Military / Veterans Report

VA Develops New Prosthetic Ankle
Veterans with lower-leg amputations can look forward to having a prosthetic ankle-foot that matches their natural ease of motion, due to research funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and conducted by researchers from the Department and two of the nation's top universities. Researchers say the new ankle-foot prosthetic is the first in a new family of artificial limbs. It will replicate natural motion by propelling people forward using tendon-like springs powered by an electric motor. VA operates about 60 orthotic-prosthetic labs across the country that fabricate, fit and repair artificial limbs or oversee limbs provided by commercial vendors.

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Humor Courtesy Swapmeet Dave
Communication Breakdown...
The reason the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines squabble among themselves is that they don't speak the same language.
For example, take a simple phrase like, "Secure the building."
• The Army will put guards around the place.
• The Navy will turn out the lights and lock the doors.
• The Air Force will take out a 5-year lease with an option to buy.
• The Marines will kill everybody inside and make it a command post.

Military / Veterans Report

President Bush Discusses War on Terror in South Carolina
Some note that al Qaida in Iraq did not exist until the U.S. invasion -- and argue that it is a problem of our own making. The argument follows the flawed logic that terrorism is caused by American actions. Iraq is not the reason that the terrorists are at war with us. We were not in Iraq when the terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. We were not in Iraq when they attacked our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. We were not in Iraq when they attacked the USS Cole in 2000. And we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001.

In ancient times there were no statistics so they fell back on lies.
In modern times there are statistics so Liberals fall back on lies.
Just blame Bush: “[George W. Bush is] the worst president we ever had... When you have a president who is so unpopular... it really reflects poorly on Congress. None of [Congress’ approval ratings] are real high and we acknowledge that, but most of it relates to the unpopularity of the president.” - Harry Reid x The War Is Lost x Reid Warped x Create A Warp

Our action to remove Saddam Hussein did not start the terrorist violence -- and America withdrawal from Iraq would not end it. The al Qaida terrorists now blowing themselves up in Iraq are dedicated extremists who have made killing the innocent the calling of their lives. They are part of a network that has murdered men, women, and children in London and Madrid; slaughtered fellow Muslims in Istanbul and Casablanca, Riyadh, Jakarta, and elsewhere around the world. If we were not fighting these al Qaida extremists and terrorists in Iraq, they would not be leading productive lives of service and charity. Most would be trying to kill Americans and other civilians elsewhere -- in Afghanistan, or other foreign capitals, or on the streets of our own cities. President Bush Discusses War on Terror Video x Transcript

Radio Program to Give Troops a Voice
Mike Broomhead, host of the "Mike Broomhead Show" on News Talk KFYI in Phoenix will dedicate one hour of his two-hour Sunday evening show to "Voice of the Troops," which will also be sponsored by Operation Homefront of Arizona. The segment debuted July 15 and will begin as a monthly feature. Those with Internet access will be able to hear the program on the station's website at http://www.kfyi.com/. The program will provide a way for servicemembers to share their stories from the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan. For more information, visit the
Operation Homefront of Arizona website.

Military Retirement Pay Cap is Lifted
Retiring military personnel - who have had due 30 years of service or more - will no longer have their retirement pay capped at 75 percent of base pay thanks to changes in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007. For example, a member who served 32 years will receive 80 percent of their retired pay base and a member who has served 42 years will receive 105 percent of their retired pay base. More detail about the new retirement pay schedule is available from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

Military etiquette
Officer: Soldier, do you have change for a dollar?
Soldier: Sure, buddy.
Officer: That's no way to address an officer! Now let's try it again.
Do you have change for a dollar?
Soldier: No, SIR!

V.A. Medical Center Lobby Portait

V.A. Medical Center lobby you'll see the portrait on the right.
In 2009 do you want to see the portrait on the left? I don't!
Since she's a socialist liberal the background will probably change.
A Taxpayer Voting for Hillary is like a Chicken Voting for Col. SANDERS.
Click to enlarge.

Veterans Affairs Secretary James Nicholson said Tuesday that he will step down from his post on October 1. If she's elected, God help us, whose portrait will adorn the lobby wall as Veterans Affairs Secretary?

Military / Veterans Report

THE GRIM REAPERS
The war on terror will soon get even scarier for America's enemies - the United States is on the verge of unleashing its best pilotless aircraft yet, the Reapers.

The robot killers from the sky - a step up from the current Predators - will be tracking down enemy fighters from 50,000 feet up.

The Reaper is outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting capability and packs a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles. The Reaper is loaded, but there is no one on board. Its pilot, as it bombs targets in Iraq, will sit at a video console 7,000 miles (11,265 kilometers) away in Nevada.

Bigger Military Raise, Better Benefits Hit
With President Bush's popularity scraping bottom in opinion polls, with U.S. casualties rising in Iraq in a force surge that has stretched soldier tours to 15 months, the Bush administration July 10 said it "strongly opposes" key military pay and benefit gains tossed into their fiscal 2008 defense bill. Initiatives the administration "strongly opposes" include:

• A military pay raise for next January of 3.5 percent versus 3 percent endorsed by the White House.
  
• Lowering the age-60 start of reserve retirement annuities for reserve component members by the length of their future mobilizations.
  
• Expanding eligibility for Combat-Related Special Compensation to service members forced by combat disabilities to retire short of 20 years.
  
• Directing pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide the Department of Defense with same price discounts for TRICARE retail pharmacy network that are provided already on medicines dispensed from base pharmacies. To learn more, read the article

Iran May Go Nuclear in 6 Months

NATO: Go It Alone
(IsraelNN.com) According to the IDF, Iran will be able to produce nuclear weapons within six months. NATO says Israel must ‘go it alone’ according to Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

The IDF Military Intelligence (MI) assessment was reported Tuesday to the Knesset and included a concrete assessment determining that Iran could cross the technological threshold required to produce nuclear weapons in the next 6-12 months and possess an operational warhead by the middle of 2009.

Another Lieberman in Favor of Iran Strike
US Senator Joseph Lieberman has been publicly calling for US strikes on Iran.
Full Story
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Military / Veterans Report

Thank You Foundation
The Thank You Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to expressing gratitude and appreciation to the men and women in the United States Armed Forces past and present. The Foundation has developed high-quality business cards that can be presented to any individual who is on active-duty, in a reserve unit or a veteran of the armed services, as a means of saying "Thank You." The Foundation also recently started the Tickets for Troops program where complimentary tickets to professional sporting events, concerts, amusement parks and art events are presented to these servicemembers. For more information, visit the
Thank You Foundation website.

Navy Knowledge Online Alerts Users
The Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola warns users of the Navy Knowledge Online (NKO) Web portal to watch out for an Internet phishing scam. The current phishing scheme claims to be from the NKO administration department and advises users of a non-existent server outage. The phony e-mail directs NKO users to a false mirror site in order to obtain users' legitimate log-on information. NKO users should not reply to the phishing e-mail or click on any associated links or buttons in the e-mail/false NAVADMIN. Further guidance and assistance is available from the NKO home page.

Panel Approves VA Care for All Vets
The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), approved legislation recently that would re-open the Department of Veterans Affairs health system to 1.7 million veterans in Priority Group 8, those who have adequate incomes and no service-connected ailments. The Group 8 provision is in the Traumatic Brain Injury and Other Health Programs Enhancement Act (S 1233). For more information, read the article on the Military.com website.

White House Against Boosting VA Budget
Moves in Congress to give the Department of Veterans Affairs as much as $3.8 billion more than the Bush administration proposed has drawn an indirect veto threat from the White House.

"If Congress increases VA funding above the president's request and does not offset this increase with spending reductions in other bills, the president will veto any of the other bills that exceed his request until Congress demonstrates a path to reach the president's top line of $933 billion," the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.

Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, chairman of the House veterans affairs appropriations subcommittee, said, "This bill is about respect, and honors the promises made to our veterans with historic increases in funding to provide them the health care and benefits they earned when they put on our nation's uniform." To learn more, read the article at Military.com.

"This bill is about respect, and honors the promises made to our veterans with historic increases in funding to provide them the health care and benefits they earned when they put on our nation's uniform."
Since when do liberals respect veterans? When it's a political talking point. (We (Democrats) tried to get veterans more health care money, but Bush vetoed it.) Another reason for the liberals to blame Republicans in 2008.
Read these Comments posted on Military.com

Operation Iraqi Freedom: Stay the course...

“America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.” - James Madison

Amid all the political posturing regarding OIF—specifically the Democrat’s largely successful efforts to undermine American will to stay the course in Iraq, one fact is obscured by the bitter debate. Elements of Radical Islam remain determined to strike Western targets in an effort to thwart democratic influence in the Middle East, and if we drop our guard, they will hit us hard. pdf file

Military / Veterans Report

Mirage Jet flying through the Swiss Alps

House Approves Record VA Budget
The U.S. House of Representatives recently approved a record budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). H.R. 2642, the 2008 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill, would increase the VA budget $6.7 billion above 2007 levels. It would hire 1,100 more VA claims adjudicators and would provide $600 million for three "Centers of Excellence" in mental health care and five polytrauma centers to care for the needs of thousands of men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with serious mental and physical conditions.

Lowe's Offers 4th of July Discounts
Lowe's Companies, Inc. announced today it will offer all active, reserve and retired military personnel and their immediate family members a 10 percent discount on in-store purchases made during the July 4th holiday. The discount is available June 28-July 8. The discount is available on in-stock purchases up to $5,000. To qualify, individuals must present a valid military ID or other proof of service such as a VA card, VFW card, veteran's ID or discharge papers. Excluded from the discount are online sales, previous sales, installation and delivery fees, extended protection plans, gift cards, select Fisher & Paykel appliances and John Deere.

Power Wheelchairs for Veterans
ClickOnHealth works with Medicare and your secondary insurance providers to get you a new Power Wheelchair at little or not cost. They will take care of all the details and work directly with your doctor to find the wheelchair that's best for you. You won't be bothered with confusing insurance paperwork and they offer free home delivery. Get more info here

Jihad in Britain

The terrorists don't seem to care that Tony Blair is gone.

Barely 48 hours on the job, Britain's new Prime Minister Gordon Brown got a lesson in the realities of the post-9/11 world.

Terrorist plots in London and Glasgow pushed the U.K.'s security alert up to the highest level--"critical"--for the first time in a year. In fortunate contrast to the London subway bombings two years ago this July 7, neither attack came off as planned. Two cars packed with gasoline, gas cylinders and nails were discovered early Friday in the British capital and defused. At Glasgow airport, a similarly rigged SUV crashed into security barriers, barely failing to get inside the departure hall. Except for an attacker who set himself ablaze yelling "Allah, Allah," no one was seriously hurt. Police arrested five suspects.

On Thursday, his first full day in office, the Prime Minister sought to distance himself from just-retired Tony Blair's unpopular commitment to the "global war on terror" by unveiling a cabinet with prominent Blair critics. But Mr. Brown appears to be a quick study. Yesterday, in an interview with the BBC, he was nothing if not resolute: "We will not yield, we will not be intimidated, and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life." Welcome to the fight. *