USAA Helps Connect Soldiers and Families on Veterans Day

On Veterans Day, in honor of all the brave American’s who have selflessly defended our country, deployed U.S. servicemen and women were able to call their loved ones back home at no cost, thanks to financial services provider USAA.

USAA teamed up with VFW to provide more than 70,000 connections to the United States from abroad, totaling nearly 1 million minutes of free talk time through the VFW Operation Uplink™ program. In addition, USAA’s generous sponsorship includes the purchase and distribution of more than 3,000 international calling cards to military chaplains overseas.

“At USAA, we’re in direct contact with thousands of military members every day, and we hear firsthand the family and household challenges they face. It’s our privilege to support the VFW’s Operation Uplink, which gives them an opportunity to hear their loved ones’ voices, helping ease the burden of separation that military service often requires,” said retired Rear Adm. John Townes, USAA vice president of military affairs. “As we expand our business to serve many more military veterans, we look forward to additional opportunities to work with the VFW to help those who serve our nation as well as those who have served.”

USAA, founded by military officers in 1922, recently expanded its eligibility to include all honorably discharged veterans – officer and enlisted – from all branches of the U.S. Armed Services, regardless of years of service. USAA offers banking, investment, insurance and financial planning products and services to more than seven million members of the military and their families.

First Lt. Philip Dudley, a soldier stationed in Baghdad, Iraq said of the Veterans Day Free Call Day, “I want to thank you for your support of service members. Today my team was able to place free calls from Baghdad to our families in the states. Being on a very small base means calls can get expensive. Having the opportunity to make free calls to our loved ones meant the world to my team and I. Thank you very much for that opportunity. Your support of veterans and deployed soldiers is always greatly appreciated by those who have served, those who are serving and those who have stood by us through it all. Thank you.”

Chaplain (Capt.) Pat Opp at Forward Operating Base Leatherneck, Afghanistan is one of many deployed chaplains to receive the free phone cards made possible by USAA.

“Thank you for your generosity for our Joes. That is just great! I will serve them out to troops who need them and do my best to protect them. As a chaplain, I do my best to not only check on morale but also stimulate it in a positive way. Phone cards certainly help!”


VFW Operation Uplink™ “Free Call Days,” launched in 2006, have provided more than 3 million free connections between deployed service members and their loved ones in the United States.

Hasan, Not KSM, Is Our Real Problem

By DANIEL HENNINGER
The Wall Street Journal

November 19, 2009- If it accomplished nothing else, the Obama administration's announcement last Friday to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in lower Manhattan blew the Nidal Hasan murders out of the news. The KSM fiasco deserves all the attention it gets. What Hasan represents, however, is a more immediate concern.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is an old-school jihadi. They sit in far-off redoubts, assembling terror teams of foreign nationals who now must figure out how to get themselves and their plot inside the U.S. Not impossible, but harder than before 9/11.

Hasan is new school. He is what's known as a homegrown terrorist. Virtually all the Islamic terrorist plots thwarted here in recent years were homegrown, not designed from afar by a KSM.

Najibullah Zazi, the Colorado airport-shuttle driver arrested in New York this September and charged with conspiring to detonate bombs, came to the U.S. in 1999.

The Fort Dix Six, convicted in December of conspiring to attack U.S. military personnel, were mainly ethnic Albanians whose family came to New Jersey in the 1980s.

Zakaria Amara, the leader of the Toronto 18, who were planning to blow up skyscrapers in Canada, was born in a Toronto suburb.

In testimony to Congress in September, the director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Mike Leiter, said the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab includes "dozens of recruits from the Unites States," mostly ethnic Somalis.

How do individuals sitting in Colorado, New Jersey, Toronto or Texas suddenly transform into mass murderers for jihad? Most of the time, they become radicalized by spending vast amounts of time viewing violent Islamic Web sites run from abroad.

Two years ago, Lawrence Sanchez of the New York City Police Department's intelligence division told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the Internet is "the most significant factor in the radicalization that is occurring in America." Mr. Sanchez described this process as "self-imposed brainwashing."

In New York Times reporter David Rohde's account of his captivity by the Taliban, he wrote that "watching jihadi videos" was his guards' favorite pastime. He describes them as "little more than grimly repetitive snuff films" of executions.

If you sit in the United States and watch this stuff 'round the clock—self-brainwashing—it is fully protected activity. It qualifies as "speech," protected by the panoply of First Amendment law. These protections exist nowhere else in the world.

The biggest controversy surrounding Maj. Hasan is that the Army knew about his radical Islamic sympathies, from the Walter Reed lecture and the monitored emails to the English-speaking, American-born Yemeni imam Anwar Awlaki, whose Facebook page, with a reported 4,800 "friends," is depicted nearby.

The argument is that the Army should have mustered him out of the service and thereby avoided the 13 murders. Really? After kicking him out of the Army, there was no probable cause for authorities to surveil a civilian Nidal Hasan. In time he as easily could have killed 13 Americans in a suburban Texas mall.

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, as the judge presiding over the 1995 trial of the "blind sheikh," Omar Abdel Rahman, for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, had to instruct the jury that the sheikh's violent, "holy war" sermons at New York mosques were legal, protected activity (he was convicted of conspiracy).

There is a mosque in Manhattan at 96th Street and Lexington Avenue, on whose sidewalk one can hear adherents spouting support for violence against the U.S. That, too, is protected.

A violent ideology is just an ideology, and that is protected speech. It requires acts to put in motion aggressive surveillance, such as wiretapping.

I think the Hasan case shows this is wrong, or at least too dangerous. First Amendment law has never dealt with a widely distributed ideology that has as its raison d'être the mass murder of Americans and destruction of American property.

For now this is the way it is: Future Hasans can get jacked up all day on kill-the-Americans Web sites, and we have to wait until they put in motion a conspiracy like Fort Dix or the Colorado jihadists. Or until they start shooting.

Politics is the only recourse.

This is what the political fight was through the Bush years—fights over the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretaps of conversations between U.S. citizens and foreign suspects, using the SWIFT financial data system to track terrorist transfers (or, with KSM, military tribunals versus civil courts). The argument against these policies was that "our values" require that judges review and approve virtually all such activity.

The problem with this view is that "our values" were already protected to an unprecedented degree. Raising the bar higher is asking too much of the people assigned to catch all these self-radicalizing jihadists.

The Democrats have cast their lot with tighter restrictions. The past six years and a presidential campaign proved that. In the wake of Hasan's 13 dead people, revisiting the limits of our vulnerability has to be on the table in next year's congressional elections, and then a presidential election.

Army's record suicide rate 'horrible,' general says

Despite high total, awareness campaign shows signs of helping

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli on Tuesday called the Army's record suicide rate this year "horrible" and said the problem of soldiers taking their own lives is the toughest he has faced in his 37 years in service.
As of Nov. 16, 140 soldiers on active duty and 71 soldiers not on active duty were suspected to have committed suicide. "We are almost certainly going to end the year higher than last year," which was also a record for Army suicides, Chiarelli said at a Pentagon news conference.

"This is horrible," he said. "Every single loss is devastating."
However, Chiarelli, who has made suicide prevention a priority, said that despite the high total, the monthly suicide rate has largely declined since March.
In January and February, there were about 40 suicides, or about one-third of the active-duty total this year, and since March the general trend has been down, with the exception of a couple of months, he said. He attributed that progress primarily to a campaign to increase the involvement of Army leaders at all ranks in suicide prevention efforts.

Chiarelli voiced frustration that the Army has not yet been able to identify any causal links among the suicide cases, except that soldiers are more likely to kill themselves when they are away from their stations, where help is available. "There is no simple answer," he said. "Each suicide case is as unique as the individuals themselves."

But Chiarelli said that in more than 40 percent of the cases this year, the soldier involved had seen a behavioral health specialist.
Substance abuse, which can be related to mental health problems and suicide, is on the rise in the Army, Chiarelli said, and he added that the force is short about 300 substance abuse counselors.

The Army is also short an estimated 800 behavioral health specialists, he said, describing prewar authorization levels for such specialists as outdated. "I have been pounding the system to . . . determine what we need after eight years of war," Chiarelli said.

The Army recently refined the questionnaire it uses for incoming soldiers to better screen for psychological problems and has instituted a training program to build mental resiliency within its ranks.

In addition, the Army has launched a pilot program to have soldiers returning from overseas undergo an immediate half-hour evaluation -- either face-to-face or online via Web cameras -- by mental health providers. In the one battalion that has participated in the program so far, the evaluations led to a doubling of the referral rate for mental health issues compared with soldiers who simply filled out a post-deployment assessment form, according to Brig. Gen. Richard Thomas, the Army's assistant surgeon general for force protection.

Chiarelli declined to discuss the case of Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, charged with fatally shooting 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., this month. Asked whether he was concerned about the risk of other violent individuals in the force, Chiarelli said, "We always have to be concerned about that."

VFW Gives Troops Free Talk Time on Veterans Day

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2009 - Deployed and hospitalized service members are expected to make about 120,000 calls home this Veterans Day, and it won't cost them one thin dime.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars organization is once again offering "Free Call Day" through its Operation Uplink program. USAA, which offers financial services to service members, is sponsoring the day of free phoning, which is expected to total some 1 million minutes.

"We are very pleased to join forces with USAA, an association recognized as a devoted friend and advocate of the military community, to offer a special Veterans Day Free Call Day," said Dan Shea, director of the VFW Foundation. "Calling home, even for a few brief minutes, is a tremendous morale boost for our soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen, and helps families stay connected despite deployments."

Service members can visit one of nearly 900 Internet cafes in Iraq and Afghanistan between midnight and 11:59 p.m. Iraq time to place their free call home. Callers will need a SPAWAR prepaid personal identification number. The PINs can be obtained by visiting the SPAWAR site, http://www.oif.spawareurope.net/index.htm. SPAWAR is a contractor that provides voice-over-Internet phone service for deployed forces.

In other locations where a PIN number has been requested, the free calls also will be available at hospitals and morale, welfare and recreation service centers on bases worldwide. Users will have to make their calls between the same hours Iraqi time, as well.

Internet café managers may have a PIN available for non-account holders to use on Nov. 11 only.

"At USAA ... it is our privilege to support the VFW's Operation Uplink, which gives [service members] an opportunity to hear their loved ones' voices, helping ease the burden of separation that military service often requires," said retired Navy Rear Adm. John Townes, vice president of military affairs for USAA. "As we expand our business to serve many more military veterans, we look forward to additional opportunities to work with the VFW to help those who serve our nation as well as those who have served."

The VFW launched Operation Uplink in 1996. It has contributed more than 105 million minutes of free calling time to U.S. service members. The program works exclusively with DRS Technical Services to provide the Free Call Day program.

VFW Grieves Over Fort Hood Tragedy

WASHINGTON (November 6, 2009) -- The national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. extended his condolences and support today to the families and victims of yesterday's shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.

"No words can properly convey our condolences to the wounded and families of those murdered," said Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., a Vietnam veteran from Sussex, Wis.

"The entire military family is grieving right now. I just want them to know they do not grieve alone. Our hearts and prayers are with them."

According to reports, the assailant was identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, an Army psychiatrist assigned to Fort Hood's Darnall Army Medical Center. He was shot and apprehended by emergency response officials, but not until after he allegedly murdered 12 fellow soldiers and a civilian law enforcement officer, and wounded 30 others. Hasan had been scheduled to deploy overseas.

"Whether he snapped from the stress of going to war or some other reason is for investigators to uncover," said Tradewell.

"Right now the focus has to be on taking care of the victims and families, and in trying to ensure this type tragedy is never repeated within the confines of a U.S. military installation anywhere."

Operation Uplink Free Call Day: Veterans Day

November 11, 2009 is VFW’s Veterans Day Operation Uplink Free Call Day

Troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait can call the U.S for free for a full 24 hours courtesy of USAA Insurance.

The Free Call Day begins at 12:00AM November 11th and ends at 11:59PM November 11th.
(call times are demonstrated in Iraq/Afghanistan/Kuwait time zones)

Free Call Days are available at more than 800 MWR internet cafes using SPAWAR located on military instillations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. Take advantage and call your loved ones!

Soldiers, to place a call, use regular dialing procedures using your SPAWAR prepaid PIN, if you do not have a PIN number, get one from the cafe manager. You will hear the sponsor announcement informing you that your call is FREE!

Feedback is welcomed and encouraged! Lferguson@vfw.org
http://www.operationuplink.org/

Full schedule of Free Call Days: http://www.vfw.org/PR/NMS/OperationUplink/2009%20Free%20Call%20Dates%20Sponsors.pdf

VFW Washington Weekly

In This Issue:
1. President Signs Defense Bill
2. VFW Hosts DHS Secretary
3. House VA Committee Clears Bills
4. DNA Samples Needed for MIA Identifications

1. President Signs Defense Bill: The President signed the National Defense Authorization Act this week, which authorizes $550.2 billion for FY 2010 Department of Defense programs, and $130 billion to support overseas military operations. Some VFW-supported highlights include:
· No proposed Tricare fee increases.
· A 3.4% pay raise for active duty, Guard and Reserve members.
· Authorizing premium-based Tricare coverage for "gray area" Reserve retirees who are under age 60.
· Authorizing special compensation on behalf of caregivers of severely wounded warriors while on active duty.
· Requiring a medical examination before administrative separations of members affected by traumatic brain injury or PTSD.
· Protecting absentee voting rights for military members and families.
· Expanding active-duty Tricare eligibility for activating Guard/Reserve members and their families.
A detailed summary of the bill can be found at: http://armedservices.house.gov.

2. VFW Hosts DHS Secretary: Junior Vice Commander-in-Chief Richard DeNoyer and representatives from nine other veterans' organizations met with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in the VFW Washington Office yesterday to discuss veterans employment and other key issues. Veterans currently comprise a quarter of DHS' 220,000 workforce, and the secretary reiterated the department’s goal to hire 50,000 more by 2012. She also discussed increasing contracting opportunities for veteran-owned small businesses. When asked for her Top 3 concerns, she said radicals inside our borders who are intent on causing harm and damage; cybersecurity attacks that would deny essential services that range from air traffic control to traffic lights; and the need for more legal tools, as it applies to illegal immigration. The secretary said safety and security is a shared responsibility, so she is committed to reaching out to veterans groups through Citizen Corps and the Red Cross to ensure the nation has a first response capability for natural disasters. The meeting was a follow-up to a recent DHS initiative to create a Veterans Outreach Steering Committee. .

3. House VA Committee Clears Bills: The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee approved two bills that would help veteran-owned small businesses and provide job training for veterans. The committee rolled seven other bills into the Veterans Small Business Assistance and Servicemembers Protection Act of 2009, sponsored by Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA). Some of the provisions include providing outreach to areas with high concentration of veterans, allowing parents of eligible veterans to be buried in national cemeteries, and enabling servicemembers to terminate certain service contracts if they deploy for more than 90 days. The other bill approved, The Veterans Retraining Act of 2009, would authorize the Department of Labor to pay a monthly training allowance to veterans enrolled in an employment program that teaches a skill in demand. It would also provide a monthly housing allowance equal to an E-5 living in the same Zip Code, and up to $5,000 in moving expenses related to training. For more on the bills, go to the House VA Committee website at http://veterans.house.gov/.

4. DNA Samples Needed for MIA Identifications: There are 88,000 missing and unaccounted-for American servicemen from World War II forward, yet many MIA families have not provided a family reference sample to assist in DNA identifications. Currently, 68% of Korean War families have provided samples, 66% of Vietnam War families and 63% of Cold War families, but only 0.01% of WWII families have provided samples. The government identifies about 75 MIAs annually, but many more could be identified—and quicker—if reference samples were on file. Please forward the following service casualty office contact information to MIA families in your hometown, as well as to local newspapers:
· Army: 800-892-2490
· Navy: 800-443-9298
· Air Force: 800-531-5501
· Marine Corps: 800-847-1597
· State Department: 202-647-5470
To learn more about how DNA technology helps the Full Accounting Mission, go to the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/family_support_info/dna.htm.