Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 20:14:16 EDT
From: Ben Chitty
To: Vietnam Veterans Against the War
Subject: Military recruiting glitch
Downloaded 7/31/00 from the online edition
of Stars & Stripes <http://www.stripes.com>
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Pentagon Fears Billboards' Impact on Retention Crisis
By David Eberhart, Stars and Stripes Veterans Affairs Editor
SAN ANTONIO -- Defense Secretary William S. Cohen wants to know
why the National Veterans Organization (NVO) has put up highway
billboards in Texas blasting this message: "Thinking about a
military career? Think again! The government does not honor its
promises to veterans!"
"It seems that our billboard graphic is turning up as a
screensaver on Department of Defense computers all over the
world," said NVO director Doug McArthur after a phone call late
last week from Col. Curtis Taylor in Cohen's office.
Cohen reportedly was concerned that the billboard message could
aggravate the military's recruiting and retention problems. Calls
to Defense Department and other officials had not been returned as
this story went to press.
McArthur said he "spent over an hour on the phone" with Taylor
"addressing all of the major issues that the NVO has in its
agenda. I covered health care, claims processing, USFSPA*,
concurrent receipt and several other topics."
Taylor "was totally ignorant of the issues that veterans are
complaining about," McArthur said. "He mentioned that our signs
have hurt the DoD's recruiting efforts and he wanted to know how
to encourage veterans to support recruiting efforts instead of
discouraging them."
McArthur said Taylor "assured me that he was going to talk to
[Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs] Hershel Gober as well as
the White House that same day."
McArthur added that he told Taylor that recruiting problems would
get worse, "if I have anything to do with it, unless I see some
real positive efforts by the government to change the way veterans
are treated."
"I was polite with him, but very determined to convince him that
he ain't seen nothing yet -- as far as billboards go -- if we
don't see some positive results soon. He sounded very concerned."
McArthur said "high-ranking local Army officers and the Secretary
of Defense's office contacted us" after the NVO started posting
signs in the Albuquerque, N.M., area starting in January 1999.
The Virginian-Pilot reported recently that military retirees in
Virginia Beach, Va., have raised $5,500 and rented a billboard
reading, "Military Retirees Fought for Freedom, Now Congress
Denies Earned Healthcare. Show Your Support. Call Your
Congressman." The Virginia Beach veterans, organizing mainly over
the Internet, hope to place a billboard ad with similar verbiage
in every state by fall.
"It wasn't ambiguous," said Paul Hamaker, vice president of the
Coalition of Retired Military Veterans. "We were clearly promised
health care if we served 20 years or more."
When retirees turn 65, they are dropped from the military health
care system and must rely on Medicare. While they can seek care at
military hospitals, retired veterans are not priority and often
get shut out.
The defense authorization bill approved July 13 by the Senate
includes an amendment by Sen. John Warner, R-Va., that would allow
TRICARE to supplement Medicare coverage. The Senate now must
reconcile its version of the bill, including a $42 billion retiree
health care plan, with the House version, which does not include a
similar amendment.
At a recent roundtable discussion at the Pentagon with Deputy
Defense Secretary Rudy de Leon and others, recruiting officials
discussed what the DoD calls its five most pressing recruiting
issues: access to high schools, spouses' quality-of-life programs,
youth attitudes toward the military, recruiting on college
campuses and local versus national media advertising.
* The USFSPA (United States Former Spouse Protection Act)
contains provisions for divorcees to garnish the retiree wages
of military veterans. More information is available at
www.militarydivorceonline.com.
Copyright (c) 1999-2000 Stars and Stripes Omnimedia, Inc. All
rights reserved.
The Stars and Stripes is a registered trademark of Stars and
Stripes Omnimedia, Inc. and is in no way affiliated with the U.S.
government.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107,
this material is distributed without profit to those
who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research and
educational purposes. **
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph T. Miller National Office
USN, 1961-1968 Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Inc.
National Co-Coordinator PO Box 408594
Member, VVAW C-U Chapter Chicago, IL 60640 (773) 327-5756
(217) 328-2444 e-mail: vvaw@prairienet.org
http://www.prairienet.org/vvaw/
*********************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Aug 09 2000 - 20:27:10 CUT