Veterans Center Edited 1998 -2001 Archived Content

The Veterans Center was a website created exclusively for veterans and their families. They welcomed comments and looked forward to talking to their veteran visitors, and helped in many ways to repay our veterans for their service and sacrifice. Veteran Bill Ryerson taught himself html and website building while working part time as a freelance developer. In 2010 he was introduced to search guru Bob Sakayama (founder of TNG/Earthling) who taught him the arcane world of ranking a website show up in Google, which is the whole point of having a website. Bill learned all this very technical stuff and then applied it here. We thank him for his service to our country and for the generosity so evident in his efforts to preserve this once active site.

This is no longer an active website, but the new owner of the domain wanted to honor our veterans by retaining some of the site's 1998 -2001 archived content.

American Veterans Resource Center is dedicated to the 26.1 million men and women who have served our nation during times of conflict.
We offer information and directions to over 171 Medical Centers. Free advice to Veterans and their 50 million family members who deserve our respect, admiration and above all, to be remembered. A free search engine to locate buddies or to put your information into and let them find you. Addresses and directions to all National and State Veterans Cemeteries.
It's free for all Veterans, Retirees and Active Duty Military

Have you got an experience that might help another veteran or their family? Want to help them?
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Give us a chance to help you or your Veteran in return for service to our nation.
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Are you a veteran? Is a member of your family a veteran? Did you know that there are 70 million potential beneficiaries of Veteran’s Benefits? Are you receiving all of your veteran’s benefits? Compensation, Health, Education or Housing Loans? (Click here to determine eligibility)

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A Collection of Veteran's Tributes: REMEMBRANCE

What Is A Veteran?

A veteran is a person who fell in love with their country -- for better, for worse -- for richer, for poorer -- in sickness and in health.

A veteran is a person who is willing to lay down their life for the Statue of Liberty so that her poor, her huddled masses, her homeless, her tempest tossed may breathe free and may enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

A veteran is a person who does what he/she must -- in spite of personal consequences -- in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures -- for that is the basis of all human morality.

A veteran is one who gets a lump in the throat when he/she sees our beloved flag. One who will fight to protect our beautiful flag from those who dare to dishonor it.

A veteran is one who pays their taxes, willingly; serves their country, honorably; and cherishes their freedom, passionately.

A veteran is one well deserving of our appreciation, our love, and our prayers 365 days a year.
Anonymous

The Silent Ranks

Author Unknown

I wear no uniforms, no blues or army greens.
But I am in the military in the ranks rarely seen.
I have no rank upon my shoulders. Salutes I do not give.
But the military world is the place where I live.
I'm not in the chain of command, orders I do not get.
But my husband is the one who does, this I cannot forget.
I'm not the one who fires the weapon, who puts my life on the line.
But my job is just as tough. I'm the one that's left behind.
My husband is a patriot, a brave and prideful man.
and the call to serve his country not all can understand.
Behind the lines I see the things needed to keep this country free.
My husband makes the sacrifice, but so do our kids and me.
I love the man I married. Soldiering is his life,
But I stand among the silent ranks known as the Military Wife.

The Long Good-bye To A Forgotten War

They're old now, very old, closing in on 100. Some are older than that. Some can still walk, with the assistance of an arm or the hand of a solicitous friend or nurse. Most need a wheelchair. Many cannot leave the beds they will soon die in. These are the boys of the autumn of '18, the heroes of Woodrow Wilson's war to end all wars, still called the Great War in the words carved on the stones in 10,000 country graveyards. Their war, as awful as any in our history, has been overtaken in the public consciousness by the awful and bloody wars that followed. The day meant to honor them, Armistice Day, when the guns finally fell silent at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, has been swallowed up by something called Veterans Day, marked mostly by sales of sheets and corsets and pot and pans in the malls and main streets. Even the memorial to the dead of the Great War, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with the most eloquent eulogy ever carved on a hero's tomb --"Here lies in honored glory an American soldier known but to God"-- has been merged (and the poetry destroyed) into a derivative joint tribute to the dead who followed. The memories of the boys of the autumn of '18 flooded back this year with a particular poignancy, wrought by the realization that so few of them are left among us, the living. Fewer than 5,000 of the men who wrote their deeds in the blood of Argonne Forest, of Ypres, of Chateau-Thierry were alive with their memories this year. The years close quickly on the heroes of the nation's wars. The Vietnam War, which seems like only yesterday to most of us, was already fading into history texts when today's college students were born. The men who save civilization from the ravages of Nazi evil and the treachery of Japanese warlords are themselves in the sunset years of their lives. The Civil War, the single most important event in our nation's history, was with us only yesterday. As a boy, I watched seven old men, no longer ambulatory, ride down Main Street in Little Rock at the last reunion of the soldier boys of the Confederacy. Lest we forget. The Great War, so close to the hearts of the Europeans, was never so close to the American experience. Though hearths were shattered across America, it quickly became America's forgotten war, as first the Depression and then World War II became the nation's obsessions at mid-century.

My Uncle John was a mysterious uncle. His son was my favorite cousin. He was kind, but gruff an enormous and powerful man when I knew him late in his life. He seemed unapproachable. He never said much to the kids in the family. We knew him as something of a Bible scholar, and we knew that he had been in the war. He was said to have killed seven German soldiers before a machine-gun burst took his ring finger. Not long ago, I read some of the letters he wrote home, and the gruff, unapproachable uncle became merely a proud but homesick boy, an American innocent, someone I could never have known.

"I am John W. Elder," he wrote in his journal. "I am from Lake Village, Arkansas. When I grew up, Europe was a half a world away. The thought of me seeing Southhampton, or Liverpool, England, the English Channel, Paris, Marsailles, France... Why these were names I read in the World History and Geography books I studied back in school... Folks from Lake Village never get to travel to these far away places. Lake Village was my world on June 28,1914. I was 15 years old. My primary interests were: Girls, farming, girls, hunting, gils, fishing and girls. Life was good in Lake Village. But my world was expanded..."

En route home at Christmas 1918, he wrote from New York City, with unintended understatement: "I suppose you read in the papers something about the battle in the Argonne Forest on the Meuse river close to Verdun. Well that is the place where it happened."

"It was on the 8th morning of attack on the sector and we had gone over the top every morning for 8 straight mornings and on the morning of the 14th we went over but Jerry had evacuated his trench during the night but along late in the evening we came upon them... When our lines of men leaped into their trench it was the awfulest sound I ever heard for hundreds of men fell in less than five minutes. We lost all of our officers and nearly all of our noncommissioned officers. When night came they called the roll and only two corporals and 12 privates answered their names. Out of a company nearly 200 strong only 14 were left uninjured. Although O am far away from home and have not heard from home in a long time it is the happiest Christmas I ever had, for I can come home and look people in the face and say, "Honest to God, I did my best."

Wesley Pruden is the editor in chief of The Times

"A Rifle Squad, 1942"

An interesting, 1942 congressional response from CG:
From out of the dusty archives of the:
27th Infantry Division
Office of the Commanding General
Fort Ord, California
27 February 1942
The Honorable Clinton P. Anderson, M.C.
House of Representatives
Dear Mr. Anderson:
Your letter of February 17, to the Adjutant General, concerning Private Robert H. Lister, Company A, 165th Infantry, has been sent to me. You state: "I am wondering if there has been some mistake in his assignment to Fort Ord. "Robert Lister has had a fine education, has a Masters Degree, is about ready for a Doctor's Degree, is an expert Spanish student, a skilled archaeologist, and has been an instructor at the University of New Mexico."

In this division of 22,000 men, I receive many letters similar to yours from parents, relatives, friends and sweethearts. They do not understand why the man who had a good law practice at home cannot be in the Judge Advocate General's Department, why the drug store manager cannot work in the post hospital, why the school teacher cannot be used in educational work. They are all willing for someone else to do the hard, dirty work of the fighting man so long as the one they are interested in can be spared that duty. If doctors in the future are to have the privilege of practicing their profession, if archaeologists are to investigate antiquity, if students are to have the privilege of taking degrees, and professors the privilege of teaching in their own way, somebody must march and fight and bleed and die and I know no reason why students, doctors, professors, and archaeologists shouldn't do their share of it. You say, "It strikes me as too bad to take that type of education and bury it in a rifle squad," as though there were something low or mean or servile being a member of a rifle squad and only morons and ditch diggers should be given such duty. I know of no place red-blooded men of intelligence and initiative are more needed than in the rifle or weapons squad. In this capacity, full recognition is given to the placing of men so that they may do the work most beneficial to the unit of which they are a part. Whenever men are needed for a particular duty, the records of all men having the required skills and qualifications are considered.

I have examined the records of Private Lister and it is fairly complete. I know he holds the 100-yard dash and broad jump records in the Border Conference; that he was president of his fraternity; that this mother was born in Alabama and his father in Michigan, that his father lives at the Burlington Hotel in Washington and I suspect asked you to do what you could to get his son on other duty. It is desirable that all men, regardless of their specialty, shall learn by doing; how hard it is to march with a pack for 20 miles; how to hold their own in bayonet combat; and how to respect the man who really takes it, namely the private in the rifle squad. If Private Lister has special qualifications for intelligence duty, he will be considered when a vacancy occurs in a regimental, brigade, or division intelligence section. You can't keep a good man down in the Army for long. Every commander is anxious to get hold of men with imagination, intelligence, initiative, and drive. Because you may think I'm a pretty good distance from a rifle squad, I should like to tell you I have a son on Bataan peninsula. All I know of him is that he was wounded on January 19. I hope he is back there by now where the rifle squads are taking it, and I wish I were beside him there. I have written you this long letter because in your high position you exercise a large influence on what people think and the way they regard the Army. It is necessary for them to understand men must do that which best helps to win the war and often that is not the same as what they do best.
Sincerely yours,
RALPH T. McPERNELL
Brig Gen., USA
Commanding

Cryin' in the Rain

I come to The Wall
All alone
To see my friends
They say are gone
I see my reflection
I feel the pain
And with my buddies
I do my cryin’
In the rain

Very few
Really understand
Even fewer
Want to lend a hand
But The Wall
Seems to ease the pain
And with my buddies
I do my cryin’
In the rain

My buddies are here
I know
I can feel
Their presence close
We help each other
‘Cause we share the pain
And being together
We do our cryin’
In the rain

No one can see
The tears I cry
The raindrops hide
The way I feel inside
So I survive
By hiding the pain
And with my buddies
I do my cryin’
In the rain

Loyde P. "Snake" Arender
©2000

"FORGOTTEN WIDOWS"

(P. L. 105-85, 18 Nov 97; payable 1 Dec 1997)

Who is Eligible?

The surviving spouse of a retired (regular or reserve) member who:

died before 21 Mar 1974, and
was already drawing retired pay at the time of death.

The surviving spouse of a reserve member who:

had 20+ years of qualifying services on the date of death, and
died between 21 Sep 1972 and 1 Oct 1978.

Who Is NOT Eligible?

Those spouses who have remarried, received Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) or Minimum Income Widow/ers- Survivors Benefit Plan (MIW) ever; or whose member spouse retired after Survivors Benefit Plan (SBP) & Reserve Component Survivors Benefit Plan (RCSBP) were created, resulting in a valid election.

Annuity Allowance? $168.47 (effective 1 Dec 97); will increase by Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

+++

Women Veterans

This page is dedicated to those women who have served our country and have specific needs of their own that need to be met. If you know of a special web site or information that will be helpful to them, please contact us.

Director -- Joan A. Furey, RNMA

MISSION

The mission of the Center for Women Veterans is to assure that women veterans receive benefits and services on a par with male veterans, encounter no discrimination in their attempt to access these services, are treated with respect and dignity by VA service providers, and to act as the primary advisor to the Secretary for Veterans Affairs on all matters related to programs, issues, and initiatives for and affecting women veterans.

GOALS

Our goals were developed to assess women veterans' services within and outside the Department on an ongoing basis, to assure that VA policy and planning practices address the needs of women veterans and foster VA participation in general Federal initiatives focusing on women's issues. Specific goals of the Center include:

Identifying policies, practices, programs, and related activities that are unresponsive or insensitive to the needs of women veterans and recommend changes, revisions or new initiatives designed to address these deficiencies.
Fostering communication between all elements of VA on these findings and assure that women veterans issues are incorporated into their strategic planning.
Promoting and providing educational activities on women's issues generally, and women veterans specifically for VA personnel and other appropriate individuals.
Encouraging collaborative activities on issues related to women with other Federal agencies.
Creating an informal forum for the open discussion of women veterans issues for interested VA personnel.
Developing an open dialog with the women veteran community to assess their perception of VA services for women.
Promoting research activities on women veterans issues.
Fulfilling all other functions of the Center as outlined by Congress in Public Law 103-446.

WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CENTER?

Write to the Joan Furey c/o
Department of Veterans Affairs
Central Office (00W)
810 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20420

SPECIAL PROGRAMS OF INTEREST

Overview
Based on the 1990 Census, some 1.2 million women are veterans, or about four percent of the total veteran population. Currently women make up 11 percent of the current active duty military force and 14 percent of the reserve force. In an effort to be more responsive to women veterans, VA has designed special services and programs to meet their unique health care needs. VA offers complete services for women including: counseling for sexual trauma; specific health services for women such as Pap smears, mammography and general reproductive health care; and full-time women veterans coordinators at various VA medical centers.
Special Research Division
VA established a division within the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the Women's Health Science Division, the first of its kind in the country. Based at the Boston VA Medical Center, the center conducts clinical research programs addressing trauma related problems of women veterans. If you want more information about this center, its research programs, and targeted areas of study you may write to: VA Medical Center, Women's Health Sciences Division, 150 South Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, or obtain information from the center's new Home Page on the World Wide Web. The Web address is: http://www.dartmouth.edu/dms/ptsd/.
Women Veterans Comprehensive Health Centers
Eight health centers have been established to develop new and enhance existing programs that focus on the unique health care needs of women veterans. These centers, strategically located throughout the country, are structured under a primary care model which provides a coordinated approach to the provision of medical, surgical, and psychological care for women patients. These centers are located at the VA Medical Centers in: Minneapolis, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; Tampa, Florida; Durham, North Carolina; Los Angeles and San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; and Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Sexual Trauma/Personal Assault Counseling
A number of veterans experienced sexual trauma while serving on active military duty. While some these veterans have sought counseling and treatment for their sexual trauma, many have never discussed it with anyone. VA health care professionals are sensitive to the experience of sexual trauma and the impact it can have on a person's physical and emotional health. They understand the feelings of fear, anxiety, shame, anger, and embarrassment that individuals who experienced sexual trauma can have when they try to talk about it.

BACKGROUND

Public Law 102-585
Public Law 102-585, Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, Title I - Women Veterans Health Programs, as amended by Public Law 103-452, Veterans Health Programs Extension Act of 1994, established programs to improve health care services for veterans including priority counseling and treatment for sexual trauma for eligible veterans.
Who is eligible for counseling and treatment for sexual trauma?
VA may provide counseling and treatment to veterans who VA determines require such counseling, care, and services to overcome sexual trauma. The trauma may result for a physical assault of a sexual nature, battery of a sexual nature, or sexual harassment which occurred while serving on active military duty. Public Law 102-585, defines sexual harassment as repeated, unsolicited verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature which is threatening in character.
Where can a veteran receive care or more information regarding the VA sexual trauma counseling?
A veteran seeking counseling and treatment for sexual trauma should contact the Women Veterans Coordinator at the nearest VA regional office, medical center or vet center for assistance. Veterans may also call VA's national toll free telephone number for assistance, 1-800-827-1000.
Women Veterans Coordinators
Each VA Medical Center, Regional Office and Vet Center has a Women Veterans' Coordinator to assist and advise women veterans of available programs and services offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs and their local communities. Regional Office coordinators can assist women in filing claims for VA benefits including claims for disabilities resulting from a sexual or personal assault during military service. Medical and Vet Center Coordinators are available to counsel and ensure that health care needs are provided to qualified women veterans within the VA health care system. Feel free to ask to see your Women Veterans' Coordinator at your local VA facility.

DID YOU KNOW??

Women have served in all of America's major conflicts. Beginning with the American Revolution -- when some women disguised themselves as men to join the Continental Army.
Women were hired in medical service in the wars of 18th and 19th centuries and, during the Civil War, also were hired as foragers for supplies, cooks and seamstresses, as well as saboteurs, scouts and couriers. Dr. Mary Walker, an Army physician who served during the Civil War, was the first and only woman awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for contributions in treating patients.
In the Spanish-American War, a typhoid fever emergency forced the Army to recruit 1,5000 women under a civilian contract. This led to creation of both the Army and Navy Nurse Corps in the first decade of the 20th century.
Women were first recruited as members of the armed services in World War I. More than 35,000 served in roles ranging from nurses to telephone operators to clerks. It was the first war in which American women served overseas. Some died of illnesses in the field hospitals. Many were decorated, including three who received the Distinguished Service Cross, the combat medal second only to the Medal of Honor.
More than 350,000 women served in World War II. This war saw the first female officers. More than 200 military women of the Women's Army Corps and Women Air Force Service Pilots dies in action overseas or ferrying aircraft. Eighty-eight were held as prisoners of war.
The majority of women sent to Korea during the Korean Conflict and to Vietnam during the Vietnam War were nurses.

For information on Health Centers and other programs available to specifically meet your needs, please contact the Department of Veterans Affairs by clicking below,

If you're looking for more information or help, take a look at the Military Woman's Homepage. It is filled with a wide variety of resources.

Veterans-Center.com