Some of the 'Services' and 'Programs we have available
JUNE IS PTSD MONTH
Welcome to Veteran Advocates of Ore-Ida 'a Source for Veteran Resources'
180 W. Idaho Ave, Ontario, Oregon 97914
541-889-1978
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About Veteran Advocates of Ore-Ida
Veteran Advocates of Ore-Ida was founded by a group of veterans who saw a need for better support and resources for the veteran community. Our organization is committed to providing assistance to veterans in need, whether it's help finding a job, connecting with mental health resources, or accessing affordable housing. We believe that every veteran deserves access to the care and support they need to thrive after serving our country.
Join Our Team
Are you passionate about supporting veterans and giving back to your community? Join our team of dedicated volunteers and make a difference in the lives of those who have served. We offer a variety of volunteer opportunities, from helping with fundraising events to providing mentorship to veterans in need. Contact us today at 541-889-1978 to learn more about getting involved with Veteran Advocates of Ore-Ida.
BI-MONTHLY ARTICLES AND A FEW STORIES OF INTEREST
Veteran Articles published Bi-monthly
The Chairman of Veteran Advocates of Ore-Ida, Ronald Verini, writes two articles every month for publication in a Regional Newspaper, this article"OUR YOUTH: A FIERCE WAKE-UP CALL FOR AMERICA"
will be published JUNE 25, 2025. Here is a part of Mr. Verini's article, and you can read the full article by clicking the red bar below.
Our Youth: A Fierce Wake-Up Call for America
June 25th, 2025 – My Veterans Column by Ronald Verini
In this column, I don't just write; I launch an assault on complacency. I criticize, teach, attack, defend, prod, entertain, expose, and question. And sometimes, with every fiber of my being, I aim to ignite action. Yes, consider me a man fueled by unyielding opinions. If I occasionally ramble, blame the political architects and appointed national directors whose twisted rhetoric has taught me that clarity is a crooked, treacherous path. To get to the truth, you often have to navigate a swamp of calculated ambiguity.
Most of what fuels this column isn't just pulled from the front page; it’s ripped from blazing headlines or unearthed from hidden sections of legislation – documents deliberately buried, never meant to see the light of day. But they do, in columns like this! Every word here aims to drag these obscured truths into the public glare, exposing their chilling implications.
Always, the unshakeable core of this column drills down on us. It dissects how national narratives and decisions savage our local community, especially our Military, Veterans, and their families. I don’t just report on distant issues; I drag them home to our very neighbors and neighborhoods. Because when these issues strike us, they demand our immediate, visceral attention.
I know many of you, my readers, also possess unwavering convictions. Your fierce calls, unfiltered emails, and direct, face-to-face confrontations in our community prove it. I value your defiant viewpoints. On occasion, your fact-backed reasoning has even shattered my own preconceptions, sharpened my focus, proving that this dialogue is a two-way war of ideas.
But today, I encountered something that truly shook me to my core, forcing a terrifying revelation: our children are absorbing virulent, radical ideas from the very social media they consume. This wasn’t anecdotal; it was a direct, unsettling confrontation. I spoke with young adults, ages 15-18, and the words spewing from their mouths were not their own reasoned thoughts, but chilling echoes of propaganda media. They cited obscure, fringe platforms as their "trusted" news sources, their sole arbiters of truth.
In small groups, their mindsets were somewhat tempered. But when I engaged them individually, I was stunned to discover their deep identification with specific ideologies and their perception of "enemies" among other Americans. This wasn't rooted in facts; it was a stark reflection of the relentless, venomous drumbeat of their chosen social media channels. These young adults are the future architects of our Nation. Out of the 11 students I spoke with, four were gripped by profound anxiety, utterly consumed by these overwhelming, fringe ideas.
The others, thankfully, were more grounded in the greatness of our nation, holding very positive thoughts about their neighbors and America as a whole. Most showed a normal degree of reservation and confusion given the world's current turmoil. Yet, as a veteran, I viewed this encounter through the critical lens of our military's future—the men and women who will soon fight our wars and defend our homes. A measure of relief settled over me, as the majority were positive and constructive about their future. But the crack in our foundation is undeniable.
JUNE EVENTS THAT ACTUALLY CHANGED THE WORLD !!!!
1st June, 1946
For the first time, television licenses were issued in Britain. They cost £2.
Only 14,500 television licences were sold in 1947, but by 1950 that had increased to 344,000. Today, it’s about 24 million.
2nd June, 1875
While working in a room with their experimental telegraphic device, inventor Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Watson made the first sound transmission.
6th June, 1944
The D-Day invasion of Normandy by Allied troops took place to liberate German-occupied France and Western Europe.
11th June, 1987
Margaret Thatcher became the first British Prime Minister in 160 years to win a third consecutive term. The conservatives beat Labour by 376 seats to 229.
13th June, 1922
The longest recorded attack of hiccups began. Charlie Osborne’s hiccups lasted for a striking 68 years.
18th June, 1815
British and Prussian forces led by Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher and the Duke of Wellington defeated Napolean at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium.
The battle concluded a 23-year-long war, ended French attempts to dominate Europe, and marked the defeat of Napoleon, who’d conquered vast areas of Europe in the early-19th century.
PTSD Awareness Month | June 2025
D-Day Veterans Return to Normandy to Mark 81st Anniversary of Landings
Inside This Article
- Department of Veterans Affairs PTSD Awareness Month Calendar
- The History Of PTSD Awareness Month
- Get Treatment For PTSD
June is National Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Month, and is intended to raise public awareness about issues related to PTSD, reduce the stigma associated with PTSD, and help ensure that those suffering from the invisible wounds of war receive proper treatment.
Friday, June 27, 2025 is also PTSD Awareness Day.
Department of Veterans Affairs PTSD Awareness Month Calendar
Spread the Word. Raise Awareness.
June 1: Take the pledge to raise PTSD Awareness.
June 2: Use the VA’s PTSD image as your Social Media profile pic.
June 3: Share resources like the Veterans Crisis Line.
June 4: Download PTSD Coach or PTSD Family Coach apps.
June 5: Text a Veteran.
June 6: Like the VA’s PTSD Facebook page.
June 7: Get key information on trauma, PTSD and treatment.
June 8: Find or host a PTSD Awareness Event.
June 9: Share the VA’s video about PTSD symptoms on Facebook.
June 10: Learn about and compare PTSD treatment options.
June 11: Take an online course or program.
June 12: Share stories of Veterans who have been there.
June 13: Subscribe to the VA’s PTSD Monthly Update.
June 14: Watch “What is PTSD?” PTSD explained in 4 minutes.
June 15: Share the VA’s PTSD social media posts.
June 16: Retweet one the VA’s #PTSDAwareness tweets.
June 17: Find a local PTSD therapist.
June 18: Practice mindfulness.
June 19: Ask a Veteran how they are doing.
June 20: Follow the VA PTSD profile on Twitter.
June 21: Read “Understanding PTSD and PTSD Treatment.”
June 22: Order the VA’s “What is PTSD?” card to share.
June 23: Share the VA’s PTSD photo on Instagram.
June 24: Hear what PTSD is like for family members.
June 25: Learn how to talk to your Veteran about mental health care.
June 26: Share the VA’s PTSD webpage with a Veteran.
June 27: Subscribe to the VA’s PTSD YouTube Channel.
June 28: Hear what PTSD is like for Veterans.
June 29: Mail or give out an AboutFace postcard.
June 30: Explore the VA’s PTSD website to learn even more about PTSD.
The History Of PTSD Awareness Month
In 2010, Senator Kent Conrad pushed to get official recognition of PTSD via a “day of awareness” in tribute to a North Dakota National Guard member who took his life following two tours in Iraq (S. Res. 541).
Staff Sergeant Joe Biel died in 2007 after suffering from PTSD; Biel committed suicide after his return from duty to his home state. SSgt. Biel’s birthday, June 27, was selected as the official PTSD Awareness Day, which is now observed every year.
D-Day Veterans Return to Normandy to Mark 81st Anniversary of Landings
D-Day Veterans Return to Normandy to Mark 81st Anniversary of Landings
Associated Press - June 2025
COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France — Veterans gathered Friday in Normandy to mark the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings — a pivotal moment of World War II that eventually led to the collapse of Adolf Hitler's regime.
Along the coastline and near the D-Day landing beaches, tens of thousands of onlookers attended the commemorations, which included parachute jumps, flyovers, remembrance ceremonies, parades, and historical reenactments.
Many were there to cheer the ever-dwindling number of surviving veterans in their late 90s and older. All remembered the thousands who died.
Harold Terens, a 101-year-old U.S. veteran who last year married his 96-year-old sweetheartnear the D-Day beaches, was back in Normandy.
“Freedom is everything,” he said. “I pray for freedom for the whole world. For the war to end in Ukraine, and Russia, and Sudan and Gaza. I think war is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting."
Terens enlisted in 1942 and shipped to Great Britain the following year, attached to a four-pilot P-47 Thunderbolt fighter squadron as their radio repair technician. On D-Day, Terens helped repair planes returning from France so they could rejoin the battle.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth commemorated the anniversary of the D-Day landings, in which American soldiers played a leading role, with veterans at the American Cemetery overlooking the shore in the village of Colleville-sur-Mer.
French Minister for the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu told Hegseth that France knows what it owes to its American allies and the veterans who helped free Europe from the Nazis.
"We don’t forget that our oldest allies were there in this grave moment of our history. I say it with deep respect in front of you, veterans, who incarnate this unique friendship between our two countries,” he said.
Hegseth said France and the United States should be prepared to fight if danger arises again, and that “good men are still needed to stand up.”
“Today the United States and France again rally together to confront such threats," he said, without mentioning a specific enemy. “Because we strive for peace, we must prepare for war and hopefully deter it.”
The June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France used the largest-ever armada of ships, troops, planes and vehicles to breach Hitler’s defenses in western Europe. A total of 4,414 Allied troops were killed on D-Day itself.
In the ensuing Battle of Normandy, 73,000 Allied forces were killed and 153,000 wounded.
The battle — and especially Allied bombings of French villages and cities — killed around 20,000 French civilians between June and August 1944.
The exact number of German casualties is unknown, but historians estimate between 4,000 and 9,000 men were killed, wounded or missing during the D-Day invasion alone.
Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed on D-Day.
Of those, 73,000 were from the U.S. and 83,000 from Britain and Canada. Forces from several other countries were also involved, including French troops fighting with Gen. Charles de Gaulle. The Allies faced around 50,000 German forces.
This sailor requested leave to get his wife pregnant. It was approved.
Observation Post by Claire Barrett
Like a lion stalking its prey across the Serengeti, so too does a Jody hunt — lurking in the night, ever vigilant in hopes of hearing that one magic word: “Deployment.”
So, how does one stop an insatiable Jody in his tracks? For one seaman, the solution was simple: Beat out the competition by simply being there.
On July 20, 1967, Petty Officer 1st Class David Jarvis Anderson submitted an unusual special leave request. His plea was simple.
“My wife is planning on getting pregnant this weekend,” he wrote, “and I would sure like to be there when it happens.”
Anderson’s tongue-in-cheek entreaty seemed to have worked. It was, after all, the Summer of Love.
While requests for special liberty can often reduce a poor service member to a desperate husk of a man, in 1967, it appears that the powers that be were a little more forgiving — allowing for Anderson to enjoy shore leave in the right port during a particularly crucial tide.
In traveling the seven-plus hours from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the coal mining town of Layland, West Virginia, the sailor thwarted all would-be Jody’s in the area upon his arrival home.
No word was readily available, however, on whether the pair’s weekend’s festivities produced the desired result.
Food Boxed at Veteran Advocates Food Pantry to hand out to Veterans/Military and their Families
MARCH 2024
The Food Pantry at Veteran Advocates of Ore-Ida has really expanded and grown over the last few years. There has been such an increase of our Veteran and Military Families needing help to handle the increasing problems of 'food insecurity'. We do have a 'modest' pantry open every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30am to 3:30pm. Give a call to 541-889-1978 to let us know you are coming to pick up Food Box. Please let us know how many in your family and about when your coming.
Also, if you are interested in volunteering to help our veterans and the Food Pantry please give us a call or come on in and see what we are doing...
Sometimes the food donations we receive are unable to meet the demands, but we still hand out the product we receive. So if you need a little something to help you get from one paycheck to the other come on down. Each Family can get a Box twice a month.
How the US bombarded Iranian nuclear sites
while avoiding detection
Jun 22, 2025, 02:26 PM
By Farnoush Amiri, The Associated Press and Meg Kinnard, The Associated Press
It was an unprecedented attack years in the making, with some last-minute misdirection meant to give the operation a powerful element of surprise.
U.S. pilots dropped 30,000-pound bombs early Sunday on two key underground uranium enrichment plants in Iran, delivering what American military leaders believe is a knockout blow to a nuclear program that Israel views as an existential threat and has been pummeling for more than a week.
American sailors bolstered the surprise mission by firing dozens of cruise missiles from a submarine toward at least one other site.
Dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, U.S. officials say the plan was characterized by a “precision strike” that “devastated the Iranian nuclear program,” even as they acknowledged an assessment was ongoing.
For its part, Iran denied that any significant damage had been done, and the Islamic Republic pledged to retaliate.
Taking off from the U.S. heartland, B-2 stealth bombers delivered a total of 420,000 pounds of explosives, aided by an armada of refueling tankers and fighter jets — some of which launched their own weapons.
U.S. officials said Iran neither detected the inbound fusillade, nor mustered a shot at the stealthy American jets.
The operation relied on a series of deceptive tactics and decoys to maintain secrecy, U.S. officials said hours after the attack, which was preceded by nine days of Israeli attacks that debilitated Iran’s military leadership and air defenses.
A DECOY PLAN
Even before the planes took off, elements of misdirection were already in play. After setting parts of the plan in motion, Trump publicly announced Thursday that he’d make a decision within two weeks on whether to strike Iran — ostensibly to allow additional time for negotiations, but in actuality masking the impending attack.
One group of B-2 stealth bombers traveled west from Missouri on Saturday as decoys, drawing the attention of amateur plane spotters, government officials and some media as they headed toward a U.S. air base in the Pacific.
At the same time, seven other B-2s carrying two “bunker buster” bombs apiece flew eastward, keeping communications to a minimum so as not to draw any attention.
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at Sunday’s briefing that it was all “part of a plan to maintain tactical surprise” and that only “an extremely small number of planners and key leaders” knew about it in Washington and Florida, where U.S. Central Command is based.
After 18 hours of furtive flying that required aerial refueling, the armed B-2 Spirit bombers, each with two crew members, arrived on time and without detection in the Eastern Mediterranean, from where they launched their attack runs. Before crossing into Iran, the B-2s were escorted by stealthy U.S. fighter jets and reconnaissance aircraft.
The aftermath of Operation Spider’s Web
what it means for the US military
JEFF SCHOGOL - Task and Purpose
Ukraine recently launched drones against airfields thousands of miles inside Russia — and it has experts concerned about the U.S. military’s ability to defend against such an attack.
Welcome back! Before we get started, I want to take a moment to honor the U.S. and other Allied troops who took part in the D-Day landings 81 years ago, including the soldiers killed during a rehearsal of the invasion in April 1944. The free world remains in their debt.
Last weekend, Ukraine launched a daring drone attack against airfields thousands of miles inside Russia. Dubbed Operation Spider’s Web, the attack drew global attention. It was more than just an intelligence coup de grâce — it was planned over 18 months and involved smuggling the drones into Russia and launching them close to their targets. The attack also revealed how vulnerable military installations within the United States could be to a similar strike.
“That’s an assumption that we are far from the adversary, we have oceans separating us, that we’re somehow far away from these threats,” said Masao Dahlgren, who writes about missile defense for the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, D.C. “But as these kinds of incidents show, that threat is not as far as we would like to think.”
While certain stateside military installations are well defended, U.S. service members at other bases would not be able to do much to respond to the type of small drone attack that Ukraine launched against Russia, a former senior Defense Department official told Task & Purpose.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said that while the service is working to bolster its defenses, it also needs to look at small drones’ potential for offensive operations. “If all we’re doing is playing defense and we can’t shoot back, then that’s not a use for our money,” he said.
Now that we’ve discussed Operation Spider’s Web at length — and great name, by the way — here’s your rundown of all the other news you might have missed this week:
- U.S. military consolidates footprint in Syria. U.S. troops deployed to Syria are closing seven of their eight bases in the country. In December, the Pentagon announced that about 2,000 U.S. troops were in Syria to fight the Islamic State group, or ISIS. Between May 21 and May 22, U.S. troops helped partner forces launch an operation that led to the capture of a suspected ISIS operative, U.S. Central Command recently announced.
- Tracking drones on the southern border. A platoon from the 10th Mountain Division deployed to the southern border is using combat radar systems to track a growing number of drones that are suspected of being used by Mexico-based drug cartels. Beyond their current role in the border mission, the radars have historically been used to detect enemy rockets, mortars, and other artillery, and some of them have been sent to Ukraine to defend against Russian aerial attacks.
- Hegseth: U.S. won’t be ‘pushed out’ of Indo-Pacific. While speaking in Singapore on May 31, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stressed that the United States does not seek a war with China. “But we will not be pushed out of this critical region,” Hegseth said. “And we will not let our allies and partners be subordinated and intimidated.”
- Navy destroyer’s close calls. Houthi drones and missiles came far too close for comfort to the destroyer USS Stockdale last year, the Wall Street Journal has reported. During one attack, a ballistic missile was intercepted so close to the ship that sailors had to shoot down its debris as well. Later, the Stockdale had to use its main gun to shoot down a Houthi drone. “When the drone dropped into the sea, the crew erupted in cheers and high-fives,”
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COPING WITH PTSD: THREE STORIES OF TRIUMPH
Andy Reynolds is an Army Veteran who found himself struggling with anger and other PTSD side effects as a civilian. In the Army, he worked as a Buffalo Commander whose mission was to find IEDs.
“We were fortunate enough as a battalion that everybody made it home, but nobody was the same after that deployment. I mean we got our butts kicked. I was hit by an IED while I was over there, and I had a concussion from it.”
Migraines, anger fits, and gastrointestinal issues were just some of the symptoms he faced after returning from his second Deployment.
“Every time we’d go out and it was crowded, I’d wind up trying to fight somebody. It wasn’t good.”
Andy’s wife got him help at the VA, he found a therapist, and he got involved with Project Odyssey, a retreat offered by the Wounded Warrior Project where Andy took home valuable lessons on how to deal with PTSD. During a goal-setting session, he decided he would rewrite his business plan to start a brewery – a passion he found while Deployed.
“I kind of started home brewing in Iraq as bad as that sounds. It was just making hard cider, my buddy’s wife sent us some cider yeast and we started fermenting apple juice, and that turned into a love of brewing for me. I got home, became a homebrewer, and really got into it. It was one of the few things that I found that distracted me from my demons, but it was something I couldn’t do all the time because I had a regular job at that point. My goal was to start a brewery, but the money we had set aside for it, unfortunately, all went to healthcare bills because I wasn’t service-connected. I didn’t know anything about how to work with the VA at that point because it was never properly explained to me. So I lost a lot of my money. But, through the Wounded Warrior Project, I learned about the VOC Rehab program, it’s a chapter of the GI Bill now. Basically, if you’re service-connected disabled over 20% they pay for any kind of school you want to go to. There is some counseling that goes along with it prior to you leaving things you kind of have to do to try to figure out where you should really be going to school. So I connected there and I went to Siebel Institute of Technology, which is the oldest and probably the most renowned brewing school in the United States. It’s in Chicago. And you know, I learned how to become a professional brewer because of the VA.”
Alexandria Brewing Company is in Alexandria, Kentucky, and has won multiple awards for its beer. They are also a 2024 Hops for Heroes brewery! Here’s the Tribute to our Heroes interview we did with Andy if you want to hear his full story.
CLICK ON THE RED BAR TO READ THE OTHER PTSD RECOVERY STORIES.......
Oregon Army National Guard Flight Medics Help Design
the Future of MEDEVAC Technology
By Staff Sgt. Emily SimonsonJune 18, 2025
SALEM, Ore. – Oregon Army National Guard flight medics are contributing critical field data to the Army’s development of the MV-75 MEDEVAC cabin, evaluating the 20-foot Future Medical Evacuation Cabin Technical Demonstrator to inform the final design of the next-generation Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) patient handling system.
The Army announced the MV-75 as the new FLRAA, replacing the UH-60 Black Hawk as the preferred medevac aircraft. The results of these flight medics’ evaluations will impact the MV-75’s medevac cabin.
The most recent stop on the FMC-TD’s tour was in Salem, Oregon, where flight medics with the Oregon Army National Guard G Company, 189th Aviation, gave their feedback on the design.
“Due to the Oregon National Guard’s high proficiency and familiarity with medevac missions, it is the only reserve unit participating in this unique opportunity,” said Lt. Col. Nathan Edgecombe, Oregon Army National Guard state aviation officer.
Flight medics are the key to the unit’s success, Edgecombe said. Unlike active component medevac units, Oregon Army National Guard flight medics can supplement their medical knowledge with their civilian careers. Many flight medics in the Oregon Army National Guard practice medicine in their civilian lives, serving as firefighters, paramedics and nurses in their communities. This diversified knowledge gives Oregon Army National Guard flight medics a more well-rounded perspective when evaluating the FMC-TD.
“Our crew members are helping to shape the future of the medevac mission,” said Maj. Tim Heater, Oregon Army National Guard medevac commander base operations officer.
The flight medics evaluate the FMC-TD by performing medical interventions on mannequins, testing the cabin’s design. An operator team monitors the scenarios and surveys the medics about their experiences throughout the Special User Evaluation.
With 30% more cabin space compared to a Black Hawk, the Special User Evaluation collects data on things like ease of patient loading, litter configuration and equipment organization. It also tests new technologies, such as a modular rail system and the use of articulated litter pans that allow medics to pull patients away from the cabin walls for easier access.
LATEST ACTIVITY FROM HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
Hearing on Bills to Improve access to Mental Health Care & Expand Rural Services
Health Chairwoman Dr. Miller-Meeks Leads Legislative Hearing on House Republicans’ Bills to Improve Access to Mental Health Care, Expand Rural and Remote Healthcare Services, and Ensure VA Prioritizes Senior Veterans
Share on Facebook Share on X Print this Page Share by EmailWashington, June 12, 2025 | Kathleen McCarthySubcommittees: Health
Today, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health, delivered the following opening remarks, as prepared, at the start of the subcommittee’s legislative hearing to discuss potential legislation to ensure veterans get the care they need no matter where they live, keep senior veterans’ priorities at the forefront of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) policymaking, and more. A full list of bills on today’s agenda can be found here.
Good afternoon.
This legislative hearing of the Subcommittee on Health will now come to order. Without objection, the Chair may declare a recess at any time.
I would like to welcome all the members and witnesses to today’s hearing.
We have 12 important legislative proposals to consider here today. It is important to note that not all of the proposals will move forward in the legislative process.
Congress is responsible for ensuring V.A. stewards its resources effectively. Many of my colleagues’ bills would optimize V.A.’s funding, talent, and capital. Other bills reinforce V.A.’s mission to care for veterans’ mental and physical health.
I am grateful to Representative Hamadeh for introducing the Health Professionals Scholarship Program Improvement Act. One of the greatest resource drains at V.A. is the broken student-to-employee pipeline.
V.A. loses untold investments in student clinicians by offering scholarships in exchange for employment commitments—only for V.A. to not keep its end of the deal. Students are consistently unemployed for months before V.A. gives them a position.
These students have been driven to the point where they cut their losses with V.A. and seek jobs elsewhere, at a great financial cost to them, and opportunity cost to V.A.
Representative Hamadeh’s bill would help end this unacceptable dilemma.
The Representing Our Seniors at V.A. Act by Representative Kiggans would improve the Geriatric and Gerontology Advisory Committee.
Under current law, there is no requirement for input from state veterans homes, even though these homes are key partners in serving aging veterans. Representative Kiggans’ bill would fix this oversight by making sure these homes have a seat at the Committee table.
The Veterans Patient Advocacy Act by Representative Moolenar would increase the rural footprint for V.A. patient advocates. I know all too well how veterans in rural areas struggle to obtain care from V.A. I firmly support the bill’s goal to have patient advocates accessible to rural veterans. I think we can all agree that we can always do more to ensure that V.A.’s resources must keep evolving to reach veterans where they live.
The TRAVEL Act by Representative King-Hinds would also help our veterans living in remote areas. This bill would require a one-year “billet” for V.A. physicians at U.S. territories like the Northern Mariana Islands. Health care is not easy to come by in these remote parts of the world. This bill would place V.A. practitioners in the right places at the right time.
Representative McGuire’s bill, the V.A. Data Transparency and Trust Act, tackles the unending reporting requirements at V.A. and replaces them with a comprehensive and unified report on outcomes and metrics to improve V.A. programs. The laws today incentivize a system where consultants can create a cottage industry to broker reports, which diverts precious time and money away from V.A.’s mission and only makes oversight more difficult.
Congress has gained little from the manner in which it has received information from the numerous current V.A. reporting requirements. Representative McGuire’s bill would pull in the reigns and improve outcomes for veterans.
My bill, the Fisher House Availability Act, would make lodging in Fisher Houses more accessible for servicemembers and their families. Fisher House Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to providing lodging for veterans and servicemembers in need.
Airmen hold first training sortie
for new electronic attack plane
Military Times by - Stephen Losey
Airmen this month conducted the first mission training sortie for the new EA-37B Compass Call, a milestone for the adoption of the Air Force’s new electronic attack aircraft.
The training flight was carried out May 2 by the 43rd Electronic Combat Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, the service said.
“This EA-37B mission culminates years of planning and coordination between thousands of people spanning many organizations,” squadron commander Lt. Col. Tray Wood said. “The hard work and dedication of these groups ensure the [55th] Electronic Combat Group is prepared for future conflict with the 43rd Electronic Combat Squadron leading developments in the electromagnetic spectrum.”
The EA-37B is a heavily adapted Gulfstream G550 business jet designed to conduct electronic warfare operations to support U.S. and allied forces. It is slated to replace the service’s aging fleet of EC-130H Compass Call aircraft.
The aircraft is loaded with classified equipment that can jam enemy communications, radar and navigation signals. It can also defuse roadside bombs wirelessly and block enemy air defenses from transmitting information between sensors, control networks and weapons, which will allow U.S. and partner aircraft to get closer to their targets.
The Air Force plans to buy 10 EA-37Bs from BAE Systems and L3Harris, half of which have so far been delivered. The companies, which are co-prime contractors on the plane, expect to deliver the final five in 2027 and 2028.
The first EA-37B was delivered to Davis-Monthan in August 2024 to begin pilot training.
“The EA-37B and the professionals who support its mission represent the most recent evolution in a long history of [electromagnetic spectrum] dominance for the” 55th Electronic Combat Group, said Lt. Col. Jesse Szweda, the squadron’s director of operations. “The capabilities of this platform are the cornerstone to addressing emerging threats in any [area of responsibility] at any time.”
The electronic attack equipment for the new Compass Calls are built by BAE, and then integrated into the G550 jets at L3Harris’ facility in Waco, Texas. The G550s’ outer mold lines are modified to make room for the equipment at Gulfstream’s facility in Savannah, Georgia.
SOME OF THESE STORIES MIGHT CATCH YOUR ATTENTION...
Why troops secretly relate to SpongeBob’s ‘I’m a Goofy Goober’ spiral
Lessons from the Air Force Kitchen Police: Volunteer for Everything. Even Pots and Pans
Observation Post by Clay Beyersdorfer
It happens about 80 minutes into “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.” SpongeBob, denied a promotion and humiliated in front of his co-workers, wanders into the Goofy Goober Ice Cream Party Boat. He proceeds to spiral.After a binge of sundaes and shame, he stumbles on stage, belting out a shredded guitar solo rendition of “I’m a Goofy Goober (Rock!)” in front of a confused crowd. There’s glitter. There’s foam. There’s full-throttle emotional release.
And if you’ve spent any amount of time in uniform, you’ve likely seen that clip — or at least a meme of it — shared with eerie sincerity. Maybe you laughed. Perhaps you rolled your eyes. But maybe, just maybe, it hit a little too close to home.
For all its absurdity, SpongeBob’s “Goofy Goober” breakdown has become an unlikely touchstone in military circles, particularly among those who know what it feels like to carry more than they’re allowed to say.
It’s the screaming catharsis that never happens in a formation. The ridiculous meltdown captures the quiet, internal ones that don’t make it into war movies. Every service member who’s ever needed to cry and didn’t, who’s ever felt out of place in their own civilian life and who’s ever tried to joke their way through pain that had no good language. SpongeBob just says it louder.
Military culture breeds stoicism. You learn quickly not to complain, hesitate or show weakness. And when the mission ends and the uniform comes off, all that armor doesn’t just evaporate. It calcifies. You carry it home, to your relationships, jobs and silence.
SpongeBob, in contrast, is absurdly open. He is the emotional inverse of everything military training drills into you. He’s hopeful. He’s naive. He wears his feelings on his sleeves — and when those sleeves get dirty, he cries about it in a room full of strangers.
And that’s the point. Strangely, that scene feels honest. Honest about what it feels like when you’ve been holding it together for too long. Honest about what happens when the ridiculousness finally outweighs the rules. SpongeBob’s meltdown is a stand-in for the veteran who doesn’t drink to party, but to forget. It’s the laugh-before-you-snap moment familiar to anyone who’s ever been “fine” until they weren’t.
The song “I’m a Goofy Goober” isn’t just silly. It’s defiant. When SpongeBob shouts, “I’m a kid, you say? When you say I’m a kid, I say: Say it again!” he’s rejecting the labels people assign to him. He’s rejecting the structure. He’s saying, “I’m still me, even if I don’t fit what you think I should be.”
That hits hard when you’ve gone from commanding missions to being told to use the kiosk at the DMV. When you’ve gone from decision-making in high-pressure scenarios to being passed over for jobs because “you don’t have corporate experience.” When you’ve buried friends, you get asked to “tone it down” in staff meetings.
It’s easy to laugh at SpongeBob’s dramatics. But a lot of veterans would tell you it’s the closest thing to what their emotional breakdown might look like — if they ever let themselves have one.
Lessons from the Air Force Kitchen Police: Volunteer for Everything. Even Pots and Pans
Lessons from the Air Force Kitchen Police: Volunteer for Everything. Even Pots and Pans
December 2024 by Ed Meagher - The War Horse
When I reported to Air Force basic training on June 15, 1966, I was a 19-year-old college dropout. Despite two years of college ROTC, I really had no idea what to expect.
The first few days at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, consisted of brutal heat, a blur of shouted commands never executed correctly, endless marching from one place to another, screamed instructions to get organized, get in line, get in formation, move faster, fill out this form, listen to this lecture, eat quicker, sleep faster.
And do it all again.
At the end of one very long day, just before lights out, we were formed up, yet again, and told that the following morning at four we would start a week of KP, kitchen police, mess duty. After being roused at 3:45 a.m. and marched quietly across a dark, hot, silent base to the rear of the chow hall, our cadre turned us over to a mess sergeant and departed.
We were told to be at ease, perhaps for the first time, and it came as a bit of a shock. We could relax in place and even talk if we wanted. It was literally the first unsupervised, unstructured period since we had arrived.
I had noticed the recruit next to me several times during the previous several days. He was a slick-sleeve like the rest of us, but that is where the resemblance to any of us stopped. His uniform was a slightly different, lighter shade of green than the rest of ours. His hair was just a bit longer than the rest of our bald heads. He knew how to march, how to organize his locker, and how to make his bed perfectly. He always seemed to know what was going to happen next and was completely prepared for it.
The strangest thing though was how the instructor cadre treated him. They never screamed at him and never seemed to need to correct him. At one point, I even saw him have a brief conversation with one of the drill instructors.
I was curious, so I asked him. He told me to mind my own business.
We were called back to attention and marched into the kitchen area where we were given a lecture about the rules for KP duty, everything from hygiene to safety. Then we were told that we would be assigned to various duties and what they entailed. We were once again put at ease, and my slightly different recruit must have felt bad about telling me to mind my own business. He told me his name was Greg. I introduced myself as Ed. And just then we were called back to attention by a mess sergeant with a clipboard.
That time the US military burned down one of its own bases with a ‘bat bomb’
WILD BATS WITH NAPALM,
WHAT COULD GO WRONG????
by Joshua Skovlund, Task & Purpose
Bats use echolocation to find food and places to rest. Add in an incendiary device glued to their chest, and you now have a firestorm that can wreak havoc on any enemy. Or so Pennsylvania dental surgeon Dr. Lytle S. Adams thought during World War II.
The problem is that you don’t know where they will go once released. Add to it that it’s generally a bad idea to mix explosives, adhesives, and wildlife.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Adams made a fateful trip to the Carlsbad Caverns National Parkduring a vacation to New Mexico. He was awed by the hundreds of thousands of bats that nested in the caves.
The bats were still on his mind later in day as he drove away when news came across the car’s radio of the attack on Pearl Harbor. According to the National Institute of Health, he was “outraged over this travesty, [Adams] began to mentally construct a plan for U.S. retaliation.
The idea Adams came up with — a ‘bat bomb,’ with 1,000 bats carrying napalm into a city full of wooden buildings — led to one of the U.S.’s most bizarre weapons development programs of all time, one that Adams believed could bring about a quick end of the war but did little more than burn down a flight training base in the U.S.
Adams knew that buildings in Japanese cities were predominantly built of wood. His idea was to develop an empty bomb case that, rather than hold explosives, would hold 1,040 bats toting napalm-like incendiary gel with timed fuses. Dropped over Tokyo, the bats would create a hellish cyclone with incendiary devices throughout Tokyo, hopefully bringing about an end to World War II
Adams put his idea in a letter to the White House, where he had professional contacts who got the letter to President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt was interested, if cautious, telling staffers, “This man is not a nut. It sounds like a perfectly wild idea but is worth looking into,” according to author Jack Couffer’s book, “Bat Bomb: World War II’s Other Secret Weapon.”
Couffer was a young filmmaker who had grown up studying bats and other birds as a teenager. He would go on to a career making dozens of nature documentaries, but he was drafted into the Army early in World War II and assigned to the bat bomb project and witnessed much of its three-year development.
The development and testing, dubbed Project X-Ray, was based in New Mexico. The program developed a metal bomb casing with three horizontal layers, similar to upside-down ice cube trays, where bats would nest. To keep them docile — or as docile as a bat strapped with a bomb can be — they would be placed in an artificial cold-induced hibernation. The “bat bomb” was designed to be released from high altitudes just before dawn, when bats naturally seek out a place to sleep during the daylight hours.
Tips to achieve the ultimate dirty Navy-style coffee mug
Sarah Sicard MilitaryTimes
The Navy may have the most complicated rank structure when it comes to its ratings system, but there is another, much more uncouth method for establishing hierarchy among sailors: Filthy coffee mugs.
It is a commonly-held truth in the seafaring service that one can tell a higher-up from a newbie based on the amount of sludge that lives in the bottom of one’s coffee cup.
So, in the interest of salt, here are some professional tips, from Navy veterans, to get an optimally seasoned mug.
1. Always drink black coffee. Milk or creamer curdles and introduces bacteria into the mix. Sour lactose creates a hostile environment — not ideal for going years without washing your mug.
2. Drink the whole cup of coffee. Don’t leave even a drop behind. You want to season the mug with a faint film, not swigging day-old coffee every morning.
3. For extra flavoring, take the leftover coffee grounds from the filter and let them rest in the cup for a few days before dumping it out. Treat your mug like a cast iron skillet.
4. If you need to, rinse it lightly with just a little water. This is only to be done in cases where the buildup is starting to become untenable.
5. Don’t wash the mug with the soap. Ever. You might be tempted every now and again to give it a good soak. Don’t. You will lose all the flavoring, respect from your near-peers and any chance at an honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy.
VA's updated list of Agent Orange sites outside of Vietnam
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released in January an updated Department of Defense (DOD) list of locations outside of Vietnam where tactical herbicides were used, tested or stored by the United States military.
“This update was necessary to improve accuracy and communication of information,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “VA depends on DOD to provide information regarding in-service environmental exposure for disability claims based on exposure to herbicides outside of Vietnam."
DOD conducted a thorough review of research, reports and government publications in response to a November 2018 Government Accountability Office report.
“DOD will continue to be responsive to the needs of our interagency partners in all matters related to taking care of both current and former service members,” said Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper. “The updated list includes Agents Orange, Pink, Green, Purple, Blue and White and other chemicals and will be updated as verifiable information becomes available.”
Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange or other herbicides during service may be eligible for a variety of VA benefits, including an Agent Orange Registry health exam, health care and disability compensation for diseases associated with exposure. Their dependents and survivors also may be eligible for benefits.
How a WW2 banana shortage changed the course of Twinkie history
by Sarah Sicard, Observation Post
Is there anything sweeter — literally or figuratively — than biting into the plastic-wrapped chemical compound of luxuriously spongey cake with vanilla cream that is a Twinkie?
Perhaps not. But the original Hostess delicacy was once something else entirely. The preservative-filled dessert that many once believed could withstand nuclear war got its start as a banana cream shortcake, until World War II changed everything.
In 1930, a baker named James Dewar began experimenting while serving as manager of Continental Baking Company’s Chicago area plant in River Forest, according to the Chicago Tribune. He wanted to prove that shortbread could serve a purpose outside strawberry shortcake.
“The economy was getting tight, and the company needed to come out with another low-priced item,” he told the paper. “We were already selling these little finger cakes during the strawberry season for shortcake, but the pans we baked them in sat idle except for that six-week season.”
While in St. Louis on a work trip, Dewar saw a billboard for “Twinkle Toe Shoes,” and thus found the name for his compact confections.
Why food insecurity is a challenge for troops & families
The challenges result in a disproportionate rate of food insecurity
By - Shannon Razsadin and Dave
Flitman - MilitaryTimes.com
Our national defense is strong because of the incredible men and women who raise their hands to serve and the people who love and follow them throughout their service. Military service comes with incredible opportunity and sacrifice. Our all-volunteer force has been preserved by generations of military families who believe in a cause bigger than themselves and a bright future for themselves, their family and our nation.
While many thrive in service, we must grapple with the reality that too many military families, particularly junior and middle enlisted families, are experiencing food insecurity, defined as the inability to consistently afford or access adequate meals.
According to Military Family Advisory Network’s latest research, one in four (27.7%) active duty military families are food insecure compared to 13.5% of U.S. households. MFAN’s findings are consistent with the Defense Department’s own research, which found that 24% of service members experienced food insecurity in 2022.
While the military is a microcosm of the broader population, the unique challenges and lived experiences of service members result in disproportionate rates of food insecurity. The nuances and complexities of military life, including the consequences of financial hardship, lead many to skip meals or choose less nutritious options.
How is it that those who put country before self experience food insecurity at more than twice the rate of civilians? The answer may be traced to the unique demands of military life, most notably frequent moves.
Military families move every two to three years on average. During a permanent change of station, families undergo a complete reset. Many military spouses are forced to leave their jobs and find new employment opportunities. Families must also pay first- and last-month’s rent to secure their next home and stock up on household essentials while also navigating new doctors, schools, child care and community — all without the support of an extended network.
Simply put, this reset is taxing on both pocketbooks and overall well-being.
Policy efforts to address food insecurity in the military are underway, pointing to a significant step in reducing the stigma surrounding this issue.
The Defense Department’s Taking Care of Our People initiative seeks to strengthen economic security for service members and their loved ones. The basic needs allowance, a monthly payment for military families whose household income falls below 150% of federal poverty guidelines, has been rolled out force-wide.
TIME TO HONOR THE VIETNAM WARS MOST SECRET WARRIORS
Top-secret group operated in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1964 to 1972.
September 2023
by Col. Paris Davis, MilitaryTimes.com
https://www.army.mil/vietnamwar/
The nation is commemorating the 50th anniversary of America’s withdrawal from Vietnam through Veterans Day 2025, per presidential decree. But we cannot allow any lingering ambivalence on the legacy of the war — or anything else — to further delay honoring the extraordinary contributions of our most covert warriors of that era.
When I recently received the Medal of Honor for the 19-hour battle my Army Special Forces unit fought in Bong Son, Vietnam in 1965, President Joe Biden said, “It’s never too late to do the right thing.”
Indeed, we are well past time to do what’s right, and finally honor the elite U.S Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Studies and Observations Group, or MACV-SOG, with a Congressional Gold Medal.
This revolutionary, top-secret group operated in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1964 to 1972. Its members fought deep within enemy territory to gather invaluable intelligence for the highest levels of government, including the White House. Their tasks included strategic reconnaissance, sabotage, direct-action raids, psychological operations, deception operations, and rescue missions. The group targeted the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a crucial enemy supply line for the North Vietnamese enemy. Aerial reconnaissance was challenging, making the intelligence provided by SOG teams on the ground invaluable.
Casualty rates for SOG reconnaissance teams exceeded 100%, meaning every man was wounded at least once and approximately half were killed. Of the 1,579 Americans missing in action from the Vietnam War, 50 are from the group. At least 11 SOG teams, perhaps more, simply vanished.
The covert operations of SOG remained unacknowledged by military leadership until partial declassification began in the 1990s. Members of the unit had signed confidentiality agreements and their wartime activities remained mostly secret for decades. As SOG member John Stryker Meyer wrote in his book, Across the Fence: The Secret War in Vietnam, “If I died, no one would tell my mother the truth.”
The Congressional Gold Medal for MACV-SOG would help the American public better understand the members’ extraordinary service, sacrifices, and contributions to our nation. The men of this unit battled not only the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army, but also the harsh terrain, debilitating climate, and the chaos and uncertainty of guerilla warfare. They served with valor, often in situations where survival was the only measure of success. Let’s face it: The nation can handle the truth of their service.
Some Stories that Inspire, and have 'Positive Energy'
U.S. military’s longest-serving woman 4-star general retires from Air Force
U.S. military’s longest-serving woman 4-star general retires from Air Force
U.S. military’s longest-serving woman 4-star general retires from Air Force
October 2024 by Patty Nieberg, Task & Purpose
The first woman to lead the U.S. military’s massive logistical enterprise and one of just a handful to ever reach the rank of four-star general in the U.S. military retired Friday. Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost passed command of U.S. Transportation Command to Gen. Randall Reed in a ceremony at Scott Air Force Base attended by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Promoted to General in August of 2020, Van Ovost was the senior officer in that rank among the four women four-star generals and admirals across the U.S. military.
As the head of TRANSCOM, Ovost was responsible for coordinating nearly all movement of U.S. troops, weapons and supplies around the globe. The logistics command dispatches hundreds of military and civilian-owned planes, ships, trains and trucks every day.
“Just a few days ago, we celebrated the 37th birthday of TRANSCOM — a command that was born out of necessity that was built to deploy U.S. forces. Over time, our mandate has expanded to project, maneuver and sustain the joint force at a time and place our nation’s choosing,” Van Ovost said at the change of command ceremony. “If we were a necessity, we are indispensable now.”
At the ceremony, Austin spoke of Van Ovost as a trailblazer for women in the service.
“You’ve always had a message for women in uniform. And that message is: ‘Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it,’” Austin said. ”Every time that you encountered an obstacle, you kept at it.“
CBS News reported in 2023 that only 10 women have ever reached the four-star rank across the military, including the Coast Guard. Of those, Van Ovost was the fifth woman in the Air Force to reach the rank. However, the military she retired from Friday holds far more opportunities for women than when she joined, an era when women not yet allowed to fly fighter jets, Van Ovost’s lifelong goal.
So she found a workaround.
“You wanted to fly Mach 2. But back then, women weren’t allowed to fly fighters. So once again, you made the path wider,” Austin said. “You became a test pilot. And you flew more than 30 aircraft, including F-15s and F-16s.”
Van Ovost retired with more than 4,200 flight hours in more than 30 aircraft.
100 Marines showed up for an Iwo Jima veteran’s 100th Birthday
U.S. military’s longest-serving woman 4-star general retires from Air Force
U.S. military’s longest-serving woman 4-star general retires from Air Force
October 2024 by Matt White - Task & Purpose
Eddie Vincek landed on Iwo Jima about an hour after the first wave of Marines hit the beach. A member of 1st Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, it was his first taste of combat, he told an interviewer with his Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
“Working on a dairy farm,” he told the VFW, “I was used to seeing animal blood, but not human blood covering over the ground.”
On Sept. 29, Vincek celebrated his 100th birthday at a Ruritan Club in Chesapeake, Virginia, where he was a farmer for most of his life after leaving the Marine Corps in 1946.
For the party, 100 active-duty Marines showed up to help him celebrate. The Marines came from Training Company, Marine Corps Security Force Regiment, in Yorktown, Virginia, about an hour from Chesapeake.
The Marines stood in formation to sing Happy Birthday for “Corporal Vincek.”
On Feb. 19, 1945, Vincek was assigned to A Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division for the Iwo Jima landing. In fierce fighting, the 28th Regiment was the only Marine unit to reach its objective for the day at the base of Mount Suribachi.
It was also Marines from the 28th Regiment — though not Vincek’s battalion — who first planted a flag on top of the mountain (and a second one the next day), leading to the iconic photograph and design of the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial.
Two men from Vincek’s 1st Battalion were awarded the Medal of Honor at Iwo Jima. Of the battalion’s 22 officers, only two emerged from the battle uninjured.
“I was one of the few that walked off carrying my own gear,” Vincek told the VFW. “So many others had been killed or wounded and weren’t able to carry their own gear off the island.”
We found 4 bottles of whiskey made by airborne paratroopers
U.S. military’s longest-serving woman 4-star general retires from Air Force
The origin of the military’s iconic mantra: ‘Embrace the suck’
October 2023
Whiskey has likely been around for some of your most memorable late-night shenanigans in the barracks or downtown. If there’s anything America’s airborne paratroopers know, it’s how to fight and how to drink good whiskey.
So we talked to four Airborne-qualified master distillers who took their well-researched opinions and made some of the best whiskeys out there. Although they make good whiskey, remember that you have gone too far if you find yourself in the brig. Drink responsibly.
First, a brief history of whiskey in America
In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, America was struggling to pay off its war debt (ah, the good ol’ days when America cared about keeping the nation’s debt under control). Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton proposed a tax in the late 1700s on domestic liquor as a means of paying it off — which was met with opposition from whiskey makers in Pennsylvania.
The Whiskey Rebellion that resulted was short-lived, but it was not the last time whiskey would be involved in war. The brown elixir fueled soldiers throughout the Civil War, especially the North, who were paid better and could afford it.
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant slammed Old Crow whiskey, and President Abraham Lincoln allegedly likened the General’s success on the battlefield to his liquor consumption. The New York Herald reported in a Sept. 18, 1863 edition of the newspaper that Lincoln was approached by a group calling for Grant to be removed from his position, claiming he was a drunk.
The tall hat-wearing president allegedly responded with a quirky quip, asking the group if they knew what Grant was drinking.
“If I can only find out, I will send a barrel of this wonderful whiskey to every general in the army,” Lincoln allegedly said. Historians contest the legitimacy of the quote because of the anonymous sources, but the legend lives on to this day.
Whiskey’s relationship with soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen is not a coincidence, in Derek Sisson’s opinion.
The origin of the military’s iconic mantra: ‘Embrace the suck’
The origin of the military’s iconic mantra: ‘Embrace the suck’
The origin of the military’s iconic mantra: ‘Embrace the suck’
by Sarah Sicard, Observation Post
One of the best pieces of advice, for people in careers both in and out of service, is to learn to deal with things or take the bad in stride.
But the military, famed for its ability to turn a phrase or ruin anything with an absurd acronym, came up with its own colloquialism for making the best of any situation: “Embrace the suck.”
Though it’s impossible to trace back the phrase definitively to its first user, it became popularized in 2003 by Marines in Iraq.
Retired U.S. Army Reserve Col. Austin Bay authored a book in the mid-2000s called “Embrace the Suck,” in which he explains the meaning of the phrase.
“The Operation Iraqi Freedom phrase ‘embrace the suck’ is both an implied order and wise advice couched as a vulgar quip,” Bay wrote.
He likens the slang phrase back to legendary military strategist Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz and his views on “friction.”
“Clausewitz went to war when he was 12 years old,” Bay wrote. “Over the last few decades, critics have argued that his treatise ‘On War’ is a bit dated in terms of theory. However, everyone with military experience agrees that Clausewitz understood ‘the suck.’ He called it ‘friction.’”
For Clausewitz, it’s this “friction, or what is so termed here, which makes that which appears easy in war difficult in reality.”
Troops, in their resilience, in effect, mitigate the chasm of difference between training or planning and the often harsh realities they face on the ground. And they do it with aplomb, because they must.
Marines: 0, Samurai sword: 1
The origin of the military’s iconic mantra: ‘Embrace the suck’
Air Force Veteran Finally Graduates 50 Years Later
The U.S. military may be a professional war-fighting organization, but it is also filled with people, and people can be very stupid sometimes. That’s why last week, Task & Purpose put out a call for readers to share the dumbest moments they had in uniform. We were not disappointed.
From drunken samurai sword fights to bored forklift drivers, a clear theme emerged: boredom is one step away from a chewing-out by the nearest platoon sergeant.
The best example of this is a story that one Marine veteran named Mike Betts sent us about the time he and his buddies got drunk on salty dogs (a cocktail of gin or vodka and grapefruit juice) in Vietnam. One of the Marines pulled out “a cheap samurai sword he got in Japan,” Betts recalled. Our reader then took the sword and, as one does while inebriated, “commenced my best samurai impression, slashing at anything and everything in the hooch.”
You can see where this is going: at some point during the demonstration, our brave Samurai smacked something that loosened the blade and sent it flying from the handle, striking the sword owner in the chest “and inflicting a pretty nasty wound.”
Nobody wants to have to explain that kind of trouble to someone in charge, so our reader and his fellows snuck the wounded Marine past the officer and sergeant on duty that night and “hustled him off to the hospital” before anyone could notice. Luckily, he was “stitched up and pronounced fit for duty,” Betts said.
“Needless to say, I felt terrible about hurting him,” he added.
Air Force Veteran Finally Graduates 50 Years Later
The origin of the military’s iconic mantra: ‘Embrace the suck’
Air Force Veteran Finally Graduates 50 Years Later
Vietnam War kept Bob Kroener from walking across stage with USC classmates in 1971.
Having to wait an extra year to participate in his graduation ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic paled in comparison to the 49 years that had already passed for Bob Kroener, 78, who finally attended his graduate-school commencement on May 17.
The now-retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and civil engineer missed his pomp and circumstance in 1971 due to his deployment during the Vietnam War. So, when he was thumbing through the University of Southern California's alumni magazine a few years ago and saw pictures of that year's graduation festivities he felt it was finally his time to walk across the stage.
"I was sitting there looking at it and I thought, You know, I never got to go through graduation,” he said. “So I picked up the phone, and I called over to the Marshall School of Business."
During the call, USC officials inquired if he had received his diploma and whether he had other information that would help them locate his decades-old records. The school also asked for his student ID number, to which he replied, “I'm too old for that, we only had a Social Security number."
Back to school
The road to Southern California started north of the border. Then a captain in the Air Force after receiving an undergraduate degree from the University of Detroit, Kroener was stationed at a military base in Canada when he learned that he secured one of 26 government-funded spots offered to Air Force officers for graduate school. From a snow-covered mountaintop in Newfoundland he was informed of the schools he could apply to.
"I heard the University of Southern California and I said, ‘I'll take it. I'm going back to sit on the beach after being in 110 inches of snow for a year.’ It wasn't too hard of a decision to make,” said Kroener.
However, it wasn't just the weather that Kroener appreciated about going to school in Los Angeles. He was able to take advantage of the wide variety of corporations that would open doors to students like himself.
"I went to [oil company] Atlantic Richfield to do a paper, I went to Mattel toy company to do a paper, I went to Continental Airlines to basically write a master's thesis, myself and another captain,” he said. “All you had to do was say you're a student doing graduate work at USC. And I mean, they just opened the doors."
Kroener earned his MBA in 1971, but before the graduation ceremony took place he was deployed to Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. As part of his duties, he managed combat engineering teams by setting up their directives and getting them all the equipment needed to prepare for combat in Vietnam. He eventually retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1993.
Our Campus Headquarters, Ontario, Oregon
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We are a "No Dues' nonprofit organization with the coffee pot always on and lots of conversation always available. Bring your questions regarding any veteran services you are concerned about, and we will do our best to steer you in the right direction.
Our phone is 541-889-1978, and we are located in Ontario, Oregon at 180 W. Idaho Ave.