"One EVERY 65 minutes" Demand EQUAL Access to Military Treatment Facilities for the Reserve Components for Memorial Day 2013.

"Texas Guard suicides high.... Combat claims fewer Soldiers" By The Associated Press Originally published 10:13 p.m., March 10, 2013 Updated 10:13 p.m., March 10, 2013 

"Since 2008, Texas has ranked second among states in Army National Guard suicides, trailing only Minnesota....Paula Brown-Nichols said she began seeing changes in her son, Spc. Cory Brown, when he came back for a midtour leave in the spring of 2009 and had a panic attack while they watched a musical.....Things got worse when he permanently returned from Iraq with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. Brown had become angry and aggressive, his mother said.

Brown began to abuse his prescription drugs as well as illegal substances in an effort, his mother says, to self-medicate his pain. Brown-Nichols said she tried desperately to get him into a residential PTSD and substance-abuse treatment program through Veteran Affairs, but no beds were available. Instead, he saw a VA counselor ONCE A MONTH, receiving more prescriptions.  Brown-Nichols said she tried to enlist the help of his National Guard supervisors and told them that her son was suicidal, but said her pleas were not answered.  "He was just dropped through the cracks, that's all there is to it," she said.  In September 2011, Brown killed himself with a gunshot to the head. It happened shortly after an argument with his new wife, who was then seven months pregnant, and about a week after his mother says his medication through the VA was changed. His son, Elijah, was born two months later.  A National Guard investigation into Brown's suicide concluded that his command "acted properly in its dealings with SPC Brown" but suggested there were structural problems." complete story at  http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2013/mar/10/texas-guard-suicides-high-combat-claims-fewer-on/?print=1

KBR vs. Army: On largest services contract, 'things have gotten very nasty' May. 5, 2013 - 06:00AM   |  By JIM McELHATTON 

"Army contracting officer Robert Egan gave contractor KBR Inc. a RARE ultimatum: Provide a FIRM, FIXED PRICE on remaining work to close out the LARGEST government services contract in U.S. HISTORY.....At issue is the final stage of the Army's $38 BILLION Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) III, the 12-YEAR-OLD logistics contract...The Army seeks to revise the pricing terms on the FINAL WORK to be done on the contract to be FIRM, FIXED PRICE instead of COST-REIMBURSABLE. In response, KBR...FILED a LAWSUIT seeking to keep to the existing...terms......At stake in the dispute..... By its own estimates, KBR says the CLOSEOUT work on the contract will cost more than $500 million and take up to 13 YEARS.http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130505/ACQUISITION03/305050005/KBR-vs-Army-largest-services-contract-things-gotten-very-nasty-

YET, Service Members CAN NOT sue to gain access to the critical Medical Care and Benefits that they EARNED in accordance with CURRENT Department of Defense regulations.

Soldier says she faced harassment over Muslim name By MICHAEL BIESECKER | Associated Press – 8 hrs ago

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — SFC (Sergeant First Class) Naida Hosan is not a Muslim — she's a Catholic. But her name sounded Islamic to fellow U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and they would taunt her, calling her "Sgt. Hussein".....

So before deploying to Afghanistan last year for her second war tour, she legally changed her name — to Naida Christian Nova.This did not solve her problems.

Instead, matters escalated. Nova complained to her superiors about constant anti-Muslim slurs and jokes. She says they responded with a series of reprisals intended to drive her out of the Army, leading her to consider suicide. http://news.yahoo.com/soldier-says-she-faced-harassment-over-muslim-name-184337269.html

Vets at Risk of Suicide Not Getting Follow-Ups published May 06, 2013 Stars and Stripes by Leo Shane III

WASHINGTON -- Health workers failed to check up on almost a third of veterans at risk for suicide, raising serious questions about the department's mental health care.

But in a report released last week, the VA inspector general's office said that 30 percent high-risk mental health cases they reviewed did not receive all of the follow-ups promised by the department. Among lower-risk patients, 28 percent did not receive the promised check ups. http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/05/06/vets-at-risk-of-suicide-not-getting-followups.html?comp=7000023435700&rank=1

Plan would help National Guard access benefits
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
tweeted: Wednesday Nov 28, 2012 13:44:50 EST http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2012/11/military-senate-advisers-national-guard-benefits-112812w/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Every state would have a transition assistance adviser dedicated to helping National Guard members access benefits and health care under a proposal introduced Tuesday in the Senate.

The plan, unveiled by Sens. Robert Casey, D-Pa., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., as an amendment to the 2013 defense authorization bill, requires the appointment of transition advisers based on the size and deployment of National Guard forces.

(S!O!S)RESPONSE: Would this plan REALLY help National Guard Members access benefits or would Guardsmen become aware of benefits that they can not access?

Would the levels of systematic bureaucracy within the Department of Defense that currently deny EARNED benefits and treatment to Guardsmen and Reservists continue to exist?

On 28 November 2012, a Reserve Officer and OIF/OEF Veteran with an approved Line of Duty (LOD) for PTSD went to an Active-Duty Military Treatment Facility to request care in accordance with CURRENT Department of Defense (DOD) Policy. The Hospital Staff told the Soldier "We are not accepting Reservist for treatment now...try the VA"

It took the Soldier more than four years to get the required documentation for Active-Duty supported treatment and he was STILL denied access to care.

Senator Ron Wyden Letter Prompts DoD to Change Policy Denying Injured Guard and Reserve Members Medical Assistance Friday, September 16, 2011 http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-letter-prompts-dod-to-change-policy-denying-injured-guard-and-reserve-members-medical-assistance

Washington, D.C. – Coming on the heels of a letter sent to DoD undersecretary Dr. Clifford Stanley on Tuesday calling on the department to fix a policy severely inhibiting the access to healthcare injured National Guard and Reserve members receive after leaving the service, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore) announced that Undersecretary Clifford has instituted changes to the Transitional Assistance Medical Program (TAMP) that will ensure separating servicemembers injured in combat receive the healthcare they are legally entitled to.

Under the previously flawed policy, injured servicemembers that were assigned to a Warrior Transition Unit – a unit designed to give healthcare to injured servicemembers -- prior to separating from the service were considered to have left the army -- starting the clock on the temporary transitional health benefits offered by the TAMP program.

"The TAMP program was designed to give returning servicemembers access to healthcare while they transition into their civilian lives," Wyden said. "DoD's misinterpretation of the intention of the program not only went against the spirit of the law that created it, it went against the common decency our troops should expect from a military they dedicated their lives to. The decision to change the policy means that the most vulnerable members of our armed services will be given the healthcare THEY HAVE EARNED."

WE ARE STILL WAITING!

Is your Congressional Representative on the list? S!O!S members have begun writing to their Representatives about our Cause! Please Join us. We are now more than 52,000 STRONG and GROWING!

The One Hundred Twelfth (112th) United States Congress convened in Washington, D.C. on January 3, 2011, and will end on January 3, 2013.

Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel has jurisdiction over all (but not limited to) matters relating to Active and Reserve Military Personnel: Military Pay Rates, Education Benefit, Military Justice and Military Health Care!

Members, 112th Congress

Majority: Chairman Jim Webb, Virginia; Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut; Daniel Akaka, Hawaii; Claire McCaskill, Missouri; Kay Hagan, North Carolina; Mark Begich, Alaska; Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut

Minority: Ranking Member Lindsey Graham, South Carolina; Saxby Chambliss, Georgia; Scott Brown, Massachusetts; Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire; Susan Collins, Maine; David Vitter, Louisiana

House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel exercises oversight and legislative jurisdiction over all (but not limited to) the following matters related to Active and Reserve military personnel: Military Personnel Policy, Reserve Component Integration, Employment Issues, and Military Health Care!

Members, 112th Congress

Majority: Chairman Joe Wilson, South Carolina; Walter B. Jones, North Carolina; Mike Coffman, Colorado; Tom Rooney, Florida; Joe Heck, Nevada; Allen West, Florida; Austin Scott, Georgia; Vicky Hartzler, Missouri

Minority: Ranking Member Susan Davis, California; Bob Brady, Pennsylvania; Madeleine Bordallo, Guam; David Loebsack, Iowa; Niki Tsongas, Massachusetts; Chellie Pingree, Maine

The One Hundred Thirteenth (113th) United States Congress will be the next meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government. It is scheduled to meet in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 2013 to January 3, 2015.

Hours after Veterans' Day 2012, another Reserve Component Service Member was denied access to the Medical and Mental Health Care that they have EARNED...we can't wait for January!

"MILITARY REPORTS ALARMING BREAST CANCER RATES AMONG TROOPS" -Jon R. Anderson
(COMPLETE ARTICLE @ http://www.pnj.com/article/20121007/NEWS12/310070010/Military-reports-alarming-breast-cancer-rates-among-troops?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CMilitary )

"......BREAST CANCER striking relatively YOUNG military WOMEN at alarming rates, but MALE SERVICE MEMBER (Active/GUARD/RESERVE), VETERANS and their DEPENDENTS are AT RISK, as well."

".....military tend to have a lower risk for most cancers than civilians, including significantly lower colorectal, lung and cervical cancer rates in certain groups. But breast cancer is a different story."

"Military people in general, and in some cases very specifically, are at a significantly GREATER RISK FOR contracting BREAST CANCER," says Dr. Richard Clapp, a top cancer expert at Boston University. Clapp, who works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on military breast cancer issues, says life in the military can mean exposure to a witch's brew of risk factors directly linked to greater chances of getting breast cancer.

Indeed, in a 2009 study, doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center found that breast cancer rates among military women are "significantly higher" -- that military women are 20 percent to 40 percent more likely to get the disease than other women in the same age groups.

"Military women are also more likely to be engaged in industrial jobs than females in the general population and hence potentially more likely to be exposed to chemicals that may be related to breast cancer," researchers wrote in the study

Calls for research

Since 1993, Congress has funneled more than $2 billion to the Pentagon to fund research into breast cancer, including $120 million in 2012. That money has produced some promising new vaccines, among other research, but, perhaps ironically, VERY LITTLE of it has been USED to INVESTIGATE BREAST CANCER WITHIN THE MILITARY itself.

"It is a well-documented fact that one of the highest forms of cancer among our service members and veterans is breast cancer," says Rep. Leonard L. Boswell, D-Iowa. What's not clear is why, he says, so he's been trying since 2009 to pass legislation to look into the problem.

(COMPLETE ARTICLE @ http://www.pnj.com/article/20121007/NEWS12/310070010/Military-reports-alarming-breast-cancer-rates-among-troops?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CMilitary )

During August, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were nine potential suicides (five Army National Guard and four Army Reserve): none have been confirmed as suicide and nine remain under investigation. For July, among that same group, the Army reported 12 potential suicides (nine Army National Guard and three Army Reserve); four have been confirmed as suicides and eight remain under investigation. For 2012, there have been 80 potential not on active-duty suicides (49 Army National Guard and 31 Army Reserve): 59 have been confirmed as suicides and 21 remain under investigation. Not on active-duty suicide numbers for 2011: 118 (82 Army National Guard and 36 Army Reserve) confirmed as suicides and no cases under investigation. http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=15588

Deman EQUAL Acess to Military Treatment Facilites and TRICARE for National Guardsmen and Reservists...They EARNED It! http://www.causes.com/SOS

excerpt from Leila Levinson: Time to Pay the Price of War posted 9/21/2012

Texas is home to the second-largest veteran population in the country behind California; but, as reported by the Austin American Statesman, veterans in central Texas, have the nation's longest average wait time for disability claims processing: roughly 393 days, according to the VA's most recent numbers. (Before a veteran can access services at the VA, they need a finding of disability.)

Simply put, the VA does not have the resources necessary to meet veterans' mental health needs. Every single VA facility in the country is overstretched, even BEFORE another million SERVICE MEMBERS become veterans. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leila-levinson/veterans-mental-health_b_1898771.html

This is why it imperative that National Guardsmen and Reservists gain access to Military Treatment Facilities and TRICARE in accordance with current policy BEFORE they return to their communities.

PLEASE SHARE THIS PETITION with FAMILY and FRIENDS and Help (S!O!S) meet our Goal Before Veterans Day 2012.