Under two previous Executive administrations and wars from, father and son. With son and conservative congresses leading the extremely quick abandoning of the missions and those sent to accomplish after 9/11:
Memorial at the New JPED facility at Dover Air Force Base, Del..OEF: Afghanistan - Pakistan!!
There have been 3,438 coalition deaths -- 2,319 Americans, 40 Australians, 453 Britons, 1 Belgian, 158 Canadians, 5 Czech, 43 Denmark, 25 Netherlands, 9 Estonians, 2 Finn, 86 French, 54 Germans, 7 Hungarian, 48 Italians, 2 Jordan, 3 Latvian, 1 Lithuanian, 10 Norwegians, 38 Poles, 2 Portuguese, 21 Romanians, 1 South Korean, 34 Spaniards, 5 Swedes, 14 Turks, 11 New Zealand, 27 Georgian and 14 NATO/ISAF -- in the war on terror as of April 2, 2014, according to a CNN and iCasulties count. Below are the names of the soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors whose deaths have been reported by their country's governments. The troops died in support of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom or were part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. At least 19,722 {19,694 up to May 1, 2014} U.S. personnel have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon. In addition to the military deaths, 11 U.S. intelligence operatives have died in Afghanistan.
Pfc.Christian J. Chandler 20 Trenton, Texas, USA 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division Killed when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire in Baraki Barak district, Logar province, Afghanistan, on April 28, 2014
Sgt.Shawn M. Farrell II 24 Accord, New York, USA 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division Died of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire in Nejrab district, Kapisa province, Afghanistan, on April 28, 2014
Cpl.James Walters 36 Leedstown, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom 657 Squadron, Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing, Army Air Corps One of five British servicemen killed when their Lynx Mk9A helicopter crashed near Takhtah Pul in southern Kandahar province, Afghanistan, on April 26, 2014
Warrant Officer Class 2 Spencer Faulkner 38 England, United Kingdom 657 Squadron, Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing, Army Air Corps One of five British servicemen killed when their Lynx Mk9A helicopter crashed near Takhtah Pul in southern Kandahar province, Afghanistan, on April 26, 2014
Capt.Thomas Ellis Clarke 30 Cowbridge, Wales, United Kingdom 657 Squadron, Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing, Army Air Corps One of five British servicemen killed when their Lynx Mk9A helicopter crashed near Takhtah Pul in southern Kandahar province, Afghanistan, on April 26, 2014
Lance Cpl. Oliver Matthew Thomas 26 Brecon, Powys, Wales, United Kingdom 3 Military Intelligence Battalion, British Army Reserve One of five British servicemen killed when their Lynx Mk9A helicopter crashed near Takhtah Pul in southern Kandahar province, Afghanistan, on April 26, 2014
Flight Lt.Rakesh Chauhan 29 Birmingham, England, United Kingdom Intelligence Branch, Royal Air Force One of five British servicemen killed when their Lynx Mk9A helicopter crashed near Takhtah Pul in southern Kandahar province, Afghanistan, on April 26, 2014
Spc.Kerry Michael George Danyluk 27 Cuero, Texas, USA Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division Danyluk died on April 15, 2014, at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire in Pul-e Alam, Logar province, Afghanistan, on April 12, 2014
Capt.James Edward Chaffin III 27 West Columbia, South Carolina, USA Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Died of a non-combat related incident in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on April 1, 2014
POW/MIA: Afghanistan & Iraq
One U.S. soldier is currently listed as captured or Duty Status -- Whereabouts Unknown as of March 3 2012. The information below reflects the name as Prisoner of War or Duty Status -- Whereabouts Unknown by the Pentagon.
Sgt Bowe R. Bergdahl 23 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division Ketchum, Idaho Captured in Paktika province in Afghanistan, on June 30, 2009. The Pentagon declared him Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown on July 1 2009 and his status was changed to Missing-Captured on July 3 2009.
There had been 4,804 coalition deaths 4,488 Americans
2 Australians, 1 Azerbaijani, 179 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, 1 Czech, 7 Danes, 2 Dutch, 2 Estonians, 1 Fijian, 5 Georgians, 1 Hungarian, 33 Italians, 1 Kazakh, 1 South Korean, 3 Latvian, 22 Poles, 3 Romanians, 5 Salvadoran, 4 Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, 2 Thai and 18 Ukrainians -- in the war in Iraq as of January 2, 2012, according to a CNN and iCasulties count.
Graphical breakdown of casualties. At least 32,230 U.S. troops had been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon.
"Then, when we started a second simultaneous war in another country, we gave ourselves a second huge round of tax cuts. After that second war started. The wars, I guess, we thought would be free, don`t worry about it, civilians. Go about your business." Rachel Maddow - 23 May 2013
Neither War, OEF and OIF, has yet to be paid for. And as the decades previous and wars, ignoring the issues of those who served in, of the under funded Veterans' Administration budget is still mostly on borrowed capital, even more so for these two long occupations, after quickly abandoning the missions from 9/11 with those served full 'patriotic' approval!
WASHINGTON – April 1, 2014 - One year after the backlog of pending disability compensation claims peaked at over 611,000 in March 2013, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has reduced that number by approximately 44 percent to 344,000 claims – a reduction of more than 267,000 – while at the same time improving the accuracy of the decisions being made on Veterans’ disability claims. Additionally, on average, Veterans are waiting 119 days less for a decision than they were at this time last year.
“No Veteran should have to wait to receive earned benefits. Through a combination of transformation initiatives and the hard work of our employees, we are making significant progress toward our goal of eliminating the claims backlog in 2015,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. “We still have more work to do, and no one is more committed than our Veterans Benefits Administration employees, over half of whom are Veterans themselves.”
The current backlog, defined as claims pending more than 125 days, is at its lowest point since March 2011, when the backlog spiked in part because of the need to readjudicate 150,000 previously decided cases involving exposure to the Vietnam-era defoliant, Agent Orange. read more>>>
05/02/14 - Senate gets serious on veteran care wait time
Sen. Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, talks with Rachel Maddow about investigations into resolving the problem of the massive backlog of veterans’ claims awaiting attention from the VA.
Congress, in Veteran Marchbanks statement, are the people served and who representatives work for, or are supposed to!
Bernie, unlike Miller on the House side, as the Conservative ideology has been to privatize for corporate profit the Government agencies, much more expensive and with little to no oversite and less in accountability, is seeking to work with and help the VA in the fulfilling, long ignored, the not only promises but responsibility of the Country served. Not, once again, attack the dedicated civil servants, for political ideology and scandal to gain their ideology goals, working to fulfill those responsibilities the country ignores and doesn't sacrifice themselves to!
WASHINGTON – May 1, 2014 - Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki made the following statement on the allegations regarding the Phoenix VA Health Care System:
“We take these allegations very seriously. Based on the request of the independent VA Office of Inspector General, in view of the gravity of the allegations and in the interest of the Inspector General’s ability to conduct a thorough and timely review of the Phoenix VA Health Care System (PVAHCS), I have directed that PVAHCS Director Sharon Helman, PVAHCS Associate Director Lance Robinson, and a third PVAHCS employee be placed on administrative leave until further notice.
“Providing Veterans the quality care and benefits they have earned through their service is our only mission at the Department of Veterans Affairs. We care deeply for every Veteran we are privileged to serve.
“We believe it is important to allow an independent, objective review to proceed. These allegations, if true, are absolutely unacceptable and if the Inspector General’s investigation substantiates these claims, swift and appropriate action will be taken.
“Veterans deserve to have full faith in their VA health care. I appreciate the continued hard work and dedication of our employees and of the community stakeholders we work with every day in our service to Veterans.”
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But alas many already have, DeJa-Vu all over again and again........., unless convenient, especially political, to boost the 'support the troops' and 'patriotism' meme's, especially the hired representatives representing those who hired them and are alright with that as they do same! The only Government agency consistent, since first entering office, in the support of and seeking ways to help, they don't control the countries purse, is this Executive Administration and it's entire Cabinet when they can under their budgets and charges of the agencies. As the Administration of the VA continues fighting to rebuild what should always have been, while under constant conservative obstruction, only other Veterans Administration to attempt was under brother Vietnam Veteran Max Cleland but was blocked on many fronts by the congressional conservative ideologies at those times: “Why in 2009 were we still using paper?” VA Assistant Secretary Tommy Sowers “When we came in, there was no plan to change that; we’ve been operating on a six month wait for over a decade.” 27 March 2013, especially as we send the very few into our wars of choice, while being under constant attack by the, so called, conservative mentality seeking to privatize for corporate profit thus maintaining under funding that creates the then costly problems to fix and ability to attack the dedicated civil servants in the agency, any agency!
April 30, 2014 - First lady Michelle Obama announced pledges from foundations and corporations totaling more than $160 million Wednesday to help veterans and their families get the services they need as the country adjusts to a postwar footing.
Calling this a "pivotal moment for our military families and for our country" as the war in Afghanistan ends, the first lady said military families should never have to face the challenges associated with the transition to civilian life alone.
Appearing at a conference of philanthropic groups, Mrs. Obama warned that with fewer homecoming videos and welcome-home parades for returning troops likely in future years, "we cannot allow ourselves to forget their service to our country. ... We've got to show our military families that our country is there for them not just while they're in uniform but for the long haul."
The first lady highlighted the launch of the Philanthropy-Joining Forces Impact Pledge, under which more than 30 organizations are making commitments to provide a range of services over the next five years, including $62 million in existing commitments and $102 million in new pledges over the next five years. read more>>>
The effort to pass a sweepstakes legalization bill in North Carolina collapsed after Burns' arrest in Florida, triggered by probes into a homeless veterans charity prosecutors said was a front for collecting nearly $300 million in untaxed profits from sweepstakes cafes. read more>>>>
Visit Publichealth Exposures to learn about military exposures and VA benefits.
March 29, 2013 - The past is never dead, as William Faulkner might have written if he were analyzing the federal budget, it’s not even paid for. Did you realize that World War II still costs U.S. taxpayers $5 billion a year? Or that we haven’t closed the financial books on the Civil War yet? read more>>>
Exact Count of Civilian Casualties may never be known, as is the case in every conflict, especially an Invasion by another Country. For it is the Innocent Civilians and those Defending their Countries,of which All would be counted if this country, the U.S., were ever invaded, who suffer the most, during and long after!
The Rand Corporation Terrorism Report the press release here, you can get the full document here or a summary of the research brief here
WASHINGTON, April 27, 2014 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff praised the members of the Dallas-based America’s Future organization for their efforts on behalf of veterans, but said such efforts must continue.
Groups like America’s Future will help define how the nation looks at its veterans, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said yesterday during a speech to the group in Dallas.
“What image will this generation’s veterans have?” the chairman asked. “The veterans themselves have less to say about who they are and how they will be remembered than you do, frankly.”
Dempsey spoke about the images he has had of veterans from World War II and Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm. “Now we have the veterans of 12 years of conflict in an all-volunteer force, and how they will be remembered by history will be largely shaped by if America’s people and businesses and communities either embrace them or convince them that their service was valued or was not,” he said.
Dempsey brought up a lesson from history. Yesterday was the 77th anniversary of the German-Italian bombing of the Spanish village of Guernica. “The idea was they were working on advancing this new technology related to aerial warfare,” he said. “And the big idea on the part of the Axis was they would make resistance so outrageous, so costly to the Spanish that they would just capitulate.”
It didn’t work that way, the chairman said, and Pablo Picasso captured it in the famous painting, “Guernica”.
“Seventy-seven years later, technology keeps charging on and we learn to adapt with it,” Dempsey said. “But we can’t ever forget that what really matters in warfare are our young men and women who choose to serve and put themselves in harm’s way.” read more>>>
HONORING THE FALLEN: US Military and Coalition Forces Killed in Action, Iraq & Afghanistan/Pakistan from 2001 to ................. - My Honor Rolls, and more, to Share
National World War II Memorial
National Korean War Memorial
National Vietnam Veterans Memorial - "The Wall"
The Vietnam Women’s Memorial
Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemeteries
Arlington National Cemetery
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