Agent Orange

BY MAYNARD KADERLIK, CHAIR

Our Agent Orange seminar at the Leadership Conference went very well. I did a PowerPoint on how to organize a Faces of Agent Orange town hall. Dan Stenvold talked about billboard signs on interstates to educate travelers on what’s happened to our children. He explained how he went about getting financial help to pay for the signs. He also said that with the oil boom in North Dakota, one Vietnam veteran in the state offered to continue paying for these signs. Our Agent Orange team thanks him for doing this.

Marc McCabe presented on the way he files VA 21-0304 forms for children with a certified service representative. We also had a table in the vendor area with Agent Orange materials.

We will follow the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, which was tasked to provide research (new and old) to the VA for the bill (now law) that lies in their hands for our children. If you know about research that will help the committee, please forward it to maynardk47@gmail.com or mporter@vva.org

The committee also wants chapters and state councils to continue holding Faces of Agent Orange town halls. So many veterans and their families have no idea what’s happened to their children. In our opinion, that’s not a coincidence. I encourage VVA members all over America to help those who do not know how to hold proper VVA town halls.

The Blue Water Navy legislation is another setback. Americans should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to continue. This long-overdue legislation should have been passed in the Senate and become law. We were waiting for an Army to die, and now we’re waiting for a Navy to die.

This is America and we should be proud of all our warriors who put themselves on the line to preserve freedoms that others in the world do not have. I told a VA doctor once, “If you can’t take care of us when we come home, you shouldn’t send us off to war.” If America keeps doing this to its veterans, there may not be men and women willing to step up for the next fight. Please, America, help us take care of those who served, and continue to serve, this great nation.

In closing, I want to thank the entire team all across America for keeping this issue alive for veterans and their families.

BY FRANK BARRY, CHAIR

The Economic Opportunities Committee promotes veteran-owned businesses by making veterans aware of available resources.

The federal Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) supports veteran small business success by enabling veterans to gain access to economic opportunity by leveraging the federal procurement system and enabling participation of procurement-ready small businesses. By 2019, OSDBU will transform its procedures to increase awareness, reduce risk, enhance access, improve procurement mechanisms, and promote better performance.

The OSDBU supports veteran entrepreneurs and the VA Acquisition and Program Community through five program areas:

Verification: VOSB eligibility to participate in the VA Veterans First Program

Acquisition support: Promote compliance with the Small Business Act to mitigate risk for VA by reviewing procurements

Program support: Enhance the ability of VA Program Offices to conduct effective market research to obtain the best value for VA while providing maximum practicable opportunities for veteran-owned small businesses

Strategic outreach to internal and external stakeholders by providing small business information tools and education

Direct access to procurement decision makers

Veteran-owned small businesses are an important sector of the economy. We will continue to promote their growth and to encourage their success.

BY CHARLIE HOBBS, CHAIR

The Leadership Conference in Palm Springs went well despite record high temperatures. I thank Tracie Houston (National Membership Director) and Alphie Williams (VVA Database Manager) for their presentations during the Online Renewals and Joins Seminar. It was well attended and everyone went away with first-hand knowledge of how to accomplish this task.

Chapters that grew the most during the 2018 fiscal year were recognized during the Conference. The fourth annual 2018 National Membership Growth Awards winners were:

Congratulations. We will continue this program this year, so it’s not too early to begin working on membership growth and retention for the 2019 awards.

The MAC’s long-term goal for the 2017-19 term was 85,000 members. I am proud to announce that to date we have more than 84,000 members with about nine months remaining in the term. I look forward to the challenge of advancing our membership numbers even further than our original goal before the National Convention in 2019.

BY GUMERSINDO GOMEZ, CHAIR

The Leadership & Education Conference was a huge success. For those of us who served in Vietnam, it was like going back without the humidity. Many elected to stay indoors.

The Minority Affairs Committee distinguished itself with its Diversity seminar, which was approached a little differently. I’d like to thank National President John Rowan and Vice President Marsha Four for participating in it. I’d also like to thank everyone who took the time to be with us at our seminar. We truly appreciated your participation.

Region 9 Director Francisco Ivarra, an adviser to the Minority Chair, put together the seminar, along with Joe Jennings, John Birch, and Bill Garcia. He presented five diversity questions to the forty attendees (majority Caucasian) and divided them into five smaller groups. The groups were given forty-five minutes to address a specific question and come up with ideas on how to recruit and retain minority veterans in our ranks.

Each group was assigned one of five questions:

• At the national level, what would determine whether the Minority Affairs Committee is successful?
• Why should your state or chapter recruit and maintain minority veterans?
• What historical or current information would help recruit minority veterans?
• How will minority veteran membership recruitment help your overall state and chapter?
• As a state or chapter, how would you develop a minority veteran recruitment and retention plan?

The groups worked hard and enthusiastically to address the questions and to come up with the right ways to work with minorities. We were very surprised to see the groups with so much passion trying to come up with ways that we could use to recruit, retain, and sustain minority members. Afterward, a representative from each group made a presentation on their discussions and conclusions.

The material that the groups came up with will be compiled by the committee into a guide for state councils and chapters to use in recruiting, retaining, and maintaining minority veterans in their units.

During the Leadership Conference I met with a delegation of Korean veterans of the Vietnam War. Hundreds of these veterans have become citizens of this country, and they are seeking VA benefits as citizens who served in Vietnam. The committee is going to look at this issue and see if there is any way that we can help these veterans who went through the same ordeal as we did in Vietnam.

I ask that you consider the questions used during the Minority Diversity seminar. Take a look at them and, if you have input for us on these questions, don’t hesitate to write me at ggomez@vva.org or Sgtgomez@ aol.com

BY GRANT COATES, CHAIR

According to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency (DPAA), as of August 14 there were 1,596 still missing from the Vietnam War. Of that number, 90 percent were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,250, Laos-291, Cambodia-48, PRC territorial waters-7.

This year DPAA has announced the identification of six U.S. servicemen missing from the Vietnam War (see table below.) DPAA announcements are often delayed far beyond ID dates and sometimes not even made.

DPAA also announced the identification of twenty-nine U.S. servicemen missing from World War II, forty-one from the U.S.S. Oklahoma, and twenty-eight from the Korean War.

On August 1 North Korea handed over to U.S. and United Nations military personnel fifty-five boxes of remains as part of agreements reached during a June summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump. Initial forensic examination suggested that the remains obtained from North Korea were probably those of American servicemembers, the U.S. military said. But experts say positive identification of all the remains could take years. Also in some of the boxes were U.S. military personal items including boots, canteens, clothing, and other artifacts.

A U.S Air Force C-17 Globemaster transport plane picked up the remains at Wonson, North Korea. Servicemembers from UN Command and DPAA technical experts were on hand. American and allied troops greeted the plane as it landed with the remains at Osan Air Base, Pyeongtaek, South Korea.

After what the military called an “honorable carry ceremony,” which respectfully displayed the arrival of the remains on American soil at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, further processing by the DPAA took place. The repatriation set off a lengthy series of forensic tests to determine if the remains are human, and whether they are American or allied troops killed in the conflict. The Department of Defense DNA Operations for the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, located at Dover Air Force Base, will oversee the identification.

A single dog tag, issued to Army Master Sgt. Charles Hobert McDaniel, Sr., came with the boxes of remains. It was the only item that could be connected to a specific American.

McDaniel, an Army medic, was lost in action on November 20, 1950. He had been assigned to the 8th Cavalry Regiment’s Medical Company. Officials do not know whether the remains in the box with the dog tag are those of Sgt. McDaniel.

BY THOMAS C. HALL, Ph.D., CHAIR

The late, great comic and social commentator George Carlin once quipped, “I went into a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, ‘Where’s the self-help section?’ She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.”

Tom Berger of the Veterans Health Council and I led a workshop and participated in the AVVA workshop at this year’s Leadership Conference in Palm Springs. The essence of the PTSD & Substance Abuse Committee’s workshop on suicide prevention was exactly that, suicide prevention, something most of us would rather avoid thinking about. At the same time, we might be grateful to find that “self-help book on suicide prevention” so we wouldn’t have to deal with it—today or any day. 

Berger and I also participated in AVVA’s presentation on coping with secondary PTSD. Again, looking for help of any kind goes against the grain for most of us, especially if it involves our family. In both instances, assistance we can get when confronting these issues does not defeat the purpose of helping ourselves. In fact, reaching out to those who have information is a sign of strength. 

Suicide prevention continues to be a critical issue for all veterans. Twenty veterans a day ending their lives is a tragedy in every sense. The committee continues to work with professionals who have dedicated their lives to finding ways to disrupt perceptions that suicide will somehow succeed in making someone’s life better. All it accomplishes is putting an end to life.

So, what do we say to those who are selling a “cure” to secondary PTSD and suicide? Well, while I hope we finally find one that works, nothing has yet been found to be a cure or a silver bullet. Many would have you believe they have the answer. But the reality is that the process of reconstructing how you see the world and how you cope with the world is not achieved in a single event or even over something that is eight, ten, twelve sessions long. That ignores the intricacies and complexity of the human mind.

In the two workshops people were challenged to begin the process; that is, to begin taking the risk or opening up about something that may leave them feeling vulnerable.

Single-focused therapies—such as exposure therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing—may reduce the impact of a specific emotionally charged memory. What they do not do, however, is help to process the millions of habits and decisions that affect our lives, our choices, and our perceptions.

Gaining control over intrusive memories or dreams is only a good start. The entire fabric of our being has been shaded, tinted, and shaped by our experiences and memories of war. No one gets a free pass.

This is not to say that someone having suicidal thoughts or living with PTSD is beyond help. What we try to do at these workshops is disrupt one’s comfortable relationship with suicide and harmful family patterns. The therapies noted above are just the start—a break, if you will—to rebuild and re-orient a person to possibilities and away from seeing and feeling only darkness. A great deal of learning remains to address:

• Feelings of hopelessness, shame, or despair
• Depression or anxiety
• Drinking or drug issues
• Physical symptoms or chronic pain
• Employment problems
• Relationship difficulties, including divorce

Reclaiming our emotions, feelings, and thinking begins with therapy, not with the manualized techniques of a few therapies, no matter how good they are at relieving the worst of the symptoms. Learning to cope with the everyday stresses of life is ongoing. If being stuck in thinking about suicide or using a substance to cope consumes you day and night, then by definition you’re not learning to cope with each day. This is a hole you must dig out of, and it can be done. The hole needs to be filled with new coping strategies, new ways of perceiving the behavior of self and others.

This can be done. Rolling back the worst symptoms is a solid start. But it is only a start. 

BY DENNIS HOWLAND, CHAIR

Summer ended with high membership numbers. It’s an indication that we have been highly visible in our communities in recruiting, and we stayed on top of retention as well. Congratulations. This is a great public affairs tool. It shows Vietnam War veteran non-members that we are not shutting down tomorrow, and that we continue to serve our brothers and sisters with optimism.

With the construction and dedication of Utah’s replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in July, it was a hard-working and hot summer for VVA and Associate members. Nearly three thousand veterans, people from the community, and from across the U.S., were on hand for the dedication in Layton. We appreciate President John Rowan speaking at this event. There was high visibility with four TV stations, three newspapers, and a couple of magazines on hand.

I recently was honored to be a speaker in a Central Utah community program to name a street after the only Vietnam War KIA from the county. It was an honor to be on hand for the presentation with the veteran’s 94-year-old mother. But once again, it also was an opportunity for VVA visibility. There just may be enough Vietnam War veterans to start a chapter in that town.

I keep asking you to send me your activities, but Utah’s Chapters 1079 and 961 are the only ones I seem to get a handle on. Good examples in Utah are the multitude of parades, job and benefits fairs, town halls, serving on veterans’ commissions, and information booths in all kinds of weather.

Chapter 961 continuously works the southern part of the state. Among its programs are families at Christmas, helping veterans and their families, donating wheelchairs, scholarships to local JROTC units, and providing local schools with additional supplies that the teachers can’t afford. Please share your chapter experiences at dennishowland@msn.com

Now is a good time to visit local JROTC units to explain VVA’s JROTC Medal and Ribbon Program. It’s a great way to get into the schools, a great public affairs tool, and another step in our legacy. The contact for the JROTC program and to purchase the medal and ribbon is Mokie Porter at the VVA National Office, at mporter@vva.org If there is no JROTC unit, then grasp any opportunity to be in classrooms to talk to young people. It is essential that they know our story. 

Look at VVA’s “Remember Our Warriors” program for your schools. Grant Coates can tell you about it. There are many tools already available. Try them. They work.

There will be many opportunities to participate in your communities in Veterans Day parades and ceremonies. If you see veterans just standing and watching—even non-members—invite them to join in. They may just join your chapter. Regardless, bring them into the VVA family as much as you can.

If they don’t qualify, then recruit them for AVVA. They may be looking for information or help. Or somewhere to belong. You could make a difference for them.

BY KEN ROSE, NATIONAL REP

The main task of the VAVS Representative is to attend meetings of local committees to learn and understand the needs and problems of hospitalized and out-patient veterans. We attend meetings and volunteer. This gives Vietnam Veterans of America eyes and ears inside the VA. This gives us access to the local directors and VISN officials. This is more important than ever. The VA has many problems, but we need to be part of the solution and help solve these problems.

I have been working with Samala Parker in the National Office to update our records and volunteer contact information. Every VAVS Representative and Deputy should contact me to ensure we have your current contact information and status. You can email me at Krose@vva.org If you don’t have email, write to me in care of the National Office. This is very important.

As Representatives of VVA, you have two important functions. You must attend a VAVS meeting at your appointed VAMC. Every year you should meet with your VAVS Chief and complete an Annual Joint Review. The Reps and Deps then should inform their chapters what is happening at the VA.

Many AJRs have not been completed. This is an important part of the Rep’s job. May is VVA’s month for AJRs. Please see your VAVS Chief and get this completed and returned to me. The Representative must check the AJR to be sure we are getting credit for the hours, donations, and number of volunteers at each VAMC.

When you review your reports with the VAVS Chief, be sure the title on the paperwork is correct. Some inexperienced specialists at the VA have put us on their records as “Vietnam Vets.” There are several Vietnam War veteran organizations. We should be listed only as “Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc.” Otherwise, your hard work and donations get lost or get credited to the wrong organization.

Representative attendance at VAVS meetings is required four times a year. A Rep who misses three consecutive meetings can be terminated. If a Rep is unable to attend a meeting, a Deputy can fill in. If there is no Deputy, find one.

There are people who want to privatize the VA hospital system—people with no veteran health care experience, non-veterans, and non-elected business leaders who don’t understand veteran needs and are not interested in veteran health care. Their concern is the profit they can make by tearing apart the VA. The VA has problems, but privatization will not fix the problems or help veterans.

If you have questions or problems involving Volunteer Service at the VAMC, contact me at krose@vva.org If I don’t know the answer, I will get back to you ASAP. Everyone is busy, but VA staff need to be responsive to your questions and problems. If they don’t respond in a reasonable length of time, I will call the VA Central Office and get an answer.  

BY TOM BURKE, CHAIR

Deputy Director Felicia Mullaney hosted several Veterans Benefits Program events during VVA’s Leadership Conference. The first was the Top Gun seminar, with Senior Managing Attorney Alec Ghezzi and Service Officer Marc McCabe. Those attending had the opportunity to fire questions at some of VVA’s best attorneys and service officers about general claims and situations. This session was robust and many questions were taken.

One of the most-asked-about VA operations was RAMP. VA continues to send out thousands of letters per month to veterans encouraging them to opt into the program. Advice on RAMP remains the same at this time: We are not encouraging any veterans to opt into this program. Instead, seek counsel from your Service Officer. Remember, once you opt into RAMP, there is no going back. As this program develops, we may get a better feel for what will happen. As of now, caution is the word.

The Advanced Service Officer Training on Friday was presented in four sections over the course of a long day. Fortunately, many servive officers attended. Topics covered were as follows:

• RAMP update: We noted that 158 claims from VVA have opted in. Of that number, 118 were selected for higher review, 40 were selected, and 6 claims were granted.
• VVA policy updates: Withdrawing claims, electronic signatures, rating decision review tips, filing claims for Agent Orange children and grandchildren.
• Veteran Law Update and Filing Claims for Mental Disorders.
• Getting Outside Medical Opinions, Chronicity, and Decision-Ready Claims.
• How National can provide support to field offices.

Last year the Veterans Benefits Program decided that it would be prudent to recognize our top Service Officers. Consequently at the 2017 Convention we recognized our first Service Officer of the Year. This year we expanded the program to recognize the Service Officer of the Year, plus two others for their dedication and performance. We were pleased to announce that Rick Carman of Louisiana was Service Officer of the Year. His dedication and record of accomplishments go above and beyond.    

Chuck Byers of Arizona and Delores Garcia of New York were recognized for many years of  hard work and dedicated service to their fellow veterans. Congratulations to all.

The Veterans Benefits Program will be providing additional Service Officer training in January 2019 in the week before the National Board of Directors meeting for a period of three days. Additional information on this event will be forthcoming. Service Officers, keep this in mind.         

The Senate passed S.2372, the VA MISSION Act of 2018, a $55 billion health reform bill. The President signed it on June 7. National President John Rowan was at the White House for the signing.

Ironically, that night the White House was lamenting where were they going to find the money to implement the newly signed bill. That, in Washington vernacular, means the bill is going nowhere because no funding was attached to it.

It will be interesting to see if the Act gets off the ground and how Congress reacts to a no-money bill.

BY DOMINICK YEZZO, CHAIR

What is the destiny of Vietnam Veterans of America? Where did we come from? Where are we going? I am asking you these questions. Answer them now. Right now.

What does being a Vietnam veteran mean to you? What is the image the country created of you? What is the image you created of yourself? With your family? With your friends?

You’re special. You are a Vietnam War veteran. You have respect now, deservedly so. Your respect and honor, however, are the result of years of hard work, years of learning how to organize and structure ourselves, years of internal fights, years of filing complaints and lawsuits, and years of moving the medical world to review the damage from PTSD, TBI, and Agent Orange to us, to our children, and to our grandchildren. Years and years of struggle.

Why do you give so much of your time and attention in service to Vietnam Veterans of America? What do you get from the organization? What do you give to the organization?

Remember this: Our country did not protect us when we returned home. That irony, my irony, remains unchanged:  The country I protected in war did not protect me when I returned from war.

But Vietnam Veterans of America came into being to protect me. VVA has done a good job.  Because of VVA I have enjoyed educational benefits, medical benefits, service-connected disability benefits. Because of VVA I enjoy a veteran’s dignity of honor and respect. I am proud of my service with the United States Army in Vietnam.

Vietnam Veterans of America was born out of decades of turmoil. We created ourselves out of nothing. The nation did not embrace us. We embraced ourselves, and we fought through the complex collateral damage of the war, the government, and our own behavior. I remind you that we rose out of the ashes. Today we are decision makers.

I want my committee, Veterans Incarcerated and in the Justice System, to live on past me. I have a vision that the committee will transform to a youthful and modern organization in service to all veterans and their families from all past, present, and future wars. I have a vision of my committee within that new organization: I want my committee to develop in ways and means of youth, technology, and social media. I want my committee to serve the future needs of Veterans in the Justice System.

I seek young veterans to join me in the development of a national model service organization which initiates programs for veterans incarcerated, strategies for troubled veterans prior to incarceration in Veteran Treatment Courts, and initiatives for veterans released from incarceration. The destiny of my committee is the destiny of VVA.

My committee is shaping itself into a national project for veterans who are troubled because of PTSD and TBI. The work of the committee is bigger than me, but I am privileged to serve my committee. My committee will continue because VVA will continue.

I ask that you help me search for intelligent and passionate young leaders to join us, with the intention of forming a new national veterans organization. It’s the only way to preserve our stunning legacy. We need men and women from every state and county in America.

When I think over my life and I contemplate what I desire to leave to my children and grandchildren I realize that I most want them to preserve the traditions and heritage of our family, the special way we make Christmas, and the peculiar way we joke at the dinner table. But there is much more I want to leave to them. I want them to endure life’s trouble and survive its hardships. I want to be sure that they remain together.

What do we, as senior veterans, desire to leave to the next generation of veterans? That is our legacy. Answer the question. Answer it now.