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More Bases Added to Solar Ready Vets Job Training Program

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By Debbie Gregory.

In the pilot phase of the SunShot Initiative’s Solar Ready Vets program, only three military installations participated in the training our nation’s transitioning servicemembers for careers in the solar energy industry. Now, seven additional installations are participating in the highly successful program.

The program is made possible through the DoD’s SkillBridge initiative, which allows exiting military personnel to pursue civilian job training, employment skills training, apprenticeships, and internships up to six months prior to their separation.

Expanding on a previous pilot program, the training connects our nation’s skilled veterans to the solar energy industry, preparing them for careers as solar photovoltaic (PV) system installers, sales representatives, system inspectors, and other solar-related occupations.

Military bases were selected by the Department of Energy, in partnership with the Department of Defense and military branches, based on the number of exiting military personnel from the installation, the strength of the surrounding solar market, and the training capacity of nearby training institutions.

Solar Ready Vets is currently available at the following military installations:

  • Camp Pendleton in California – U.S. Marine Corps
  • Eglin Air Force Base in Florida – U.S. Air Force
  • Fort Bragg in North Carolina – U.S. Army
  • Fort Carson in Colorado – U.S. Army
  • Fort Drum in New York – U.S. Army
  • Hill Air Force Base in Utah – U.S. Air Force
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey – U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy
  • Joint Base San Antonio in Texas – U.S. Air Force and Army
  • Marine Corps Base Hawaii – U.S. Marine Corps
  • Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia – U.S. Navy

Employment in the U.S. solar industry increased 123% since 2010. The Energy Department has secured commitments from some of the largest U.S. solar companies to interview graduating military trainees for employment, a step that will help place qualified trainees in the high-paying jobs for which they received training.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Flooding Causes Accident that Claims Three Soldiers, Six Still Missing

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By Debbie Gregory.

Our sincerest condolences go out to the families and friends of the three soldiers tragically killed on June 2nd , when their Light Medium Tactical Vehicle was washed from a low-water crossing and overturned. Three soldiers were rescued, but six soldiers remain unaccounted for. Army aircraft, canine search teams, swift-water rescue watercraft and heavy trucks are taking part in the rescue mission.

“The search is ongoing for six soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division,” Fort Hood officials said in a statement.

Fort Hood spokesman John Miller said the low-water crossing of the creek was flooded by two days of heavy rains.

The storm system that moved through the Houston-area Wednesday night and Thursday morning dropped some eight inches of rain, causing flooding

Currently, close to half of the state of Texas is under flood watches or warnings, in some neighborhoods.

The river reached 54.8 feet in Fort Bend County — 4 feet higher than the record set in 1994 — with water spilling into neighborhoods that hadn’t previously flooded. Officials say levels in the Brazos have not dropped much and additional rainfall could make the flooding worse.

Depending on how much rain falls, the Brazos River could even rise to up to 56 feet, said Fort Bend County Judge Robert Hebert.

The names of the deceased soldiers will be withheld pending notification of their next of kin, the military said.

Built in 1942 and named after the Confederate General John Bell Hood, Fort Hood is the largest active-duty Army base in the US. It is located halfway between Austin and Waco, Texas.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Debate Renewed Over Privatization of Commissaries

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By Debbie Gregory.

Some senators are resurrecting an attempt to turn over commissaries to private industry, which failed to pass last year.

Like last year, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-OK is vowing to defeat the effort. In 2015, Inhofe sponsored an amendment to the authorization bill on the Senate floor with Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) to postpone a similar pilot program. It was adopted and included in the final defense authorization measure signed into law.

“There are too many unknowns as to whether privatization could directly impact a military member’s ability to provide for their families as well as the potential for it to affect retention,” Inhofe said, according to a press release.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has included a provision in the 2017 defense policy bill that would require a pilot program to test privatization at a maximum of five commissaries.

The test run would last at least two years.

As an added convenience, the test could include an online component in the areas around those commissaries, allowing online grocery shopping.

On the downside for commissary users, commissaries would be allowed to increase their profit margin in order to reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars used to operate stores. Currently commissaries sell groceries “at cost,” with no profit. A 5 percent surcharge is used to pay for construction and renovation of stores.

DOD spokesman Air Force Maj. Ben Sakrisson emphasized that the department is committed to preserving the commissary benefit for military members but also is exploring options for reducing the government’s cost of delivering that benefit.

“This is a Request for Information only. It is important to emphasize that NO decision has been made to privatize commissaries and the Department is NOT soliciting actual proposals for privatization,” said Sakrisson

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

 

Pentagon to Spend $180 Million to Boost Base Security

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By Debbie Gregory.

In a move to boost security and further protect U.S. military bases from the Islamic State and other terrorist groups, Defense Secretary Ash Carter has pledged $180 million in spending over the next three years.

The money will be spent on items such as door reinforcement, improved exits and procedures, improved alarms and access controls, and an “early warning” system to communicate threats and incidents to military personnel within 20 miles of a military facility in 10 minutes or less.

This improves upon the current system which issues a lockdown alert when there is an active shooter situation, but that alert is limited to one facility.

Junaid Hussain, the ISIS figure who released the personal details of more than 1,000 U.S. military members and “who sought to inspire wannabe jihadists to conduct attacks against the DOD”  was killed in a strike last year. Carter said that Hussain was  a central figure in recruiting ISIL sympathizers to carry out lone-wolf attacks in the West.

Carter said, “As we learned from the tragedy in Chattanooga last summer, ISIL has demonstrated a clear intent to target U.S. service members and facilities, or at least to inspire others to do so.

Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, a 24-year-old resident of Hixson, TN went on a murderous rampage at two military facilities in Tennessee, killing four US Marines and injuring several others. He sprayed bullets at a Chattanooga military recruiting center and Navy-Marine training facility, just seven miles apart.

Providing greater force protection for men and women serving today is one way we honor those service members who lost their lives last summer,” Carter said.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Worst Charity for Veterans Run by VA Employee

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By Debbie Gregory.

You would think the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation (NVVF) is highly successful, given their ability to secure over $29 million in donations in four years. But as far as using that money for “aiding, supporting and benefiting America’s veterans and their families”…that’s another matter altogether.

Most of the money spent by the “charity” has been paid to telemarketers, with less than 2 percent being used for the benefit of veterans and veterans’ charitable causes.

Watchdog organization Charity Navigator has awarded this “charity” a rating of a BIG, FAT ZERO!

“It’s a zero-star organization and you can’t go lower than that,” says Michael Thatcher, Charity Navigator’s CEO. “They don’t have an independent board of directors, they actually don’t even have a comprehensive board of directors — only three members on the board at this point in time and some of them are family. So one can say, is this representative of an independent board? It’s not.”

If you donated money to this “charity” in 2014, here is where some of your money went: $133,000 for travel, $21,000 for “awards”, $70,000 for “other expenses” (????) and $8,000 for parking!

Making it even less palatable, the CEO and founder of the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation, J. Thomas Burch, is also a federal employee working as an attorney for (wait for it…) the Department of Veterans Affairs!

Rolls Royce-driving Burch is deputy director in the VA’s Office of General Counsel, where he pulled down $127,000 in salary in 2014. That’s the same year he drew a salary of $65,000 as head of his “charity.”

If I sound angry, well, it’s because I am! I have the good fortune to work with some of the best non-profit organizations on the planet, and they could sure use those donated dollars! They fill backpacks for military children, offer mental health services for those suffering with PTSD, offer transcendental meditation training, provide pro bono cosmetic surgery for disfigured warriors, housing for the families of wounded warriors, counseling for survivors; I could go on and on.

According to the “charity’s” vice president, David Kauffman, NVVF “feeds homeless and unemployed veterans by donating to food banks, sends personal care kits to hospitalized veterans,  and donates blankets, hats and gloves to homeless centers” to the tune of $122,000.

With more than $8.5 million raised in donations in 2014, that accounts for less than 2 percent of the cash donations being used to support veterans and their families.

Shameful!

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Honoring Gold Star Families on this Memorial Day

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Photo of Toni Gross volunteering at Fisher House credited to Craig Orsini

By Debbie Gregory.

During World War I, military families began a tradition of hanging a small banner in the windows of their homes. Bordered in red, the white banner had a blue star for each family member in the military. If a family member died in service, a gold star replaced the blue.

That simple gold star has become a  cherished symbol of a loved one lost. And on this Memorial Day, I would like to introduce you to a Gold Star family.

Toni and Craig Gross’s son, Frank, followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps by joining the Army. On July 16, 2011, when he was just 25 years old, Frank was killed in Afghanistan by an IED.

U.S. military service members who die abroad come home through Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Toni and Craig traveled from their home in Florida to Delaware to welcome their son’s body home during the dignified transfer, a solemn movement of the transfer case by a carry team of military personnel from the Army, Frank’s branch of service.  A dignified transfer is conducted for every U.S. military member who dies in the theater of operation while in the service of their country. A senior ranking officer of the fallen member’s service presides over each dignified transfer.

While in Dover, the family stayed at the Fisher House for Families of the Fallen. This Fisher House, and 70 others like it across the U.S., is a comfort home where military and veteran’s families can stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving treatment nearby. The families of these fallen soldiers are hosted—all expenses paid—at the Dover Fisher House.

“I remember the day like it was yesterday,” Toni said. “We left our rooms and walked down a lovely garden path to the chapel that was part of the Fisher House. We prayed and then we were driven to the tarmac to welcome our son home.”

To honor her son while also giving back to other military families, Toni began volunteering at the VA Fisher House near her home in Tampa, FL. She now spends every Wednesday helping to take care of other families whose loved ones are receiving treatment for illnesses or injuries. Craig wanted to honor his son as well, so he quit his job and opened a BBQ restaurant near Tampa called “Frankie’s Patriot BBQ,” filled with military and veteran keepsakes, the most important of which are photos of Frankie in uniform. Additionally, Frankie’s BBQ provides occasional dinners at the Fisher House where Toni volunteers.

Companies Commit to Jobs for Military Veterans

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By Debbie Gregory.

Joining Forces, created in 2011 by first lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, has resulted in jobs for military veterans, hiring/training more than 1.2 million veterans and military spouses.

Now, 40 companies pledged more than 110,000 jobs for military veterans and military spouses over the next five years, and more committed to training them.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon has committed to hiring 25,000 veterans and military spouses in the next five years, training 10,000 veterans and spouses in cloud computing.

“We’re constantly looking for leaders who can invent, think big, have a bias for action, and who want to deliver for customers,” Bezos said. “Those principles look very familiar to the men and women who served our country in the armed forces. And also their spouses.”

The aerospace-defense sector pledged to hire a combined total of 30,000 veterans, and the telecommunications sector committed to hiring a combined total of 25,000.

“They made these commitments because time and again they saw for themselves that our veterans and military spouses are simply the best employees around,” Mrs. Obama said, reinforcing that these companies are doing the right thing.

As far as hiring for high tech jobs for veterans, she added, “If they can set up wireless networks in Baghdad or do satellite reconnaissance in the mountains of Afghanistan, I’m pretty confident that they can handle whatever’s happening in Silicon Valley.”

Mrs. Obama also stressed that she hoped the next administration would continue to make hiring veterans and military spouses a national priority

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Undercover Prisoner Reveals Insights About Jailed Veterans

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By Debbie Gregory.

Since last fall, A&E cameras have been rolling inside the Clark County Jail as seven people went undercover as inmates for 60 days.

60 Days In is a television documentary that follows the volunteers as they exposed problems in the system.

One of the volunteers, Zac, a U.S. Marine veteranand aspiring DEA agent, estimated that 10% of the inmates he lived with were veterans, most of them suffering from PTSD, depression and drug addiction. He experienced a sense of camaraderie with his fellow Marine inmates, but also a sense of disappointment that they didn’t have access to the services they needed to get their lives back on track.

Zac himself experienced problems after transitioning, and said that most inmates weren’t aware the jail offered veterans advocacy services and an Alcoholics Anonymous support group — and that jail employees rarely advertised the fact that such programs existed.

Inmates and corrections officers knew there was a TV show filming inside the jail for a few months beginning in October, but very few people knew about the seven innocent people who volunteered to stay there. The existence of the undercover program was kept secret from the inmates, the guards, and most of the jail officials.

Prior to entering the jail, the volunteers received instruction on how to act around other inmates; they are also briefed on the cover stories they should tell, including details of the (fake) charges on which they were arrested.

Because producers realized that it would be difficult for volunteers to remain undercover after the first season, a second season was produced before the series premiered.

Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel said that there are steps in place at booking to identify service members and veterans, and that the Veterans Justice Outreach is notified in order to provide services such as disability benefits, medical assistance, mental health assistance and court assistance. There is also a process in place to ease the transition upon release.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Spartan Pledge: A Promise to Seek Help Before Suicide

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By Debbie Gregory.

It’s a staggering statistic that we’re all becoming aware of: an average of 22 veterans take their own lives each day. While some people debate that number from the Department of Veterans Affairs, any number of lives lost to suicide is unacceptable.

Recently, a coalition of nonprofits led a “Spartan Weekend” for sick and injured veterans, extracting a promise that if they were thinking about suicide, they would first reach out to someone for help.

The promise was made with their hands on a sword hammer-forged of steel salvaged from the remains of the World Trade Center. The symbolism of the sword is important because the 9/11 attacks motivated a lot of people to join the military.

The Spartan Pledge is a commitment among warfighters to stand with their fellow soldiers in times of despair. The pledge has proven to be an effective deterrent to a spiral of hopelessness and offers a mission of brotherhood and a promise for tomorrow

Steve Danyluk, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and founder of the Independence Fund, helped organize the event for the Spartan Alliance and Disabled American Veterans.

“You don’t have to be suicidal to take the pledge,” he said. “It’s finding a mission: Help your buddy. It’s reconnecting, reestablishing those relationships that seem to vanish once you leave the military.”

Father Matt Pawlikowski, an Army chaplain from West Point, officiated a Mother’s Day service honoring Gold Star and Blue Star Mothers who have sons or daughters who are actively serving or have lost their lives in service. The ceremony closed with dozens of veterans taking an oath against suicide, known as the Spartan Pledge, a promise to reach out to their “Battle Buddy” before doing harm to themselves or others.

The pledge reads: “I will not take my own life by my own hand until I talk to my battle buddy first. My mission is to find a mission to help my warfighter family.”

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Army Troop Levels Lowest Since WWII

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By Debbie Gregory.

The Army is juggling global operations as it continues to deal with the lowest troop levels since before World War II.

In March, the Army has had approximately 2,600 soldiers depart active service without being replaced, leaving the end strength at 479,172 soldiers.  The Army’s reserve forces total 548,024 soldiers, (348,463 soldiers in the Army National Guard and 199,561 with the Army Reserve) for a total force of 1,027,196 soldiers.

The number of women serving on active duty April 1 stood at 69,171, a total that includes 15,654 officers, 52,698 enlisted soldiers and 819 West Point cadets.

The female population of the Regular Army was reduced by 340 members in March.

During the past year, the size of the active force has been reduced by 16,548 soldiers.

The Army is on track to achieve, or exceed, the budgeted end-strength of 475,000 soldiers by the end of September.

The drawdown is expected to continue for two additional years, with an end-strength goal 460,000 soldiers in 2017, and 450,000 in 2018.

Rep. Chris Gibson, R-NY has introduced legislation to stop ongoing drawdowns for the Army and Marine Corps, potentially adding 55,000 soldiers back into Army plans. He argued the world is less safe than it was when the Obama administration announced the troop cuts, pointing to threats from the Islamic State group, Russia, China and North Korea.

The Army estimated its reductions of about 40,000 troops would save $7 billion over four years, officials said when they were announced in July. The reduced troop levels were attributed to mandatory spending caps under the 2011 Budget Control Act.

In a major war overseas, at 980,000 soldiers, the Army would not have enough troops to provide them with “dwell time,” the rotation home which has been common in recent conflicts.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.


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