Support the Rio Grande Vets

Rey Leal

Got this from Rey through the facebook cause http://apps.facebook.com/causes/220105?m=aeec002f

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Subject: S699 and HR1232
We are one step closer to achieving our goal of a full service VA Hospital in the Rio Grande Valley. Sen John Cornyn and Rep S. Ortiz have both introduced their versions of “Far South Texas Veterans Medical Access to Care Act of 2009″. I am asking all to sign the Hospital Petition at www.thepetitionsite.com/1/VAhospitalpetition and spread the word about it too. When we travel to Washington in June we would like to have a good number of signatures to take with us. Thank you Rey Leal

 

I am always a little suspect of the actual leverage of these petitions but when backed up by the power of Rey, Jesus Boconegra, and the Last Patrol it should exert real influence in the halls of power.  Get on it if you can.  See what they’ve already done on their tumblr site here:  marchtosanantonio.tumblr.com.   

 

 

Queensryche Pays Back

Years ago I attended a record signing (yes – record signing) for a little band opening for AC-DC while I was assigned to Fort Lewis. I’d only heard a couple of Queensryche songs at that point but they were accessible and rocked enough as the band autographed a copy of their new album “Rage for Order” for me.  I was happy that the drummer commented on my Gumby watch, which I lost at the concert that night.  I lost the signed album later.  They were mostly notable to me at that time because I had met them (“met” being a stretch) and because their set looked like the Nostromo from Alien.  But later, when I was in Germany, they cranked out Operation Mindcrime, one of the most pointed political comments of the day and one that holds up very well now. 

Got no love for politicians
Or that crazy scene in D.C.
It’s just a power mad town
But the time is ripe for changes

There’s a growing feeling
That taking a chance on a new kind of vision is due

I used to trust the media
To tell me the truth, tell us the truth
But now I’ve seen the payoffs
Everywhere I look

Who do you trust when everyone’s a crook?

(from the 80′s boys and girls)

Now they are out with “American Soldier” and debuted it on the Sirius – SM “American Soldier Weekend”.  I didn’t really know about the connection between lead singer Geoff Tate and the military but Christa Titus reports on his interest here.  His father was a Veteran of Korea and Viet Nam.  He gets another bonus from me because of his Dad’s cool name.   More to the point, Tate and the band are donating downloads directly to some troops and some proceeds to the National Military Family Association.  Their website looks like something that IAVA might have built and has discussions, comments, and links. 

This busy singer took several hours out of his rest at a rock festival to sit for a lengthy interview with a friend of mine from Vocals Magazine.  The interviewer is a hard-charging Soldier in his other life.  Tate wrote an editorial for www.Military.com where he notes:

As one of the Soldiers states in the opening line of the song “Unafraid” on Queensryche’s new album, “People sometimes lose the vision of where it all came from … they’re living in the laps of luxury in a country that was built on over three and half million deaths. “Our military men and women make sacrifices, and I for one never stopped to realize just how enormous these sacrifices are. I took it all for granted.

“How can you know me until you’ve walked in my boots?” This is a very old saying and I think a very appropriate description of this album of music. These are Soldier’s stories, their words and even their voices. This hour of music is a walk in a Soldier’s boots.

As you listen to the record and hear these songs and stories, I hope you will be moved. I urge you to not stop there but to talk to the people in your life, the people you know that have served our country. Ask them to share their stories. Then thank them.

I couldn’t have said it better and even my own Mother told me to never try to sing it.  But Geoff Tate and Queensryche do.  Check it out.

Lobby Cloud

Pretty cool visualization of what lobbyists are interested in (Thanks – Pro Publica):

NCO of the TBI Clinic

Yah – a press release, but when the story is this good, why not?

FORT HOOD, Texas – When Sgt. Samantha Hollimon-Beverly completed basic
training at Fort Jackson, S.C. in 1993, she had so much fun that she
wanted to go through it again.
At the time, Hollimon-Beverly, now the noncommissioned office-in-charge
of the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center’s Traumatic Brain Injury
Clinic, was in her first semester of college. “I got a letter in the
mail, stating that I had to report for basic training,” she said. “I had
such a great time at Fort Jackson.”
She had watched family members serve in the military and knew that she
would grow up to join the military. “I loved it when I saw them in
uniform, and told myself, ‘I’m going to be in the military, that I could
do that.’” While in high school, she joined Air Force Reserve Officers
Training, and then later signed up for the Army’s delayed entry program.
She said that the Army’s old slogan, “Be all you can be” also influenced
her decision to enlist. Read more >>

Seamonkeys of Life in Afghanistan

Here’s a great article about good troops donating platelets for their buddies (not always the most fun thing to do) and the great teams that collect it and make it safe for those that need it:  DefenseLink News Article: Troops’ Platelet Donations Save Lives in Afghanistan

With the assistance of the Army’s 440th Blood Support Detachment at the Craig Joint Theater Hospital, servicemembers are providing life to trauma patients by donating the most perishable of blood’s three main components: blood platelets.

Unlike whole blood, platelets have a maximum shelf life of a week, so donations must be obtained within the immediate area.

“We have at least one person a day donating platelets to maintain our inventory,” said Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Karen Oliveira, a lab technician with the detachment. “But we get more patients in the summer, so we need more donors in the summer.”

I started calling platelets “seamonkeys of life” after watching the nurse at our donor center put notes on bags of platelets that said “Don’t Touch – Sleeping Platelets” and she explained that they had to rest or ”nap” for thirty minutes after collection before they were put into the continuously but gently moving shaker to keep them from clotting up in the bag.  They will try to heal the plastic bags they are in if disturbed.  (warning:  Cav Scout scientific explanation may have some discrepancies)

Pentagon aims to NOT THROW AWAY ALL ITS MONEY

Or something like that:  the actual article is called:  Pentagon aims to bring jobs back in house (3/18/09) — www.GovernmentExecutive.com

Robert Hale, the Defense Department comptroller, told Spratt that those outsourced contractor jobs have ended up being more expensive than government workers. Now the Pentagon is looking at bringing some of those contractor jobs back in-house, Hale said. We “need to look carefully at how many contractors we’re using,” Hale said.

Who’d a-thunk it? 

Now – I am sure that there are still lots of good things for contractors to do but some of the real government type functions never made any sense to outsource because we lost control of critical skills and areas of concerns.  Too may contractors are former military or government workers anyway and the government DID pay for their training and, in the case of Vets deployed with civilian companies oversease, still pay for their healthcare.  So, while on paper, the companies might look they were saving some HR costs, too often the USG ate that anyway and THEN gave up the control and the cash.

(and yes – I am both biased and somewhat experienced in each of these areas.  I am a military retiree that worked as a contractor and now serve as a government civilian)

New Hampshire Looks to the Kids for Saving

I guess I need to post a map and start coloring in these states as they go to high school kids to make up what the adult population can’t or won’t do for themselves.

New Hampshire seeks to lower blood donor age to 16
A bill in New Hampshire seeking to lower the blood donor age in the state to 16 — with parental consent — has cleared the House and is pending in the Senate. Passage of the bill could boost donations by as much as 10%, an American Red Cross representative in the state said.  Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.), The (3/18)

Army Gets a Definition Right

not even playing – this is a straight up press release from the medical center. And a good thing it is:

Traumatic Brain Injury Center: Blows to the head an injury, not a mental illness

FORT HOOD, Texas – Working in a combat zone while in theater can sometimes lead to events that cause Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). A roadside explosion or hard falls are two of the most common incidents that cause injury to the brain.  Better known as a concussion, a mild case of TBI can cause various physical and mental problems for an individual. Mild traumatic brain injury affects from 10 to 20 percent of service members returning from combat deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Read more >>

Brewin on Docs

Bob Brewin, columnist for Government Executive, and more had a great piece about the Pentagon Honoring Fallen Docs.  Read the whole thing – a taste:

An MHS spokeswoman said about 225 military medical personnel – which include doctors and nurses as well as medics and corpsmen – have perished in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. About 78 of their family members from 25 states and territories, including Guam, will be at the ceremony, she said.

I had a lot of fun in the Army as a Cavalry Scout but I sure do hold my head high now to be even a little piece of the military medical establishment.  There may be some challenges here and there but the basic fact is that every day these thousands and thousands of people risk their lives, or sacrifice other things in their lives, to improve the lot of someone else.  And that is a pretty neat idea.

Brits Consider Gay Blood Donors

No matter where you stand on this issue, one thing is sure – organizations are beginning to have to figure in the risk of simply not having blood when they institute deferrals. 

U.K. to re-evaluate blood-donor ban on MSM
The U.K.’s Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs will conduct a study to determine whether the current policy banning blood donations from men who have sex with men should be lifted. Several organizations, including NHS Blood and Transplant, the Terrence Higgins Trust and the National AIDS Trust, have expressed their support for the review of the ban.  PinkNews.co.uk (U.K.) (3/12)