Veterans
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The team renders military honors at veteran funerals. The all-volunteer honors team is comprised of veterans from all branches of the military. Team members currently include those who have served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The moving ceremonies that are final tributes to those who proudly served the nation include the traditional rifle volleys, folding of the flag and playing of taps. To date, more than 750 local veterans have been honored.
Some of the ongoing costs for the honors team include uniforms, ammunition, rifle maintenance, insurance, bus maintenance and fuel. The team provides honors at no charge to veterans’ families and relies on donations and fundraising.
Community support is needed to ensure the team’s continued existence. The Military Funeral Honors Team of Lake County is proud to serve their community and to honor their departed comrades.
Advance tickets may be purchased from any team member. For further information call Larry at 707-272-5615.
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Gonzales, 28, of Bakersfield, died Aug. 7 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. Gonzales was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
The governor and first lady extended their deepest condolences to Gonzales' family and friends.
In memorial, Gov. Brown ordered that flags be flown at half-staff over the State Capitol on Tuesday.
Sgt. Gonzales’ family will receive a letter of condolence from the governor.
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“VA is committed to providing veterans and their family members with a transparent accounting of the quality and safety of its health care system,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “In collaborating with CMS, we show our determination to be open and accountable to veterans and their families.”
Release of outcomes data to the public is not new for VA. Mortality and readmission results were first posted in 2010 on the VA Hospital Compare Web site (www.hospitalcompare.va.gov/) using a similar method limited to only VA patients.
VA results posted on VA's site are updated quarterly and will not match the results on CMS Hospital Compare, which are only updated annually and lag about year.
CMS is reporting 30-day measures for three common and high-cost conditions: acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure (HF), and pneumonia to the public through its Web site, www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/.
This year CMS is reporting results for patients treated in VA's health care system. The inclusion of VA data on CMS Hospital Compare is indicative of VA's commitment to transparency, accountability and quality.
Annual reporting on these measures furthers the goal of measuring and rewarding quality as a strategy for improving health care outcomes for veterans and for patients overall.
Results of VA medical centers' risk-adjusted mortality and readmission are available to the public on the CMS Hospital Compare Web site starting Aug. 5.
Veterans, stakeholders and the general public will be able to directly compare the mortality rates and readmission rates at individual VA medical centers against non-VA hospitals for AMI, HF and pneumonia.
The cases reported are from July 2007 through June 2010 for approximately 4,530 non-federal U.S. acute care hospitals (including critical access hospitals) and Indian Health Services hospitals.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – Operation Tango Mike will host the Suds-4-Soldiers car wash on Saturday, Aug. 6.
The event will be held at Umpqua Bank, 805 11th St., Lakeport from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
For a suggested donation of $7, vehicles will be hand washed and dried.
Proceeds will assist in sending monthly care packages to troops in combat zones.
The public is invited to bring items to be included in care packages, stop by and ask questions, add a loved one to the care package recipient list or volunteer.
Further information may be obtained by calling 707-349-2838 or by sending an e-mail to
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“We very are pleased with Governor Brown’s choice of appointees,” said CalVet Secretary Peter Gravett. “The combination of military service and teaching experience both Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Albertson bring to their positions will undoubtedly enhance CalVet’s efforts to reach and assist California veterans of every era.”
Gonzales, of Laguna Niguel, is a retired colonel with more than 38 years of enlisted and commissioned service in the United States Marine Corps and is a combat veteran of Desert Storm.
He served on the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Committee from 2003 to 2009 and as director of the Equal Opportunity Branch for the United States Marine Corps from 2002 to 2003.
He also held multiple positions in the Los Angeles Unified School District from 1968 to 2000, including the position of principal at three elementary schools from 1982 to 2000.
Albertson is a captain with more than nine years of commissioned service in the United States Air Force and Air Force Reserve.
He has served as an intelligence officer since 2010, and was director of public affairs from 2009 to 2010, in the Air Force Reserves’ 713th Combat Operation Squadron.
Albertson also served on the staff of Headquarters US Strategic Command from 2007 to 2009 and held multiple positions in the 11th Mission Support Squadron from 2002 to 2004.
He was an adjunct professor at Yuba College from 2010 to 2011, a teaching assistant at the University of California, Merced from 2006 to 2009 and an assistant professor at the United States Air Force Academy from 2004 to 2006.
Albertson was a University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Dissertation Fellow and served on the staff of Congressman Dennis Cardoza from 2008 to 2010.
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LAKEPORT – The June packing party for Operation Tango Mike brought many special treats.
Dan Felperin of Fresh Energy Systems donated several VegHedge products for the troops. The packages contained everything necessary for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to grow a little garden of their own.
The unique design is drought resistant and requires very little attention or water. Everyone is anxiously awaiting responses from the troops and hoping for reports of little American gardens growing.
A very special visit came when US Army Specialist Kevin Lange arrived in uniform, expressing his thanks to all who supported him during his deployment.
SPC Lange took time to attend the packing party, stating he wanted to personally meet and thank the supporters of Operation Tango Mike.
Lange spoke of the tremendous morale boost he experienced every time he received a care package. He even remarked of the smile it brought to his face to see the notes, stickers and decorations adorning each care package, knowing that children had taken the time to make his box special.
Lange also presented a flag that had been flown in honor of Operation Tango Mike at a forward operating base in the combat zone. The flag an accompanying certificate of authenticity were presented as a representation of the soldier’s gratitude.
Supporting the troops since March 2003, Operation Tango Mike is sending 80-100 care packages every month.
This effort is sustained through the generous donations of citizens and the good works of volunteers. Monthly shipping costs exceed $1,000. In that regard, fundraising is vital to sustaining this all-volunteer troop support.
Monthly packing parties continue to be held the third Thursday of each month at 6 p.m., at Umpqua Bank, 805 11th St., Lakeport. Everyone is welcome.
If you wish to support Operation Tango Mike, you may place items in various “Drop Zone” barrels at businesses throughout Lake County.
Donations may also be sent to 5216 Piner Court, Kelseyville, CA 95451 or Umpqua Bank, 805 11th St., Lakeport, CA 95453.
If you have any questions or wish to add a loved one to the care package recipient list, please call 707-349-2838 or e-mail
Boxer lauds decision on issuing condolence letters to families of service members who die by suicide
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On May 25, Sen. Boxer led a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues in sending a letter to President Obama calling for the policy change.
“I am pleased that President Obama has reversed this long-standing policy and will begin sending presidential condolence letters to the families of our troops who die by suicide,” Boxer said. “This will honor the sacrifice of our nation’s service men and women and their families and do a great deal to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health treatment that prevents so many from seeking the care they need.”
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When a Californian applies for a new driver’s license or renewal, or if they apply for an identification card, they will notice on the new application forms a checkoff box that will permit the DMV to share the applicants contact information with CalVet.
The veterans will then be sent information that gives a brief outline of services and benefits and includes a postage-paid reply card that the veteran fills out and returns to CalVet.
Once the card is received the veteran will automatically begin receiving information about services like education benefits, employment assistance, disability and compensation payments, health care benefits and much more.
“The most challenging thing we have to do in this department is to ensure that veterans in California are educated about the benefits and services that they have earned through their honorable service in the military,” said CalVet Secretary Peter J. Gravett. “This partnership has the potential to help our department connect with nearly every one of the nearly 2 million veterans living in this state.”
Under the program initiated on July 1, U.S. veterans residing in California can simply check a box on the form to approve having benefit information sent to them by CalVet.
Once the customer affirms their military service on the driver license application, the DMV will send the mailing address of the customer to CalVet for distribution of information relative to important services and benefits available to all veterans who served honorably in the military.
CalVet Services, through its “CalVet Connect” initiative has as its guiding philosophy that programs of benefits to veterans fulfill necessary, proper, and valid public purposes by promoting patriotism, by recognizing and rewarding sacrifice and service to country and by providing needed readjustment assistance to returning veterans and their families, whose lives were interrupted when they responded to their country’s call to military service.
The CalVet Services initiative has as its goal to help returning service members and their families with the sometimes difficult task of reentering civilian life.
By utilizing online tools like its Reintegration form, the Department links returning veterans with service providers and resources.
This program offers CalVet the opportunity to inform veterans and their dependents about veterans benefits and how to obtain these benefits through the process of application and representations of claims.
CalVet’s partnership with DMV augments this program by allowing many military and service members who may not have been reached before, with the opportunity to share their contact information with CalVet so that appropriate benefits information can be provided to them.
Veterans wishing to contact CalVet’s reintegration program directly can do so by visiting https://my.calvet.ca.gov/Pages/Intake/ReintegrationForm.aspx.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – A study led by Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) researchers found that aging Veterans who earned the Purple Heart show decreased mortality compared with those who had not earned the medal.
Additionally, those war-wounded veterans who survive into later life-especially those who do not develop post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-may provide valuable clues as to the factors that lead to resilience to combat stress.
A team of VA researchers who studied more than 10,000 veterans of World War II and the Korean War produced these findings, which appear online in the journal Depression and Anxiety.
“Among the older veterans we studied, those with Purple Heart citations had half the mortality rate of those without Purple Heart citations,” said lead author Tim Kimbrell, MD, a physician-researcher with the Center for Mental Health and Outcomes Research, based at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System.
Whether the Purple Heart holders had chronic PTSD or not, they were about twice as likely to still be alive after some 10 years of follow-up, compared with those with no Purple Heart and no PTSD.
The study included veterans who were 65 and or older in the late 1990s. It tracked their survival through 2008.
It is estimated that more than a million servicemembers received a Purple Heart in World War II, and nearly 119,000 in the Korean War.
In recent years, researchers with VA and the Department of Defense have sought insight into the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable some servicemembers to not develop PTSD after traumatic events.
The authors of the new VA study say Purple Heart holders who survive long past their war experience without PTSD may be the ideal population on which to focus such research.
“Our theory was that there are many factors that contribute to resilience to PTSD, and these same factors may increase survival," said Kimbrell.
The researchers were surprised to find that among Purple Heart recipients, those with PTSD had slightly lower mortality than those without PTSD. This is a contradiction to several studies that have shown a link between chronic stress conditions such as PTSD and worse survival. Kimbrell and colleagues suggest this finding is due to what they term “early attrition.”
Those who had been physically injured in World War II or Korea and suffered PTSD may have been less likely to survive until age 65 in the first place; the PTSD-Purple Heart group included in their study may have been an exceptionally healthy and hearty cohort of veterans.
The researchers say further studies involving these veterans, as well as those who were wounded in combat but did not develop PTSD, may lead to new insights to help prepare future servicemembers to cope with the stress and trauma of war.
Kimbrell, in addition to his VA role, is also a professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
He collaborated on the study with other authors from his site, as well as with colleagues from the Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies, at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center; Baylor College of Medicine; the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, SC; the Medical University of South Carolina; and the University of Texas Health Science Center.
For more information on VA research, visit www.research.va.gov.
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