Some of the 'Services' and 'Programs we have available
JULY 25 IS NATIONAL HIRE A VETERAN DAY
Welcome to Veteran Advocates of Ore-Ida 'a Source for Veteran Resources'
180 W. Idaho Ave, Ontario, Oregon 97914
541-889-1978
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.
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"AFTER THE DUST SETTLES, WHAT'S NEXT?"
will be published JULY 9, 2025. Here is a part of Mr. Verini's article, and you can read the full article by clicking the red bar below.
AFTER THE DUST SETTLES, WHAT'S NEXT?
It is a demonstrable fact that public trust in governmental consistency and clear direction has eroded. This fluctuating approach undermines confidence in long-term stability and defined objectives. This concern is particularly acute in the care of veterans. Regardless of political affiliation, the mission of providing exceptional healthcare to those who have served should be paramount within the VA Health system. Ideally, any form of prejudice against a veteran should be absent from the system's regulations, bylaws, and practices.
The very existence of a section in the VA's bylaws that delineates "protected" categories of veterans raises significant concerns. It implies that some veterans, despite their service, may not receive the comprehensive care they require. A current debate centers on recent changes to the VA's bylaws, with language reportedly removed that previously outlined protected classes of veterans. VA Secretary Collins has issued assurances that all veterans will continue to receive care, urging the public not to be concerned by these alterations.
However, for many, these assurances lack substance. When the bylaws themselves appear to remove explicit protections for specific groups of veterans, a verbal promise is insufficient. A more effective approach would be for the Secretary to demonstrate, through concrete actions and unambiguous language within the bylaws, that all veterans are indeed covered, rather than relying solely on verbal statements. This is particularly critical when it pertains to vital services like veteran care.
Consider the historical precedent of Dr. M. Edwards Walker, an Army surgeon who was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Andrew Johnson in 1864 for treating Union soldiers with exceptional dedication. Dr. Walker was captured by Confederate troops and held as a prisoner of war. President Johnson bestowed this Medal for contributions above and beyond the call of duty. Years later, when advanced in age, the Medal of Honor was controversially revoked. Dr. Walker lived for two more years, refusing to relinquish the Medal, and subsequently passed away. Decades after Dr. Walker's death, in 1977, the Medal of Honor was reinstated, much to the family's satisfaction. Further recognition came in 2023 when an Army base was named Fort Walker, honoring this true patriot. The family expressed pleasure at this tribute. Now, this honor has again been tainted by the announcement that Fort Walker will no longer bear that name, causing renewed disappointment for the family. The fact that, over a century after Dr. Walker's passing, controversy surrounding a Medal of Honor recipient remains unresolved, underscores a deeply troubling pattern. In 1982, Dr. Walker was honored with a postage stamp. One can only wonder if the government might request the return of all letters bearing that stamp. This continuous cycle of changes and reversals highlights a concerning expenditure of time, money, and effort on shifting directives.
The detention of Paola Clouatre, a breastfeeding mother and wife of a Marine Corps veteran navigating an immigration hearing, raises questions about the government's proportionality in addressing perceived issues. Her deportation order reportedly stemmed from her mother's failure to appear at a 2018 hearing. Previous understandings, that Marine Corps recruiters were mentioning immigration relief for family members appears to have changed. Recruiters now reportedly informed new recruits they lack the authority to offer such benefits. It suggests that Ms. Clouatre may have been caught in an overzealous enforcement action. One hopes her family is reunited swiftly.
It is imperative that a moment of collective reflection and a renewed pursuit of global cooperation take precedence. While the vast majority of the world yearns for peace, it is equally important to isolate those nations committed to conflict from the larger community that seeks harmonious co-existence.
JULY EVENTS THAT ACTUALLY CHANGED THE WORLD !!!!
6 July 1885: A step forward for modern medicine
Although he was not certain that the vaccine would work, French microbiologist Louis Pasteur successfully gave the first anti-rabies vaccination to nine-year-old Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by an infected dog.
Pasteur, who had first tested the rabies vaccine on dogs, was a pioneer in using vaccines to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
19 July 1799: French soldier discovers Rosetta Stone
During a campaign in Egypt, a Napoleonic soldier found a black stone outside Rosetta, a town 35 miles from Alexandria. The stone was a slab, almost two-and-a-half feet wide and nearly four feet long, with different inscriptions on it including Egyptian demotic, Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Following his invasion of Egypt in 1798, Napoleon had ordered a group of scholars to seize any cultural artefacts and to take them into French possession. The British took ownership of the stone after the French were defeated in 1801.
20 July 1969: The first moon walk
After Apollo 11’s launch on 16 July, watched by an estimated television audience of 530 million, even more tuned in as astronaut Neil Armstrong took the first ever step on the moon.
As he put down his foot on the moon’s surface, television viewers heard Armstrong announce: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. However, Armstrong is reported to have said that he has been misquoted, and that he in fact said: “That’s one small step for a man…”.
24 July 1943: British ‘foil’ the Germans
Following the German bombing raids on the British home front during the Second World War, the British and American Air Forces retaliated by bombing Hamburg.
Out of 791 British aircrafts that took part in Operation Gomorrah, only 12 were lost as the Air Force began to drop strips of aluminum foil out of the planes, which blocked the German radars and allowed the majority of the bombers to continue with their planned route.
5 July 1946: The bikini is showcased
for the first time
Showgirl Micheline Bernardini modelled the first bikini, designed by Frenchman Louis Réard, at the Piscine Molitor in Paris. The new item of swimwear was named the ‘bikini’ after the atomic test off of the Bikini Atoll by the US earlier that week. The US was in a race against the Soviet Union to produce nuclear weapons. In order to test their bombs, the US government cleared the Bikini Atoll islands in the Pacific.
Micheline Bernardini modelled the first bikini, designed by Frenchman Louis Réard, at the Piscine Molitor in Paris
Two-pieces had been worn prior to 1946 by women in the UK and US, but nothing made out of such a small amount of material: Réard used just 30 inches of fabric to make the bikini – much to the shock of many members of the media present at the unveiling.
National Hire A Veteran Day
THE TOILET PAPER WAR...... A submariner’s battle against bureaucracy
JULY 25, 2025
NATIONAL HIRE A VETERAN DAY
Roughly 200,000 military members retire or separate from the armed services every year, according to the Department of Labor.
These veterans bring competitive skills to civilian jobs, along with core values military service cultivates: dedication, teamwork, good communication and pride in getting work done. But, finding and competing for civilian positions can be challenging for transitioning veterans.
National Hire A Veteran Day aims to inspire employers to recruit and hire veterans by recognizing the unique skills and values that former soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen bring to the workforce.
When is National Hire a Veteran Day 2025?
National Hire a Veteran Day will be observed on Friday, July 25, 2025.
Marine Corps Veteran and Hire Our Heroes founder Dan Caporale created National Hire a Veteran Day in 2017 as a call to action for hiring companies, and also to encourage veteran job applicants.
Additionally, Congress passed the Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing American Military Veterans Act (HIRE Vets Act) in 2017. This resulted in the HIRE Vets Medallion Program, a federal award that “recognizes a company or organization’s commitment to veteran hiring, retention, and professional development,” according to the program website.
The Department of Labor uses National Hire a Veteran day to encourage employers to increase their veteran workforce to qualify for a HIRE Vets Medallion award.
Encouraging Employers To Hire Veterans
As service members transition from military life to the civilian world through separation or retirement, many may seek new careers to apply their skills in the civilian world.
Competing for a civilian job can be daunting at first, but efforts like National Hire A Veteran Day raise awareness and call employers to action. In fact, government support for National Hire a Veteran Day is what makes it unique from other holidays that focus on veteran’s issues.
How Federal Agencies Participate
The Department of Labor and the Department of Veterans Affairs – among others – recognize and promote National Hire a Veteran Day on July 25 by encouraging employers to seek out qualified veterans to hire and promote.
In 2020, the Department of Labor issued a National Hire a Veteran Day statement advertising several veteran hiring resources for employers, including the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS), the Dept. Of Defense SKILLBRIDGE internship program and it's employer guide to hiring veterans.
THE TOILET PAPER WAR...... A submariner’s battle against bureaucracy
THE TOILET PAPER WAR...... A submariner’s battle against bureaucracy
By Claire Barrett - MilitaryTimes
For most of recorded history, more men have died from disease in some faraway field than from an enemy bullet.
“Diseases,” writes historian John A. Haymond, “particularly those of the insect-borne or water-specific types, have been responsible for untold millions of deaths in militaries across the millennia. Ironically, armies ravaged by disease have usually carried the seeds of their destruction with them in the form of poor field sanitation habits. After all, a sufficiently provisioned army of 10,000 men could produce about four tons of fecal waste every day.”
On June 11, 1942, disease, and perhaps an increasing desire not to use one’s own hand to wipe one’s nether regions, drove Lt. Cmdr. James Coe of the submarine Skipjack to send an “urgent” message to the powers that be.
Since July 1, 1941, a requisition had been submitted for 150 rolls of toilet paper to replenish the dwindling supply aboard the Skipjack. However, as the boat patrolled the Pacific, no sign of the all-important bathroom item appeared — even as other war materiel came in.
In March 1942, according to the National WWII Museum, Coe took command of the Skipjack and learned of the dire, and no doubt malodorous, situation. To make matters worse, Coe received a canceled invoice for the TP alongside a stamped July 1941 message stating “cancelled-cannot identify.”
In response to this bureaucratic fumble, Coe issued a letter to the supply officer in Mare Island, California. His tongue-in-cheek rejoinder would become the stuff of legends within the Navy.
USS SKIPJACK
June 11, 1942
From: Commanding Officer To: Supply Officer, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California Via: Commander Submarines, Southwest Pacific
Subject: Toilet Paper
Reference: (a) USS HOLLAND (5148) USS Skipjack req. 70-42 of 30 July 1941. (b) SO NYMI Canceled invoice No. 272836
Enclosure: (1) Copy of cancelled Invoice (2) Sample of material requested.
1. This vessel submitted a requisition for 150 rolls of toilet paper on July 30, 1941, to USS HOLLAND. The material was ordered by HOLLAND from the Supply Officer, Navy Yard, Mare Island, for delivery to USS Skipjack.
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.
Lawmakers press VA for details
on DOGE access to vets records
BY Leo Shane III, MilitaryTimes
Congressional Democrats are renewing concerns that Department of Government Efficiency employees may be accessing veterans’ sensitive personal information without proper authorization, but Veterans Affairs leaders continue to dismiss those accusations as political theater.
On Wednesday, House Veterans Affairs Committee ranking member Mark Takano, D-Calif., sent an angry letter demanding immediate answers from VA leadership on DOGE involvement at the department’s headquarters and information security throughout the agency.
VA is required by [numerous laws] to protect veteran private health information,” the letter stated. “It is your job to ensure veteran privacy is being maintained at VA. Your inability to answer simple questions about who is accessing veterans’ private health records, and why, is an affront to the millions of veterans who use VA healthcare.”
The move came one day after a tense exchange during an appropriations hearing between VA Secretary Doug Collins and Sen. John Ossoff, D-Ga., on the topic. Both Ossoff and Takano have accused Collins of refusing to provide information on DOGE activities at VA for months.
On Tuesday, when asked if personnel from the office have accessed patient medical records, Collins replied that “they are acting in their role as employees, and are authorized to do anything that they’re currently doing.”
Pressed further, Collins accused Ossoff of playing political games and trying to smear the department and the current presidential administration.
“I don’t know why there is such a lack of willingness to engage on this topic,” Ossoff replied.
Despite the departure of Elon Musk from his undefined leadership role in the Department of Government Efficiency last month, the agency continues to be a point of controversy for Congress and the executive branch.
DOGE employees in recent months have accessed numerous government computer systems and databases, in some cases making revisions or changes to the networks as part of their efforts to reform federal operations.
A LITTLE QUICKLY LEARNED 'MILITARY HISTORY'
Top enlisted Marine takes a swipe
Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlos Ruiz learned a lesson the hard way: Never put “Baby” in a corner.
In a now-deleted Instagram post this week, Ruiz can be seen pointing toward a photo of a U.S. soldier with a myriad of medals strewn across his chest and arms.
“Uniform standards have entered the group chat!” Ruiz wrote in the post. “Exhibit A: This is what it looks like when we don’t have a standard. Make sure to check out MCO 1020.34H for all uniform guidance!”
Ruiz blurred out the soldier’s face, but it took users mere seconds to clock that the photo Ruiz was referring to was of Audie Murphy — nicknamed “Baby” — the single-most decorated American combat soldier of WWII and one of the most decorated American service members of all time.
Audie Murphy’s 28th decoration -The Medal of Honor
In the photo, Murphy is wearing his awards in the correct order of precedence. The rack holder for medals was not produced until after WWII.
In response to the post, Ruiz faced a sea of roasters on Army and Marine Reddit pages alike.
Fighters, bombers and modern aerial combat
What’s in a name? OPINION (MILITARYTIMES)
By Gregory Malandrino and Thomas G. Mahnken
Aerial combat has evolved from dogfights between high-speed, maneuverable fighters to duels among missile-armed aircraft at long range. In 2015, John Stillion presciently analyzed this transformation. His research demonstrated that victory no longer results from the fastest, most maneuverable fighter destroying an enemy in a dogfight. Instead, air combat today favors larger, less detectable aircraft using networked information to defeat adversaries with long-range missiles. This shift has ushered in a new regime of aerial combat where future air superiority aircraft may resemble bombers more than fighters. The Chinese J-36, J-50 and the multinational GCAP aircraft appear to embody Stillion’s principles. The extent to which the Air Force’s F-47 and the Navy’s F/A-XX embody these design principles remains unclear.
Current U.S. Air Force efforts to achieve air superiority against the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) reflect the assumption that aircraft with traditional fighter characteristics — high maneuverability, high speed and small size — will remain the centerpiece of air combat. These include increasing the number of missiles each F-35 can carry, buying F-15EXs, developing unmanned Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) and fielding the F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance aircraft. These efforts are in tension with the changing character of modern aerial combat and magnify the challenge to keep pace with the PLAAF. Fielding survivable bomber-sized aircraft for long-range aerial combat could mitigate these shortfalls.
From the earliest days of air-to-air combat, “seeing first and shooting first” has delivered victory. Whereas aircraft maneuverability and speed were long fundamental to these goals, this is no longer the case. Long-range sensing and extended-range missiles have profoundly altered air-to-air combat. When an information advantage is paired with a weapon kinematic advantage, it allows one aircraft to see first and shoot first. Today, aircraft survivability depends upon reducing signatures to foil long-range detection, tracking, identification and engagement. Speed and maneuverability still matter, but these traits now reside in weapons more than aircraft.
The last A-10 in the Air Force
will make its final flight next year
Matt White - Task & Purpose
The last A-10 in the Air Force will be retired in 2026, two years earlier than previously planned.
In priorities for its 2026 budget released this week, the Air Force asked Congress for permission and funding to move up the planned retirement of the beloved close support fighter to the 2026 fiscal year, which runs until October 1, 2026.
“The probably key one that most folks will want to be aware of is the Air Force will divest the remaining 162 A-10 aircraft,” a senior defense official told reporters Thursday during a briefing on the service’s 2026 budget request. “They were originally set to divest over a time period into ’28. We’re set to divest all of those in ’26.”
Retiring the planes two years early will cost $57 million, which the Air Force has requested for its next budget.
Though the service has no direct replacement for the A-10 as a dedicated close air support platform, leaders have frequently said the plane — which entered service in the 1970s — would have difficulty surviving in a modern, high-tech battlefield.
For nearly a decade, Air Force leaders have said the A-10 needed to be replaced as the service’s primary ground attack fighter. But many lawmakers, former pilots, and ground troops who recall A-10s turning the tide of fierce firefights have rallied to save the aircraft.
The Air Force has often pointed to the arrival of the F-35 as reducing the need for the A-10 fleet. But the new budget also cuts the number of those jets which carry fewer weapons than the A-10 and famously lack its GAU-8 Avenger 30 mm gun. Designed in the Cold War to destroy Russian tanks on European battlefields, the “brrrrrt” of the A-10’s cannon was a defining sound for many veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Air Force said it will ask for $3.1 billion for 21 F-15EX aircraft while reducing its F-35 procurement from 74 to 47 aircraft and will spend $3.4 billion developing the F-47, the next-generation air superiority fighter the service recently introduced.
Along with retiring all of its A-10s, the service also said it will mothball 36 older F-15s, including 21 F-15E Strike Eagles, the service’s other primary ground attack fighter. The service spokesperson also said that 62 F-16s and 15 KC-135 tankers will be among roughly 350 planes and helicopters the Air Force plans to retire next year, many of which are long-planned retirements of aging aircraft for newer replacements.
Big ticket new items across the defense department include $10.3 billion for the B-21 bomber, $11 billion for the Columbia-class submarine, $4.2 billion for Sentinel ICBMs and $2 billion for the SLCM-N, a sea-launched missile for the Navy.
The Air Force also asked for $3.4 billion to continue developing the F-47, the service’s recently announced next-generation fighter.
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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 Simonson
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.
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
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.
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
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
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’
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 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.