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Retired Affairs Office Newsletter 

RAO Newsletter - 05/15/2010 - Page 1 of 4

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Contents of Page One

Mojave Desert Veteran Memorial Update 04:

Less than two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, for now, the Mojave Desert cross could remain in its location, vandals have torn the memorial to World War I veterans down from its location, leaving only the bolts in Sunrise Rock as evidence of the cross. The incident sparked outrage among supporters of the cross, including The American Legion, which filed crucial amicus (friend-of-the-court) brief in favor of the cross staying put. "Reports that the Mojave Cross was illegally removed overnight are very disturbing," American Legion National Commander Clarence Hill said. "The American Legion expects whoever is responsible for this vile act to be brought to justice. While the memorial has been attacked, the fight will continue to ensure that veterans memorials will remain sacrosanct." The act also drew scorn from Liberty Institute, which has represented the Legion and other organizations in the fight to keep the cross in its current location. "This is an outrage, akin to desecrating people's graves," said Kelly Shackelford, president/CEO of Liberty Institute. "It's a disgraceful attack on the selfless sacrifice of our veterans. We will not rest until this memorial is re-installed."

Park workers noticed on 8 MAY that the box that has covered the cross during the ongoing lawsuit had been removed. "When a maintenance team went out on 10 MAY to put the box back up, that's when they discovered the cross had been removed," said Linda Slater, public affairs officer for the Mojave National Preserve. "The bolts are still in the ground, but the cross itself is gone." Park law enforcement is investigating this crime and is asking for the public's assistance. Liberty Institute is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. Anyone with information about the theft is asked to call (760) 252-6120. Hill said the latest incident won't stop the Legion from supporting U.S. war memorials. "This was never about one cross," he said. "It's about the right to honor our nation's veterans in a manner in which the overwhelming majority supports. The American Legion strongly believes the public has a right to protect its memorials."
[Source: American Legion Online Update 13 May 2010 ++]

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HVAC Update 10:

A trio of bills ranging from therapeutic companion dogs to chiropractors for injured or emotionally troubled veterans was approved on 12 MAY by the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The bipartisan-backed bills breezed through the panel by voice vote and will probably end up soon on the suspension calendar. One bill would provide chiropractic care and services to veterans and would be available first at 75 VA hospitals by the end of next year, and at all medical centers by the end of 2013. The services are intended to ameliorate the rash of muscular-skeletal injuries that have plagued veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. A second bill would increase the money for continuing professional education provided for VA doctors and nurses, as well as add other healthcare workers to the ranks of those eligible for the assistance. Over the next five years, according to a committee chart, the total cost of the increase would be $42 million. The third bill would authorize a five-year pilot program in several VA medical centers to employ trained dogs to help relieve mental health and post-traumatic stress disorders in veterans.
[Source: GovExec.com Congress Daily | 12 May 2010 article ++]

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VA Claims Backlog Update 39:

At a conference designed to help veterans service organizations better understand the issues their clients face, Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense tried to tie it up in a one-page document of new data from the Veterans Affairs Department: After looking at eight Veterans Benefits Administration regional offices in 2009 and 2010, VA’s inspector general found a 28% error rate. In fact, the San Juan, Puerto Rico, overall error rate stood at 41%t, while the Nashville office had made errors in 5 % of its post-traumatic stress disorder cases. In Baltimore, 55% of cases of diabetes in connection with Agent Orange had errors, and in Roanoke, Va., 49% of traumatic brain injury cases had errors. “VA has a very significant quality problem in adjudicating their claims,” Sullivan said. “VA’s own reports indict the place. VBA is the dam that holds veterans up from getting the medical care they need.”

Sullivan spoke on a panel that detailed what roadblocks remain as service members transition from active duty to veteran status. He said Congress has focused so much on VA health care that the administrative end has gotten lost in the shuffle. “Some of their computers are older than I am,” said Sullivan, who served in the 1991 Gulf War and who used to work for VA. But Sullivan said the “fixes” aren’t that difficult, at least in concept. For example, the idea of a joint Defense Department/VA medical record system has been fussed about for more than a decade as VA and defense officials say their medical records are not compatible, or that the hand-off violates federal HIPAA rules. Other solutions seem simple: There is no undersecretary for benefits. “If there are no leaders, who’s running the place?” Sullivan said. “The agency is leaderless and rudderless.” "Most people at VA are good-hearted and trying to do their best for the veterans," Sullivan said. "Their own rules are tying them up."He asked that:

[Source: NavyTimes Kelly Kennedy article 12 May 2010 ++]

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Tricare User Fee Update 47:

Speaking at the Navy League's annual symposium at the National Harbor convention center the leaders of the three naval services argued 3 MAY for an increase in the fees retired military personnel and their families pay for health care, something Congress has refused to approve for more than a decade. Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations; Gen. James Conway, the Marine Corps commandant; and Adm. Thad Allen, Coast Guard commandant, all complained about the soaring costs of healthcare and said increased contributions by the retirees for their Tricare coverage is overdue. Responding to a question about the impact of healthcare costs on their increasingly tight financial conditions, all three leaders said that was a growing problem. Roughead noted that on top of the expense for his active-duty force the expense of the half a million retirees "eats into our other programs." Conway was more direct, saying there has not been an adjustment in the retirees payments for Tricare in two decades "and that needs to be addressed." Allen, who is a month from retirement, said he had just signed up for Tricare Prime, the top-level defense medical coverage, for himself and his wife and paid only $465. "Something needs to be done about that."
[Source: CongressDaily Otto Kreisher article 3 May 2010 ++]

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Tricare User Fee Update 48:

In three and a half years as secretary of defense, Robert Gates has successfully challenged the bureaucracies of the Army, Air Force and Navy, along with their powerful friends in industry and on Capitol Hill. But now he may be taking on the toughest branch of the defense establishment: retirees and their health insurance. Gates canceled the Army's "Future Combat System," a multibillion-dollar program linked to thousands of civilian jobs. He prodded the Air Force to end production of a coveted fighter aircraft, the F-22 Raptor, and he got the Navy to turn away from a futuristic destroyer, the DDG-1000 -- both with important supporters in politically pivotal states. On 8 MAY though, Gates called on veterans, and military retirees in particular, to pay a larger share of the cost of their health insurance. The retirees are known for their relentless advocacy and unbroken record of success on Capitol Hill. "I'll be astounded if he's successful," said Gail Wilensky, an economist and former president of the Defense Health Board, a Pentagon advisory group on health care issues. Retirees and their advocates are "too strong, and the Congress is, shall we say, less so," she told AOL News.

No one disputes that the nation's veterans have made tremendous sacrifices and deserve generous benefits, Wilensky said. Her task force took care to recommend that troops on active duty and their families continue to receive full health care coverage at no cost, she added. But with health care costs rising and the nation at war, it's reasonable to ask that those who've completed their service share in the increasing cost of their health care, she said. "The majority of costs reside with retirees," Dr. William Winkenwerder, a former director of the Defense Department's health system, told AOL News. "And not unlike the Medicare program or other government pension and benefit programs, people are now faced with issue of having to ask these populations to contribute more. ... It's not an easy matter." Military retirees under age 65 pay an average of $460 annually for health insurance, a figure unchanged since 1995. The bargain rates have induced thousands of retirees, who typically leave the service in their 50s, to retain their military coverage rather than bear the cost of more expensive and often less generous insurance plans provided by their new civilian employers. While the rates have been frozen, the Pentagon's health care costs have skyrocketed. Those expenses "are eating the Defense Department alive," Gates observed 8 MAY, "rising from $19 billion a decade ago to roughly $50 billion." Unless it can shift some of those increases to retirees through higher premiums, the Pentagon soon will be unable to afford new weapons and equipment that are needed, he warned.

Three years ago, Wilensky co-chaired a Pentagon task force that urged Congress to boost the average premium to $1,100, spreading the increase over several years to lessen its impact. "Americans everywhere are paying high costs for health care," the task force report noted. "While military retirees deserve a more generous benefit because of their sacrifices and years of service, relatively modest increases in out-of-pocket costs will not only help stabilize the system and make it more accountable, but will also be looked upon as being appropriate by the American taxpayer." Congress, however, would have none of it, as veterans and their advocates deluged lawmakers with e-mails and letters opposing any increase and warned of severe consequences at the polls for any member supporting higher premiums. The retirees argue that low-cost health insurance is a benefit they earned, often with blood shed on the battlefield. Those over 65, many of whom were recruited in an era when the armed services promised free care for life to those who stayed in uniform for 20 years or more, have been particularly active in opposition to any premium increases.

Even before Gates' speech, the Military Coalition, which coordinates the lobbying efforts of 34 veterans' groups, had posted a warning on its website against any attempts to tamper with either Tricare, the health insurance plan for active duty troops and military retirees, or the benefits provided to all veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs. "All retired service members earned equal health care coverage by virtue of their service," the coalition asserted. The Defense Department "should make all efforts to provide the most efficient use of allocated resources and cut waste prior to imposing any additional or increased fees on eligible beneficiaries. We believe the authority for DoD to increase or impose fees should be under the scrutiny of Congress as the overseer of the military." The retiree lobby is "a very tough, aggressive group," Wilensky observed. "You're either their friend to the end or you're not." The influence of the big health care lobbies in the civilian sector -- the American Medical Association, hospital and nursing home associations -- pales alongside that of the military retirees, she said. "The system is now totally unaffordable," agreed Winslow Wheeler, a former Senate staffer who now heads the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information.

While successfully battling proposals to increase premiums, the veterans' groups have pushed Congress to provide increasingly generous benefits, including "concurrent receipt," which allows service retirees to combine their pensions with disability benefits paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The most expensive of those new benefits is Tricare for Life, which supplements the Medicare benefits available to military retirees over 65. When Congress passed the program in 1999, the Congressional Budget Office provided cost estimates "that made everybody gag," Wheeler recalled to AOL News. "They reacted by saying it couldn't be that much. And it turned out that CBO was wrong -- they only caught about half the cost."
[Source: AOL News Dale Eisman article 11 May 2010 ++]

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Tricare User Fee Update 49:

The Pentagon's top policy official on 13 MAY called for changes in the military's health benefits system for retirees, saying the current structure has become unsustainable in today's economic environment. "If there was an infinite pot of money, that would be fine; the problem is, there isn't an infinite pot of money, and so those dollars are dollars we can't invest in the equipment that our military needs today and the capabilities they need to adapt to the future," said Michèle Flournoy, Defense undersecretary for policy, during remarks at a leadership breakfast sponsored by Government Executive in Washington. Many military retirees who now work in the private sector are forgoing the health benefits offered by their companies and opting instead for the Tricare system, in part because employers are offering incentives for them to do so in an effort to keep down their own health care costs. "We have the military carrying people who have a private sector alternative to heath care because we've got the incentive structure wrong," Flournoy said.

A former Defense Department official during the Clinton administration, Flournoy tackled several topics during Thursday's discussion at the National Press Club, ranging from outsourcing to cybersecurity to military pay and benefits, including Tricare, which she referred to as a "third rail" issue. Flournoy's remarks on Tricare echoed recent comments from the military's top brass as well as those from Defense Secretary Robert Gates in a May 8 speech in Kansas. In that address, Gates outlined a multibillion-dollar cost savings plan for the department, which would include a reduction in administrative overhead, acquisition reform, greater energy efficiency, and an overhaul of Tricare premiums and co-pays, especially for retirees. "Leaving aside the sacred obligation we have to America's wounded warriors, health care costs are eating the Defense Department alive, rising from $19 billion a decade ago to roughly $50 billion -- roughly the entire foreign affairs and assistance budget of the State Department," Gates said. He noted that premiums for Tricare have not risen since the program was founded more than a decade ago.

Also on Thursday, Flournoy did not rule out reducing the number of high-ranking officers in the military as a way to streamline the department, saying Gates "is going to want to understand the allocation of flag officers and why we have who we have, and are there positions that are truly necessary?" Flag officer positions are congressionally authorized, so the Pentagon would need the blessing of Congress to tweak the number of those slots. Flournoy said there is no target head count with respect to the structure of the Pentagon's civilian, military or contractor workforce, but she also emphasized Gates' overall commitment to belt-tightening. "Secretary Gates is not shy about making hard decisions," she said. "He is not shy about holding leaders in the building accountable. I think all of his components, all of his direct reports, have been put on notice [that] we're going to start this review for efficiency with ourselves."
[Source: GovExec.com Kellie Lunney article 13 May 2010 ++]

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Mobilized Reserve 11 MAY 2010:

The Department of Defense announced the current number of reservists on active duty as of 11 MAY 2010. The net collective result is 465 fewer reservists mobilized than last reported in the 1 MAY 09 RAO Bulletin. At any given time, services may activate some units and individuals while deactivating others, making it possible for these figures to either increase or decrease. The total number currently on active duty from the Army National Guard and Army Reserve is 99,843; Navy Reserve, 6,459; Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, 18,108; Marine Corps Reserve, 6,767; and the Coast Guard Reserve, 834. This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel who have been activated to 132,011, including both units and individual augmentees. A cumulative roster of all National Guard and Reserve personnel who are currently activated may be found HERE.
[Source: DoD News Release No. 386-10 dtd 12 May 2010 ++]

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Minnesota Veterans Homes Update 01:

To ensure the Minnesota Veterans home in Minneapolis remains a comfortable and safe residence for Veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is awarding two grants worth nearly$22.4 million for a new 100-bed nursing home and other improvements. VA's grants will cover 65 percent of the costs of the two projects. The Department has targeted $19.2 million for the new nursing home and $3.2 million to renovate facilities used by the adult day health care program. Last year, VA spent nearly $1.7 billion in Minnesota to serve the state's 390,000 Veterans. VA operates major medical centers in Minneapolis and St. Cloud, with outpatient clinics and Vet Centers across the state, plus a national cemetery at Ft. Snelling. Admissions criteria for acceptance in a Minnesota home include: Honorably Discharge, 181 Consecutive Days on Active Duty, Minnesota Resident (or had service credited to Minnesota), Spouses of eligible Veterans over 55 years of age and reside in the state, and applicants ability to demonstrate medical need. The states five homes are located at:

For more information about the Minneapolis Veterans home and related Minnesota services for Veterans, visit HERE.
[Source: VA News Release 11 May 2010 ++]

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Military Compensation Review Update 06:

Defense Department officials 11 MAY announced the start of the congressionally mandated 11th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation. The review's focus, officials said, will be on combat pay, compensation for reserve-component servicemembers, caregivers and survivors and pay incentives for critical career fields. Thomas L. Bush, a recently retired senior executive who worked in the office of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness and as the principal director for manpower and personnel in the office of the assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, was tapped to lead the review. He will report to Clifford Stanley, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. The last review, released in two volumes in 2008, focused on housing allowance, retirement pay, Tricare health system premiums, pay incentives for health care professionals and quality of life. Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Jan D. "Denny" Eakle chaired the 10th review and said upon its release that the first question for any quadrennial review of compensation is whether military pay is comparable to that in the private sector. The second is whether military pay is adequate to maintain the force.

William J. Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel policy, testified 28 APR before a Senate subcommittee that military pay is competing well against the private sector, as evidenced by the high rate of recruitment and retention. Using regular military compensation – basic pay with housing and food allowances and federal tax advantages – as a comparison, military members are paid higher than 70% of their private-sector peers of similar education and experience, Carr told the Senate Armed Services Committee's personnel subcommittee. Carr also called specialty and incentive pays essential to maintaining the force, especially for special operations forces and people with medical, dentistry, mental health, aviation and nuclear backgrounds. The 11th review, which will take about two years to complete, will focus on:

[Source: AFPS Lisa Daniel article 11 May 2010 ++]

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Tricare Gray Area Retirees Update 05:

Retired National Guard and Reserve personnel may be able to buy Tricare health coverage as soon as 1 OCT 2010. This is part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010. Until this became law, reserve-component retirees did not have the option of Tricare coverage until reaching the age of 60. After the start-up date, which was given to NGAUS by an official with the Tricare Management Activity, these so-called “gray area” retirees who are not yet 60 may purchase Tricare Standard and Extra coverage. The law requires premium rates to equal the full cost of the coverage. This differs from Tricare Reserve Select for reserve members, who pay 28% of the cost of coverage. Premium rates are not yet available for the “gray area” retirees’ coverage. For more information, go to HERE.
[Source: NGAUS Washington report 11 May 2010 ++]

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National Center for Veterans Studies:

University of Utah President Michael Young announced on 10 MAY the creation of the nation's first National Center for Veterans Studies. The center will focus on health issues, education and training, community outreach, and non-partisan political advocacy on behalf of veterans. It will be operated by the university's College of Social and Behavioral Science and S.J. Quinney College of Law. The Deans of these colleges, David Rudd and Hiram Chodosh respectively, insist the center's over-arching mission is quite simple, "It's all about helping veterans," Rudd said. It will encompass under one roof:

Many people regarded President Barrack Obama's National Service Plan as a way to get those who hadn't served in the military involved in helping their communities and country. Chodosh saw things a bit differently. In military veterans, Chodosh said, he sees people who "offer the country an unusual and desired combination of skills, talents and experiences" to serve their nation domestically and, especially, internationally. He also saw a group that was historically underemployed. At the same time, Chodosh said, the need was rising for people qualified to serve in diplomatic and technical roles -- both in the wake of war and as a way to help prevent armed conflicts. His solution is to recruit veterans to national service academies at universities across the nation. School them in traditional academic fields, as lawyers, social scientists, engineers and doctors, but provide them additional training in how to use their expertise in complex domestic and international situations. "What we want to do is make sure that we're not just mainstreaming veterans. We don't want to say to them, 'OK, forget that you served three years in Afghanistan, now just be like any other student,' " Chodosh said. "What they bring to the educational table is so valuable."

While the service academy will implore veterans to continue their national service after leaving the military, the center's research arm will look at the ways in which veterans need to be served. Rudd, who writes frequently on veterans issues, said that effort will begin this summer with a nationwide survey of student vets. The results of that and other research efforts, Rudd said, could help government veterans organizations, social services groups and private businesses better reach veterans who slip through the cracks. And it will help the center's scholars to engage in nonpartisan political advocacy for veterans and their families, he said. It's been just seven months since Rudd and Chodosh came together to conceive the plan, and they acknowledge that they've created a center that has more ideas than funding. Overstock.com (an online shopping service) Chief Executive Officer Patrick Byrne has promised support. Also, Chodosh and Rudd say they're in discussions with officials from the Departments of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs. But, Chodosh said, "We're going to do this regardless of external, pre-existing promises of resources. We want to be known for having stepped out to serve this need." There are currently 23 million veterans in the United States, and more than 160,000 of those are in Utah. More than a quarter of the new vets are facing serious health, psychological and employment issues related to re-entry to civilian life.
[Source: Salt Lake Tribune Matthew LaPlante article 10 May 2010 ++]

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Arizona Memorial Update 02:

Anthony Schubert, 90, received a memorial service and burial reserved only for crewmembers assigned to the U.S.S. Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941. Schubert was on the ship when the bombs fell. “He was shaving. I think he saw Japanese planes bombing and he quickly got dressed,” said Schubert’s daughter, Tonay Hayward. She said her father never spoke about the war. It was only after her father’s death that the family discovered statements he made to authorities about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Hayward said her father was able to get to the top of the ship as it was sinking. “He was very lucky to be where he was. He helped the wounded on the ship as long as he could,” said Hayward. Schubert was treated for burns and cuts and later received the Purple Heart. Schubert asked to be buried in his native Kansas with a Naval memorial service. He didn’t know that he could rejoin his shipmates and have his remains interred inside a gun turret on the Arizona. After Schubert’s death, Hayward found out that crewmembers assigned to the Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941, have the right to have their remains interred in a gun turret.

Schubert’s family watched as four National Park Service divers took Schubert’s remains underwater and placed him in his final resting place. Schubert’s name is also forever etched on a wall in the Shrine Room on the Arizona Memorial, along with a handful of other survivors who chose to be reunited with their shipmates. Hayward said she knows this is what her father would have wanted, even though he never spoke about the war. “I would not have discussed it with him. The Arizona was a taboo subject growing up. His young comrades destroyed in an instant. He never got over that,” said Hayward. “Mother would tell me that he would wake up at night screaming.” The bombing had a profound effect on the way Schubert lived his life. “How he dealt with people, and he was always aware of the fleeting nature of life,” Hayward said. Schubert lived another 67 years after the Pearl Harbor bombing. His family is grateful and at peace that his final resting place is with his shipmates on the U.S.S. Arizona. Schubert was among 300 sailors, Marines and officers aboard the Arizona who survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Today, just over 20 survivors remain.
[Source: KITV4 Honolulu Jodi Leong article 7 May 2010 ++]

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State Taxation:

In many states today you can get a haircut, consult a lawyer, or have a plumber clear your drain without paying a tax on services. But with state budgets facing massive shortfalls, some legislators are looking to tap into the $6.1 trillion Americans spend on such services each year. Pennsylvania is considering a tax on accounting and data processing. New York may tax haircuts, manicures, and pedicures. In 2009 Maine passed a law to tax dry cleaning and car repairs. If service taxes become widespread, they could increase the amount you pay for about two-thirds of you day-to-day expenses. Nebraska republican state Sen. Cap Dierks has introduced a bill that would tax more than 60 services, from equipment repairs to reflexology. “It would raise $250 million per year,” he says, “and help shift some of the tax burden from the property owners.” It remains to be seen how it would affect business. New taxes on goods and services have less impact on business than income and property taxes do, according to research by former government economist Richard Vedder. But the effect of any particular tax depends on the available substitutes. It’s relatively easy to skip a manicure, for example; it’s much harder to avoid calling a repair person if your refrigerator breaks. Pete Snipp of the national Taxpayers Union says new taxes could just shift the source of state revenue, rather than add to it. He argues that government should operate more efficiently rather than raise taxes. But given the size of the budget shortfalls, tightening belts may not be enough. Tax collections are down across the country and states need additional sources of income.
[Source: Parade magazine 2 May 2010 ++]

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Military Reunion Notifications:

Do you have an upcoming reunion for a military fraternal organization planned and you want to get the word out to those who are not on your mailing list? It can be done at no cost with a little planning in advance by taking advantage of the various means of publicizing reunions using the following resources. Be prepared to provide your branch of service, organization name, date and place it will occur in, and contact name, address, phone number, e-mail and web address website for potential attendees to communicate with:

[Source: Editor/Publisher RAO Bulletin 1 May 2010 ++]

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Vietnam War Anniversary Commission:

The Department of Defense is setting up the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War Commemoration Commission. The commission is Congressionally mandated and chartered by the Department of Defense to plan and conduct this commemorative program which may include activities and ceremonies to achieve the following objectives:

  1. To thank and honor veterans of the Vietnam War, including personnel who were held as prisoners of war or listed as missing in action, for their service and sacrifice on behalf of the United States and to thank and honor the families of these veterans.
  2. To highlight the service of the Armed Forces during the Vietnam War and the contributions of Federal agencies and governmental and non-governmental organizations that served with, or in support of, the Armed Forces.
  3. To pay tribute to the contributions made on the home front by the people of the United States during the Vietnam War.
  4. To highlight the advances in technology, science, and medicine related to military research conducted during the Vietnam War; and
  5. To recognize the contributions and sacrifices made by the allies of the United States during the Vietnam War.

The Commission's activities will last until 2025 and will involve Vietnam War Commemoration programs conducted by the federal government, state and local governments, and international, commercial and private organizations.
[Source: TREA Washington Update 7 May 2010 ++]

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