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April 2008
VA officials try to cover up veteran suicides
Two Democratic senators are calling for the chief mental health official of the Veterans Affairs Department to resign, saying he tried to cover up the rising number of veteran suicides.
The Associated Press reports: A number of Democratic senators said they were appalled at e-mails showing Dr. Ira Katz, mental health director, and other VA officials apparently trying to conceal the number of suicides by veterans. An e-mail message from Katz disclosed this week as part of a lawsuit that went to trial in San Francisco starts with “Shh!” and claims 12,000 veterans a year attempt suicide while under department treatment.
“Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?” the e-mail asks.
A bill introduced this week would require the VA to report to Congress within 180 days the number of veterans who have died by suicide since Jan. 1, 1997, and continue reports annually, the AP reported. Statistics provided earlier this year by the VA showed that 790 veterans under VA care attempted suicide in 2007. That figure is contradicted by the e-mail revealed this week.
Tell us what you think about all of this.
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Gates criticizes Air Force effort in Iraq, Afghanistan
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the Air Force is not doing enough to help in the Iraq and Afghanistan war effort, complaining that some military leaders are “stuck in old ways of doing business,” the Associated Press is reporting.
Gates said in a speech at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., that getting the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan has been “like pulling teeth.”
Gates, who served in the Air Force in the 1960s as a young officer, also urged the officers in his audience to dedicate themselves to thinking creatively.
According to the AP story, he said the Air Force and the other branches of the military need to protect those in their ranks who are maverick thinkers, who defy convention and push for creative solutions to hard problems.
“Dissent is a sign of health in an organization, and particularly if it’s done in the right way,” Gates said.
What do you think about Gates’ remarks?
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Dayton VA, base to create new transition center
By Margo Rutledge Kissell
Staff Writer
Thursday, April 17, 2008
DAYTON — The Dayton VA Medical Center and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base signed an agreement Thursday, April 17, to create a new Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense Transition Center that officials believe will streamline the process of military personnel moving from one health care system to the other.
It will be located inside the Wright-Patterson Medical Center in a space that will be renovated using $250,000 to $300,000, said Guy Richardson, director of the VA Medical Center.
The agreement was signed at the VA Medical Center by Richardson and Air Force Col. Andrew Monteiro, who is commander of the 88th Medical Group and oversees the base’s medical center.
The transition center, slated to open Oct. 1, will be staffed primarily by VA personnel and will be open to anyone separating or retiring from the military.
“This transition center will also benefit the thousands of guard and reserve members who are transitioning to the VA every single year,” Monteiro said.
The new transition center will eliminate “much of the duplication of efforts and prevent the members from having to go between two different facilities on opposite sides of this city,” he added.
Richardson noted that while the transition center will make it more convenient for those stationed at the base, the Dayton VA Medical Center at 4100 W. Third St. will continue to assist any transitioning military personnel as well.
The transition center will house four exam rooms, a conference center and private offices for counseling. Services will include veteran benefits counseling and classes, enrollment and counseling for VA health care services, case management and consultation for veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, and assistance for service members pending physical evalution boards.
Eventually, it also will include Compensation and Pension examinations for those injured during their service and a single physical “separation examination” for DoD and VA disability evaluation — something the Dole/Shalala Wounded Warrior Commission recommended.
Tell us: What do you think about this planned transition center?
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Tell us: Should Carter meet with Hamas leader?
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter wants to meet Friday with Hamas supreme leader Khaled Mashaal — a move that has drawn criticism from the United States and Israel, who consider Hamas a terror group.
Carter, who brokered the historic 1979 peace accord between Israel and Egypt, believes isolating Hamas is counterproductive, according to an Associated Press article.
Some top leaders in Israel are boycotting Carter during his Middle East visit, in part because of his planned meeting with Mashaal.
What do YOU think: Should Carter be free to meet with the Hamas leader or do you think he is meddling where he doesn’t belong?
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Who should pay for Iraq’s reconstruction?
We ran a story in today’s paper headlined, Iraq’s free budget ride may be nearing end.
The AP story tells of how both Republicans and Democrats are looking at Iraq’s surging oil income and belief that “Baghdad should start picking up the tab, particularly for rebuilding hospitals, roads, power lines and the rest of the shattered country.”
Since 2003, the U.S. has appropriated about $47.5 billion for Iraq’s reconstruction.
Meanwhile, in 2006 and 2007, Iraq spent only $2.9 billion of $16.3 billion designated for its capital budget, used mostly for construction, according to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
Tell us what you think about this bipartisan push to use Iraq’s oil revenues to cover more of the rebuilding costs.
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Timetables or open-ended commitment in Iraq?
The Associated Press is reporting Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. general commanding the Iraq war, is calling for an open-ended suspension of U.S. troop withdrawals this summer, saying a quick withdrawal would hurt recent security gains made during the troops surge.
Congressional hearings opened Tuesday that will define the nation’s strategy in Iraq.
Tell us what you think. Do you support an open-ended commitment in Iraq or would you rather see timetables set on troop withdrawals?
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Iraqi’s tip leads to recovery of Maupin’s remains
By Margo Rutledge Kissell
Staff Writer
A tip from a local Iraqi led to the discovery of the remains of missing Army reservist Matt Maupin of Batavia, an Army official in Iraq said Monday, March 31.
Maj. Mark Cheadle with the Multi-National Division public affairs office in Baghdad, said the military had received a number of tips since the 20-year-old private first class disappeared after his fuel convoy, part of the 724th Transportation Company, was ambushed west of Baghdad on April 9, 2004.
“We treated each (tip) with the respect it deserved. This was the first one that was able to result in the positive exhumation of the remains,” he said.
“The local Iraqis really respect the efforts we take to care for our own,” Cheadle said. “They respect the fact we respect our families as highly as we do and as they do. It was very important for them to be a part of it. They still search for many of their loved ones.”
Cheadle said the remains were discovered in northwest Baghdad. Units that fall under the command of the 4th Infantry Division recovered Maupin’s remains, which were sent back to the United States and positively identified Saturday, Cheadle said.
“The entire incident is tragic and yet there is absolutely a final sense of honoring a hero when we’re allowed to put the wonder to rest and know that his family is at peace with the discovery,” Cheadle said.
Maupin’s parents, Keith and Carolyn Maupin, were notified at the Yellow Ribbon Support Center near Cincinnati on Sunday that their son’s remains had been recovered.
On Monday, the Department of Defense announced the change in Maupin’s status from missing-captured to deceased and reported his rank as staff sergeant.
A week after the soldier went missing, the Arab television network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape showing him sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.
That June, Al-Jazeera aired another tape purporting to show a U.S. soldier being shot. But the dark and grainy tape showed only the back of the victim’s head and not the actual shooting.
The Maupins remained hopeful he was alive and kept busy at the Yellow Ribbon Support Center they started. It has sent thousands of gift boxes to troops overseas and awarded 180 scholarships in honor of fallen soldiers.
Matt Maupin’s great aunt, Judy Call of Kettering, believes having him back on U.S. soil will finally offer some closure to his parents.
“I think what it will do for them is to relieve the always wondering and not knowing, ‘Where is he?’ “
