BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
TIRED OF BEING KNOWN AS "THE UGLY ONE," MICHELLE OBAMA'S TRYING TO STEP OUT OF THE LARGE SHADOW CAST BY THE CELEBRITY IN CHIEF AND HAS DECIDED THE WAY TO DO IT IS HEALTH CARE. ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT EVEN THE UGLY ARE CHEERED MADLY WHEN HANDING OUT CHECKS, MICHELLE'S DISBURSING LIKE CRAZY.
IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THESE REPORTERS MICHELLE EXPLAINED THAT SHE'S A NATURAL FOR THIS.
MICHELLE OBAMA: LOOK, THERE ARE HUGE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS WITH HEALTH CARE AND I AM UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO SPEAK TO THIS BECAUSE I AM LIKE A DOCTOR OR SOMETHING: I WORKED FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICAL CENTER!
AND WHEN YOUR HUSBAND WAS ELECTED TO THE U.S. SENATE, YOUR SALARY JUMPED FROM $121,910 TO $316,962.
MICHELLE OBAMA: YES, I DO KNOW HOW TO MAKE MONEY. AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH THE COUNTRY'S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM, NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE ARE MAKING MONEY. IF THEY WERE, THE DEAD BEATS COULD PAY THEIR BILLS. THEY DON'T. I DON'T MEAN TO SOUND CRUEL, THEY'RE NOT ALL DEAD BEATS, SOME ARE JUST ASSHOLES.
LIKE THE ONES, MAINLY POOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS, THAT YOU AND YOUR STAFF REFUSED TREATMENT TO AND FORCED OFF ON OTHER MEDICAL CENTERS BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T HAVE INSURANCE.
MICHELLE OBAMA: THANK YOU, YES, THOSE WERE SOME REAL ASSHOLES. IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO GET WELL, YOU SHOULDN'T GET SICK. WHAT A BUNCH OF ASSHOLES.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
This morning the US military announced: "BAGHDAD -- Three Multi-National Division-South Soldiers were killed when Contingency Operating Base Basra was attacked by indirect fire at approximately 9:15 p.m. on July 16. The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The incident is under investigation." The announcement brings the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4326. Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reports, "Shortly after the attack, the Iraqi army gave the U.S. military permission to carry out aerial searches northwest of the airport, the area from where the rockets are thought to have been launched, U.S officials said. Troops chased a car to a house, which they searched. A joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol raided another home. Three Iraqi men were briefly detained, the military said."
Violence rocked Iraq as usual today but a lot of it targeted pilgrims. Mohammed al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) explains the pilgrimage "is expected to fill the streets of Baghdad on Saturday in the first major security challenge for Iraqi military forces" with "a limited curfew" being imposed and "thousands of additional Iraqi soldiers and police officers . . . on the streets". Alsumaria reports, "While thousands of pilgrims have poured in to Al Kazimiya to mark Imam Kazem Anniversary (AS), citizens are complaining about closing main roads which is usually caused by religious occasion." Muhanad Mohammed (Reuters) observes, "Despite intensive security, some bombers made it through." Turning to the reported violence today . . .
Bombings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing which wounded thirteen pilgrims, a Baghdad roadside bombing which wounded eight pilgrims, a Baghdad roadside bombing which wounded five pilgrims, another Baghdad roadside bombing which injured five pilgirms, a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured three pilgrims, a Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 pilgrim and wounded six more, a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured two men, a Falluja roadside bombing which injured nine males who were playing football and a roadside bombing attack on the home of police chief Abdulsalam Khawarm in Anbar Province resulting in the deaths of two of his children and leaving eight more people injured. Reuters notes 1 dead in the Falluja bombing on the football players, a Mosul roadside bombing left two Iraqi soldiers injured and a Shirqat sticky bombing injured one police officer.
Shootings?
Reuters notes 1 person wounded in a Kirkuk shooting today and, dropping back to yesterday, one wounded in a Kirkuk shooting as well.
Today on the second hour of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, Diane and the Wall St. Journal's Youchi Dreazen, the Washington Post's David Ignatius and Foreign Policy's Moises Naim discussed Iraq.
Diane Rehm: Alright and let's turn now to Iraq and the latest on violence there, David? You had three American soldiers killed Thursday after insurgents fired mortar rounds into a US base in southern Iraq. You've also got problems with the Kurds. You've got lots of issues still going on even as the US is planning its pull-out.
David Ignatius: This was a week, Diane, that reminded us of the underlying fragility of Iraq. We've gotten in the habit of not paying much attention to it. Our troops are pulling back from the cities under the timetable we agreed to with the Iraqis. And-and, these last weeks we saw in these-these bombings and the political conflicts just how easily Iraq could spin back into a very chaotic situation. Take the bombings that happened on Wednesday. By my count, there were about eleven people killed, something like fifty or sixty wounded. But what was striking was that one of the bombs was in Ramadi -- in the Sunni heartland, the area we thought had been stabilized by our counter-insurgency work. Another bomb was in Sadr City. Another was right in the heart of Baghdad, in Sadhun Street. Those latter two were really going after Shi'ites, the first, in Ramadi, was going after Sunnis. More of these bombings are going to again make Iraqis frightened that they can't be secure without militias and then you're back in the sectarian killing game and you're going to start finding fifty bodies -- dead bodies -- every morning in the morgue.
Diane Rehm: At twenty-seven [after] the hour you're listening to The Diane Rehm Show. And what's going on with the Kurds, Youchi?
Youchi Dreazen: In many ways, this is the most dangerous aspect of Iraq right now. You've had recently [June 28th] a standoff between Kurdish fighters and Iraqi national army fighters. Last year there was an incident that did not get much attention here in which US drones that were monitoring a similar standoff saw columns of armed Iraqi army soldiers and columns of Kurdish peshmerga racing towards each other. By the account of everyone who was watching it, bruising for a fight, and they stood down only amidst much mediation by US embassy and military -- as was the case here where there was US mediation. And what you have is this very thorny issue about what will be the boundaries between Kurdistan, what will be the boundaries between Arab-Iraq? How will they divide oil? How will they divide Kirkuk? These issues have been kicked down the road again and again and again. And now they're at the end of the road. They have to at some point be resolved. I think what you've seen is, when the US invaded, there was a status quo that existed under Saddam that was toppled, there was a Sunni-led status quo. Then there was a new status quo that was not sustainable where you had fighting between Sunni and Shia Arabs and the Kurds were kind of left off to their own devices in the north. Now you have a new status quo where the Shia-Sunni tensions are much reduced -- the Arab tensions -- and now their focusing much more again on the Arab-Kurdish tensions that were there under Saddam decades ago.
Moises Naim: And the Kurdish prime minister yesterday said that the Kurdish autonomous region was closer to going to war with the central government than ever before, since 2003, since the US invasion. And that points, as Youchi said, to the tensions about the divisions -- federalism, they're trying to find out what is the divisions of authority, power between a centralized government and a regional government. And this is a region that is quite different in its governance, in its function, in its economy, in its politics, than the rest of the country.
Diane Rehm: And the United States population is certainly concerned as is the Iraqi that what if the violence continues to uptick, gets worse? Do troops reinvigorate, US troops? What do you do?
David Ignatius: Well for the administration, I think there's a recognition that, as we reduce our military presence there, it is inevitable that violence will increase. That's accepted. And it's just a price of our getting out. The Iraqis want us out, we want to get out. So some increase in violence, it's understood, will happen. And the question is: Will the Iraqi forces be strong enough to contain it within acceptable levels? And what's-what's-what's your choke point? If you're President Obama and you're seeing ten people die a day, well, what do you say? Suppose it gets up to fifty, what do you - what do you do then? And that's -- it's-it's grisly. But that's the kind of decision I fear that the-the Obama administration going to have to make about Iraq over the coming year.
Moises Naim: It's very hard to imagine that there's a political environment in the United States that will support a massive increase of troops -- of US troops -- in Iraq. The-the line their will be crossed if Iran becomes very influential country in Iraq. If Iranian influence there which it hasn't seemed to be the case but that will be then the-the political base for it.
[. . .]
Diane Rehm: To Charlie in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Good morning, you're on the air.
Charlie: Good morning. I'd like to go back to the MidEast a little bit in terms of I think that Iraq is a lost cause. I think Sadr, Ayatollah Sadr's militia has only stood down under orders from Iran and under realization that the US military would destroy Sadr City. They will res -- they will resurge and they will take over the south and if -- have this very informal reunion with Iran. The Sunnis were bought off with US money and viagra pills for their ancient sheiks -- and that's the truth, not a joke. And the Kurds, our most loyal allies, are the largest tribe, as far as I know, on earth without a homeland. And I'm afraid that they -- especially with the oil money -- do not intend to be left behind this time. I think also I'd like one more comment, on the Gaza situation again. [. . .]
What about Gaza? This isn't the Gaza snapshot. And by bringing that up, Gaza, it's what everyone quickly glommed on after David's initial remarks on Iraq.
David Ignatius: Well, I think the -- it's too early for me at least to say that Iraq is a lost cause. One interesting fact about Iraq is that our greatest potential problem -- which is Iranian influence, Iranian support for extremist militias, like Moqtada Sadr who the caller was referring to, Iran politically is imploding. That threat, the ability of Iran to destabilize Iraq, is, I think, somewhat reduced, I want to say signifianctly reduced -- becuase of the chaose following the election. And I think you can generalize that to potential Iranian clients all ove. Political parties in Iraq that are supported by Iran must be worrying, "Holy smokes our paymaster are in trouble."
As noted in Diane's discussion, things are very tense between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government. Anthony Shadid (Washington Post) reports, "In separate interviews, Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and the region's president, Massoud Barzani, described a stalemate in attempts to resolve long-standing disputes with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's emboldened government. Had it not been for the presence of the U.S. military in northern Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani said, fighting might have started in the most volatile regions." Quil Lawrence (NPR's All Things Considered) reported this afternoon on the tensions quoting Barzani, "Whoever wants to get ahead in Iraqi politics does so by criticizing the Kurds." On territorial disputes and what may have been an attempt by al-Maliki's government to enroach on Kurdish territories June 28th, Lawrence quotes Barzani stating, "Our problem is that we do not believe there is any political will in Baghdad to solve this problem." Gordon Duff (Salem-News) addresses the June 28th confrontation and offers his opinions:
News stories reporting on this conflict conveniently omit Kurdish history. Our NATO partner, Turkey, that refused to allow US troops access to Northern Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, has long been an enemy of our Kurdish allies. If Turkey had joined with the US, the military disaster that led to years of conflict might have been averted. Instead, the US depended on Kurdish armies to defeat Saddam in Northern Iraq.
Reports of Kurdish incursions in and around Kirkuk fail to mention that the Arabs in the region are remnants of Saddam's occupation forces, not residents. The efforts by the Baghdad government to continue control of this Kurdish region is driven by need to control the regions oil revenues and continue to fuel Iraq's massive corruption.
January 31st, 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces held provincial elections. The Kurdish region did not take place in those elections. Their elections take place next week on Saturday. The Economist editorializes on the elections here. UPI notes of the elections, "A quota established by the KRG sets aside 30 percent of the seats for female candidates." In reporting last week, the New York Times offered a very bad dispatch featuring all the US talking points and nothing resembling journalism -- just a concept of "bad Kurds!" which might make a few people feel better but doesn't really inform anyone. And that was their 'big' piece. Jay Garner called it out in a letter to the paper. Garner is interviewed by The Kurdish Globe today and he notes of the KRG that "
Elizabeth Dickinson: With [US Vice President Joe] Biden as the U.S. envoy for reconciliation in Iraq, what priorities should he be pushing for? Jay Garner: No. 1, a referendum on disputed lands, because I don't think you can ever have a stable Iraq as long as you have an unstable Arab-Kurdish border. No. 2, a resolution on the oil law because it's a thorn in everybody's side. No. 3, continue to exert whatever leverage we have on the Iraqi government to get these things done. Anything that happens here, whether it is Kurds versus Arabs or Shiite versus Sunni -- and those are huge flash points -- is not an Iraqi problem; it's a regional problem. It's huge. It's much greater than Iraq, because if it's Shiite-Sunni you are going to have Iranians on the side of the Shiites and you are going to have the Gulf region on the side of the Sunnis. If it's Arab-Kurdish, you are going to have an ethnic war, and lives will be gone and other countries will get involved because they are going to want to shape how it comes out. I don't think the [U.S.] administration wants to pull out in 2011, run for the presidency in 2012, and have this whole damned thing blow up on them, you know? So it is good that [U.S. President Barack Obama has] appointed Biden; it's good that he's made a special envoy; and it's good that Biden is drilling in on this. Biden is a guy that has studied a long time. He is more thoughtful about this than the other people, and I think that's a good first step. But you've got to have some leverage to execute that. So whatever leverage we have left, we need to make sure that those flash points are solved before we leave.
Garner mentioned the oil law (aka the theft of Iraqi law) and Nouri's sending messages on that today. Missy Ryan (Reuters) reports that the Oil Ministry's spokesperson Asim Jihad declared today of talk that unions might stop the British Petroleum and China National Petroleum Corporation oil deal (jointly, they were awarded a contract from the puppet government in the oil auction -- that was the only awarded contract from that auction), "The government will protect the companies." 'At all costs' was left implied.
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Saturday, July 18, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
THIS JUST IN! BARRY O'S BUSY SCHEDULE!
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
TONIGHT CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O FOUND TIME TO SPEAK TO (INSULT) THE NAACP AND TO DO SOME FUNDRAISING FOR JON CORZINE. EARLIER THIS WEEK, PRINCESS TINY MEAT WORE HIS MOM JEANS WHILE OFFERING A TOSS AT THE ALL STAR GAMES THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN EMBARRASSING IN A SOFT BALL LEAGUE.
EXACTLY WHEN DOES THE CELEBRITY IN CHIEF PLAN TO GET DOWN TO WORK OR DOES HE THINK THE ECONOMY WILL JUST FIX ITSELF? THESE REPORTERS ATTEMPTED TO ASK HIM THAT BUT HE SAID HE WAS TOO BUSY WITH ANOTHER BODY WAX IN ANTICIPATION OF DATE NIGHT.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," declared US House Rep John Hall today, "the Veterans Affairs Disability and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee and the Subcommittee On Health joint-hearing on Eliminating the Gaps: Examining Women Veterans' Issues will now come to order." Hall is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance Memorial Affairs and he chaired the joint-committee hearing this morning. This hearing follows Tuesday's Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing on women veterans' issues (here for Tuesday snapshot, here for Kat Tuesday, here for Wednesday's snapshot, here for Kat Wednesday). The hearing was divided into three panels with a length break (over an hour) between the second and the third panel. The first panel was composed of women veterans: Grace After Fire's Kayla Williams, Disabled American Veterans' Joy J. Ilem, Service Women's Action Network's Anuradha Bhagwati, Wounded Warrior Project's Dawn Halfaker and National Association of State Women Veterans Coordinators, Inc and the Texas Veterans Commission's Delilah Washburn. The second panel was composed of GAO's Randall Williamson, Society's for Women's Health Research and Georgetown University Medical Center's Janice L. Krupnick. Panel three was made up of VA's Bradley Mayes, Patrica Hayes, Lawrence Deyton and Irene Trowell-Harris. We'll focus on the first panel.
In his opening remarks, Subcommittee Chair Hall addressed some of the recent Congressional hearings:
I am particularly eager to recognize the women veterans in this room today and to be enlightened by their experiences with the Dept of Veterans Affairs. VA owes them the proper benefits and care -- just like their male counterparts. However, they are a unique population, since they comprise only 1.8 million of the 23.4 million veterans nationwide and deserve special attention. So VA's mission to care for them must not only be achieved but monitored and supported as well. Sadly, that is not always the case. In response to reports of disparities, during the 110th Congress the Disability Assitance and Memorial Affairs and Health Subcommittees held a joint hearing on women and minority veterans. This Congress too has been very active in its oversight activities to assist women veterans and a record number of them have testified at various hearings. Additionally, on May 20th, Chairman [Bob] Filner of the full [House] VA Committee hosted a special roundtable discussion with women veterans from all eras who were able to paint a picture of military life as a female in uniform and then as a disabled veteran entering the VA system. In many cases, they have served alongside their male counterparts but have not had the same recognition or treatment. Chairman Filner also hosted a viewing and discussion session with Team Lioness members who were on search operations and engaged in firefights but, since there is no citation or medal for this combat service, their claims are not always recognized by VA as valid, so they are denied compensation.
Hall would also note, after the first panel's opening statements, that HR 3155, the Caregiver Assistance and Resource Enhancement Act, had been voted out of committee and referred to the House. Michael Michaud is the Chair of the Subcommittee On Health and we'll note this from his opening remarks:
Another example of this Committee's commitment to women veterans is our work on HR 1211, the Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act, which was introduced by Ms. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. My Subcommittee favorably reported this bill to the full Committee in early June and this important legislation passed the House recently on June 23, 2009. Specifically, HR 1211 requires key studies assessing the VA health care services provided to women veterans -- including an assessment of barriers. The bill also provides seven days of medical care for newborn children of women veterans receiving maternity care, authorizes a child care pilot program, requires mental health professionals to receive training on caring for veterans to serve on the VA's Advisory Committee On Wommen Veterans and the Advisory Committee On Minority Veterans. While we have made some progress on the issues facing women veterans, it is clear that more needs to be done. Just earlier this week, there was an article in MSNBC about the VA inadequately serving women veterans. This article described the key findings of a GAO report which reveald that no VA hospital or outpatient clinic is complying fully with federal privacy requirements. In other words, many VA facilities had gynecological tables that faced the door, including one door that opened to a waiting room. Beyond these privacy concers, VA facilities were built to serve male veterans and, therefore, do not accomodate the presence of children. This means that some women veterans have had to resort to changing babies' diapers on the floors of VA hospitals due to the absence of changing tables in the women's bathrooms. In light of these challenges which continue to face women veterans, it is important that we do more to address these issues.
US House Rep Harry Teague noted briefly, "I think that everybody has had enough of us talking about this issue and we need to hear from the experts and let them tell us what the problems are and what we need to do to ensure that all female veterans get a chance to get the help that they deserve and the benefits that they have earned." Which is a good lead in to the following exchanges.
Chair John Hall: I would start with Ms. Ilem and ask when the VA trains it's service officers does it provide special sensitivity training on issues pertinent to female veterans, for instance MST [Military Sexual Trauma}?
Joy Ilem: Yes, as far as I'm aware within our service program -- I mean, there's definitely discussion of MST claims. We have a number of women NSOs but it's provided to all our NSOs -- information about VA's, you know, manuals and regulations, looking for different evidence to help them support their claims and different ways that they can help.
Chair John Hall: How many of your service officers are female? Can they assist in developing claims even if a veteran is from another state?
.
Joy Ilem: Yes, our NSOs can provide services to anyone. I think in our NSO corps of about 260, I would have to look at the exact number, but I think there's a range of about 30 now. There's been a number of recent new hires of women veterans especially from OEF-OIF populations.
Chair John Hall: And the time that DAV has been working with these issues relating to women veterans, what is your observation on how well VA has responded to the concerns you've raised and how successfuly are they addressing those issues?
Joy Ilem: I think I mentioned in my testimony, one of the concerns I've had, I've been reaching out to the VA for some time and we would appreciate the subcommittee's assistance just to verify especially on the SAPRO, the DoD Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Office -- looking at their confidentiality policy issues, it appears that there's some problem they may have in being able to release those records even with the -- for restricted reports of military sexual assault -- even with the consent of the veteran and so trying to work with VA staff just to try and see if they're collaborating with them to work through some of these barriers and to make sure that their claim developers are aware of the SAPRO policies and where in each of the military services these records are kept and for how long? And can VA, with the consent of the veteran, get access to those reports which can include a physical examination as well as mental health and counseling treatment. So we think those records are critical and we would ask that the Subcommittee try to work to see if VA does in fact collaborate with SAPRO on those policies.
Chair John Hall: Thank you. And Ms. Bhagwati, is the lack of legal representation more determental to women when their claims are the result of a crime?
Anuradha Bhagwati: I'm sorry, sir, the lack of legal work?
Chair John Hall: Legal represenation.
Anuradha Bhagwati: Absolutely, sir. I'm finding that, without the assistance of an attorney, many of those legal claims would be left behind. It takes a lot of courage, stamina, finacial assistance for a veteran -- either male or female -- to pursue an appeal or reconsideration of a claim. A lot of pride and a lot of issues wrapped around a veteran's identity go into the claim process and when a claim is rejected by the VA -- even when the claim is deemed to be sort of sufficient to get an awarding of compensation -- when that denial happens, it can be life shattering. And many veterans, both male and female, just fall off the map.
Chair John Hall: I understand more all the time as we have these hearings about the issues surrounding reproting problems with MST, but what about domestic violence that takes place while the wife is on active duty? How are those instances of PTSD or other disabilities resulting from those injuries adjucated by the VA?
Anuradha Bhagwati: Sir, that remains to be seen. I think a lot of data as both the congressman and Ms. Halfaker pointed out has not been collected on domestic violence in particular. Right now, I can tell you anecdotally, we're working on a case in the marine corps with a -- an NCO who's going through through a commissioning program whose partner spent five days in jail for attempting to kill her and that partner who spent five days in jail is now at Officer Candidate School. So that shock factor -- it's almost unbelieveable that that can happen but there are ways around the system. And DoD needs to explore that.
Chair John Hall: Unfortunately, there are ways around the system not just for men who assault women but also for men who assault men. I know one case particulary that I'm familiar with in my district but it's more egregious and harder to rectify when it's an attack on a female soldier. Ms. Halfaker, for the more seriously injured female veteran is there an outreach effort made directly too them? Are there OEF-OIF coordinators trained to specifically interact with them regarding their needs?
Dawn Halfaker: Sir, I think there is much needed outreach programs. I don't think there is anything specifically targeted for women veterans and I think that's where you get a lot of women initially slipping through the cracks -- especially with the Guard Reserve component. I-I also believe that, you know, peer support is probably a good way to start advocating. It's been Wounded Warriors Project's experience that women -- and particularly this generation of veterans -- are much more responsive and receptive to kind of learning about programs and things like that through their peer network. So I think that the VA needs to explore ways to promote outreach using peer neatworks and things like that. As far as the OEF - OIF coordinators at the hospitals? I mean, it was my experience that there's a lot of inconsisitency and variablity. The VA facility that I go to, the model just to have any kind of coordinatior was stood up incredibly late and its my sense that the coordinators could use a lot more education on the specific programs and -and clinical care that women need and how women can best access thtat care.
Chair John Hall: Thank you. And Ms. Washburn, your suggestion to track MST data has been made by the Center for Women Veterans and its advisory committee but has not yet been implemetned by the VBA. How effective do you think the Center and the committee are in promoting these issue and acting as change agents on behalf of the women they represent?
Delilah Washburn: I believe those things that are imposed by Congress get done, I believe those recommendations sometimes do not.
Chair John Hall: Can you provide us with any more information on the training protocol that the state women veterans coordinator receive in order to assist veterans in filing claims? And secondly what outreach activites to your women's veterans coordinators or do your women's veterans coordinators already perform?
Delilah Washburn: Most of our women's veterans coordinators are also state service officers and are also acredited with other service organizations such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Military Order of the Purple Heart. So we hold more than just one military organization credential. So whenever we have the opportunity to counsel with our veterans, whether it's male or female, we have to maintain the accreditation that the Dept of Veterans Affairs mandates for service officers. So we have annual training, we have testing and we are proficient at doing those jobs as service officers. And in most cases with the new training force that we see in the regional offices with all the new employees that have bene hired, most of our service organizations and veteran coordinators are more knowledgable than the new VA employees. So we are doing the very best job that we can do to help train some of the new VA employees by pointing out things that they have missed in the letter of the law that says that they can grant benefits. So we're doing our very best job as service officers to continue to not only help them through the maze -- the bureacratic maze -- of getting their claims processed.
Chair John Hall: Thank you. And Ms. Williams, I'm going to ask you this question and then ask each of the other panelists so quickly, because my time is long expired here, quickly give me an answer if VA and the DoD could do one thing to better assist women veterans what would that be?
Kayla Williams: I believe that electronic medical records are absolutely imperative to prevent problems with lost paperwork and missing files and missing records. And that that would really help smooth the transition from the DoD to the VA.
Chair John Hall: Ms. Washburn?
Delilah Washburn: Yes, sir.
Chair John Hall: Ms. Halfaker? I'm just asking for an answer to that same question, just quick if you could.
Delilah Washburn: The one thing that I think that they could do immediately that will make a difference, and not just for gender specific issues, we're talking about we no longer have to worry about providing the stressor for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. If you're in combat its conceeded. And let's press on with getting a diagnosis and write those claims and get them off the table because the near million claims that are pending is just something that we cannot continue to live with. It's a barrier to veterans getting their benefits.
Chair John Hall: Thank you for the wonderful endorsement of my bill HR 952.
Dawn Halfaker: Outreach.
Chair John Hall: Outreach. Ms. Bhagwati? Microphone please.
Anaradha Bhagwati: Sorry, sir. One thing on the DoD side would be enforcement of VO policy and sexual assault policy. On the VA side, it would be education and training of claims officers about what it's like to be a woman in uniform.
Joy Ilem: I think just true collaboration on all levels within VA, VHA and VVA would be really extremely important. There's just so many areas where they can benefit working together to really solve the problem. It just can't be done piece meal. It helps to work on the preventative side with DoD and during that transition period for women coming to VA.
Chair John Hall: Thank you. And if our members from the Disability Assistance Committe would not object, I would go to our only member of the Health Committee who's here, Ms. Brown.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Thank you, Mr. Chairmen. And thank you for holding this hearing. I'm going to be real brief. You know, in the early 90s, I called for the first women veterans hearings and then we had a roundtable discsuon a couple of months ago and it seems as if things have not improved. And part of it is the culture. What, if you were making recommendations to the VA or to the Congress, what would you recommend that we do to change the culture and that's for all the panelists? We can start with Ms. Williams?
Kayla Williams: That's a great question and I think one that both the Dept of Defense and the VA are struggling with every day.I truly believe that this conflict is going to change the way that women are treated within the military and the VA because young leaders, young soldiers and service members, they serve alongside women in combat. As they grow in their leadership positions through time, they're used to serving alongside women they're beginning to recognize that women are service members too -- that they aren't just females that happened to show up sometimes. And that change in attitude will slowly trickle through the rest of the system but that's going to take a very long time. I do think that cultural change can also come from systemic changes. When I first got out of the military I went to the VA facility in Washington, DC, which I must admit was an atrocious experience for me. The facility was not clean, I was not given coordinated care and I had a truly unpleaseant experience that scared me away from the VA for many years. Just last month, I went to the VA facility in Martinsburg, West Virgingia and had a profoundly different experience at their OEF - OIF integrated care clinic. I saw several providers, I was led from one appointment to the other to make sure that I knew where I was going. I was sensitively asked about MST, about my combat experiences. And this model is one that I think is worthy of emulation though it may not be perfect in every facility. They also have a women's care clinic. So I know that by putting these facilites in place, staffing them with the right people, that proper care can be given.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: When you first went to the facilities that was in when? When you first?
Kayla Williams: I went to the DC VA in 2006 and then I went to the Martinsburg VA just last month.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Yes, ma'am?
Delilah Washburn: That's an excellent question. There are several points that I would like to share with you. In today's culture, I could see just from the veterans that talk with us that some of the problems that they face is that now we have appointments that come in the mail to us and we're notified of five or six different appointments. They're not on the same day and these are people that are trying to hold a job down. And they just cannot go to all of these appointments. So -- and then we have child care on top of that. So we have we can't take off from work, so the hours that they're being seen is an issue. We have children that we have to provide care for and -- because we can't take them to the VA, we already know that -- and those are concerns. And why can't we do a better job at scheduling? Why can't we provide it during hours that they're available? If its once a month on a Saturday, why can't we do a women's clinic once a month on a Saturday? If we're doing women's health on Wednesday, why can't we do that from noon to six p.m. to give them an opprotunity to go after work? And where that there would be someone else to help with children? So those are some things that we need to look at that I think culturally we have to change. When we're talking about Military Sexual Trauma, there are so many of the cases that are identified by DoD and where DoD is taking action under the Uniform Military Code of Justice and we already see that these women are having medial problems -- physical as well as mental health issues -- and why don't we get them through the medical evaluation process because that is a disability. And it would help us if DoD would step up and if they have an opportunity to be awarded a military evaluation board or a PEB board, lets get it done because we are finding all too often, after we do finally get them through the VA syste, we're going back to do correction on military record. So DoD could do a better job. If it's an opportunity where they can meet the requirements of medical evaluation, lets get it done.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Those are some very good suggestions and I don't know why we can't do that Saturday or Sunday afternoon and have someone there to take care of the kids. I mean, I don't see why we can't. Because you were talking about the waiting list and what did you say was the waiting list for women?
Delilah Washburn: We do have appointments that come out through the VA computer system that will often times not consolildate to get you there on one day and often times we have folks that are coming in from a rural area, that's traveling 100 or 200 miles to the large VA medical center. So that's a hardship, transportation is a hardship.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Right, transportation is a hardship. Question do we have any, and I've been thinking about it, do we give any kind of a gas voucher or anything like that?
Delilah Washburn: There are some organizations, whether it's Disabled American Veterans where they have a transportation program, there are some organizations, Veterans of Foreign Wars they give vouchers, and often times the VA medical centers have monies for that as well but it's not the norm and not everyone knows that they can get help. We're just not advertising it.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Okay. Thank you. Next. I don't have much time. Next? Yes, ma'am?
Dawn Halfaker: Yeah, I think that, you know, perception and culture can change through action and I think, you know, some of the recommendations that Wounded Warriors Project is prepared to make are actions such as outreach, peer support, consistency in the way VA delivers care and services to women veterans. And it's interesting, I've had the exact same experiences as Ms. Williams. First went to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to the VA facility in Washington, DC. and just had horrible experience after experience there. And again, they are -- they've made some strides in trying to coordinate a OEF - OIF care model where they have, you know, the case managers and things lik that but again it's not -- I don't think that the women veterans who are continuing to recevie care have actually felt any of the changes and certainly there's been no change in culture at that particulra VA.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: And this is the one in DC?
Dawn Halfaker: Yes, ma'am.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Is it just bad for women or is it bad for everybody?
Dawn Halfaker: I think that would be a good question. I mean, I think that it was initially bad for me just because, you know, when you do just walk through the doors to the VA, it's very -- it's not a pleasant environment. And it's not a safe environment. You know, often times you may encounter somebody yelling, cat calling at you, making a crude remark and it's just, I think, a true culture shock going from the military where that would never be tolerated to a VA facility where you're trying to get care and, you know, you're uncomfortable.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: You know this is the second or third time I've heard about the cat calls and I just don't know how you deal with it because they're not in the military any longer, they're civilains. And you know we face this probelm if we're walking down the street and we see a work crew or something.
Dawn Halfaker: Yes, ma'am, I think that-that it's a leadership issue and, you know, if I was the director of that hospital, I would do whatever I had to do to ensure that that environment couldn't happen so I think it's a leaderhsip issue.
Kayla Williams: And, if I may, ma'am, I do believe that that facility inadequately serves both male and female veterans. My husband's care at that VA was so bad. He was sent back and forth between multiple clinics, told he was in the wrong place, his paper work was lost, he felt that the doctors didn't care about him. His experience there was so bad that he has since refused to go back to the VA at all and relies exclusively on civilian providers even though they are less familiar with blast injuries and post-traumatic stress that results form combat.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Just quickly.
Anuradha Bhagwati: Ma'am, my personal exprinces with the VA hospital in New York City have been personally devestating and I pay out of pocket for as much care as I need. I use the VA right now for emergency care. You know, I've experienced MST and I had a very bad expereince with a claim. It doesn't take much to disappoint me right now with VA care. I-I every time I walk in there I go with open arms, a generous spirit, I hope to be received well. And there are some fantastic health care providers there, but there are, by and large, both male and female staff members and medical staff do not understand what its like to be a woman in uniform.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: You know and I've had, when I've said part of the problem is the VA and the number and when I've suggested that perhaps we may need to do vouchers so people can go outside, I got real push back from the women. So I mean, if the service is not there, what can we do to change the system? And when I talk to women veterans well they want to go to the VA but the service isn't what they want.
Anuradha Bhagwati: Well ma'am, I think we need to push the VA to provide equal services for women. That needs to be done comprehenslivly. We can't give up on the VA but I need to stress that, especially for women who have been traumatized, now that can be through sexual trauma, post-traumatic stress from combat, whatever the case may be, if they're expereinceing negative epsidoses at the Va hosptials they may just turn away and never come back and so fee-based care needs to be an option. If you talk to women who've been working around MST for awhile, they will -- I would say by and large they agree that fee-based care needs to be accesible for surivors of MST whether that's --
US House Rep Corrine Brown: It should be an option?
Anuradha Bhagwati: Aboslutely.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Okay, that's what I'm thinking. Yes, ma'am?
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FROM THE TCI WIRE:
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," declared US House Rep John Hall today, "the Veterans Affairs Disability and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee and the Subcommittee On Health joint-hearing on Eliminating the Gaps: Examining Women Veterans' Issues will now come to order." Hall is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance Memorial Affairs and he chaired the joint-committee hearing this morning. This hearing follows Tuesday's Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing on women veterans' issues (here for Tuesday snapshot, here for Kat Tuesday, here for Wednesday's snapshot, here for Kat Wednesday). The hearing was divided into three panels with a length break (over an hour) between the second and the third panel. The first panel was composed of women veterans: Grace After Fire's Kayla Williams, Disabled American Veterans' Joy J. Ilem, Service Women's Action Network's Anuradha Bhagwati, Wounded Warrior Project's Dawn Halfaker and National Association of State Women Veterans Coordinators, Inc and the Texas Veterans Commission's Delilah Washburn. The second panel was composed of GAO's Randall Williamson, Society's for Women's Health Research and Georgetown University Medical Center's Janice L. Krupnick. Panel three was made up of VA's Bradley Mayes, Patrica Hayes, Lawrence Deyton and Irene Trowell-Harris. We'll focus on the first panel.
In his opening remarks, Subcommittee Chair Hall addressed some of the recent Congressional hearings:
I am particularly eager to recognize the women veterans in this room today and to be enlightened by their experiences with the Dept of Veterans Affairs. VA owes them the proper benefits and care -- just like their male counterparts. However, they are a unique population, since they comprise only 1.8 million of the 23.4 million veterans nationwide and deserve special attention. So VA's mission to care for them must not only be achieved but monitored and supported as well. Sadly, that is not always the case. In response to reports of disparities, during the 110th Congress the Disability Assitance and Memorial Affairs and Health Subcommittees held a joint hearing on women and minority veterans. This Congress too has been very active in its oversight activities to assist women veterans and a record number of them have testified at various hearings. Additionally, on May 20th, Chairman [Bob] Filner of the full [House] VA Committee hosted a special roundtable discussion with women veterans from all eras who were able to paint a picture of military life as a female in uniform and then as a disabled veteran entering the VA system. In many cases, they have served alongside their male counterparts but have not had the same recognition or treatment. Chairman Filner also hosted a viewing and discussion session with Team Lioness members who were on search operations and engaged in firefights but, since there is no citation or medal for this combat service, their claims are not always recognized by VA as valid, so they are denied compensation.
Hall would also note, after the first panel's opening statements, that HR 3155, the Caregiver Assistance and Resource Enhancement Act, had been voted out of committee and referred to the House. Michael Michaud is the Chair of the Subcommittee On Health and we'll note this from his opening remarks:
Another example of this Committee's commitment to women veterans is our work on HR 1211, the Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act, which was introduced by Ms. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. My Subcommittee favorably reported this bill to the full Committee in early June and this important legislation passed the House recently on June 23, 2009. Specifically, HR 1211 requires key studies assessing the VA health care services provided to women veterans -- including an assessment of barriers. The bill also provides seven days of medical care for newborn children of women veterans receiving maternity care, authorizes a child care pilot program, requires mental health professionals to receive training on caring for veterans to serve on the VA's Advisory Committee On Wommen Veterans and the Advisory Committee On Minority Veterans. While we have made some progress on the issues facing women veterans, it is clear that more needs to be done. Just earlier this week, there was an article in MSNBC about the VA inadequately serving women veterans. This article described the key findings of a GAO report which reveald that no VA hospital or outpatient clinic is complying fully with federal privacy requirements. In other words, many VA facilities had gynecological tables that faced the door, including one door that opened to a waiting room. Beyond these privacy concers, VA facilities were built to serve male veterans and, therefore, do not accomodate the presence of children. This means that some women veterans have had to resort to changing babies' diapers on the floors of VA hospitals due to the absence of changing tables in the women's bathrooms. In light of these challenges which continue to face women veterans, it is important that we do more to address these issues.
US House Rep Harry Teague noted briefly, "I think that everybody has had enough of us talking about this issue and we need to hear from the experts and let them tell us what the problems are and what we need to do to ensure that all female veterans get a chance to get the help that they deserve and the benefits that they have earned." Which is a good lead in to the following exchanges.
Chair John Hall: I would start with Ms. Ilem and ask when the VA trains it's service officers does it provide special sensitivity training on issues pertinent to female veterans, for instance MST [Military Sexual Trauma}?
Joy Ilem: Yes, as far as I'm aware within our service program -- I mean, there's definitely discussion of MST claims. We have a number of women NSOs but it's provided to all our NSOs -- information about VA's, you know, manuals and regulations, looking for different evidence to help them support their claims and different ways that they can help.
Chair John Hall: How many of your service officers are female? Can they assist in developing claims even if a veteran is from another state?
.
Joy Ilem: Yes, our NSOs can provide services to anyone. I think in our NSO corps of about 260, I would have to look at the exact number, but I think there's a range of about 30 now. There's been a number of recent new hires of women veterans especially from OEF-OIF populations.
Chair John Hall: And the time that DAV has been working with these issues relating to women veterans, what is your observation on how well VA has responded to the concerns you've raised and how successfuly are they addressing those issues?
Joy Ilem: I think I mentioned in my testimony, one of the concerns I've had, I've been reaching out to the VA for some time and we would appreciate the subcommittee's assistance just to verify especially on the SAPRO, the DoD Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Office -- looking at their confidentiality policy issues, it appears that there's some problem they may have in being able to release those records even with the -- for restricted reports of military sexual assault -- even with the consent of the veteran and so trying to work with VA staff just to try and see if they're collaborating with them to work through some of these barriers and to make sure that their claim developers are aware of the SAPRO policies and where in each of the military services these records are kept and for how long? And can VA, with the consent of the veteran, get access to those reports which can include a physical examination as well as mental health and counseling treatment. So we think those records are critical and we would ask that the Subcommittee try to work to see if VA does in fact collaborate with SAPRO on those policies.
Chair John Hall: Thank you. And Ms. Bhagwati, is the lack of legal representation more determental to women when their claims are the result of a crime?
Anuradha Bhagwati: I'm sorry, sir, the lack of legal work?
Chair John Hall: Legal represenation.
Anuradha Bhagwati: Absolutely, sir. I'm finding that, without the assistance of an attorney, many of those legal claims would be left behind. It takes a lot of courage, stamina, finacial assistance for a veteran -- either male or female -- to pursue an appeal or reconsideration of a claim. A lot of pride and a lot of issues wrapped around a veteran's identity go into the claim process and when a claim is rejected by the VA -- even when the claim is deemed to be sort of sufficient to get an awarding of compensation -- when that denial happens, it can be life shattering. And many veterans, both male and female, just fall off the map.
Chair John Hall: I understand more all the time as we have these hearings about the issues surrounding reproting problems with MST, but what about domestic violence that takes place while the wife is on active duty? How are those instances of PTSD or other disabilities resulting from those injuries adjucated by the VA?
Anuradha Bhagwati: Sir, that remains to be seen. I think a lot of data as both the congressman and Ms. Halfaker pointed out has not been collected on domestic violence in particular. Right now, I can tell you anecdotally, we're working on a case in the marine corps with a -- an NCO who's going through through a commissioning program whose partner spent five days in jail for attempting to kill her and that partner who spent five days in jail is now at Officer Candidate School. So that shock factor -- it's almost unbelieveable that that can happen but there are ways around the system. And DoD needs to explore that.
Chair John Hall: Unfortunately, there are ways around the system not just for men who assault women but also for men who assault men. I know one case particulary that I'm familiar with in my district but it's more egregious and harder to rectify when it's an attack on a female soldier. Ms. Halfaker, for the more seriously injured female veteran is there an outreach effort made directly too them? Are there OEF-OIF coordinators trained to specifically interact with them regarding their needs?
Dawn Halfaker: Sir, I think there is much needed outreach programs. I don't think there is anything specifically targeted for women veterans and I think that's where you get a lot of women initially slipping through the cracks -- especially with the Guard Reserve component. I-I also believe that, you know, peer support is probably a good way to start advocating. It's been Wounded Warriors Project's experience that women -- and particularly this generation of veterans -- are much more responsive and receptive to kind of learning about programs and things like that through their peer network. So I think that the VA needs to explore ways to promote outreach using peer neatworks and things like that. As far as the OEF - OIF coordinators at the hospitals? I mean, it was my experience that there's a lot of inconsisitency and variablity. The VA facility that I go to, the model just to have any kind of coordinatior was stood up incredibly late and its my sense that the coordinators could use a lot more education on the specific programs and -and clinical care that women need and how women can best access thtat care.
Chair John Hall: Thank you. And Ms. Washburn, your suggestion to track MST data has been made by the Center for Women Veterans and its advisory committee but has not yet been implemetned by the VBA. How effective do you think the Center and the committee are in promoting these issue and acting as change agents on behalf of the women they represent?
Delilah Washburn: I believe those things that are imposed by Congress get done, I believe those recommendations sometimes do not.
Chair John Hall: Can you provide us with any more information on the training protocol that the state women veterans coordinator receive in order to assist veterans in filing claims? And secondly what outreach activites to your women's veterans coordinators or do your women's veterans coordinators already perform?
Delilah Washburn: Most of our women's veterans coordinators are also state service officers and are also acredited with other service organizations such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Military Order of the Purple Heart. So we hold more than just one military organization credential. So whenever we have the opportunity to counsel with our veterans, whether it's male or female, we have to maintain the accreditation that the Dept of Veterans Affairs mandates for service officers. So we have annual training, we have testing and we are proficient at doing those jobs as service officers. And in most cases with the new training force that we see in the regional offices with all the new employees that have bene hired, most of our service organizations and veteran coordinators are more knowledgable than the new VA employees. So we are doing the very best job that we can do to help train some of the new VA employees by pointing out things that they have missed in the letter of the law that says that they can grant benefits. So we're doing our very best job as service officers to continue to not only help them through the maze -- the bureacratic maze -- of getting their claims processed.
Chair John Hall: Thank you. And Ms. Williams, I'm going to ask you this question and then ask each of the other panelists so quickly, because my time is long expired here, quickly give me an answer if VA and the DoD could do one thing to better assist women veterans what would that be?
Kayla Williams: I believe that electronic medical records are absolutely imperative to prevent problems with lost paperwork and missing files and missing records. And that that would really help smooth the transition from the DoD to the VA.
Chair John Hall: Ms. Washburn?
Delilah Washburn: Yes, sir.
Chair John Hall: Ms. Halfaker? I'm just asking for an answer to that same question, just quick if you could.
Delilah Washburn: The one thing that I think that they could do immediately that will make a difference, and not just for gender specific issues, we're talking about we no longer have to worry about providing the stressor for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. If you're in combat its conceeded. And let's press on with getting a diagnosis and write those claims and get them off the table because the near million claims that are pending is just something that we cannot continue to live with. It's a barrier to veterans getting their benefits.
Chair John Hall: Thank you for the wonderful endorsement of my bill HR 952.
Dawn Halfaker: Outreach.
Chair John Hall: Outreach. Ms. Bhagwati? Microphone please.
Anaradha Bhagwati: Sorry, sir. One thing on the DoD side would be enforcement of VO policy and sexual assault policy. On the VA side, it would be education and training of claims officers about what it's like to be a woman in uniform.
Joy Ilem: I think just true collaboration on all levels within VA, VHA and VVA would be really extremely important. There's just so many areas where they can benefit working together to really solve the problem. It just can't be done piece meal. It helps to work on the preventative side with DoD and during that transition period for women coming to VA.
Chair John Hall: Thank you. And if our members from the Disability Assistance Committe would not object, I would go to our only member of the Health Committee who's here, Ms. Brown.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Thank you, Mr. Chairmen. And thank you for holding this hearing. I'm going to be real brief. You know, in the early 90s, I called for the first women veterans hearings and then we had a roundtable discsuon a couple of months ago and it seems as if things have not improved. And part of it is the culture. What, if you were making recommendations to the VA or to the Congress, what would you recommend that we do to change the culture and that's for all the panelists? We can start with Ms. Williams?
Kayla Williams: That's a great question and I think one that both the Dept of Defense and the VA are struggling with every day.I truly believe that this conflict is going to change the way that women are treated within the military and the VA because young leaders, young soldiers and service members, they serve alongside women in combat. As they grow in their leadership positions through time, they're used to serving alongside women they're beginning to recognize that women are service members too -- that they aren't just females that happened to show up sometimes. And that change in attitude will slowly trickle through the rest of the system but that's going to take a very long time. I do think that cultural change can also come from systemic changes. When I first got out of the military I went to the VA facility in Washington, DC, which I must admit was an atrocious experience for me. The facility was not clean, I was not given coordinated care and I had a truly unpleaseant experience that scared me away from the VA for many years. Just last month, I went to the VA facility in Martinsburg, West Virgingia and had a profoundly different experience at their OEF - OIF integrated care clinic. I saw several providers, I was led from one appointment to the other to make sure that I knew where I was going. I was sensitively asked about MST, about my combat experiences. And this model is one that I think is worthy of emulation though it may not be perfect in every facility. They also have a women's care clinic. So I know that by putting these facilites in place, staffing them with the right people, that proper care can be given.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: When you first went to the facilities that was in when? When you first?
Kayla Williams: I went to the DC VA in 2006 and then I went to the Martinsburg VA just last month.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Yes, ma'am?
Delilah Washburn: That's an excellent question. There are several points that I would like to share with you. In today's culture, I could see just from the veterans that talk with us that some of the problems that they face is that now we have appointments that come in the mail to us and we're notified of five or six different appointments. They're not on the same day and these are people that are trying to hold a job down. And they just cannot go to all of these appointments. So -- and then we have child care on top of that. So we have we can't take off from work, so the hours that they're being seen is an issue. We have children that we have to provide care for and -- because we can't take them to the VA, we already know that -- and those are concerns. And why can't we do a better job at scheduling? Why can't we provide it during hours that they're available? If its once a month on a Saturday, why can't we do a women's clinic once a month on a Saturday? If we're doing women's health on Wednesday, why can't we do that from noon to six p.m. to give them an opprotunity to go after work? And where that there would be someone else to help with children? So those are some things that we need to look at that I think culturally we have to change. When we're talking about Military Sexual Trauma, there are so many of the cases that are identified by DoD and where DoD is taking action under the Uniform Military Code of Justice and we already see that these women are having medial problems -- physical as well as mental health issues -- and why don't we get them through the medical evaluation process because that is a disability. And it would help us if DoD would step up and if they have an opportunity to be awarded a military evaluation board or a PEB board, lets get it done because we are finding all too often, after we do finally get them through the VA syste, we're going back to do correction on military record. So DoD could do a better job. If it's an opportunity where they can meet the requirements of medical evaluation, lets get it done.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Those are some very good suggestions and I don't know why we can't do that Saturday or Sunday afternoon and have someone there to take care of the kids. I mean, I don't see why we can't. Because you were talking about the waiting list and what did you say was the waiting list for women?
Delilah Washburn: We do have appointments that come out through the VA computer system that will often times not consolildate to get you there on one day and often times we have folks that are coming in from a rural area, that's traveling 100 or 200 miles to the large VA medical center. So that's a hardship, transportation is a hardship.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Right, transportation is a hardship. Question do we have any, and I've been thinking about it, do we give any kind of a gas voucher or anything like that?
Delilah Washburn: There are some organizations, whether it's Disabled American Veterans where they have a transportation program, there are some organizations, Veterans of Foreign Wars they give vouchers, and often times the VA medical centers have monies for that as well but it's not the norm and not everyone knows that they can get help. We're just not advertising it.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Okay. Thank you. Next. I don't have much time. Next? Yes, ma'am?
Dawn Halfaker: Yeah, I think that, you know, perception and culture can change through action and I think, you know, some of the recommendations that Wounded Warriors Project is prepared to make are actions such as outreach, peer support, consistency in the way VA delivers care and services to women veterans. And it's interesting, I've had the exact same experiences as Ms. Williams. First went to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to the VA facility in Washington, DC. and just had horrible experience after experience there. And again, they are -- they've made some strides in trying to coordinate a OEF - OIF care model where they have, you know, the case managers and things lik that but again it's not -- I don't think that the women veterans who are continuing to recevie care have actually felt any of the changes and certainly there's been no change in culture at that particulra VA.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: And this is the one in DC?
Dawn Halfaker: Yes, ma'am.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Is it just bad for women or is it bad for everybody?
Dawn Halfaker: I think that would be a good question. I mean, I think that it was initially bad for me just because, you know, when you do just walk through the doors to the VA, it's very -- it's not a pleasant environment. And it's not a safe environment. You know, often times you may encounter somebody yelling, cat calling at you, making a crude remark and it's just, I think, a true culture shock going from the military where that would never be tolerated to a VA facility where you're trying to get care and, you know, you're uncomfortable.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: You know this is the second or third time I've heard about the cat calls and I just don't know how you deal with it because they're not in the military any longer, they're civilains. And you know we face this probelm if we're walking down the street and we see a work crew or something.
Dawn Halfaker: Yes, ma'am, I think that-that it's a leadership issue and, you know, if I was the director of that hospital, I would do whatever I had to do to ensure that that environment couldn't happen so I think it's a leaderhsip issue.
Kayla Williams: And, if I may, ma'am, I do believe that that facility inadequately serves both male and female veterans. My husband's care at that VA was so bad. He was sent back and forth between multiple clinics, told he was in the wrong place, his paper work was lost, he felt that the doctors didn't care about him. His experience there was so bad that he has since refused to go back to the VA at all and relies exclusively on civilian providers even though they are less familiar with blast injuries and post-traumatic stress that results form combat.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Just quickly.
Anuradha Bhagwati: Ma'am, my personal exprinces with the VA hospital in New York City have been personally devestating and I pay out of pocket for as much care as I need. I use the VA right now for emergency care. You know, I've experienced MST and I had a very bad expereince with a claim. It doesn't take much to disappoint me right now with VA care. I-I every time I walk in there I go with open arms, a generous spirit, I hope to be received well. And there are some fantastic health care providers there, but there are, by and large, both male and female staff members and medical staff do not understand what its like to be a woman in uniform.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: You know and I've had, when I've said part of the problem is the VA and the number and when I've suggested that perhaps we may need to do vouchers so people can go outside, I got real push back from the women. So I mean, if the service is not there, what can we do to change the system? And when I talk to women veterans well they want to go to the VA but the service isn't what they want.
Anuradha Bhagwati: Well ma'am, I think we need to push the VA to provide equal services for women. That needs to be done comprehenslivly. We can't give up on the VA but I need to stress that, especially for women who have been traumatized, now that can be through sexual trauma, post-traumatic stress from combat, whatever the case may be, if they're expereinceing negative epsidoses at the Va hosptials they may just turn away and never come back and so fee-based care needs to be an option. If you talk to women who've been working around MST for awhile, they will -- I would say by and large they agree that fee-based care needs to be accesible for surivors of MST whether that's --
US House Rep Corrine Brown: It should be an option?
Anuradha Bhagwati: Aboslutely.
US House Rep Corrine Brown: Okay, that's what I'm thinking. Yes, ma'am?
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"We could have had someone great!"
"Ron Jacobs, Margaret Kimberley"
"Gay Liberation Movement"
"Worst Drama Queen in the World"
"THIS JUST IN! WORST DRAMA QUEEN IN THE WORLD!"
Thursday, July 16, 2009
THIS JUST IN! WORST DRAMA QUEEN IN THE WORLD!
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
UNITED STATES ARMY MAJOR STEFAN FREDERICK COOK IS A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR WHO HAS REFUSED TO SERVE IN AFGHANISTAN.
THE MILTIARY HAS SCHEDULED A TRIAL TO DETERMINE WHETHER HE CAN REFUSE OR NOT. HIS GROUNDS ARE THAT HE DOES NOT BELIEVE BARACK OBAMA, CELEBRITY IN CHIEF, IS A U.S. CITIZEN.
FOR STATING THAT, HE'S BEEN RIDICULED AND SINCE THE ONLY ONE PRESENT IN THE DELIVERY ROOM WAS STANLEY DUNHAM AND SHE'S NOW DEAD, MUST BE A LOT OF MEN AND WOMEN THINK THEIR NIPPLES NURSED BARRY.
IF HE'S A U.S. CITIZEN IT SHOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM. IF HE'S NOT, HE'S NOT. THE MAJOR'S OPINION IS HIS OWN AND HE'S ENTITLED TO HAVE IT IN A TRUE DEMOCRACY. IF BARACK PROVIDED PROOF THAT HE WAS A U.S. CITIZEN, THE MAJOR COULD STILL BELIEVE WHAT HE WANTED. THAT'S HOW DEMOCRACY WORKS.
IT'S ALL SO CONFUSING FOR . . . THE WORST DRAMA QUEEN IN THE WORLD!
KEITH OLBERMANN TOOK TO HIS SHOW TONIGHT TO CALL THE ARMY A COWARD AND WORSE. SOFT PUNK KEITH WANTED THE WORLD TO KNOW -- OR AT LEAST MSNBC'S TINY AUDIENCE TO KNOW -- THAT, DURING VIETNAM, HE DECIDED IF THEY DRAFTED HIM, HE WOULDN'T GO AND THAT HE WAS APPALLED THAT "MAJOR COOK DOESN'T HAVE THE GUTS TO DO THAT."
CONFESSIONS OF A MIDDLE AGED DRAMA QUEEN ARE NEVER PRETTY.
DURING VIETNAM?
KEITH OLBERMANN WAS BORN IN JANUARY OF 1959. THEN-SENATOR MIKE GRAVEL ENDED THE DRAFT IN 1971 VIA A FILUBUSTER. THE DRAFT ENDED WHEN
KEITH WAS 12-YEARS-OLD. BUT HE WANTS TO PRETEND LIKE HE WAS AN ADULT DURING VIETNAM AND MAKING DIFFICULT DECISIONS, MAN.
DRAMA QUEEN.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Yesterday's snapshot covered the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing on women veterans health care issues. Senator Daniel Akaka chaired the committee hearing. Kat covered the hearing last night. And? Not a lot more going on. Adam Levine (CNN) filed a strong report and emphasized the GAO:
The report by the Government Accountability Office found wide variation in the medical centers' facilities and programs for female veterans. Investigators visited 18 veterans' facilities and found that basic services, like pelvic examinations, were being provided and that patients had access to female providers for gender-specific care. But the facilities were lacking in some simpler accommodations, such as the configuration of exam rooms and privacy in check-in areas. The department says it is taking comprehensive steps to improve, including programs for primary care and mental health care for female veterans, along with having a female veterans' program manager in each of its medical facilities.
McClatchy's Carrie Williams covered it with an overview of the hearing and Kimberly Hefling (AP) covered the hearing and noted, "Female veterans told the Senate Veterans' Affairs committee that VA workers need to be better educated about combat situations that women face in the two ongoing wars. Beyond privacy concerns, there are other issues as well, they said, such as a lack of child care at VA hospitals and difficulty in finding diaper-changing tables." Today the Committee released the following statement:
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, held an oversight hearing to outline gaps in VA care for women veterans and highlight strategies to bridge those gaps. Akaka gathered a panel of women veterans and representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Government Accountability Office to share their personal experiences and views on the VA system. The witness testimony yesterday illustrated the gap between the Department's wide array of services for women veterans and the actual experiences of many women veterans.
"VA plans many valuable programs and services for women veterans. However, our witnesses demonstrated that VA must do more than just set mandates -- the Department must ensure that women veterans know about the services available to them and are given assistance to receive them," said Akaka.
Witnesses included:
• Genevieve Chase, a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, and founder and executive director of American Women Veterans. During her service in OEF, Ms. Chase was attacked by a suicide vehicle-borne, improvised explosive device (IED) and returned home with symptoms of PTSD and TBI.
• Jennifer Olds, who served during the first Gulf War. She discussed her experiences dealing with Military Sexual Trauma (MST), the difficulties of rehabilitating, and the strengths and weaknesses of the care she received at VA.
• Kayla Williams, who was part of the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003 and is currently on the Board of Directors of Grace After Fire. As a soldier with the 101st Airborne Division (Airborne Assault), she came under small arms fire and was mortared -- an experience she shares with other women veterans despite the myth that female servicemembers don't experience combat situations. She testified about VA care from her own experiences.
• Tia Christopher, a veteran and Women Veterans Coordinator for Swords to Plowshares. VA determined she has service connected PTSD associated with MST. She described for the committee the changes she has seen since her discharge eight years ago and the need for additional changes, such as child care for male and female veterans.
• Joy Ilem, a veteran and Deputy National Legislative Director for the Disabled American Veterans. She testified that when she left the service in the 1980s, there was little to no information for women veterans and that she neither recognized herself as a veteran or knew she was entitled to VA benefits for disabilities she incurred in service. Two decades later, Ms. Ilem feels that VA is finally taking steps in the right direction to address the needs of women veterans.
The Veterans Health Care Reauthorization Act (S. 252), Chairman Akaka's omnibus veterans' health care bill that was unanimously approved by the Committee earlier this summer includes provisions to help VA understand why outreach to women veterans is falling short by identifying the barriers women veterans face when seeking care from VA. S.252 would also authorize VA to:
• Implement a program to educate, train, and certify professionals to provide MST-related mental health care (more background here); • Establish a pilot program to provide child care for veterans who require intensive care and are primary caretakers; • Report to Congress whether there is at least one full-time women veterans' program manager at each VA Medical Center; and • Provide care for the newborns of eligible women veterans.
The Chairman's opening statement, as well as the witnesses' written testimony including the Government Accountability Office's audit of VA health care for women, is available here.
And we'll revisit the second panel, composed of women veternas: Grace After Fire's Kayla Williams, Iraq Veteran Project Swords to Plowshares' Tia Christopher, the VFW's Jennifer Olds, American Women Veterans' Genevieve Chase and Disabled American Veterans' Joy J. Ilem, briefly to note Senator Patty Murray's round of questions.
Senator Patty Murray: Ms. Williams, you mentioned that you were both a care giver and a care seeker. You're husband was in the military. I assume that that is fairly common for a woman to be married to a fellow military officer and be in the same position. What can be done to help us care for women veterans who are not only dealing with their own readjustment issues but our dealing with spouse or children as well?
Kayla Williams: I think that it's important that care be more comprehensive. And you're right, the percentages are very high. Among active duty enlisted married female service members, over 50% are married to other service members -- compared to only 8% of their male peers. And my husband and I were both enlisted. I know that the VA is trying very hard to do outreach. I once got a call, for example, asking if I had sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury as part of their outreach efforts to make sure that they're catching everybody. And I said, "No, I didn't but I'm glad you called because my husband did and our family is in shambles right now I don't know how to hold myself together and my family together and keep my job and I'm struggling really hard here. And he said, "Well I can't really help you with that. I'm calling to ask if you've suffered a brain injury." And that's the way that I think that we can try to make sure that we're addressing entire families. If you have one -- if you have a service member who has sustained an injury -- both while they're in the DoD and once they've transitioned to VA care -- making sure that their familiy is being taken care of is an important step. I know The VA does not cover care for family members but if they learn that the spouse is also a veteran, it's important that they take the extra step and reach out and contact them proactively and ask if they need help as a caregiver. And, of course, this does apply to both male and female spouses, it's just the number of female spouses is much higher.
US Senator Patty Murray: I hear a lot from women about the access of child care being a barrier to the VA. You, several of you, mentioned this in your testimony and I don't think a lot of people realize that you tell a woman there's no child care, they just simply don't go, they don't get their health care. Do you for all the panelists, do you think that the VA providing child care would increase the number of women veterans who go to the VA and get the care that they need? Joy?
Joy Ilem: I would say definitely. I think researchers have repeatedly shown this as a barrier for women veterans and that's the frustration, you know? How many research surveys do you have to do when women keep saying this is a barrier to access for care? And I think it was Kayla who mentioned the experience of someone who was told it was inappropriate for them to bring their child with them and some of these very personalized for appointments for mental health or other things -- it may be very difficult but they have no other choice. I think it would definitely be a benefit and we would see an increase in the number of women veterans who would probably come to VA.
Senator Patty Murray: Ms. Williams?
Kayla Williams: I definitely think that usage rates of the VA would increase if women knew that they had child care available. There are a variety of innovative ways that we could try to address the problem of women having to balance their needs of child care with their needs to get services. Among them would be increasing the availability of tele-help and tele-medicine where women don't have to necessarily go all the way to a remote facility and spend four hours trying to get to and from and then be in-care. And there are also opportunities for innovative programs. For example, the VA has small business loans available if they could provide loans to women veterans who want to provide child care facilities near VA facilities, that would be a great way to try to marry these two needs. There are also a lot of community organizations that stand ready and waiting to help that would be happy just given a small office to staff it with volunteers and be able to provide that care for the time that a woman has to be in appointment. I think, as many others have said, the specific solutions may vary by location but there are a lot of innovative way that we could forge public-private partnerships to try to meet these needs.
We'll be covering the topic again tomorrow. If you use the link in the press release from the Committee, you'll not only have their written testimony, you'll also have the option of streaming the hearing. Genevive Chase was on the second panel and she was part of last Wednesday's Voices of Honor press conference. US House Rep Patrick Murphy is gathering public attention to the need to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Monday he was on the start of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show with USA Today's Susan Page filling in for Diane.
Susan Page: Before we go to our panel, though, we're joined on the phone from Bucks County Pennsylvania by Patrick Murphy. He's the Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania's eight district and an Iraq War veteran. Congressman, thank you for joining us.
US House Rep Patrick Murphy: Thanks so much, Susan, for having me on. I appreciate it.
Susan Page: Now last week you announced that you would lead an effort to get Congress to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. What - what would your bill do?
US House Rep Patrick Murphy: Sure. It will repeal the discrimantory practice which is in effect right now: The Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy does not allow the gay soldiers to serve openly in the military. And, Susan, the reason why this policy needs to be repealed, uh, right away is because it is hurting our national security. We have let go over 13,000 troops. That's over three-and-a-half combat brigades at a time when our troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and we need every qualified and able-bodied individual to serve in our military.
Susan Page: Now what kind of experiences did you have on this issue when you were serving in Iraq?
US House Rep Patrick Murphy: Sure. Well first, you know, when I was in Baghdad as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, you know, there were obviously gay soldiers [. . .] there were gay soldiers serving with us. You know, it's, people knew it but they didn't talk about it. The fact is that our troops, when they're - when they're in Baghdad or whether they're in Kabul, Afghanistan, they don't care whether you're gay or straight, what religion you are, what color you are, what creed you are, they care whether or not you can fire an M4 assault rifle, whether or not you can kick down a door, can you get the job done. That's the important thing, not what your orientation is.
Susan Page: Now President Obama campaigned last year during the presidential election opposing Don't Ask, Don't Tell so why not have him issue an executive order that would change this policy or lift it?
US House Rep Patrick Murphy: Sure. Well first it was an act of Congress that put this all into place, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. And it will take an act of Congress to repeal it. You know, when I was a Democrat -- and I've only been in Congress, as you know Susan, for two and a half years -- you know I used to have a hard time and I used to criticize President Bush when we would pass laws and he would have these executive signing statements that basically would say, "I know Congress passed such and such, but we're going to ignore that part of it." That's not having the proper respect for co-equal government.
And it just got worse, oh so much worse. Patrick apparently believes you're Dumb Ass Stupid and unaware that Barack's doing the same signing statements today -- most recently with regards to the IMF issue in his war supplemental. And there's something really pathetic about the approach he's pushing. I'm not talking about his shameful covering for Barry O. I'm talking about this bulls**t of, "Our national interest!" What does it remind you of because it reminds me of Bette Midler in Big Business at the big stock holder meeting saying that they're appealing to your instinct to "Save your own ass!" It's really pitching it to the lowest, basest argument around and, in doing so, it's telling you a great deal about how the American people are seen. It's disgusting.
How sad that America can't be asked to do anything for equality apparently. I do wonder what that says about how we see ourselves. And, remember, on this issue, we lag behind. We're not leaders. Is that what happens when we're not leaders, we can no longer appeal to people to do the right thing? We have to be selfish and say, "It's hurting this or that?" That's a lousy argument in reality. Now we need the best military? Now? I would assume anyone serving in the eighties or seventies would assume that they needed the best military. I appreciate that Patrick Murphy is speaking of the topic (all that's taking place is speaking -- if the House wanted to vote on this, they already would have, we'll come back to that point) but I didn't "serve with gays and lesbians in the military." I am friends with gays and lesbians and I have family members who are gays and lesbians. It's not an issue that's going to come up every few years at some military reunion for me, it's a regular part of the fabric of human life. And I'm very aware that there is a growing vocal disgust within the gay community over the way this is being presented. Fair is fair, right is right. This is the United States of America and we are all supposed to be equal. Anytime that argument isn't made -- with or without 'oh the money it costs us!', it is heard by an increasingly vocal segment of the LGBT community as, "Your life is too 'icky' for us to defend on the grounds of fairness." That's offensive. And it's all the more so when it comes from a would-be gay-leader assoicated with the campign who an actual gay rights leader refers to as "The self-loathing Bette Midler freak -- who is all for that approach -- and he apparently enjoys seeing himself as 'icky' when getting 'freaky' -- but Gay Pride long ago made self-loathing unfashionable." If you want to get serious, get serious. Playing the economy card isn't getting serious. Playing the scare people with fear ("National security!") isn't getting serious. Now you can include those reasons as part of a tapestry of reasons why the policy needs to be repealed; however, if you're not also making the fairness argument, you're being insulting -- and it doesn't matter if you're straight or gay, you are being insulting to the LGBT community. The Voices org plans to go on tour. They better their act together before they do or plan to play to just straight audiences because I knew about Murphy's appearance Monday and just intended to ignore them (I also thought -- on the same broadcast -- Julian E. Barnes made an ass out of himself -- along with demonstrating he doesn't actually know the law). But I live in the Bay Area and we don't play the Plessy v. Ferguson game with each other out there. Translation, very vocal leaders from that area are complaining and raised the issue. I listened, their complaints and valid and we will cover it.
And here's the big point. Fairness needs to be argued because it is a value. An actual value. One enshrined in the Constitution of the United States. Long after Don't Ask, Don't Tell is gone, the LGBT community and other communities will still need the fairness argument for equality. So no one -- straight, gay, bi, non-sexual, what have you -- benefits when the fairness argument is tossed aside. Is it worth it, though, in the short term, when the US could see the hideous Don't Ask, Don't Tell repealed. Don't Ask, Don't Tell isn't getting repealed anytime soon.
Congress doesn't give a damn about changing this policy. This is a song-and-dance to take the heat of Barack. That's the reality. I will assume Patrick is serious about this issue. Ellen Tauscher was. But the White House doesn't want this. (And I know that from friends at the White House which is another reason we're covering this topic so strongly today.) And it's not happening short of intense pressure (the October rally in DC could apply tremendous pressure). The myth is that Barry O wants to repeal it. And that he's tasked Congress with getting a bill on his desk so he can repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The reality is that House and Senate leadership (Democratic control of both houses) would be putting it to a vote immediately if that's what Barack really wanted. He doesn't want it and the leadership is attempting to bury it. The bill's written, it's called the Military Readiness Enahncement Act of 2009. Ellen Tauscher introduced it March 3, 2009. It's July 15th. There has been no vote despite the fact that there are 161 sponsors. Now that's the House. In the Senate? Allegedly the issue will be steered by Ted Kennedy. Other than Senator Roland Burris, no one in the Senate has spoken publicly in support of changing it in the last few weeks when it's been a major topic in the press. As for Kennedy leading on it? He has other issues including his own health and promoting his upcoming book. So you have a bill that, if the House leadership was serious, they'd be voting on tomorrow. They're not. The White House doesn't want it and leadership in the House is blocking a vote. (In the Senate there is no action at all.) So, sorry, we're not gong to be silent when the LGBT community is being treated as a concern only out of fear and not out of fairness. That's a short sighted argument and it really is insulting. It wouldn't cut for Civil Rights, it wouldn't cut it for universal suffrage, it wouldn't cut it to end slavery. But someone thinks it's okay to make it the sole argument for ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell? There's an LGBT history moment the country should run from: In 2010, due to national security fears, Don't Ask, Don't Tell was finally repealed. Said Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, "I don't have to like them, I don't have to respect them and you better believe I won't let them marry! But I care about national security so even these 'pervs' get my support." (Sessions didn't say that but it's not very far from what he would say if it passed.)
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
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"LGBT, Charles Taylor"
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"Charles Taylor"
"'Suceed' at what Debby Jacobs?"
"Adam Levine, Debra Sweet"
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"White House maintains it was suicide"
"THIS JUST IN! DEATH SHOCKS WHITE HOUSE"
UNITED STATES ARMY MAJOR STEFAN FREDERICK COOK IS A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR WHO HAS REFUSED TO SERVE IN AFGHANISTAN.
THE MILTIARY HAS SCHEDULED A TRIAL TO DETERMINE WHETHER HE CAN REFUSE OR NOT. HIS GROUNDS ARE THAT HE DOES NOT BELIEVE BARACK OBAMA, CELEBRITY IN CHIEF, IS A U.S. CITIZEN.
FOR STATING THAT, HE'S BEEN RIDICULED AND SINCE THE ONLY ONE PRESENT IN THE DELIVERY ROOM WAS STANLEY DUNHAM AND SHE'S NOW DEAD, MUST BE A LOT OF MEN AND WOMEN THINK THEIR NIPPLES NURSED BARRY.
IF HE'S A U.S. CITIZEN IT SHOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM. IF HE'S NOT, HE'S NOT. THE MAJOR'S OPINION IS HIS OWN AND HE'S ENTITLED TO HAVE IT IN A TRUE DEMOCRACY. IF BARACK PROVIDED PROOF THAT HE WAS A U.S. CITIZEN, THE MAJOR COULD STILL BELIEVE WHAT HE WANTED. THAT'S HOW DEMOCRACY WORKS.
IT'S ALL SO CONFUSING FOR . . . THE WORST DRAMA QUEEN IN THE WORLD!
KEITH OLBERMANN TOOK TO HIS SHOW TONIGHT TO CALL THE ARMY A COWARD AND WORSE. SOFT PUNK KEITH WANTED THE WORLD TO KNOW -- OR AT LEAST MSNBC'S TINY AUDIENCE TO KNOW -- THAT, DURING VIETNAM, HE DECIDED IF THEY DRAFTED HIM, HE WOULDN'T GO AND THAT HE WAS APPALLED THAT "MAJOR COOK DOESN'T HAVE THE GUTS TO DO THAT."
CONFESSIONS OF A MIDDLE AGED DRAMA QUEEN ARE NEVER PRETTY.
DURING VIETNAM?
KEITH OLBERMANN WAS BORN IN JANUARY OF 1959. THEN-SENATOR MIKE GRAVEL ENDED THE DRAFT IN 1971 VIA A FILUBUSTER. THE DRAFT ENDED WHEN
KEITH WAS 12-YEARS-OLD. BUT HE WANTS TO PRETEND LIKE HE WAS AN ADULT DURING VIETNAM AND MAKING DIFFICULT DECISIONS, MAN.
DRAMA QUEEN.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Yesterday's snapshot covered the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing on women veterans health care issues. Senator Daniel Akaka chaired the committee hearing. Kat covered the hearing last night. And? Not a lot more going on. Adam Levine (CNN) filed a strong report and emphasized the GAO:
The report by the Government Accountability Office found wide variation in the medical centers' facilities and programs for female veterans. Investigators visited 18 veterans' facilities and found that basic services, like pelvic examinations, were being provided and that patients had access to female providers for gender-specific care. But the facilities were lacking in some simpler accommodations, such as the configuration of exam rooms and privacy in check-in areas. The department says it is taking comprehensive steps to improve, including programs for primary care and mental health care for female veterans, along with having a female veterans' program manager in each of its medical facilities.
McClatchy's Carrie Williams covered it with an overview of the hearing and Kimberly Hefling (AP) covered the hearing and noted, "Female veterans told the Senate Veterans' Affairs committee that VA workers need to be better educated about combat situations that women face in the two ongoing wars. Beyond privacy concerns, there are other issues as well, they said, such as a lack of child care at VA hospitals and difficulty in finding diaper-changing tables." Today the Committee released the following statement:
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, held an oversight hearing to outline gaps in VA care for women veterans and highlight strategies to bridge those gaps. Akaka gathered a panel of women veterans and representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Government Accountability Office to share their personal experiences and views on the VA system. The witness testimony yesterday illustrated the gap between the Department's wide array of services for women veterans and the actual experiences of many women veterans.
"VA plans many valuable programs and services for women veterans. However, our witnesses demonstrated that VA must do more than just set mandates -- the Department must ensure that women veterans know about the services available to them and are given assistance to receive them," said Akaka.
Witnesses included:
• Genevieve Chase, a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, and founder and executive director of American Women Veterans. During her service in OEF, Ms. Chase was attacked by a suicide vehicle-borne, improvised explosive device (IED) and returned home with symptoms of PTSD and TBI.
• Jennifer Olds, who served during the first Gulf War. She discussed her experiences dealing with Military Sexual Trauma (MST), the difficulties of rehabilitating, and the strengths and weaknesses of the care she received at VA.
• Kayla Williams, who was part of the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003 and is currently on the Board of Directors of Grace After Fire. As a soldier with the 101st Airborne Division (Airborne Assault), she came under small arms fire and was mortared -- an experience she shares with other women veterans despite the myth that female servicemembers don't experience combat situations. She testified about VA care from her own experiences.
• Tia Christopher, a veteran and Women Veterans Coordinator for Swords to Plowshares. VA determined she has service connected PTSD associated with MST. She described for the committee the changes she has seen since her discharge eight years ago and the need for additional changes, such as child care for male and female veterans.
• Joy Ilem, a veteran and Deputy National Legislative Director for the Disabled American Veterans. She testified that when she left the service in the 1980s, there was little to no information for women veterans and that she neither recognized herself as a veteran or knew she was entitled to VA benefits for disabilities she incurred in service. Two decades later, Ms. Ilem feels that VA is finally taking steps in the right direction to address the needs of women veterans.
The Veterans Health Care Reauthorization Act (S. 252), Chairman Akaka's omnibus veterans' health care bill that was unanimously approved by the Committee earlier this summer includes provisions to help VA understand why outreach to women veterans is falling short by identifying the barriers women veterans face when seeking care from VA. S.252 would also authorize VA to:
• Implement a program to educate, train, and certify professionals to provide MST-related mental health care (more background here); • Establish a pilot program to provide child care for veterans who require intensive care and are primary caretakers; • Report to Congress whether there is at least one full-time women veterans' program manager at each VA Medical Center; and • Provide care for the newborns of eligible women veterans.
The Chairman's opening statement, as well as the witnesses' written testimony including the Government Accountability Office's audit of VA health care for women, is available here.
And we'll revisit the second panel, composed of women veternas: Grace After Fire's Kayla Williams, Iraq Veteran Project Swords to Plowshares' Tia Christopher, the VFW's Jennifer Olds, American Women Veterans' Genevieve Chase and Disabled American Veterans' Joy J. Ilem, briefly to note Senator Patty Murray's round of questions.
Senator Patty Murray: Ms. Williams, you mentioned that you were both a care giver and a care seeker. You're husband was in the military. I assume that that is fairly common for a woman to be married to a fellow military officer and be in the same position. What can be done to help us care for women veterans who are not only dealing with their own readjustment issues but our dealing with spouse or children as well?
Kayla Williams: I think that it's important that care be more comprehensive. And you're right, the percentages are very high. Among active duty enlisted married female service members, over 50% are married to other service members -- compared to only 8% of their male peers. And my husband and I were both enlisted. I know that the VA is trying very hard to do outreach. I once got a call, for example, asking if I had sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury as part of their outreach efforts to make sure that they're catching everybody. And I said, "No, I didn't but I'm glad you called because my husband did and our family is in shambles right now I don't know how to hold myself together and my family together and keep my job and I'm struggling really hard here. And he said, "Well I can't really help you with that. I'm calling to ask if you've suffered a brain injury." And that's the way that I think that we can try to make sure that we're addressing entire families. If you have one -- if you have a service member who has sustained an injury -- both while they're in the DoD and once they've transitioned to VA care -- making sure that their familiy is being taken care of is an important step. I know The VA does not cover care for family members but if they learn that the spouse is also a veteran, it's important that they take the extra step and reach out and contact them proactively and ask if they need help as a caregiver. And, of course, this does apply to both male and female spouses, it's just the number of female spouses is much higher.
US Senator Patty Murray: I hear a lot from women about the access of child care being a barrier to the VA. You, several of you, mentioned this in your testimony and I don't think a lot of people realize that you tell a woman there's no child care, they just simply don't go, they don't get their health care. Do you for all the panelists, do you think that the VA providing child care would increase the number of women veterans who go to the VA and get the care that they need? Joy?
Joy Ilem: I would say definitely. I think researchers have repeatedly shown this as a barrier for women veterans and that's the frustration, you know? How many research surveys do you have to do when women keep saying this is a barrier to access for care? And I think it was Kayla who mentioned the experience of someone who was told it was inappropriate for them to bring their child with them and some of these very personalized for appointments for mental health or other things -- it may be very difficult but they have no other choice. I think it would definitely be a benefit and we would see an increase in the number of women veterans who would probably come to VA.
Senator Patty Murray: Ms. Williams?
Kayla Williams: I definitely think that usage rates of the VA would increase if women knew that they had child care available. There are a variety of innovative ways that we could try to address the problem of women having to balance their needs of child care with their needs to get services. Among them would be increasing the availability of tele-help and tele-medicine where women don't have to necessarily go all the way to a remote facility and spend four hours trying to get to and from and then be in-care. And there are also opportunities for innovative programs. For example, the VA has small business loans available if they could provide loans to women veterans who want to provide child care facilities near VA facilities, that would be a great way to try to marry these two needs. There are also a lot of community organizations that stand ready and waiting to help that would be happy just given a small office to staff it with volunteers and be able to provide that care for the time that a woman has to be in appointment. I think, as many others have said, the specific solutions may vary by location but there are a lot of innovative way that we could forge public-private partnerships to try to meet these needs.
We'll be covering the topic again tomorrow. If you use the link in the press release from the Committee, you'll not only have their written testimony, you'll also have the option of streaming the hearing. Genevive Chase was on the second panel and she was part of last Wednesday's Voices of Honor press conference. US House Rep Patrick Murphy is gathering public attention to the need to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Monday he was on the start of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show with USA Today's Susan Page filling in for Diane.
Susan Page: Before we go to our panel, though, we're joined on the phone from Bucks County Pennsylvania by Patrick Murphy. He's the Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania's eight district and an Iraq War veteran. Congressman, thank you for joining us.
US House Rep Patrick Murphy: Thanks so much, Susan, for having me on. I appreciate it.
Susan Page: Now last week you announced that you would lead an effort to get Congress to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. What - what would your bill do?
US House Rep Patrick Murphy: Sure. It will repeal the discrimantory practice which is in effect right now: The Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy does not allow the gay soldiers to serve openly in the military. And, Susan, the reason why this policy needs to be repealed, uh, right away is because it is hurting our national security. We have let go over 13,000 troops. That's over three-and-a-half combat brigades at a time when our troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and we need every qualified and able-bodied individual to serve in our military.
Susan Page: Now what kind of experiences did you have on this issue when you were serving in Iraq?
US House Rep Patrick Murphy: Sure. Well first, you know, when I was in Baghdad as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, you know, there were obviously gay soldiers [. . .] there were gay soldiers serving with us. You know, it's, people knew it but they didn't talk about it. The fact is that our troops, when they're - when they're in Baghdad or whether they're in Kabul, Afghanistan, they don't care whether you're gay or straight, what religion you are, what color you are, what creed you are, they care whether or not you can fire an M4 assault rifle, whether or not you can kick down a door, can you get the job done. That's the important thing, not what your orientation is.
Susan Page: Now President Obama campaigned last year during the presidential election opposing Don't Ask, Don't Tell so why not have him issue an executive order that would change this policy or lift it?
US House Rep Patrick Murphy: Sure. Well first it was an act of Congress that put this all into place, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. And it will take an act of Congress to repeal it. You know, when I was a Democrat -- and I've only been in Congress, as you know Susan, for two and a half years -- you know I used to have a hard time and I used to criticize President Bush when we would pass laws and he would have these executive signing statements that basically would say, "I know Congress passed such and such, but we're going to ignore that part of it." That's not having the proper respect for co-equal government.
And it just got worse, oh so much worse. Patrick apparently believes you're Dumb Ass Stupid and unaware that Barack's doing the same signing statements today -- most recently with regards to the IMF issue in his war supplemental. And there's something really pathetic about the approach he's pushing. I'm not talking about his shameful covering for Barry O. I'm talking about this bulls**t of, "Our national interest!" What does it remind you of because it reminds me of Bette Midler in Big Business at the big stock holder meeting saying that they're appealing to your instinct to "Save your own ass!" It's really pitching it to the lowest, basest argument around and, in doing so, it's telling you a great deal about how the American people are seen. It's disgusting.
How sad that America can't be asked to do anything for equality apparently. I do wonder what that says about how we see ourselves. And, remember, on this issue, we lag behind. We're not leaders. Is that what happens when we're not leaders, we can no longer appeal to people to do the right thing? We have to be selfish and say, "It's hurting this or that?" That's a lousy argument in reality. Now we need the best military? Now? I would assume anyone serving in the eighties or seventies would assume that they needed the best military. I appreciate that Patrick Murphy is speaking of the topic (all that's taking place is speaking -- if the House wanted to vote on this, they already would have, we'll come back to that point) but I didn't "serve with gays and lesbians in the military." I am friends with gays and lesbians and I have family members who are gays and lesbians. It's not an issue that's going to come up every few years at some military reunion for me, it's a regular part of the fabric of human life. And I'm very aware that there is a growing vocal disgust within the gay community over the way this is being presented. Fair is fair, right is right. This is the United States of America and we are all supposed to be equal. Anytime that argument isn't made -- with or without 'oh the money it costs us!', it is heard by an increasingly vocal segment of the LGBT community as, "Your life is too 'icky' for us to defend on the grounds of fairness." That's offensive. And it's all the more so when it comes from a would-be gay-leader assoicated with the campign who an actual gay rights leader refers to as "The self-loathing Bette Midler freak -- who is all for that approach -- and he apparently enjoys seeing himself as 'icky' when getting 'freaky' -- but Gay Pride long ago made self-loathing unfashionable." If you want to get serious, get serious. Playing the economy card isn't getting serious. Playing the scare people with fear ("National security!") isn't getting serious. Now you can include those reasons as part of a tapestry of reasons why the policy needs to be repealed; however, if you're not also making the fairness argument, you're being insulting -- and it doesn't matter if you're straight or gay, you are being insulting to the LGBT community. The Voices org plans to go on tour. They better their act together before they do or plan to play to just straight audiences because I knew about Murphy's appearance Monday and just intended to ignore them (I also thought -- on the same broadcast -- Julian E. Barnes made an ass out of himself -- along with demonstrating he doesn't actually know the law). But I live in the Bay Area and we don't play the Plessy v. Ferguson game with each other out there. Translation, very vocal leaders from that area are complaining and raised the issue. I listened, their complaints and valid and we will cover it.
And here's the big point. Fairness needs to be argued because it is a value. An actual value. One enshrined in the Constitution of the United States. Long after Don't Ask, Don't Tell is gone, the LGBT community and other communities will still need the fairness argument for equality. So no one -- straight, gay, bi, non-sexual, what have you -- benefits when the fairness argument is tossed aside. Is it worth it, though, in the short term, when the US could see the hideous Don't Ask, Don't Tell repealed. Don't Ask, Don't Tell isn't getting repealed anytime soon.
Congress doesn't give a damn about changing this policy. This is a song-and-dance to take the heat of Barack. That's the reality. I will assume Patrick is serious about this issue. Ellen Tauscher was. But the White House doesn't want this. (And I know that from friends at the White House which is another reason we're covering this topic so strongly today.) And it's not happening short of intense pressure (the October rally in DC could apply tremendous pressure). The myth is that Barry O wants to repeal it. And that he's tasked Congress with getting a bill on his desk so he can repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The reality is that House and Senate leadership (Democratic control of both houses) would be putting it to a vote immediately if that's what Barack really wanted. He doesn't want it and the leadership is attempting to bury it. The bill's written, it's called the Military Readiness Enahncement Act of 2009. Ellen Tauscher introduced it March 3, 2009. It's July 15th. There has been no vote despite the fact that there are 161 sponsors. Now that's the House. In the Senate? Allegedly the issue will be steered by Ted Kennedy. Other than Senator Roland Burris, no one in the Senate has spoken publicly in support of changing it in the last few weeks when it's been a major topic in the press. As for Kennedy leading on it? He has other issues including his own health and promoting his upcoming book. So you have a bill that, if the House leadership was serious, they'd be voting on tomorrow. They're not. The White House doesn't want it and leadership in the House is blocking a vote. (In the Senate there is no action at all.) So, sorry, we're not gong to be silent when the LGBT community is being treated as a concern only out of fear and not out of fairness. That's a short sighted argument and it really is insulting. It wouldn't cut for Civil Rights, it wouldn't cut it for universal suffrage, it wouldn't cut it to end slavery. But someone thinks it's okay to make it the sole argument for ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell? There's an LGBT history moment the country should run from: In 2010, due to national security fears, Don't Ask, Don't Tell was finally repealed. Said Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, "I don't have to like them, I don't have to respect them and you better believe I won't let them marry! But I care about national security so even these 'pervs' get my support." (Sessions didn't say that but it's not very far from what he would say if it passed.)
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"THIS JUST IN! DEATH SHOCKS WHITE HOUSE"
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
THIS JUST IN! DEATH SHOCKS WHITE HOUSE
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
A BELOVED FRIEND OF THE WHITE HOUSE HAS PASSED AWAY.
THE DEATH WAS A SHOCKER AND A HUGE BLOW. BARRY O AND TELEPROMPTER WERE A TEAM LIKE BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID AND WERE POPULARLY KNOWN AS BEAUTY AND THE BRAIN.
MONDAY BARRY O WAS IN THE MIDST OF MUGGING AND GRINNING WHILE SPEAKING ABOUT THE ECONOMY AND THE TELEPROMPTER EXPLODED.
WHITE HOUSE SOURCES INSIST THE TELEPROMPTER HAD BEEN DEPRESSED ABOUT THE ECONOMY AS WELL AS BARACK'S DROP IN THE POLLS. IN ADDITION, THERE WERE RUMORS THAT TRAVEL FILES WERE FOUND IN TELEPROMPTER'S WHITE HOUSE OFFICE.
AT PRESENT THE DEATH IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
"Aloha and good morning to all of you," greeted US Senator Daniel Akaka after calling to order the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing this morning. "Welcome to this important hearing on VA's health care services for women veterans. We will be looking at programs already in the works to improve access to and the quality of care and other unique issues facing women veterans. Women veterans are the fastest growing segment of veterans. In 1988, when VA first began providing care to women, they were only 4% of the veteran population. Today the percentage of women veterans is nearing 8% and expected to rise substantially over the next two decades. So it is appropriate that we ask now, 'Is VA meeting the needs of women veterans?'" Appropriate and, as Senator Roland Burris put it, "long overdue." Last week, the Boston Globe's Bryan Bender wrote of the topic . . . by speaking to one man after another (one female veteran was also spoken to). It's always interesting when the media finally gives attention to an issue effecting women to see whether or not women are allowed to speak? Women spoke to the committee today. The hearing was broken up into two panels. The first panel was composed of the GAO's Randall B. Williamson and the Veterans Affairs Dept's Patricia Hayes. The second panel was composed of women veternas: Grace After Fire's Kayla Williams, Iraq Veteran Project Swords to Plowshares' Tia Christopher, the VFW's Jennifer Olds, American Women Veterans' Genevieve Chase and Disabled American Veterans' Joy J. Ilem.
Akaka is the Chair of the Committee, Senator Richar Burr is the Ranking Member. Burr noted, "North Carolina is no stranger to this growth. My home state ranks 6th in the total number of women veterans with just over 67,000 residing there." And we'll stay with that theme a moment to note a few basics before getting into the witness testimony. Senator Burris declared at the hearing, "Tremendous progress has been made already but I am concerned that only one-third of the veterans health facilities provide for the one-stop approach, an approach which shows the highest level of customer satisfication." By contrast, the outdated approach of the VA demands women go here, go there, go to a contracted physician while male veterans generally are able to go to one facility and have their basic primary health care needs addressed. The June 3rd snapshot covered the House Committee on Veterans Affairs committee for the hearing entitled "A National Commitment to End Veterans' Homelessness" and Vietnam Veterans of America's Marsha Four addressed the ways homelessness effects women veterans differently than male veterans and she noted "that there are very few programs in the country that are set up and designed specifically for homeless women veterans that are seperate [from male programs]. One of the problems that we've run into in a mixed gender setting is sort of two-fold. One, the women veterans do not have the opportunity to actually be in a separate group therapy environment because there are many issues that they simply will not divulge in mixed gender populations so those issues are never attended to. The other is that we believe, in a program, you need to focus on yourself and this is the time and place to do your issue, your deal. Many of the veterans too come from the streets so there's a lot of street behavior going on. S ome of the women -- and men -- but some of the women have participated in prostitution and so there's a difficult setting for any of them to actually focus on themselves without having all these other stressors come into play." At the May 21, 2008 Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, Senator Patty Murray observed that in today's conflict, "Some units, including military police, are using an increased number of females to fill jobs that were traditionally held by male personnel. And because of the conflicts of today, we have no clear frontlines and women, like all of our service members, are always on the frontline -- riding on dangerous patrols, guarding pivotal check opints and witnessing the horrows of war first hand." Murray also noted that despite there being 1.7 million women veterans, for some reason "only 255,00 of those women actually use the VA health care services." Why was that? In her town halls in Washington (state), Murray found out, "Some told me they had been intimidate by the VA and viewed the VA as a male only facility. Others simply told me that they couldn't find someone to watch their kids so they could attend a counseling session or find time for other care." At that hearing, the VA's Dr. Gerald Cross objected to the bill (Murray and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's bill, S. 2799, Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2008) stating that including the child care option for female veterans seeking "mental health care or other intensive health care services at the VA" would "divert funds." Senator Murray pointed out that in his own opening remarks, Cross was observing that lack of child care prevents some women from access "for mental health or other intensive services -- so you identified the lack of child care as a barrier [. . .] but you're unwilling to do anything about it?" Which was the case. And, for the record, the bill, though introduced two years in a row, has never been voted on in the full Senate. This year it has passed the Committee. July 6th of this year, Murray's office noted "that she has included $2 million to begin planning and design of a Women and Children's Center at Madigan Army Medical Center. The Women and Children's Center is necessary to provide health care and services to Fort Lewis' large and growing population of women and newborns. The facility would be the Army's first Women and Children's Center."
Staying with statistics, the VA's Patricia Hayes and the GAO's Williamson both broke down the numbers in their opening remarks.
* Over 1.8 million women veterans (as of October 2008)
* Over 102,000 are veterans of the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War
* 281,000 women veterans received some form of VA healt care in Fiscal Year 2008
* Estimated median age for male veterans 61; for women 47.
Hayes further broke down what the median age of 47 means, that female veterans "are younger and have health care needs distinct from their male counterparts. [. . .] Nearly all newly enrolled women veterans accessing VA care are under 40 and of child bearing age. This trend creates a need to shift how we provide health care. [. . .] Some women report that lack of newborn care and child care forces them to seek care elsewhere." In her written testimony, but not stated in her opening remarks, Hayes noted, "VA has identified that 37 percent of women Veterans who use VA health care have a mental health diagnosis; these rates are higher than those of male Veterans. Women Veternas also present with complex mental health needs, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), military sexual trauma (MST), and parenting and family issues." Williamson did make a passing reference to MST in his opening remarks but to round that out, this is a fact sheet on MST from NOW on PBS:
27% of men have experienced military sexual trauma 60% of women have experienced military sexual trauma 3.5% of men have experienced military sexual assault 23% of women have experienced military sexual assault 11% of women have experienced rape 1.2% of men have experienced rape Service branch with the highest percentage of women reporting sexual trauma: Marine Corps 20% of women seeking care at VA facilities have experienced sexual trauma 1% of men seeking care at VA facilities have experienced sexual trauma 8.3 percentage of women report lifetime PTSD related to MST More than half of the incidents took place at a military work site and during duty hours The majority of the offenders in these cases were military personnel Factors that increase risk of sexual assault for active duty females include presence of officers who condone or allow sexual harassment and unwanted sexual attention
For more information on the topic, the May 23, 2008 broadcast of NOW on PBS featured a report by Maria Hinojosa (produced by Karla Murthy) on MST. VETVOW is an organization that addresses MST. From today's hearing, we'll note the following exchange.
Chair Daniel Akaka: Dr. Hayes, thank you for your testimony. VA is poised to make some important changes to how care is delivered to women but in fairness, we seem to have a a bit of a disconnect between mandates and what is actually happening. I'm going to ask you a series of questions about this. First, VA has mandated that all VA medical centers appoint a full time Women Veterans Program Manager. Does every VA medical center have one in place?
Patricia Hayes: VA has reported, as you know, that there are 144 out of the 144 sites that have a full time Women Veteran Program Manager. I'm in actively now in the process of verifying that. What we do know that my office has trained -- over the last three months we held three different trainings -- we trained 142 Women Veteran Program Manager over the last three months. We think it's very important to train folks, not take these brand new folks and make sure that they know what they're doing in this plan to develop health care for women.
Chair Daniel Akaka: Dr. Hayes, hopefully you've read the testimony of the second panel. Jennifer Olds details her battle with PTSD and specifically makes a case for cognitive therapy. Congress passed a law last year requiring that these state of the art therapies be available to all veterans. I suppose this is something you need to take for the record, but are all veterans with PTSD able to receive this kind of treatment?
Patricia Hayes: You're right, Mr. Akaka, that I will have to take that specifically for the record in terms of the issues about access to PTSD treatment. I think that, you know, one of the things that was pointed out in the GAO report about where there's access, it's very important that we first ask veterans what they need and that's why it's important to hear from veterans about what their struggles are and to, I think, make sure that we're addressing what that veteran needs in terms of her care. So, for example, there's been a lot of questions about residential treatment and I think when we look at women veterans we have to be aware that, for example, women with children aren't necessarily interested in going off, leaving their children and going to a residential site. So that every time we look at what we have available, we have to make sure we have available for each veteran what she might need -- whether it's intensive outpatient or residential or these tele-health, tele-medicines. Some of our veterans have rated that as very highly successful for them to be in that type of treatment. So we will take the question for the record in terms of the exact issue of where PTSD treatment is available. But I think that it needs to be couched in asking the veteran what they need and that particular issue for this veteran who is very important.
Chair Daniel Akaka: Mr. Williams, your testimony lays out that none of the facilities reviewed had fully implemented VA's policies for women's health care. Could you determine the reasoning behind this non-compliance? Was it funding, lack of training or anything else?
Randall Williamson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's very difficult sometimes to understand the reason uh -- the area referred, for example, on privacy -- assuring privacy of women veterans. Part of its due to facilities in terms of the layout that currently exists -- in trying to convert and modify that. But also, I think part of it comes down to committment at the local level. There's no doubt, I think, that the Secretary and Dr. Hayes and oterhs at the top are very committed to implementing VA policies and improving overall health care for women. But simple things -- as we visited the facility -- simple things that are easy to do like placing exam tables so the foot is away from the door, putting sanitary products in bathrooms for women, those things are easy and if they're not being done, part of that reason may come back to is there a committment at the - at the local level to ensure these policies are done?
Chair Daniel Akaka: Several witnesses on the second panel are quite critical of VA care for women. Let's take these one by one. Do you agree, as most concerned, that some service connected women veterans are without access to VA health care. Miss Williams detailed a lack of understanding on the part of VA providers. Miss Christopher found that community care is easier to access than VA care. And Miss Chase finds that generally VA plays catch up to meet the needs of VA veterans. Dr. Hayes, what is at the root of all these issues and how can we rectify them?
Patricia Hayes: I think that what is at the root of these issues really is a system that has not been responsive to the needs of women veterans. I came a year ago and launched an initiative specifically to make VA more inclusive of women veterans, to establish primary care that meets their needs so that they don't have to come for multiple visits, to make sure we reach out to those who do not have health care -- what research has shown us over and over again is that women don't know that they have VA services but it's not good enough if we reach them but we don't have the right care when they get in our front door. So we have a very intensive effort going on which started, as you saw, last year but is rolling up August 1st with every facility giving us an implementation plan for how to fix primary care for women veterans, how to make the facilities respond to environment of care issues and to develop services going forward that will meet women veterans' needs. And I think that until we do that, until we make sure that it's right, then we begin to reach out to our women veterans and welcome them back we will have a specific initiative which we identified: the need for service connected women to get their health care. And that's the first on our list when we can be sure that there's primary care for them when they walk in the door.
Ranking Member Burr caught a discrenphancy in Patricia Hayes' written testimony and oral testimony. He noted that her written testimony asserted that every facility had a Women Veteran Program Manager but she stated in her testimony that she was in the midst of verifying that, "Which is accurate, do we have them or are you in the process of verifying them?" She stated she's verifying to ensure that it's accurate prompting Burr to ask, "How long does that take?" It shouldn't take very long at all for someone in her position. It's not as if she's going to be told, "Call back." She or her staff dials each of the 144 facilities stating Hayes needs to speak to the Women Veteran Program Manager. The reply then is either to forward her call on or explain why not and if why not is "We don't have one," the count is done right then. This shouldn't take days. It shouldn't even take a full eight hour work day. "I think," she told Burr, "that we want to make sure that the person is full time and that" they are qualified "to do that job." Well, you ask them on the phone, "Are you full time?" You also ask for a resume. And you also check to see if you did, in fact, train them since Hayes claims she's been doing three months of training. She's making this far more difficult than it is and that's either because she's not grasping the task or she's attempting to mislead the Comittee. Burr pointed out that this is a VA mandate and that "I would take for granted that listed in that dictate is 'permanent, full time,' it spells out exactly what program managers are going to do." Burr also pointed out that her written testimony said that they plan to have gynecologists on site at every facility by 2012. "Why is it," he asked, "2012 and not 2009?" She strung some words together but she didn't answer the question. And again, this isn't difficult. You start hiring. The money is in the VA's budget for these positions. You start hiring. Hayes had a lot of words and they said very little.
Senator Patty Murray: Dr. Hayes, as you know, the military currently bars women from serving in combat. We all know, however, that in today's wars there is no front line on the battlefield, we know that women are serving right along side of male colleagues and they are engaging in combat with the enemy. But unfortunately the new reality of this modern warfare isn't well understood here at home including by some in the VA. This knowlege gap obviously impacts the ability of women veterans to receive health care and disability benefits from the VA. What are you doing, Dr. Hayes, to ensure that all VA staff -- both in the VHA and in the VBA -- are aware that women are serving in combat and that they're getting the health care and benefits that they've earned?
A long string of words including that providers are trained but all the staff needs to be "we have a staff sensitivity module" -- excuse me? A sensitivity module? Murray's speaking of basic facts and how they're being imparted. Hayes is talking about sensitivity training. I'm not ridiculing sensitivity training. It exists for many reasons and is needed in the work environment. But we're not talking about that. Murray raised that the DD2 14s are not being documented and that "we have people who say, 'You weren't in combat, you're a woman.'" Hayes says it saddened her that reports of that had emerged. That reports had emerged or that it took place? Murray wanted to know if the VA was working with the Defense Dept to ensure that women veterans DD2 14s were being properly documented and Hayes referred it to a colleague who babbled on. Murray stopped her to get her back on track at which point the woman stated that maybe Congress could help them because they weren't able to note combat experience for women due to guidelines. In other words, the woman always had the answer but only offered it when pressed by Murray.
The bulk of the hearing was the first panel. Moving on to the second panel. "Women need not only more gender specific care," Tia Christopher declared in her opening remarks, "but also care that is appropriate for their needs. It is essential that women who do need inpatient treatment for PTSD, whether combat or sexual assault related, receive care in a safe treatment space. A coed environment can truly be the worst thing for a woman suffering from Military Sexual Trauma (MST) and PTSD. Just having the resources is not enough, again, the quality, quantity and accessibility of that care is vital. For those who are uncomfortable receiving treatment at a VA facility, for whatever reason, funding needs to allotted for culturally competent care within the community." Geneviever Chase testified today. She was also part of last Wednesday's Voices of Honor press conference. She's also straight because Voices of Honor is gays, lesbians and straight service members coming together to stamp out the discrimination. In her opening remarks today, she explained something many men and women in the Reserves have experienced, "The reserve soldiers I served with were discharged from active service with a five-minute out-briefing and a single sheet of paper listing websites to access for VA services. What I recall from that time was being focused on overwhelming issues like finding a job and figuring out how I was going to make it in a civilian world that had become somewhat foreign to me -- not on the service related health isseus I would face in the months to come or how I would seek care for those issues." Jennifer Olds stated she experienced a similar lack of advise and information regarding what you were qualified for and she emphasized the need to get people into the VA system immediately. Kayla Williams noted several issues in her opening remarks but we'll zoom in on this because only she touched on it in opening remarks, "Other barries may disproportionately affect women. For example, since women are more likely to be the primary caregivers of small children, they may require help getting childcare in order to attend appointments at the VA. Currently many VA facilities are not prepared to accomodate the presence of children; several friends have described having to change babies' diapers on the floors of VA hospitals because the restroom lacked changing facilities. Another friend, whose babysitter cancelled at the last minute, brought her infant and toddler to a VA appointment -- the provider told her that was 'not appropriate' and that she should not come in if she could not find childcare. Facilities in which to nurse and change babies -- as well as childcare assistance or at least patience with the presence of small children -- would ease burdens on all veterans with small children."
Senator Akaka wondered how to get the message out regarding the fact that women veterans are seeing combat. Chase noted that public testimony/sharing, standing up in front of others was one way to get the word out. Williams noted PBS' Lioness documentary being shown at VAs and Joy Ilem agreed with that. Chase stated that there are many other women "serving outside the wire in combat today" and not just the one specific team documented in Lioness. Christopher noted, "To be quite frank, trainings can be very boring. Whether you're wathcing a power point or a video or listening to someone talk. I mean -- I think for it to be truly effective there needs to be dialogue and it needs to be proactive. And I think a Q&A portion when we train for Swords to Ploughshares, we open ourselves up for questions, we actually refer to it as the uncomfortable questions panel."
Senator Murray wanted to know if the panel "found that this combat experience is reflected in DD2 14s?"
Kayla Williams: My own certainly was reflected in my DD2 14. But I was awared the service medal for my time in Operation Iraqi Freedom. And also, if it ever were to become a question, I also received army medals and the paperwork that supports that details the experiences they were earned for and the way that people can show their experience. But I know that that isn't usually the case, I was just lucky enough that that was true for me.
Genevieve Chase: We, during our -- our -- when we get our DD2 14s it's on there whether or not you served and in what theater. It also states what was your job. And I was also awarded the Combat Operation Badge. That is not an automatic award. It's not an automatic entitlement. And that's submitted by your chain of command and if it's not submitted or the paperwork is lost or doesn't go through then you don't get that as well. And it also isn't a qualifer -- a lot of people don't perceive it to mean that you were actually in combat or directly engaging the enemy. So that policy needs to be changed [. . .] to reflect that women are in fact serving in combat and they are in fact on missions outside the wire. And regardless of whether or not they're going outside the wire [. . .] when you have mortars every day and you have no idea where they're coming from, that's combat.
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"THIS JUST IN! DUMB AS A DOORNAIL!"
A BELOVED FRIEND OF THE WHITE HOUSE HAS PASSED AWAY.
THE DEATH WAS A SHOCKER AND A HUGE BLOW. BARRY O AND TELEPROMPTER WERE A TEAM LIKE BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID AND WERE POPULARLY KNOWN AS BEAUTY AND THE BRAIN.
MONDAY BARRY O WAS IN THE MIDST OF MUGGING AND GRINNING WHILE SPEAKING ABOUT THE ECONOMY AND THE TELEPROMPTER EXPLODED.
WHITE HOUSE SOURCES INSIST THE TELEPROMPTER HAD BEEN DEPRESSED ABOUT THE ECONOMY AS WELL AS BARACK'S DROP IN THE POLLS. IN ADDITION, THERE WERE RUMORS THAT TRAVEL FILES WERE FOUND IN TELEPROMPTER'S WHITE HOUSE OFFICE.
AT PRESENT THE DEATH IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
"Aloha and good morning to all of you," greeted US Senator Daniel Akaka after calling to order the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing this morning. "Welcome to this important hearing on VA's health care services for women veterans. We will be looking at programs already in the works to improve access to and the quality of care and other unique issues facing women veterans. Women veterans are the fastest growing segment of veterans. In 1988, when VA first began providing care to women, they were only 4% of the veteran population. Today the percentage of women veterans is nearing 8% and expected to rise substantially over the next two decades. So it is appropriate that we ask now, 'Is VA meeting the needs of women veterans?'" Appropriate and, as Senator Roland Burris put it, "long overdue." Last week, the Boston Globe's Bryan Bender wrote of the topic . . . by speaking to one man after another (one female veteran was also spoken to). It's always interesting when the media finally gives attention to an issue effecting women to see whether or not women are allowed to speak? Women spoke to the committee today. The hearing was broken up into two panels. The first panel was composed of the GAO's Randall B. Williamson and the Veterans Affairs Dept's Patricia Hayes. The second panel was composed of women veternas: Grace After Fire's Kayla Williams, Iraq Veteran Project Swords to Plowshares' Tia Christopher, the VFW's Jennifer Olds, American Women Veterans' Genevieve Chase and Disabled American Veterans' Joy J. Ilem.
Akaka is the Chair of the Committee, Senator Richar Burr is the Ranking Member. Burr noted, "North Carolina is no stranger to this growth. My home state ranks 6th in the total number of women veterans with just over 67,000 residing there." And we'll stay with that theme a moment to note a few basics before getting into the witness testimony. Senator Burris declared at the hearing, "Tremendous progress has been made already but I am concerned that only one-third of the veterans health facilities provide for the one-stop approach, an approach which shows the highest level of customer satisfication." By contrast, the outdated approach of the VA demands women go here, go there, go to a contracted physician while male veterans generally are able to go to one facility and have their basic primary health care needs addressed. The June 3rd snapshot covered the House Committee on Veterans Affairs committee for the hearing entitled "A National Commitment to End Veterans' Homelessness" and Vietnam Veterans of America's Marsha Four addressed the ways homelessness effects women veterans differently than male veterans and she noted "that there are very few programs in the country that are set up and designed specifically for homeless women veterans that are seperate [from male programs]. One of the problems that we've run into in a mixed gender setting is sort of two-fold. One, the women veterans do not have the opportunity to actually be in a separate group therapy environment because there are many issues that they simply will not divulge in mixed gender populations so those issues are never attended to. The other is that we believe, in a program, you need to focus on yourself and this is the time and place to do your issue, your deal. Many of the veterans too come from the streets so there's a lot of street behavior going on. S ome of the women -- and men -- but some of the women have participated in prostitution and so there's a difficult setting for any of them to actually focus on themselves without having all these other stressors come into play." At the May 21, 2008 Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, Senator Patty Murray observed that in today's conflict, "Some units, including military police, are using an increased number of females to fill jobs that were traditionally held by male personnel. And because of the conflicts of today, we have no clear frontlines and women, like all of our service members, are always on the frontline -- riding on dangerous patrols, guarding pivotal check opints and witnessing the horrows of war first hand." Murray also noted that despite there being 1.7 million women veterans, for some reason "only 255,00 of those women actually use the VA health care services." Why was that? In her town halls in Washington (state), Murray found out, "Some told me they had been intimidate by the VA and viewed the VA as a male only facility. Others simply told me that they couldn't find someone to watch their kids so they could attend a counseling session or find time for other care." At that hearing, the VA's Dr. Gerald Cross objected to the bill (Murray and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's bill, S. 2799, Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2008) stating that including the child care option for female veterans seeking "mental health care or other intensive health care services at the VA" would "divert funds." Senator Murray pointed out that in his own opening remarks, Cross was observing that lack of child care prevents some women from access "for mental health or other intensive services -- so you identified the lack of child care as a barrier [. . .] but you're unwilling to do anything about it?" Which was the case. And, for the record, the bill, though introduced two years in a row, has never been voted on in the full Senate. This year it has passed the Committee. July 6th of this year, Murray's office noted "that she has included $2 million to begin planning and design of a Women and Children's Center at Madigan Army Medical Center. The Women and Children's Center is necessary to provide health care and services to Fort Lewis' large and growing population of women and newborns. The facility would be the Army's first Women and Children's Center."
Staying with statistics, the VA's Patricia Hayes and the GAO's Williamson both broke down the numbers in their opening remarks.
* Over 1.8 million women veterans (as of October 2008)
* Over 102,000 are veterans of the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War
* 281,000 women veterans received some form of VA healt care in Fiscal Year 2008
* Estimated median age for male veterans 61; for women 47.
Hayes further broke down what the median age of 47 means, that female veterans "are younger and have health care needs distinct from their male counterparts. [. . .] Nearly all newly enrolled women veterans accessing VA care are under 40 and of child bearing age. This trend creates a need to shift how we provide health care. [. . .] Some women report that lack of newborn care and child care forces them to seek care elsewhere." In her written testimony, but not stated in her opening remarks, Hayes noted, "VA has identified that 37 percent of women Veterans who use VA health care have a mental health diagnosis; these rates are higher than those of male Veterans. Women Veternas also present with complex mental health needs, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), military sexual trauma (MST), and parenting and family issues." Williamson did make a passing reference to MST in his opening remarks but to round that out, this is a fact sheet on MST from NOW on PBS:
27% of men have experienced military sexual trauma 60% of women have experienced military sexual trauma 3.5% of men have experienced military sexual assault 23% of women have experienced military sexual assault 11% of women have experienced rape 1.2% of men have experienced rape Service branch with the highest percentage of women reporting sexual trauma: Marine Corps 20% of women seeking care at VA facilities have experienced sexual trauma 1% of men seeking care at VA facilities have experienced sexual trauma 8.3 percentage of women report lifetime PTSD related to MST More than half of the incidents took place at a military work site and during duty hours The majority of the offenders in these cases were military personnel Factors that increase risk of sexual assault for active duty females include presence of officers who condone or allow sexual harassment and unwanted sexual attention
For more information on the topic, the May 23, 2008 broadcast of NOW on PBS featured a report by Maria Hinojosa (produced by Karla Murthy) on MST. VETVOW is an organization that addresses MST. From today's hearing, we'll note the following exchange.
Chair Daniel Akaka: Dr. Hayes, thank you for your testimony. VA is poised to make some important changes to how care is delivered to women but in fairness, we seem to have a a bit of a disconnect between mandates and what is actually happening. I'm going to ask you a series of questions about this. First, VA has mandated that all VA medical centers appoint a full time Women Veterans Program Manager. Does every VA medical center have one in place?
Patricia Hayes: VA has reported, as you know, that there are 144 out of the 144 sites that have a full time Women Veteran Program Manager. I'm in actively now in the process of verifying that. What we do know that my office has trained -- over the last three months we held three different trainings -- we trained 142 Women Veteran Program Manager over the last three months. We think it's very important to train folks, not take these brand new folks and make sure that they know what they're doing in this plan to develop health care for women.
Chair Daniel Akaka: Dr. Hayes, hopefully you've read the testimony of the second panel. Jennifer Olds details her battle with PTSD and specifically makes a case for cognitive therapy. Congress passed a law last year requiring that these state of the art therapies be available to all veterans. I suppose this is something you need to take for the record, but are all veterans with PTSD able to receive this kind of treatment?
Patricia Hayes: You're right, Mr. Akaka, that I will have to take that specifically for the record in terms of the issues about access to PTSD treatment. I think that, you know, one of the things that was pointed out in the GAO report about where there's access, it's very important that we first ask veterans what they need and that's why it's important to hear from veterans about what their struggles are and to, I think, make sure that we're addressing what that veteran needs in terms of her care. So, for example, there's been a lot of questions about residential treatment and I think when we look at women veterans we have to be aware that, for example, women with children aren't necessarily interested in going off, leaving their children and going to a residential site. So that every time we look at what we have available, we have to make sure we have available for each veteran what she might need -- whether it's intensive outpatient or residential or these tele-health, tele-medicines. Some of our veterans have rated that as very highly successful for them to be in that type of treatment. So we will take the question for the record in terms of the exact issue of where PTSD treatment is available. But I think that it needs to be couched in asking the veteran what they need and that particular issue for this veteran who is very important.
Chair Daniel Akaka: Mr. Williams, your testimony lays out that none of the facilities reviewed had fully implemented VA's policies for women's health care. Could you determine the reasoning behind this non-compliance? Was it funding, lack of training or anything else?
Randall Williamson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's very difficult sometimes to understand the reason uh -- the area referred, for example, on privacy -- assuring privacy of women veterans. Part of its due to facilities in terms of the layout that currently exists -- in trying to convert and modify that. But also, I think part of it comes down to committment at the local level. There's no doubt, I think, that the Secretary and Dr. Hayes and oterhs at the top are very committed to implementing VA policies and improving overall health care for women. But simple things -- as we visited the facility -- simple things that are easy to do like placing exam tables so the foot is away from the door, putting sanitary products in bathrooms for women, those things are easy and if they're not being done, part of that reason may come back to is there a committment at the - at the local level to ensure these policies are done?
Chair Daniel Akaka: Several witnesses on the second panel are quite critical of VA care for women. Let's take these one by one. Do you agree, as most concerned, that some service connected women veterans are without access to VA health care. Miss Williams detailed a lack of understanding on the part of VA providers. Miss Christopher found that community care is easier to access than VA care. And Miss Chase finds that generally VA plays catch up to meet the needs of VA veterans. Dr. Hayes, what is at the root of all these issues and how can we rectify them?
Patricia Hayes: I think that what is at the root of these issues really is a system that has not been responsive to the needs of women veterans. I came a year ago and launched an initiative specifically to make VA more inclusive of women veterans, to establish primary care that meets their needs so that they don't have to come for multiple visits, to make sure we reach out to those who do not have health care -- what research has shown us over and over again is that women don't know that they have VA services but it's not good enough if we reach them but we don't have the right care when they get in our front door. So we have a very intensive effort going on which started, as you saw, last year but is rolling up August 1st with every facility giving us an implementation plan for how to fix primary care for women veterans, how to make the facilities respond to environment of care issues and to develop services going forward that will meet women veterans' needs. And I think that until we do that, until we make sure that it's right, then we begin to reach out to our women veterans and welcome them back we will have a specific initiative which we identified: the need for service connected women to get their health care. And that's the first on our list when we can be sure that there's primary care for them when they walk in the door.
Ranking Member Burr caught a discrenphancy in Patricia Hayes' written testimony and oral testimony. He noted that her written testimony asserted that every facility had a Women Veteran Program Manager but she stated in her testimony that she was in the midst of verifying that, "Which is accurate, do we have them or are you in the process of verifying them?" She stated she's verifying to ensure that it's accurate prompting Burr to ask, "How long does that take?" It shouldn't take very long at all for someone in her position. It's not as if she's going to be told, "Call back." She or her staff dials each of the 144 facilities stating Hayes needs to speak to the Women Veteran Program Manager. The reply then is either to forward her call on or explain why not and if why not is "We don't have one," the count is done right then. This shouldn't take days. It shouldn't even take a full eight hour work day. "I think," she told Burr, "that we want to make sure that the person is full time and that" they are qualified "to do that job." Well, you ask them on the phone, "Are you full time?" You also ask for a resume. And you also check to see if you did, in fact, train them since Hayes claims she's been doing three months of training. She's making this far more difficult than it is and that's either because she's not grasping the task or she's attempting to mislead the Comittee. Burr pointed out that this is a VA mandate and that "I would take for granted that listed in that dictate is 'permanent, full time,' it spells out exactly what program managers are going to do." Burr also pointed out that her written testimony said that they plan to have gynecologists on site at every facility by 2012. "Why is it," he asked, "2012 and not 2009?" She strung some words together but she didn't answer the question. And again, this isn't difficult. You start hiring. The money is in the VA's budget for these positions. You start hiring. Hayes had a lot of words and they said very little.
Senator Patty Murray: Dr. Hayes, as you know, the military currently bars women from serving in combat. We all know, however, that in today's wars there is no front line on the battlefield, we know that women are serving right along side of male colleagues and they are engaging in combat with the enemy. But unfortunately the new reality of this modern warfare isn't well understood here at home including by some in the VA. This knowlege gap obviously impacts the ability of women veterans to receive health care and disability benefits from the VA. What are you doing, Dr. Hayes, to ensure that all VA staff -- both in the VHA and in the VBA -- are aware that women are serving in combat and that they're getting the health care and benefits that they've earned?
A long string of words including that providers are trained but all the staff needs to be "we have a staff sensitivity module" -- excuse me? A sensitivity module? Murray's speaking of basic facts and how they're being imparted. Hayes is talking about sensitivity training. I'm not ridiculing sensitivity training. It exists for many reasons and is needed in the work environment. But we're not talking about that. Murray raised that the DD2 14s are not being documented and that "we have people who say, 'You weren't in combat, you're a woman.'" Hayes says it saddened her that reports of that had emerged. That reports had emerged or that it took place? Murray wanted to know if the VA was working with the Defense Dept to ensure that women veterans DD2 14s were being properly documented and Hayes referred it to a colleague who babbled on. Murray stopped her to get her back on track at which point the woman stated that maybe Congress could help them because they weren't able to note combat experience for women due to guidelines. In other words, the woman always had the answer but only offered it when pressed by Murray.
The bulk of the hearing was the first panel. Moving on to the second panel. "Women need not only more gender specific care," Tia Christopher declared in her opening remarks, "but also care that is appropriate for their needs. It is essential that women who do need inpatient treatment for PTSD, whether combat or sexual assault related, receive care in a safe treatment space. A coed environment can truly be the worst thing for a woman suffering from Military Sexual Trauma (MST) and PTSD. Just having the resources is not enough, again, the quality, quantity and accessibility of that care is vital. For those who are uncomfortable receiving treatment at a VA facility, for whatever reason, funding needs to allotted for culturally competent care within the community." Geneviever Chase testified today. She was also part of last Wednesday's Voices of Honor press conference. She's also straight because Voices of Honor is gays, lesbians and straight service members coming together to stamp out the discrimination. In her opening remarks today, she explained something many men and women in the Reserves have experienced, "The reserve soldiers I served with were discharged from active service with a five-minute out-briefing and a single sheet of paper listing websites to access for VA services. What I recall from that time was being focused on overwhelming issues like finding a job and figuring out how I was going to make it in a civilian world that had become somewhat foreign to me -- not on the service related health isseus I would face in the months to come or how I would seek care for those issues." Jennifer Olds stated she experienced a similar lack of advise and information regarding what you were qualified for and she emphasized the need to get people into the VA system immediately. Kayla Williams noted several issues in her opening remarks but we'll zoom in on this because only she touched on it in opening remarks, "Other barries may disproportionately affect women. For example, since women are more likely to be the primary caregivers of small children, they may require help getting childcare in order to attend appointments at the VA. Currently many VA facilities are not prepared to accomodate the presence of children; several friends have described having to change babies' diapers on the floors of VA hospitals because the restroom lacked changing facilities. Another friend, whose babysitter cancelled at the last minute, brought her infant and toddler to a VA appointment -- the provider told her that was 'not appropriate' and that she should not come in if she could not find childcare. Facilities in which to nurse and change babies -- as well as childcare assistance or at least patience with the presence of small children -- would ease burdens on all veterans with small children."
Senator Akaka wondered how to get the message out regarding the fact that women veterans are seeing combat. Chase noted that public testimony/sharing, standing up in front of others was one way to get the word out. Williams noted PBS' Lioness documentary being shown at VAs and Joy Ilem agreed with that. Chase stated that there are many other women "serving outside the wire in combat today" and not just the one specific team documented in Lioness. Christopher noted, "To be quite frank, trainings can be very boring. Whether you're wathcing a power point or a video or listening to someone talk. I mean -- I think for it to be truly effective there needs to be dialogue and it needs to be proactive. And I think a Q&A portion when we train for Swords to Ploughshares, we open ourselves up for questions, we actually refer to it as the uncomfortable questions panel."
Senator Murray wanted to know if the panel "found that this combat experience is reflected in DD2 14s?"
Kayla Williams: My own certainly was reflected in my DD2 14. But I was awared the service medal for my time in Operation Iraqi Freedom. And also, if it ever were to become a question, I also received army medals and the paperwork that supports that details the experiences they were earned for and the way that people can show their experience. But I know that that isn't usually the case, I was just lucky enough that that was true for me.
Genevieve Chase: We, during our -- our -- when we get our DD2 14s it's on there whether or not you served and in what theater. It also states what was your job. And I was also awarded the Combat Operation Badge. That is not an automatic award. It's not an automatic entitlement. And that's submitted by your chain of command and if it's not submitted or the paperwork is lost or doesn't go through then you don't get that as well. And it also isn't a qualifer -- a lot of people don't perceive it to mean that you were actually in combat or directly engaging the enemy. So that policy needs to be changed [. . .] to reflect that women are in fact serving in combat and they are in fact on missions outside the wire. And regardless of whether or not they're going outside the wire [. . .] when you have mortars every day and you have no idea where they're coming from, that's combat.
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