve compensation for their
sacrifices could be denied.
      ―If adopted, Senator Coburn‘s amendment would essentially undo the good work of two decades,‖ continued Foster. ―It flies in the face of years and years of careful scientific research and passionate advocacy.‖
      Foster was referring to the work, initiated in part by The American Legion, that led to the adoption of the Agent Orange Act of 1991, the legislation that dictated the payment of health benefits to veterans suffering the
dire effects of exposure to toxic chemicals while in military service. Last year, after intensive lobbying by the Legion and others, as well as exhaustive medical research, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki
authorized the addition of three new disorders to the list of conditions presumed caused by service-connected toxin exposure.
      ―It‘s not just the older generation of Vietnam veterans who could be denied benefits they are due,‖ said Foster, ―but younger warriors, too – those from more immediate, current and future conflicts. I cannot state
enough our opposition to this perhaps well-intentioned but greatly flawed idea.‖
     Sen. Coburn‘s proposed amendment follows closely his proposed ―Back in Black‖ plan to reduce the national deficit by, in part, increasing medical fees paid by certain veterans in the VA health care system and more
than doubling prescription co-payments paid by VA health care recipients. These proposals are also opposed by The American Legion as are ―Back in Black‖ plans to deny TRICARE (military health care) Prime eligibility to
some military career retirees, thus forcing them into more expensive plans.
      ―We must remind Sen. Coburn and others who favor his approach of George Washington‘s words,‖ said Commander Foster. ―The Father or Our Country said, ‗The willingness with which our young people are likely to
serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.‘
      ―The American Legion will never forget the veterans of any war,‖ concluded Foster. ―I hope Congress feels the same way and will act accordingly, especially with respect to this flawed amendment.‖
                                                                                                                  -30-
Contact: Craig Roberts, 202.263.2982; cell - 202.406.0887; croberts@legion.org