What Can You Do to Help Our Vietnam Veterans?

[Wry Catcher]

Umm scars from bullet and shrapnel wounds help.

Umm, how does a Vet prove that the scars are from shrapnel and bullet wounds and does that eliminate the legitimate claims of Combat Vets who weren't wounded? Ya see, either way the "combat Vets" need to prove their disability is service connected.

Some combat scars are not physical and others can be disputed, i.e. Agent Orange Exposure. Until the Reagan Administration vets didn't need to prove a medical issue was service connected. In particular PTSD which was recognized as early as WW I but called by a different name:

The Perilous Fight . The Mental Toll | PBS

Stress has been associated with cancers, heart disease, drug & alcohol abuse and psychiatric disorders.

Well, is that clear?

 

[waltky]

No indictment in veterans parade float accident...

Grand jury declines to indict driver in Texas parade accident
January 10, 2013 — A Midland County grand jury declined Wednesday to indict the driver of a parade truck struck by a Union Pacific train in November, killing four veterans.

Driver Dale Andrew Hayden, a 50-year-old Army veteran, was no-billed in the grand jury proceedings, which prosecutor Eric Kalenak said took most of the morning. “There was a lot of information in the police investigation and that’s kind of what we presented to them,” Kalenak said. “It’s hard for me to comment on what they did because it’s their decision to make.” District Attorney Teresa Clingman said later in a news release that the grand jury has not finished its review of the incident. Neither she nor Kalenak explained what that meant.

But District Clerk Ross Bush said the DA’s investigation of Hayden is complete, and the grand jury may later issue a report about the tragedy, which occurred during a Nov. 15 parade for wounded veterans led by the local group Show of Support. The truck Hayden drove carried 26 people – 12 veterans, their spouses and two civilian escorts. According the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary investigation, Hayden entered a railroad crossing seconds after warning lights and bells activated and just before crossing guards lowered, signaling that a train was on its way.

The train struck the trailer at 62 mph, killing 47-year-old Army Sgt. Maj. Lawrence Boivin, 34-year-old Army Sgt. Joshua Michael, 37-year-old Marine Chief Warrant Officer Gary Stouffer and 43-year-old Sgt. Maj. William Lubbers. Another 16 riders were hospitalized with injuries. The NTSB investigation continues and could take up to a year. The Midland Police Department announced in December it would not charge Hayden, who was reportedly under the care of a physician following the incident. At the time, police offered no explanation, only a heavily redacted investigative report, and referred the case to the District Attorney.

Lawyers on behalf of three injured veterans and their wives filed suit in Midland against Hayden’s employer, Smith Industries, and Union Pacific, claiming negligence. Separately, Stouffer’s widow, Catherine Stouffer, sued the companies last month out of Dallas County. Union Pacific announced last month it would repair signal circuitry to add more warning time at the crossing, which is at the intersection of North Garfield Street and West Industrial Avenue. Show of Support never sought a permit for the parade. The group has since announced its intention to continue honoring wounded veterans, though in a different form.

Source

 

[Oldguy]

It's a little to late, I think, to thank VN vets in any way that is truly meaningful.

The time to have done that, back when it would have helped, is long past.

I hear todays chickenhawk' generation of right wing cranks telling me thank you for your service, and most of what I hear, given the mindset of the people who tell me this, rings false.

If today's chickenhawks really want to thank the VN generation for their service, the best thing they can do is see to it that TODAY'S GENERATION service people are not WASTED on stupid militaristic misadventures of EMPIRE.

I couldn't agree more. When some jackass about my age "thanks" me for my service in Vietnam, my first thought is, "Where the hell were you then when I needed you?"

 

[RoccoR]

Oldguy, editec, et al,

To be honest, I always felt a little embarrassed, not knowing what to say in response.

As well as having an RVN tour, I retired from the Army; I had spent nearly 70% of my adult life overseas. After the Army (serving during a time when being in the Army wasn't all that popular a career choice) I got a job (GS-4 starting) at a defense facility (DFAS) afterwards. I secured my college degree (OSU), but always felt out of place among a group of civilians that couldn't make a decision unless it was outlined step-by-step in some directive, guide or SOP.

Since then, I've been to all the typical garden spots (Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, etc), and still see many of the same mistakes being made today, that were made at the beginning of my career. The only difference is they make them faster and deny them harder.

It's a little to late, I think, to thank VN vets in any way that is truly meaningful.

The time to have done that, back when it would have helped, is long past.

I hear todays chickenhawk' generation of right wing cranks telling me thank you for your service, and most of what I hear, given the mindset of the people who tell me this, rings false.

If today's chickenhawks really want to thank the VN generation for their service, the best thing they can do is see to it that TODAY'S GENERATION service people are not WASTED on stupid militaristic misadventures of EMPIRE.

I couldn't agree more. When some jackass about my age "thanks" me for my service in Vietnam, my first thought is, "Where the hell were you then when I needed you?"

(COMMENT)

Military service is clearly, not for everyone. And any combat vet will tell you that military service at post outside a combat zone is much different than one that sees the opponent everyday. I was once a supervisor in a Embassy TOC, with a civilian [Retired USAF MAJ (O-4)] working for me. It was during the Mutada al-Sadr barrage on the Green Zone in April '08. The word came down that anyone who wanted to evac back to the states could go. To my surprise, the Retired O-4 was on the first seat of the first bus leaving Dodge. To my greater surprise, I also had a younger (GS-11), non-veteran, on station - never facing hostile fire before, who stayed (but I could see he was a little afraid). You learn a lot about the metal of a man that makes those kinds of decisions - opting to stay when he could go.

Service to your country is something special. Some are forced into the situation, and some answer the nations call. While I would rather work with those that have answered our nations call willingly, there is much to be said for anyone that have faced the fire and stood their ground. And, while I'm sure that most of those that have served, might not want to re-experience it again, they all came away with a little something that those who haven't will probably not understand.

I'm not what you call a hero (not by a long shot). But I've had the honor to serve with many that were.

Most Respectfully,
R

 

[waltky]

Only 20.4 seconds warning...

Widows: Railroad Knew of Defect Before Veterans Killed
Nov 27, 2015 | Intensive care nurse Angie Boivin had just tended to a woman whose leg was severed near the hip when she saw her husband Larry lying nearby under an American flag blanket. She says that she was with him when he took his last breath.

Larry Boivin earned a Purple Heart in Iraq in 2004, but he didn't survive a Union Pacific freight train that slammed into the flat-bed trailer he and other veterans were riding on during a 2012 parade in Midland, Texas. Three other veterans died and more than a dozen people were injured in the crash three years ago this month. "They used that (train) as a weapon to kill my husband," Angie Boivin said. She and 42 other survivors and family members sued Union Pacific Railroad Co. for negligence, saying the railroad knew 10 months before the collision of a defect in the track detection circuitry, which delayed the activation of warning lights, bells and a crossing gate. The problem caused by that defect was further compounded, they allege, by a reduced crossing warning time set by the railroad in violation of a state agreement.

Shortly before trial was to begin in January, 26 of the survivors and families of victims settled for an undisclosed amount with Union Pacific, the nation's largest railroad with $5 billion in profits last year. A judge dismissed the remaining case in February, and three widows appealed to the 11th Court of Appeals in Texas. Union Pacific must file a response by Dec. 21. Union Pacific called the collision "tragic for the victims and their families" but denied fault. It pointed to reports from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Railroad Administration, which regulates the nation's railroads, that found the warning time before the train reached the crossing met the federal minimum. The railroad has not been sanctioned or fined by any state or federal authority as a result of the accident.

Both sides agree the system gave 20.4 seconds warning that day, just above the 20-second federal minimum. The dispute, according to a review of court documents, is over another part of the same federal regulation that also says a railroad "shall" maintain the warning system as designed. The Midland crossing was originally designed for a 30-second warning by a diagnostic team that included railroad, state and Midland city officials, court records show. The railroad told the transportation board it used a 25-second design for the crossing. Additionally, Union Pacific says that once a federal agency adopts a rail safety regulation, such as warning time, that pre-empts state regulation. Even if the widows win in court, experts said it is unlikely to lead to a review of warning times at the 129,000 crossing nationwide that were designed for more than 20 seconds.

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