CJ Grisham is a 16 year career Soldier stationed in Texas. On this blog he highlights the heroes and success stories of our military, while providing a unique perspective to political issues affecting the armed services and its members.
Millions of Americans will spend Labor Day weekend marking the unofficial end to summer with backyard barbecues and back-to-school anxiety.
But it’s just another stretch of dedicated service for thousands of American military members. To honor their continual labor, we wanted to share this excellent graphic, which provides a quick snapshot of some of the country’s busiest spots for active duty service members.
During your day of rest, consider taking a moment or two to think about those who serve.
If you're a You Served reader and you're looking to learn more about the VA Home Loan Program,
then you're one click away from the folks that make all this possible - VAMC.
Read more about VA Loans and VA Benefits programs on our main site. Thanks for reading!
SGT Brandon Maggart is a 24 year old soldier from Kirksville, MO. This was his second tour in Iraq. He was killed by insurgents on 22 Aug 2010. He left behind a young wife and son. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star.
Somehow, SGT Maggart has drawn the unwanted attention of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. This is the group that has become infamous for desecrating the burial of our heroes. They will be picketing his funeral this evening in Kirksville. I understand that the Patriot riders will be on hand to shield the grieving family members from their protest.
Missourians will be gathering in support of SGT Maggart’s family along Hwy 63 on the route between his funeral and his burial site at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Jacksonville, MO where he will be buried with full honors.
Each week we’ll post a new part of his article, “Day at the Beach,” recounting the Sergeant’s first-hand stories and observations from GTMO.
I’m not much of a writer but I’ve been kicking myself forever for not taking the time to jot down some of my experiences and the blog was a great excuse. I should probably say that I hope someone else enjoys reading my observations or is somehow enriched because I’ve chosen to share my memories. Frankly, that would be a lie. I’ve amused myself so much retracing these steps and remembering all of these people that I’m not terribly concerned anymore if anyone even reads it, much less likes it. Just in case, however, here is an intro to get everyone up to speed.
The most exciting and rewarding job I have ever had was working as an analyst in the interrogation cell at JTF-170. I was fortunate enough to be one of the original 20 people who stood up the interrogation facility in GTMO in 2002. I was literally there when the Seabees built the first tool shed intended as an interrogation booth. I was there when we got to treat our foreign guests to blaring renditions of “Back in Black” and “God Bless America” every morning. You’ll have to forgive me if some of my dates or unit designations are incorrect. All of this has been written down many years after the fact and I’m sure to get some things wrong. I have changed all names, but if you happen to recognize yourself from any of my descriptions please feel free to burn me (in writing) in effigy.
It’s appropriate to give some background for my assignment to JTF-160/170 Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and how an insurance salesman was briefly an NCOIC in the most highly scrutinized facility on earth.
Oh yeah! We were informed this morning a little after 5 am that our soldier had landed in Bangor Maine! He is now in route to his final destination. We are thrilled beyond belief! It has been one long and frustrating year, to say the least. We are so grateful he is home safe and sound. Next? Germany. Of course that will come after much celebrating and some training.
Thank you all for your prayers over the past year!
Tonight the tables are turned. Instead of me asking the questions I am the one being interviewed. Join me tonight around 8:45 EST. I have been invited on the radio show “Support our Troops in Word and Deed” to talk about practical approaches to troop support. Join us tonight by following the link below to the station’s homepage:
Nearly a year ago, Nidal Hasan (I won’t use an Army rank he doesn’t deserve to wear) walked into the Fort Hood deployment processing center and killed or injured more than 40 of his fellow troops – MY fellow troops. As a result of this shooting, the DOD and many installations, including Fort Hood, conducted an assessment of their weapons policies. Fort Hood, for example, mandated the registration of any and all privately owned weapons transported or stored on Fort Hood. This is great for those that follow the rules, but would not have prevented Hasan from doing what he did.
Some installations like Forts Campbell and Bliss went so far as to require registration of weapons owned by troops who lived OFF post. Insane, I know! Worse, Fort Riley imposed regulations that also required that weapons be registered that are owned by Soldiers’ family members residing anywhere in Kansas!
C. Military personnel will:
(1) Register all their privately-owned firearms and the firearms of their Family members that are stored in their residence or within the state of Kansas, with their unit commander.
FR Regulation 190-1, para 7c(1), dated 15 March 2010
Shocked and/or outraged? Well, according to American Rifleman magazine, Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe has offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for FY11, which was adopted on May 27 in a voice vote by the Senate Armed Services Committee. The amendment would:
* Prohibit DOD from restricting “acquisition, possession, ownership, carrying or other use” of personally owned firearms by service members and DOD civilian while off base;
* Prohibit DOD from requiring registration of guns stored off base;
* Nullify military orders and regulations that impose such restrictions;
* Require DOD to destroy existing gun registration records on off-base firearms;
* Preserve DOD’s authority to “regulate the possession, carrying or other use of a firearm, ammunition or other weapon” by personnel on-duty or in military uniform; and
* Preserve DOD’s authority to keep records related to criminal and other legitimate investigations
I whole-heartedly support this amendment and agree that our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms uninfringed while off-base and off-duty should be protected. I support Senator Inhofe in his efforts to move this out of committee and the through the legislative process.
We all know the vital importance of checking out that LES, right? Overpayments, underpayments, missing money and magic money just happen sometimes. The military is a huge bureaucracy and so it is to be expected. My advice has always been if you receive an overpayment set the money aside and start the trail of phone calls. Eventually all overpayments will catch up with you and it will most likely happen at the most inconvient time.
The new GI Bill seems to be experiencing some of the same problems (no surprises there) but a system glitch is also not fully crediting accounts that are paid back and this is causing some GI Bill reeipients to possible lose their benefits when they need them the most!
Below is a snippet regarding the ordeal that an Army spouse went through with repayment of an overpayment — an overpayment she recognized and tried to get stopped, but was unable. She paid it all back but was still being threatened with a stop on her benefits — it took elected officials and a news story in order to get the mess cleared up.
If you are having any problems of this nature, leave your story in the comment section.
Fix of GI Bill overpayment snafu doesn’t end issue EXCERPT
–snip–
Kargus had several overpayment issues, but the nagging one involved the one-time book allowance and four months of living stipends she received erroneously last year.
She tried to get the payments stopped days after she got the first one. But like others, Kargus said she had problems last year when she tried to call a GI Bill hot line established by VA to answer questions.
She said she called as often as 15 times in one day without getting through to anyone. When calls were answered, Kargus said VA workers “were courteous, but did not have the power to do anything about my problems.”
“Every time I would call VA and ask them to please stop the payments, I was told that no mechanism was in place to resolve the issue and that I shouldn’t send any additional repayments because it would only clog the system,” she said.
Kargus said the friendly but unhelpful VA assistance continued through Aug. 9, when she spoke to an employee at the debt management center to try to figure out why she was still being threatened with a cutoff of benefits after repaying the $2,140 she had been told she owed.
Her check had been cashed, but VA officials could not explain what had happened to $791 of the payment.
Kargus said the call telling her that her debt finally was canceled came from Dan Osendorf, who heads the VA’s debt management center.
“He assured me my debt was cleared,” she said.
He also said the call center employee who told Kargus on Aug. 9 that he couldn’t help her “was new and made an error when telling me he could not fix my account.”
Kargus is hardly the only person with GI Bill overpayment and repayment problems. The House voted July 28 to set aside $100,000 in the 2011 budget for VA to pay for a report on how it accounts for payments and repayments.
Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., said he sponsored the amendment ordering the study after hearing many complaints.
“I understand that VA legitimately requires some payments to veterans and universities to be returned,” he said. “There can be instances of a student taking fewer classes than what was originally thought, accidental duplication payments. This is reasonable, to an extent.”
The trouble, he said, is that veterans and schools have difficulty getting an accurate account of payments and collections.
“In some instances, this has resulted in VA withholding further Post-9/11 payments to the student in question as they are credited with an outstanding debt, despite having already paid back the necessary accounts,” he said, describing a situation exactly like what Kargus faced.
“This is even after the returned checks have been cashed by the VA,” Hill said — again, exactly what Kargus said happened to her.
The report requested by Hill, and added to the 2011 VA funding bill by voice vote, would be due by Jan. 1. SOURCE LINK
I am writing this blog posting to hopefully inform some of those who are ignorant to the proper way of disposing of an American Flag.
Today is “trash-day” in my neighborhood and while driving home on my street I saw a faded American flag half-hanging out of the garbage can a few houses up the street from mine. Now granted I was only a couple of hours from flying out to head overseas and my last minutes at home were precious but I could not just let it sit there.
So I parked and got out as my wife walked outside. She asked me where I was going as I started pounding up the sidewalk and I told her I had to rescue a flag. I walked the several houses up and approached the trashcan. I got more furious with every step I took as I got closer and closer to the flag. I did not think the trash guys had come yet so I wanted to “rescue” the flag before they did.
I was very surprised when I opened the lid of some stranger’s house and saw that trash had already been taken. it appeared that the trash guys had come, but I assume they must have seen the flag being thrown out by the owner and rather than allowing it to be compacted in the truck and eventually hauled to the dump, they took it out and hung it half in and half out of the trash can.
I was furious at the owner for just throwing it away, but I must say seeing that the garbage men took the time to rescue it from being forever desecrated really made me feel good. Now I don’t know the owner and it is possible they just didn’t know of the proper way to dispose of a worn or faded flag. I also don’t know the garbage guys, but it is possible they are veterans or maybe just good old plain Americans that know better than to allow a flag to be thrown away.
As I walked back to my house with the flag I started to wonder “why” the garbage men hung it halfway out. Why not just throw it back in the can? The best I can come up with was they wanted to either “shame” the owner or maybe they were hoping that someone who cared about how a flag is treated would wander by and see it and retrieve it. I guess that is where I came in.
It is a shame to think that anyone who takes the time and energy to purchase and fly a flag (they must be somewhat patriotic, right?) does not know or care about how a flag should be disposed of. There is a ritual (for lack of a better term) that is spelled out on how a flag should be disposed of. You can read about the way to do this at http://www.usflag.org/flagetiquette.html. If someone who owns a worn flag does not have the ability to dispose of it properly, they have options. They can take it to a VFW, American Legion or even a Boy Scout Troop. Those organization hold flag “ceremonies” often to dispose of worn flags in a respectful and dignified way.
So please do me a favor, if you fly an American Flag regularly or happen to just be in possession of one that has become worn, frayed or faded don’t just throw it away. Take it to one of the groups mentioned above or call around to see if a local military unit or base or even law enforcement branch can and will dispose of it properly. For God’s sake don’t throw it out with the used coffee grounds and soiled diapers. Men and women have and still die for that Flag and what it stands for. Honor them and all of those who serve it and take a few minutes out of your “busy” life and do it right.
To my honorable garbage men, I THANK YOU and when I am back home from overseas I plan to do that personally on the next trash day.
At an on-the-record luncheon at Clem Mikeska’s Pitt BBQ Grill in Temple today, Texas Governor Rick Perry said he would sign legislation that exempted active duty troops from paying sales tax on vehicles registered in state but purchased while stationed elsewhere.
In the state of Texas, in order to register a vehicle the owner must pay the difference in sales tax from the state in which it was purchased. For example, the state sales tax in Texas is 8.25%. In Alabama, the state sales tax is 6%. If I purchase a vehicle in Alabama while stationed at Redstone Arsenal or Fort Rucker valued at $25,000 I would pay about $1500 in sales tax. That same vehicle would result in $2062 in sales tax, a difference of $562. Montana sales tax is 0%, which would be a $2062 difference that I would have to pay the state of Texas prior to being allowed to register my vehicle.
For the majority of society, the sales taxes and other fees are rolled into the vehicle loan. So, members of the military would have to take out an additional loan on their vehicle to cover the cost or borrow money to register their vehicle in Texas because most troops don’t have an extra few hundred or thousand dollars to register their vehicles. Keep in mind, this is in addition to the registration fee, not a part of it.
Today, I sat down to a luncheon in which Governor Perry was addressing Temple constituents. I had the opportunity to ask the first question after he was done with his presentation. My question was simple and to the point, but first I asked him a question I had been sent from Twitter: Will he run for president? No real answer, yes or no.
Then, I asked him if he would support legislation that exempted active duty military troops from paying additional sales tax to register vehicles in the great state of Texas that were purchased out of state. He looked straight at State Legislator Ralph Sheffield, 31st District Representative, and told him that if Mr. Sheffield submitted the legislation he would sign it into law! No talking around the subject and no beating around the bush.
Mr. Sheffield gave me his card and I will follow up with him. What other active duty Texan citizens need to do is contact their local district representatives and urge them to support this legislation. If you don’t know who your state legislator is (shame on you), you can go HERE and input your address to find out.
