LVMAC News — Lang Says Schools Need to Pay More Attention to their Veterans

LANG EMPHASIZES ROLE OF THE STUDENT VETERANS OF AMERICA, INC.

On 16 May 2012, Mr. Joshua Lang, Vice President, National Leadership Council, Student Veterans of America,  spoke to the Council at its business meeting on the topic of “Student Veterans of America and Returning Veterans.”

Mr. Lang served in the 82^nd Airborne Division from 2005 to 2008 and was deployed to Afghanistan. Subsequently he has served in the National Guard.  He is one from the youngest generation of veterans.

At the beginning of his talk, he highlighted the process of “getting out.”  In his experience, many veterans, especially the younger ones, are not set up for success when their term of service expires – both financially and mentally. The Department of Defense has acknowledged this and begun taking steps forward.  The Student Veterans of America, Inc. (SVC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is all about “setting up veterans prior to their getting out and sending them on the path to success.”

LVMAC News — Mensch Says More Can Be Done

SENATOR MENSCH SAYS STATE MUST PAY MORE ATTENTION TO ITS VETERANS

 State Senator Bob Mensch, 24^th District, spoke to the Council at its business meeting on 18 April 2012.

A Valley Forge Military Academy graduate, he served in the Army Reserve as a platoon sergeant of a heavy engineer equipment platoon during the Vietnam Era. Currently, among other committees, he serves on the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, headed by Senator Lisa Baker.  He is on the only legislator in the valley to so serve on a veterans affairs related committee.

He began by stating he recognizes that the Vietnam War veterans often returned with unattended problems and with little due respect from their society. H e has had buddies who suffer from Agent Orange diseases and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Consequently, he feels strongly we must do better by our veterans.

Things to be significantly different now, he related, and we have learned to respect our troops, no matter our disagreements about the current war.  Nonetheless, our state legislature is not doing as good a job as it should in helping to catch returning veterans who need help, particularly in the area of mental health and PTSD.

LVMAC Tidbits — Small Games of Chance Law Changed

Bill Increases Prizes for Small Games of Chance

On 2 February, Governor Corbett of Pennsylvania signed House Bill 169 into law as Act 2 of 2012, a bill for which the veterans organizations in this state lobbied long and hard and considered by some necessary for their continued charitable works, in the face of declining memberships.  The thirty day grace period having passed, the law is now in effect.

LVMAC News

LARRY HOLM…AN SPEAKS OUT

Larry Holman, the President of the State Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America, spoke to the Council at its 21 March business meeting on the topic of the “Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) — Not Forgetting Its or the Next Generations.”

First, he explained its origins. VVA came into being because existing veterans organizations at the time were not always welcoming to returning Vietnam veterans – many felt rejected.  However, it did not really get started as an organization until the late 1970’s, early 1980’s.  It realized there was strength in numbers. Out of their own experiences, came its founding principle and its motto:  “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.” More on its history can be found on its website.

Mr. Holman stated VVA is an active organization and an outspoken advocate for the current generation of war veterans.  There is good reason.  There are concerns over hazardous exposures, let alone trauma injuries.

Forward Observer

Veterans Are Getting Short Rations in the Governor’s Budget

District 8 of the VFW has once again resolved we need a Department of Veterans Affairs not stuck under the National Guard.  Our Chapter 415 of the Vietnam Veterans of America has just passed their own resolution.  We have heard District 30 of the American Legion also recently passed a similar resolution and other districts like Districts 14 and 19 are also interested in the subject.  Perhaps these grassroots districts, will change the American Legion thinking at state level later in the year.  The state VFW and Military Order of the Purple Heart organizations have been an advocates for a separate department for a while.  The time has certainly come to change the Commonwealth’s manner of dealing with veterans affairs.

As an example, while the proposed executive budget for 2012-2013 just submitted by Governor Corbett increased general funding support to the Ft. Indiantown Gap itself, the veterans community has lost appropriated funding once again.  This was after the Department of Veterans and Military Affairs (the National Guard) decided to offer up about $6 million in savings through staffing reductions and other efficiencies  in the State Veterans Home Bureau after a management review — and after about another projected $7 million in state veterans homes savings this fiscal year.

LVMAC News

MR. TERRY GOODYEAR EXPLAINS THE TRICARE PROGRAM

Mr. Terry Goodyear, Educational Specialist for HealthNet Federal Services LLC, which manages the TRICARE North contract serving our region, spoke to the Council on 15 February at its business meeting on the subject of TRICARE and the options available.

TRICARE brings together the health care resources of the Military Health System—such as military treatment facilities (MTFs) —with a network of civilian health care professionals, institutions, pharmacies, and suppliers.  It is a worldwide system managed regionally.

LVMAC News

CLYDE HOCH SPEAKS TO THE COUNCIL

Clyde Hoch, author of Tracks – Memoirs of a Vietnam Veteran, spoke to the Council on his service in the Marine Corps, his remembrances of war and his return home.

First off, he expressed his appreciation to the Council for their concern for veterans as he thinks too often veterans “are tossed aside” once they have played their role in the defense of the nation.

Now in his sixties, he believes he has a story to tell – as many other veterans do also – which can help the young understand that sometimes great sacrifices are made on their behalf, that millions of men and women before them have left their loving families to do whatever is necessary to protect our way of life. Nor does it matter they ultimately served as cooks or infantry, for the deed was in the willingness to sacrifice for others even when those “others” often little understood or cared for the service members during the Vietnam era.

LVMAC Tidbits

COLA Is Coming for 2012

For 2012, the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increase will be 3.6% for most military retirees, for military survivor benefit plan and social security recipients, and for those drawing VA compensation (to include DIC) – a welcomed increase after two years without one.  The President signed the last of the necessary legislation on 9 November — the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2011 (S. 894).  This dispels a local rumor that spouses and children receiving dependency indemnity compensation (DIC) would be forgotten.

LVMAC News

SWINFARD ADDRESSES COUNCIL

Dr. Ronald W. Swinfard, M.D., President and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Health Network (LHVN) spoke to the Council at its business meeting on 19 October.  During the Vietnam War, he served in the Medical Service Corps as a Battalion Surgeon (a lieutenant position)  of an Aid Station (a platoon equivalent organization) in 195^th  Brigade of the Americal Division (23^rd Infantry Division), circa 1970.  After a short stint as a high school teacher, upon return from service and decommissioning, he embarked on a career as a doctor, first training in internal medicine and later dermatology as a specialty.  In 2003, Swinfard was hired by the Lehigh Valley Health Network as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) after serving at fifteen years at the Harry S. Truman VA Medical Center in Columbia, Missouri, eventually rising to the position of Section Chief for Dermatology.  He was also a key figure in the University of Missouri Hospital – Columbia.  In November of 2010, he was selected for his current position.  He stated that he is ever mindful of the sacrifice of others who gave their lives and because of them, believes we should celebrate our lives and make them useful in the service of others.

In his talk, “The Downstream Health Effects of War,” he observed that few doctors are veterans and hence a learning curve is often required when it comes to their care.  He noted that that LHVN sees a lot of veterans in their Emergency Rooms; and that while the organization has done some work with the local VA Clinic, it intends to do more on the behalf of our local veterans.

LVMAC News

Council Speaker:  On 21 September 2011, Captain Samuel Johnson, USMC – who is assigned as an Instructor-Inspector to the newly relocated 150 personnel Battery I, 3-14 Regiment of Artillery (155 mm) which closed on the Lehigh Valley’s Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center from Reading on 15 September – spoke to the Council on the origins and initiatives of the Keystone Wounded Warriors, a new nonprofit, charitable 501(c)(3) organization incorporated  in October of 2010 and just beginning to operate in the Lehigh Valley.