Friends of Wisconsin Veterans (formerly Friends of WDVA)

Editorial: Don't hide public records behind expensive paywall

2013-02-04T18:33:00.003-06:00

La Crosse Tribune Editorial: Don't hide public records behind expensive paywall

Citizens should not have to pay a tax to obtain information from public officials.

Yet that is exactly what a draft bill in the Wisconsin Assembly would propose by allowing government agencies to charge for time spent deleting confidential information from documents.

Rep. Garey Bies, R-Sister Bay, wants to undo a state Supreme Court ruling last year that prohibited records custodians from charging requestors for redaction expenses. That settled a lawsuit from a 2010 opens records request made by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel which asked for reports as part of an investigation of the Milwaukee Police Department and how it classified crime data.

The newspaper sued after the police department demanded $4,000 to cover redaction time after it had already provided 100 copies of reports for free. The case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled that Wisconsin’s open records law allows custodians to charge only for reproducing, photographing, locating and mailing records.

We must remember that all records in Wisconsin are presumed open unless there is a specific statutory exemption. The number of records that would require redaction for confidential reasons is limited.

Bies and bill supporters argue that taxpayers should not bear the costs of redaction. But there is no indication that complying with requests creates widespread undue burden or expense. It is reasonable that public officials should spend some of their time being held accountable to the public. It’s part of their job.

In the Journal Sentinel case, the newspaper found that police had misreported thousands of violent crimes, failed to correct the problems and failed to disclose them. Those findings were later confirmed by a consultant hired by the city, but only after the newspaper released its findings.

It is through the open records law that the La Crosse Tribune obtained documents that showed that the city of La Crosse has spent $1.3 million in outside legal fees over the past three years, much to the chagrin of some city leaders.

Examinations and scrutiny of public documents is a crucial part of democracy’s system of checks and balances. Government serves its citizens best when it is done in the open, for all to see. Openness and access is for all citizens, not just journalists.

Our concern — and something all Wisconsin citizens should be concerned about — is that the change in law would make it very convenient for custodians to throw an outrageous redaction fee as a roadblock to release public records. It would be far too easy under the law change for public officials who don’t want records released to say that a highly-paid attorney must review the records for redactions — even if they’re not required — and quote a ridiculous charge, hoping that the requestor will simply go away.

Sadly, it’s not uncommon that our requests for public documents are ignored, delayed or challenged under existing law. This redaction change would only add another layer of unnecessary obstruction.

We — that’s all of the taxpayers in Wisconsin — have already paid for that document because we paid the salaries and the benefits of the person who created it. Changing the law as proposed would be high price to pay for our right to know and certainly not the spirit of openness our state is known for.

http://lacrossetribune.com/tomahjournal/news/opinion/editorial/editorial-don-t-hide-public-records-behind-expensive-paywall/article_268915a6-6ef1-11e2-aef7-001a4bcf887a.html

Death highlights increasing problems at state-run veterans home

2013-02-04T11:58:00.000-06:00

Wisconsin State Journal, 2/3/2013

Death highlights increasing problems at state-run veterans home

February 03, 2013 5:00 am • STEVEN VERBURG | Wisconsin State Journal | sverburg@madison.com | 608-252-6118

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Early one morning last summer, 79-year-old Korean War-era veteran William Senn left his nursing home building, walked toward a lake on the property, and apparently had a heart attack. He was found hours later, drowned in 12 inches of water.

Inspectors cited the state-run Veterans Home at King for failing to conduct a thorough search for Senn after workers noticed he was not in the dining hall for breakfast or in his room.

The citation was one of an increasing number of federal regulation violations the Wisconsin Department of Health Services has found at King.

The number of deficiencies increased to 31 last year from 19 in 2007.

Inspectors make surprise visits to nursing homes about once a year and evaluate the quality of care. They also respond to complaints and reports from home administrators.

Overall quality ratings were average or better for each of King’s four residence halls, but those marks were graded on a curve against other Wisconsin nursing homes. Experts say the whole industry is struggling and being above average may not mean a great deal.

Randy Nitschke, top administrator for King and two smaller state Department of Veterans Affairs homes, said the increase in citations occurred because federal officials periodically pressure state inspectors to find more shortcomings.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Nitschke said. “It’s an industry that’s underfunded and overregulated.”

King’s 2013-15 budget request blames low staffing levels for 12 citations for failing to control infections since 2004 and says more workers are needed for a resident population with worsening health needs.

‘Immediate jeopardy’ citations

Last year’s increase in citations came as nurses and aides complained that their numbers had fallen far behind growing occupancy at the home, and as the state prepares for another push to fill more of King’s 721 beds.

Some of the most serious violations included indications that staff members weren’t spending enough one-on-one time with disabled residents, and that training was insufficient.

Only two of the deficiencies since 2007 posed “immediate jeopardy” — conditions likely to cause serious harm or death to residents. In both instances, one residence hall was designated as providing substandard quality of care until changes were made.

According to DHS inspection reports on the “immediate jeopardy” citations:

• At Stordock Hall in 2008, staff members weren’t giving enough one-on-one attention to disabled residents.

One with a history of falls was found hanging with his face bruised and his throat caught in his bed’s side rail. He was turning blue. Staff members then removed the rail and placed the bed 8 inches from a wall, creating a dangerous entrapment risk.

Another man fell multiple times, twice suffering facial injuries. Still, inspectors found him unattended on a high bed with his door closed, contrary to his safety plan.

The home also failed to provide the expected level of supervision for a resident who was unable to smoke safely. A burn hole was found in the man’s footwear.

• At MacArthur Hall in 2010, patients were found with worsening bed sores, and staff weren’t receiving training on how to prevent them.

Deficient training

Inspectors linked deficient staff training on safety policies to Senn’s death on Aug. 6. The inspection report includes statements from several Olson Hall workers who didn’t follow the “missing members” policy by alerting supervisors to Senn’s absence so that a wider search could be ordered.

Between 7 and 8 a.m., a nursing assistant was told that a routine check showed Senn was missing from the dining area. The assistant went to Senn’s second-floor room. He wasn’t there, but instead of notifying others so that a search could start, she became busy with other residents who needed help.

At least two other staff members in the breakfast area also became busy and forgot.

Waupaca County’s emergency dispatch center was called around 11:20 a.m. after someone spotted Senn’s body just off shore in Rainbow Lake, which forms the west boundary of the King grounds.

The inspection report said Senn had heavy blockage of his coronary arteries, and he may have suffered a heart attack before he fell into the lake and drowned.

Nitschke said Senn was very independent and that even if workers had found him outside near the lake, they simply would have reminded him to check out before leaving the building.

A state investigation indicated several staff members and supervisors misunderstood the policy, which called for security personnel and outside law enforcement to search the grounds if other staff can’t find a missing resident.

Home administrators said understaffing wasn’t a cause of the problems, but employees said they have been placed in untenable situations that put their nursing licenses at risk.

Milw J-S: Groups need to reach deal on War Memorial Center

2013-01-30T18:59:00.000-06:00

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Opinion

Groups need to reach deal on War Memorial Center

Jan. 30, 2013

The War Memorial Center and the Milwaukee Art Museum: Their dispute threatens two great cultural institutions.

Two of Milwaukee's most important cultural institutions are at risk unless they can agree on a way forward.

No one wants to take anything from Milwaukee County veterans. No one wants to diminish their role in the War Memorial Center and the enhanced veterans programs that center officials want to provide. The War Memorial must forever serve as a tribute to the living and the fallen.

At the same time, no one wants to see the Milwaukee Art Museum's treasured collection damaged because of inadequate maintenance of the the War Memorial, where it is housed. That world-class collection provides inestimable value to the cultural life of the region and needs to be protected.

So why can't two institutions that have been joined at the hip for more than 50 years find common ground on a new management agreement?

Frankly, we're not sure why they can't - even after meeting with both sides. It is within their reach, and their failure to do so is frustrating. Everyone knows what the needs are, yet negotiations appear to be hung up on what are relatively minor issues.

The best solution: Both sides return to the bargaining table and find common ground.

There are other ways. Milwaukee County could, conceivably, try to force a settlement. Or, as Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic told us, a mediator could be brought in to help the groups close the deal.

Assuming they can't get to the finish line by themselves, both sides should be open to Dimitrijevic's idea: an independent mediator to help reconcile the differences, some of which are caused by bad blood that goes back more than a decade and by some unfortunate claims and statements made by passionate advocates on both sides.

The institutions started negotiating at the request of the County Board after the museum agreed to pay 60% of a $25 million plan for renovation and improvements and said it wanted full management control of the structure. The county has agreed to pay $10 million toward the project.

Under terms of its 96-year lease, the War Memorial Center serves as landlord for the Eero Saarinen-designed building and the Kahler addition; the art museum is its tenant. The art museum wanted to change that arrangement as part of its plans to make long-deferred repairs of leaks that threaten the museum's art collection.

That threat is real. In fact, a painting was damaged during a rainstorm in recent months, according to museum director Dan Keegan, and ongoing leaks have gotten so bad that the museum is at risk of losing its accreditation. Given the cultural value of the collection - not to mention its actual dollar value - it is simply mind-boggling that this problem wasn't fixed months ago.

On what the public would consider the big issues, the center and the museum are essentially in agreement: Each would have a separate lease with the county, which owns the War Memorial, and each would be responsible for the space it occupies. That means the art museum would take over - we hope with county help - maintenance of the floors that house its art collection. Considering the damage resulting from deferred maintenance, that would be a welcome development.

The sticking points seem to be mostly about parking revenue (including a request for free parking for museum staff) and control of tracts of land on the north side of the center. Some veterans groups feel that control over some of that land was illegally taken away from them in a 1997 agreement, and they want it back. Perhaps that issue could be reopened, but why the urgency to do it now? And why let that hold up agreement on the bigger questions?

And we understand that budgets are tight, but does the museum really need free parking? When you're talking about a $25 million project - a project we think would enhance the entire building and would benefit both groups - why let several hundred thousand dollars in parking revenue, land control issues and a few other details gum up the works?

Ideally, the county should bring in that mediator and then lock everyone in a room with instructions to not come out until a deal is reached. It might take less than an hour.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/groups-need-to-reach-deal-on-war-memorial-center-798j5ak-189107001.htmlhttp://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/groups-need-to-reach-deal-on-war-memorial-center-798j5ak-189107001.html

Wisconsin Court System - For Veterans

2013-01-28T09:38:00.000-06:00

For veterans

The Wisconsin court system recognizes that veterans in the criminal justice system face unique issues. Developing strategies that will be effective with this population requires commitment, understanding, creativity and a willingness to build partnerships. Courts across Wisconsin are piloting programs designed to provide better, more effective solutions for veterans in the criminal justice system. Here is a brief history of the effort, along with a county-by-county list of programs.

Chief Judge Benjamin D. Proctor (now retired) explains the goals of the Chippewa Valley Veterans Treatment Court at a January 2011 ceremony to open the new court program.

Connecting veterans with services

The courts have an important role in helping to connect Veterans in crisis with information on services to which they are entitled. When a veteran needs housing support, mental health services, treatment for addiction, job training or other help, the court may work with local experts including County Veterans Services Officers (CVSOs) and Tribal Veterans Services Officers. In January 2009, the Wisconsin Supreme Court's Planning and Policy Advisory Committee (PPAC) began a concerted effort to help connect the state's circuit court judges with these officers to ensure that veterans who find themselves in court are connected with important resources. The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs' directory of CVSOs is available at dva.state.wi.us/cvso_list.pdf. The courts also work with Veterans Justice Outreach Specialists (VJOs). The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has asked that each VA medical center designate a VJO to help veterans with case management and serve as liaisons with local justice system partners. In Wisconsin, Veterans Justice Outreach Specialists are available at the VA medical centers in Madison, Milwaukee and Tomah, as well as in bordering states. Current VJOSs are: Edward Zapala (Madison), Abigail Ziebell (Milwaukee),Garrett Hebel (Tomah), Faith Weiss (Minneapolis), Michael Matwyuk (Iron Mountain, Mich.) More information is available on the Department of Veteran's Affairs site (external link).

History of the Wisconsin Veterans Court Initiative

The development of court programs for Wisconsin veterans began when the Office of the State Public Defender and the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs received a federal grant in 2008 to bring Judge Robert Russell - who started the nation's first veterans treatment court in Buffalo, N.Y. - to Wisconsin to tell his story. A short time later, a delegation from Wisconsin visited Russell's court in New York.

Soon after that visit, a conference entitled Leave No One Behind: Veterans in the Criminal Justice System was held in June 2009. The Wisconsin court system joined the State Public Defender, Department of Corrections, Department of Justice, Veterans Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs in co-sponsoring the conference, which brought together judges, prosecutors, public defenders, treatment providers and County Veterans Services Officers from across Wisconsin. Participants developed plans for building specialty court programs in the state. More than 100 people at sites in Madison, Milwaukee and Tomah participated.

Since then, 11 court-connected programs covering 28 counties have been developed.

County by county: Court programs for Wisconsin veterans

Brown County: See Northeast Wisconsin Veterans Treatment Court

Chippewa County: See Chippewa Valley Veterans Treatment Court

Chippewa Valley Veterans Treatment Court
In January 2011, the Chippewa Valley Veterans Treatment Court opened in Eau Claire. The court will serve Chippewa, Dunn and Eau Claire counties, and will focus on addressing alcohol, drug and mental health issues associated with criminal behavior within the military veteran population. Former Chief Judge Benjamin D. Proctor (now retired) - who was honored as the State Bar Judge of the Year in 2009, in part for his work with veterans - was the first presiding judge in this court. Judge William M. Gabler currently presides.

Columbia County
Veterans in Columbia County who need help with civil legal problems such as divorce, child custody, foreclosure and unemployment issues may be eligible for free legal services through the UW Veterans Law Center (see Dane County entry).

Dane CountyVeterans in Dane County who are charged with criminal offenses are served by the Rock County Veterans Treatment Court Program (see Rock County entry).

Dane County veterans with civil legal problems may receive help through the UW Law School Veterans Law Center, which opened in November 2012. Lawyers, law students and paralegals staff the center, which provides free help with issues such as divorce, child custody, foreclosure, housing issues, unemployment benefits and other civil legal problems. The Law Center serves low-income veterans and their families on a walk-in basis from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. on the second Thursday of every month at Madison's City-County Building (210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., just off the Capitol Square) and from 4-6 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of every month at Porchlight, Inc. (306 N. Brooks St.). Contact: UW Law School Pro Bono Director Ann Zimmerman, (608) 890-3754.

Dodge County
Veterans in Dodge County who need help with civil legal problems such as divorce, child custody, foreclosure and unemployment issues may be eligible for free legal services through the UW Veterans Law Center (see Dane County entry).

Door County: See Northeast Wisconsin Veterans Treatment Court

Dunn County: See Chippewa Valley Veterans Treatment Court

Eau Claire County: See Chippewa Valley Veterans Treatment Court

Green County
Veterans in Green County who need help with civil legal problems such as divorce, child custody, foreclosure and unemployment issues may be eligible for free legal services through the UW Veterans Law Center (see Dane County entry).

Iowa County
Veterans in Iowa County who need help with civil legal problems such as divorce, child custody, foreclosure and unemployment issues may be eligible for free legal services through the UW Veterans Law Center (see Dane County entry).

Iron County Veterans Court
In April 2010, Wisconsin opened its second veterans treatment court program. The Iron County Veterans Court operates under the direction of Judge Patrick J. Madden, who has served on the bench for over 25 years. The primary focus is on drug or alcohol related crimes or other misdemeanors. Iron County feels that these types of crimes may be alleviated by addressing the underlying issues unique to veterans. Each veteran in the program is assigned a mentor; the mentor program is managed by County Veterans Services Officer Erick Nasi. Contact: Erick Nasi, Veterans Services Officer, (715) 561-2190.

Jefferson County
Veterans in Jefferson County who need help with civil legal problems such as divorce, child custody, foreclosure and unemployment issues may be eligible for free legal services through the UW Veterans Law Center (see Dane County entry).

Kenosha County: See Second Judicial District Veterans Treatment Court

Kewaunee County: See Northeast Wisconsin Veterans Treatment Court

La Crosse County Veterans Court Initiative
On Veterans Day 2010, after more than a year of preparation and planning, the La Crosse County Veterans Court Initiative opened its doors. It was the third program of its kind in Wisconsin. The program focuses on early identification of veterans in the criminal justice system to facilitate connection with available services as quickly as possible. The program also makes use of trained mentors. Presiding is Judge Todd W. Bjerke, a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve who was first elected to the bench in La Crosse in 2007. Contact: Thom Downer, (608) 790-7368.

Marinette County: See Northeast Wisconsin Veterans Treatment Court

Milwaukee Veterans Program
In Milwaukee County, the Wisconsin State Public Defender's Office, the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office and the Veterans Administration have developed a multi-faceted program to serve veterans involved in the criminal justice system. The Veterans Treatment Initiative officially launched on Dec. 5, 2012, with a veterans court docket scheduled on Wednesday mornings in front of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Glenn H. Yamahiro, Branch 34, Milwaukee County Courthouse, 901 N. 9th St., Milwaukee.

Veterans are identified during the jail booking process and connected with the State Public Defender and the VA. Both organizations screen these veterans to determine eligibility for services. Veterans are also screened by the District Attorney's Office to determine if a diversion agreement is appropriate. If so, the DA's Office assesses the individual to determine whether a deferred prosecution program, the Veterans Track in Drug Treatment Court, or supervision by the Department of Corrections (for third- and fourth-offense OWI) is the best option. Most of these programs offer an opportunity to have a charge dismissed or reduced if the offender abides by a certain set of conditions. The Veterans Justice Outreach specialist (VJO) helps link the individual to VA treatment and often reports on compliance with VA treatment programs. Contact: Abigail Crevier-Ziebell, (414) 414-384-2000 ext. 44497.

The Milwaukee program also matches veterans with mentors through a non-profit veterans services group called Dryhootch, LLC. Mentors (who are also veterans) meet with the veteran at and between court appearances to provide peer support services and assist with access to ancillary services. Dryhootch also offers a Family Legal Clinic where veterans and their families can receive free legal advice on non-criminal matters such as divorce, child support, visitation and more. The clinic runs in the evening on the first and second Thursday of each month. For more information, visit the Dryhootch site (external link) or call (414) 763-2785.

Rock County Circuit Court Judge James P. Daley congratulates Casey Johnson of Beloit, Wisconsin's first Veterans Treatment Court graduate. Photo courtesy of the Janesville Gazette

Northeast Wisconsin Veterans Treatment Court
The Northeast Wisconsin Veterans Treatment Court is a collaborative problem-solving court that opened in March 2012. The program pairs a circuit court judge, representatives of the Veterans Health Administration and Veterans Benefit Administration, the District Attorney's Office, the Public Defender's Office, veterans service organizations, the U.S. and Wisconsin Departments of Veterans Affairs and many other community partners. It assist veterans who accept responsibility for qualifying felony or misdemeanor offenses committed within a group of counties in northeast Wisconsin (the Eighth Judicial District). The program also offers assistance with treatment, rehabilitation, employment and housing. The court serves Brown, Door, Kewaunee, Marinette, Oconto, Outagamie and Waupaca counties (Waupaca County also has a stand-alone veterans court program). Contacts: Beau Liegeois, Brown County assistant district attorney, (920) 448-4190; Jerry Polus, Brown County veterans service officer, (920) 448-4451; Tom Hinz, mentor and resource coordinator, (920) 606-2012.

Oconto County: See Northeast Wisconsin Veterans Treatment Court

Outagamie CountyOutagamie County Circuit Court Judges John A. Des Jardins and Gregory B. Gill Jr., Outagamie County District Attorney's Office, Wisconsin State Public Defender's Appleton Office, Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Outagamie County Sheriff's Department, Outagamie County Veterans' Service Office, Outagamie County Volunteers in Offender Services Office, and the John Bradley VA Outpatient Clinic. The mission of the Outagamie County Veterans Court is to promote public safety, and assist and support veterans and their families by creating a coordinated response through collaboration with the veteran's service delivery system, community-based services, and the criminal justice system.

Each veteran is paired with a mentor from the same branch of service, who understands and supports the veteran court requirements, and assists the veteran in complying to make progress and achieve success. The focus of the Veteran's Mentoring Program is to support the veterans through their readjustment to civilian life, to assist the veteran navigate through the court, treatment and VA systems, to act as a friend, mentor, advocate, and ally through this difficult period, and to ensure that no veteran is left behind.

Outagamie County also takes referral from surrounding counties. Contact: Annie Levknecht, Alternative Treatment Coordinator (920) 832-5098.

Pierce County Veterans Court
The Pierce County Veterans Court is a post-plea program dealing with both felonies and misdemeanors. To qualify for the program, the veteran must be in need of services offered through the local (Twin Cities) VA (for example, services related to drug and alcohol addiction, mental health, anger management). Each applicant is screened by the Vets Court team, which consists of the judge (a U.S. Air Force veteran), an assistant district attorney, a public defender, a probation agent, a law enforcement representative, the court coordinator and a representative of the VA. Once accepted, the veteran goes through a four-phase program with weekly court appearances in Phase 1. The court requires random drug testing and -- if the veteran is able -- work and/or community service. The program also provides participants with mentors. Contacts: Veterans Services Officer Dave Till, (715) 273-6463; Volunteer Coordinator Donna Swanson (715) 273-3226; and Judge Joseph Boles, (715) 273-6460.

Racine County: See Second Judicial District Veterans Treatment Court

Second Judicial District Chief Judge Mary K. Wagner, Kenosha County Circuit Court, swears in the Veterans Treatment Court team, which includes Racine County Circuit Court Judges Gerald P. Ptacek and Michael J. Piontek (far left).

Rock County Veterans Treatment Court Program
In September 2009, Wisconsin opened its first veterans treatment court program. The program operates in Rock County under the direction of Judge James P. Daley, a brigadier general in the Wisconsin Army National Guard and decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War who has served on the Rock County Circuit Court for 21 years. The court serves veterans in both Rock and Dane counties who are charged with crimes and who have mental health issues. Each participant is matched with a mentor of similar military background. Prior to participating, each mentor completes a training program. The court has now expanded to accept cases diverted from nearby counties.

Judge Daley and two members of the veterans court team recently explained during a WisconsinEye interview (external link) how the Rock County veterans court operates and why it is significant for veterans and the court system.

Veterans in Rock County who need help with civil legal problems such as divorce, child custody, foreclosure and unemployment issues may be eligible for free legal services through the UW Veterans Law Center (see Dane County entry).

Sauk County
Veterans in Sauk County who need help with civil legal problems such as divorce, child custody, foreclosure and unemployment issues may be eligible for free legal services through the UW Veterans Law Center (see Dane County entry).

Second Judicial District Veterans Treatment Court
The Second Judicial District Veterans Treatment Court serves veterans in Kenosha, Racine and Walworth counties. The program seeks to divert eligible veterans (veterans with substance dependency and/or mental illness who are charged with felony or misdemeanor non-violent criminal offenses) to a specialized criminal court docket. The court uses a treatment problem- solving model. Eligible veterans are identified through screenings. Participants voluntarily take part in a treatment plan that is supervised by a judge. The plan is developed by a team of court staff, veteran health care professionals, veteran benefit professionals, county veteran service officers, veterans organizations, substance abuse health care professionals and mental health professionals. At regular status hearings, which are held at the Racine County Courthouse, treatment plans and other conditions are periodically reviewed for appropriateness, incentives are offered to reward compliance with court conditions, and sanctions for non-compliance are imposed. Contacts: Andrew Graubard, district court administrator, or David Kagabitang, veterans justice outreach specialist.

Judge L. Edward Stengel, Sheboygan County Circuit Court, swore in members of the county's new veterans court program in August 2012. The group included Judge Angela W. Sutkiewicz, who presides in the court. Photo credit:Sheboygan Press

Sheboygan Area Veterans Court
The Sheboygan Area Veterans Court opened its doors in August 2012 and focuses on helping veterans who are charged with crimes and who have been diagnosed with mental health issues and/or drug or alcohol addictions. Contact: Charlene Cobb, veterans services officer, (920) 459-3053.

Walworth County: See Second Judicial District Veterans Treatment Court

Waupaca County Veterans Assistance Program
In Waupaca County, defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges working with treatment providers at the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King have established a legal assistance program for veterans. The program works with law enforcement to emphasize early identification of veterans. Those identified are referred to the Veterans Assistance Program for assessment. In appropriate cases, deferred prosecution agreements are sought to give the veteran a chance to obtain needed services. Legal assistance is provided pro bono through local attorneys. Contacts: Atty. Tom Maroney, (715) 258-5990; Steve House, Veterans Assistance Program, (715) 256-1118.

Statewide programs for veterans in court

Wisconsin Veterans Intervention Program
The Wisconsin Veterans Intervention Program (WI-VIP) is an initiative of the State Public Defender's Office. The program encourages creation of veterans court programs in Wisconsin and supports them once they are established. WI-VIP also works with the Department of Corrections to identify veterans currently in an institution or on probation/parole in order to ensure that each veteran is connected with available services. Contact: Peter Anderson, liaison for WI-VIP in the Wisconsin's State Public Defender's Office, (608) 267-0581.

Legal services for veterans

There are programs to help Wisconsin veterans and active-duty servicemembers who need legal advice. The Marquette University Law School Program, SAVLAW (Servicemembers and Veterans Legal Assistance for Wisconsin) features a website (external link) on which servicemembers can post requests and lawyers can volunteer.

A program called Dryhootch offers a Family Legal Clinic where veterans and their families can receive free legal advice on non-criminal matters such as divorce, child support, visitation and more. The clinic runs in the evening on the first and second Thursday of each month. For more information, visit the Dryhootch site (external link) or call (414) 763-2785.

The American Bar Association Military Pro Bono Project (external link) connects active-duty military personnel to free legal assistance with civil (non-criminal) legal problems. Referrals are made only by military legal assistance (JAG) attorneys.

In Madison, a program to help low-income veterans with civil legal problems was launched in November 2012. The UW Law School Veterans Law Center provides free help with issues such as divorce, child custody, foreclosure, housing issues, unemployment benefits and other civil legal problems. The Law Center serves low-income veterans and their families on a walk-in basis from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. on the second Thursday of every month at Madison's City-County Building (210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., just off the Capitol Square) and from 4-6 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of every month at Porchlight, Inc. (306 N. Brooks St.). Contact: UW Law School Pro Bono Director Ann Zimmerman, (608) 890-3754.

This overview will continually grow and change. We encourage those who have additions and updates to contact us at (608) 266-1298.

http://www.wicourts.gov/services/veteran/index.htm

Tomah VA: Give us a chance to help

2013-01-28T09:32:00.000-06:00

Tomah VA center: Give us a chance to help

January 27, 2013 12:00 am • By MIKE TIGHE | mtighe@lacrossetribune.com

More service members took their own lives in 2012 than died in battle, a rate of nearly one suicide a day.

The troubling statistic underscores the need for veterans struggling with mental health problems to get help, says Dr. David Houlihan, chief of staff at the VA Medical Center in Tomah.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and others have called the record toll an epidemic. Last year’s tally of 349 was up from 301 the previous year and exceeded the number of 295 Americans killed in Afghanistan in 2012.

Suicide numbers among veterans are harder to pin down. Veterans account for 20 percent of the 30,000 to 32,000 suicides a year, according to a VA report issued last year. However, that statistic doesn’t specify whether the suicides were related to military service or unrelated problems that arose in a person’s life after leaving the armed forces.

The key for successful treatment is the same among veterans as it is for the general population — acknowledging a problem and seeking help, Houlihan said.

The problem — especially for veterans, officials say — is that seeking help is somehow perceived as a weakness.

“Ultimately, the vet has to take the first step to get into a program instead of self-medicating with alcohol and drugs,” Houlihan said.

“When these people are coming back, they often don’t know what their issues are,” he said. “We can hope that we reach everyone, but the reality is that some don’t know they have issues.”

The number of veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injuries has grown dramatically.

“Five to 10 years ago, it was a trickle. Now, it’s a constant flow,” Houlihan said. “We have a residential program that holds 45, and it stays full.”

Evidence indicates that suicide rates are lower for veterans ages 18-29 who use VA health care services than those who do not, according to the VA report.

VA medical centers have suicide-prevention coordinators to stem the tide.

Mike Knapp, who serves in that role at the Tomah center, said his office maintains a list of veterans considered high risk for suicide, based on referrals from doctors or the center’s outpatient clinic.

“If they are on the high-risk list, we monitor them and make sure they don’t fall through the cracks,” Knapp said.

The list averages 35 to 40 at any given time.

“Among people who are really critical and receiving services, the (suicide) rates are really low,” he said. “Basically, it’s because they’re seeking help.”

Knapp’s office also takes referrals from the Veterans Crisis Line, which screens callers and notifies the closest VA center about what the patient needs.

The Tomah center also regularly reaches out through its clinics, veterans justice specialists, veterans court, county veterans service officers and meetings for veterans to show how the center can help, Houlihan said.

“We take pride in bringing them in and finding what works for them,” he said. “If they get hooked into the system, we have a chance.”

Find help

Are you a veteran who needs help? Call 1-800-273-8225.

PTSD patient: ‘I didn’t want to be known as the crazy veteran'

Army Sgt. Ryan Van De Walker was traumatized from watching friends die in combat, despondent about his future as a civilian and seeking relief… Read more

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/tomah-va-center-give-us-a-chance-to-help/article_0d72b984-683c-11e2-adbe-001a4bcf887a.html

Cutting-edge La Crosse Veterans Court Already Running at Capacity

2013-01-28T09:28:00.000-06:00

Cutting-edge court for veterans already running at capacity

January 27, 2013 12:00 am • By ANNE JUNGEN | ajungen@lacrossetribune.com

Two tours in Iraq left John suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism.

He was a successful retired U.S. Army master sergeant who found himself home and in trouble with the law. A family member searching for resources discovered the La Crosse Area Veterans Court Program.

John, who spoke on condition his real name not be used because of the sensitivity of his situation, was accepted into the specialized treatment court after taking responsibility for a felony drunken driving offense.

Similar to a drug court, the veterans court seeks to rehabilitate offenders through treatment programs rather than simply punish them with fines or jail.

John’s management plan meant intense mental health treatment for PTSD and alcohol testing.

Today, he’s sober, active in his church and a full-time student — all a testament to the veterans court program, he said.

“I have done everything asked of me and then some,” the 44-year-old said. “The program is set up for success. You want to succeed.”

Now two years old, the court is treating its first group of six veterans and preparing for another four. Operating without funds and an all-volunteer staff, the program has already reached capacity.

The demand for the court’s services will only continue to increase as soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan recognize they’re suffering from addiction and behavioral health problems that contributed to their arrest.

“The needs continue, but we can’t support those needs anymore,” program coordinator Thom Downer said. “We want to grow so we’re here to support them. They’re going to need it.”

The court became a non-profit organization in June in part so organizers could apply for grants to help it expand, Downer said.

“I think we’ll keep seeing people dealing with these issues,” said La Crosse County Circuit Judge Todd Bjerke, who oversees the veterans court. “We’ll save resources, money and people will be safer if we help them get rid of the problems they’re dealing with.”

The treatment court helps veterans and service members suffering from PTSD, depression, traumatic brain injury or substance abuse that led to criminal behavior.

After a veteran enters a plea in a criminal case, a support team prepares a plan to treat the diagnosed illness, establish sobriety and secure veteran benefits, among other goals.

It’s an intense process designed to improve veterans’ health and reduce recidivism. The program takes 18 to 24 months to complete.

“We’re not here to circumvent the legal system. We’re here to support the veterans,” Downer said. “Veterans court is sort of like their last chance. If they can’t get through the program, they go back to the presiding judge and the sentence is carried out.”

The court typically serves veterans in La Crosse, Vernon, Monroe and Jackson counties, although it has accepted cases from other counties. Most of those enrolled are in their late 20s and 30s, have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan and suffer from PTSD or alcoholism, Downer said.

“The people in there really need the structure of the court,” Bjerke said.

Participants in the court meet monthly and may be required to undergo daily alcohol and drug testing and counseling and perform community service, Downer said.

He’s fielded calls from Winona, Minn., to Los Angeles looking to establish a similar court. Downer helped start similar programs in Racine and Sheboygan counties.

The veterans court and its companion program, the La Crosse Area Veterans Mentor Program, have served 69 veterans since inception, Downer said.

The program pairs veterans with a mentor, a fellow veteran, who can help veterans after arrest, not disposition of their case.

“It’s a peer support group,” Downer said.

The program works because it reaches veterans early in the process, Bjerke said. The mentor can encourage the veteran to undergo an evaluation.

“They’ll explain that they’re not less of a person because they have a problem,” Bjerke said.

Organizers now hope to add more mentors to the program.

“They more we have,” Bjerke said, “the further we can reach.”

John, who was assigned to a military team that invesigates fraud, waste and abuse, welcomed the chance to enroll in veterans court once he learned PTSD contributed to his alcoholism. The diagnosis helped explain his out-of-character criminal behavior.

“I was put on a very tight leash, which I totally agree with,” he said. “I wanted to prove myself.”

How to help

The La Crosse Area Veterans Mentor Program is looking for veterans to mentor fellow veterans. Call Thom Downer at 608-785-6420 to get involved.

PTSD patient: ‘I didn’t want to be known as the crazy veteran'

Army Sgt. Ryan Van De Walker was traumatized from watching friends die in combat, despondent about his future as a civilian and seeking relief… Read more

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/cutting-edge-court-for-veterans-already-running-at-capacity/article_f60fc3e4-683c-11e2-b347-001a4bcf887a.html

5 Traits of Leaders Who Are Ready for Social Good

2013-01-12T19:30:00.004-06:00

How does Scocos measure up to these Forbes standards?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2012/12/09/5-traits-of-leaders-who-are-ready-for-social-good/

Forbes

5 Traits of Leaders Who Are Ready for Social Good

By Meghan M. Biro, Forbes Contributor Leader. Consultant. Lifelong Learner. Culture and Talent Lover.

‘Tis the season to do good. You might not believe it if you’ve just come from the Mall, but the spirit of good is out there. Perhaps unexpectedly, good deeds and real social change are coming from business leaders who understand that success carries with it the opportunity to exercise social responsibility without the burden of government mandate.

The path to becoming a socially-responsible leader is not as difficult as one might think. It’s a logical extension of the passionate leader’s journey. Not all leaders take it, of course; I could find no real good numbers as I researched this post but my instinct tells me less than 50 percent of successful business leaders go on to contribute to social good in a meaningful way. I’m hoping these numbers continue to increase.

Todd Warren, my fellow Forbes contributor, educator and thought-leader on startup culture, has proposed an awesome post about five attributes of entrepreneurial leaders: vision and dissatisfaction with the present, knowing and taking advantage of one’s unfair advantages, ability to recruit people to extend your vision, flexibility and ability to learn and adapt, and persistence and execution. These attributes are, in my view, the basic requirements for a socially-responsible leader – but wait, there’s more. Warren’s five attributes may make a good entrepreneur but they don’t go far enough to explain why some business success stories – for example Bill Gates – go beyond business success to become social activists and philanthropists. For every Bill Gates there are 20 or 30 Carl Ichans, Mark Cubans, even – and I am a fanboi – Steve Jobs, who achieved enormous personal success and wealth but have not contributed back significantly to society. So how does a business leader transcend personal success and extend his or her skills to the realm of the do-gooder?

I’d argue there are an additional five traits necessary to be a socially-responsible leader:

1) Heightened situational awareness. It’s one thing to be focused on being aware of the business landscape by staying open to ideas to extend and perfect your vision. It’s a different skill to be aware of the world around you. In the movie Scrooged, Bill Murray is completely unaware of his assistant’s life challenges until the ghosts visit him; once his awareness is engaged and the focus expanded from his wants and needs to encompass those of others, he is transformed into a socially-responsible, charitable soul. To become socially responsible, leaders must look beyond themselves to see what motivates, or holds back, those around him. Then he or she can see the need in others – in the world – and turn the intense focus of the entrepreneur to solving larger social problems.

2) Emotional intelligence. Yes, this is one of my favorite themes, for a reason. Until a leader opens his or her heart and mind to others, turns what is undoubtedly prodigious intelligence and focus outward to understand the challenges of others, there can be no authentic social leadership. If you see an emotionally limited leader doing good works, look for a smart tax advisor standing in the wings.

3) Empathy. This isn’t the same as emotional intelligence. I know lots of emotionally intelligent people who are more cerebral than they are empathetic. They can understand why people behave a certain way, and adapt, but at some level it does not reach them. Empathetic people are open to the world of hurt that exists on the periphery of the world of things; they know not only why people have needs, but also why it is important to meet those needs.

4) Media savvy. This might not seem like an attribute but it is. Look at Bill Gates then look at Steve Ballmer. ‘Nuff said. The media savvy leader has an advantage when he turns his attention to social good. Bono, no stranger to the media or financial success, has done tremendous good because he knows how to work the media to advance his cause. And some media, notably HuffPo and Mashable, are making it much easier for socially-aware leaders to do good. HuffPo’s HuffPost Education Section is a media hub for all things relevant to the country’s failing education system. The brain child of Brian Sirgutz, SVP of Social Impact at The Huffington Post/AOL, HuffPo’s Education Section came about after the media channel’s executive leadership watched the movie Waiting for Superman. It’s a content channel devoted to charting what’s wrong – and what could make it right – in our education system. It may not meet your criteria for doing good, but when you’re a media channel, access is your gift and your gold. Then there’s Mashable’s Social Good content channel. The editors of Mashable, led by Meghan Peters, Community Manager for Mashable, scan the Interwebs for news and evidence of individuals, leaders and organizations dedicating resources to social good. Sometimes all it takes is a light shining on a good act, or a horror, to alert society (and leaders) to the opportunity for social good. PS: My #TChat World of Work Community will be featuring both the talented Meghan and talented Brian this week as we celebrate via social media channels.

5) Selflessness. This is the tough one. Some entrepreneurs and successful (wealthy, not merely well-off) people are not acquainted with selflessness. They do things because their personal calculus tells them there’s a benefit. Maybe it’s the unreconstructed Catholic in me but by my reckoning, you haven’t done a social good if you expect to deduct it on your taxes. You do a social good when you have no expectation of repayment of any kind – we’re not buying indulgences here.

Non-profit, for-profit, individual or business leader – we can all learn a lesson during the festival of light, the season of charity and goodness. Open your hearts and minds before you open your wallets. Charity doesn’t count if you don’t understand the motivation.

Defense Secretary-Nominee Hagel

2013-01-12T18:52:00.000-06:00

...Because being a Colonel and being Competent are not synonymous. Scocos, don't you agree?

Despite Rising Veteran Homelessness, Scocos's WDVA Shuts Down Homeless Program

2013-01-02T20:32:00.000-06:00

The number of Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming so has more than doubled in the last two years, according to a new USA Today story, below. And here in Wisconsin, veteran homelessness in Milwaukee is much higher than the national average, according to a recent Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article, also below.

Despite this rising veteran homelessness nationwide and rates in Wisconsin higher than the national average, WDVA's Secretary John Scocos has shut down a key WDVA homeless assistance program (also below).

Scocos doesn't apparently see the need to inform the public of the closure. WDVA's news webpage, where WDVA once publicized agency news good and bad, is glaringly silent with no mention of the closure.

And although the program is now closed, WDVA's website still lists it as open, more mismanagment and yet another indication of the shipshod way WDVA is run under Scocos's "leadership."

Scocos has a long history of what appears to be efforts to undo the nationally acclaimed work on homeless veterans of his predecessor and mentor, Ray Boland, whom Scocos has secretly detested for years.

When Scocos was first appointed WDVA Secretary in 2003, one of his first initiatives was to "reorganize" the state's homeless veterans programs, permanently shutting down WDVA funding for homeless veterans in Milwaukee despite that being the area of greatest need in the state.

From this latest homeless program closure to killing the state veterans home loan and other loan programs to trying to destroy County Veterans Service Officers in each county, shuttering veterans programs created through the valiant efforts of countless others seems to be all that Scocos knows or cares to do.

Wisconsin veterans deserve much better than the raw deal they're getting under Scocos. Virtually anyone with a heart could do better.

===========================
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/26/homeless-at-risk-veterans-double/1792557/

Homeless, at-risk veterans double

Gregg Zoroya USA TODAY

12:02p.m. EST December 27, 2012

The number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are homeless or at risk of losing a roof over their heads has more than doubled in the past two years, according to government data.

Through the end of September, 26,531 of them were living on the streets, at risk of losing their homes, staying in temporary housing or receiving federal vouchers to pay rent, the Department of Veterans Affairs reports.

That's up from 10,500 in 2010. The VA says the numbers could be higher because they include only the homeless the department is aware of.

The department says effects of the two wars on them, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, and a slow economic recovery have contributed to their homelessness.

The issue is particularly acute as the military continues to draw down its ranks. About 307,000 are likely to leave the military each of the next four years.

Iraq and Afghanistan vets are different from other veterans, she says.

"They're younger, much more savvy and they don't necessarily like to ask for help," Murphy says. "But there are a lot of them out there."

============================
http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/State-closing-down-local-facility-for-homeless-veterans-181616191.html

State WDVA closing down local facility for homeless veterans

MONROE CO. (WEAU)- In 30-days, the state will close down a local facility that takes in homeless veterans.

The 10 veterans living in the Veteran Assistance Center located in Fort McCoy have until December 30th to find another place to live.

Up until a month ago 20-year-old veteran Jacob Fisher had no place to call his own. That's why he found this home at Fort McCoy to be his safe haven.

"I just got this job, full time factory work. It's the best opportunity I have had in a long time and now for it to be stripped from it before I even got it going I have a lot of mixed feelings,” said Fisher.

But on Tuesday Fisher found out the center will be closed down. It's a cold time of year, and now he's afraid he'll be back out on the street.

"I don't want to go back to running around looking for food, running around to find a shelter, and I don't want to sleep in random places anymore," said Fisher.

The state's Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) says it decided to close down the center as part of re-organizing and getting rid of duplicate services.

=============

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/group-helps-homeless-veterans-se85q9b-184993761.html

Patrolling for veterans in need

Every two years Milwaukee's homeless population is counted through the Point in Time Survey, conducted through the auspices of the Milwaukee Continuum of Care Steering Committee. The last survey was done in January 2011 when 1,466 homeless adults and children were counted in Milwaukee, including people staying in homeless shelters.

Of those, 26% identified themselves to interviewers as someone who served in the U.S. Armed Forces or was mobilized for active duty in the National Guard or reserves.

More recent national statistics show on a single night in January 2012, 62,619 veterans were homeless in the United States, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's latest estimate of homelessness. That's nearly 10% of the estimated 633,000 homeless people in the country.

Why the numbers here?

Why does Milwaukee's homeless population have a much higher percentage of veterans?

Dennis Johnson isn't sure why but knows many veterans from Chicago come to Milwaukee because the VA hospital here has an excellent reputation. Some go through programs for drug or alcohol addictions, mental health or chronic pain issues, and then eventually move from the domiciliary on the VA grounds to an apartment in the area. But for a variety of reasons, they lose their jobs, their homes, and they're out on the street.

"When I started this 4 ½ years ago, I didn't have any idea of the problem," said Johnson, a Vietnam veteran who is co-founder and executive director of the initiative.

About 80% of the homeless veterans in Milwaukee are in their 50s or older; they served in the military from World War II to the current conflicts, though most of Milwaukee's homeless are people who served in the peacetime military in the 1980s, said Bill Christofferson, a Vietnam veteran who handles fundraising for the group.

Johnson and Christofferson suspect the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who become homeless will rise in the coming months and years.

"I think there's going to be a wave of younger guys that will be homeless in a few years," said Johnson. "Especially now when it's so hard to get a job."

If it was simply finding a job, there would be few homeless veterans.

Often homelessness starts with one setback such as an illness, accident or loss of job and then other things happen and it becomes a downward slide.

"There's no easy solution. We're a society that wants a quick fix," said Tracey Sperko, a Navy veteran and registered nurse at Milwaukee's VA hospital who will become president of the initiative in early January.

To volunteer or to donate food, clothing, furniture or money: Milwaukee Homeless Veterans Initiative, P.O. Box 341236, Milwaukee, WI 53219; (414) 763-5596; neverhomeless.org

Texas DVA to Track Veterans' Deaths - WDVA Continues to Fall Behind

2013-01-02T18:50:00.002-06:00

Wisconsin continues to fall behind others states in terms of taking care of state veterans. In the news story below, the State of Texas, one of the nation's leaders in taking care of veterans, will now begin to track veterans' cause of death -- potentially important in identifying trends affecting Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans and other groups of veterans.

Texas is also one of several states with federal tax authorization to offer state level veterans home loans.

Current Texas state veterans home mortgage loan rates are at only 2.94%. Texas disabled veterans with a 30 percent or greater VA disability rating can receive loans at a rate a full half-percentage point lower, at 2.44%.

One of WDVA Secretary John Scocos's first actions as Secretary was to permanently shut down the WDVA veterans home loan program.

Under Scocos, Wisconsin is the only state to shutter its state veterans home loan program, dropping Wisconsin even further into obscurity among other state veterans affairs programs.

Through his mismanagement, ineptitude, and demonstrated willingness to destroy veterans programs like the WDVA veterans home loan and other WDVA programs, Scocos has done more to harm Wisconsin veterans than anyone in Wisconsin's history.

Scocos is a disgrace and an embarrassing reflection on the people and state of Wisconsin.

******

http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Texas-Dept-of-Veterans-Affairs-to-track-deaths-4142070.php

Texas Dept. of Veterans Affairs to track deaths

December 23, 2012 | Updated: December 23, 2012 3:21pm

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Department of Veterans Affairs will conduct a mortality study to track causes of death for veterans, creating a database that could be used to evaluate services provided to veterans.

The department's decision came two months after an Austin American-Statesman investigation found that nearly as many Texas veterans died from prescription medicines as from suicide. The newspaper said Sunday (http://bit.ly/YzXj9t ) it used autopsy and toxicology reports, inquests and accident reports from more than 50 state agencies to determine the causes of death for 266 Texas veterans who had been receiving disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs when they died.

After the Statesman's first report, state and federal lawmakers called on the department to increase the data it collects and share it with the public.

The department said its Office of Public Health Post-Deployment Epidemiology Program would review "the universe of causes, including drug overdose and motor vehicle crashes."

The program will receive a list of veterans who served in combat zones from the Department of Defense. The list will be matched to causes of death listed on death certificates and compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Veterans Affairs declined to say how the data collected would be used in the future.

"If they do it well, they should be able to answer the questions people are asking: how many veterans are dying and what are they dying from?" said B. Christopher Frueh, a former researcher for the department who is a post-traumatic stress disorder expert at the Menninger Clinic in Houston.

___

Information from: Austin American-Statesman, http://www.statesman.com

Milwaukee County Offers New Benefit to Purple Heart veterans -- WDVA Not Informing Veterans

2013-01-01T07:18:00.000-06:00

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele's new program honoring wounded Purple Heart veterans, below, went into effect today, January 1, 2013.

No thanks to WDVA's leader, John Scocos, for the new benefit.

Sadly for Wisconsin veterans, Scocos apparently can't even be bothered to inform Wisconsin veterans of the program.

Thankfully, Milwaukee County has a website to inform all Wisconsin veterans, also below, that does its best to make up for Scocos's failings.

Scocos's failure to inform Wisconsin veterans is just one more example of how much of an embarrassment he is to the people and state of Wisconsin.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/viewart/20121227/GPG0101/312270263/Wisconsin-Purple-Heart-veterans-get-special-pass

MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin veterans who have been awarded the Purple Heart will soon get free admission to some popular Milwaukee County venues.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele will award the first passes to two veterans during an event on Friday.

The facilities included are the Milwaukee County Zoo, Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, Discovery World and the Harley-Davidson Museum. The Boerner Botanical Gardens and the Mitchell Park Domes also will offer free admission.

Veterans have to contact the Milwaukee County Veterans Service Office to get a pass.

Abele says he’s honored to thank veterans in this small way. The pass goes into effect Jan. 1.

=======================

http://county.milwaukee.gov/VeteransAffairs7757/Purple-Heart-Pass.htm

Purple Heart Pass

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele is proud to announce the Milwaukee County Purple Heart Pass (PHP). The PHP is a first-of-its-kind pass that allows Purple Heart Veterans from Wisconsin free admission into a number of private and public Milwaukee County venues.

“There is no way we can ever fully repay veterans, but this is a small way we can thank the brave men and woman who put their lives in harm’s way,” Abele said.

Purple Heart Veterans from across Wisconsin are eligible for this pass.

The Milwaukee County Zoo, Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, Discovery World and the Harley-Davidson Museum will provide free, year-long admission to PHP holders and one guest. The Milwaukee County Parks will also offer free admission to the Boerner Botanical Gardens and the Mitchell Park Domes. The value of the pass is more than $200.

The PHP goes into effect January 1, 2013. The Milwaukee County Veterans Service Office (MCVSO) will administer the pass, verifying eligibility through military service records.

Purple Heart Veterans can contact MCVSO Director Jim Duff via phone (414.266.1235) or email (jduff@milwcnty.com) for more information on obtaining a pass.

Veteran Writes: sad reality of our government's convenient blindness to Veterans' Issues

2012-12-29T19:49:00.000-06:00

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/letter03-t287ble-185473991.html

A good and worthwhile idea

Meg Jones' article highlights the sad reality of our government's convenient blindness to veterans' issues ("Patrolling for veterans in need," Dec. 28). We seem to have no trouble sending our citizens off to war, even when the conflicts serve nothing but hollow political and economic ends.

Where are the politicians once the veterans return home? Where is the economic support once their service is over? Our country should be mortified at the plight of homeless vets.

Donating to agencies that assist homeless veterans is a good and worthwhile idea. An even better idea is to contact our elected officials and demand immediate action to address this outrageous hypocrisy.

Dennis B. Appleton  Madison

Veterans Outreach Failing More than Half of All Veterans

2012-11-21T16:55:00.000-06:00

Government Accountability Office blasts Department of Veterans Affairs, saying "little is known about effectiveness" of Outreach efforts since they're not measured

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/19/3925713/va-outreach-lags-as-many-veterans.html

Department of Veterans Affairs outreach lags as many veterans unaware of benefits

BY CHRIS ADAMS

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- More than half of America’s veterans say they have little or no understanding of the benefits due them, despite efforts over recent years to match returning soldiers with the help and services they need.

An analysis of Department of Veterans Affairs survey data found that younger veterans – those who served in the post-9/11 war period – are better versed in their benefits. But even among those veterans, 40 percent say they have little or no understanding of their benefits, a figure that climbs to two-thirds for those unfamiliar with life insurance benefits available.

The VA said it’s working hard to boost benefits awareness and has taken steps in recent years to do so.

“We want to accept them into the VA. We want to help them,” said Joseph Curtin, who recently became the VA’s director of outreach.

One major change will come this week when a new law will mandate all departing service members go through a series of detailed benefits sessions. Until now, participation in such sessions varied by service and was often optional.

The VA had been reaching 150,000 service members per year; under the mandatory, beefed-up, sessions, that’s expected to rise to 307,000.

America’s veterans are eligible for a range of benefits, from access to the VA’s well-regarded medical system to lifetime payments for disabilities suffered during military service to access to education, life insurance and home loan programs.

But VA data show that participation varies widely by geography. In addition, a veteran’s understanding of what’s available varies greatly by period of service.

McClatchy analyzed the VA’s 2010 National Survey of Veterans, conducted about every 10 years to determine the state of America’s veterans. Included are several questions about veterans’ health coverage as well as understanding of the VA benefits package. McClatchy also reviewed benefits data by state in 2011, the most recent year available.

When asked about the VA benefits, veterans’ responses are all over the map, depending on their age and the benefit in question.

Among all veterans, 59 percent said their understanding of available benefits was “a little” or “not at all,” according to the analysis of the VA’s survey data.

But there were some wide swings:

– Among older veterans, including those from Vietnam, Korea and World War II, 55 percent or more have little or no understanding of their benefits; among veterans from the period between Korea and Vietnam, lack of understanding shot to 65 percent.

– Among younger veterans, 40 percent had little or no understanding.

– Asked specifically about life insurance benefits, 80 percent said they have little or no understanding of them – including 62 percent who said they have no understanding at all.

– Asked about education benefits, younger veterans – who would be most likely to use them – have far greater understanding of what’s available than their older brethren. Even so, 41 percent said they have little or no understanding of those benefits, which include several different and sometimes overlapping programs.

In 2011, the Government Accountability Office pointed to the complexity of the VA’s education programs as a possible factor that kept more veterans from participating. The GAO said that although outreach efforts were widespread, “little is known about the effectiveness” of those efforts, since the VA didn’t have a way to measure its outreach performance.

Some veterans told the GAO they were forced to wait too long or had to call several times to get information from the VA’s hotlines; a high percentage of the attempted calls met a busy signal. Further, some veterans and their advocates told the GAO that briefings for separating service members were not effective and often provided too much information to readily digest.

The GAO recommended the VA establish new performance measures and improve communication with colleges where veterans enroll. The VA said last week it was putting the GAO’s recommendations into place.

Lack of outreach could help explain why the participation in VA programs is so disparate across the country.

The VA has long grappled with widely divergent assessments in the disability awards it gives veterans. The VA first confronted this problem in 2005, when news organizations reported that veterans’ monthly checks varied widely depending on where they lived.

Beyond that, though, is the general issue of what percentage of veterans even participate in the program.

Among the VA’s disability compensation program, for example, 25 percent of veterans in Nebraska participate, while only 10 percent of those in Connecticut do so.

In the life insurance program, participation goes from 8 percent in New Jersey to 2 percent in Alaska, according to 2011 VA data.

The VA said it’s working to boost awareness of all its benefits programs, and it said that most of the variation it can explain deals with population differences by state – such as the percentage of a state’s population that is retired military.

The VA also said the 2010 survey data does not capture some of the efforts undertaken in the last couple of years to expand access to its benefits. Among other things, the VA said that two-thirds of veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan have used some VA benefit or service, and that 45 percent of those veterans have filed disability claims; both are far higher than from previous war periods. Health and disability benefits have also been expanded for certain older veterans, based on updated income or illness standards.

Among the most significant changes will come this week, when the VA and the Pentagon start the revamped briefings for service members transitioning to civilian life. The VA also will make the briefings available in monthly webinars.

The efforts will go a long way toward eliminating the problem of veterans who don’t understand their benefits, said Danny Pummill, who oversees the VA’s transition assistance program.

But while the briefings should capture more younger veterans and keep their participation rates relatively high, they don’t address the soldiers and sailors who left military service after World War II, Korea, Vietnam or other periods.

“Sometimes there’s this warrior ethic – I served proudly and didn’t get hurt,” said Curtin. “Those benefits are for somebody else. There’s a mentality and pride and they don’t look into their benefits. . . . We’ve got to reach out to World War II, Korean and Vietnam veterans who might never have looked at these benefits before.”

Email: cadams@mcclatchydc.com

Posted on Tue, Nov. 20, 2012 01:29 PM

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/19/3925713/va-outreach-lags-as-many-veterans.html#storylink=cpy

Veterans find jobs, and new mission, in Obama's Green Economy

2012-11-21T15:06:00.000-06:00

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/news/article.asp?docKey=600-201211182005KRTRIB__BUSNEWS_63772_4699-1&params=timestamp||11/18/2012%208:05%20PM%20ET||headline||Veterans%20find%20jobs%2C%20and%20new%20mission%2C%20in%20cleantech%20%5BSan%20Jose%20Mercury%20News%5D||docSource||McClatchy-Tribune||provider||ACQUIREMEDIA||realtedsyms||%7CUS%3BTSLA%7CUS%3BFSLR%7CUS%3BLNKD

McClatchy-Tribune 11/19/2012 6:09 AM ET

Veterans find jobs, and new mission

Saving troops' lives: For every 50 convoys of gasoline brought into a war zone, a Marine is killed or wounded.

[San Jose Mercury News]

Nov. 19--When military veterans search for jobs, they often want more than a paycheck. Many say they look for rewarding work and a team of dedicated people focused on a common mission.

With the war in Iraq officially over and the American presence in Afghanistan winding down, many veterans are finding new careers and that strong sense of purpose in the growing cleantech economy.

Some are helping build the massive solar farms sprouting up in California's deserts. A black POW-MIA flag flies every day at BrightSource Energy's Ivanpah solar plant under construction in the Mojave Desert, courtesy of a project superintendent who was a Marine in Vietnam.

About 10 percent of Palo Alto-based Tesla Motors (TSLA)' global workforce of 3,000 employees are veterans or military hires. The company has built partnerships with several military placement organizations, including Hire America's Heroes, which connects American companies to top military talent, and Swords to Plowshares, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that has been providing services to veterans for more than 40 years.

"Veterans are the perfect fit for Tesla because many of them gained incredibly advanced technical, electrical and mechanical skills in the service that are directly applicable to manufacturing electric

vehicles," said Tesla spokeswoman Shanna Hendriks. "Veterans are taught to be leaders within the context of a cooperative team, and that is exactly how Tesla works -- allowing employees to think outside the box while working hard toward a common goal."

Hendriks added that many of Tesla's veteran employees say they are "especially happy to be working in the green sector after observing how fossil fuels have promoted violence and damaged the climate around the world."

The Department of Defense -- eager to reduce its dependence on oil in the battlefield and keen to become energy efficient at home -- is investing in clean technology, including advanced biofuels, electric vehicles, solar-powered batteries and bases that generate their own electricity. The support of clean energy is directly tied to saving lives, says Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who has pointed out that for every 50 convoys of gasoline brought into a war zone, a Marine is killed or wounded.

About 20 percent of the roughly 800 workers currently constructing First Solar's 550 megawatt Topaz Solar Farm in San Luis Obispo County are veterans.

"We've got a lot of guys from Iraq and Afghanistan, and they've taken on leadership roles," said Richard D'Amato, who oversees construction at Topaz, which First Solar says will produce enough electricity to power 160,000 homes. "They are used to working hard in less than great conditions. It can be 110 degrees on some days."

D'Amato, who was a Marine during the Vietnam era, says veterans bring something special to First Solar -- intense pride and esprit de corps.

"The way to get off of foreign oil is through wind and solar. Our guys believe in it," he said. "It's a rallying point, especially in California, where the cost of energy is so darn high. I've met their families, and their wives always say 'What you guys are doing with renewable energy is great.' "

There are no hard statistics about how many veterans work in cleantech, or whether proportionately more veterans enter cleantech than other sectors of the economy. But for veterans like Michael Eyman, who ended a 17-year Navy career in 2009, cleantech seemed a perfect fit.

"I started thinking about clean energy when I was out with Operation Southern Watch in the late 1990s," said Eyman, referring to the U.S. patrols of the "no-fly" zone in Iraq. "When you are in the Middle East as a military person, you start to wonder: 'Why am I here? Why is the United States so interested in this region?' And energy quickly becomes one of the issues."

Eyman searched corporate websites for information and took note when executives had military experience.

He scoured LinkedIn for contacts. In March, he sent his resume to SunPower (SPWRA), Silicon Valley's leading solar manufacturer. He took a risk and went up the chain of command, writing a lengthy email to Marty Neese, SunPower's chief operating officer. Eyman knew that Neese graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and was a captain in the Army.

"I am looking for the same kind of connection to mission and vision that I enjoyed in my 17 years in the Navy. Alternative energy has precisely that kind of higher purpose," Eyman wrote. "I want to get involved, but could use some advice on how to transition my background to a civilian market which so often doesn't understand what my years and experiences mean."

Neese was impressed by Eyman's resume, passion and drive. In July, Eyman began working for SunPower out of its Austin, Texas, office as a product manager.

Monica Anguiano, 27, joined the Army after graduating from high school and served from 2003 to 2007 in the Signal Corps as a telecommunications operator. She now works at SolarCity, one of the nation's leading rooftop solar installers, as a residential programs associate, acting as the liaison between customers and utility companies.

"When you get in the military, the first thing they teach you is work smarter, not harder," said Anguiano, who first saw rooftop solar on a large scale when she was stationed in Germany. "Clean energy is a lot smarter. It's a no-brainer to me to try to expand solar instead of sticking with coal and oil. When I was driving through Kuwait, I'd see houses with solar panels. Even in a place where there's a lot of oil, they are choosing solar."

Anguiano, who regularly visits the VA hospital in San Francisco for help with a shoulder injury, has a SolarCity sticker on the bumper of her car and is proud that it's become a conversation starter. "The last time I went to the VA, I got flagged down by a couple of World War II veterans," she said. "They were 80-year-olds. They knew all about solar and wanted to talk to me about it."

Anguiano said her family is excited she's working in clean energy, and she's excited, too.

"It was a bumpy road to translate what I learned in the military to a civilian job," she said. "But my feeling is that if you are going to do something, you might as well do something worthwhile."

**Contact Dana Hull at 408-920-2706. Follow her at Twitter.com/danahull.

Forum: Let veterans know of Iraq health risks

2012-11-20T07:55:00.000-06:00

http://www.pjstar.com/opinions/forum/x1671794004/Forum-Let-veterans-know-of-health-risks-from-depleted-uranium-exposure

Forum: Let veterans know of Iraq health risks

On Veterans Day, how I would have loved to thank my son, Aaron Barnes. But I couldn't because he died a year ago.

I have told his story several times in this forum so I will keep it short. Aaron served 26 months in Iraq, continually exposed to depleted uranium and other chemicals. A year after he came home, he became ill and never got well. The VA hospital found a mass on his kidney, told him it was a stone or cyst and not to worry about it. By the time he was properly diagnosed outside the VA system, it was too late. He died five months after being diagnosed.

When I learned what kind of cancer he had, I immediately started researching and learned that it was most often seen in people who lived or served in the Persian Gulf area and was caused by depleted uranium. The VA denied they were exposed to anything, even though at the time of Aaron's death, at least four others had died of cancer.

In previous letters to the editor I asked that veterans be made aware of this. I'm sure a lot of people dismissed me as a grieving mother looking for someone to blame for her son's death. I was vindicated on Nov. 7. After countless letters to the president on down and claims filed by my daughter-in-law, the VA answered: "Cancer and cause of death were service-related."

We still need a law passed so everyone who served there and their children are tested regularly and treated if necessary. Please help spread the word so no other parent, spouse, or child has to go through what our family has the past two years.

Kimberley Schisler

Canton, Ill.

Army, Navy suicides at record high

2012-11-19T09:03:00.000-06:00

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/18/navy-suicides-army/1702403/

Army, Navy suicides at record high

Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY

Suicides among active-duty forces across the military are now occurring at a rate faster than one per day.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Trend seen in all military branches
Military and medical leaders have been searching for answers to what's been called an "epidemic"
Most are traced to failed relationships, something linked to frequent deployments

7:46PM EST November 18. 2012 - With six weeks left in the year, the Army and Navy are already reporting record numbers of suicides, with the Air Force and Marine Corps close to doing the same, making 2012 the worst year for military suicides since careful tracking began in 2001.

The deaths are now occurring at a rate faster than one per day. On Nov. 11, confirmed or suspected suicides among active-duty forces across the military reached 323, surpassing the Pentagon's previous high of 310 suicides set in 2009.

Of that total, the Army accounted for 168, surpassing its high last year of 165; 53 sailors took their own lives, one more than last year.

The Air Force and Marine Corps are only a few deaths from record numbers. Fifty-six airmen had committed suicide as of Nov. 11, short of the 60 in 2010. There have been 46 suicides among Marines, whose worst year was 2009 with 52.

"We continue to reach out to and embrace those who are struggling," the Army's chief personnel officer, Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg, said in a statement Sunday. "We've taken great strides to prevent suicides, but our work isn't done."

Military and medical leaders have been searching for answers to what Defense Secretary Leon Panetta describes as an "epidemic" of suicides ever since the numbers began increasing among soldiers and Marines in 2005.

Military suicide researcher David Rudd sees a direct link with the effects of combat and frequent deployments.

"The reason you're going to see record numbers is because these wars are drawing down and these young men and women are returning home," Rudd said. "When they return home, that's where the conflicts surface."

While post-traumatic stress disorder was not a factor in large numbers of suicides, data show, among nearly 85% there were failed relationships, something linked to frequent separations.

Still, at at least a third of soldiers who killed themselves this year never went to war, and some leaders draw a correlation with societal stress, perhaps related to the poor economy.

"This is not just a military issue or an Army issue," said Gen. Lloyd Austin III, Army vice chief of staff.

"Across the military, we're a microcosm of what's in the nation," said Navy Vice Adm. Martha Herb, director personnel readiness.

The trend in suicides now seems to be impacting the branches that have had fewer troops in combat: the Navy and Air Force.

Suicide rates for the military, while rising, have remained lower than for the general population until this year. The current rate for the Army is close to 30 per 100,000, outpacing an estimated 24-per-100,000 rate among a demographically similar civilian population, according to military statistics.

The record-setting numbers reported by the military pertain only to active duty troops. The Army, for example, has recorded an additional 114 suicides among G.I.s in the National Guard or Reserve who were demobilized — its citizen soldiers.

When Army suicides among those on active duty and demobilized status are combined, the number exceeds the 207 soldiers who have died so far this year in Afghanistan, a difference further skewed because some of those combat zone deaths were also suicides.

The military in recent years has invested more than $50 million in research efforts to produce evidence-based tools for preventing suicide.

Among the first studies is one involving 50 soldiers who attempted suicide at Fort Carson, Colo. It recently found that by teaching them meditation and relaxation skills to manage emotions and relationships, suicidal behavior was dramatically reduced, said Rudd, who is leading the research.

"We weren't thinking about the issue as really one of curing mental illness," he said. "(It) is about installation of hope."

US Colonel blasts PowerPoint bureaucracy in War Zones: 'I have done nothing useful since I've been here'

2012-11-19T07:24:00.000-06:00

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/27/afghan_powerpoint_rangers/

POWERPOINT RANGERS: US Colonel Blasts PowerPoint Bureaucracy in War Zones

'I have done nothing useful since I've been here'

By Lewis Page

A US colonel serving at NATO's headquarters in Afghanistan has launched a blistering attack on the PowerPoint culture and top-heavy bureaucracy there.

"Fortunately little of substance is really done here, but that is a task we do well," writes Colonel Lawrence Sellin, who works at the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, or IJC, the organisation nominally in control of the war in Afghanistan.

Sellin describes the IJC as "a stove-piped and bloated organization, top-heavy in rank" and says "you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a colonel". Rather than coordinating the war among the various regional NATO commands, Sellin says, IJC's primary purpose is "to provide some general a three-star command". He adds that even more superfluous brass hats are to be added to IJC next month because "an officer, who is currently without one, needs a staff of 35 people to create a big splash before his promotion board".

What do all these high-ranking staff brains actually do all day, then, sitting in their air-conditioned headquarters while combat troops sweat and bleed and die in the baking heat?

Well, not much, according to Sellin. He says he's been at IJC for two months now, and "during that time, I have not done anything productive".

Apparently the main activity for staff officers at IJC is the giving of PowerPoint briefings and - even worse - being made to sit through them. The theoretical purpose of the PowerPoint parades is to inform generals of what is going on, but it seems that the top commanders often don't bother to turn up.

"Skill in briefing resides in how you say it," complains Sellin. "It doesn't matter so much what you say or even if you are speaking Klingon."

Middle-ranking generals "listen to the [presentations] in a semi-comatose state ... It doesn't matter how inane or useless the briefing or meeting might be. Once it is part of the 'battle rhythm', it has the persistence of carbon 14."

Mere majors and colonels (on line command duty a US colonel would boss thousands of fighting troops, but on the staff he is small fry) are forced to go to all the meetings and briefs. It's no good playing truant, either: "they take roll - just like gym class".

The only thing which senior officers will actually notice in a PowerPoint brief is any deviation from their favoured, approved military style or language. Apparently "one tiny flaw in a slide can halt a general's thought processes as abruptly as a computer system's blue screen of death", which means that a staff officer's main activity becomes "endless tinkering with PowerPoint slides to conform with the idiosyncrasies of cognitively challenged generals".

Then, having been forced to attend interminable, pointless meetings and turgid Powerpoint presentations, a harried PONTI gets back to his desk - and it gets even worse.

Information is delivered as PowerPoint slides in e-mail at the flow rate of a fire hose. Standard operating procedure is to send everything that you have. Volume is considered the equivalent of quality.

Colonel Sellin's words ring true for anyone who has served on or dealt with a high-level military headquarters, or indeed any large and topheavy bureaucracy. The colonel is on his second Afghan tour and has previously served in Iraq, but it's always possible - having written all this for newswire UPI - that he'll find himself coming home soon.

"I have been known to walk that fine line between good taste and unemployment," he admits.

Which would perhaps be part of the solution - the US Army, like most, has far too many colonels. But given the fact that Sellin is willing to tell the truth about the way our fighting boys and girls are being managed (one can't really say "led" or "commanded"), he at least might be something of a loss to the cause.

We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint

2012-11-19T07:01:00.000-06:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html?_r=0

POWERPOINT RANGERS: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint

WASHINGTON — Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the former leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was shown a PowerPoint slide in Kabul that was meant to portray the complexity of American military strategy, but looked more like a bowl of spaghetti.

“When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war,” General McChrystal dryly remarked, one of his advisers recalled, as the room erupted in laughter.

The slide has since bounced around the Internet as an example of a military tool that has spun out of control. Like an insurgency, PowerPoint has crept into the daily lives of military commanders and reached the level of near obsession. The amount of time expended on PowerPoint, the Microsoft presentation program of computer-generated charts, graphs and bullet points, has made it a running joke in the Pentagon and in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“PowerPoint makes us stupid,” Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps, the Joint Forces commander, said this month at a military conference in North Carolina. (He spoke without PowerPoint.) Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who banned PowerPoint presentations when he led the successful effort to secure the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005, followed up at the same conference by likening PowerPoint to an internal threat.

“It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control,” General McMaster said in a telephone interview afterward. “Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.”

In General McMaster’s view, PowerPoint’s worst offense is not a chart like the spaghetti graphic, which was first uncovered by NBC’s Richard Engel, but rigid lists of bullet points (in, say, a presentation on a conflict’s causes) that take no account of interconnected political, economic and ethnic forces. “If you divorce war from all of that, it becomes a targeting exercise,” General McMaster said.

Commanders say that behind all the PowerPoint jokes are serious concerns that the program stifles discussion, critical thinking and thoughtful decision-making. Not least, it ties up junior officers — referred to as PowerPoint Rangers — in the daily preparation of slides, be it for a Joint Staff meeting in Washington or for a platoon leader’s pre-mission combat briefing in a remote pocket of Afghanistan.

Last year when a military Web site, Company Command, asked an Army platoon leader in Iraq, Lt. Sam Nuxoll, how he spent most of his time, he responded, “Making PowerPoint slides.” When pressed, he said he was serious.

“I have to make a storyboard complete with digital pictures, diagrams and text summaries on just about anything that happens,” Lieutenant Nuxoll told the Web site. “Conduct a key leader engagement? Make a storyboard. Award a microgrant? Make a storyboard.”

Despite such tales, “death by PowerPoint,” the phrase used to described the numbing sensation that accompanies a 30-slide briefing, seems here to stay. The program, which first went on sale in 1987 and was acquired by Microsoft soon afterward, is deeply embedded in a military culture that has come to rely on PowerPoint’s hierarchical ordering of a confused world.

“There’s a lot of PowerPoint backlash, but I don’t see it going away anytime soon,” said Capt. Crispin Burke, an Army operations officer at Fort Drum, N.Y., who under the name Starbuck wrote an essay about PowerPoint on the Web site Small Wars Journal that cited Lieutenant Nuxoll’s comment.

In a daytime telephone conversation, he estimated that he spent an hour each day making PowerPoint slides. In an initial e-mail message responding to the request for an interview, he wrote, “I would be free tonight, but unfortunately, I work kind of late (sadly enough, making PPT slides).”

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates reviews printed-out PowerPoint slides at his morning staff meeting, although he insists on getting them the night before so he can read ahead and cut back the briefing time.

Gen. David H. Petraeus, who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and says that sitting through some PowerPoint briefings is “just agony,” nonetheless likes the program for the display of maps and statistics showing trends. He has also conducted more than a few PowerPoint presentations himself.

General McChrystal gets two PowerPoint briefings in Kabul per day, plus three more during the week. General Mattis, despite his dim view of the program, said a third of his briefings are by PowerPoint.

Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was given PowerPoint briefings during a trip to Afghanistan last summer at each of three stops — Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif and Bagram Air Base. At a fourth stop, Herat, the Italian forces there not only provided Mr. Holbrooke with a PowerPoint briefing, but accompanied it with swelling orchestral music.

President Obama was shown PowerPoint slides, mostly maps and charts, in the White House Situation Room during the Afghan strategy review last fall.

Commanders say that the slides impart less information than a five-page paper can hold, and that they relieve the briefer of the need to polish writing to convey an analytic, persuasive point. Imagine lawyers presenting arguments before the Supreme Court in slides instead of legal briefs.

Captain Burke’s essay in the Small Wars Journal also cited a widely read attack on PowerPoint in Armed Forces Journal last summer by Thomas X. Hammes, a retired Marine colonel, whose title, “Dumb-Dumb Bullets,” underscored criticism of fuzzy bullet points; “accelerate the introduction of new weapons,” for instance, does not actually say who should do so.

No one is suggesting that PowerPoint is to blame for mistakes in the current wars, but the program did become notorious during the prelude to the invasion of Iraq. As recounted in the book “Fiasco” by Thomas E. Ricks (Penguin Press, 2006), Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan, who led the allied ground forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, grew frustrated when he could not get Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the commander at the time of American forces in the Persian Gulf region, to issue orders that stated explicitly how he wanted the invasion conducted, and why. Instead, General Franks just passed on to General McKiernan the vague PowerPoint slides that he had already shown to Donald H. Rumsfeld, the defense secretary at the time.

Senior officers say the program does come in handy when the goal is not imparting information, as in briefings for reporters.

The news media sessions often last 25 minutes, with 5 minutes left at the end for questions from anyone still awake. Those types of PowerPoint presentations, Dr. Hammes said, are known as “hypnotizing chickens.”

Helene Cooper contributed reporting.

==========

READ MORE:

How PowerPoint Stifles Understanding, Creativity, and Innovation Within Your Organization, by Ben Zweibelson, Small Wars Journal

Dryhootch: Not every battle ends when the fighting is done

2012-11-18T10:53:00.000-06:00

Gates, Others Critique Senior Military Officer Lifestyle

2012-11-17T16:15:00.000-06:00

“There is something about a sense of entitlement and of having great power that skews people’s judgment."

-Former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/petraeus-scandal-puts-four-star-general-lifestyle-under-scrutiny/2012/11/17/33a14f48-3043-11e2-a30e-5ca76eeec857_story.html?tid=pm_world_pop

David Barno, a retired three-star general who commanded U.S. troops in Afghanistan, warned in an interview that the environment in which the top brass lives has the potential “to become corrosive over time upon how they live their life.”

“You can become completely disconnected from the way people live in the regular world — and even from the modest lifestyle of others in the military,” Barno said. “When that happens, it’s not necessarily healthy either for the military or the country.”

“The military is trapped in an older cultural time warp,” Feaver said.

But he worried that the recent high-profile excesses could chip away at the military’s credibility. There’s a sentiment among the ranks that generals are out of touch, he said.

“This provides fuel for that kind of critique,” he said. “It can do damage to the institution.”

Dryhootch: Help Veterans in Need this Holiday Season

2012-11-17T14:59:00.000-06:00

Visit Dryhootch.org at: http://dryhootch.org/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Veterans In New Congress Fewest Since World War II

2012-11-17T11:20:00.000-06:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/17/veterans-congress-fewest_n_2144852.html

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aterkel@huffingtonpost.com

Veterans In New Congress Fewest Since World War II

Posted: 11/17/2012 9:08 am EST Updated: 11/17/2012 11:21 am EST

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Elections 2012, Elections 2012, Video, American Legion, Congress Vets, Military Veterans, Military Veterans Congress, Senate Vets, Tammy Duckworth, Veterans Congress, Veterans Senate, War Veterans Congress, War Veterans Senate, Politics News

Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, will be one of just 85 veterans in House in the 113th session. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON -- The 113th Congress that takes office in January will have the fewest military veterans since World War II, although the number of members who served in the Afghanistan or Iraq wars is growing.

Nineteen percent of the next Congress will be veterans, with 85 in the House and 18 in the Senate, according to a tally compiled by the American Legion. In the current Congress, there are 91 veterans in the House and 25 in the Senate.

The decline isn't completely surprising. The 95th Congress of 1977 and 1978 -- just after the draft ended in 1973 -- had 412 veterans. The percentage of members who served in the military has steadily fallen since.

"There are two things that are leading to fewer veterans in Congress," said Jon Soltz, co-founder of VoteVets.org. "First, the last conscription force to fight a war is at retirement age, and they are leaving Congress. Second, the new generation of veterans makes up a smaller percentage of the overall population now, and many of them are just getting into politics for the first time. Many of them aren’t yet ready to run for Congress, because they have no political base in their communities."

As many of the veterans from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War retire, Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are beginning to take their places. Rep.-electTammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a double amputee from the Iraq War, is one of the highest-profile new members. During her race, she faced accusations from the incumbent, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), that she was not a "true hero" and talked too much about her military service.

Including Duckworth, there are a total of nine new House members who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Republican Martha McSally, who served in both wars, is still waiting for the outcome of her race to be decided against Rep. Ron Barber (D-Ariz.). No new senators are veterans. Seven Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were reelected.

"While the total number of veterans in Congress has decreased, we will see a record number of post-9/11 veterans in Congress this year," said Tom Tarantino, chief policy officer for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "Sixteen veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have won their races and will be part of the House of Representatives next year."

While committee assignments in both chambers are still being figured out, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) has already said she will step down from her position as chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee, meaning Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will likely take her place.

“I had to really think about stepping down from the committee because these issues have been such a passion for me,” Murray told the Federal Times. “As I thought about it, I decided I could really fight for veterans just as strong on the budget committee.”

More than 1 million new veterans are expected to return home within the next five years, meaning these issues will become increasingly important for Congress.

"Congress must act on the challenges facing veterans and their families like employment, education, suicide and mental health, and a VA struggling to keep pace with demand for its services," said Tarantino. "Joined by their fellow veterans of all generations and civilian supporters in Congress, these new veteran representatives have the opportunity to uniquely speak to the experiences of veterans across the country and work to pass legislation to address the challenges facing them."

VoteVets was particularly active in helping to elect Duckworth and Rep.-elect Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii). The organization also was involved in supporting non-military members who are strong on veterans issues.

"Right now, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are better represented in Congress than we are in the overall population, and even more young veterans are running and winning local and state office, which will put them on the path to higher office, if that’s what they want," said Soltz. But, in the immediate term, what this all means is that veterans need to work that much harder to educate and hold non-veterans in office accountable, and push them on issues veterans face. That’s why our group doesn’t just focus on veterans running for office, but gets involved in other races, as well."

As the Washington Post noted, the Senate is set to lose six veterans due to retirement or election losses: Sens. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and James Webb (D-Va.). Akaka is one of just three World War II veterans in Congress.

Number of veterans in Congress since 1975, according to the American Legion:

CONGRESS	HOUSE (435 Members)	SENATE (100 Members)
94th (1975-1976)	306	73
95th (1977-1978)	347	65
96th (1979-1980)	242	58
97th (1981-1982)	269	73
98th (1983-1984)	248	56
99th (1985-1986)	181	57
100th (1987-1988)	175	52
101st (1989-1990)	202	49
102nd (1991-1992)	161	51
103rd (1993-1994)	126	44
104th (1995-1996)	154	55
105th (1997-1998)	141	48
106th (1999-2000)	135	44
107th (2001-2002)	130	38
108th (2003-2004)	114	35
109th (2005-2006)	107	29
110th (2007-2008)	97	28
111th (2009-2010)	96	28
112th (2011-2012)	91	25
113th (2013)	85	18

"Small Token" for Medal of Honor Recipients

2012-11-16T18:02:00.000-06:00

http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/local/fox_cities/monument-dedicated-to-medal-of-honor-recipients

Medal of Honor monument dedicated

Updated: Friday, 16 Nov 2012, 9:58 PM CST Published : Friday, 16 Nov 2012, 11:59 AM CST

Beth Jones, FOX 11 News

KING - "I'm honored just to be here, for what the monument is," explained Vietnam Veteran and Medal of Honor recipient Gary Wetzel.

A Wisconsin Medal of Honor recipient reflects on a new memorial in the state.

Friday, the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs dedicated the monument.

It stands in front of the Wisconsin Veterans Home in King.

The memorial honors all Wisconsin service members who received the nation's highest military honor.

Click here to see photos of the unveiling ceremony

In 1861, Congress established the award as the highest military award for bravery and supreme valor demonstrated by a member of the Armed Forces of the United States.

Dozens of area veterans and residents turned out for the ceremony, including Wetzel. He was a guest speaker at the ceremony.

"I not only wear it for me, but I wear it for everyone, just a caretaker and just a soldier doing his job," Wetzel said.

The U.S Army veteran Gary Wetzel is one of the names etched on the stone. Wetzel served as a helicopter door gunner.

On January 8th, 1968, Wetzel's helicopter was shot down.

Critically wounded, he managed to ward off enemy fire and helped save several of his crewmates. Ten months later, he was honored for his heroic actions.

"President Johnson is the one that put this around my neck," Wetzel explained.

61 other Wisconsin Veterans received the same blue ribbon and medal, dating as far back as the Civil War.

Veterans Affairs officials say there are only four recipients still living in Wisconsin. This new monument brings both joy and honor.

"My dad always says he just did what anyone else would do in that situation and he wears the medal to represent all veterans and we are so thankful and grateful for their service to this country," explained Mary Ingman, Daughter of Wisconsin Medal of Honor recipient, Einar Ingman, Jr.

"There's a lot of people that have gone before me that have paid the ultimate sacrifice and to be able to be alive and to be here for what it is and here in King, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Veterans home, what better place," Wetzel said.

Officials with the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs say this is only a "small token" of thanks.

But it's a long-standing symbol, so no one forgets the deeds these veterans have done.

"Some of the guys I pulled out would come up to my bunk and say, are you Gary Wetzel? I'd say yea, and they would pull out a picture of their wife or their kids or their girlfriend and say, hey, because of you, that's what I get to go home to, and that's what this medal means to me," Wetzel said.

LCO Tribe dedicates veterans monument

2012-11-16T18:01:00.000-06:00

http://www.haywardwi.com/news/article_e83569d0-2e77-11e2-a9c9-0019bb2963f4.html

Tribe dedicates veterans monument

LCO VETS MONUMENT

Posted: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 1:00 pm

By Terrell Boettcher News Editor

The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians dedicated their new monument to Armed Forces veterans at the corner of County Highways K and E on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

The ceremony included an invocation by Edward Benton-Banai, a flag-raising and rifle salute by members of AmVets Post 1998, an honor song by the LCO Soldiers Drum, and a drum song by students from the Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language School.

The monument’s inscription states it is “dedicated to the Ojibwe men and women who served in the Armed Forces of the United States, past and present, during war and peace, and to those who fought and continue to fight for the inherent sacred treaty rights of our people. Their love of family, our land and our people is the source of their devotion and sacrifices which will never be forgotten. Miigwetch Ogitchidaa (men warriors) and Ogitchidaakwe (women warriors).”

Suzanne Mills-Wemm, a Navy veteran and commander of AmVets Post 1998, said, “American Indians have served in all of the (United States of America) wars, despite the fact they weren’t granted citizenship until 1924.” They included “12,000 who served heroically in World War I, 44,000 in World War II and 42,000 in the Vietnam War (90 percent of all those from the United States who volunteered to serve in that conflict). Native Americans have the highest percentage of Armed Forces service per capita of all ethnic groups in America.

“We are grateful to all of our veterans. It is appropriate to reflect on our good fortune to be living in this time and this great nation,” she added. “Many of our veterans have witnessed first-hand the struggles that afflict those throughout the world, through intolerance, abject poverty and political violence. In contrast, we should be very proud that we are a nation of opportunity, promise, energy and the future. LCO shares that optimism for our future.

“We salute you veterans and your families. Your selflessness and sacrifice allow our nation and our way of life to go on.”

LCO Tribal Governing Board Chairman Gordon Thayer said, “American Indians have always been the first to step forward to fight for our country, and continue to have a high respect for the flag of our country.”

He said the tribe hopes to raise approximately $100,000 to complete the monument “and honor all of our veterans who served in every war.” Thayer acknowledged a large grant received by the LCO Tribe from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota, $100,000 of which is allocated to the new veterans memorial.

Former Shakopee Sioux vice-chairman Glenn Crooks said they are “proud and honored to help with this beautiful memorial.”

On behalf of the people of Lac Courte Oreilles and all veterans, Thayer presented a plaque to Sawyer County Board Chairman Hal Helwig and thanked the county for their contributions to the memorial. The county transferred a parcel of land to the tribe for the memorial site.

“This contribution strengthens our common bonds and honors the sacrifice of our veterans,” Thayer said. “It reminds us of the greatness of our nation.”

Helwig thanked the tribe “for this wonderful monument. It’s a great addition to Sawyer County and the tribe.”

Thayer acknowledged Drummond artist Sara Balbin, who is creating a sculpture for the new monument.

‘Band of Brothers’ member visits Edgar, Wis. for Veterans Day

2012-11-16T16:54:00.000-06:00

http://www.superiortelegram.com/event/article/id/71832/group/News/

‘Band of Brothers’ member visits Edgar, Wis. for Veterans Day

By: By Glen Moberg, Wisconsin Public Radio, Superior Telegram

One of the last surviving members of World War Two's “Band of Brothers” brought a Veterans Day message to a small community in central Wisconsin over the weekend.

The members of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division were made famous by the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers.”

The real Howard Suerth, nicknamed Junior, brought his message to a packed auditorium of students in the small town of Edgar, Wis. He didn't sugarcoat the horror of war.

"The guy's brains were in our water supply," he said. "And that was what we had to have for water that day."

And he told them that the real heroes were the 52 members of Easy Company that didn't make it back.

"They are the heroes," he said. "Not us. We came home."

Away from the auditorium, Howard Suerth, Junior recalled a firefight in which 42 German soldiers were killed.

"But I ended up burying one of those kids," he said. "And he was about 16-years-old, blond hair, blue eyed. And I looked down at him and I thought, you know, his mother and dad are going to wonder what happened to him."

And the 88-year-old veteran had a simple message for today's young people.

"Our country is really worth fighting for," he said. "We are an exceptional group of people in an exceptional country."

The young people in Edgar were listening. Kira Dittman is a senior.

"It made an impact on me, especially," she said. "I have a cousin serving in Afghanistan right now."

"They made this country what it is today," said Tyler Durr, a junior. "Without their sacrifices, we wouldn't be here today."

Howard Suerth's appearance in Edgar continued a series of programs at the school marking Veterans Day. Previous guests included the world famous Tuskegee Airmen.