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VETERAN BENEFITS AND ISSUES

     WANT TO LIVE LONGER??
BE A VOLUNTEER!!!

     Results of a new study provide more evidence that participating in volunteer activities may add years to an older person's life.  In a study of U.S. retirees, researchers found that volunteering significantly reduced the chances of dying over a four-year period.  Volunteering, the investigators say, may improve health outcomes by expanding retirees' social networks, increasing their access to resources and improving their sense or self-worth.  In the study, Dr. Sei J. Lee and colleagues form the VA Medical Center and University of CA, San Francisco, examined 6360 retirees older than age 65 who enrolled in the Health and Retirement Study in 2002.  As part of the study, the men and women, whose average age was 78 years, were asked:  "Have you spent any time in the past 12 months doing volunteer work for religious, educational, health-related, or other charitable organization?"  Lee and colleagues found that volunteering was strongly associated with lower death rates, with 12% of 1766 volunteers dying by 2006 compared to 26% if 4594 non-volunteers.  Even after adjusting for numerous factors that could influence the results, such as the seniors' socioeconomic status, chronic illnesses, and functional limitations, volunteering remained strongly correlated with lower death rates.  The findings of the study were reported over the weekend at the American Geriatrics Society annual meeting in Chicago.  To review Military Retiree Life Expectancy tables refer to the DoD Office of the Actuary May 08 report at www.defenselink.mil/actuary/statbook07.pdf. From the RAO Bulletin.

ONE STEP FURTHER FOR BLUE WATER NAVY
VIETNAM VETERANS

     As most Vietnam-era veterans know presumption for Agent Orange related health conditions are based upon the member having actually had "boots on the ground" for at least one day.  Those serving aboard ships have been divided into two groups.  In the Blue Water groups are those individuals who were considered not to have been in country and among the Brown Water group are those who worked primarily on the rivers and are already considered to qualify.  A question by a veterans organization representative, at a previous quarterly meeting, has led the VA to slightly change the rule.  Now if a service member can prove that he was aboard a ship that actually tied up to a pier in Vietnam and that can be proved, the member will be considered as being in country and the presumptive conditions can apply.  If you or someone you know meets these qualifications and has previously been turned down for Agent Orange related conditions, now is the time to re-open your case with the VA.  From the NAUS.
     (Just a small start in the right direction, worth a try if you knew your ship was tied to a pier.)

LEGISLATIVE ISSUES (and a little politics)

CLASH BETWEEN OLD AND NEW

     With five words, the Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America opened a rift among veterans groups that could derail efforts to improve mental health care and other benefits.  The dispute...with older veterans complaining that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are getting too much attention and too much money while they wait in long lines for medical appointments....was sparked by a statement issued May 11, by Paul Rieckhoff, founder and chief of IAVA, about the fatal shooting of five service members at a counseling center in Iraq, allegedly by another US service member.  ►"Unlike during the Vietnam War, today's military is a professional, all-volunteer force."  He went on:  "There have been only five cases of intentional fratricide by US service members in Iraq.  But these incidents, however rare, draw public attention to an important issue:  the enormous stress on our armed forces.  Much more must be done to address troops' psychological injuries before they reach a crisis point."
     Representative Bob Filner (D-CA), the House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman, said the squabble among veterans of different generations shows two things"  "New veterans don't know much about older veterans, and don't feel any ties to them, and everyone is worried that someone is going to get more than they or something better than them. "  Filner has faced criticism as he has pushed to improve benefits for World War II veterans who served in the Philippine Scouts and the Merchant Marines, two groups who were promised veterans benefits that were never delivered.  Some of the opposition to his initiative has been based on the view that spending money on older veterans when there are pressing needs for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is wrong.  But Filner said he thinks everyone needs to be treated fairly.  "A broken promise for one veteran is a broken promise for all veterans, " he said.  From the Marine Corps Times.
►►Chap. Note - Sounds like Mr. Rieckhoff needs a little lesson in professionalism himself !

STATE LEGISLATION

     While Veteran related legislation is moving in and out of various committees, it is almost certain that if there are any significant costs involved by passage of any particular bill, it just won't fly considering California's economic woes.  But one bill that has a good chance of passing is AB 264, introduced by Assembly members Cook and Lieu and several other co-authors both in the Assembly and Senate.  The bill would establish March 30 as the permanent "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day" in the state of California.
     There is a long way to go before we know the results of Veterans Legislation introduced, but June 5th was the last date for bills to pass out of their houses of origin.  We should be getting an update soon on where some of it stands from CSC-VVA Veteran lobbyist, Pete Conaty.

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   Rebecca Lee                  916-501-8788
  Call Rebecca for the Special Discounts available for Veterans
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RUN/WALK TO SUPPORT
LOCAL ALZHEIMERS VICTIMS AND FAMILIES
 

MORE ON THE 5K WALK/RUN FOR ALZHEIMERS

Buzz Oats RunSac Race Series
We are proud to be one of the events on the Buzz Oates RunSac Race Series.
Race Management:
Capital Road Race Management

►Chapter Note:  If you can walk, you can do this.  Get involved with your community.  It could be you or your family that needs help from the Alzheimers Aid Society.  Plus....East Lawn has always been a good friend to Veterans, so how about some support for their activities.
     For all of the information and to register online go to:
www.memory5k.org or call 916-492-8966.

PARADES FOR THE JULY 4TH HOLIDAY

     This year the chapter will participate in three parades for the July 4th holiday.  By meeting time we should know all the details.

►June 27 - We will be participating in the Citrus Heights, Red White and Blue Parade.  Still getting assembly information on this parade, but this is what we have so far.  The parade will start at 9AM beginning at Uplands Way, turn left onto Sunrise Blvd. and end at Sunrise Mall. 
     You can come hungry and stay afterward for a Pancake Brunch provided by the Rotary Club for $5.00, held in the Sunrise Mall Parking Lot.  Sounds like a fun time.

►July 4th - We will be participating in the Roseville July 4th Parade.  We are waiting on details for this one too.  But as you know, it too is a great parade with lots of people lining the streets, and activities in Royer Park later.

►July 4th - Bill Wagner and Gerard Fields will be going up to march in Bill's hometown, Dutch Flat.  This is also a great parade in a very patriotic little town.  You can load up on the food and Strawberry Shortcake after the parade.  If anyone wants to march with Bill and Gerard, call Bill for the details at:  916-686-6752.

REDEDICATION OF WOMEN'S WWW I MEMORIAL

     We received this last minute news.  There will be a rededication of the above memorial on Sunday, June 14th at 11:30AM, hosted by the Land Park Association.  Apparently the Memorial was found by accident.  No one was aware that it was there.  But it has been restored, a park bench added and a path leading to it.  It's located on the Land Park Road loop across from Sacramento City College between 14th and 15th Ave. on the left side across from one o the golf course greens.

AL MARTIN TELLS MEMBERS ALL ABOUT THE VIETNAM MARINE RECONNAISSANCE RE-ENACTORS

JOE FEIRL SHOWS OFF THE SHIRT HE RECEIVED FOR BEING A VOLUNTEER FOR THE VVA500 5KRUN/WALK

TINA HAAS, VVA500 AVVA REPRESENTATIVE AND HER FRIEND "GIDDY UP GO" - SEE EXPLANATION ►►►

 

JUDY BOUCHARD, SISTER TERRY, & BROTHER CHECK OUT THE BRICKS LAID AT THE MATHER VETERANS PLAZA FOR GEORGE BOUCHARD AND BOB SMITH

DAN WILLIAMS SHOW THE SHIRT HE PURCHASED TO SUPPORT THE MIA PROJECT AT ARCO

WATCH NEXT MONTH FOR "READING" PICTURES!

     Tina is driving her horse in a Kür (a musical freestyle demonstration with costuming, music and choreography all interrelated).  Tina performed the Kür at Woodland Stallion Station.  She did the  Kür to honor the US Military - Past, Present and Future.  Patriotic music was played during the demonstration and the carriage was decorated with a US Flag & a POW Flag.  "Giddy Up Go" was appropriately dressed with a cammie crocheted ear hood, and OD Green Leg Wraps for his combat boots.  As you can see, "Giddy Up Go" is taking his bow or maybe showing his respect when "TAPs was being played.

VETERANS!  ARE YOU CONSIDERING
RETIRING IN CALIFORNIA??

     If you are, read this from the RAO Bulletin....  If state tax laws aren't high on your list of things to consider when you choose where to live after retirement, they should be.  How states interpret the terms "military pension," "military retirement income" and "military retired pay" can vary based on their tax codes' legal definition of a "defined pension."  According to retired Army Col. Warren Enos, president of the CA Council of Chapters of the Military Officers Association of America, the tax codes of 42 states recognize military service with some form of tax exemption for military retirement pay.  But his own state of California - which ranks a close third behind Florida and Texas among states with the most military retirees is not all that tax-friendly.  Enos, representing 39,000 members and 45 MOAA chapters, is trying to change that.  He is urging other military associations and groups in California to throw their weight behind AB1077, which would "provide an exclusion from gross income for retired pay and survivor annuities received by an individual as a result of active service of a member of the Armed Forces of the U.S.
     In a letter to California state Senator Joel Anderson, who introduced AB1077 in February, Enos noted that almost 43% of California's 170,000 military retirees...individuals who would place few demands on the support services of a community and would come with paid health care, a stable source of income, and at an age to start a second career," he wrote.  "At retirement, the retiree would often contribute as a productive volunteer in service clubs, community affairs, and civic activities.  The economic benefits derived from military retirees would be significant.  AB1077 will be an incentive for more military retirees to move to California and live as productive citizens."  Military retirees are not looking for a handout or a free ride, Enos said.  Rather, they "represent a vital demographic to the state, men and women who bring diversity, life experiences, work ethic, discipline and high technology skills to the work force and to the community," he wrote.  "Veterans represent a high-technology, young, ethical and dedicated population that is highly beneficial to the state's economy, and should be ore actively encouraged to come to California and remain here."
     As Enos sees it, military retirees should gravitate to states that express appreciation and recognition of their long years of service to the nation - as well as their skills, knowledge and experience - not just in words, but in a tangible way. 
►Chapter Note:  Great idea, but it is estimated that this would cost the state of CA somewhere around $300,000. per year.  So, considering the current sick economy, the state does not want to give up a penny, or consider the long term investment, such as military retirees coming to the state would also spend money, adding to the economy.  It would probably balance out, but we did not see that this bill came out of the Assembly before June 5th, so it is probably dead for this year, but definitely something to pursue in the future. Or maybe the 170,000 military retirees should consider moving to a state that has more respect and tax advantages.  Would CA miss the sales tax you pay, the property tax, gasoline tax, and if a business is owned, taxes on that?

WERE YOU AT CAMP LEJEUNE?

     From the VA Watchdog, Article by William R. Levesque,
Times Staff Writer................
     The last years of Marine veteran Ian Colin MacPherson's life were spent fending off one puzzling ailment after another.  Rashes, Headaches, Vertigo, Nausea.  And finally , the abnormally aggressive prostate cancer that killed the Riverview man at age 46 in 2004.
     MacPherson always figured he must have been poisoned.  But by whom?  His widow, Jody MacPherson, believed she found the culprit last year:  MacPherson's beloved Marine Corps.  "They killed him," she said.
     Camp Lejeune, a sprawling Marine base on the North Carolina seaboard, is the site of what some scientists call the worst public drinking water contamination in the nation's history.  Its water wells were tainted with cancer-causing industrial compounds for 30 years, ending in 1987.  An estimated 500,000 to 1 million people - including Marines and family living on base housing - drank, bathed and cooked using that fouled water.
     Congress has dubbed ill Marines "poisoned patriots," and in 2008 lawmakers ordered the Marines to notify those who might have been exposed.  So far, almost 10,000 affected Floridians have registered with the Marines to take part in a health study, the highest total for any state except North Carolina.  About 1,500 claims have been filed against the government seeking $33.8 billion in damages.
     "This is worse than any Love Canal," said Jody MacPherson, 47, referring to the New York neighborhood that became notorious in the late 1970's as a toxic waste site.  "This is worse than Hurricane Katrina.  And nobody knows anything about it."  Her husband was born on the base in 1957 and then served there as a Marine for a decade ending in 1985.  Nobody ever told him he had been exposed to carcinogens, his wife said.  She discovered news of the water contamination on the internet three years after his death.  "He died never knowing what poisoned him," MacPherson said.
     Among the chemicals detected in high concentrations at Camp Lejeune are a metal degreaser, trichloroethylene (TCE) and a degreaser and dry-cleaning agent called tetracholoroethylene (PCE).  PCE appears to have been dumped by a private dry cleaner near one of the water wells, while the TCE was dumped by the Marines, according to documents and investigators.  "It is certainly a huge contamination," said Dr. Richard Clapp, an epidemiologist at Boston University who studied the Woburn, Mass., water contamination made famous by the book and movie, A Civil Action.
     Federal limits on the chemicals are 5-parts-per-billion.  The highest level  of Camp Lejeune water for TCE was about 1,400-parts-per-billion.  PCE was found at levels over 200-parts-per-billion.  This is the largest mass exposure from one water supply in the nation's history, Clapp said.
     No definitive and comprehensive epidemiology study has been conducted on Camp Lejeune veterans and their families to see if their rates of illness are significant, though two studies are expected to be completed in coming years.  Cont. on Page 9.....

CAMP LEJEUNE WATER, CONT.

     One will look at the potential effects on those exposed to contaminants in utero, a particular concern because the compounds have been linked to childhood leukemia and birth defects.
     Critics fault the Marines with a decades-old campaign to either hide the contamination or minimize dangers and then doing too little to alert people.  Just last month, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry took the rare step of withdrawing a 1997 health assessment that said Marines and their families faced little or no increased risk of cancer from the water.  The agency did so because the report contained scientific inaccuracies and omissions.  For example, it did not note that high levels of the carcinogen benzene were found in Camp Lejeune water in 1984. 
     The Marines discovered the water contamination in 1980, yet waited four years to close contaminated wells and then minimized the danger to Camp Lejeune residents, critics say.  Two wells were later reopened for almost two years during a water shortage.  In 1985, Lejeune's commander told residents "minute" levels of contaminants had been found, failing to disclose that a lab had informed the Marines that water was "highly contaminated."  Lt. Brian Block, a Marine spokesman, denied that the Marine Corps misled anyone.  He insisted the wells were closed immediately when contamination was confirmed.  "Since the contamination was first documented, we've taken steps to share all our information," Block said.  "Our first priority is to take care of our Marines, active and retired."  He noted that the contaminants were not regulated at the time they were discovered, a point the Marines have emphasized through the years.  That's not entirely true.  Regulations promulgated as early as 1963 by the Navy, which also applied to the Marine base, barred any harmful contaminants in drinking water. 
     Jerry Ensminger, 56, a 24 year Marine veteran and former drill instructor who lives in North Carolina, said his 9 year old daughter, Janey was conceived at Camp Lejeune and died in 1985 of leukemia he believes was linked to the water.  "I always instilled in my new Marines our motto, Semper Fidelis, always faithful," said Ensminger.  "We took care of our own.  But nobody could be more disillusioned with the conduct of the Marine Corps than I am."
     Charles Corbett, 55, a St. Petersburg man who is a former program analyst at Florida Power, served at Camp Lejeune from 1974 to 1976.  He said he has since been diagnosed with a neurological disorder that causes vision problems, fatigue and headaches.  He said he can't get help for medical care from the government because his illnesses have been deemed non-service connected.  "We're all dying," Corbett said of Camp Lejeune veterans.  "And the government is turning its back on us."  Were you at Camp Lejeune?  See the next column for what you should do.

CAMP LEJEUNE WATER, CONT.

     Anyone who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune in 1987 or before can register with the Marine Corps for a planned health study.  To register or to get more information, visit https://clnr.hqi.usmc.mil/clwater/ or call toll-free at 877-261-9782.  Also, a private website, www.tftptf.com/ which is unaffiliated with the Marines, offers a wide variety of information.

THE GOOD NEWS FOR SGT. SAM

     As of May 21st, Sam and Erin are finally home.  Sam has been able to move in to the CareMeridian Rehab Hospital in Granite Bay.  It is a small Rehab Hospital with lots of loving and caring people to tend to Sam's needs.  Erin now has an apartment nearby and of course the location is close for visiting.  Also, now it will be easy for all of us to visit.  Best times are between 11-4.  Here is where to go:  7150 Sierra Ponds Lane, Granite Bay.  For information call 916-722-2990.
     Now is the time to show our appreciation to this brave, wounded hero, especially you Marines who always "take care of their own".

LOST, ONE TRUE SUPPORTER OF VIETNAM VETERANS

                                    CHAPTER INFORMATION
OFFICERS:  President:  Karen Anne Winnett
Vice President:  Ted Adams
Secretary:  Gregory McNeill
Treasurer:  Jerry Quint
BOARD MEMBERS:Don Harper, Alan Hayashi, Monty Montoya
AVVA REPRESENTATIVE:  Tina Haas
ADDRESS:  Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc., Chapter 500
                                            P.O. Box 255484
                                           Sacramento, CA 95865
TELEPHONE:                 916-481-6020
E-MAIL:                          vva500@sbcglobal.net
CHAPTER WEBSITE: www.norcaltrav.com/vva500.htm
FOR INFORMATION:  Call or e-mail, Executive Director,
                                           Mary Lou McNeill
NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS:  Mail to Chapter address or e-mail information.  Please send pictures in jpeg form.
VVA Chapter 500 is a non-profit organization, #68-0208305, CT#75945, United Way #12583.  All donations to support our projects such as our Scholarship Fund, Helping Hands Fund, Events for Veterans, and Honor Guard will be gratefully appreciated.  You may earmark your donation to the project you wish to support.
DIRECTIONS  to the Roseville Veterans Memorial Hall.  From I-80.  Take the Douglas West exit.  Go to the third light which is Folsom Rd.  Turn right, go to the second stop sign, which is Sutter, turn left, follow the curve, you will see a sign on the right and left that says "Royer Park", turn left there.  You will immediately see the hall to the right and the parking lot.  That's it.  Meeting room is downstairs.  When you leave, the street is one way, so you will go to the right.  You will come up to Douglas Blvd. again and a left will go back to the freeway and whichever direction you need to go from there.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 
JUNE  BIRTHDAYS           
     ♫♫♫Frank Greer - Navy♫♫♫Charles Townsend - Marines♫♫♫Charles Peterson - Army♫♫♫James Vogeli - Army♫♫♫Patrick Graham - Air Force♫♫♫Richard Fuller - Army♫♫♫Alex Briones - Army♫♫♫Christopher Barsetti - Navy♫♫♫Donald Bell - Navy♫♫♫Michael Brassil - Army♫♫♫Michael Callison - Army♫♫♫Warren Lew - Army♫♫♫

     If your birthday is this month and not listed, we may not have your DD214 on file, or maybe just inadvertently missed it.  Let us know and we'll check it out.  We are going over all of the files to make sure we enter everyone that we have a DD214 on.

WELCOME HOME NEW MEMBERS!
Welcome to our new VFW Post #85 members:  Lowell Anderson, Warren Lew.  And also new members Phil Thulander, Mark Brown and Ed White.

HELP SUPPORT OUR SCHOLARSHIP FUND
CALL TOLL FREE FOR PICK UP OF YOUR USED HOUSEHOLD ITEMS:  1-866-241-8387    

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