What to these companies did to understand about veterans and specifically the 9 11 bets . Guest these are our nations heroes and they deserve to have a job and be able to be productive and be able to provide for their basic needs. Veterans are trained in the military. When they come out, veterans need to be able to come home to a nation as open armed and understands what veterans need and provide employment for those veterans. Veterans are productive and disciplined and when you hire a veteran, you hire someone wholl work for a hard for you. Senator Amy Klobuchar released a report by the Congress Joint Economic committee that show the recent 12 month average jobless rate for post9 11 veterans was 7. 6 . For a female veterans, on implement was 8. 3 . Or younger vets pensacola, florida, independent, ood morning caller i have been a veteran since the 1970s. I have always used the thats hen i needed them. As of 2014 when i called to check on my appointment, i was told that they were doing it different and i got put out until november which was my birth month. What i cant understand is they talk about the administration but they have never talked about the congressman. I am in pensacola, florida which has jeff miller is my congressman. As of this year, i got put off and have not been able to get out there and check on my medicine since march of 014. They act like it was all the administration but i think it has a lot to do with our elected officials. As usual, they have forgot about the vets and not worried about them until he gets in the ews. The kickoff that was being done for all of veterans is what made the news in these congressmen and senators act like they had never had any idea that was going on. Host so the Congress Oversight role . Guest we are always in touch with congress. We are in the halls of congress a most every day. Thank you for sharing that information. We hear that a lot from veterans who are waiting for a ointments and waiting to get their appointments and waiting for medication and thats a reason why the American Legion establish the veteran Crisis Command Center which is turned into our veteran benefit division. We can help them is we can help veterans who have these issues. You can call the American Legion 2028612700 and someone there an help you. You can figure out what is going on with your particular case and see it we can get you into the ba to get your appointment and medication. Just call 2028612700 and let them know why youre calling and they will connect with someone to help you and thank you for our service. Host lets talk to another vets, west point, massachusetts, independent. Caller i would like to say providence, rhode island be a center is a ordinary. I have been in that system for 15 years and served from 19731976. I cannot say anything bad about them. They worked hard in the appointments are on times over all the bad stuff you hear, there is a lot of good stuff, too. I just want to tell you, its a good ba system. Guest we believe that the v. A. Health care system is a great system for veterans. For 10 years from 2003, we have a Savings Program because we believe the va system is the best system for veterans. Our team would go out to the different regional offices along with task force members. We sounded some va facilities were doing a great job. Not every va facility had long delays and not every be a facilities doing anything wrong. There are just things that need to happen the need to be improved. Some of the va facilities are great. We visit them and use that information and share best practices with other facilities so we can help improve the quality of service for veterans. Host john, atlantic georgia atlanta, georgia, democrats line. Caller i appreciate the fact that ms. Jones is at the veterans legion. Not only that, i think Robert Mcdonald is doing a fantastic job overhauling the v. A. He himself has put himself last and put the veterans first. Host do you agree . Guest i think secretary macdonald is doing a great job o far. It has been a little over 90 days. There have been some improvements being made. We are hopeful that things will go great. Our National Commander met with him and he had a great impression of him. He was hopeful that things are going to get better. Host we are talking with verna jones executive female director of the American Legion. The headline in the washington ost what challenges to military omen face . Guest a veteran is a veteran but sometimes there is a bit of a difference. There was talk about women having an official combat role but the truth is that women have always been in combat. Even in the first world war, women saw things they will never forget and werent places that were very dangerous so women have always had combat roles. We talk about military sexual trauma which is not limited just to women. It largely affects women but Women Veterans face challenges every day and i think people need to be aware of them and make sure that there are more resources focused and more awareness about the woman soldier and veteran. Host as we mark veterans day on washington journal our cameras live on the what National Mall bringing to you several pictures of all the different memorials. There is the world war ii and the Veterans Memorial the vietnam memorial. We will continue to show you what washington looks like today on this veterans day. There are several events happening including the annual wreath laying ceremony that will take place at Arlington National cemetery at 11 00 a. M. Eastern time. Vice President Joe Biden will be standing in for the president while the president is overseas in china. That is here on cspan. We are talking with verna jones, executive director of the American Legion. Here is a tweet guest the legion believes that the a healthcare facility and system is the best for eterans. They have choice cards for veterans that can go out in certain circumstances and they can receive medical care if they cannot get it timely or cannot receive that particular service at the va. The system is set up for veterans so we do not believe there should be privatization of health care. Host canton, ohio, a veteran and republican caller good morning, cspan and good morning america. Im a legion aire. I see a major issue since ive been using the v. A. For about a decade now. It is cultural. I have had to stand in line to get travel pay because i have to go up to cleveland. It costs a lot of money when gas prices were higher. I have had to stand in line and wait for an employee to finish their personal phone call. That burned me up. To be serious, i want everybody to remember what makes a veteran. A veteran is the result of failed diplomacy. We are all responsible in this republic because we are represented to remember that when we go to war, its all of us as a nation that decided that is the proper action. The character of a nation is how they treat their veterans. We have to remember that and thats all i have to say. Guest thank you for your service and thank you for your membership. You are right, when veterans go into the v. A. Healthcare facility, the employee should not be on the phone and veteran should be the first priority. Anything the veteran needs should be the priority of that employee. I myself have gone through the American Legion to do visits to the v. A. And witnessed those things going on. We brought that to the attention of the v. A. Central office and to secretary mike donald letton we had our meeting to secretary macdonald when we had our meeting. Thank you would you set about veterans. Those are our nations he arose. Heroes. Host what is your responsibility of executive director and what is the role of American Legion Veterans Issues in this country . What is the membership like . Guest i oversee all functions of the washington, d. C. National records office. Its through the white house and congress and v. A. And the American Legion is the nations wartime veteran Service Organization, about 2. 3 million members and we are founded on a Strong National defense, taking care of our veterans, and promoting honor and patriotism. The American Legion is veterans serving veterans. Host what about the 9 11 veterans coming back . How are you bringing them into the American Legion and what is the attraction for them . Guest the American Legion is the largest veteran Service Organization and we take care of veterans and have been around since 1919. We have a longstanding history of strong advocacy for veterans. When the younger veterans come in, the attraction is that the American Legion has always been there and we have a proven history and record of taking care of veterans. Some of the younger veterans and organizations that cater to young veterans, often times, they need an adjudicator or Service Officer to help veterans file claims. They come to the American Legion. We have been doing that for a long time. Weve been doing that for a long time. The attraction is we have been here and will always be here and we will it write most of the time. How much are the dues . It varies from post to post. There are yearly fees for dues. I would guess the average is around 30 ear. A year. We have 2900 accredited officers to help veterans navigate through the theater system. V. A. System. The dues with the region air pays legionnaire pays help advocate for veterans and help them with their claims and help them with whatever they eed. Miami, a veteran and an independent. Im very proud of miss jones. She is a very great pokesperson. I just want to make a quick bullet point and see if you follow up on it. In fort lauderdale, the mayor on cnn is arresting people that go out and feed the homeless veterans. You can watch that later on today. We have people who are is rude s you can possibly be. You have to wait until they are talking about their boyfriend or what they did last thursday before they can actually do nything for you. I feel, this is my own personal, no one that is a veteran should be working for the v. A. There are a lot of people who are not qualified to handle people that have just come back for more. War. I was appalled that the leader of the hospitals, i go to Bruce W Carter in miami, it cannot get better. They are absolutely outstanding. Why not a town meeting . The general administrator of the hospital could come out and asked the veterans what are the problems you face . He is too high up in the Crystal Tower to get to. I would like to thank the American Legion. I am a game man during the 1970s. This was when the Psychological Department or group said that gays were undesirable and we were child molesters and drug addicts. I received an undesirable discharge for no reason other than suspicion that i was gay and the American Legion helped me in washington lead a ischarge review. I am very proud of the American Legion. I think miss jones makes a great representation. How does the legion feel about dont ask dont tell olicy . It has been decided and it is off our radar. We work with any better and that eets the criteria. Host james is in pennsylvania. A democratic color. O ahead. Caller i am james clark. I am in west virginia. The place saved me. I came through this process, i had a lot of personal problems. I was using drugs and they helped me. I have to say one thing. There has been a big change in the last six years. A lot of people have passed way. The director there seems not to care. There was just an article in the paper last week where a gentleman had cancer, a rare cancer. He wanted to talk to his family because he was doing surgery and he did not know if he was going o make it a not. They restricted him for seven days because he had a can of soda in his room and was told he could not see his family. I dont know exactly, that was offensive. It would be an uproar. I am scared to go there. I transferred all of my services. I am retired military olice. I checked into the hospital one time. I went there because it was a favor. To make a long story short, the people did not like the reason that i came up there. They drugged me. I went up there twice. I went up there weighed 180 pounds and i lost 20 pounds in two days. I have a problem with that. As a soldier, i think about facing them one more time. Host that was james and tennessee. Gary is in memphis, tennessee. Youre on the air. Caller i would like to make three points for comments. Number one, the wait times for ppointments, the goal that was 30 days or was 14 days and is now 30 days, the the department of defense goal is seven ays. Number two, during the past 10 months, according to congressional testimony, 7500 veterans of died due to the long waits for health care and lack of adequate care for mental wounds. Number four, falsifying wait time data to obtain bonuses has related resulted in veteransdeaths. Nobody has been tried or sent to jail. This is been known for years. Here was a memo that finally came to light just recently that as written back in 2008. Just covering that, i wonder why all of a sudden it seems like this is a disaster in phoenix that took to get some of the oncerns of veterans. Host that was gary. Guest thank you for your service. That are in some had a delay and it was terrible. The American Legion new that. That is why we called for the secretaries resignation. The minute there had been a secret waitlist, we knew that veterans were in crisis. That is why we developed a eterans crisis center. We knew we needed to put boots on the ground and get to where the veterans were to make sure they were receiving the service they deserve. We had other Community Service and partners and brought veterans and to those facilities to make sure that they got what they needed. The result was within 120 days, we visited 12 facilities and saw 3000 veterans and were able to get 1 million in retroactive pay. Phoenix should not have had that appen. It was unacceptable. That is what the American Legion is going to continue to have these centers. We will continue to keep our finger on the pulse of what is going on with veterans and those with delayed wait times. Host david is in pennsylvania and a veteran. Caller thanks for having me talk today. I just want to ask a quick question. I got out about two years ago. I have been to three different the eight facilities. The eight facilities. Each time i have seen a nurse ractitioner. Maybe you could touch on the subject. Why are there not actual doctors seen veterans . A lot of people dont realize that there are doctors not seen the veterans. I have not once seen a physician. I read that these Nurse Practitioners are being asked to take on the part of a physician and they dont have a physician overseeing what they are doing and the calls they are making. Guest thank you for that and your service. Different facilities have different medical professionals. For your facility, i dont know what the make up is. We would like to talk to more about that so we can have someone with policy look into hat. Secretary mcdonnell asked for 20,000 more professionals. That is why we need to support the call for the increase. In a veteran goes into the facility, they are seen paul if id medical professionals. I think that the v. A. Needs to take this seriously and see what can happen to make sure that they give the v. A. What they need to make sure that veterans are being seen by the professionals they need to be seen by. Host another recent story from the washington times. Lets go to mares in arkansas. Caller good morning. I would just like to make a comment on the American Legion. The American Legion for years, i was a member for years. The only help that you could really get from the American Legion was through your republican a politicians and we always had problems because we ould not be members. I got out of the American Legion back when george bush and john kerry ran. People like me were saved by men like him. He American Legion is just a conservative organization. Host the American Legion is championed by all veterans and is nonpartisan. What we care about is veterans. The American Legion has advocated for veterans since 1919. We offer so many services. We have over 2900 accredited representatives to help a veterans navigate through the v. A. System. The American Legion doesnt care about your gender or your ace. We care about taking care of our nations heroes and we do a great job of doing that. Host this is our camera live outside the vietnam emorial. You can see the people lined up to mark veterans day. There are several events happening around washington on the mall. Over at the Arlington National cemetery, vice presideoe
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.