Military / Veterans Report

Fleet Week San Francisco October 4-9
Since 1981, San Francisco Fleet Week has been an annual opportunity for Northern Californians to honor the men and women serving in the United States Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps. This year we are fortunate to have increased participation from the Coast Guard and the Canadian Navy. In so doing, we expand the scope of Fleet Week internationally as well as across the armed services.

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September 15, 1950
Veterans Commemorate Inchon Landing
Stars and Stripes reports that hundreds gathered at the Inchon Landing Operation Memorial recently to mark the 57th anniversary of the daring U.S.-led invasion into the port city of Incheon, South Korea, which split communist troops and changed the course of the Korean War. Among them were several dozen U.S. veterans, most of whom had not been to South Korea since the war ended with an armistice in 1953. The Korean War

Move America Forward

Friday, September 14, 2007
Posted By:
Melanie Morgan
MAF Confronts Senator Reid’s Office on Betrayal of Troops
Reid’s spokesman, Jim Manley, wanted to hear nothing of the criticisms of Senator Reid. Cross-armed, he ordered the news crew covering the meeting to leave the office, and had the gall to tell the Move America Forward delegation that, “the one thing we all agree on is that we all support our troops.” Numerous Photos

Friday, September 14, 2007
Posted By:
Catherine Moy
Permalink Sen. Harry Reid Refuses to Meet with Grieving Mother
Debbie Lee and Deborah Johns stopped by Sen. Hary Reid’s Senate office Friday, but the senator refused to come out of his office to meet the women.
Lee carried a picture of her son, the first Navy Seal to give his life in Iraq. Both she and Johns carried a message to Reid: Support U.S. troops and allow them to win the war in Iraq before coming home.

Johns son has served three tours in Iraq and has signed up for a fourth.

The two Debs were with a few people represnting Move America Forward, the largest nonprofit, protroops organization in the country.
Chairman Melanie Morgan and Vice Chairman Buzz Patterson were disappointed and frustrated that Reid would not come out of hiding. Instead, he sent out a spokesman who said Reid does support the troops and he wants the home.

Reid has a strange way of showing his support. He has said they are losers - that U.S. troops have already lost in Iraq.

Then he refused to condemn a vile advertisement a radical leftwing group published in the New York Times calling their Iraqi commander, Gen. David Petraeus, a betrayer.

If that’s showing support, I wonder what Reid would do if he didn’t support our troops!

FOX News filmed the discussion among the military mothers, Morgan, Patterson and Reid’s aide.

Military / Veterans Report

Video * All Video Clips
New Documentary on WWII Debuts
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) presents "The War," a Ken Burns film, beginning Sun,, Sept. 23, 2007 on most PBS stations. The seven-part series documents World War II through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women from four quintessentially American towns. Throughout the series, the indelible experience of combat is brought vividly to life. Please check your local television listings for the exact air time and date in your area. For more information, including educational materials, visit "The War" website

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Toys for Tots Makes Special Request
In response to recent events within the toy industry regarding unsafe toys manufactured in China, the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is asking its loyal supporters to screen toys prior to purchase to ensure that only safe toys are donated to the upcoming 2007 U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Campaign. The toys identified as potentially unsafe can be found at the Mattel toy recall list at http://service.mattel.com/us/ and the CBS News Detailed SKU's website. For more information, call Mattel toll-free at (888)597-6597. Marine Toys for Tots Foundation does not purchase any toys directly from overseas vendors or manufacturers.

Gathering Of Eagles

Moon Bat Commie Pinkos deface Vietnam Memorial
Moonbats Threaten Move America Forward-GOE Caravan
By Kit Lange
Eagles! Don’t let these people interfere with Melanie and her Move America Forward caravan!

It has come to our attention that our good friends at Move America Forward are being targeted by the anti-American left. It is not enough that these ultra-liberal forces think it fine to disparage our men and women in uniform. They are now targeting our supporters as they make their way to stand with us in Washington, DC, on 15 September.

They have threatened Melanie Morgan personally and have used the vilest language to harass our friends. Obviously, they have underestimated our resolve and the resolve of our friends in Move America Forward. This is their last-ditch attempt to derail the
counter-protest we have in store for A.N.S.W.E.R.

Turn out in force to welcome Move America Forward as they make their way across the country. These people must be reminded that the silent majority is silent no more!

DoD News Briefing

DoD News Briefing with Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace at the Pentagon Briefing Room, Arlington, Va.

Feinstein's Earmark / Bush Visits Iraq / VA Health Care

Feinstein's $4 Billion Beverly Hills Earmark
By Kimberley Strassel
Move over Bridge to Nowhere. Congress is back in town, and clearly back to business even uglier than usual.

It takes hard work to come up with an earmark more egregious than that infamous Alaskan bridge, but California's Dianne Feinstein is an industrious gal. Her latest pork--let's call it Rambo's View--deserves to be the poster child for everything wrong with today's greedy earmark process.

The senator's $4 billion handout (yes, you read that right) to wealthy West L.A. (yes, you read that right, too) is the ultimate example of how powerful members use earmarks to put their own parochial interests above national ones--in this case the needs of veterans. It's a case study in how Congress uses the appropriations process to substitute its petty wants for the considered judgments of agency professionals. And it's just the latest proof that, no matter how much outrage the American public might display over these deals--and no matter how often Congress promises to clean up its act--the elected have no intention of reforming the process.

The pork here revolves around the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, though this is no average veterans' facility. Donated to the government in 1888, the center is 387 sprawling, prime real-estate acres in the middle of tony West L.A. More than twice the size of the National Mall, it is surrounded by the mansions and playgrounds of the city's elite, including the Bel Air Country Club and the Beverly Hills estates of Sylvester Stallone, Barry Bonds and Tim McGraw (to name a few). Entire Article
What is clear is that if this pork stands, no senator should again be allowed to bemoan a lack of veterans' funds without having this week's vote waved in his face.

Bush Surprise Visit to Iraq
Bush last night made a surprise detour to Iraq on his way to Australia as part of a strategy to seize the initiative in the country before the US Congress possibly changes the course of the war.

Bush received a "hoorah" when he said he would not base his deployment decision on "nervous reaction by Washington politicians to poll results in the media."

"When we begin to draw down troops from Iraq, it will be from a position of strength and success, not from a position of fear and failure. To do so otherwise would embolden our enemies and make it more likely that they would attack us at home," Bush said.

The temperature topped 110 degrees Fahrenheit as Bush stepped off Air Force One. The president stopped at a small building where a Marine Cobra pilot briefed him about the positives and negatives of current troop rotations.
"Morale?" asked Bush. "How's morale?"
"Very high, sir," the pilot, Capt. Lee Hemming, said.

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All Veterans are Potentially Eligible
Eligibility for most veterans’ health care benefits is based solely on active military service in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard (or Merchant Marines during WW II), and discharged under other than dishonorable conditions.

VA Health Care Eligibility & Enrollment
VA operates the nation’s largest integrated health care system with more than 1,400 sites of care, including hospitals, community clinics, nursing homes, domiciliaries, readjustment counseling centers, and other facilities.

Enrollment For most veterans, entry into the VA health care system begins by applying for enrollment. To apply, complete VA Form 10-10EZ, Application for Health Benefits, which may be obtained from any VA health care facility or regional benefits office, on line at http://www.va.gov/1010ez.htm <- Scroll to bottom to Start Application for Enrollment Benefits or by calling 1-877-222-VETS (8387). Once enrolled, veterans can receive health care at VA health care facilities anywhere in the country.

My HealtheVet (MHV)
is the gateway to veteran health benefits and services. It provides access to:

trusted health information

links to Federal and VA benefits and resources

the Personal Health Journal

online VA prescription refill

In the future, MHV registrants will be able to view appointments, copay balances, and key portions of their VA medical records online, and much more! My HealtheVet is a powerful tool to help you better understand and manage your health.