Now is our Turn

There’s a new sun on the horizon and its rising fast.  Those who have remained quiet will no longer be retrained and those who have felt ignored will now be heard.

I was one who had ideas and thoughts about the direction of this country but even with the ability of the blogosphere still felt as if I was not getting heard.  I wanted to do my part in helping to find solutions to the countries’ problems but never could see any incorporation of those ideas make it to those who would ultimately be in charge of making the final decision.  That was then, this is now.

Welcome to ACOMM PAC or American Citizens of Modest Means.  Documentation has already been submitted to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and you can join at www.americancitizensofmodestmeans.blogspot.com.  This PAC is designed to hold all elected officials feet to the fire and demand that if you promise, you will be forced to deliver.  Do not look for the leadership of this PAC to be spending much time in front of cameras, on cable news networks or hobnobbing with the Washington Elite.  We stay in the community, on the ground and in the face of leaders who have gone astray from serving those who elected them, not those who bought them.  This PAC is designed to not only bring to light the issues but also offer thoughtful solutions.   We are here to present the entire story so those listening and reading can make an educated decision on where they wish to stand on any issue.  This PAC rejects the labels of Democrat, Republican, Independent, Liberal Conservative and most definitely Tea Party.  We are Americans first and foremost and we are stepping in and stepping up because no one seems to have the spine to do so.

I felt the need to act based on what I believe is the way we got into this mess in the first place.  We were already in a world of hurt when Barack Obama was sworn in as President.  The majority gave him a ruling Senate and House to help him implement the changes we needed.  The House hit the ground running and delivered what the majority asked for in over 400 bills.  The Senate went to sleep and stayed sleep until the Lame Duck session.  Democrats had the majority but bills died in the Senate because some Democrats had to play Republican.  Then the Progressives decided that they were going to step in and fix the Senate by convincing voters to stay home during the midterm.  The Progressive’s reasoning was that this president did not give them everything that they wanted nor did he do exactly what they wanted him to do when they wanted him to do it.  Reminded me of an age-old question.  Did they want an inclusive, intelligent and thinking president or a slave robot?

Now we are at the stage of this new congress giving the poor, the middle class, women, seniors and veterans the middle finger as they are being stroked and patted on the head by big business.  This where we ended up.  The same group that drove the car in the ditch is now attempting to wrestle the steering wheel away and drive it off the cliff.  Everyone seems to just be sitting back and preparing for the crash.  Will not anymore because that’s where ACOMM comes in.  We will not be donating to any candidate because we do not want to add to the fog of governing but we will be in the business of unrelenting and hard hitting truthful ads so that all those things done in the dark detrimental to the welfare of this nation as a whole will be held to account.  The secret meetings and deals will no longer be secret and those who seek to hide in the shadow will be exposed.  We will support and run ads for any candidate of any stripe who appeals to our standards but make no mistake, if that candidate gets into office and forgets who sent them there and why we will be the first to remind them.  We will not be asking for special treatment but we will be demanding equality.

We want the same rights and privileges extended to big business or big business to be reduced to the rights and privileges that we now enjoy.  No one group shall have more gain than any other because we all must share equally in the ups and downs of this nation.  We will applaud division of ideas and stand up for division of solutions but we will not tolerate division of this country or its people. 

Solutions to lowering the cost of healthcare for the military

As a former military member, anything that has something to say about the military will always spark my interest.  This article by Donna Cassata of the Associated Press titled Health care costs a hefty price tag for Pentagon is no exception.  Since some find approaching this topic as lethal as touching the third rail in the subway, I’ve decided to offer another way of thinking about this.

The article mentions that “costs of the program that provides health coverage to some 10 million active duty personnel, retirees, reservists and their families have jumped from $19 billion in 2001 to $53 billion in the Pentagon's latest budget request.  The explosive expense of health care rivals what the Pentagon shells out to buy fighter aircraft, submarines and high-tech weapons, and is about half of the $118 billion that the Obama administration wants in the next budget to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”  The problem really isn’t whether the receiver should pay more or not, it’s the government refusing to pay such a high price for it.  Basically my point is as long as manufactures of anything the government buys knows that it’s the government buying it, their prices goes straight through the roof.  Their prices keeps increasing because of one reason and one reason only, the government keeps paying it.  The solution is to actually start really shopping around, there are or can be veteran owned, women or minority owned companies which could be contracted to deliver these same items and equipment at a far less cost than they are paying now.  How may businesses that you know who will lower their prices just for the heck of it?

In this same article it is also reported that  “congress repeatedly has resisted Pentagon efforts to increase copayments or fees, arguing that members of the military and their families sacrifice far more than the average American, with a career that includes long and dangerous deployments overseas that overshadow civilian work” and final I think this is a solid argument, I still say that a diligent search for the same product from different vendors who are looking at the government as their own private piggy bank is the best way to go.  There are veterans out there right now who are more than capable of running a company that would be more than willing to see their fellow members properly treated and cared for.  They would not see them as a dollar sign with legs but a brother and sister in arms.  They would do it because they understand better than some ivory-league college graduate who happened to land on Wall Street instead of going to Main Street.  It is surely some women owned businesses out there who could also deliver for much less.  Many of whom would be more guided by meeting their financial obligations while caring for the rest of us.  It’s in their nature and many will not sway from it.  They would do it because they instinctively know that this nation thrives and survives as long as we all do so.

It was reported that a tomahawk missile cost over a million dollars to acquire.  I fail to accept that we can not find a jenny bird missile that can cause the same amount of damage for less than a million dollars.  If they are not out there now, imagine the jobs created to manufacture it.  It’s time for Washington to look past making those who sacrifice pay and start looking at the acquisition costs as the only truly way to lower cost.  If you really needed a taco but had very little money, you probably would choose Taco John’s over Taco Bell.  It’s accusation that is the cause of the high cost of healthcare or anything else, its acquisition.

Libya and the cry over the cost for the U.S.

Latest talk on the Libya conflict is that the rebels are still plugging along and defending much of what they have gained from the pro-Gadhafi forces.  A Karin Laub article written for the Associated Press titled Gadhafi's daughter sends defiant message reports “The daughter, Aisha, pumped her right fist as she led the audience in late-night chants from the second-floor balcony of the badly damaged Bab Aziziyah compound, targeted by U.S. warplanes in 1986.”  "Let me go back to the past when I was a child, when I was nine years old, in this house," she said. "A rain of missiles and bombs. They tried to kill me. They killed dozens of children in Libya."  "Now, after 25 years, the same missiles, the same bombs, rain on our children's heads," she said. "We are a people that cannot be defeated," she added.”  This was their definition of a defiant message, but to me what it was saying is my brothers are looking to sacrifice my father so in their place I stand.

Another development which has been barely covered is soon, the rebels will have those sorely needed larger weapons to actually take the battle to Gadhafi forces.  They have quietly been taught how to operate these tanks and rocket launchers as well as instituted a new radio command section which will keep them somewhat coordinated unlike before.  These items will soon be on the front line and air strikes will soon be less and less necessary.  Look for this development to be coming real soon and it will be nice to hear what those experts who used the word “stalemate” find another.  This brings me to my final point about this and all wars both past and future.

I hear so many speak about the cost and I have one simple question.  If these rockets cost so much, get up off your butts and find rockets that work just as well at a cheaper price.  To just sit back and accept a million dollar cost to each rocket launched makes no sense if you are so concerned with cost.  If you look at your cell phone bill and it seems to keep getting more and more expense, don’t you search now for a company which will offer you the same services at a cheaper price?  Instead of paying such an amount for a rocket invest that money into the operators of these weapons, their family and their healthcare.  Once a rocket is shot, it can not be recycled and used again but the operator can always be re-trained to operate a different launcher.  Invest in the most valuable of the military industrial complex which is the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, their families and their health.

More related articles can be found at

www.mannsmedium.blogspot.com

www.tupg.blogspot.com

Understanding Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

As a former United States Marine my heart goes out to my fellow marine and his family as profiled in this article by Kimberly Hefling of the Associated Press titled Veterans advocate kills self after war tours.  I can not claim to feel exactly what his family feels right now but I can say that any military member or uniformed person who loses their life through any means, especially a fellow marine, makes me feel empty because even though we may not share the same blood we do share something greater.

The article read “Clay Hunt so epitomized a vibrant Iraq veteran that he was chosen for a public service announcement reminding veterans that they aren't alone.  Hunt found an outlet to help improve the system by doing work with IAVA. He helped build bikes for Ride 2 Recovery and participated in long rides.  Using his military training, he went to Haiti several times and Chile once to help with the countries' earthquake relief efforts. He proudly told his parents of splinting an infant's leg.  "If I had one thing to say to my fellow veterans, it would be this: Continue to serve, even though we have taken off our uniforms," Hunt wrote in an online testimonial for Team Rubicon. "No matter how great or small your service is, it is desired and needed by the world we live in today."  There is no better way to eulogize this marine than his own words.

What is left for us to do now is to try and better understand Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because only by true understanding will we ever figure out how we can combat this disease.  The most important thing that people must understand is that PTSD may be curbed with drugs but no drug will ever be able to reach the source of this disease.  PTSD comes from deep within and no drug will ever reach it.  Do not think that small conversations and a few pills will ever answer the unquenchable question which powers PTSD.  Examples of what I speak can be found in the article previously mentioned.  Statements like “Friends and family say he was wracked with survivor's guilt, depression and other emotional struggles after combat.  "He was very despondent about why he was alive and so many people he served with directly were not alive," said John Wordin, 48, the founder of Ride 2 Recovery, a program that uses bicycling to help veterans heal physically and mentally.  In 2007, while in Iraq with the Marine's 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment, Hunt heard over the radio that his 20-year-old bunkmate had died in a roadside bombing. Hunt later wrote online about sleeping in his bunkmate's bed. "I just wanted to be closer to him, I guess. But I couldn't — he was gone."  Hunt wrote that seeing his friend placed in a helicopter, where he died, is "a scene that plays on repeat in my head nearly every day, and most nights as well."  This is a much deeper pain than anyone could ever imagine, its resides in your very soul and unless you are souless, it has now become a part of who you have come to be.

To combat this problem look no further than another statement found in this article which states “but with his boundless energy and countless friends, he came across as an example of how to live life after combat.”  Now it must be said that I am no expert in this field and the only experience that I have is seeing and hearing friends making the ultimate sacrifice for this nation while I remain.  For veterans returning from war, I believe they could be better helped with something similar to a half-way house filled with nothing but veterans.  Like some abandoned base with barracks and similar to the base life we are used to before returning home.  They need to have a place where they are surrounded by fellow military members who carry the same scar.  They have the freedom to visit family and friends like on “leave” but they must return and spend a few months or years on this transit base.  They have jobs to do each day to give them a reason to get up in the morning but it’s an 8 to 5 thing.  They have counselors to guide them assigned to each group with plenty of counselors to go around.  The base company office processes their VA benefit papers and does nothing but insure that they get every single benefit they deserve.  There is college campuses located on this base so that they can complete or get a secondary degree.  There are medical and dental facilities on this base for them to receive their healthcare.  For someone like Clay Hunt, he would have been perfect for working in the office that insures veterans get what this country promised and what they have earned.  Why would this work?  Because it is not what I think, it’s what I know.

More related articles can be found at

www.mannsmedium.blogspot.com

www.tupg.blogspot.com

The unseen stress and strain of our Uniformed Protectors

As both a former U.S. Marine and a Military Policeman this article written by Sue Epstein and Tom Haydon for the New Jersey Star-Ledger titled In rising numbers across N.J., troubled cops are killing themselves in which they reported “the March 27 death of Sgt. David Powell, 46, marked at least the fifth time this year an active or retired officer had taken his life in New Jersey, putting the state on pace to eclipse last year’s grim tally of 13 suicides, according to records kept by Cherie Castellano, the founder and director of a state-sponsored counseling service known as Cop2Cop.  Nationally, more than 400 active and retired officers commit suicide each year, said Robert Douglas, executive director of the National Police Suicide Foundation.  No single force can be linked to the increase, according to those who study the issue.  Rather, it’s a combination of factors that includes the ready availability of firearms, the stresses inherent in police work, difficulty explaining those stresses to loved ones and an inability to "transition from the street to the home," said Douglas, a retired Baltimore police officer.”

I remember a time when I was discharged from the military and took to heart the lessons learned there thinking that it could easily transfer to the “civilian world”.  I had heard how easy it was to get a job as with local law enforcement because of the experience I enjoyed in the military but was not prepared for all of the politics it would take to land that job.  I fell for the line that employers were looking for former military personnel and how quickly you would be able to move up because your military time would be counted as experience “on the outside”.  That too was not true and depending on the mindset of the interviewer, military experience carried little to no weight at all.  That is what is probably meant by “an inability to transition from street to the home”.  It was rough for me, a man who had supervised over 150 people in one of the most stressful jobs outside of parenting but could not land a decent job or use the advantages of military service that others used.  There were many times I thought about suicide because I could be trusted to put my life on the line with a loaded weapon but was not worthy of running a department or trusted.

While this article was about police officers it should also include those former and currently serving in our nation’s military.  I learned later that suicide was not and never will be an answer or a solution.  I learned that the only true person who could make me feel inferior was me and that just because they thought they knew all about me did not make it so.  I learned these things after contemplating suicide but I was lucky, some never get a chance to see this after those thoughts because some actually commit it.  As with the New Jersey sponsored program called Cop2Cop as mentioned in this article, I have now decided to do whatever I can to help by creating The Uniformed Protectors Group.  This group is designed to do nothing but provide the often sought but seldom found answers to questions that uniformed members of society might have.  I have created a blog for this at www.tupg.blogspot.com for anyone who may need answers or family members of those in uniform.  I do not posses an accredited degree in this but I have something that most of those licensed professionals don’t.  Real world experience and if this group only helps by just being around then its worth it in the end because we all deserve better especially those who serve in any type of uniform. 

Purpose of this group

Is to actually provide solutions to issues that may be facing former and active duty military personnel and their families.  Veteran's Administration is here to help but sometimes by the time they are aware of what is really happening on the ground too many of us are lost.  This has to end and it is this group's mission to end it.  We will find the answers and help you solve your problem in an honest and trustworthy manner.  We do not judge as we are or have been in your shoes.  We will not pretend that all is well when its not and yet will show you the silver lining that comes with all clouds if you can not see it.  The cost is free and it will always be.  We do not promise you a rose garden but if it is God's will, we will make it a peaceful one.