The Military Has Spoken!

FYI - A message from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

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Dear Friends,

Now is the time. After years of talking with our membership, key leaders in the new veterans community, and the Department of Defense, IAVA joins the Pentagon and top military leaders in supporting the repeal of ”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). This is one of several important provisions for our community in the pending Defense Authorization Bill.

Yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the country that DADT should and can be repealed.

Their opinion is supported by an unprecedented DoD study of 115,000 service members, a majority of whom indicated that repeal of DADT would not have a negative impact on their ability to conduct their mission. Results from a recent IAVA survey of our membership echoed these findings, revealing that a clear majority of our membership does not object to gay men and women openly serving in the military.

Click to see what Gates and Mullen had to say, or view an interactive timeline on the history of this issue.

IAVA shares Secretary Gates’ and Admiral Mullen’s opinion that upholding the integrity of the military as an institution is critical. All men and women who have committed their lives to service and sacrifice in the military should be treated equally.

Whether or not Congress votes to overturn DADT in the next few weeks, this is an issue that will impact members of our community for years to come. As the Pentagon has strongly warned, if repeal is not enacted through Congress, the debate will move to the courts. A court decision to repeal could result in an overnight policy change that may not allow for thoughtful and adequate preparation by military leadership. We strongly believe that commanders should determine the tempo on military policy. Not the courts.

But DADT isn’t the only policy in jeopardy within this year’s Defense Authorization Bill. This legislation also contains critical provisions to expand mental health care resources, address Traumatic Brain Injury and Military Sexual Trauma, and improve electronic sharing of health records between the DoD and the VA - all issues of high priority for IAVA members.

We hope the Senate passes this legislation now and turns to other key issues facing our community, like making sure all Iraq and Afghanistan vets have jobs.

Want to continue the conversation, and get access to important resources and rewards for vets? Log in to our social network exclusively for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, Community of Veterans.

Sincerely,

Paul

Paul Rieckhoff
Founder and Executive Director
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)

My Letter To Senator Webb (D-Va) Concerning The Proposed Cuts To Military And Veterans' Benefits.

I ask that you contact your elected officials concerning these proposed cuts.  Our service members and veterans deserve only the very best!

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

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FROM THE DESK OF AARON D. YEARGAN

aaron.yeargan@gmail.com

November 25, 2010

The Hon. James Webb
United States Senate
144 Russell Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510.

Subject: The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform's Proposed Cuts to Military and Veterans' Benefits.

Dear Mr. Senator:

Good afternoon Sir. I hope this letter finds you doing well and having a happy Thanksgiving. I wanted to take some time and write to you concerning your recent statements on the military and defense budget and the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform's proposed cuts to military and veterans' benefits.  I am a fellow Democrat and a 28 year old husband, father and college student.  I am pursuing my degree in Nursing with the goal of eventually becoming a Mental Health Nurse Practitioner so that I can better help our service members and veterans.  I am also a former Marine and four-tour Iraq War veteran.  Currently, I am serving as a medic in the Army Reserve.  With all of that being said, as a libertarian minded Democrat, I applaud the President for forming this commission in order to get rid of wasteful spending and unnecessary programs.  I also applaud your honest assessment of possible hard choices facing the Department of Defense and Veterans Administration concerning their budget and benefit programs.  I truly believe there are numerous wastful, unecesary programs that can and should be cut in order to reduce the deficit and ease the burden placed on taxpayers.  However, a cut in military personell strength and benefits is not the answer.  

As you know, some of the proposed cuts include a basic pay and housing allowance freeze, a reduction in the Cost of Living Allowance, elimination of the 20 year military retirement and/or postponement until the age of 60 for actual retirement pension payments, as well as an increase in TRICARE premiums and co-pays.  As a husband and father of a 20 month old son, my wife and I benefit greatly from our access to TRICARE health insurance.  

While trying to fight two wars, as well as defend against and remain vigilant of numerous other threats around the world, proposing cuts to troop strength and military and veteran benefits is incomprehensible to me.  Not only is a high personnel level necessary for an adequate defense, allowing people to join and stay in the military helps combat unemployment.  Cutting benefits would leave many service members without an incentive to remain in the military, and frankly, it angers me and feels like a slap in the face.  It sends the message that the very people that rely on and expect our service think us undeserving of a rightly earned salary and benefits.  To lump us in with and think of the services that we provide in the same way that one may view those of civilian government agencies and employees is disrespectful.

Mr. Senator, I believe that you are an American hero, and I am very thankful for your service to our country.  If anyone knows the sacrifices made daily by our military and their families, it's you.  Just as you have done for so many years, I ask that you keep fighting for our men and women in uniform.  We can never fully repay the debt of gratitude we owe to the brave men and women who serve our country, but we must always try. We must respect and honor that service by providing them with the best possible pay, benefits, and health care.

In closing, I ask that, as a fellow veteran, a United States Senator and member of the Senate Armed Services and Veterans' Affairs Committees, that you never support or vote to approve any cuts to troop strength levels or military and veterans benefits.  Thank you for your time, and please feel free to contact me regarding this letter.  I hope to hear from you soon.  Semper Fidelis.

Respectfully,

Aaron D. Yeargan      

CC:  The Office of the President

        The Office of the Vice President

        The Office of the Senate Majority Leader

        The Office of the Senate Minority Leader

        The Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives

        The Office of the House Minority Leader

        The Senate Armed Services Committee

        The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee

        The Senate Appropriations Committee

        The House Armed Services Committee

        The House Veterans' Affairs Committee

        The House Appropriations Committee

        The Office of the Secretary of Defense

        The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)

        The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

        The Office of the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs

        The Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

        The Office of the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

        The Office of the Commandant of the Marine Corps

        The Office of the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps

        The Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army

        The Office of the Command Sergeant Major of the Army

        The Office of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force

        The Office of the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force

        The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations

        The Office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy

        The Office of the Commandant of the Coast Guard

        The Office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard

        The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

        Mr. Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

        The Hon. Kay Hagan (D-NC)

        The Hon. Richard Burr (R-NC)

TAKE ACTION! - Military Pay and TRICARE Under Fire!

THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!!! It's not just the pay increase that's under fire! Read this and PLEASE TAKE ACTION! Call, E-mail, or Write your Senators and Congressman!!! There's plenty of other wasteful programs that can and need to be cut instead!!!

Military Pay and TRICARE Under Fire | Military Advantage Blog | Military.com

-ADY

A Veterans Day Message By A Veteran, For Veterans.

I want to start off by saying Happy Veterans Day, and from the bottom of my heart, Thank You! I am forever grateful for my fellow 3274th USAH Soldiers and my Marine Corps crew from 2ndMarDiv., 7th Comm. Bn., I MLG, RCT-2, and the 24th MEU. I chose the following quotes because I think they, better than any other quotes, sum up what we do and why we do it. Political Policy and Public Opinion will always change. Civilian support will always come and go, but we, and our actions, will always remain. Our bonds will always endure. Even as I write this I think about arguments and disagreements some of us have had with each other. Some of those disagreements and wrongs still linger, but for a brief point in time, we stood side by side and did great things together and for each other. And, these things changed us forever, and they'll always play a part in our lives. That's something I take pride in, and would do all over again without question.

"We who have seen war, will never stop seeing it. In the silence of the night, we will always hear the screams. So this is our story, for we were soldiers once, and young. Some had families waiting. For others, their only family would be the men they bled beside. There were no bands, no flags, no Honor Guards to welcome them home. They went to war because their country ordered them to. But in the end, they fought not for their country or their flag, they fought for each other. "

-Joseph L. Galloway, "We Were Soldiers, Once And Young."

"A man fires a rifle, and he goes to war. And afterwards he comes home and sees that whatever else he may do with his life - build a house, love a woman, change his son's diaper - he will always remain a jarhead. And all the jarheads killing and dying, they will always be me. We are still in the desert."

-Anthony Swofford, "Jarhead"

As for the video, I did not in any way post this as a protest against the war, and I'm not condoning any of the actions in the video or saying that I or anyone I know took part in anything like what's depicted. I decided to use it as a way of saying that being over there changes you and tests you in ways that civilians don't and never will understand. It also makes you question right and wrong, and we all realize that hardly anything there is black and white. Shades of grey abound in so many situations. Civilians back home are in no place to judge or criticize us when they haven't walked in our shoes. Regardless of how I may feel about the legality of one war and the direction of another, WE WENT BECAUSE OUR COUNTRY ASKED US TO, AND WITH YOU ALL BY MY SIDE, I WOULD DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN! HAPPY VETERANS DAY MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS!

Hero of War by Rise Against:

Veterans Need Care, NOT Apathy!

The Obama Administration and the majority of Congress, against the wishes of the majority of Americans, spend their time ramming their social agenda down our throats while our service members, veterans, and their families suffer. It's time for them to get their priorities straight. If not, American votes will do it for them this November and in November 2012! FYI...

*Via the IAVA(Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) News Room and the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/us/31iht-letter.html

-Aaron

Taliban+releases+video+of+captured+soldier

Taliban+releases+video+of+captured+soldier

Charities for the Troops!!!

Hello All!

The below link will take you to IAVA's (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) website listing of numerous charities and other ways to help veterans, servicemembers, and their families. Please take a minute to check it out, and feel free to pass it on to your friends and family.

IAVA
http://iava.org/content/troops-charities

Help Troops and Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury
http://remind.org/

Thanks,
Aaron

IAVA Director Discusses Impact of Afghan Plan on Vets.

IAVA Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff joined CNN to discuss President Obama’s recent decsion to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Rieckhoff continued the call for leaders in Washington, as well as the American people, to put more focus on the cost of the surge in Afghanistan as it relates to the long-term needs of veterans and their families">

The Forgotten Cost of War: Caring for Veterans

*The below article is from Mr. Paul Rieckhoff, Iraq War veteran, Co-founder and Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). You can also view this article by going to IAVA's website, http://iava.org/blog/forgotten-cost-war-caring-veterans

The Forgotten Cost of War: Caring for Veterans

By Paul Rieckhoff
Created December 2


President Obama has finally laid out his strategy for Afghanistan. Unfortunately he did so without using the word "veteran" and without articulating any back-end support for our returning troops. In typical fashion, we've heard the media's talking heads ask: Is Afghanistan Obama's Vietnam? Why only 30,000 troops? Will the exit strategy embolden the Taliban?

And now, the politics and policy of the new strategy have been broken down into predictable soundbite-sized morsels by the partisans and pundits. But few have focused on how the Administration plans to support those 30,000 troops when they return home. Nor have we heard much talk of their families who won't be on planes to Afghanistan, but are still making sacrifices every day on the homefront. These are the brave Americans responsible for executing this new plan or waiting for a knock on the door that they pray will never come.

President Obama's plan will significantly increase the demands on our servicemembers, almost 800,000 of whom have already served multiple tours. The propeller-heads in Washington have crunched the numbers determining how much it will cost to send these new forces to the front. But I'm not at all convinced that they've done the back-end planning that's necessary for a complete war plan; one that cares for these troops when they come home. As we saw with the implementation of the new GI Bill, failing to plan is planning to fail. If the President doesn't plan adequately now, Walter Reed will only be the beginning of a decades-long national embarrassment of failing to care for our nation's veterans and their families.

The only way to avoid another round of heartache, disappointment and frustration is to guarantee that our returning troops will receive the full support of the President, Congress, the Department of Defense, the VA and the American people (a critical spoke on this wheel that has been neglected for far too long).

We can start by ensuring that every servicemember receives the resources they need when they come home. This doesn't mean a welcome home parade, although that's always a nice gesture. It means leaders in Washington that don't live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue stepping up right now. Congress must send the VA health care budget to the President immediately. As of tonight's address, the VA budget is already 61 days late.

But Congress cannot stop there. The outdated and ineffective military and VA disability systems that leave hundreds of thousands of veterans waiting for claims to be processed must be reformed. And during these trying economic times, we must redouble our efforts to ensure that every veteran can find employment and a place to call home.

Finally, President Obama must find a way to fully engage all Americans in supporting and advocating for all those who've served--regardless of how they feel about the war. America's foreign policy cannot succeed without these heroes, and their return home won't succeed without us.

Paul Rieckhoff is the Executive Director and Founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and the author of Chasing Ghosts.