Some of the 'Services' and 'Programs we have available
July 21, 1930 VA (Veterans Administration) Formed
Welcome to Veteran Advocates of Ore-Ida 'a Source for Veteran Resources'
180 W. Idaho Ave, Ontario, Oregon 97914
541-889-1978
BI-MONTHLY ARTICLES AND A FEW STORIES OF INTEREST
Veteran Articles published Bi-monthly
Food Boxed at Veteran Advocates Food Pantry to hand out to Veterans/Military and their Families
Food Boxed at Veteran Advocates Food Pantry to hand out to Veterans/Military and their Families
The Chairman of Veteran Advocates of Ore-Ida, Ronald Verini, writes two articles every month for publication in a Regional Newspaper, this article "IMMUNITY FOR OUR TROOPS?" will be published JULY 13, 2024. Here is a part of Mr. Verini's article, and you can read the full article by clicking the red bar below.
Immunity For Our Troops?
July 13th, 2024 Veteran Column by Ronald Verini
With the new Supreme Court Ruling that covers immunity will an order that clearly violates U. S. law or even international law when executed, will that same protection of immunity be extended to those individuals that have carried the order to fruition? This is important, especially in regards to our military forces that have, in the past, been instructed to disregard orders that clearly violate law. It has been the case that the Uniform Code of Military Justice has stated that ‘duty to disobey’ if the order is illegal or unconstitutional.
Any military member that has received such an order is required to disobey in the past. I wonder what the future looks like for us regarding this issue?
We as military are required to obey superior orders but have also been held responsible for illegal acts. We now are placed to be in a position of carrying out orders, possibly landing us in prison or worse.
Truly: Are we protected from this new ruling or do we take on an added responsibility? What do we do, until we get the word that we are protected or not? What do we do now if we are given an order that is a clear violation of law? Military disobedience is only the beginning of this road that we are on right now. ‘Obey’ or ‘Disobey’? Frighting choice for the person that has been placed in that position. The extremes that this order can take us is such a big load on a military member that it is time for our Nation to spell out what our obligations are?
At this point I am not interested in the politics of this new ruling by the Supreme Court. What I am interested in, is where does that decision place each of us in the military and how are we protected from discipline for orders that are clearly illegal?
My viewpoint of some that we have in government, elected and appointed, are unhinged and deranged, or maybe I am reading too much into what I am reading in the news. I am not saying anything that has a slant, one way or other, regarding a political side. What I am saying is that this new rule might put the military at risk and how are we protected if put into a situation that we might regret if we take the wrong move.
Is this food for thought or is it a serious situation that needs to be addressed? I believe it’s a serious situation and it needs to be addressed, and the sooner the better.
As I am writing this, I am thinking about what has happened, over the years in the education system and the additional responsibility that military families have in deciphering the laws of each state, remember most military families move every 2 to 3 years and some more frequent. New ways that families have to learn for their youth have put in some cases such a burden on the families and students. Less concentration on education and more on procedures and interpretation of what rules the parents and children have to face.
The two different scenarios are similar knowing that military families that are stationed in different states are subject to new rules that cover education for their children. All this is sometimes very stressful for our military and now this other decree that needs to be understood and followed is just more pressure if the consequences of these issues are not spelled out in language that is easy to follow. Not legalese.
Our Nation is asking a lot from us.
Food Boxed at Veteran Advocates Food Pantry to hand out to Veterans/Military and their Families
Food Boxed at Veteran Advocates Food Pantry to hand out to Veterans/Military and their Families
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.
THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERAN AFFAIRS EVOLVED FROM THE FIRST FEDERAL CIVIL WAR VETERANS' FACILITY
Food Boxed at Veteran Advocates Food Pantry to hand out to Veterans/Military and their Families
THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERAN AFFAIRS EVOLVED FROM THE FIRST FEDERAL CIVIL WAR VETERANS' FACILITY
July 2024 - By Hans Petersen
The Department of Veterans Affairs evolved from the first federal Veterans’ facility established for Civil War soldiers and sailors of the Union Army, known initially as the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
On March 3, 1865, a month before the Civil War ended, President Abraham Lincoln signed a law to establish a national soldiers and sailor’s asylum. Renamed the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in 1873, it was the first government institution in the world created specifically for honorably discharged volunteer soldiers.
The first National Home, known as the Eastern Branch of the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, opened November 1, 1866, near Augusta, Maine.
As the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, Congress established new benefits for World War I Veterans that included programs for life insurance, disability compensation, prosthetics, vocational rehabilitation, and hospitalization, along with new federal agencies to administer them. Federal Veterans medical care shifted from lifelong residential care to short-term treatment in general or specialized hospitals, supplemented by job re-training or disability pensions.
General Omar Bradley took the reins at VA in August 1945 and steered its transformation into a modern organization. In January 1946, Public Law 293 established VA’s Department of Medicine and Surgery, along with numerous other programs like the VA Voluntary Service to provide better services to Veterans. The law enabled VA to recruit and retain top medical personnel by modifying the civil service system, establishing medical research, and affiliating VA Hospitals with medical schools to place Veterans' medicine on par with the private sector.
Your 2024 State Veteran Benefits
An AI-Powered Fighter Jet Took the Air Force's Leader
THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERAN AFFAIRS EVOLVED FROM THE FIRST FEDERAL CIVIL WAR VETERANS' FACILITY
January 2024 by Jim Absher Military.com
Everyone knows about the federal benefits available to veterans, but did you know many states also offer great benefits to their veterans? State benefits range from free college and employment resources to free hunting and fishing licenses. Most states also offer tax breaks for their veterans and specialized license plates, and some states even provide their veterans with cash bonuses just for serving in the military.
We have compiled a handy summary of the benefits each state and territory offers. Each summary page also has a link directly to the specific State Department of Veterans Affairs, so be sure to check it out. There may be a benefit available to you or your family that you didn't know about!. To choose your State click on the Red Bar below
ALGORITHMIC WARFARE ????? IT'S HERE..
An AI-Powered Fighter Jet Took the Air Force's Leader
An AI-Powered Fighter Jet Took the Air Force's Leader
OPINION ARTICLE OF TASK & PURPOSE - MAY 2024
What is the future of algorithmic warfare? The character of war is changing as artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) applications transform everything from tactical engagements to operational art and military planning. Some thinkers go as far as to claim it is not just the character or war, but its nature and even the balance of power that are changing.
This moment calls on military organizations to accelerate experimentation. These experiments must combine classified excursions across the joint force like the Global Information Dominance Exercises(GIDE) with unclassified classrooms that allow military professionals to explore new ways of visualizing, describing, and directing operations on the future battlefield.
To that end, Marine Corps University (MCU), under the U.S. Marine Corps Education Command, used academic year 2024 to test making the classroom a battle lab. In the lab students and faculty built and tested a series of generative AI models exploring global integration and active campaigning, integrated deterrence, operational art, tactics, and combat development in collaboration with the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO). More important, the effort empowered students to build and evaluate customized AI models linked to contemporary strategic, institutional, operational, and tactical challenges confronting the force.
First, MCU used its Presidential Lecture Series to introduce both resident and non-resident students to algorithmic warfare. This series brought together speakers including U.S. Air Force Col. Matthew “Nomad” Strohmeyer, who currently leads experimentation efforts in CDAO alongside industry experts like Joseph P. Larson III (U.S. Marine Corps Reserve) and Nand Mulchandani, the chief technology officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. The talk explored not just the promise of AI to transform warfare, but why legacy bureaucracy and processes create challenges to implementation.
These panel discussions helped students see beyond the headlines and hype to assess when, where, and how AI is most likely to increase maneuver and lethality across the levels of war. Based on his role in implementing the GIDE, Strohmeyer discussed the importance of adopting an agile mindset that prioritizes multiple, small experiments that embrace failure over large, “too big to fail” exercise constructs.
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Larson compared his experience as a company grade officer working in al-Anbar, Iraq supporting intelligence-led targeting with pen, paper, and PowerPoint to the prospects of using data science, statistics, and AI co-pilots to guide military operations. As he noted, this vision requires large investments in data infrastructure and retraining military professionals to understand when to trust and when to discount AI model-generated insights. Last, Mulchandani discussed strides the intelligence community was making based on prior investments in data infrastructure and how best to conceptualize AI co-pilots. Specifically, he differentiated between expert systems and agents that summarize large bodies of text from “crazy drunk” models that can stimulate human creativity.
The university also empowered faculty with experience working with AI to develop an incubator across the schools to let students explore the potential of AI/ML as it relates to the future of warfighting. This effort ranged from classroom pilots at the Marine Corps War College using commercial, generative AI models to more structured experiments that had students build and deploy their own AI co-pilots.
An AI-Powered Fighter Jet Took the Air Force's Leader
An AI-Powered Fighter Jet Took the Air Force's Leader
An AI-Powered Fighter Jet Took the Air Force's Leader
Associated Press - By Tara Copp
DWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of U.S. airpower. But the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence, not a human pilot. And riding in the front seat was Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.
AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning for an AI-enabled fleet of more than 1,000 unmanned warplanes to be operating by 2028.
It was fitting that the dogfight took place at Edwards Air Force Base, a vast desert facility where Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound and the military has incubated its most secret aerospace advances. Inside classified simulators and buildings with layers of shielding against surveillance, a new test-pilot generation is training AI agents to fly in war. Kendall traveled here to see AI fly in real time and make a public statement of confidence in its future role in air combat.
"It's a security risk not to have it. At this point, we have to have it," Kendall said in an interview with The Associated Press after he landed. The AP, along with NBC, was granted permission to witness the secret flight on the condition that it would not be reported until it was complete because of operational security concerns.
The AI-controlled F-16, called Vista, flew Kendall in lightning-fast maneuvers at more than 550 miles an hour that put pressure on his body at five times the force of gravity. It went nearly nose to nose with a second human-piloted F-16 as both aircraft raced within 1,000 feet of each other, twisting and looping to try force their opponent into vulnerable positions.
At the end of the hourlong flight, Kendall climbed out of the cockpit grinning. He said he'd seen enough during his flight that he'd trust this still-learning AI with the ability to decide whether or not to launch weapons.
There's a lot of opposition to that idea. Arms control experts and humanitarian groups are deeply concerned that AI one day might be able to autonomously drop bombs that kill people without further human consultation, and they are seeking greater restrictions on its use.
What Happens if the President
Issues a Potentially Illegal Order to the Military?
July 2024 by Konstantin Toropin Military.com
It's late on a weekday afternoon and a group of military officers -- the most senior leaders of every branch of the armed forces -- are sitting around a wide wood table under frosty overhead lights in a windowless conference room at the Pentagon.
After days of intense protests in several cities across the country, the defense secretary says the president is getting ready to order a massive deployment of armed troops to replace local police and bring a stop to political opposition. As the group slowly begins to discuss the details of sending active-duty troops to quash protests on American soil, one of the officers stops the group with a question.
"Is any of what we're discussing here even legal?"
The entire scenario is a work of fiction, but given presidential campaign rhetoric as Americans head to the polls in November, Military.com spent several months trying to unearth what existing safeguards and policies are in place to protect what has long been considered a hallmark of the U.S. -- an apolitical military that uses its power to fight the country's enemies, not its own citizens.
In speaking with more than a dozen Pentagon officials as well as outside experts, what emerged was a landscape where few concrete legal protections exist to prevent an abuse of power by a president, especially if that president chooses to lean on the Insurrection Act, a vaguely worded law originally passed in 1792.
Military.com reached out to the civilian and military leaders of every uniformed branch of service with a trio of direct questions: If a potentially unlawful order is received from the White House or issued by a defense secretary, what is the review process to determine whether the order is legal, who triggers the review, and who conducts the review?
The requests made no mention of a specific president or the specifics of potential orders, but rather asked about existing policies.
None of the services offered any comment on the record, and some didn't even reply to the inquiries.
Military.com reached out to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who also declined to comment.
Finally, the office of the defense secretary, after several weeks of queries, provided a response.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in an emailed statement that "lawyers are available to advise military leaders -- including the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and combatant commanders -- regarding the legal and prudential impacts of orders, as well as the legal effects and consequences such orders may have."
Defense officials also said that, especially at those senior levels, legal reviews of most orders are part of the process, are conducted by lawyers assigned to the office of the commander or secretary, and do not need to be specifically requested.
The Insurrection Act
Both Trump and a number of groups aligned with the former president have said that Trump, if elected, would invoke the Insurrection Act to allow him to use troops for his domestic agenda.
The law was first passed in 1792 and largely cemented in 1871. It offers broad, sweeping and, critics say, ill-defined powers to the president.
The law says that "whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws ... he may call into federal service such of the militia of any state, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary."
An 1827 Supreme Court ruling found that the president alone can decide to invoke the law and courts may not review or second-guess that determination.
The Brennan Center for Justice, a law and public policy research organization at the New York University School of Law, noted in a 2022 paper that "the Insurrection Act fails to adequately define or limit when it may be used and instead gives the president significant power to decide when and where to deploy U.S. military forces domestically."
The lawyer who previously served as a judge advocate agreed with that assessment.
"All of us as American citizens should have an uneasy feeling about any service members policing our country," the lawyer said.
One scenario the lawyer laid out was an attorney general approaching the president with a concern that he or she doesn't have a sufficient number of federal law enforcement officers to deal with violence or unrest and making a request to bring in military forces.
The US Government Responds to a Military-Backed Coup
in New Documentary 'War Game'
July 2024 by Blake Stilwell Military.com
It's Jan. 6, 2025. Losing presidential candidate Gov. Robert Strickland (played by actor Chris Coffey, "Trust") calls on his supporters and members of the U.S. military to join him in taking back the election that was "stolen" from him. The winning candidate, President John Hotham (played by actual former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock), and his team of advisers have six hours in the White House situation room to preserve American democracy and prevent a civil war.
"War Game" is not a fictional movie; it's a documentary about a real-world war game hosted by the Vet Voice Foundation, a nonprofit veterans action group designed to motivate vets to become civic leaders around the country. In September 2022, the group hosted an actual exercise that simulated an escalation in the violence around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. In this exercise, however, members of the U.S. military joined the insurrectionist cause.
Vet Voice invited real-world policy experts and former government staffers to join the game as participants. The cast included a bipartisan group of American veterans, U.S. defense and intelligence officials, and elected policymakers spanning five presidential administrations. Along with Gov. Bullock, role players included Elizabeth Neumann (deputy chief of staff for the Department of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump), Jack Tomarchio (deputy assistant secretary of homeland security under President George W. Bush), Lou Caldera (secretary of the Army under President Bill Clinton) and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. (ret.) Wesley Clark, along with former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones and former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.
Filmmakers Jesse Moss ("Boys State") and Tony Gerber ("Full Battle Rattle") got unprecedented access to film the unscripted six-hour game, contributing sets such as the Situation Room, Press Briefing Room and Red Cell headquarters to add to the veracity of the situation. The resulting film is a political thriller that feels like a high-stakes, real-world situation.
The game was inspired by a December 2021 op-ed in The Washington Post, written by three retired generals, that called on the Department of Defense to conduct such a war game should another Jan. 6-like insurrection unfold after the 2024 presidential election. Vet Voice invited the bipartisan panel of experts to play as U.S. government officials while a team of military veterans, experts in extremist tactics, operated as the Red Cell (opposing forces) to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
"The purpose of the exercise," as Vet Voice explained in a statement, "was to assess weakness and vulnerabilities within our political system, [to] harden our democratic institutions, and [to] better prepare our political and military leaders to confront and manage such a crisis. ... If the Red Cell wins, democracy loses."
Viewers might have seen some familiar faces in the "War Game" trailer. British journalist Isha Sesay joined the game as a journalist for the fictional INN news service, while neoconservative stalwart Bill Kristol and former National Security Council member Lt. Col. (ret.) Alexander Vindman served as game consultants.
They Stole a Confederate Train for the Union
Now, 2 Civil War Privates Will Receive the Medal of Honor.
July 2024 by Steve Beynon Military.com
More than 160 years after they were captured and executed by Confederate rebels, two U.S. soldiers are set to be posthumously recognized for their valor during the Civil War with the Medal of Honor.
Pvts. Philip Shadrach and George Wilson will be recognized for their actions in 1862 when they, alongside 20 other Union soldiers and two civilians, infiltrated rebel territory and stole a train, taking it northward and destroying as much of the train tracks, bridges and other key logistical infrastructure as they could. It was a mobile raid over roughly 200 miles during the course of a week while they were constantly pursued by Confederates.
President Joe Biden is set to present the medals to the soldiers' descendants at the White House on Wednesday afternoon. Shadrach and Wilson's awards were approved by Congress in 2008, but the ceremony kept getting shifted and was eventually forgotten about.
The raid is known as the Great Locomotive Chase, and was meant to cripple Confederate logistics and severely restrict where Southern troops could fight -- as trains were the key means of supplying the front lines. In particular, the mission was to obliterate train tracks, bridges and telegraph wires between Atlanta, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee
Today, the Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in the military. However, during the Civil War, it was the only award for valor, and members of the locomotive raid became its very first recipients.
This B-52H crew survived a ‘worst possible case
earned the AF Global Strike Command General Curtis E. LeMay award for the outstanding bomber crew
June 2024 by Jeff Schogol, Task & Purpose
A B-52H crew was able to land safely after losing power to four of its eight engines, one of the most severe emergencies a “BUFF” aircrew can face, in a show of airmanship and professionalism that earned them an award from Air Force Global Strike Command
On the evening of Dec. 13, 2022, the crew aboard the bomber Scout 94 were flying from Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, a Global Strike Command news release says. Three crew members were aboard: Capt. Charles Powell, the aircraft commander; Capt. Matthew Walls, the copilot; and Lt. Col. John Conway, the radar navigator.
The bomber was avoiding thunderstorms while preparing to land. As the B-52 descended towards the Louisiana airfield, its left-side electrical generators failed, and all four engines on the plane’s left wing went dead. With no thrust coming from the left-side of the plane but all four engines on the right still working, the bomber immediately went into uncontrolled left roll, began to descend and slowed below normal approach speed.
“The emergency was sudden and caused brief but extreme disorientation to myself and the other crew members,” Walls said in a statement. “All the systems kicked off at once, and the aircraft went completely dark, engines flamed out, and controlling the aircraft became a battle.”
The crew of Scout 94 fought to regain control of their bomber, which was losing altitude over Bossier City, Louisiana. If the plane crashed in a populated area, the results would have been catastrophic.
As in-flight emergencies go, this was one of the most dire that the crew of Scout 94 could face, said retired Air Force Col. Mark Gunzinger, a former B-52 instructor pilot and flight evaluator.
When a B-52 loses all the engines on one side of the plane — the plane has a total of 8, four on each wing — the crew faces “the worst possible case for an engine-out situation.” With thrust on just one side, a condition known as ‘asymmetric thrust.’ Having all the power on one side of the plane will put the plane into a spin if corrective action is not taken quickly, Gunzinger told Task & Purpose.
Making matters even more dangerous, Scout 94 was already descending when it lost the four engines, said Gunzinger, who is currently the director of future concepts and capability assessments at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
Roughly three minutes into the emergency, Powell was able to restart two of the engines that had initially failed to come back to life. That helped to stabilize the asymmetrical load on the aircraft.
Lawmakers move to automate Selective Service registration
For All Men
By Leo Shane III and Bryant Harris
A new plan from House lawmakers would automatically register men for a potential military draft when they hit age 18, avoiding potential legal consequences connected to failing to file the paperwork at the proper time.
Language included in the House Armed Services Committee’s draft of the annual defense authorization bill would mandate the automatic registration of all males between ages 18 and 26 living in America in the Selective Service System, the federal database used for a military draft in case of a national emergency.
The system hasn’t been used for that purpose for 52 years, but men who fail to register can face a host of legal consequences, including forfeiture of eligibility for federal programs and possible jail time.
But the number of individuals who have skipped registering has increased in recent years, in large part because registration options were removed from the federal student loan process two years ago. That had accounted for nearly a quarter of all registrations in prior years.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., sponsored the automatic registration language and called it both a money-saving and common-sense reform.
“By using available federal databases, the [Selective Service] agency will be able to register all of the individuals required and thus help ensure that any future military draft is fair and equitable,” she said during debate on the idea Wednesday night.
“This will also allow us to rededicate resources — basically that means money — towards reading readiness and towards mobilization … rather than towards education and advertising campaigns driven to register people.”
The Selective Service System costs roughly $30 million a year. Lawmakers have proposed a number of reforms to the database in recent years, including adding women and completely eliminating the agency altogether, but none have made it through Congress.
The latest proposal was approved unanimously by the committee but still must advance through the full House and Senate before it can become law. The authorization bill, which contains a myriad of military budget and policy priorities, is expected to be finalized by the two chambers sometime this fall.
About Leo Shane III and Bryant Harris
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.
Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.
An Army Special Forces Veteran Creates
American Flags That Don't Burn
June 2024 Military.com | By Blake Stilwell
In many ways, Kyle Daniels is your typical Midwestern American. He grew up in a patriotic household, many of his family members joined the military, and his father was very meticulous about flag etiquette -- probably more so than your average American.
"Every morning we put it out at sunrise, we'd go out every night after work, bring it in and fold it the right way. It was very ceremonious," Daniels recently told Military.com. "It was instilled in me very early that this flag represents the freedoms we enjoy today. It's not just about the Fourth of July, it's not just about the special days; it's about every day. And that was something that I held near and dear to my heart."
That patriotism was never lost on him. Daniels would grow up to join the ranks of ArmySpecial Forces. When he left the service, he was looking for what to do in the next phase of his life. He found the opportunity to combine his love of country with his post-military career -- a way to defend Old Glory itself, even if he's not there to do it personally.
"I walked right out of a college class in 2003 and directly to a recruiter's office to sign [on] the dotted line," Daniels said. "Within three months, I was in boot camp. I was a lost soul and just did not feel any compelling purpose for college. This was around the time that the war in Iraq kicked off, and I just knew I could do more there."
Daniels joined the Army's 18X program, which allowed him to go directly into Special Forces training. After boot camp, he went through Airborne School and the Special Forces Q-Course; by 2005, he was assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group. A year later, he finally made it to Iraq for the first of two deployments there. He stepped off a C-17 Globemaster III the night he arrived to see the American flag flying on the airfield.
Army major honors fallen soldiers
with Native eagle feathers in hair
Marvh 2024 by Patty Nieberg, Task & Purpose
Granted a religious accommodation to wear eagle feathers, Maj. Patrick Sorensen said each represent a fallen soldier or comrade he has served with.
An Army Major who posted portraits in full uniform while wearing traditional Native American eagle feathers in his hair, said the pictures are a tribute to both his Native identity and fallen soldiers he served with.
“We wear these medals on our chest and they represent the different achievements and deployments and things that we’ve gone through in our military service,” Maj. Patrick Sorensen told Task & Purpose. “For me, I think it’s more important that I recognize and remember my soldiers and so I wear my five feathers to represent the soldiers that I’ve lost.”
Sorensen, a marketing and public affairs officer at the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, or TRADOC, is one of just a handful of military members granted a religious exemption to wear Native American dress and hairstyles with his Army uniform. When he posted new headshots with the eagle feathers on his personal Facebook page this week, the pictures quickly garnered more than 2,000 shares and 1,000 comments.
Sorensen told Task & Purpose that he has a religious accommodation from the Army based on his Native American heritage and faith. He is authorized to grow his hair according to the Army’s female hair standards, a regulation work-around similar to that given to Senior Airman Connor Crawn last year to allow him to wear his hair in a native braid. Sorensen is also allowed to wear his hair loose and below the collar at native-specific events and for Army ceremonies or memorials that honor the fallen.
Sorensen is still in the process of growing out his hair which will eventually be long enough to braid. Each feather is individually wrapped in leather and the leather cords are used to tie into the hair.
Each feather represents someone that Sorensen deployed with or worked with in his career who died while in uniform.
A white feather represents Spc. Brittany Gordon who was killed in Afghanistan when a suicide bomber. A black feather is for Sfc. Nelson Trent, who was killed in 2012 when his vehicle was struck by an IED.
Three other black feathers represent soldiers and a contractor Sorensen was close to who died by suicide.
“It’s important that we honor the warriors that we served with and remember them,” he said. “We wear them first on our head because – again, it’s no disrespect to the military or anything like that – but remembering others and honoring others is more important than our own achievements that we wear on our chest and we wear the feathers on top of our head for that reason.”
NATIVE BACKGROUND
Native background
Sorensen is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, an alliance of tribes in the Pacific Northwest. His father is of Umpqua and Rogue River descent, while his mother is white.
Sorensen did not join his tribe until he was in his twenties. Membership required a DNA test to prove his ancestry. He is aware, he said, that he can appear “white” and said he’s gotten many comments challenging his identity.
“Your culture and your traditions and your values don’t always match your appearance,” he said. “Eagle feathers are extremely sacred to me and to most native Americans and growing our hair and wearing feathers is not something that should be thrown around or done on a whim.”
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is made up of 30 tribes and bands from western Oregon, northern California and southwest Washington. The confederation lost federal recognition in 1954 when Congress passed legislation which stripped its status. It was restored in1983 when former president Ronald Reagan signed the Grand Ronde Restoration Act. Five years later the tribe regained nearly 10,000 acres of its original reservation.
American Indians and Alaska Natives serve in the U.S. military at five times the national average and have the highest military service per capita among recognized ethnic groups.
The importance of Native Americans in the military gaining the right to wear their native hair comes with a troubled history that goes back more than 100 years. In the 19th century, Native Americans children were forced to cut their hair and assimilate to European grooming standards in government-run boarding schools.
Since his post went viral this week, he said more than 30 other service members have reached out to ask for guidance.
Today's Veterans of the Day are the Buffalo Soldiers of WWI
Buffalo Soldiers Receive New VA Headstones Following Army Decision to Overturn Convictions
February 2024
Military.com | By Patricia KimePublished February 22, 2024 at 5:50pm ET
More than 100 years after they were convicted of mutiny and murder and hanged for the 1917 Houston Riot, 17 Black soldiers have finally received military burial honors along with new headstones reflecting the honorable discharges the Army awarded them last year.
In a solemn ceremony Thursday at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Department of Veterans Affairs and Army officials gathered with relatives of the soldiers, members of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, to honor their service and replace gravestones that had marked the men as unworthy of being in a veterans' cemetery.
YOU TOO CAN HELP SERVE AND THANK OUR COUNTRIES VETERANS
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.
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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.
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'
The Army is standardizing how armor crews train and shoot
160th SOAR veteran to build memorial out of CH-47D fuselage
160th SOAR veteran to build memorial out of CH-47D fuselage
March 2024 by Patty Nieberg, Task & Purpose
The Army is standardizing the way crews of Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles keep up with their combat skills.
Brigades with the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia have taken the last month to train under a new set of qualification standards, or gunnery tables, against targets set at longer distances for their M1 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles.
“What we are trying to do is train our crews to be more adaptable and be more lethal as our adversaries change,” said 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team Command Sgt. Maj. Ryan Roush. “Everyone will go through the exact same validation process. Once these tables are implemented Army-wide, we could receive a new soldier from any unit in the Army and know that the training standard that the soldier has used, are the exact same across the entire Army that we have and then base our performance and expectations off of that.”
Tank crews have to validate their skills twice a year on a unit’s gunnery tables. Under the current integrated weapons strategy there are six gunnery tables that crews must be certified in: Table I gunnery skills test; Table II simulations; Table III proficiency to train with live rounds; Table IV basic skills of the platform; Table V practice and Table VI qualification for crew to participate in live-fire exercises.
Master gunners could previously use their own discretion to create tables with time and distance categories for targets. But with this initiative, there would be set standards that soldiers and crews have to complete, said Sgt. Daniel Blandon, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team Abrams Master Gunner.
Large scale combat operations
Over the last two decades, training for Iraq and Afghanistan was focused on counterinsurgency operations “for a whole career of a soldier,” said Steve Krivitsky, chief of the weapons and gunnery branch at the Directorate of Training, Tactics and Doctrine for the Maneuver Center of Excellence. “There was a series of soldiers that never experienced the long range and then the large-scale, combat-operations-type training.”
Tank crews often were tested only on skills and targets their commanders deemed essential for Iraq and Afghanistan deployments, or that could be shot within the confines of the ranges of their own base.
160th SOAR veteran to build memorial out of CH-47D fuselage
160th SOAR veteran to build memorial out of CH-47D fuselage
160th SOAR veteran to build memorial out of CH-47D fuselage
September 2023
BY JOSHUA SKOVLUND, TASK & PURPOSE
Thibodeaux plans to rebuild the fuselage to resemble an MH-47G Chinook, the same type of helicopter that Arcane 22 was.
Jeremy Thibodeaux was driving back to Hunter Army Airfield, where he was assigned to B Co., 3rd battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) — known as the “Nightstalkers” — when he heard that a special operations Chinook helicopter had crashed in Afghanistan over the radio. Thibodeaux immediately felt sick — he knew this meant some of his friends had probably died.
His worst fear was realized after arriving on base. Two of his friends, Josue “Sway” Hernandez and Nickolas Mueller, were aboard an MH-47G helicopter, “Arcane 22,” that had crashed during a counter-narcotics raid in Afghanistan on Oct. 26, 2009.
“Upon arriving, I found out exactly who was killed, and I just dropped to my knees, just screaming and crying — kind of pulling my hair out,” Thibodeaux said. “I didn’t really know what to do. You know, two of my best friends were on that aircraft. It was just a really — it was a horrible day.”
On Tuesday, Thibodeaux received approval from the Internal Revenue Service for his newly established non-profit, The Arcane Project.
The idea was born years ago when Thibodeaux was still serving. As older CH-47 models became outdated, he joked that he wanted to acquire one to convert into a private bar for guys from the unit. Years later, Thibodeaux brought up the idea with one of his best friends, Chip Davis, and the idea for a non-profit was born.
We found 4 bottles of whiskey made by airborne paratroopers
160th SOAR veteran to build memorial out of CH-47D fuselage
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.
Some Ongoing Stories of Interest For Our Veterans
Tips to achieve the ultimate dirty Navy-style coffee mug
DoD SkillBridge: The best military transition program you didn’t know existed
Tips to achieve the ultimate dirty Navy-style coffee mug
Feb. 2023 by 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.
The history of the HK416 in modern warfare
DoD SkillBridge: The best military transition program you didn’t know existed
Tips to achieve the ultimate dirty Navy-style coffee mug
march 2024 by Joshua Skovlund, Task & Purpose
When the HK416 started showing up on SOF compounds throughout Iraq, people noticed.
In the early 2000s, operators in the U.S. military’s special operations community started using the Heckler & Koch HK416 as one of their primary battle rifles. It was initially meant to replace the Colt M4A1 but never realized that potential.
Not just anyone in SOF had the opportunity to carry this German-made rifle into combat though. Rangers, SEALs, Green Berets, and others in SOF often work in the same areas as their higher echelon counterparts, but still carried the M4A1 or even FN SCAR during that timeframe.
When the HK416 started showing up on SOF compounds throughout Iraq, hanging off the shoulder of operators grabbing a quick bite to eat in the chow hall — people noticed. It was the next new thing, but most never got a chance to use it. Unlike the SR25 sniper rifle, MultiCam uniforms, EOTech holographic sights, and high-cut helmets, the HK416 was one bit of kit that never made it into the wider U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) inventory.
The HK 416 is a step away from the traditional operation of the Colt M4A1. Instead of a gas-operated, direct impingement system, it uses a gas-operated, short-stroke piston-driven operating rod. Ultimately, the piston setup was more reliable in testing, but compared to the M4A1, it’s more expensive and heavier.
The operation of the HK416 is relatively similar to what operators were used to with the M4: the safety selector switch, magazine release, charging handle, and Picatinny rails were all the same or very similar. The cleaning procedures are different though, with the M4’s bolt carrier group and chamber needing to be cleaned more often when compared to the HK416’s piston system, which blows gas forward and away from the bolt carrier group — but still results in a different, but regularly required maintenance.
DoD SkillBridge: The best military transition program you didn’t know existed
DoD SkillBridge: The best military transition program you didn’t know existed
DoD SkillBridge: The best military transition program you didn’t know existed
January 2021 By Harm Venhuizen. MilitaryTimes
When separating from the military, it’s not uncommon for servicemembers to discover gaps between their resume and the civilian job they want.
Worries about putting food on the table can make going back to school, getting on-the-job training, or taking an internship seem like costly ways of filling that gap. Luckily, there’s a way servicemembers can gain the experience required by civilian jobs while still on the military’s payroll.
The DoD SkillBridge Program lets active-duty personnel from all four branches spend the last 180 days of their military service interning at a civilian job with one of more than 500 industry partners.
Participants continue to receive military pay and benefits, whether they’re getting certified by Microsoft in cloud development, learning to weld, or taking advantage of any one of the hundreds of other opportunities available.
As part of the DoD’s requirements, all training programs offer a “high probability of post-service employment with the provider or other employers in a field related to the opportunity,” according to the SkillBridge website.
In his internship with the Global SOF Foundation, retired Navy commander Chuck Neu says he not only tripled the size of his professional network, but also discovered a talent for sales.
“Without that exposure to cold-call sales from doing SkillBridge with the Global SOF Foundation, I likely would have ended up on-base as a contractor or a government civilian, which is really not what I wanted to do,” Neu told Military Times....
For more on this story click the 'Red Bar' below.
"Deflection is a funny thing"
How a WW2 banana shortage changed the course of Twinkie history
DoD SkillBridge: The best military transition program you didn’t know existed
September 2023
Black Rifle Coffee Company
Barrett Carver (top row second from left) served in the US Army for almost seven years and deployed multiple times. He spent his time in 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, and was one of the Rangers involved in the assault on Haditha Dam, a critical structure to capture during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
During the assault, Carver and his fellow Rangers were holed up inside one of the buildings on “the military side of the dam,” and they were taking indirect fire from the Iraqis. Artillery rounds were impacting close to their building for several hours with barrages of small-arms fire. Carver thought to himself, Well, it’s been a good run.
Suddenly, they all heard a loud twang, and a thick cloud of dust erupted inside the building. Carver looked up to see a horseshoe-shaped indent in the corrugated tin roof over their heads. Everyone burst into uncontrollable laughter — one of the artillery rounds had been deflected by the thin tin roof.
“Deflection is a funny thing,” Carver said. “It could have just as easily been a dud round. Either way, I take a kick where I can get it. Amazing thing is that with the amount they dropped on us, we only had two casualties. Both made it.”
VA's updated list of Agent Orange sites outside of Vietnam
How a WW2 banana shortage changed the course of Twinkie history
How a WW2 banana shortage changed the course of Twinkie history
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
How a WW2 banana shortage changed the course of Twinkie history
How a WW2 banana shortage changed the course of Twinkie history
June 2022 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.
Our Campus Headquarters, Ontario, Oregon
THANK YOU FOR VISITING OUR WEBPAGE!
We thank all the Supporters, Businesses and Friends for giving their time and resources in helping and caring for our Veterans, Military and First Responders and their Families.
We really appreciate your interest too, in 'Who we are and What we do'. If you have any questions or suggestions or would like to 'volunteer' or 'donate', well please contact us with an email or a phone call. Our hours are 9am to 4pm, M/F, so come on in enjoy the conversations and coffee and browse our Museum.
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.