Guard Members From Eight States Support Beyond the Horizon 2009 – DVIDS

Good story available on DVIDS about troops helping the hospital in Jamaica.  This is a great tie-in with their deployment support and the month of the Military Child.  You can read the whole story about Beyond the Horizon 2009, but basically it is the US Military helping in all sorts of humanitarian ways.  Good stuff.

Soldiers recently donated at a blood drive at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica, which will benefit children awaiting cardiac surgery at the Bustamante Children’s Hospital.
“We are excited to have the U.S. military partnering with us to make this blood drive a success,” said Carol Williams, blood donor organizer for the hospital. “The support of your service members is greatly appreciated.”

Whole story is here:  Digital Video & Imagery Distribution System

Brewin’ Scoops

You may already get or be in the know about this but I think it’s a good "heads up" for a stinker coming down the pike from the VA. They walked away from a multi-million dollar scheduling program last week and Brewin senses blood in the water. Ahoy – a lot of nautical metaphors in one little entry

VA IT Problems: How Many More?

Goodbye Socials, We Knew Ye Too Well

Looks like the first civilian blood centers are getting ahead of the anti-social security number wave:

Texas blood center to change blood donation process
Coffee Memorial Blood Center in Amarillo, Texas, will no longer require a Social Security number from blood donors in a bid to increase donations, particularly from Hispanics. The blood center saw a 20% decline in donations from this group from last year.  KFDA-TV (Amarillo, Texas) (3/24)

The services are going to try to pull this one off as well, removing the social security numbers from ID cards and databases but I think that there will have to be SOME number or way of keeping up with people.  The SSN cat is mostly out of the bag and I have a feeling that at some point any other number that we assign to people will get out as well.

Putting His Money Where Everyone’s Mouth Is

The often-laudable Mr. Gates displayed a courage this week that few in DC seem able to do.  Putting aside partisan issues, working to bridge the gaps between money spent and effectiveness received, and with a gentile manner that may belie the steel underneath, he unveiled his priorities in a new budget for the Pentagon:

         First, to reaffirm our commitment to take care of the all-volunteer force, which, in my view, represents America’s greatest strategic asset.  

         Second, we must re-balance this department’s programs in order to institutionalize and finance our capabilities to fight the wars we are in today and the scenarios we are most likely to face in the years ahead, while at the same time providing a hedge against other risks and contingencies.  

             Third, in order to do this, we must reform how and what we buy; meaning a fundamental overhaul of our approach to procurement, acquisition and contracting.

         So first, people. 

And you can stop right there.  (I know that we won’t and, in fact, the long knives were out almost before he finished speaking.  Only the pork grease slowed them down on the way to the “more taxpayer dollar” microphones)  Mr. Gates, of all the leaders in the Pentagon, not a former ground pounder but a CIA man through and through, absent a short stint in the Air Force as an intel officer during Viet Nam, puts the emphasis not on hardware but on boots.  There’s still a ton (megatons) of old big iron programs, bloat, and cost overruns in the budget but he does put the brakes on some of the most wasteful programs and  shifts dollars to people. 

Read the entire transcript and link to the budget here: DefenseLink News Transcript: DoD News Briefing With Secretary Gates From The Pentagon.  There is a ton of analysis to be had (and consider what the parent company of anyone commenting  might lose) but I think one of the main things to applaud are the cuts to the total ripoff of missile defense and the highlighting of medical care and families in the top of the queue.  He gets the priorities right and sets a high bar of integrity for Congress to clear.  I see that some are already trying to limbo under it.

Regardless, it is a good start and notable that it took a patriot and Texas Aggie like Mr. Gates to make it from the platform of an administration that is sure to be attacked for “gutting the military” even as they put the guts back in the military and maybe buy a quality armored vest to protect them.  

Texas Parks and Buffalo Soldiers

Forgotten SoldiersPretty cool Texas History show about Buffalo Soldiers. They are the first episode in the show.

Senator Webb Takes the Hard Right

… over the easier wrong, that is.  I am about a week late on this but, writing in last week’s Parade magazine, Webb gets a big one right.

America’s criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation’s prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives.
We need to fix the system.

He’s got a bill pending too(HuffPo reference) but read what he’s got to say in America’s most read magazine: PARADE Magazine | Why We Must Fix Our Prisons .  A long time ago Lon Glenn wrote a book called The Largest Hotel Chain in Texas and in its last chapter, this old line, conservative former prison warden made the point that Texans were throwing away their kids educations to keep a bunch of mostly harmless dope smokers in prison.  I don’t think it was really the point of the book but it resonated with me and does today.

I applaud Senator Webb for his many principled and courageous defenses of or attacks on just the right issue. I know he’s taken on a big one in a thankless campaign. I am glad that he has and I am glad that it was him.

The Power of Blood

My friend and great blood donor coordinator is mentioned in this months Force Health Protection magazine

When John James started donating blood to the Armed Services Blood Program (ASBP) over 30 years ago, he didn’t think donated blood would save his life. After an unfortunate accident sent him to the emergency room, he needed several blood transfusions. Now James, along with fellow motorcyclists and long-time ASBP volunteers, makes a bi-annual motorcycle trip to the blood donor center in Fort Hood, Texas, to give blood.

Read the whole article here: The Power of Blood

Full disclosure:  This article was provided by the great Maja Frigelj, of the Armed Services Blood Program, that employs me.  Still, it was great to see the military’s health community recognize both her talent and the important topic she’s writing about.  There’s a lot of good you can do in this world and a lot of need.  With the recession and wars all over the place, it can be hard for all deserving organizations to get what they need.  But you can literally save a life or a limb by donating blood and each day I am associated with the program reinforces that.

No one can foresee when he or she might need blood, but everyone can make a difference by donating regularly. John James, whose donated blood has helped save countless lives, knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a donation, and is truly grateful.

Visit www.militaryblood.dod.mil for more information about the Armed Services Blood Program and to schedule an appointment to donate.

Yes – go for it.  Don’t wait.  It’s free to give and a great way to really earn that yellow ribbon or sign of troop support.

Congress Hears from Witchfinder General and the Cowardly Lions

Elaine Donnelly, who gets cash from wingers to keep a threesome going with her Pyillis Schlafly  and a retired General Trefy is the director of the ridiculously named CMR (not bad for someone with no experience, background, expertise, or course of study in military affairs) is at it again, collecting signatures from frightened former officers and panty-sniffers who dishonor the service of the thousands of gay people serving world-wide.  Could there be a more out-of-touch group of intolerant bigots?  I wonder if anyone has spent much time checking this list for sex-crime arrests, fakes (one was already dead and the wife signed for him), and cases of stolen valor.  As the Associated Press: put it in the original Retired military officers: keep ban on gays

"Everyone knows it’s just a matter of time before the gay ban falls, so for officers to come out and say ‘Gays are a threat to the military’ could cause the very problems that they ostensibly fear," Frank said.

The campaign to gather the retired officers’ signatures was organized by the Livonia, Mich.-based Center for Military Readiness. Its president, Elaine Donnelly, has been an outspoken foe of gays serving in the military and testified before Congress on the matter last year.

I guess the hearing became quite entertaining with this modern day witchfinder general drawing laughs from the gallery.  Dana Millbank reported for the WaPo;

Inadvertently, Donnelly achieved the opposite of her intended effect. Though there’s no expectation that Congress will repeal "don’t ask, don’t tell" and allow gays to serve openly in the military, the display had the effect of increasing bipartisan sympathy for the cause.

Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) labeled her statement "just bonkers" and "dumb," and he called her claims about an HIV menace "inappropriate." Said Snyder: "By this analysis . . . we ought to recruit only lesbians for the military, because they have the lowest incidence of HIV in the country."

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), a veteran of the war in Iraq, called Donnelly’s words "an insult to me and many of the soldiers" by saying they "aren’t professional enough to serve openly with gay troops while successfully completing their military mission."

The whole thing is ridiculous and it is time to end DADT.

Wisconsin and Iowa Adults Stiff the Kids

Two more go to the kids

Wisconsin, Iowa benefit from 16-year-old blood donors
The past year has seen 4,500 16-year-olds donating blood at American Red Cross blood drives, said Greg Novinska from the Red Cross’ Badger-Hawkeye Blood Services Region that serves Wisconsin and Iowa. The increase in 16-year-old donors, thanks to new legislation, could help the agency secure enough blood supplies as older donors become unqualified to donate due to medical concerns.  Daily Herald (Wausau, Wis.) (3/23)

ARC Marketing in a Recession

This sounds like they are making some kind of great, sacrificial management-ish decision, but in these numbers, they are only talking about 2 percent of their blood drives.  Another reason could be that they have fewer volunteers, donors, and places to make pay for their blood because of the recession.  From:  Red Cross to postpone blood drives – Related Stories – AABB SmartBrief

The American Red Cross is suspending blood drives across 12 states until summer and other periods when donations generally decrease, saying that deferred elective surgeries have led to a slight decrease in the demand for blood. To avoid wasting some of the donated blood, roughly 100 out of the 5,000 blood drives planned in the Midwest for March and April will be rescheduled, a Red Cross spokesman said. Omaha World-Herald (Neb.) (03/24)

Sorry – I’m not buying all this.  I think they are working too hard to make themselves look better than the competition.