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Veterans Tag

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 09, 2016 3 Comments
Thirty-one rolls of undeveloped film, all shot by the same American soldier during World War II were passed along to developers at The Rescued Film Project. There, they carefully worked to develop photos taken seventy years ago. The results were amazing:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 08, 2016 11 Comments
Is there a worse government entity than the Veterans Administration? Maybe, but it's virtually inconceivable how the VA consistently manages to outdo it's record of fail with even more fail. In seven states, supervisor fudged wait times to make it appear as though wait time requirements were being met. They were not.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on March 12, 2016 14 Comments
A CBSNews investigation uncovered worrying patterns of spending donations by the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity that helps veterans wounded while serving their country. According to the initial CBS report, Wounded Warrior Project spends only about 60% of its donations on veterans.  Compared to the 91% Fischer House spends on veterans and the 96% spent by the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust this is a shockingly low percentage of donations used for things other than the stated goals of the charity. In light of the CBSNews investigation and the subsequent publicity and internal investigation, Wounded Warrior Project has fired both its CEO, Steven Nardizzi, and its COO, Al Giordano. CBS's initial investigation uncovered shocking increases in spending on "team building" staff meetings as five-star resorts and extravagance on "big parties" after Nardizzi came on board in 2009.
Former employees say spending has skyrocketed since Steven Nardizzi took over as CEO in 2009. Many point to the 2014 annual meeting at a luxury resort in Colorado Springs as typical of his style. "He rappelled down the side of a building at one of the all hands events. He's come in on a Segway, he's come in on a horse." About 500 staff members attended the four-day conference in Colorado. The price tag? About $3 million.

Posted by Miriam Elman on October 20, 2015 8 Comments
In a previous post, I noted that the U.S.-Israel military relationship remains solid. But back in 1948, America failed to support Israel militarily when the fledgling Jewish state needed it most. In fact, as former Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross writes in his important new book, the U.S. government was downright hostile to Israel in its early years. Ross, who now serves as the William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and as Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, notes that nearly all of President Harry S. Truman’s major foreign policy advisors saw the emergence of Israel as “doom and gloom for the United States.” At the time, this was also the predominant view within America's national security establishment. Support for the Jewish state was considered of “no strategic benefit.” The fear (totally unfounded, as Ross points out) was that it would come “at enormous cost to our relations with the Arabs.” In a chapter devoted to the Truman presidency, Ross describes how most leading U.S. national security officials at the time were on a “mission against the Jewish state.” Then senior members of the State Department, the Pentagon, and the CIA maintained a “hostile posture toward the Jewish state and continued to see only risks associated with U.S. support for it.” Most also thought it highly “improbable that the Jewish state would survive over any considerable period of time.” So the consensus was that siding with the Arabs was the safer bet. To be sure, as Ross rightly remarks, “Truman was a good friend of Israel.” But the “actual support he provided was limited.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 21, 2015 8 Comments
The Obama administration spent billions to fix the Veterans Administration hospital system so that our nation's former military service personnel could actually receive the good quality healthcare they were promised---and it appears as though the Los Angeles unit used that money to buy shredders.
The embattled Veterans Administration may have another scandal on its hands, after investigators found at least eight benefits claims for veterans at the Los Angeles VA that were shredded instead of being properly processed, according to the Washington Times. The VA’s Office of the Inspector General conducted the internal investigation after receiving an anonymous tip that the staff at the Los Angeles regional office was shredding compensation claims. The 15-page report details what type of documents were allegedly shredded and how the office didn’t have a Records Management Officer, the position created in the wake of similar practices in 2008, for more than a year.
Perhaps the veterans can take some consolation in that fact that the failure of our state's healthcare exchange, Covered California, has left citizens relying on our version of Obamacare unable to access medical care.

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 12, 2015 8 Comments
The man in the video below is Sergeant Robert Bartlett who was wounded in Iraq in 2005. Bartlett is part of a group called Veterans Against the Deal which obviously opposes the Iran Nuclear Deal. The video makes a very strong statement because you're hearing from someone who has experienced the brutality of war in the Middle East and was wounded, as he says, by an Iranian bomb. This isn't a political party or a defecting senator Obama or his supporters can demonize, this is an American veteran. Allahpundit of Hot Air points to an article in the Military Times which strengthens the argument of this group:
Iran linked to deaths of 500 U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan At least 500 U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan were directly linked to Iran and its support for anti-American militants — a newly disclosed statistic that offers grim context for the Obama administration's diplomatic deal with the Iranian regime aimed at curtailing the rogue nation's nuclear ambitions. That figure underscores the controversy surrounding Washington's deal with Tehran, a long-sought goal for the president — but one that is fiercely opposed by many Republicans in Congress and other critics.

Posted by Amy Miller on May 25, 2015 7 Comments
What happens when the money backing a war memorial dries up? The doors shut, tourists and veterans are turned away, and the memorabilia and plaques inside languish under a layer of dust. This is exactly what has happened to the Brooklyn War Memorial. The Memorial, built 64 years ago, has never been accessible to the general public, which means that only a few people have ever been able to stand before the 11,000 names etched into its inside walls, representing Brooklynites who died fighting in World War II. According to a GoFundMe page set up by the Cadman Park Conservancy, the memorial is in need of a serious overhaul; new stone work, new roof, new electric, new plumbing, new glass, insulation, and a handicapped accessible ramp, bathrooms, and elevator are all needed before the site can be completely opened to visitors. Getting the site up to speed is going to be an enormous undertaking---but a devoted group of veterans and supporters are determined to make that dream a reality. Yesterday, the surrounding community rallied at the memorial to honor the fallen and kick off the restoration effort:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 08, 2014 6 Comments
The Military Times released what will be the first installment of several on the state of our military. Presidential indecision over whether to deploy to or withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan has fostered an aura of uncertainty. An entire federal agency devoted to our veterans embroiled in scandal and negligence certainly doesn't send the signal that Washington cares about the fate of the brave. Morale is dwindling and unsurprisingly so:
Today, however, that gratitude seems to be dwindling. The services have weathered several years of deep cuts in funding and tens of thousands of troops have been unceremoniously given the boot. Many still in uniform and seeking to retire from the military fear the same fate, as those cuts are not yet complete. A Military Times survey of 2,300 active-duty troops found morale indicators on the decline in nearly every aspect of military life. Troops report significantly lower overall job satisfaction, diminished respect for their superiors, and a declining interest in re-enlistment now compared to just five years ago. Today's service members say they feel underpaid, under-equipped and under-appreciated, the survey data show. After 13 years of war, the all-volunteer military is entering an era fraught with uncertainty and a growing sense that the force has been left adrift. One trend to emerge from the annual Military Times survey is "that the mission mattered more to the military than to the civilian," said Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University who studies the military. "For the civilian world, it might have been easier to psychologically move on and say, 'Well, we are cutting our losses.' But the military feels very differently. Those losses have names and faces attached to [them]."
Look at how dramatically morale has shifted in the last five years:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 07, 2014 5 Comments
"To the Memory of the Gallant Men Here Entombed and their shipmates who gave their lives in action on 7 December 1941, on the U.S.S. Arizona." Those are the words etched in marble at the U.S.S. Arizona memorial. 73 years ago today, at 7:55 am (12:55 EST), the Imperial Japanese Navy unleashed what would be one of the deadliest attacks on American soil. More than 2,500 died and over 1,000 were wounded. The next day, America declared war on Japan. Fast forward to 1945 and the Japanese surrender. A Legal Insurrection reader sent a link to this video a few years ago:

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 10, 2014 21 Comments
Veterans Day is tomorrow. It's a chance to honor and give thanks to people who have served in America's armed forces. Most Americans appreciate the sacrifice these people make when they volunteer to join the military, putting their lives on the line to defend our freedoms. The far left folks at Salon are not most people. They have a slightly (ahem) different interpretation of that sacrifice and that's why they published this piece by David Masciotra:
You don’t protect my freedom: Our childish insistence on calling soldiers heroes deadens real democracy Put a man in uniform, preferably a white man, give him a gun, and Americans will worship him. It is a particularly childish trait, of a childlike culture, that insists on anointing all active military members and police officers as “heroes.” The rhetorical sloppiness and intellectual shallowness of affixing such a reverent label to everyone in the military or law enforcement betrays a frightening cultural streak of nationalism, chauvinism, authoritarianism and totalitarianism, but it also makes honest and serious conversations necessary for the maintenance and enhancement of a fragile democracy nearly impossible. It has become impossible to go a week without reading a story about police brutality, abuse of power and misuse of authority. Michael Brown’s murder represents the tip of a body pile, and in just the past month, several videos have emerged of police assaulting people, including pregnant women, for reasons justifiable only to the insane. It is equally challenging for anyone reasonable, and not drowning in the syrup of patriotic sentimentality, to stop saluting, and look at the servicemen of the American military with criticism and skepticism.
Jazz Shaw of Hot Air notes that this isn't the first time we've seen this sentiment from our liberal friends:
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