Frank Buckles the last surviving World War I vet turned 110 today and is still lobbying for Veterans issues. Happy Birthday CPL Buckles.
America’s last surviving World War I veteran celebrates his 110th birthday.
Category: Military/Veterans
A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America ‘ for an amount of ‘up to and including my life.’ That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.’
Fellow WWR members,
We have a sanctioned event that we have been asked to be a part of. An organization is carrying a 30’ x 58’ flag across 50 states in 50 weeks , honoring those that lost their lives on 9-11. This flag will be in Panama City on Tuesday, the 18th. The flag will be raised between 2 fire department ladder trucks over the 9-11 memorial at the city marina. It will be followed be the pledge of allegiance and a brief ceremony. This flag will go through all of the states and have a final ceremony in NYC on 09/11/11, where it will be retired.
Our mission is to escort the cage (Ann Haigh, WWR member), with the flag to the marina. We will then assist in raising the flag. This will take place on Tuesday the 18th, at 10:00 am.
Stage info:
Stage location: Parking lot across the street from 1st Baptist Church. (Harrison ave. and Business hwy 98)
Stage time: 8:00 am
Ride Captain: Paul Taz Ladouceur
For more information, check out their website.
It seems an appropriate time to remember the sacrifices that our men in uniform make regularly for all of us. Even if you never wore the uniform or saw a second of combat you will appreciate what you see here.
Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan vets will understand this short video clip. Heros like this are once in a lifetime.
By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON
(AFRNS) — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is seeking modest premium
increases for working-age military retirees who use the TRICARE Prime health
plan.
Secretary
Gates unveiled sweeping cost-cutting initiatives Jan. 6, including a
recommendation to increase TRICARE Prime premiums for working-age retirees in fiscal 2012, the first increase in the plan’s 15-year history.
“For some time, I’ve spoken about the department’s unaffordable health costs, and in particular the benefits provided to working-age retirees under the TRICARE program,” the secretary told reporters. “Many of these beneficiaries are employed full-time while receiving their full pensions, and often forego their employers’ health plan to remain with TRICARE,” he said. “This should not come as a surprise, given that the current TRICARE enrollment fee was set in 1995 at $460 a year for the basic family plan, and has not been raised since.”
Secretary Gates noted the dramatic increase in insurance premiums during that period for private-sector and other government employees. Federal workers pay roughly $5,000 a year for a comparable health insurance program, he said. “Accordingly, with the fiscal year 2012 budget, we will propose reforms in the area of military health care to better manage medical cost growth and better align the department with the rest of the country,” Secretary Gates said. “These will include initiatives to become more efficient, as well as modest increases to TRICARE fees for … working-age retirees, with
fees indexed to adjust for medical inflation. “These initiatives could save the department as much as $7 billion over the next five years, he said.
Military retirees automatically are enrolled in one of two TRICARE plans, program spokesman Austin Camacho explained. Retirees who join TRICARE Prime, the system’s managed-care option that covers active-duty members, pay an annual enrollment fee of $230 per year for an individual or $460 for a family. Those in TRICARE Standard, a fee-for-service plan, pay no enrollment fee or premium. Instead, they pay a yearly deductible of $150 per person or $300 per family, as well as co-payments or cost shares for inpatient and outpatient care and medications, up to a $3,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket expenses.
TRICARE
Prime, the managed-care option that covers all active-duty members and many
retirees, costs the government $4,202 per beneficiary per year, said Mr.
Camacho. TRICARE Standard, the program’s fee-for-service plan, costs
$3,584 per beneficiary per year. TRICARE for Life, for beneficiaries age
65 and older, costs the government $3,874 per patient per year.
Military retirees are not required to report whether they have jobs that offer insurance plans, Mr. Camacho said, noting that having other insurance does not take them off the TRICARE rolls. Rather, he explained, TRICARE becomes the “second payer” for health care, picking up co-payments and deductibles
from the primary insurance plan.
Meanwhile,
the senior TRICARE officer told American Forces Press Service the system is
poised to support Secretary Gates’ new efficiency measures and already is
making progress as it strives to provide the best health care at the best cost.
“All of these things help us work together to help us achieve the secretary’s goals, and we are already starting to make progress,” Navy Rear Adm. (Dr.)
Christine S. Hunter said.
Dr. Hunter cited several initiatives already bearing fruit. More beneficiaries
are using the lower-cost mail-order pharmacy option to fill prescriptions. They are getting their immunizations and increasingly participating in a new concept called “patient-centered medical homes” that provide more comprehensive and personalized healthcare. They are making greater use of online appointment services and health care education materials. And they are increasingly using expensive emergency-room services only for actual emergencies. “We need to be very aware that there is a pressure [to improve efficiency and control costs] and the resources are not infinite,” said Dr. Hunter. “But we are all part of the solution.”
On Nov 13, 2010 Lt General
John Kelly, USMC gave a speech to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis, MO. This was 4 days after his son, Lt Robert Kelly, USMC was killed by an IED while on his 3rd Combat tour. During his speech, General Kelly spoke about the dedication and valor of the young men and women who step forward each and every day to protect us. During the speech, he never mentioned the loss of his own son. He closed the speech with the moving account of the last 6 seconds in the lives of 2 young Marines who died with rifles blazing to protect their brother Marines.
John Kelly, USMC gave a speech to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis, MO. This was 4 days after his son, Lt Robert Kelly, USMC was killed by an IED while on his 3rd Combat tour. During his speech, General Kelly spoke about the dedication and valor of the young men and women who step forward each and every day to protect us. During the speech, he never mentioned the loss of his own son. He closed the speech with the moving account of the last 6 seconds in the lives of 2 young Marines who died with rifles blazing to protect their brother Marines.
“I will leave you with a story about the kind of people they are. About the quality of the steel in their backs. About the kind of dedication they bring to our country while they serve in uniform and forever after as veterans. Two years ago when I was the Commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in fact, the 22nd of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 “The Walking Dead,” and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi. One battalion in the closing days of their deployment going home very soon, the other just starting its seven-month combat tour. Two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 years old respectively, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch together at the entrance gate of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines. The same broken down ramshackle building was also home to 100 Iraqi police, also my men and our allies in the fight against the terrorists in Ramadi, a city until recently the most dangerous city on earth
and owned by Al Qaeda. Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid
from Virginia with a wife and daughter, and a mother and sister who lived with him and he supported as well. He did this on a yearly salary of less than $23,000. Haerter, on the other hand, was a middle class white kid from Long Island . They were from two completely different worlds. Had they not joined the Marines they would never have met each other, or understood that multiple America ‘s exist simultaneously depending on one’s race, education level, economic status, and where you might have been born. But they were Marines, combat Marines, forged in the same crucible of Marine training, and because of this bond they were brothers as close, or closer, than if they were born of the same woman. The mission orders they received
from the sergeant squad leader I am sure went something like: “Okay you two clowns, stand this post and let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass.” “You clear?” I am also sure Yale and Haerter
then rolled their eyes and said in unison something like: “Yes
Sergeant,” with just enough attitude that made the point without saying the words, “No kidding sweetheart, we know what we’re doing.” They then relieved two other Marines on watch and took up their post at the entry control point of Joint Security Station Nasser, in the Sophia section of Ramadi, Al Anbar, Iraq . A few minutes later a large blue truck turned down the alley way-perhaps 60-70 yards in length-and sped its way through the serpentine of concrete jersey walls. The truck stopped just short of where the two were posted and detonated, killing them both catastrophically. Twenty-four brick masonry houses were damaged or destroyed. A mosque 100 yards away collapsed. The truck’s engine came to rest two hundred yards away knocking most of a house down before it stopped.
Our explosive experts reckoned the blast was made of 2,000 pounds of
explosives. Two died, and because these two young infantrymen didn’t have it in their DNA to run from danger, they saved 150 of their Iraqi and American brothers-in-arms. When I read the situation report about the incident a few hours after it happened I called the regimental commander for details as something about this struck me as different. Marines dying or being seriously wounded is commonplace in combat. We expect Marines regardless of rank or MOS to stand their ground and do their duty, and even die in the process, if that is what the mission takes. But this just seemed different. The regimental commander had just returned
from the site and he agreed, but reported that there were no American witnesses to the event – just Iraqi police. I figured if there was any chance of finding out what actually happened and then to decorate the two Marines to acknowledge their bravery, I’d have to do it as a combat award that requires two eye-witnesses and we figured the bureaucrats back in Washington would never buy Iraqi statements. If it had any chance at all, it had to come under the signature of a general officer. I traveled to Ramadi the next day and spoke individually to a half-dozen Iraqi police all of whom told the same story. The blue truck turned down into the alley and immediately sped up
as it made its way through the serpentine. They all said, “We knew
immediately what was going on as soon as the two Marines began firing.” The Iraqi police then related that some of them also fired, and then to a man, ran for safety just prior to the explosion. All survived. Many were injured, some seriously. One of the Iraqis elaborated and with tears wellingup said, “They’d run like any normal man would to save his life.” “What he didn’t know until then,” he said,
“and what he learned that very instant, was that Marines are not
normal.” Choking past the emotion he said, “Sir, in the name of
God no sane man would have stood there and done what they did.”
“No sane man.” “They saved us all.” What we didn’t know at the time,
and only learned a couple of days later after I wrote a summary and submitted both Yale and Haerter for posthumous Navy Crosses, was that one of our security cameras, damaged initially in the blast, recorded some of the suicide attack. It happened exactly as the Iraqis had described it. It took exactly six seconds from when the truck entered the alley until it detonated. You can watch the last six seconds
of their young lives. Putting myself in their heads I supposed it took
about a second for the two Marines to separately come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the truck came into their view at the far end of the alley. Exactly no time to talk it over, or call the sergeant to ask what they should do. Only enough time to take half an instant and think about what the sergeant told them to do only a few minutes before: “let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass.” The two Marines had about five seconds left to live. It took maybe another two seconds for them to present their weapons, take aim, and open up. By this time the truck was half-way through the barriers and gaining speed the whole time. Here, the recording shows a number of Iraqi police, some of whom had fired their AKs, now scattering like the normal and rational men they were-some running right past the Marines. They had three seconds left to live. For about two seconds more, the recording shows the Marines’ weapons firing non-stop.the truck’s windshield exploding into shards of glass as their rounds take it apart and tore in to the body of the SOB who is trying to get past them to kill their brothers-American and Iraqi-bedded down in the barracks totally unaware of the fact that their lives at that moment depended entirely on two Marines standing their ground. If they had been aware, they would have known they were safe because two Marines stood between them and a crazed suicide bomber. The recording shows the truck careening to a stop immediately in front of the two Marines. In all of the instantaneous violence Yale and Haerter never hesitated. By all reports and by the recording, they never stepped back. They never even started to step aside. They never even shifted their weight. With their feet spread shoulder width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they could work their weapons. They had only one second left to live. The truck explodes. The camera goes blank. Two young men go to their God. Six seconds. Not enough time to think about their families, their country,
their flag, or about their lives or their deaths, but more than enough time for two very brave young men to do their duty.into eternity. That is the kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight – for you.
and owned by Al Qaeda. Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid
from Virginia with a wife and daughter, and a mother and sister who lived with him and he supported as well. He did this on a yearly salary of less than $23,000. Haerter, on the other hand, was a middle class white kid from Long Island . They were from two completely different worlds. Had they not joined the Marines they would never have met each other, or understood that multiple America ‘s exist simultaneously depending on one’s race, education level, economic status, and where you might have been born. But they were Marines, combat Marines, forged in the same crucible of Marine training, and because of this bond they were brothers as close, or closer, than if they were born of the same woman. The mission orders they received
from the sergeant squad leader I am sure went something like: “Okay you two clowns, stand this post and let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass.” “You clear?” I am also sure Yale and Haerter
then rolled their eyes and said in unison something like: “Yes
Sergeant,” with just enough attitude that made the point without saying the words, “No kidding sweetheart, we know what we’re doing.” They then relieved two other Marines on watch and took up their post at the entry control point of Joint Security Station Nasser, in the Sophia section of Ramadi, Al Anbar, Iraq . A few minutes later a large blue truck turned down the alley way-perhaps 60-70 yards in length-and sped its way through the serpentine of concrete jersey walls. The truck stopped just short of where the two were posted and detonated, killing them both catastrophically. Twenty-four brick masonry houses were damaged or destroyed. A mosque 100 yards away collapsed. The truck’s engine came to rest two hundred yards away knocking most of a house down before it stopped.
Our explosive experts reckoned the blast was made of 2,000 pounds of
explosives. Two died, and because these two young infantrymen didn’t have it in their DNA to run from danger, they saved 150 of their Iraqi and American brothers-in-arms. When I read the situation report about the incident a few hours after it happened I called the regimental commander for details as something about this struck me as different. Marines dying or being seriously wounded is commonplace in combat. We expect Marines regardless of rank or MOS to stand their ground and do their duty, and even die in the process, if that is what the mission takes. But this just seemed different. The regimental commander had just returned
from the site and he agreed, but reported that there were no American witnesses to the event – just Iraqi police. I figured if there was any chance of finding out what actually happened and then to decorate the two Marines to acknowledge their bravery, I’d have to do it as a combat award that requires two eye-witnesses and we figured the bureaucrats back in Washington would never buy Iraqi statements. If it had any chance at all, it had to come under the signature of a general officer. I traveled to Ramadi the next day and spoke individually to a half-dozen Iraqi police all of whom told the same story. The blue truck turned down into the alley and immediately sped up
as it made its way through the serpentine. They all said, “We knew
immediately what was going on as soon as the two Marines began firing.” The Iraqi police then related that some of them also fired, and then to a man, ran for safety just prior to the explosion. All survived. Many were injured, some seriously. One of the Iraqis elaborated and with tears wellingup said, “They’d run like any normal man would to save his life.” “What he didn’t know until then,” he said,
“and what he learned that very instant, was that Marines are not
normal.” Choking past the emotion he said, “Sir, in the name of
God no sane man would have stood there and done what they did.”
“No sane man.” “They saved us all.” What we didn’t know at the time,
and only learned a couple of days later after I wrote a summary and submitted both Yale and Haerter for posthumous Navy Crosses, was that one of our security cameras, damaged initially in the blast, recorded some of the suicide attack. It happened exactly as the Iraqis had described it. It took exactly six seconds from when the truck entered the alley until it detonated. You can watch the last six seconds
of their young lives. Putting myself in their heads I supposed it took
about a second for the two Marines to separately come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the truck came into their view at the far end of the alley. Exactly no time to talk it over, or call the sergeant to ask what they should do. Only enough time to take half an instant and think about what the sergeant told them to do only a few minutes before: “let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass.” The two Marines had about five seconds left to live. It took maybe another two seconds for them to present their weapons, take aim, and open up. By this time the truck was half-way through the barriers and gaining speed the whole time. Here, the recording shows a number of Iraqi police, some of whom had fired their AKs, now scattering like the normal and rational men they were-some running right past the Marines. They had three seconds left to live. For about two seconds more, the recording shows the Marines’ weapons firing non-stop.the truck’s windshield exploding into shards of glass as their rounds take it apart and tore in to the body of the SOB who is trying to get past them to kill their brothers-American and Iraqi-bedded down in the barracks totally unaware of the fact that their lives at that moment depended entirely on two Marines standing their ground. If they had been aware, they would have known they were safe because two Marines stood between them and a crazed suicide bomber. The recording shows the truck careening to a stop immediately in front of the two Marines. In all of the instantaneous violence Yale and Haerter never hesitated. By all reports and by the recording, they never stepped back. They never even started to step aside. They never even shifted their weight. With their feet spread shoulder width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they could work their weapons. They had only one second left to live. The truck explodes. The camera goes blank. Two young men go to their God. Six seconds. Not enough time to think about their families, their country,
their flag, or about their lives or their deaths, but more than enough time for two very brave young men to do their duty.into eternity. That is the kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight – for you.
We Marines believe that God gave America the greatest gift he could bestow to man while he lived on this earth – freedom. We also believe he gave us another gift nearly as precious-our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines – to safeguard that gift and guarantee no force on this earth can every steal it away. It has been my distinct honor to have been with you here today. Rest assured our America, this experiment in democracy started over two centuries ago, will forever remain the “land of the free and home of the brave” so long as we never run out of tough young Americans who are
willing to look beyond their own self-interest and comfortable lives, and go into the darkest and most dangerous places on earth to hunt down, and kill, those who would do us harm.
willing to look beyond their own self-interest and comfortable lives, and go into the darkest and most dangerous places on earth to hunt down, and kill, those who would do us harm.
God Bless America,
and…SEMPER FIDELIS!”
and…SEMPER FIDELIS!”
The Veterans Task Force of Northwest Florida, Inc., is an 501 3c non-profit advocacy group for all veterans and their dependents residing in Northwest Florida. Our primary mission is to provide recognition to all of our area veterans. You can follow the Veterans Task Force on Facebook . The Task Force main web site is VTNWF.Com
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A veteran (from Latin vetus, meaning “old”) is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; ” A veteran of…”. This page refers to military veterans, i.e., a person who has served or is serving in the armed forces, and has direct exposure to acts of military conflict, commonly known as war veterans (although not all military conflicts, or areas in which armed combat takes place, are necessarily referred to as “wars”).
Public attitude towards veterans
Military veterans often receive special treatment in their respective countries due to the sacrifices they made during wars. Different countries handle this differently, some openly support veterans through government programs and others ignoring them. Veterans are also subject to illnesses directly related to their military service such as PTSD. War veterans are generally treated with great respect and honor for their contribution to the world and country by their own nationals. Conversely there are often negative feelings towards the veterans of alien nations held long after the war is over, for example towards the German Nazi soldiers, but they are no less veterans of war than those of the winning side. There are exceptions. Veterans of unpopular conflicts, such as the Vietnam War, have been discriminated against. Others, such as veterans of conflicts like the Korean War, are often forgotten (even though the casualty rate in Korea was higher than that experienced in the Vietnam War) when compared with those who fought in the World Wars. In some countries with strong anti-military traditions (e.g., Germany after 1945) veterans are neither honored in any special way by the general public, nor have their dedicated Veterans Day, although events are sometimes orchestrated by Neo-Nazism and other minority right-wing groups
the Shaman 
