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Photo by John Raughter

The American Legion has distributed or processed 1,000 grants to disabled veterans this holiday season thanks to a $500,000 donation from the The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes.

“The grants are gone, but the need to care for those who have borne the cost of battle remains,” said National Commander Marty Conatser. “I am grateful to the Coalition for this generous gift. These vets certainly deserve it.”

Any veteran who incurred a 30-percent or more disability while serving in the theater of operations during Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom was eligible for a $500 grant. The American Legion assumed all distribution and administrative costs so the entire Coalition donation was awarded to the veterans.

“These grants were just a small token of appreciation for the sacrifices made by so many of America’s men and women in uniform,” said Thomas J. Palma, general manager of the Coalition. “The American Legion is a well-respected organization with a presence in communities across America. Legion service officers did a great job in finding deserving veterans and processing the grants.” It was not the first time that the two organizations have teamed up to award grants to disabled veterans. The American Legion distributed checks for the Coalition in 2005.

“The program was so successful two years ago that The American Legion’s National Executive Committee unanimously passed a resolution at our last convention authorizing our assistance in this great endeavor,” Conatser said.

The awards were appreciated by many of the recipients. “I recently received a grant from the Legion. You have no idea what this has meant to me. It has been a great aid to my family and it just puts special warmth in me to know that there are good people out there that appreciate the sacrifice and work young and old people have given to preserve what is good about our home,” said one recipient from Mt. Laurel, N.J. “I was not expecting this and it is with a joyful heart that I give you all my sincerest thanks, you made my family’s Christmas. May God bless all of you.”

The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes, www.saluteheroes.org, is a nonprofit organization that was created to provide a way for individuals, corporations and others to help severely wounded and disabled Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans and their families rebuild their lives.

The American Legion, www.legion.org, was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and patriotic youth programs. The Legion’s 2.7 million wartime veterans work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.

Photo by John Raughter

The national commander of The American Legion once again pleaded with members of Congress and also urged President Bush to finish the FY 2008 VA budget this week.

“As a continuing cost of war, funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs must simply and accurately be factored in the budget,” National Commander Marty Conatser reminded elected officials.

After intense negotiations between the White House and congressional leadership, this week Congress is taking up the final Omnibus Appropriations Act for FY 2008.

Earlier this session, both the House and Senate overwhelming passed HR 2642, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of FY 2008 that called for increased funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs by $3.7 billion more than the president’s budget request. This met the funding recommendations of The American Legion and every other major veterans’ service organization.

The president told Congress he would not veto HR 2642 even though it exceeded his budget recommendations. However, Congress chose to package the Mil-Con/VA Appropriations bill with other appropriations measures.

The president then informed Congress he would veto any funding recommendations that exceeded his overall budget request of $933 billion. Therefore, the $3.7 billion increase in VA funding would require offsets from other discretionary funding in other federal accounts. Not having enough votes to override a veto, a new omnibus funding measure was created by congressional leadership.

To preserve the funding increase for VA, this new omnibus bill contains an ‘emergency provision’ that would require the president to declare an emergency in order to receive the additional $3.7 billion. The declaration has to be made no later than January 18, 2008.

“It’s essential this bill be passed and signed for the well-being of our troops, veterans and their families,” Conatser said. “Then the president needs to release the $3.7 billion. We are a nation at war and this funding it critically needed. Many veterans returning from war continue to fight up-front and personal battles with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other physical and psychological challenges,” Conatser explained. “They’re attempting to regain their health and well-being though the VA. Our troops and families are bearing the personal burden of this war and deserve the best health care possible,” he said.

The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of strong national defense, veterans affairs, Americanism and patriotic youth programs. The Legion’s 2.7 million wartime veterans work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.

Photo by James V. Carroll

December 14, 2007

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

The American Legion is closely monitoring the legislative activities on Capitol Hill as Congress is addressing VA funding for FY 2008. Earlier this year, both the House and the Senate agreed to fund VA at the levels recommended by The American Legion and other major VSOs.

The entire veterans’ community and the vast majority of lawmakers fully support this level of funding because it meets the increased demands placed on VA due to the global war on terrorism. This proposed funding will allow VA to hire additional PTSD counselors, hire additional VA claims adjudicators, continue pending CARES construction projects, and meet the growing demands for timely access to quality health care due primarily to the returning servicemembers from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom who are seeking earned treatment and services.

Mr. President, The American Legion understands that the VA budget does not exist in a vacuum, but is only one element of a Federal budget that funds other domestic programs. We adamantly believe that funding for VA, defense, and homeland security are directly related to the on-going cost of war and may fluctuate based on changing paradigms, such as the recent surge in Iraq, which The American Legion fully supported.

Therefore, The American Legion respectfully request that you reconsider your funding proposal for VA in your initial budget recommendation and allow Congress the $3.7 billion margin without offsets in other domestic accounts.

Mr. President, we are a nation at war, and The American Legion firmly believes that this additional funding is necessary to properly care for our returning warriors.

Sincerely,

MARTIN CONATSER
National Commander

 

The American Legion’s defense of war memorials currently under attack by the American Civil Liberties Union is getting the attention of the mainstream media. For years the ACLU has targeted crosses at these historic memorials, falsely claiming such displays violate the U.S. Constitution. Frivolous lawsuits filed by the ACLU and its lawyers have funneled millions of dollars into ACLU coffers. If successful, these suits could even threaten religious symbols at veterans’ cemeteries. The American Legion has joined forces with the Alliance Defense Fund and the Liberty Legal Institute to protect and defend memorials from being dismantled by the courts.

 

“During the last Congress, The American Legion launched a national awareness campaign to pass the Public Expression of Religion Act, known as PERA,” Past National Commander Tom Bock said last week, while representing National Commander Paul Morin who was on travel overseas. “PERA passed overwhelmingly in the House but its companion bill was introduced late in the 109^th Congress without enough time to get a floor vote in the Senate. Today, its successor – The Veterans’ Memorials, Boy Scouts, Public Seals, and Other Public Expression of Religion Protection Act of 2007 has been introduced in both chambers – H.R. 725 in the House and S. 415 in the Senate. This time, The American Legion, ADF and Liberty Legal Institute are joined together to make this new PERA the law of the land.”

 

Click here to view the Fox News report.

Photo credit DoD

In the final hours of the days of the First Session of the 110th Congress, lawmakers are working to complete the Federal funding for FY 2008.

Earlier this year, both the House and the Senate supported an increase in VA funding that meet The American Legion National Commander’s budget recommendations. Unfortunately, that legislation never reached the White House and is among the remaining appropriations bills to be completed.

This would be a good time to call lawmakers and remind them that America is still a nation at war. Veterans, both young and old, are turning to VA for timely access to quality health care. Recently separated military veterans are seeking timely adjudication of their service-connected disability claims, using their Montgomery GI Bill educational benefits, and trying to reenter the civilian workforce.

VA needs funding to meet the health care needs of those veterans currently enrolled in the VA health care delivery system, to hire PTSD counselors to work with returning OEF/OIF veterans, and to hire claims adjudicators to help reduce the unacceptable claims backlog.

All veterans - past, present, and future - need a Department of Veterans Affairs that meets their needs. That is the ongoing cost of war - the price of freedom.

Call today and tell your lawmakers - both senators and your representatives to keep veterans and their families a national priority. If you cannot get through to the Washington, DC offices, I would recommend contacting local congressional offices within your state. Emails and letters may not be read until it is too late.

Please encourage other Legionnaires in your local posts to take time to make a call as well.

Photo credit Department Of Washington

LACEY, WA. (December 12, 2007) Members of nation’s largest wartime veterans organization, from Winlock, WA Buford Rockafellow Post 101 of The American Legion Department of Washington District 10, along with other area veterans organizations are rallying together to help provide emergency relief for Lewis, Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties flood victims. In addition to providing personal assistance throughout the stricken area, local Posts are also accepting donations to aid the relief effort.

Canned food and clothing donations may be brought by The American Legion Post 22 at 555 North Market Street in Chehalis. Contact Bruce Longnecker at (360) 349-0788 for further information.

In Pacific County, non-perishable food items, clothing, bedding and small household items may be donated in care of The American Legion Post 150 at 221 Duryea Street in Raymond. Questions may be directed to Post Commander Greg Ginther at (360) 942-9780.

Grays Harbor County residents may donate non-perishable foods and clothing at The American Legion Post 5, located at 112 West 1st Street in Aberdeen. Post Commander Dan Schlesser may be contacted at (360) 538-1415.

Monetary donations, checks or cash may be sent in care of The American Legion 10th District, P.O. Box 634, Toledo, WA 98591-0634. If you would like your monetary donation to benefit a specific community, please note the city on the memo line.

Veterans may also contact their county Veterans Relief Fund to determine if they are eligible for assistance with fuel, food, and utilities; however, please be aware that this is an income-based benefit for honorably discharged veterans only. Further information on the veterans’ relief fund can be obtained by contacting the Lewis County Veterans Advisory Board Chairman Wendy Carolan at (360) 785-0929, or Susan Denton at (360) 740-1223. Grays Harbor County residents may contact Vern Spatz at (360) 249-4232; Thurston County residents may contact Linda Loyle at (360) 754-4273; and in Pacific County, Kathy Noren at (360) 875-9337.

Members of The American Legion and their families directly affected and displaced by the floods may also apply for assistance through The American Legion National Emergency Fund program. All wartime veterans with children or grandchildren residing in their home may apply for grants available through The American Legion Temporary Financial Assistance (TFA) Program children by contacting Phil Carolan at (360) 785-0929. Veterans need not be members of The American Legion to apply for TFA grants.

Additionally, veterans from all over Lewis County, along with other dedicated veteran volunteers from Thurston County, are to be commended for their selfless and heroic efforts to save numerous artifacts displayed at the Veterans Memorial Museum and to remove flood soaked carpeting. Any and all volunteers are welcome and appreciated. Please contact Lee Grimes at (360) 740-8875 if you would like to help.

Photo by James V. Carroll

By National Commander Marty Conatser

A college senior from Michigan will soon spend another winter break without his father, a staff sergeant whose life was taken in a mortar attack in Baqubah, Iraq, on Christmas Day 2003.

Two teen brothers in California will take a moment this holiday season to remember their Marine-pilot stepfather who was killed in an air crash in Pakistan; the oldest boy was only 12 when he tearfully described their late parent as “a hero, especially to me” at the funeral five years ago.

Two students at the University of Illinois, a brother and sister, are about to complete their college degrees and launch their careers, knowing that their father, killed in a helicopter crash during a humanitarian-aid mission in Afghanistan, would be proud of them.

These five young people are at the front of what is becoming a very long line: the children of U.S. servicemembers who lost their lives while on active military duty since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Across the nation, nearly 4,000 kids today cope with that strange mix of grief, honor and sacrifice. The majority of them are not yet of college age, but within the next few years, that will change.

The American Legion created a special scholarship program just days after 9/11 to help young people pay for college and to respect the memories of parents who made the ultimate sacrifice. Since then, The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund has captured the hearts of veterans, corporations, communities, motorcyclists and at least one country music star. One fund-raiser at a time – from the $118,000 Mercury Vehicles donated in 2005 alone (with ongoing dona-tions, based on Legionnaire vehicle purchases) to the handful of dollars little Megan Smith of Indiana scraped together to kick off the 2006 Legacy Run – the fund continues to grow. Last summer, while country musician Michael Peterson was selling DVDs and donating half the profits to the fund, motorcyclists from across the nation were rumbling into Reno, Nev., with more than $400,000 from the Second Annual Legacy Run, blowing away their goal of $250,000.

The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund has climbed to nearly $1.8 million en route to its first big milestone of $5 million and ultimate goal of $20 million. That sounds like a lot, but it will take a lot to significantly help thousands of young people cover the rising cost of higher education in years to come. This year, $36,000 will be distributed in equal shares among qualified applicants, chosen by The American Legion National Education Committee. Those with the greatest financial need are given highest priority, but so far, every applicant who has met the fundamental criteria has been awarded at least some of the scholarship money each year of the fund’s existence. Eighty percent of earnings is spent to provide the scholarships, 20 percent is left in to build up the fund, and 0 percent is spent on administrative costs.

We will talk a lot in the coming months about the value of membership. In this season of giving, if you believe, as I do, that there’s value in helping the children of U.S. military personnel who gave their lives while serving our country, please consider one of the many ways to contribute, listed at right. It is, as the song says, who we are.

By Ken Olsen

Second Lt. Doug Pringle was stunned when a group of disabled World War II veterans walked into his room at Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco in November 1968 and invited him to go ski-ing. With one leg severed and the other leg shattered by a North Vietnamese grenade just five months earlier, Pringle quickly refused.

He reconsidered after his buddies came back from their first outing with stories of hanging out in bars with beautiful women. Pringle’s doctor soon drove him to Soda Springs, near Lake Tahoe, where a one-legged veteran started teaching him to ski.

“It was a life-changing experience for me,” Pringle says. “It started me thinking about what I could do, not what I couldn’t do.”

Pringle’s instructors were members of the 10th Mountain Division who found ways to keep skiing after losing limbs and suffering other wounds during World War II. They formed the National Amputee Skiers Association, now Disabled Sports USA, to reach out to severely wounded Vietnam War veterans. Pringle was one of their first students. In the ensu-ing 40 years, their efforts helped spawn specialized equipment, teaching techniques and similar groups across the country that enable just about everyone to participate.

Today, thanks to its destination-resort status and vigorous community support, Sun Valley, Idaho, is home to two such sports-therapy programs. They are transforming the lives of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have suffered se-vere injuries in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“We help them improve their physical skills, but we also help them build their self-confidence and self-esteem, which leads to a sense of purpose and passion in life,” says Tom Iselin, executive director of Sun Valley Adaptive Sports. “This leads to a belief in self and hope and improves their relationships with their families, their peers and their community. It also leads to better performance at work and in school, and helps them handle the challenge of their disability and cope with combat-related stress.”

With two recreational therapists on staff and a network of 200 volunteers, Sun Valley Adaptive Sports teaches U.S. servicemembers and a member of their family – often a spouse – alpine and Nordic skiing, snowboarding, sled hockey and a full complement of summer sports, ranging from fly fishing to mountain biking. Most instruction is one on one.

“Our job is to be a little bit of a psychologist and a little bit of a detective,” Iselin explains. “As a detective we assess the person’s physical aspects – how they walk, their strength. As a psychologist we assess what’s going on in the per-son’s head – are they afraid of heights or speed?”

Sun Valley Adaptive Sports uses this information to match the servicemember with the appropriate adaptive equip-ment, the appropriate instructor, and the appropriate ski run or fishing stream.

Severely wounded U.S. servicemembers are recruited from major military medical installations, including the Military Severely Injured Center, the National Naval Medical Center, Brooke Army Medical Center and VA hospitals. Funding – about $5,000 per couple – comes from private donors and foundations. The programs typically run a week in duration. By the end of the third day, “they begin to realize their life isn’t over and that they are going to be able to do this,” says Marc Mast, who runs another Sun Valley rehabilitative endeavor, the Wood River Ability Program.

The results are dramatic.

“You take them up on a ski hill, put a set of skis on them, and by the end of the week they are a different person,” says retired Army Col. Ed McGowan, one of many American Legion members who works as a volunteer for both programs. “They get the benefit of achieving something they thought they would never be able to do.”

“I think the most important benefit is the psychological lift,” adds Maurice Charlat, commander of American Legion Post 115 in Ketchum, which also provides financial support for the Wood River Ability Program and Sun Valley Adap-tive Sports. “In the final analysis, they are looking at themselves as whole, competent people, no matter what prosthetic device they are wearing.”

Part of the healing is about being in motion again, especially for servicemembers whose mobility is hampered as a re-sult of their wounds.

“When you are on the ski hill, you have freedom, speed and motion that you don’t experience anywhere else in your life,” Pringle says. “The rest of the time you are struggling to get over the curb, get up the stairs or just get into the rest-room.”

Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans also benefit from impressive developments in sports equipment. During the Viet-nam era, for example, Pringle was outfitted with the equivalent of a “peg leg,” he says, and there was no way to accom-modate people who used wheelchairs. Today, microprocessors and high-tech materials have led to prosthetics that come closer to matching the abilities of natural limbs. And “sit skis” allow paraplegics to both downhill and cross-country ski.

Such equipment enabled Army Spc. Andy Soule to learn Nordic skiing through the Wood River Ability Program in 2006 and earn a spot on the U.S. Disabled Cross Country Ski Team with his impressive performance at the 2007 World Cup races.

In the end, however, the camaraderie today’s wounded warriors find on Sun Valley’s ski slopes is as important as any other element. “These groups of veterans help each other,” Mast says. “They realize they aren’t alone in the world.”

DoD Photo

The White House Commission on Remembrance has partnered with the USS Arizona Pearl Harbor Memorial Museum in a nationwide flag raising effort. The flag will begin its journey on December 7th in Pearl Harbor during the National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

During the journey the flag will visit 25 national cemeteries and historic battlefields across the Nation. A flag-raising ceremony to honor the service and sacrifices of America's fallen heroes and the families they left behind will be held at each location.

Old Glory will end its journey at the U.S. Capitol on May 26, 2008, where it will become part of the National Moment of Remembrance ceremony.

Members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, elected officials, representatives from the military services, veterans and their families, and cemetery representatives are expected to be in attendance.

Legion Sponsors Oklahoma Homecoming

DoD Photo

Individual grants to be awarded to disabled war vets

INDIANAPOLIS (Dec. 4, 2007) -The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes presented a check of $500,000 to The American Legion so the nation’s largest veterans organization can award grants to disabled veterans who served in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars.

“These grants are just a small token of appreciation for the sacrifices made by so many of America’s men and women in uniform,” said Thomas J. Palma, general manager of the Coalition. “Our Coalition was able to raise a lot of money from caring people but we do not have the distribution network of The American Legion. The Legion is a well-respected organization with a presence in communities across America. The American Legion will do an excellent job in getting those grants to deserving veterans.”

American Legion National Commander Marty Conatser said that The American Legion is honored to participate in such a worthy project.

“We are extremely grateful to the Coalition for its generous contribution to America’s heroes. Some of these grants will be awarded just in time to brighten the holidays for those who need the help,” said Conatser.

The funds will be divided into $500 grants and awarded to veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq who are rated with disabilities of 30 percent or more. The American Legion will assume all distribution administrative costs, meaning that 1,000 grants will be awarded - the entire amount of the Coalition’s contribution.

It is not the first time that the two organizations have teamed up to award grants to disabled veterans. The American Legion distributed checks for the Coalition in 2005.

“The program was so successful two years ago that The American Legion’s National Executive Committee unanimously passed a resolution at our last convention authorizing our assistance in this great endeavor,” Conatser said.

The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes, www.saluteheroes.org , is a nonprofit organization that was created to provide a way for individuals, corporations and others to help severely wounded and disabled Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans and their families rebuild their lives.

The American Legion, www.legion.org, was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and patriotic youth programs. The Legion’s 2.7 million wartime veterans work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.

INDIANAPOLIS (Dec. 4, 2007) – Planners for The American Legion Legacy Run (ALLR) have announced the dates for the annual motorcycle fundraising run, now in its third year, from Indianapolis to The American Legion’s national convention. Many of the participants from both the 2006 run to Salt Lake City and the 2007 run to Reno, Nev., are expected to return for the nearly 1,800-mile run to Phoenix, Aug. 17-21, 2008.

American Legion National Commander Marty Conatser will kick-off The American Legion Legacy Run, which will begin with a national gathering of The American Legion Riders at American Legion Post 64, 602 S. Holt Road, in Indianapolis. The riders will depart on Sunday, August 17, 2008, and thunder through Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico to Phoenix and the site of the 90th American Legion National Convention.

The riders, many of them members of The American Legion Family, will journey for five grueling days to make possible a college education for the children of comrades who died defending our freedoms since the attacks of September 11, 2001.

According to Conatser, the ALLR raises the public’s awareness of the honorable nature of military service and is “one way to show The American Legion’s deep appreciation for those who paid the ultimate price for freedom.” The goal for 2008 is to raise at least $350,000 for The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund.

“As an unfortunate consequence of America’s war on terror, many children of our active-duty military personnel are now members of single-parent families,” Conatser said. “In most cases, this also means their chances to attend college have greatly diminished. Children of military personnel who die on active service are entitled to receive some money toward a college education. It is the least a grateful nation can do.”

The American Legion Legacy Fund has already distributed $74,000 in critically needed scholarship assistance to students enrolled in college level courses since 2004, including $36,000 in 2007.

“We will ensure that higher education will be a reality for these families,” Conatser said. “Providing for the children our military personnel have left behind is our civic duty, and an education is a powerful way to show our thanks.”

The commander encouraged motorcycle enthusiasts from all parts of the United States to join The American Legion Legacy Run either in Indianapolis or along the route.

“The ride is open to all who are interested in supporting these children. We will pause along the way for rest stops, meals and other events and services arranged by American Legion posts,” Conatser said. Tentative plans include possible visits to military installations and a variety of communities in states along the route.

The American Legion Riders and American Legion posts nationally play a crucial role by conducting continuous fundraising runs and charity rides, operating refueling stops, coordinating with local law enforcement officials, and supporting The American Legion Legacy Run with meals and water. All who register for the ride receive the 2008 Run patch set as well as a mapbook with information about exact routes, scheduled stops, timetables, daily maps, and checkpoint locations.

The national headquarters has released a promotional video asking American Legion posts and riders chapters to conduct local or regional fundraising efforts on behalf of The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund. Materials and information tailored specifically for fundraising is available from The American Legion at the contact listed below.

Information and online registration will open in January 2008 at www.legion.org/legacyrun. “We encourage all interested Legionnaires and indeed all supporters to register in support of the Run,” said Conatser, “to help us help the children of our fallen heroes.”