Updated Mon, May 10, '08
Contact us /About Us
Click on the Logo,
follow the link to the Veterans Service Organization
       
Eighteen Veterans commit suicide every day. Don't be one of them. Andrew Wilson
[Apr 22, 2008]
Arguments began on Monday in a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs that alleges the agency is unequipped to provide medical services to treat the mental health problems of soldiers returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the New York Times reports. The lawsuit was filed by two groups, the Veterans for Common Sense and the Veterans United for Truth, in a federal court in San Francisco (MacFarquhar, New York Times, 4/22).
click for more regarding this important case!
Special Notice:
If you are a veteran in emotional crisis and need help RIGHT NOW, call this toll-free number 1-800-273-8255, available 24/7, and tell them you are a veteran. All calls are confidential.
Another Special Notice Regarding IRS Refunds! Urgent!
What are suspicious e-mails or phishing?
Phishing, as it is called, is the act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise (such as the IRS) in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft.
There is an email circulating that claims to be from the IRS. It states that to receive your economic stimulous check you need to go to a site and fill in the form requiring your SSN and bank account info. Do Not Reply.
Report Phishing, email scams and bogus IRS Web sites. read more and see an example of a phishing email that just came to me at IdentityTheft and read the IRS phishing info site; http://www.irs.gov/privacy/article/
0,,id=179820,00.html
 Utah National Guard Family Programs
By putting families first and creating relationships of trust, the Utah National Guard Family Programs' Office enhances the readiness and well being of military families through infor-mation, education, programs, and resources.
Pentagon Institute Calls Iraq War "A Major Debacle" with outcome "In Doubt" Read the sad story here.
The Utah Sergeant Next Door.
You gotta follow this link!
Sgt. Jill Stevens, a member of 1st Battalion, 211th Aviation Regiment, Utah National Guard
Honest to God trauma vid
I'm W. Andrew Wilson. I was a part time Huey door gunner and full time helicopter parts master thief for the 483rd Tech Supply; Vietnam, 1968. The 483rd was attached to the 281st Assault Helicopter Company, attatched to the 5th Special Forces (Green Berets).
They called me "The Ghost" of the 483rd because they could look right at me. I just couldn't be seen.
I created this page and I'm responsible for all content.
When not hospitalized or in therapy I sometimes paint oils or water colors.
See a few of my paintings here.
See a few more paintings here
The Bush administration is likely to move foot-and-mouth research from a remote island in distant Long Island Sound to one of five sites on the U.S. mainland --near livestock herds.
This has raised concerns about the risks of a catastrophic outbreak of the disease, which does not sicken humans but can devastate the livestock industry. (And ultimately wipe out the American food supply. ed.) Read it and weep.
See related AP video
Hoof and Mouth Video
Q and A from the Associated Press
‘I am a Liar. I am not a Marine’
William C.Horvath thought being a Marine might make his probation officer go easier on him.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Horvath told his probation officer that he was a Marine as the officer was gathering information on a prior charge. The 35-year-old gave the probation officer phony photos and bogus Marine Corps decorations. In addition to a list of inaccuracies in his “evidence,” Horvath even offered a photo of himself dressed improperly in a Marine Corps uniform. The Marine Corps, however,had no record of Horvath.
Judge Donald Molloy, a Vietnam War-era Naval aviator, sentenced Horvath to write letters of apology to the Marines, VFW and the American Legion. Molloy also ordered Horvath to wear a sandwich board for 50 hours outside the courthouse. The front of the board isto read,“I am a liar. I am not a Marine.” On the back it read, “I have never served my country. I have dishonored veterans of all wars.”
Read the entire story about phoney vets here |
Utah Veteran has been dedicated to serving Utah Veterans for the last five years. www.UtVet.com Called to serve. Still serving.
The Salt Lake City VA OEF/OIF Program Reaches Out to Younger Utah Vets by W. Andrew Wilson March 28, 2008
I had a phone conversation today with Jeff Hunter, one of the Iraq and Afghan war veterans outreach coordinators. The VA is taking agressive, proactive steps to reach out to our young vets to assure they have the highest quality future; unblighted by PTSD.
Watch this space for more info from the Salt Lake VA Health Care System.
Here are a few excerpts from their Outreach Program brochure.
Combat Stress May Continue After You Return Home:
Even after returning from a theater of combat, stress can significantly interfere with a veteran’s ability to relate to family and friends.
 Readjustment challenges can affect many other areas of daily functioning as well. The lingering effects of stress can be expressed in many ways including irritability, hostility, anger, trouble sleeping, and emotional numbing. Often, work suffers due to absenteeism, fatigue, or impaired concentration.
The VA Salt Lake City Health Care System has experienced clinicians available to assist veterans exposed to combat stress or who are coping with post deployment stress. We are trained to identify problems and refer or provide appropriate services to these veterans.
VA Salt Lake City Health Care System Home
Important Points of contact:
Eligibility and Enrollment Office: 801-584-5670 or 1-800-613-4012, ext. 5670
OEF/OIF Program Manager: Maria Fruin, RN (801) 582-1565, ext 5246 or 1-800-613-4012, ext. 5246
OEF/OIF Case Manager: Jeff Hunter, LCSW (801) 582-1565, ext. 2150, or 1-800-613-4012, ext. 2150
OEF/OIF Transition Patient Advocate: Andrew Kalinen, CPC (801) 582-1565, ext 4264 or 1-800-613-4012, ext. 4264
Even after returning from a theater of combat, stress can significantly interfere with a veteran’s ability to relate to family and friends.
OEF/OIF Program Mission
To provide seamless transition from military service to the VA health care system to all Operation Enduring or Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans (and their families emphasis added WAW) by addressing physical and emotional concerns associated with combat zone service and adjustment to civilian life.
We receive referrals due to military injury, deactivation, or discharge. We coordinate care with multiple military services including the guard/reserve components, active military units, military treatment facility (MTF) transfers, post deployment health reassessments (PDHRA), family and military briefings, and from any other OEF/OIF veteran that is self or other referred.
See our newsletter for more info from the Outreach Program http://www.utvet.com/latestMar2908.htm
 Attention
Veterans!
DUI???
If you are eligible for VA Hospital Services, you are eligible for the DUI Class mandated by the State of Utah.. FREE. Click here for more
My View: by Andrew Wilson April 18
If you are a veteran and find you are powerless over substances; there is hope. We have learned by sad experience that one of the most prevalent symptoms of Delayed Stress is the urge to Self Medicate with alcohol and/or drugs. No judgement here, just facts. Often, self medicating leads to serious health problems, conflicts with families -- even trouble with law enforcement including incarceration.
How many suffering veterans end up dead broke, fined 'til they drop, homeless, alone on the street, or in jail -- after drugs or alcohol get the best of them? One is Too many.
So, if you are a veteran and discover you're powerless over substances; DON'T GIVE UP. Salt Lake City has the finest residential substance abuse treatment programs in the entire VA system. It's called "The Eagles' Nest." It's there for you! Click here for more info about The Eagles Nest
Brian Hunneywell, counsellor at the Provo Vet Center, is a vet who knows combat ptsd. He is dedicated to service. He urges veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq (as well as their loved ones) to watch a PBS documentary called the Soldiers Heart. His local number is 801-377-1117
You can learn quite a lot by watching "The Soldiers Heart" This show is available for free viewing at PBS
Click here to watch The Soldier's Heart
Click on the photo for a giant hi-res version
Why Democracy Matters
From the United States Information Agency book Basic Teadings in Democracy
Democracy in its most basic meaning refers to people ruling themselves. The forms democracy may take are varied, and run from simple, direct town meetings of a few dozen people to elaborate schemes of popular representation for millions. A democracy may take the form of a republic or of a limited monarchy, and the ways in which the people's voices are heard and their will carried out are numerous.
For Americans, democracy is not only government, as Abraham Lincoln put it, "of the people, by the people, and for the people," but it also involves limits on majoritarian rule. Because the Unites States was founded by settlers coming from other nations, because these men and women had different political, social, religious and economic beliefs, the country, in order to become a nation, did something no other society had ever done -- [The Founding Fathers] recognized pluralism not as a curse but as a blessing, and set up elaborate safeguards to ensure that the majority did not become a tyrant by force of numbers. This is the ideal, that out of many will emerge one, and that the ideal has not always been met.
Instead of being tolerant, Americans have at times been hostile to people who had differently colored skins, different religious beliefs and different cultural backgrounds. But to see only the good, or only the evil, is to see only part of the portrait. It is to miss the essential idea of American democracy, that of many peoples seeking to find common ground....
It is a search that has had its moments of despair, its dark sides, acts that Americans remember with shame. But is has also appealed to the nation's higher ideals. If one is saddened by the way America has at times treated its minorities, one can also rejoice in the nation's efforts, even if not always successful, at redressing those ills. To look at American democracy then, is to look at a country in process, in a search, and that is a process that many believe can never stop. Democracy is not so much the end, but the way a nation and a people seek that end.
In 1778, the French statesman Turgot wrote:
This people is the hope of the human race. It may become the model. It ought to show the world by facts that men can be free and yet peaceful, and may dispense with the chains in which tyrants and knaves of every color have presumed to bind them, under pretext of the public good. The Americans should be an example of political, religious, commercial and industrial liberty. The asylum they offer to the oppressed of every nation, the avenue of escape they open, will compel governments to be just and enlightened; and the rest of the world in due time will see through the empty illusions in which policy is conceived. But to obtain these ends for us, America must secure them to herself; and must not become, as so many of your ministerial writers have predicted, a mass of divided powers, contending for territory and trade, cementing the slavery of peoples by their own blood. Had Turgot lived long enough, he would have marveled at both the successes and the failures of the American people. Yet both the failures and the successes are part of the democratic story, a story told by these readings.
Melvin I. Urofsky
Professor of Constitutional History
Virginia Commonwealth University,
Richmond, Virginia
Thanks to the USIA for providing pages where everyone can learn about the responsibilities of citizens in a Republic such as ours. aw
|
Click here to read the Latest and Greatest Newsletter
April - May '08
Secondary Wounding
Another hurdle (veterans) face is the prevalence and persistence of the "just world" philosophy.
According to this philosophy, people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. The basic assumption of the "just world" philosophy is that if you are sufficiently careful, intelligent, moral, or competent, you can avoid misfortune. Thus people who suffer trauma are somehow to blame for their misfortune.
Even if the victims aren't directly blamed, they are seen as causing their own victimization by being inherently weak or ineffectual.
Read more at www.UtVet.com/secondary-wounding.html
VETERANS & TBI
Forty four thousand Utah men and women live with disabilities stemming from severe head injuries. These disabilities include memory loss, personality changes and reduced motor-skill coordination.
And a growing number of veterans are coming back from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan with the injury.
Advocates estimate roughly two-thirds of the more than 30,000 men and women injured in the war so far have TBI.
It is so common, in fact, that it is known as the "signature wound" of the Iraq war because of the number of improvised explosive devices used against the US troops.
This paragraph links to a nasty video of an IED. Thanks, Scotty J
Senator Hatch has recently sponsored legislation to reauthorize tratment and outreach programs for these brain injury sufferers.
See the entire story here. .
FROM THE DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS
A much needed and valuable van service for local veterans is in jeopardy of a shutdown if volunteer drivers cannot be located.!!!!
The service provided by the Disabled American Veterans, (DAV), transports veterans from St. George, with pickups along the I-15 Corridor, to the George E. Wahlen Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Many vets have no other way to get to the Salt Lake VA hospital.
"This service is so important, and it would be a crying shame if it were to be interrupted because of a lack of drivers", said
Heidi Hopper, DAV Hospital Services Coordinator at the Medical Center.
Follow this link to see how you can help.
Credit card companies are ripping us off. Each year we pay credit card companies and their banks billions of dollars in hidden fees that never appear on our monthly statements, in addition to interest, late fees, over-the-limit charges and other transaction fees. Congressman Chris Cannon is leading the charge to expose the hidden fees everyone must pay, every time they use a credit card. click the link to learn about it
Put the war in Iraq in perspective. Honor our military.
Check out www.utvet.com/
Iraq_email.html
IS IT A STROKE?
YOU might be a lifesaver if you can remember these three questions!
* Can you Smile?
* Can you raise both arms?
* Can you say "Mary had a little lamb." or some other simple sentence?
If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. There are new medicines that can dramatically lessen the effects of stroke but they must be given quickly to be effective.
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage if people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Doctors say any bystander can recognize a stroke by asking these simple questions:
* Can you Smile?
* Can you raise both arms?
* Can you say "Mary had a little lamb." or some other simple sentence?
After discovering that a group of non medical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at the American
Stroke Association's annual meeting last February.
Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage."
PASS IT ON...............
Click here to go to All My Links
Guess which one is Andrew
The Three Trillion Dollar War
The cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts have grown to staggering proportions
Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes
The Bush Administration was wrong about the benefits of the war and it was wrong about the costs of the war. The president and his advisers expected a quick, inexpensive conflict. Instead, we have a war that is costing more than anyone could have imagined.
The cost of direct US military operations - not even including long-term costs such as taking care of wounded veterans - already exceeds the cost of the 12-year war in Vietnam and is more than double the cost of the Korean War.
Read an editorial from the Times of London about our $3 Trillion War
|
