Veterans
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- Written by: Department of Veterans Affairs
Two VA employees, both serving on active duty with their Army Reserve units, were among the slain. A third VA health care worker on reserve duty was seriously wounded.
"Speaking for the entire VA family, I offer heart-felt condolences to the families of these dedicated VA employees," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "They devoted their working lives to care for our veterans, and they died in uniform, preparing to safeguard our Nation's freedom."
Russell G. Seager, Ph.D., a 51-year old nurse practitioner at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee was killed in the deadly attack. He was a captain in the reserves. In his VA duties, he led a mental health team treating a wide variety of Veteran patients, from the youngest combat Veterans just back from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, to World War II Veterans dealing with depression.
Seager signed up for the Army Reserve four years ago. This would have been his first overseas deployment. Seager was motivated to prevent the mental health problems of young combat soldiers from occurring in the first place. He was to be assigned to a Combat Stress Control unit to watch for warning signs, such as anger and insubordination, among front-line soldiers.
Seager, who was also a well-respected teacher at Bryant and Stratton College in Milwaukee, leaves behind a wife and son.
VA's other fatality was Juanita L. Warman, 55, a nurse practitioner at VA's medical center in Perry Point, Md. She was a lieutenant colonel in the Maryland National Guard, with two daughters and six grandchildren. Herself the daughter of a career Air Force member, she held a master's degree from the University of Pittsburgh.
Warman volunteered for "Beyond the Yellow Ribbon," a program to help members of the Maryland National Guard readjust after returning from overseas deployments. She provided mental health counseling and helped develop a program about the myths and realities of post-traumatic stress
disorder. She was preparing for deployment to Iraq at the time of her death.
Dorothy Carskadon, 47, a captain in the reserves and a social worker and team leader at the VA Vet Center in Madison, Wis., was wounded in the gunfire that brought Ft. Hood activities to a halt. She is currently in stable condition in the intensive care unit at the Darnall Army Medical Center at Ft. Hood.
As a VA team leader, Carskadon oversees other social workers in providing individual and group counseling for combat Veterans experiencing difficulty readjusting to the civilian community following military service. A new Army officer, Carskadon was preparing for her first deployment.
On an average day, more than 850 VA employees don uniforms to serve military commitments in Reserve and National Guard units across the country and overseas.
VA has been responding to the Ft. Hood tragedy since shortly after the sound of gunfire was replaced by the sirens of emergency responders.
Through official agreements and the shared sense of mission to care for military members and veterans in the central Texas region, VA has provided clinical supplies, including pharmaceuticals, and sent mental health teams from nearby facilities as well as four fully staffed, portable Vet Centers to aid in counseling military members and families.
Teams of physicians, nurses and other clinical and support personnel were placed on stand-by for possible deployment to Ft. Hood or to receive additional patients following the shooting.
VA operates several clinical and benefits processing locations on Ft. Hood and routinely has about 18 employees working on the post. Initial actions included confirming the safety and security of those employees.
VA continues to coordinate with the Department of Defense on providing care and support to all those affected by the tragedy.
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- Written by: Editor
Swords to Plowshares, a San Francisco-based veteran service agency, helps veterans access health care by providing free legal services to many veterans.
Swords to Plowshares delivers a variety of services to 1,500 veterans every year, 35 percent of whom are ineligible for VA health care.
Lawyers at Swords are able to intervene in many instances where a veteran is denied care. The legal team petitions to change a veteran’s military discharge status or files for a service-connected disability in order to help them access VA services.
“Despite our best efforts there still remains a category of veterans who cannot access VA health care,” said Elinor Robert, director of Legal Services at Swords to Plowshares.
A recent Harvard Medical School study highlights the population of veterans who are not entitled to VA health care due to a little known gap in the law.
Researchers found that 1.46 million veterans did not have any form of health coverage last year. Additionally, they found that 2,266 veterans died in 2008 due to lack of health insurance.
“Swords to Plowshares has a widespread impact on a number of individual veterans by helping them access VA benefits and health care, but none of that helps the systematic problem that denies an entire segment of the veteran population their VA health care,” said Roberts.
Founded in 1974, Swords to Plowshares is a community-based not-for-profit organization that provides counseling and case management, employment and training, housing and legal assistance to homeless and low-income veterans in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Swords promotes and protects the rights of veterans through advocacy, public education, and partnerships with local, state and national entities.
Learn more about the work of Swords to Plowshares, and ways in which you can help, by visiting our Web site at www.stp-sf.org .
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- Written by: Editor
The doors open at 5 p.m., with dinner served at 6 p.m.
The dinner will be held at the American Legion Post at Second and Gaddy Lane in Kelseyville.
The requested donations is $7.
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- Written by: Department of Veterans Affairs
"Transforming VA into an organization that is veteran-centric, results-oriented and forward-looking is my top priority," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "Leveraging the talent, innovation and creativity of stakeholders, like Craig Newmark, is just one of the many ways VA can think outside of the box to help deliver tangible results to our nation's veterans."
The innovation competition solicited ideas from VA employees and members of Veterans Service Organizations who are on the front lines every day, working with veterans to help deliver benefits they deserve and need.
VA officials from each of the 57 regional offices across the country have submitted promising ideas, which will be reviewed by Newmark and other panel members. The panel will be chaired by Patrick W. Dunne, the VA Under Secretary for Benefits.
"I look forward to working with VA's leadership team to bring tangible results to our veterans," said Craig Newmark. "I am very encouraged by the fact that VA is embracing new ways to look at old problems."
In 1995, Newmark launched the first community site on the Internet for people to share information about housing, jobs and other needs. By April 2009, Craigslist received more than 22 billion page-views per month, with more than 50 million members worldwide.
Newmark is a vocal proponent of using the Internet and technology to support government innovation and maximize the utilization of human capital. Additionally, Newmark is a passionate supporter of veterans causes.
VA has received and reviewed over 3,000 suggestions since Sept. 8. The panel will review the top 17 submissions and chose five projects that will receive full funding for project development and execution at the regional office that submitted the idea.
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- Written by: Department of Veterans Affairs
"VA has partnered with the Library of Congress to honor our veterans, preserve their histories and ensure that their service, sacrifice and heroism will never be forgotten," said Secretary Shinseki. "We want to encourage Americans to record the oral histories of veterans for future generations."
Until Nov. 11, VA's Web feature will introduce new personal histories, culminating on Veterans Day when a veteran's history from each state and U.S. territory will be available simply by clicking on the U.S. map in the display.
As Veterans Day approaches, the VA Web display will urge Americans to "Honor our Veterans. Record their Histories!" The display will link to the library's Veterans History Project Web site – www.loc.gov/vets – which provides background about the program, a guide for volunteers to follow in recording and submitting Veterans' oral histories and to access the project's extensive digital archive.
VA has collaborated with the Veterans History Project since its implementing legislation was signed into law on Oct. 27, 2000. VA Voluntary Service has made oral history recording part of its program. VA offers Veterans the opportunity to record their histories at its facilities and special events. These collections of first-hand accounts are archived in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
"We hope the Veterans History Countdown will serve as a call to action for volunteers to record the first-hand stories of the veterans they know-relatives, neighbors, friends," said Bob Patrick, director of the Veterans History Project.
The Veterans History Project collects and preserves the remembrances of American war veterans and civilian workers who supported them.
The recordings make accessible the first-hand remembrances of American wartime Veterans from World War I through the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war. Approximately 65,000 individual stories comprise the collection of the Veterans History Project.
The project relies on volunteers to record veterans' remembrances using guidelines accessible at www.loc.gov/vets/ . Volunteer interviewers may request information at
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- Written by: Editor
WASHINGTON – On Tuesday during the "VA National Summit Ending Homelessness Among Veterans" Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki unveiled the department's comprehensive plan to end homelessness among veterans by marshaling the resources of government, business and the private sector.
“President Obama and I are personally committed to ending homelessness among veterans within the next five years," said Shinseki. "Those who have served this nation as veterans should never find themselves on the streets, living without care and without hope."
Shinseki's comprehensive plan to end homelessness includes preventive measures like discharge planning for incarcerated veterans re-entering society, supportive services for low-income veterans and their families and a national referral center to link veterans to local service providers. Additionally, the plan calls for expanded efforts for education, jobs, health care and housing.
"Our plan enlarges the scope of VA's efforts to combat homelessness," said Shinseki. "In the past, VA focused largely on getting homeless Veterans off the streets. Our five-year plan aims also at preventing them from ever ending up homeless."
Other features of the plan outlined by Shinseki include:
– The new Post-9/11 GI Bill provides a powerful option for qualified veterans to pursue a fully funded degree program at a state college or university. It is a major component of the fight against veteran homelessness.
– VA is collaborating with the Small Business Administration and the General Services Administration to certify veteran-owned small businesses and service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses for listing on the Federal Supply Register, which enhances their visibility and competitiveness – creating jobs for veterans.
– VA will spend $3.2 billion next year to prevent and reduce homelessness among veterans. That includes $2.7 billion on medical services and more than $500 million on specific homeless programs.
– VA aggressively diagnoses and treats the unseen wounds of war that often lead to homelessness – severe isolation, dysfunctional behaviors, depression and substance abuse. Last week, VA and the Defense Department cosponsored a national summit on mental health that will help both agencies better coordinate mental health efforts.
– VA partners with more than 600 community organizations to provide transitional housing to 20,000 veterans. It also works with 240 public housing authorities to provide permanent housing to homeless veterans and their families under a partnership with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The VA/HUD partnership will provide permanent housing to more than 20,000 veterans and their families.
Over the duration of the conference it is expected that over 1,200 homeless service providers from federal and state agencies, the business community, and faith-based and community providers will attend and participate in the summit.
"This is not a summit on homelessness among Veterans," added Shinseki. "It's a summit on ending homelessness among veterans."
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- Written by: Ginny Craven
LAKE COUNTY – On Sunday, Nov. 15, Operation Tango Mike supporters will board a luxury motor coach en route to the Oakland Raiders Military Salute Game. The Raiders will face the rival Kansas City Chiefs. You can be one of the lucky few to join in the fun!
The Oakland Raiders had contacted Operation Tango Mike in 2008 and personally extended an invitation to attend their Military Salute Game.
As unlikely as it may seem, the Raiders staff had learned of Operation Tango Mike and the Lake County effort to support the troops. As such, the Raiders believed an invitation to attend the game and enjoy the festivities was in order.
In 2008, a full bus traveled to the Oakland Coliseum where pre-game and half-time activities honored troops and veterans. Bruno’s Shop Smart provided snacks for the travelers, and has agreed to do the same this year.
Everyone enjoyed the trip and the game, along with a special treat. During the third quarter, Operation Tango Mike was featured in a welcome message on the Oakland Coliseum scoreboard.
By popular demand and a repeat invitation, the trip will take place again this year. Seating is limited to the first 50 participants, so don’t delay if you wish to enjoy a fun road trip, tribute to our troops and NFL football. Prompt purchase is recommended as this trip sold out quickly last year.
Complete ticket packages are available at $100 each. This year, each package includes travel by luxury motor coach, snacks and water, reserved seating with Operation Tango Mike, and a food voucher for a meal at the game. Ice chests will be provided on the motor coach and participants may bring beverages as well. Best of all, there is no stress or hassle as the navigating, driving and parking is handled by the chauffeur.
Ticket packages may be purchased at Umpqua Bank, 805 11th Street, Lakeport. Purchases may be made by cash or check and your name on the seating list will guarantee your ticket package and transportation. Departure time will be 8 a.m. on November 15th, with an expected return time of 7 p.m.
Please call 707-349-2838 for more information.
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- Written by: Editor
CLEARLAKE – The Ladies Auxiliary of VFW Post 2337, Clearlake, will be serving chili for lunch on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.
The lunch begins at noon.
Four favorite chili versions will be offered for a $4 donation.
Proceeds will benefit Ladies Auxiliary programs.
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The potluck dinner begins at 6 p.m. and will be followed by the general meeting at 7 p.m.
Subjects to be discussed in the general meeting include Veterans Day activities, Avenue of Flags, 234th birthday of the United States Marine Corps, legislative updates and a report on the VVA California State Council meeting.
All veterans and their families and friends are invited to attend.
Chapter 951 meets in the Parish Hall at Saint Mary Immaculate Church which is located at 801 N. Main St. Lakeport.
Information and a video memorial of the "Moving Wall" can be found at the Chapter 951 Web site, www.vva951.org .
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