Veterans Day…

[Rustic]

Finally our veterans will get the treatment and respect they have lost. Commander-ass-hat has really fucked them over the last eight years. Barry definitely disrespects our veterans...

 

[waltky]

Disabled American Veterans gets first female commander...

Top VSO Gets First Female Commander
4 Aug 2017 | Retired Army Reserve First Sgt. Delphine Metcalf-Foster was elected Aug. 1 as commander of the Disabled American Veterans.

One hundred years after the first women were permitted to officially join the U.S. military, a woman has been elected to head a top U.S. veterans' service organization. Retired Army Reserve First Sgt. Delphine Metcalf-Foster was elected Aug. 1 as national commander of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) at the organization's annual convention in New Orleans. Commanders of the organization, which has about 1.3 million members, serve one-year terms. Metcalf-Foster was elected unanimously, officials said. "When a man or woman raises their hand and says 'send me' when our nation calls, no one knows better than the members of DAV that they're writing a blank check to our country, and the ultimate payment could be their lives," Metcalf-Foster told the convention, according to a release. "For those who have sacrificed for our country and their survivors, we must insist on a strong VA and health care system to meet their needs," she said. "I look forward to continuing DAV's nearly century-old mission of service as national commander."

Retired Army Reserve First Sgt. Delphine Metcalf-Foster was elected August 1, 2017 as the new National Commander of the Disabled American Veterans.​

Metcalf-Foster retired from the Reserves in 1996 after 21 years of service. Her units included the 689th Quartermaster Unit, 6253rd Hospital Unit and 6211th Transportation Unit, at the now-shuttered Letterman Army Medical Center in California. Prior to taking the top DAV leadership spot, Metcalf-Foster served as the first woman commander of the organization's California chapter. She also served a four-year appointment between 2012 and 2015 on the VA's Advisory Committee on Women Veterans.

Injured in combat in 1991 while deployed to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Storm, she was medevaced to Germany, DAV officials said in the release. "After Delphine Metcalf-Foster was medevaced out of theater during Desert Storm, she had one request: to return and bring her soldiers home," DAV National Adjutant and Navy veteran Marc Burgess said in a statement to Military.com. "This commitment to service over self exemplifies why Delphine is the perfect person for the job of DAV national commander," he said. "She has proven an unmatched commitment to her fellow disabled veterans, and the future of DAV is in strong, capable hands."

Top VSO Gets First Female Commander | Military.com

 

[waltky]

See also:

McCaskill Plan to Help Vets Exposed to Mustard Gas Passes
4 Aug 2017 — A measure headed to President Trump's desk could help WWII veterans exposed to mustard gas by the military, Sen. McCaskill says.

A measure headed to President Donald Trump's desk could help World War II veterans exposed to mustard gas by the military, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill said Thursday. The measure, which the Senate passed as part of another bill to expand college aid for military veterans, would require the Veterans Affairs Department to reconsider disability benefits denied to those who claimed the testing caused health problems.

McCaskill said the military tested the effects of mustard gas and the blister agent lewisite on about 60,000 veterans by the end of World War II. Her office estimates a couple hundred participants could still be alive, including 90-year-old Missouri resident Arla Harrell, for whom the bill was named. "It says to Arla Harrell, 'We believe you,'" McCaskill said. "And that is a very important thing to say to Arla and other men like him who were willing to give the ultimate sacrifice for their country." A Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman didn't immediately comment Thursday.

U.S Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., speaks to the media following a town hall meeting in Hillsboro, Mo.​

Harrell's daughter, Beverly Howe, says he had mustard agents dabbed on his skin and was placed in a gas chamber without protections in southwestern Missouri's Camp Crowder after he enlisted in the Army in 1945. He's since had lung issues and skin cancer, but has been denied benefits. He and other veterans were sworn to secrecy until 1991, complicating efforts to get benefits. "When these men were released from this vow of secrecy, our country did not stand up at that point and say, 'We got it. We've got your back,'" Howe said. "That's where I find the moral ground for me."

If signed by Trump, the legislation will require the Veterans Affairs Department to assume those who served at sites where McCaskill's office says testing occurred and are trying again to get benefits are telling the truth and would need to prove otherwise. Other provisions would require investigations by the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments. McCaskill says the policy change is estimated to cost about $9 million over the next 10 years.

McCaskill Plan to Help Vets Exposed to Mustard Gas Passes | Military.com