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- Vietnam Veterans Day ► March 29 th
- Vet Cemetery Belgium ► Obama Pays Homage at Flanders Fields
- President Obama, second from right, during a wreath-laying ceremony at Flanders Field Cemetery
- Minnesota Veteran Homes Update 03 ► Admittance Priority Controversy
- Vet Charity Watch Update 44 ► TX Sues Veterans Support Organization
- Disabled Vet SSA Claims ► Priority Treatment if Rated 100%
- POW/MIA Update 24 ► How You Can Help Find Them
Fields of Study -- Student veterans are pursuing degrees that allow them to obtain in-demand careers. At the associate level, the five degree fields most often pursued were in liberal arts and sciences; business; homeland security; law enforcement and firefighting; and health professions. The top five bachelor's degree fields were business; social sciences; homeland security; law enforcement and firefighting; and computer and information sciences. Type of School -- Most student veterans who complete school enroll in (79.2 percent), and earn degrees (71.7 percent) from, public schools. The remaining students enroll in private nonprofit or proprietary (private for-profit) institutions. Just more than 15 percent obtain degrees from private nonprofit institutions and 12 percent from proprietary institutions. The study also shows that a majority of public and private, nonprofit sector enrollees graduate, but some transfer out of that sector to complete their education. Degree Obtained -- The data shows that many student veterans achieve higher levels of education: 31.3 percent of the sample who initially earned a vocational certificate, 35.8 percent of the sample who initially earned an associate degree and 20.8 percent of the sample who initially earned a bachelor's degree went on to also earn a higher degree. [Source: SVA Press Release 24 Mar 2014 ++] 
*Vets*  
Vietnam Veterans Day ► March 29th President Barack Obama designated March 29, 2012, as Vietnam Veterans Day. The presidential proclamation coincided with the 50th anniversary of the start of a war that remains for our nation a source of controversy. Of the 2.3 million U.S. military personnel who served there, we count the names of 58,286 chiseled into the Vietnam War memorial as the number that made the ultimate sacrifice. They are among the estimated 1.8 million combatant and civilian lives lost on both sides. Those counts are not final. Words added to our vocabulary continue to affect our nation and our veterans. Agent Orange and post-traumatic stress disorder were not in the dictionary when the war ended in 1975. Returning veterans were forced to take their pleas for justice into the Veterans Administration and to Congress, and their pursuits continue. A disability-claims backlog appears to be a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet, at the local VA, more than 60 percent of veterans seeking treatment for PTSD are of the age of those who served in Vietnam. They confront the reality that PTSD did not fade but instead gained power over their lives as it festered in denial, a darkness deepened by our government's decision to abandon the vets. So much time was wasted as bureaucrats procrastinated rather than taking action to heal our soldiers. Last month, the Senate failed to pass a bill to extend health care benefits to hundreds of thousands of additional veterans each year, to provide family planning aid to war-injured vets and to make caregiver support — now available only to 9/11 veterans — available to families from all U.S. wars. On the second anniversary of the president's proclamation, it would serve all veterans if their fellow Americans contacted their senators to urge them to pass this bill. Mr. Obama's presidential proclamation remains the only one related to the Vietnam War since President Jimmy Carter pardoned all who had violated the Selective Service Act during the years of that war. It is intended to raise the awareness of the American public to the plight of men and women who continue to fight their battles here at home. Occasionally, a battle is won as when symptoms attributed to Agent Orange have afflicted enough lives that it can no longer be repressed as war-related. Only when the long-suffering patients can claim the attention due them will the VA's motto, "To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphan," be realized. That, of course, assumes the veterans have lived through the long wait and the claims process. Trust me, many have not. [Source: Times Union | Dan New | 28 Mar 2014 ++] ******************************** Vet Cemetery Belgium ► Obama Pays Homage at Flanders Fields President Obama paid homage 26 MAR to the American soldiers who died at Flanders Fields in the battles of World War I, which began 100 years ago and took the lives of hundreds of thousands. Flanked by Belgium’s prime minister, Elio Di Rupo, and its king, Philippe, the great-grandson of King Albert, who led Belgium’s fight against the Germans in the First World War, Mr. Obama laid a wreath and visited three graves: those of Stanislaw Labno, a private in the 91st Division of the American Army, and of Russell Swain and Norman Stein, two privates in the 27th Division. “It is impossible not to be awed by the profound sacrifice they made so we could stand here today,” Mr. Obama said. He noted the devastation that chemical weapons wreaked upon the Belgian battlefields when the Germans used them for the first time here, and he recalled the recent use of such weapons by Syria. “We must never, ever take our progress for granted,” Mr. Obama said. 
President Obama, second from right, during a wreath-laying ceremony at Flanders Field Cemetery King Philippe and Mr. Di Rupo both hinted at the lessons to be learned from the history of the battlefield in light of the current situation with Russia and Ukraine, though neither actually mentioned the crisis directly. “Our countries have learned the hard way that national sovereignty quickly reaches its limits when met with heavily armed adversaries,” King Philippe said. Mr. Di Rupo said that “those who ignore the past are taking the risk to relive it.” Mr. Obama recited part of a famous poem, “In Flanders Fields,” which was written in 1915 by John McCrae, a Canadian Army physician who was moved to describe the death that he witnessed on the battlefields. Mr. Obama said the final few lines were a plea to future generations. “To you from failing hands we throw/The torch; be yours to hold it high,” Mr. Obama read. “If ye break faith with us who die/We shall not sleep, though poppies grow/In Flanders fields.” Some years later, Mr. Obama said, an American teacher wrote a poem in response. It said, Mr. Obama recalled, “We caught the torch.”  
The Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium occupies a 6.2-acre site. Masses of graceful trees and shrubbery frame the burial area and screen it from passing traffic. At the ends of the paths leading to three of the corners of the cemetery are circular retreats, with benches and urns. At this peaceful site rest 368 of our military dead, most of whom gave their lives in liberating the soil of Belgium in World War I. Their headstones are aligned in four symmetrical areas around the white stone chapel that stands in the center of the cemetery. The altar inside the chapel is made of black and white Grand Antique marble with draped flags on each side; above it is a crusader's sword outlined in gold. The chapel furniture is made of carved oak, stained black with white veining to harmonize with the altar; 43 names are inscribed on the Walls of the Missing. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified. The cemetery is open daily to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except December 25 and January 1. It is open on host country holidays. When the cemetery is open to the public, a staff member is on duty in the visitor building to answer questions and escort relatives to grave and memorial sites. [Source: New York Times | Michael D. Shearmarch | 26 Mar 2014 ++] ******************************** Minnesota Veteran Homes Update 03 ► Admittance Priority Controversy Several veterans organizations are denouncing a plan to tighten the rules for who can get into the state’s veterans homes. Former prisoners of war, Purple Heart recipients and veterans with a service-connected disability rating of 70 percent or higher would move to the front of the line under a new proposal. Spouses of veterans, who now have equal access to the state’s five veterans homes on a first-come first-served basis, would be knocked down in the pecking order. Several other states have similar restrictions, but groups like the American Legion and the state’s county veterans service officers are objecting strenuously. They say the new rules violate an unspoken but solemn compact with spouses, who may be more in need than some veterans who would get priority over them. “The veterans I talk to are just as concerned about a fellow veteran’s widow as they are about a fellow veteran. We’re all family,” said Army veteran Tommy Johnson, a blogger, veterans advocate and a Veterans of Foreign Wars member from Hopkins. “Sure, other states may do that. Other states may do a lot less for the veterans than Minnesota does.” Vets groups are pledging an all-out offensive to block the change. But this time the usually potent veterans’ lobby at the State Capitol is facing a resolute opponent. “My feeling is the veterans who have suffered the most as a result of their military service should have a priority in going into the homes,” said Rep. Jerry Newton, DFL-Coon Rapids, the author of the proposal, which is part of a bill in the Legislature. Newton, a retired sergeant major with a 23-year career in the military, says he’s faced this kind of uphill battle before against forces opposed to changes in the status quo. Although much of the talk is about honoring service and sacrifice, the debate quickly breaks down to money. Funding for long-term nursing like that provided in the state’s veteran homes is the most expensive form of care for a rapidly increasing elderly population. The $161.5 million it cost to operate Minnesota’s five state-operated veterans homes made up 77 percent of the state Department of Veterans Affairs’ budget last year. The change in eligibility was one of several recommendations made by a legislative committee on veterans housing in a report late last year designed to address veteran homelessness and the costs of the state’s veterans homes. The committee found the rising cost of nursing home care to be unsustainable, and the recommendation to limit spouse’s eligibility was among the recommendations to cut costs. Currently, 17 states allow only veterans to reside in their state veterans homes. Five states have a priority for veterans but allow spouses or other eligible nonveterans to be admitted when space is available. Minnesota has allowed spouses to reside in the vets’ homes on an equal basis as veterans since 1971, as long as they meet eligibility and admission requirements. Admission is based on the date of the application. The new proposal has had one contentious hearing in a House committee. It would give first priority for admission to Medal of Honor recipients, former prisoners of war, Purple Heart recipients and veterans with the 70 percent or more service-disability. All other veterans would be next; followed by spouses of veterans who are over 65; then Gold Star parents. Priority would be given to veterans who were Minnesota residents for two years before admission or veterans who lived in the state at the time they entered the service. While saying it is right to provide care to those who have sacrificed the most, Newton acknowledges that the changes make economic sense as well. Veterans with a 70 percent service-connected disability or higher (they are known as 70 percenters) allow states to be reimbursed at a full per-diem rate from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs. In Minnesota that can amount from $132,000 to $155,000 a year per vet depending on which of the five homes the vet resides in. But spouses residing in the vets’ homes bring in no federal money. Although there are only about 60 spouses in the vets’ homes, the cost of their care is about $5.6 million a year. “I am not suggesting that we throw the elderly out on the street. This is done through attrition and we deal with it from this point on,” Newton said. “The state is going to benefit.” The vets homes are attractive to people seeking long-term nursing care. There is an active waiting list of more than 1,000 people for the 790 beds available in the five homes, and another inactive waiting list of about 1,000. About 750 people are on the waiting list for the Minneapolis home and about 60 of those are spouses. One group argues that veterans and spouses who don’t qualify for the extensive federal benefits are exactly those who should be allowed to apply on equal footing to the nursing homes. “I know of no human service program where people with the most resources get put at the front of the line for limited resources,” said Milt Schoen, Hennepin County’s veterans services director and legislative director for the Minnesota Association of County Veterans Service Officers. Mike Ash, state commander of the Minnesota American Legion, said the proposal would likely mean there won’t be enough spaces for spouses after the slots are filled with those having priority. “The spouses put as much effort forth as we have,” Ash said. “It’s true we have to get shot at; they’ve got to stay home all by themselves with a whole set of problems they never counted on. We put a high premium on spouses.” Ash said the American Legion and other veteran groups are gearing up for an aggressive e-mail campaign and for directly lobbying individual state legislators. “When you decide to go against us, hopefully you recognize that if it’s a year you are getting voted up or down, you might want to think about it,” Ash said. “When legislation like this comes up we need to let them know directly that we are 100 percent against it and we won’t take anything but shooting the bill down totally.” [Source: Star Tribune | Mark Brunswick | 24 Mar 2014 ++] ******************************** Vet Charity Watch Update 44 ► TX Sues Veterans Support Organization A veterans' organization banned from South Carolina and fined in Tennessee has been named in a lawsuit brought by authorities in Texas, where it has been operating in several cities for years. The Texas Attorney General's Office announced 21 MAR that the Florida-based Veterans Support Organization (VSO) is a defendant in a lawsuit filed this week alleging the group falsely claimed a majority of donations to the group would benefit Texas veterans. Authorities contend VSO raised more than $2.5 million in Texas from 2010 to 2012. They say most of that was raised through a work program that amounted to nothing more than "structured panhandling" in which indigent veterans were paid to stand outside stores in Austin, Dallas, Houston and elsewhere soliciting donations. Despite raising millions, VSO made grants of less than $57,000 to Texas veterans, which amounts to 2.24 percent of donations received in the state, according to court records. Texas officials say most of the money went out of state to Florida, where VSO has its headquarters, and Rhode Island, where it's incorporated. Four VSO principals also are named in the lawsuit, including President Richard VanHouten, and all four live in Florida. A call to VSO's headquarters rang unanswered Friday. The Attorney General's Office does not indicate in court records how the money raised in Texas was spent elsewhere. Spokesman Jerry Strickland said authorities would go through the organization's records and other documents to track down the money. "When well-meaning Texans open their hearts and their wallets, they should be confident that the hard-earned money they're donating will go to the cause they choose to support," Strickland said. VanHouten — an Army veteran who lives in a $548,500 South Florida home, according to county records — has received $259,965 in salary, the Austin American-Statesman reported in February. A phone message left at a Florida listing for VanHouten was not returned. VSO says it helps veterans transition to life after the military by providing jobs. "We are the one employer willing to overlook long (gaps in employment)," Arthur Metcalf, general manager of the group's Houston branch, told the American-Statesman. He said his employees earn $7.25 an hour and are eligible for incentives if they raise more than $250 in a day. But Texas authorities say VSO engaged in "false, deceptive and misleading acts" and is seeking a court order prohibiting the group from operating in Texas. They also want to seize its assets and funds in order to distribute them to low-income veterans. South Carolina fined the group $5,000 last year and banned it for 15 years for violating its solicitation laws. Tennessee fined it $50,000 — and later settled for $20,000 — in 2010 for failing to properly register and making false claims to provide services in the state. Connecticut's congressional delegation, meanwhile, has requested a federal investigation of the group and the Department of Veterans Affairs has suspended it from an advisory board. Prosecutors in Texas also say VSO claimed to operate a housing program benefiting veterans. But the program amounted to subletting rooms at two residences, one in Austin and the other in Dallas, and only a portion were earmarked for vets, according to court records. Veterans were evicted from their room if they couldn't afford the $125-a-week rent, records indicate. The American Institute of Philanthropy's CharityWatch gave the group an F rating, according to the American-Statesman's February report. m"VSO's 'program' does not help unemployed veterans obtain useful skills, such as computer programming, carpentry or nursing, to help them obtain gainful employment," the group said in a newsletter. "But the 'program' does help VSO raise money for itself by turning veterans into street solicitors." [Source: Associated Press article 21 Mar 2014 ++] ******************************** Disabled Vet SSA Claims ► Priority Treatment if Rated 100% Social Security claims from veterans with a Veterans Affairs Department disability compensation rating of 100 percent permanent and total have a new process that will treat their applications as high priority and issue expedited decisions. Carolyn W. Colvin, acting Social Security commissioner, said the new process is similar to the way the agency currently handles disability claims from wounded warriors. “We have reached another milestone for those who have sacrificed so much for our country and this process ensures they will get the benefits they need quickly,” Colvin said. “While we can never fully repay them for their sacrifices, we can be sure we provide them with the quality of service that they deserve. This initiative is truly a lifeline for those who need it most." To receive the expedited service, veterans must tell Social Security they have a VA disability compensation rating of 100 percent permanent and total and must show proof of their disability rating with their VA notification letter. The VA rating only expedites Social Security disability claims processing and does not guarantee an approval for Social Security disability benefits, officials emphasized, noting that these veterans still must meet the strict eligibility requirements for a disability allowance. [Source: SSA News Release 18 Mar 2014 ++] ******************************** POW/MIA Update 24 ► How You Can Help Find Them There are 45,000 service members missing in action from World War II and other wars who experts say are recoverable. But the Pentagon’s $100 million per year effort to identify them has solved surprisingly few cases. Last year (2013) only 60 MIAs were sent home. The military actually knows where many of the missing are - 9,400 service members are buried as “unknowns” in American cemeteries around the world. Armed with family stories and documents, John Eakin may have tracked down the remains of one of those men, Bud Kelder, a cousin who died in a World War II POW camp. Following, in an edited interview, Eakin shares what he’s learned about researching a loved one “missing in action,” and fighting against the Pentagon -- In the beginning I didn’t know much about Bud Elder’s death. In 2009, I didn’t set out to recover the remains of my cousin. I was simply looking for genealogical information on the date and place of his death. About all that I knew about him was that he had been in the Bataan Death March and his remains were never returned to his family for burial. Growing up, it was one of those things that I was told never to ask about because it upset my grandparents. A good starting point is the MIA database on the website of the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO). What’s next for more information? Can a family member get any files about their missing loved one? The first thing any family member should do is request the Individual Deceased Personnel File for their family member. The IDPF is the key document in any MIA research. These files were classified and restricted from public access for many years, but are available now. An IDPF contains all that is known about a serviceman’s death and efforts to identify his remains. It typically includes death certificates, notifications of death, disposition of personnel property, information on burial, and often ends with the paperwork involved in providing a veterans headstone. The IDPF will often direct further investigation. It took over three months for the Army to retrieve Bud’s IDPF from the archives, but it was worth the wait as it was the key to the whole case. Bud’s IDPF also contained several letters from Bud’s parents to the Army asking that his remains be returned for burial. Their grief at not being able to bury their son was almost palpable. Family members can obtain the IDPF from the appropriate Service Casualty Office. (It is important to know that the Air Force didn’t come into being until 1947 and missing personnel from the old Army Air Corps are handled by the Army Casualty Office.) To obtain IDPFs contact:
Bud’s file showed that the Army tried over a period of years to identify him, but he was eventually determined “non-recoverable,” as was the case for thousands of men. In most cases, unidentified remains are buried as unknowns either in a Department of Veteran Affairs or American Battle Monuments Commission cemetery. The unidentified remains each have an IDPF, which is identified with an “X” and a number, rather than a name. So they are often referred to as “X-files.” IDPFs on people whose remains were determined to be non-recoverable, like Bud, often contain references to one or more X-files that are associated with that person, but could not be positively identified as that person. By the same token, X-files often list the names of one or more persons they are associated with. So in the case of Bud Kelder, we started with his IDPF which referenced ten unidentified remains which had been given the numbers X812, X814, X815, X816, X818, X820, X821, X822, X823, X824. The Army knew that Bud was one of these unidentified remains, they just didn’t know which one. But we knew that Bud had gold dental inlays, and when we reviewed the dental charts in the X-files. Only X816 had gold inlays. If the IDPF references X-files, they may be obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request or by asking the appropriate service casualty office. Family members should look for military unit historical associations or groups of other family members of persons who died in the same area. Often these groups will have databases of all the X-files associated with the same event or area. In some cases, X-files contain little to no identifying information; no place of death, no dental chart, not much of anything which will help to identify the remains. However, about fifty percent of the thousands of X-files I have been through have an associated name or names. In most of these cases the military had a pretty good idea who it was, but lacked that last little bit of evidence needed to be sure. Most of the rest have some other piece of information that will help narrow down the possible identities. The X-file will usually show where the remains were buried. Every WWII MIA family should contact the appropriate service casualty office and assist them in finding the appropriate family members to collect a DNA reference sample from. DNA has become essential to the identification process and depends on the cooperation of WWII MIA families. Collection of the DNA sample is a simple process. The military will overnight a collection kit consisting of a few cheek swabs and a return envelope. Blood samples are no longer used. There are more than 950 men like Bud who died in the Cabanatuan POW camp and weren’t identified after WWII. They are buried as X-files in the cemetery in Manila. Unlike some of the other X-files that contain limited identifying information, the Cabanatuan X-files make up a known population of men: The POWs kept list of all those who died in the camp. So the military knows who all the 953 X-files could possibly be, they just haven’t matched each name with a body. One key obstacle, as we detailed in our story, is the Pentagon itself, which is rarely willing to disinter a grave to try to send that man home to his family. But another needed step is getting family DNA to cross reference with any remains. Although the Army has about 10,000 DNA samples already, it doesn't categorize them into smaller sections, such as by theater or battle. Eakin, though, has done this for Cabanatuan. He combed through the Army's records and found that they have family DNA samples from family members of approximately 345 of the Cabanatuan unknowns. About 608 are left in need of DNA. If you have a family member who died at the Cabanatuan POW camp and wasn't sent home for burial, then a sample of your DNA could be helpful in getting your loved one identified. Giving DNA is easy and painless. All you have to do is rub the inside of your cheek with a cotton swab. The military will send you a kit. The names of the 608 men without any family DNA samples on file with the Army are available at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AntrT-o20eO4dC15U1ZKeW9QVlY1a2NibDBqSmE1OFE&usp=sharing#gid=0 . Contact the Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center Tel:1 (800) 892-2490 for more information if your family member is on the list. Other resources for locating MIAs would be JPAC at http://www.jpac.pacom.mil, Bataan Missing at http://bataanmissing.com, Ancestry.com military records at http://www.ancestry.com, and NARA POW database at http://aad.archives.gov/aad/series-description.jsp?s=644. 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