A Resident Veteran Comments – St. Paul Pioneer Press Investigative Article On Minnesota Veterans Home Hastings

 The Minnesota Veterans Home in Hastings on Friday, Mar. 3, 2023. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

On March 5, 2023 and subsequent articles, the St. Paul Pioneer Press has covered the investigation ongoing into the Minnesota Veterans Home Hastings (MVH).

I was somewhat shocked at the article and its lack of understanding of the root causes behind the symptoms they perceive to be observing. Having lived at this facility for over a decade I believe I can offer them some enlightenment.

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I am a 76 year old resident who has resided at the Hastings Veterans Home (MVH) for 16 years. I arrived after serving two combat tours in Vietnam and 36 years with defense companies building weapons being used by our country today. I was treated for PTSD and Depression at the VA Hospital in Minneapolis and referred to the MVH for continued care.

During my stay at MVH I have volunteered to small business and to veterans of all ages. I work today with veterans returning from the Middle East.

Ken Larson

I have met and admired the vast majority of administration and staff at MVH during my stay. They work under difficult conditions. Many citizens make the mistake of thinking the state veterans homes are a part of the larger Veterans Administration. State veterans homes are not part of the VA.

Budgets are always tight at the State level because the state budget must be balanced by law. State budgets are NOT like the federal government which is now approaching a $32 Trillion National Debt.

A state domiciliary is subject to state policy makers. They are also overseen by the Federal VA because the VA provides a great deal of the funding necessary for operations. State funding contributes a solid share as well, and residents like me contribute the bulk of our social security and/or disability payments to run the facility.

Contributing to the oversight function, are the federal and state health departments, OSHA, HIPPA and other regulatory functionaries. Therein lies a major cause of much of what you see in the way of management issues reported by the Pioneer Press, both today and below in 2010:

Pioneer Press March 2023

Pionieer Press November 2010

Management and staff fear their government regulators, and as human beings, they yield to that fear in the way they treat each other in setting policy and managing their staffs. As in so many other functions involving government in our country, bureaucracy reigns supreme.

I have not found the care wanting here at MVH. I admire the front line administration, maintenance, housekeeping and food services staffs, the social workers and nurses who have sacrificed a great deal before and during COVID and those who will continue to do so.

Management and staff turnover under difficult health care issues in this country is to be expected. In my view the real issues are above the level of the facilities like the MVH domicile facility and at the pinnacle where “‘Policy Wonks Meet Bureaucracy”. This dynamic duo then follows the money trail to Hastings, and metes out their regulatory functions at a facility that is over a hundred years old, operating under lean budgets and staffing.

That facility and the other one like it in Minneapolis just happens to be GOLDEN to many veterans who are struggling to move on.

I suggest our Senators and Congressional Representatives, consider simplifying practices and focus on the human elements that cause stress resulting from regulatory pressures on people that simply wish to do their jobs.

The Pioneer Press article reports on symptoms, not real causes. Simplify and clarify policy and regulation, focus on the care of the worker and service to the veteran with clear, non-threatening and effective practices.

Above all. be aware of what stacks of regulation and power brokers can do to lower level participants.

Ken Larson on Hastings Veteran's Home

I have lived at the Hastings Veteran's Home for 19 years. This blog was formed by other veteran's at the home and myself in 2006 and has carried certain issues with regard to veteran's care and world events. 

I live across the road from the main building these days in a smaller unit along the river. I get my medications twice a month and take that myself. My meals, glasses, dental care and annual physicals, flu shots and the like are all part of the maintenance fee I pay from my pension. The clothing room and similar furnishings are available when I need them.  The fee I pay contributes over 90% of my social security to the operation of the facility. What remains of my monthly check is adequate for me because my needs are very simple these days.

As I got well, I realized part of my recovery required getting as far away from bureaucratic settings and authority as possible. I found over the years in the war zone and in 35 years of corporations and dealing with Washington DC that my tolerance level for it was 0 at age 60.

When Clark Dyrud was Veteran's Commissioner he and I had lunch and exchanged emails over the years since he assisted me out of Washington, but by mutual agreement we never discussed work; only family and friends from high school and our experiences in Vietnam, since he and I went through some of the same trauma during the war. I have never been seen in public with Clark on facility grounds. Now that he is retired I am sure he is relieved. He was a good services officer for over 30 years.

I meet with staff for care team reviews. They know what I do and respect me for it. I have received facility volunteer awards for my work in the community each of the years I have been here. All staff I have encountered have been professional at what they do, sincere in their motives and helpful. They have a difficult job. The population here is of vastly varying backgrounds and ages. Many are 20 years younger than I and have a lot of life ahead of them but fell on hard times, addiction, depression and other maladies veterans are particularly vulnerable to.

I have supported both Tony Rose and Louie Klemek with advice, government insights into agencies, correspondence and getting legal help. I got Tony's paperwork released from Homeland Security under the Freedom of Information Act because I know how to do it having worked government agencies in my career. I wrote a letter that resulted in Louie getting some wood working privileges back that had been taken away and a visit from a State Representative. I have done all this behind the scenes and on a personal basis with these men. I also arranged for Tony's Washington D.C. pro-bono legal help, and set up a blog for him and his cause:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/11/navy-veteran-has-waited-2-years-for.html

I helped both men because I felt the system, from the federal level to the state level, was letting them down. They have appreciated my assistance and have told me so.

This facility to me is a room with a beautiful view of the Vermilion River, a great little small town I enjoy, fishing, photography, writing, and intellectually stimulating non-profit volunteer work in an office supplied by the county at no cost so I can help small business.

I have served over 7,000 clients through the non-profit organizations SCORE and Micro Mentor and many local businesses and small enterprises in every state in the union and its territories, receiving the SCORE National Achievement Award shown in the right margin of this site in 2010 for mentoring over 500 clients in the SCORE on-line counseling program. I have small business clients in several foreign countries. Roughly 30 % of my client base is veterans. My government contracting web site has received over 1,200,000 visits.

http://www.smalltofeds.com 

In short, the Minnesota Veteran's Home is an ingredient in Ken, reinvented in retirement and I am enjoying it very much.

10 Reasons To Avoid The Next World War

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE OR DOWNLOAD TO ENLARGE

Conflicting parties must recognize the following facts:

1. The pace of technology, communication and weapons has now outpaced the necessity for war as a means of advancing progress. The threat is too great for mutually assured destruction.

2. We are on new ground, never experienced before in terms of being "Wired" as a world - economically, socially, environmentally and scientifically

3. Recent events involving US war "Interventions" and the incredibly out of control nature of the Military Industrial Complex have demonstrated their danger, their folly and their contribution to the largest national debt ever to grace the face of the earth.

4. Alternatives to war in terms of scientific advancement not only are required, but are in progress.

5. The war makers are operating on world credit subject to world approval.

6. The environment is screaming for protection and we will get on with it.

7. Conflicting ideas, if managed constructively, can yield a hybrid solution to a challenge that is a better product or service than either side of the initial equation.

8. The key to managing international relations constructively is fostering an environment respectful of all points of view but led by individuals who are driving to fulfilling peaceful, progressive objectives as a first priority and who blend differences of opinion decisively.

9. Winning and losing are being redefined by the above.

10. We can no longer as a world community continue the present course of wars.

We must intuitively arrive at the conclusion that war is a waste and avoid it for reasons that are becoming more obvious everyday around the globe and are addressed in each of these 10 points. 

If we do not intuitively arrive at this conclusion, war will continue and it will destroy us.

The Deeper Lasting Costs Of War

Marine John Thomas Doody, (Chris O’Meara/AP)

   

CLICK IMAGES TO VIEW OR ENLARGE  - Video and Chart Brown University “Costs of War”

“MILITARY TIMES“

“A new collection of studies reveals at the often unseen effects of those wars both at home and abroad ranging from fractured families, strained caregivers, increased cancer rates to mistrust of health workers, demolished infrastructure and military suicides.“

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“Impact from the past two decades of U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can be seen in dollars spent, lives shattered by injury or trauma and dead service members carried home.

“War and Health” is a collection of ethnographies covering a range of people affected from the wars beginnings, current day and likely long-term future ripples.

In it researchers have found correlations between areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan with higher number of drone strikes are also less likely to accept polio vaccinations and other medical assistance due to mistrust of government aid.

They’ve seen increased rates of behavior incidents and low school performance among children of frequently-deployed military parents.

The reports show waves of Iraqis seeking medical care in Beirut, Lebanon with late-stage cancers because they couldn’t get early screening in Iraq, which previously boasted the leading medical care in the region.

Researchers found military suicides, increased family violence and higher numbers of substance abuse and DUIs even among non-combat service members correlated with faster-paced deployment schedules and training.

While half of all caregivers for veterans are spouses, parents or immediate family, a full one-third of caregivers are friends or neighbors who don’t qualify to receive financial compensation created in recent years to ease the burden that caregivers for vets can face.

Catherine Lutz and Andrea Mazzarino edited the collection as part of their work with the “Costs of War Project,” out of Brown University.

The project collects information on war dead, military and civilian casualties, budget figures and other measures of the costs of the conflicts in the Global War on Terror. The project began in 2011 and recently kicked off a new effort to update past reports and develop new measures by 2021, the 20th anniversary of the start of the wars.

The same project recently released and updated notice on the fiscal costs of the Global War on Terror. The release noted that an estimated $6.4 trillion had been spent between late 2001 and today, a large portion of which has been financed through deficit spending.

But, those numbers can be difficult to nail down, as noted in the report, which quotes Christopher Mann of the Congressional Research Service.

“No government-wide reporting consistently accounts for both DOD and non-DOD war costs,” he said.

Part of the Costs of War Project’s work is to pull together disparate sources to find the tally of the wars.

Their research has found that that a growing cost will be medical care.

One example included 10-year costs estimates for post-9/11 veterans with traumatic brain injuries is expected to cost $2.4 billion from 2020 to 2029.

Mazzarino spoke with Military Times about the nature of the project and what she and its contributors hope it will accomplish.

She and others have participated in media interviews and, through the Costs of War Project, have been in touch with Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-VT and hope to testify before Congress on their findings.

“The whole point of the project is to move beyond the academy to influencing advocacy and public policy,” Mazzarino said.

That’s not an easy task. Data-driven studies such as past reports on increasing servicemember suicides and strains on military families garnered political and public attention, but that took years and resulted in some changes in programs.

What Mazzarino and her colleagues are working with is less black-and-white and more focused on the second- and third-order effects of having a military at war on a daily basis for decades.

But, it may be that what they’re finding will have as much a long-term impact as other major war-related concerns.

“People who were serving when the war started, they’re entering old age soon,” Mazzarino said. “That’s going to come with all kinds of financial burdens to the U.S. government, especially with care for those veterans.”

And overseas, the imprint of decades of combat leave their own kind of toll.

“There are subtle and unexpected ways that the destruction of infrastructure has affected public health,” she said.

The Costs of War Project website has compiled estimates that a many as 480,000 people have died in direct war violence. They estimate far more have died due to “indirect” war violence such as when access to food, water and medical care was restricted or unavailable due to combat.

Their research estimates that more than 244,000 civilians have been killed in connection to the wars and as many as 21 million have been displaced and many are now war refugees, with substandard living conditions away from their native lands.

One harder to measure item is how the estimated $5.9 trillion spent on the wars could have been spent, the report notes. What healthcare, infrastructure or education projects were curtailed, limited or ended as a result in budget priorities to fight the wars instead?

Mazzarino has seen firsthand some of the effects of the wartime military. Her husband serves as a submariner in the Navy. That’s meant more frequent and unexpected deployments that his predecessors faced.

And she’s seen that strain on fellow military families, members and commanders.

Some similar experiences were reflected in a section titled, “It’s Not Okay: War’s Toll on Health Brought Home to Communities and Environments.”

One vignette profiled Dolores, the young wife of an infantry sergeant whose unit had seen a number of murders committed by soldiers back home and increases in domestic violence.

Those experiences had weighed heavily on her husband who returned and completed another Iraq deployment, this time being injured and later diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Six years after he had returned from theater, she had become his main caregiver and had to quit her job to do that work and to advocate for his care.

The section’s authors, Jean Scandlyn and Sarah Hautzinger, wrote that many of the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan they interviewed still saw themselves as deeply entangled in what had happened during their deployments.

“Assessing war’s toll on health requires that we consider the ways we all become entangled in wars seemingly distant, and how war particularly erodes wellness in domestic military communities,” they wrote.”

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/11/14/why-the-deeper-lasting-costs-of-war-is-not-reflected-just-in-dollars-and-body-counts/

"Fading Summer Mist" -  Photo By Ken Larson

Joe Coyhis From the book "Meditations with Native American Elders: The Four Seasons"

" Nature is a living example of how communities live in harmony. If you go into the forest or mountain and sit still and watch, ask yourself, what lessons are being taught? 

Then watch how the animals conduct themselves. The trees could represent diversity. The flowers could represent people. Notice how everything in nature assists one another.

See how balance works. See how conflict is handled. Can you see acts of forgiveness? Can you spot respect?

Nature is full of wisdom if we will only consider her to be our teacher.

My Creator, today let me learn from nature."

 https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1415565076173164564

American Medal Of Honor Recipient: ‘Our Greatest Enemy Is Ourselves’

President Joe Biden presents the Medal of Honor to retired Col. Ralph Puckett Jr. at the White House on May 21, 2021, for his actions as a first lieutenant and the Eighth Army Ranger Company commander during the Korean conflict Nov. 25-26, 1950.
 

"TASK AND PURPOSE"

“Retired Army Col. Ralph Puckett Jr. has fought a lot of battles. He fought Chinese soldiers in the Korean War, North Vietnamese troops in Vietnam, and he fought a long recovery from the wounds he suffered in Korea. But the Army Ranger said America’s greatest battle is not with a foreign adversary, but with itself.

“We have divided ourselves into tribes,” he told reporters on the press call. “Our enemies outside our country are aiding and abetting the dissension within our ranks. They’re watching with satisfaction as they see us destroying ourselves.”

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“While we have many enemies of this country today who want to see us fall, there’s no greater enemy in my opinion than ourselves,” Puckett said during a phone call with reporters on Thursday, the day before he received the Medal of Honor from President Joe Biden. 

The award recognized Puckett’s “extraordinary heroism” during a battle near Unsan, Korea, in November 1950. A lieutenant at the time commanding the Eighth Army Ranger Company, which consisted of 51 Army Rangers and nine Korean soldiers, Puckett held off an overwhelming force of Chinese soldiers before eventually being forced to retreat. Having been seriously wounded, he told his soldiers to leave him behind, but was ultimately dragged to safety.

Puckett was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross after the battle and offered a medical discharge, which he refused. Instead, he recovered and went on to receive a second Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars for valor, five Purple Hearts, and two Bronze Star Medals with the “V” device for valor. He fought in Vietnam, retired in 1971, and has since become a living legend and mentor within the Army Ranger community.

“He feared no man, he feared no situation and he feared no enemy,” said retired Army Gen. John Walter Hendrix in the Army’s official profile of Puckett. “Clearly a unique, courageous soldier in combat and even more importantly, in my opinion, Col. Puckett was an ultimate infantry leader.”

Col. Puckett on the radio in Vietnam (Photo courtesy of the Puckett Family)

The 94-year-old Puckett was praised by both President Biden and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in during his award ceremony at the White House on Friday, where Biden called him “a true American hero.” But the day prior, the Ranger had a warning for his fellow Americans.

Puckett pinned some of the blame on lawmakers in Congress, who he said have “put their self-interest ahead of their sworn oath” to protect democracy.

The former soldier did not point fingers at any politicians he felt were responsible for choosing self-interest over oath. However, earlier in the call, Puckett expressed his and his wife Jeannie’s faith in President Biden.

“She [Jeannie] expresses it best, she expresses exactly the way I felt about the President when he spoke to me,” Puckett said when recalling Biden’s call telling him he would receive the Medal of Honor. “’This is a man that’s leading our country. I think I can depend on him. So could you.’”

During the award ceremony, Biden also highlighted Puckett’s role as a commander in the early years after the military was desegregated in 1948.

“In an Army that had only recently been integrated, his team included Black, Latino, and Asian American members,” Biden said. “As my mother would say, ‘God love you, man.’”

When the military was considering opening all combat positions to women in 2015, Puckett looked forward to seeing women meet the Ranger standards, saying “I want to see them do it,” Biden recalled.

Whether these anecdotes reflect Puckett’s political views is unclear. However, the Ranger was vocal in his endorsement of one President in particular: George Washington, who the Ranger called “his favorite American.” Specifically, Puckett referred to the grim frozen days of Valley Forge, where Washington and his men weathered through the snowy forests to emerge ready to fight the British for American independence in the Revolutionary War.

“He was amazing, he never gave up. When things were the toughest, George Washington was there,” Puckett said. “He gave everything that he had to train and to lead his soldiers and to fight for freedom. George Washington is my favorite hero, because of the man that he was, the true soldier and leader that he was, and all he did for our country.”

But it wasn’t just Washington who rallied in Valley Forge that winter of 1777 to 1778. It was the common farmers-turned-soldiers under him. Those soldiers stuck with the general and with the cause through the snow and disease to fight, playing just as big a role as the famous founding fathers did in creating this country, Puckett said. 

Now, we have a responsibility to carry on that tradition. Just as Abraham Lincoln once said “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” so too must we “come together and fight together as a United States of America,” Puckett said.

“Our country was not created to be the States of America, but rather we were named the United States of America,” he said. “It’s my hope that all Americans will come to think about that and adapt that to their own thought process, to their own belief system.

“Our country depends on you, me, what you do every day and how you live,” Puckett added. “Without you, we will not be able to maintain our freedom. It depends on us.”

America’s newest Medal of Honor recipient: ‘Our greatest enemy is ourselves

Cameo Presentation - New Year Satire from 2006 on Rose Covered Glasses

We are trying to ascertain whether or not much has changed since 2006.  We suspect the need for humor has not. 

(Please click on image or download to enlarge)

Two Former Secretaries Of Defense Are Studying Why So Many Veterans Are In Prison

 

“WE ARE THE MIGHTY”

“We have over 180,000 veterans in prison today and in jails all over this country,” Hagel told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell in an interview.

“This didn’t just start… the last 20 years, where America had its longest wars, we’ve seen these young men and women redeploy, redeploy, redeploy… that takes a toll on anybody, I don’t care how strong you are. There are going to be mental breakdowns.”

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“The Veterans Justice Commission (VJC) of the Council on Criminal Justice announced in August of 2022 that a full third of veterans in the United States say they’ve been arrested at least once. Led by former defense secretaries Chuck Hagel and Leon Panetta, the VJC began assessing the risk factor in play that leads veterans into the criminal justice system.

That same 15-member commission, made up of members of the judiciary, the Veterans Administration, and others is looking into the adequacy of transition assistance programs led by the Department of Defense, how well service members adjust to civilian life when leaving the military, and how the justice system responds when veterans are arrested. 

Both Panetta and Hagel served in the Army during the Vietnam Era. Panetta was a second lieutenant serving in military intelligence between 1964 and 1966. Hagel enlisted in the Army and was an infantry squad leader in Vietnam between 1967 and 1968. They believe the United States isn’t doing enough to care for veterans and their mental health when they return home.

“We can’t have this,” Hagel said. “It’s a disgrace. When these men and women spend so many years in uniform, then come back and somehow slip between the cracks.”

Researchers already know the risk factors that lead the general public toward criminal behavior, but according to the VJC’s 2022 Preliminary Report, veterans have a different set of risk factors and their protective factors against those factors is thin. These risk include mental trauma from repeated deployments, PTSD, TBI, substance abuse, loss of VA benefits,  and the criminal justice system itself. 

“These are patriots, they fought for our country, and now they’re in deep trouble, and we gotta help them,” Panetta said. 

69% of veterans who are incarcerated are doing time for violent crimes, and there are twice as many vets serving life sentences as non-veterans. Aside from the latest survey that found more than 180,000 veterans self-identify as having been arrested or incarcerated, very little other data on veterans in the criminal justice system exist. 

“We’re gonna be looking through the courts, police departments, the VA, DoD,” he said. “We’re going to be making recommendations over the next two years to all these bodies based on real, deep research… we don’t have all the answers but we’re gonna find out the answers.”

Some prisons and local municipalities have responded by creating special in-prison housing units and other programs for incarcerated veterans, but little is known about their effectiveness or if these units and programs are adhering to evidence-based models of treatment and rehabilitation. 

“There’s a code that Chuck and I know from the Department of Defense,” Panetta told NBC. “Which is, you never leave anybody behind in the military… and the act that we have this huge number in federal and state prisons tells us that we are leaving them behind.”

READ MORE

‘POGO’- A 5 Star Non-Profit Government Watchdog Informing The Public For Over 40 Years

 https://www.pogo.org/about

By Ken Larson

Having been on the inside of the workings of our defense industrial base, I have been constantly impressed with the objectivity, ethics and coverage of the ” PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT (POGO)”to surface issues in a clear, factual fashion that citizens must be made aware of.

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The issues range from waste, fraud and abuse, budgetary matters concerning our largest federal agency, ethics in government and our role on the world stage.

I was a whistle blower years ago when there were few protections for such individuals. I appreciate the support POGO lends these days to that vital function, particularly in the defense industry.

POGO’s “Federal Contractor Misconduct Data Base” is an eye opener. It is maintained scrupulously with up to date public records of major corporation government judgments containing details of judicial proceedings and related fines.

The support of POGO for ethics in government has been around for decades. Its reputation is sterling, and its regular Congressional testimony is riveting.

https://greatnonprofits.org/org/the-project-on-government-oversight-inc?search=Project%20on%20governm

America’s Most Decorated Native American Veteran Was Wounded In Three Wars

“MILITARY.COM” By Blake Stilwall

“Poolaw would become the U.S. military’s most decorated veteran, serving in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. During his service, he earned 42 medals and citations, including four Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts, one for each war in which he fought.”

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“Despite the troubled history between native tribes and the U.S. government, American Indians have served in every major American conflict in the country’s history. They also enlist in the U.S. military at five times the national average of other demographics. It’s a good thing, too, because without native warriors like Pascal Poolaw, American military history might look entirely different.

Poolaw was born into the Kiowa Nation in 1922, at a time when American Indians weren’t even considered natural-born citizens of the United States. Indigenous people wouldn’t have the right to natural-born citizenship until Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924. Poolaw’s military story isn’t just about his country, however; it’s also about his dedication to family.

He first joined the Army in 1942, following his father and two brothers who were already fighting in World War II. By 1944, he was fighting with the 4th Infantry Division in Europe. While assaulting the Siegfried Line in Belgium, then-Staff Sgt. Poolaw noticed a strong German counterattack threatening his machine gun squad.

Pushing his men forward, he began tossing grenades at the advancing enemy while under heavy returning fire. The effort dispersed the Germans and saved his unit. After repelling the German assault, his company continued its attack on the Siegfried Line. He was awarded his first Silver Star for making a stand against a concentrated enemy formation. Poolaw was also wounded in the effort, receiving his first Purple Heart.

When the Korean War broke out in 1950, Poolaw was still in the Army and was sent to Korea with Army’s 25th Infantry Division. The 25th Infantry Division was one of the units that cut off the approaches to the port city of Pusan early in the war, preventing the communists from pushing United Nations forces into the sea and capturing Korea.

After the Incheon Landing put 40,000 U.S. and allied troops behind the communist lines in September 1950, the 25th broke out of what was then known as the Pusan Perimeter. Poolaw was there. Although the bulk of the enemy forces fell apart in disarray from the UN’s one-two punch, there were elements of stiff resistance. Poolaw was with a company of men against that kind of resistance.

On Sept. 19, 1950, Sgt. 1st Class Poolaw of Company C, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment volunteered to lead a squad against a numerically superior force dug in at the top of a hill. His squad surprised the enemy’s perimeter, fighting a brutal hand-to-hand engagement while the rest of C Company followed and captured the position. Poolaw was awarded another Silver Star, but he was far from finished in Korea.

By April 1951, fighting was centered on or near the 38th Parallel, where the war had ground into a bloody stalemate. At Chongong-ni, then-Master Sgt. Poolaw’s platoon was pinned down by automatic weapons fire, mortars and whatever else the communists could throw at them.

To relieve the pressure on his men, Poolaw advanced under this onslaught, firing his rifle in the open terrain. Poolaw distracted the enemy, drawing all their fire on himself. As he moved, his platoon maneuvered to a better vantage point and returned fire on the enemy position, and he was awarded a third Silver Star.

His courage under fire in Korea earned him a battlefield promotion to second lieutenant and later a promotion to first lieutenant. He returned to the United States shortly after, where his four sons, all of whom would serve in the military, were growing up fast. In 1962, Poolaw retired from the Army after 20 years of service and four years in combat.

But Poolaw wasn’t away from the Army for long. The United States was soon involved in another war, this time in Vietnam. His sons were old enough to serve and three of them would fight in Vietnam. In 1967, Pascal Poolaw Jr. lost his right leg to a land mine there. Shortly after, his son Lindy received a draft notice and would soon be on his way to Vietnam. The elder Poolaw decided to reenlist and serve one more time.

To ensure he would see action in Vietnam, Poolaw resigned his commission, became a non-commissioned officer once more and volunteered to serve in combat, all in an effort to keep Lindy out of the war zones. He missed deploying with his son by one day.

Deploying to Vietnam with the 26th Infantry Regiment in May 1967, he was named first sergeant of his company. A few months later, he was on a search and destroy mission as part of Operation Shenandoah II in Loc Ninh. It was an attempt to secure South Vietnam’s Highway 13 as it was being repaired for use by American and South Vietnamese forces.

The company was moving through a rubber plantation as it was ambushed by the Viet Cong. The ambush began with accurate sniper fire, but the unit was soon engulfed by claymore mines, rockets, small arms and automatic weapons. Outnumbered and outgunned, Poolaw tried to organize the lead squad to establish a base of fire and move wounded troops.

Already wounded in the initial ambush, Poolaw was hit by incoming Viet Cong fire as he attempted to pull one of his wounded soldiers to safety. He succumbed to the wound that day, Nov. 7, 1967, at the age of 45. He posthumously received his fourth Silver Star and third Purple Heart.

Irene Poolaw, his wife of 37 years, said in his eulogy: “He has followed the trail of the great chiefs. His people hold him in honor and highest esteem. He has given his life for the people and the country he loved so much.”

https://www.military.com/history/americas-most-decorated-native-american-veteran-was-wounded-three-wars.html?utm_campaign=dfn-ebb&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sailthru&SToverlay=2002c2d9-c344-4bbb-8610-e5794efcfa7d

— Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

 

How Does A Combat Vet Feel He Hears A Civilian Say, "We Shouldn't Be Over There, We Should Worry About Ourselves"?

"War on the Rocks" New Rules for U.S. Military Intervention

The civilian must accept his or her role in the issue. Elected representatives appropriate money and approve U.S. activities in other countries. Solders go where they are ordered by their commander.

If the civilian wishes change, then change can be at hand if the elected official is contacted and a strong input from the citizenry makes the demand heard.

“Rose Covered Glasses”

Quora Veterans Opinions on Today’s Warfare

“FOREIGN POLICY”  By Rosa Brooks

“Asking warriors to do everything poses great dangers for our country — and the military. Our armed services have become the one-stop shop for America’s policymakers.

Here’s the vicious circle in which we’ve trapped ourselves: As we face novel security threats from novel quarters — emanating from nonstate terrorist networks, from cyberspace, and from the impact of poverty, genocide, or political repression, for instance — we’ve gotten into the habit of viewing every new threat through the lens of “war,” thus asking our military to take on an ever-expanding range of nontraditional tasks.

But viewing more and more threats as “war” brings more and more spheres of human activity into the ambit of the law of war, with its greater tolerance of secrecy, violence, and coercion — and its reduced protections for basic rights.”

How the Pentagon Became Walmart

                                                    

EDITOR’S NOTE:

The following article from “Military.Com” is an excellent treatise from an employer perspective about the challenges often faced by veterans returning to or entering the civilian workplace.

It does not fully address, however, an understanding of why these challenges exist and what to do about them from both employer and employee perspectives. For that insight I suggest you combine your review of this article with the article at our companion blog , “Smalltofeds” “ Meeting Veteran & Employer Challenges During Transition from Military to Civilian Work”

Meeting Veteran & Employer Challenges During Transition from Military to Civilian Work

A respectful partnership and realistic expectations must evolve between the veteran and the company for success in transitioning former military personnel into the civilian work force. This must be achieved through education, training, communication and assessment of both the veteran and the company personnel.

"MILITARY.COM”

"Transitioning from the military into civilian life isn’t always easy. Despite the fact that you come from the same country and speak the same language, the culture of the civilian working world is radically different from the U.S. military. Both have different hierarchies, practices, and industry-specific language. Making a successful transition means learning a new set of skills to adapt to civilian workforce culture. Business Insider provided a list of the top nine obstacles transitioning veterans usually face, and we’ve touched one each of them for you below.

1. You don’t see the transition from the military as starting over professionally.

When you first joined the military, how much did you know about it? Maybe a few basic concepts from books or what you heard from friends and family, but not much else. It took months of training and acclimatizing to fully integrate, and years to move up the ranks. Every step of the way brought new lessons and new ways of doing things.

The working world is no different. No matter what you did in the military, no matter how competent you are with the core skills necessary to do the job you want, it takes training and experience to climb the ranks. Although some may move quickly, the learning curve is unavoidable.

When they join the civilian workforce, it’s important that veterans realize they are, more often than not, taking a step down. Their responsibilities won’t be as intense or, likely, important as they were in the military. Accepting that is imperative to maintaining a focused, realistic perspective.

2. You overestimate how unique your skills and experiences are.

Years of intense experiences have shaped you in many positive ways. You should be a shoe-in for any civilian job, right? If there were far fewer people competing for the same positions, then maybe. Monster.com reported that 470,000 resumes were uploaded every week in 2012. If you compare that number to the number of job openings available, you have roughly 187 candidates, qualified or not, per job. No matter how qualified you are, you’re likely competing with many others who are just as capable as you or are otherwise flooding the recruiter or hiring manager. Don’t ever rely on your inherent worth – finding jobs will always require work.

3. Your resume is too long or too short.

How do you condense the depth and breadth of your work history and military experience into a single sheet of paper? According to Business Insider, you don’t. The trick is to cherry-pick jobs and tasks from your work history, military experience included, that are most relevant to the job you’re applying for. That means you might need to create a slew of resumes for different applications, but doing so will prove fruitful. An employer will respond more favorably to a resume that clearly identifies what in your history suits you well to the open position rather than a laundry list of miscellaneous accomplishments.

4. You did not proofread your resume.

If your version of proofreading is scanning for all the red squiggly lines and unthinkingly making the suggested changes, you’re doing it wrong. Proofreading tools that accompany word processors are powerful but limited. They won’t always catch obvious spelling mistakes, sometimes autocorrect to the wrong word, and their sense of grammar isn’t as impeccable as yours should be. Take the time to honestly analyze every single sentence and scrutinize each punctuation mark. Have other people read it, read it five more times yourself, then have even more people read it; do whatever it takes, even using a professional writing service, to make sure your grammar, spelling, and formatting are impeccable.

5. You aren’t using LinkedIn, or your profile isn’t complete.

The civilian working world takes LinkedIn seriously, and so should you. You don’t have to be a social media expert, but creating a complete profile and remaining open to networking opportunities will serve well any job-seeker. Some may even argue it’s a necessity. A LinkedIn profile shows off that you’re capable of navigating modern technology and adapting to shifting business standards. Even if you don’t have your sights set on working in upper management, having an easily accessible professional online profile will help you regardless of your chosen industry.

6. You aren’t trying to leverage social media.

A few years ago, scoffing at Myspace or the then young Facebook wasn’t an outmoded thing to do. Social media started off as an interesting way to reach out to others online, but only recently has it exploded into a nearly ubiquitous cultural phenomenon and enraptured the working world. Just as with LinkedIn, you don’t have to be an expert but competency will make you a stronger candidate.

Websites like Facebook and Google+ allow you to remain in contact with individuals who may offer you a new job; even if you don’t see each other face to face on a regular basis, professionals tend to remember who they like and trust when it’s time to fill a position. Furthermore, Twitter isn’t just for bragging about food or lamenting about “first world problems” – hiring managers and companies alike often tweet about job openings and provide information about their company, industry, and other useful information.

7. You did not prepare adequately for the interview.

No matter how many jokes you’ve heard about professionals successfully faking their way through work, the reality is that valuable employees train, prepare, and make sure they’re ready to accomplish a given task. Job interviews aren’t to be taken lightly, and research and practice can only help you. The more you know about a company and the industries it’s a part of, the more knowledgeable and prepared you’ll appear during an interview. Potential employers respond well to candidates who show genuine interest, and that’s proven by knowing who they are, what they do, who their competition is, what industry trends they’re grappling with; the list goes on and on.

8. You wrote a lackluster thank you note.

Thank you notes are simple, easy, and help you stand out. After a job interview, get busy procuring and crafting your note, and make sure it gets to the right people as soon as possible. Having said that, it’s not enough to write: “Dear potential employer, thank you for the interview. I’m awesome. Take care, veteran of the U.S. Military.” The thank you needs to be accompanied by genuine introspection. Recall what you discussed during the interview, and mention one or two points in the thank you note. The note itself is a mark of appreciation, but what you write is an indicator of what you learned and how much you pay attention.

9. You don’t know what you want to do.

If you really don’t know what you want to do professionally, your job-searching forays are a poor time and place to figure it out. Candidates who lack focus aren’t appealing to employers. You might not know what you want to do, but no one else will figure it out for you, especially hiring managers and recruiters. Rather than use job listings and the application process to find your path, try securing informational interviews, attending gatherings for different careers, and researching online.”

Top 9 Obstacles to Employment Veterans Face