Ozaukee County Veterans Service Office

Veterans News

And Views

Volume 2, Issue 1

January-March 2002

WELCOME TO 2002

As the new year begins, we find ourselves involved in yet another war. Once again some fools have come to challenge the spirit and strength of the American people. Once again our enemies have underestimated the resolve of our country.

As veterans, we all hoped that the conflicts we were involved in would be the last, and that our children and grandchildren could come to know a different world than the one we faced. Now, yet another generation of Americans has been called forward to defend our freedoms, and our way of life. At the time of this writing, they have done themselves proud, as the generations before them have done.

These are different times from the ones that we faced in our youth. More confusing in many ways. We have an all volunteer force, have had since the late 70’s. Yet these remarkable young men and women have come forward, just as we did, to do what is needed. This is where I think we differ from so many other countries. Americans have always been willing to do whatever was necessary to defend not only our country, but also any other freedom loving peoples. It is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. We have our faults, we have our foibles, we periodically do things that we are not proud of, yet we as a people endure.

I wonder what the founding fathers would think of our country today? I believe that they would be proud of how we have grown as a nation, despite our many differences.

As the new year begins, let us take the time this year to enjoy the freedoms that we, and our forefathers fought so hard to preserve, and that this generation continues to defend.

GOD BLESS AMERICA

GULF WAR ILLNESS (Update)

The Department of Veterans Affairs has recently released the results of a study conducted on Gulf War Veterans. The results of this study show that Veterans of the Gulf War have a far greater risk of developing ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, than do veterans who did not serve in that theater of operations.

Secretary Principi recently announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs would start granting service-connection for ALS, for those Gulf War veterans who suffer from this debilitating and life threatening disease. This disease has no known cause, and no known cure. Secretary Principi took the unusual step of not waiting for final regulations to be written, before making these awards.

YOUTH GOVERNMENT DAY
Mark it on your calendars NOW!

The annual American Legion Youth and Government Day will be held on Wednesday March 6, 2002.

This annual event is a great opportunity to show a select group of High School students the functioning of our County’s Government.

We generally start the day at the County Administration Center (Old Courthouse) where the young people have the opportunity to sit with their County Supervisors during an actual session of the County Board. They then get a tour of some of the other offices here, before we take them to lunch.

Following lunch, the young people are transported to the Justice Center and given a tour of the County Jail, the Morgue, and then are taken up to one of the Court Rooms for a mock trail.

We can use all of the help that we can get. We generally ask other veterans to come and assist with keeping the groups of young people together, and moving on schedule.

Usually, every High School in the county participates, so come join us, and we can get you hooked up with a group from your part of the county.

ANNUAL SALUTE TO THE LEGISLATURE
The annual salute to the legislature is scheduled for Wednesday, February 6, 2002.

The event will be held in the same location as last year, that is the Manona Terrace Ballroom.

The program begins at 4:00 P.M. with speeches by several dignitaries, usually including the governor, as well as several members of the Assembly and Senate.

Heavy hor-devours follows, with a cash bar.

Here’s your chance to come out and talk face-to-face with your elected representatives, and make sure they understand your concerns.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE !!!

The event was attended by nearly 2000 Veterans last year.

VA Medical Center to Change Co-Pay Schedule

The VA will be instituting a new schedule for co-payments. Currently, if you are subject to the co-pay, you are charged $50.80 for a doctor visit, and $2.00 for a 30 ay supply of any medications you receive from the VA.

The new schedule calls for a “sliding scale” based on the level of treatment received. For the normal doctor visit, you will pay $15.00, more advanced tests, and some specialty visits, the cost will still be $50.00.

The co-pay on medications will increase to $7.00 for a 30 day supply of each medication.

If you haven’t signed up for the VA Healthcare System yet, it is still open to all veterans. Be advised, due to the large number of people enrolling, there will be a significant waiting period before you can start accessing the system.

Battered, Bruised, and Bloodied
The “War” on Terrorism has been rather bloodless on our part, at least so far. But that does not mean that we have not suffered casualties.

We started out by losing an Air Force Sergeant in an industrial accident. Then we lost a CIA operative in the prison uprising outside Mazar a Sharif, most recently we have lost 3 more Green Berets to “friendly fire”, or blue on blue as they now refer to it in military jargon. We have also lost at least three sailors, two missing overboard, and one from an “accident” onboard ship, the details of which I have not seen published. Two others have been wounded by land-mines.

We have lost a couple of helicopters to mechanical failure or “hard landings”. And we have lost a B-1 Bomber, cause under investigation.
I still have a great fear that the majority of Americans are going to get the impression that we can just go out there and destroy all of our enemies with our technology. I would hate for them to forget that it still takes someone on the ground to finish these things off. I also hope we do not get stuck in Afghanistan, like we’re stuck in Bosnia and Kosovo and Korea, etc. We can not continue to be the world’s police and security force. It does nothing for the morale of our troops, and in a lot of cases, causes a good deal of animosity amongst the local civilian population.

POW/MIA UPDATE

Still Missing: According to the Department of Defense, there are still 1,948 Americans missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. Of the total, 1,469 are in Vietnam, 411 in Laos, 60 in Cambodia, and 8 in the territorial waters of the Peoples Republic of China.

Recent encouraging developments have been seen from both Laos and Cambodia. Both countries have now at least come forward to discuss the possibility of doing joint searches in conjunction with our people, and to try to help identify locals who may have been witnesses to burial sites.

While all of this is encouraging, there remains a number of obstacles to carrying out the searches, many of them political.

The cynical side of me also suspects that these countries, just like North Korea, are expecting Uncle Sam to show up with some good old fashioned American Greenbacks, to help “smooth” the search effort.

BEWARE OF THE “FLAG POLICE” !!!!!

I have received a large number of calls recently, regarding proper flag etiquette.

First of all, I am NOT the Chief of the flag police! I can tell the caller what the Flag Code says, but I will NOT go out into the public and try to correct every violation, or perceived violation of the flag code.

I have had at least a couple of instances where people were “ratting out” their neighbors. While I am sure that these people were well intentioned, we do have to put a little bit of common sense into this issue.

It does my heart good to see the large number of individuals who are now displaying the flag, even if sometimes they don’t get it quite right. My advice is if you do see a flag incorrectly displayed, approach the individual, and first thank them for showing the flag, then advise them that they don’t have it quite right.

I’m sure that this approach will serve all of our purposes much better than expecting the flag police to step in and issue citations!
TAPS

The following comrades have passed away since our last newsletter:

John M. Sheridan; Everett R. Fultz; James H. Cary-9; Norman R. Czisny; Mark Tenhaken; Frank L. Ward; Howard R. Wegner; Ronald Schwalbe; George Miller ; Ellsworth Lammers; Helen Skridla; Walter G. Schroeter ; Dana Malcolm; Elmo DeSmith; Robert Koeppen; Harold W. Kidd; Raymond W. Noster; LeRoy Egelhoff-; John Mersereau; Clarence Regner Jr.; Raymond Jung; Lee Betker ; Edward Rinn; Frederick Miller; Carl Clark; Frederick Marrion.

A Parting Thought

RETURN OF THE BLUE STAR BANNER

There is a grassroots initiative that has started around the country. It is to return the “Blue Star” banners to windows of people who have a family member serving on active duty. Those of you who have been around long enough, or pay attention to history, know that these banners once hung in the windows of many a home during WWII.

I for one, think that bringing these banners back is a tremendous idea. I can think of no better way of showing your neighbors that your son/daughter is out there serving their nation.

The only place that I am sure you can get them, is from The American Legion emblem sales,. I believe that they cost about $7.00 apiece.

At least one of the local American Legion Posts has taken the initiative to purchase the banners FOR the families. It will now prove a challenge to find out exactly who in the community does have a son or daughter on active duty, as there is no complete listing available. And my office doesn’t have any list of this type at all. (so please don’t ask me).

Talk to your post members, maybe this is a project that you would like to undertake within your community. I can’t think of a better way to show the families of our service members, that the veterans of this county care.

SEE YOU AROUND THE COUNTY !!!

Ken