Volume 2, Number 5 7 May 1988 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | NN NN AAAA MM MM VV VV EEEEEEE TTTTTTTT | | NNN NN AA AA MMM MMM VV VV EE TT | | NN N NN AA AA MM M M MM VV VV EE TT | | NN N NN AA AA MM M MM VV VV EE TT | | NN N NN AAAAAAAA MM MM VV VV EEEEE TT | | NN N NN AA AA MM MM VV VV EE TT | | NN NNN AA AA MM MM V V EE TT | | NN NN AA AA MM MM VVV EEEEEEE TT | | | | The International Newsletter for Vietnam Veterans | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief: Todd Looney Assistant Editor: G. Joseph Peck Nam Vet is a special newsletter dedicated to Vietnam Veterans around the world, and provided electronically as a service to participants in the International Vietnam Veterans' Echo Conference (IVVEC) available on many FidoNet (tm) bulletin boards in the U.S., Europe, and Canada. Not all of the articles appearing in NAM VET are written by participants in the IVVEC, but the NAM VET is very much an electronic newsletter by, of, and for Vietnam veterans, their friends, wives and lovers. Articles from veterans or anyone else wishing to express themselves about Viet Nam or related experiences are invited to submit their writings for publication to the Vietnam Veterans Valhalla (143/27), the VETlink #1 (321/203), or to any node carrying the IVVEC whose sysop can forward your work from there. NAM VET is published monthly by the Vietnam Veterans Valhalla. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the NAM VET, it's staff or volunteers. The newsletter is made up of articles and other newsletters as well as other sources. We are not responsible for the content of this information nor are any of the above mentioned parties. Duplication and/or distribution is permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact Todd Looney at (408) 947-7668. NamNews 2-05 Table of Contents 7 May 1988 1. EDITORIAL Still On The Loose ....................................... 1 Homeless ................................................. 2 2. VETERANS' SERVICES Local Heroes need Apply .................................. 6 How to Get Military Records: A Veteran's Guide ........... 11 Writing Your Resume ...................................... 14 3. BUDDY SEARCH Veterans' Registry ...................................... 17 4. MEMORIES A Tribute to the Survivors ............................... 19 True Friendship, Old Friendship .......................... 23 Vietnam Era Service - A personal view, Pt. 4 ............. 25 Where is the Young Man Now? .............................. 29 A Little Man ............................................. 31 Back To The Bush! ......................................... 38 VA Home Loan Costs on the Rise ........................... 40 Veterans Health Care ..................................... 41 Marital Adjustments of Combat Veterans with PTSD ......... 43 5. WOMEN VETERANS Women Veterans' Update ................................... 46 6. ADVERTISEMENTS Free Wall Rubbings ....................................... 47 NAM VET Subscription Form ................................ 48 POW/MIA's ................................................ 49 IVVEC Nodelist ........................................... 50 "Now you're free, C'MON HOME! livin' fast. It's not easy Contact the lookin' at the past. International Vietnam Veterans It get's harder EchoConference (c) every day, Now appearing on BBS systems when you're runnin' away ... around the world! runnin' away ... NamNews 2-05 Page 1 7 May 1988 ================================================================= EDITORIALS ================================================================= Still On The Loose by Todd Looney, Vietnam Veterans Valhalla This is the second editorial I wrote for this edition of the NA VET. The first I slaved over for a week, re-read it one final time and determined *I* had no idea what I was trying to say in it so how could it mean anything to any of you? I rolled it up and began thinking about what I could say (old Joe has such an easy time of this, it seems to me. He just crawls into someone elses shoes and off his fingers go, tap-dancing across the keyboard to the tune of "America"). I was on my way into the office this morning doing my best not to get caught between the women putting on their makeup at 70 miles per hour and the businessmen trying to get a jump on their day by reading the Wall Street Journal at 75 miles per hour, and trying to attach some sort of meaning to the whole thing, when most unfortunately a bug became one with my windshield. It was a terrible mess and I did share my feelings with what was left of the little rascal. Suddenly it occurred to me that while the last thing that passed through my mind was "what does it all mean?", the last thing that passed through the bugs mind was his sphincter and at once my day had gained a new perspective. Life goes on . . . * * * This issue of the NAM VET is our May edition. That means that if I don't get on the ball you May see it while the news is still news. We had a LOT of input for this months issue - many thanks to all who submitted articles. Joe and I had to take measures to simplify production and distribution in order to get this bad puppy out at all. We had enough text for a good 150 Kbyte edition, and felt that was a bit much in one bite. If you submitted an article for this issue and don't see it, trust us it will be in the June issue. It was not easy for Joe and I to make the decisions necessary as to who get in this month and who gets put on hold, but we new this day was coming and are grateful for the overload. It means the NAM VET really is gaining momentum and we hope it continues. With help from people like you, that should be a cinch. As it stands now, Joe and I receive articles from all over the country, pass them back and forth with our comments after making sure they are "left flush margin and 65 columns", not to mention "ASCII text format" (remember those words in the "Article Submission Specs"? Or has anybody read those...grin). We keep track of who sends what and what the article is about. We decide how it will fit into this month's edition and gather NamNews 2-05 Page 2 7 May 1988 everything together. Joe has the greatest spellchecking software in existence (must have, even after I run the articles through *mine* he finds errors in my editorials). We decide how to arrange the articles and then check them all out again for continuity. Then it all comes back and we have to compile it into the actual newsletter format. Then make sure pagination is correct (remember the mess I made of the March edition?). Nonetheless, by the time we are ready to send it off to Jerry Hindle, our "official" paperboy, my brain hurts and I dip into the BTSD fund (Buy Todd Some Drugs) and sit back with a cold six-pack of Miller-lite (My official "drug of choice" now-a-days) If you think this is crazy, 15 years ago I was sent 10,000 miles away to fight some man in his own country and we called *him* the aggressor. I have incredible patience... * * * Before we get going, here are a few tidbits I knew you were just achin' to hear about...the lyric on the "Table of Contents" page is from Eddie Money's "Runnin' Away"... The 101st Airborne (go Screamin' Eagles!) Division is holding its' reunion in Omaha, Nebraska in July (don't ask me I don't know why Omaha either)...Contrary to popular belief, Phyllis Oakley in *not* Marlin Fitzwater in drag, but you can't be faulted for asking...sorry about the cursing in last months edition of NAM VET. It is entirely my fault, I didn't listen to my good friend Joe who wanted to tailor it. This newsletter is much like my own life, I figure it out as I go along,...hey wait, if I just told you that, then my "ego suppression just went out the window. Oooooooo...this existence is so confusing. Enough of this, let's get on with it. This month we have works from some real journalists, inspiring poets, tremendous people, and of course, more of our own nonsense, so grab those socks and run for cover...round 4 is about to begin. Ding! ----------------------------------------------------------------- HOMELESS G. Joseph Peck VETLink #1 321/203 Pittsfield, MA It sure seemed familiar. Clothes that had seen much better days; a face that badly needed a shave; shoes that should have been long ago thrown away. I checked my wallet - all personal ID had been removed from it - to see how much money I had left. $10. Not too bad. I was only going to be gone for 24 hours. At a little after 5pm, I walked into the local drug store. The NamNews 2-05 Page 3 7 May 1988 clerk, a sweet young girl, smiled her brightest and went out of her way to find out for me when the next bus to Great Barrington, MA. was (about 25 miles away). The druggist eyed me suspiciously, watched my every move. I bought a small box of candy to tide me over and was soon on my way. It would be a good 45 minutes before the bus came. I walked down the street - thinking, observing, feeling how it felt NOT to have a home, NOT to know where I'd be sleeping, NOT to know where I'd be eating later that night. About three miles down the road, shadows from the roadside trees beginning to lengthen, I decided to wait at a bus stop. Walking was beginning to hurt. The wait wasn't long and soon I was aboard Berkshire's finest, only not headed to the city I wanted to go to. "Last bus out of town tonight, sir. We only go as far as Lee, MA (about 15 miles from my final destination)." Paid the man his dollar - only $9 left. No problem. Enough for a hamburger and coffee in Lee then I'd start walking to Great Barrington. It was cold out. I intentionally wore only very light clothing and carried no bedding. Weather was predicted to be in the low 30's with a little snow. Burger King looked warm and inviting, and I savored my hamburger for nearly an hour, washing it down with about 4 cups of coffee. Finally, noticing the darkening sky, I left and began the 5 mile walk to Stockbridge. "A step at a time... you can always call home collect if it gets too tough or your body gives out." Steps along the roadway. Cars coming from behind me. Soon some of the old "alert mechanisms" kick in - I carefully listen to the sound of the approaching vehicles, ready in an instant to jump into a nearby bush or take some other evasive action. I remember the time I hid amongst the rocks while a group of four searched in vain to find me. Never want to go through that again. Dogs bark in the distance. House lights come on and traffic thins out. It is getting colder. "Hup-two-free-four... Jody's got ur girl n' gone... sound off... one two sound off... three four" ... D*mn Jody anyway... Well, I finally made it to Stockbridge - home of Norman Rockwell. Town closes up at 5... everybody's gone. It's 9:30pm. Don't even hear the dogs anymore. My footsteps echo loudly. The sign by the side of the road reads: "Great Barrington 9 miles". My hips are startin' to bother me and the pain in my neck is beginning to bring tears to my eyes. I'm beginning to shiver. It is getting even colder. The little convenience store is open. I buy a cup of coffee. Beginning to shiver, I take it with me, cupping it close to capturing its warmth - hurrying towards Great Barrington. I'm counting the cars that pass me by, looking for the cherry-top that'll be the policeman. Maybe he'll stop and I'll get a ride. There's no more busses tonight. NamNews 2-05 Page 4 7 May 1988 There isn't a cloud in the sky. I can see stars where I thought there were none. I take time to remember what this same kind of walk was like years ago. I can still remember the pain. I began callin' myself a fool for tryin' to be homeless. My ultra-thin jacket soon felt as though it were a frosted A&W mug and I put my hands in my pocket, as much to keep making my legs work (push the right, push the left, keep movin') as to keep them warm. It was a long, long walk. 2-miles away and I don't think I'm going to make it into the city. Can hardly move. Still countin' cars. Takin' steps that are no more than 5" in length. I'm looking for an abandoned car or an old barn on the side of the road. Not to be found. "A step at a time... left... right... push... push... 436 cars passed me and not a one of them with the bubble-gum machines on top..." 12:25 a.m. I finally get to the center of town and find an open convenience store. No bars open so's I could ask where the homeless stayed, maybe make friends with one or two. Takes me nearly 5 minutes to stop the shivering. Hands are blue. I ask the store attendant whether there's any shelters for the homeless in town. "No. Afraid I can't help you." He tells me where to find the police department. The sign in front of the bank says its 12:47; 32-degrees F, 0- degrees C. I'm barely able to make my feet move. I can't remember when I've hurt so bad. If I can only make it to the police department. Hate to admit it, but this is one disabled veteran that has failed in his stupid attempt to be homeless and now the police department will have to bring me home. Not easy "givin' yourself up to the police." Just around the corner from the police department I saw the stairway leading to the apartment over the Main Street stores. "It's gotta be warm in there. Lemme try." The first door I tried was locked. The second opened. Carefully, trying to be quiet, I climbed the stairs to the third floor. Bare wooden floors. A broken window at the end of the hall. If I could just sit down for a bit, maybe I'd be better. Once down, I don't want to get back up. The cold wind and snowflakes are blowing in through the window. A piece of board covers the window nicely and stops the snow. I half-sleep in a sitting position against the wall. I wake up every 20 minutes to see if anyone's coming out of the apartments along the hallway - Ready at a moments notice to get up and movin'. De Ja vu... At 0615 I'm back on the road again. Walk down to the local fast food franchise (another Burger King), tell the manager I'm homeless, ask him if he's got some work I can do for breakfast. "I'm really sorry," he said, "It's against the law to give you work to do to pay for your food. Minimum wage laws won't let me do it." He directs me back into town and to a local community action group. I ask about veterans' groups. None that can help. NamNews 2-05 Page 5 7 May 1988 The town is awake now. 09:30. I stop at the Vet Center. Climb up the two floors and discover a sign: CLOSED. For service, please call (Pittsfield, MA) or 1-800- (Boston). Finally get help/breakfast at the community group. The lady who helped me said "If you'd have gone to the police department they would have called me and I would have made arrangements for you to stay in a motel for at least the night." After having my breakfast, and observing that I was treated with nothing but total honesty and dignity, I told her who I was and what I was doing. I paid for my breakfast - didn't want to take ANY monies away from the homeless. "How are you funded?" I asked. "Mainly through contributions from the local churches," she said. "Do any of the veterans groups nearby donate ANYTHING to you? Do they provide ANY help?" That was two weeks ago. I've regained most of the use of my legs and my neck isn't as stiff now. I know what to do if ever I'm homeless in a strange town: turn myself in to a police department and they'll help - or refer me to someone who can. I still haven't gotten over the sad feeling I got when I learned that no veteran group gives anything to help the homeless - leastways not in Great Barrington, Pittsfield, Adams, North Adams, or Dalton, Massachusetts. They're so d*mned busy runnin' their bars, sellin' their raffle tickets, yellin' at the government to start a new program that they don't see the need right under their feet. 'til next month... Show a brother or sister veteran That YOU care G. Joseph Peck Sysop - VETLink #1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 6 7 May 1988 ================================================================= VETERANS' SERVICES ================================================================= Local Heroes need Apply Veterans who never received awards or decorations they earned, or who lost them, and merely want replacements now have a chance to get them. In some cases, the military will even throw in a ceremony to have them presented. The following should be of assistance: How do I get an award or decoration that I should have received, but never did? First of all, remember that you are dealing with straightforward military regulations that will require you to give all the information you can to support your case. Pull together all your documents and try to include, if possible, a DD Form 214 with all the data on it. A DD-214 is the best document you can use. If you do not have a copy of your DD-214 you can request one by filling out a Standard Form 180, ``Request Pertaining to Military Records,'' which can be obtained from any Veterans Administration regional office. Other data, such as a set of orders, all your service numbers, and your social security number, can also support your case. Once all the information is pulled together, write a clear letter as brief as possible but with all the data to your former service: ARMY Commander U.S. Army Reserve Personnel Center Attention: DARC-PSE-AW 9700 Page Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63132-5200 NAVY Navy Liaison Office National Personnel Records Center 9700 Page Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63132-5200 AIR FORCE National Personnel Records Center Attention: 6KTF-M 9700 Page Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63132-5200 MARINES Commandant U.S. Marine Corps CODE: MNDM-2 Washington, D.C. 20380-0001 NamNews 2-05 Page 7 7 May 1988 COAST GUARD Commandant (G-PS-5/(TP41) U.S. Coast Guard Washington, DC 20593 Q: How long will it take to get a response? A: The records centers are very busy, so you must allow a fair amount of time. If you have not heard from them in about 90 days or so, drop them another line. Plan on the whole action taking at most about six months. Q: How do I get a better looking copy of my award? A: Write and tell the records center what you want, but do not send in your old award until they tell you they want it. Q: How do I receive an award that I thought I should have gotten, but was never put on my records? A: The awards people call this a "lost recommendation." Do yourself a favor when you ask for a decoration and have no records of being awarded - give them all the information you can. If you leave anything out, plan on having to send more information. Except for people who served in the Air Force, write to those addresses previously given. If you were in the Air Force write to: Commander U.S. Air Force Manpower and Personnel Center Attention: MPCASA 1 Randolph Air Force Base, Texas 78150-6001 Q: How do I arrange for a ceremony to receive my award? A: You can request a ceremony if you are to receive an award for the first time. Contact the public affairs office at your nearest military installation. Try to contact a big post, base, reserve or National Guard unit with a general or flag officer in command. Some awards take a lot of brass to be pinned on. It often makes good press for a ``local soldier to receive his medal after 20 years.'' Q: How can I receive past awards if I am still in the military? A: If you are still in service, see your commander for details. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 8 7 May 1988 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ATTACHMENT Name: Claim Number: C- Address: Date: I request that the VA, in addition to the information given here, develop evidence of my duties while I served in Vietnam, pursuant to 38 CFR 3.103. I would like to be notified immediately when such development has been completed and be sent a copy of the results of such development. This also is to request that the VA presume I was exposed to the traumatic event described below, unless the VA can affirmatively establish otherwise. Any reasonable doubt involving my claim (particularly with regard to the severity of the traumatic event) should be resolved in my favor pursuant to 38 CFR 3.102. SECTION I I served in Vietnam from the month of , 19 , to the month of ,19 . I served with the following organizations:__________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ I had the following duties during this time:_____________________ _________________________________________________________________ The military experiences I believe were most terrifying, life-threatening, or stressful include the following: __ armed combat or enemy action __ grave registration duty __ bombed or shelled or tripped __ other action that booby trap threatened my life __ shipwrecked or in airplane or __ other vehicle accident __ captured I have attached a detailed description of the stressful events and have attached portions of military records or other evidence that are objective proof of or support the existence of the stressful event. SECTION II A. Since the event described above, I have reexperienced the event in nightmares, flashbacks and just over and over again in my mind. __ Nightmares occur ____ times each month __ Flashbacks occur __ I think about the event __ each month __ times each month B. I felt numb after the event. C. I have much less interest in my family, friends, and NamNews 2-05 Page 9 7 May 1988 activities like: _______________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ that used to be important to me. I don't feel close to anyone anymore. D. The following problems were not present before the event described above, but are now: __ I'm jumpy or hyperalert. __ My sleep is disturbed; I can't get to sleep; I wake up too early; or I have nightmares. __ I feel guilty that I survived when others did not; and guilty about what I had to do to survive. __ I avoid activities that remind me of the event. __ Certain activities that resemble the event and remind me of it make me more nervous or anxious. __ I avoid getting close to anyone in my family, or on my job, or among my friends. __ I have no interest in getting close to anyone in my family, or on my job, or among my friends. __ OTHER (specify). SECTION III A. I request service connected benefits and believe I have been and continue to be unable to function in social settings like I used to or to work to my fullest capacity because of Stress Disorder and that it had its origin in my active duty service. The following information explains my social and employment history since I was discharged: (see attached letters and documents) B. I have received psychiatric treatment for my nervous condition: __ in the military in ____________while stationed at _________________________________________________________________ __ within one year following discharge from service at _________________________________________________________________ __ more than one year following discharge at _________________________________________________________________ ******NOTE: ATTACH THIS TO VA FORM 21-526 TO SUPPORT YOUR CLAIM FOR STRESS DISORDER, OFFICIAL NAME: POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER PREPARED BY THE NATIONAL VETERANS LAW CENTER NamNews 2-05 Page 10 7 May 1988 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: VETERANS EDUCATION PROJECT PS BOX 42130 WASHINGTON D.C. 20015 WARNING: IN MAY, 1982 THE VA ADOPTED A NEW, POTENTIALLY MORE RESTRICTIVE ATTITUDE TOWARD STRESS DISORDER CLAIMS. BEFORE FILING A CLAIM AT THE VA, VETS SHOULD REVIEW A COPY OF DVB CIRCULAR 21-82-7 (MAY 3, 1982) THE CIRCULAR IS REPRODUCED AND DISCUSSED IN THE JULY-AUGUST 1982 VETERANS RIGHTS NEWSLETTER AND IS INCLUDED IN VEP'S STRESS DISORDER PACKET. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 11 7 May 1988 How to Get Military Records: A Veteran's Guide All those forms that you filled out, all those reports you filed, and all those orders directing you here and there are still gathering dust somewhere in the bureaucracy. The following information is offered by the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Inc., based on their experience to date in handling these matters. ++++ Your Own Records +++++ Getting your own personnel records is fairly easy. All of them are located in one central facility in St. Louis. To get anything out of your personnel file, write to: National Personnel Records Center Military Personnel Records 9700 Page Blvd St Louis MO 63132 Include your name; the branch of service; whether you served as enlisted or officer; your serial number; and your dates of active duty. They will usually respond within a couple of months with the requested document, or may send you a questionnaire requesting other details. If you get no response from them, write your Congressman and Senators. ++++ Someone Else's Records ++++ Getting someone else's records, particularly if that person was KIA, is not much more difficult. You request access to these records under the Freedom of Information Act, which sets forth a policy of disclosure of all records that are not (1) properly classified national defense of foreign policy information; (2) related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency; (3) specifically exempted from disclosure by statute; (4) inter)agency or intra)agency matters; and (5) personnel or other files, and then only to the extent to which the disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. In applying this exemption, agencies must perform a balancing test, between the public interest in disclosing these versus the public interest in denying access. Basically, agencies can withhold files if they will result only in a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy, such as personal and intimate details of one's life. Even where a file contains information of this sort, agencies must release the record if they can delete the highly personal information. Courts have held that dead people do not have any privacy to invade, although it is virtually impossible, because of privacy reasons, to get the names and addresses of a KIA's parents.\j\ With this overview in mind, I am enclosing a sample request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, which you should tailor to your own needs: Public Affairs Office National Personnel Records Center 9700 Page Boulevard St. Louis, Mo. 63132)5360 Attn: Freedom of Information Act Request Gentlemen: NamNews 2-05 Page 12 7 May 1988 Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. sec. 552(a)(3), I hereby request the following records: [Specifically describe records, for example, "All records that reflect the death of PFC Eugene F. Murphy, United States Army, RA 11 435 055, who was killed in action on December 28, 1968"]. I would like to have this record because [state a reason, for example, "He was my uncle and I would like to know in which unit he was serving when he was killed."] I understand that Exemption 6 to the Freedom of Information Act does not require an agency to disclose personnel, medical or other files "the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." However, since the records I have requested relate to someone who is dead, this exemption should not apply at all. If it is, Exemption 6 applies only to intimate personal details, which are not likely to be included in the records I am requesting; and, in any event, the 1974 amendments to the FOIA require release of reasonably segregable portions which are not themselves exempt. I am willing to pay direct costs of searching and copying these records of up to [state amount]. However, I do request that fees be waived, given the nature of my request. I expect a reply to this request within ten working days and am aware of my administrative appeals rights if this request\j\is denied. If you need further clarification, please advise me. My telephone number is [give number, if you wish]. Sincerely yours, There are a couple of points to keep in mind in using this. The Records Center will not respond in 10 days, as they are required to. Within about 30 days, you will receive an acknowledgement saying that you didn't have to use the FOIA in the first place and that it will take additional time. If there is no response within about three months, write your Congressman or Senators, enclosing a copy of the notice. In addition, the Military Personnel Records Center will generally waive search and reproduction fees if the amount of records they have to pull is minimal. ++++ Other Information ++++ The Freedom of Information Act can be used to fish a number of other records relating to the Vietnam era. Keep in mind that the statute is framed in terms of "records" rather than "information." Also ask for "any and all records etc." in these requests. For example, the National Personnel Records Center also has Army daily morning reports and the USMC equivalent (DA Form 1) showing the exact location of the reporting unit (usually down to company size) by geographic location and grid map coordinates; casualties; changes of key personnel; effective strength and major events. The Center also has rosters compiled by Army and USMC companies on a monthly basis. Because some of the USMC records are deteriorating, the Center usually refers FOIA requests to the USMC, which keeps duplicate copies. There's a wealth of records being compiled by the Army's Vietnam Project in Suitland, MD. This includes "Quarterly Operational Reports: Lessons Learned," which are generally prepared by NamNews 2-05 Page 13 7 May 1988 military history detachments in the field and other commands and generally cover major commands down to a brigade level. The information usually covers missions and operations, and is supplemented by staff journals, combat operational interview reports, monthly summarizations, and senior commander debriefing reports. To obtain access to these records, you should send a FOIA request to Adjutant General Center Access & Release Branch (DAAG)AMR)S) Washington DC.\j\ Finally, to uncover some record not mentioned here, you should contact the military historians. The Army's Southeast Asia Branch of its Center for Military History is very helpful (202) 272-0338 and the Marine Corps Historical Center (202) 433-3840) is somewhat less so unless you lean on them. Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial 4200 Wisconsin Ave NW, Suite 106/108 Washington DC 20016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 14 7 May 1988 WRITING YOUR RESUME Edited by Todd Looney Everybody has to look for a job now and then, some more than others. All of us like it to be as easy and painless as possible. The following tips have been compiled for you by experts. They can be invaluable tools if you will work within the framework they outline. Being an expert at looking for jobs (I've held a goodly number since returning from Vietnam), I feel I know what employers are looking for. Having been in a position where I was the employer, having to select just the *right* person from a stack of resume's a foot tall, I feel I am qualified to present the following: 1. A CLEAR AND FOCUSED CAREER OBJECTIVE Present the reader with a clear and focused objective right up front. It should be simply phrased. Make it short, to the point, using the least number of words possible. 2. TRUTH IN PACKAGING Lying or presenting inaccurate information is very dangerous. More and more personnel departments actually are going to the trouble of contacting former employers and schools. Personnel specialists are taking the time to check your dates and your factual claims. Sometimes a lie may not be discovered until you are actually on the job. In nearly all companies lying on a resume or application is grounds for immediate dismissal. Of course, you will be unable to count on that employer for a recommendation. It just doesn't pay. 3. GAPS OF TIME Sometimes an unsuccessful job experience is hidden simply by omitting it from a resume. This causes a gap in time to show in your job chronology and history. An alert personnel specialist, supervisor or interviewer is likely to catch this gap and ask you about it. Once you are found out, no matter what you say you cannot get away from the fact that you tried to conceal something. That generally weighs against you on the grounds that a person who is unreliable in providing information in one instance is highly suspect when providing additional information about him/herself. If an employer cannot trust you, s/he is unlikely to hire you. A better way of dealing with an unsuccessful job experience is to find something positive, almost anything, to say about it following its entry on your resume. 4. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION The color of your eyes, state of your health, even your weight is unnecessary information. If you are in poor health, no one will expect you to admit that. The color of your eyes and your NamNews 2-05 Page 15 7 May 1988 hair is unlikely to be related to your ability to do your job. 5. SALARY Salary should be discussed AFTER the employer decides to hire you. Listing salary could work against you and it is unlikely to work for you. Once the company decides they really want you is the time to discuss money. Also, "salary" can be misleading since it is only one form of compensation and therefore only one measure of your market worth. Many firms now have different compensation packages that could considerably vary the dollar amount of your market value. 6. HOW OLD ARE YOU? Who cares? It is now illegal to discriminate in employment on the basis of age. Leave this information out. At worst it could eliminate you. At best, it shows you are unsophisticated and unfamiliar with current employment law. Recently many employees filed suit against Hoffmann-LaRoche, the pharmaceutical corporation, for layoffs they allege were done on the basis of age. 7. WHY I LEFT MY LAST JOB So? We all leave jobs. We all worked someplace else once. People leave jobs for many different reasons. Don't volunteer this information. If they want to know, they will call you in for an interview. The interview is the correct time to discuss the reason for job change(s). 8. WRITING Be clear and accurate. Complete sentences are not expected on a resume. Be VERY careful with grammar and spelling. Make sure they are accurate and appropriate. 9. REFERENCES Supply references if they are requested. Otherwise say nothing. Do not write "References will be provided upon request." No one thinks you would NOT provide references if asked. You are just saying the obvious. 10. ABBREVIATIONS You MAY abbreviate college degrees, diplomas, certificates and certifications, streets, avenues, "company", "incorporated". In all other cases, literally, spell it out. Technical or industry terms should be spelled. 11. MARKETING The purpose of the resume is to interest an employer in interviewing you. If you have extensive experience try to tailor and focus your resume for a particular job or industry. NamNews 2-05 Page 16 7 May 1988 Don't lie; however, resumes can be presented emphasizing certain aspects. For example, in applying for a teaching job, academic background would appear before job experience. In most business situations, however, your job experience should come before your academic accomplishments. In addition, each industry may have certain customs about resumes. Talk to knowledgeable people in that industry and find out what these norms or customs might be. Good luck! ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 17 7 May 1988 ================================================================= BUDDY SEARCH ================================================================= VIETNAM VETERANS REGISTRY, INC. PO BOX 430 BRIDGTON, MAINE 04009 Dear Fellow Vietnam Veteran: The Vietnam Veterans Registry (computerized directory) is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to: Assist Vietnam Veterans in locating friends made as a result of their service. Assist Vietnam veterans in locating fellow comrades in order to substantiate veterans claims. Assist Vietnam veterans in locating another veteran's next of kin. To promote solidarity among veterans and to ascertain their needs through surveys. To aid veterans in the creation of memorial funds. To assist veterans in organizing reunions. The registry is not affiliated with any veterans group or political party; it is an autonomous corporation. It is _not_ a veterans group; there is no membership and no annual dues. Access to the registry is limited strictly to those Vietnam veterans that have placed their names on file. The only information that will be released by the registry is a veteran's name and address. There is no fee for the registration, but a donation for as little as $5.00 will defray the cost of processing the registration. A donation of $10 or more will help to guarantee the success of the registry and pay the media exposure that is critical to its success. Please give generously. Registration is voluntary, but I urge all Vietnam veterans to complete the enclosed registration form even if you do not plan to use the services of the registry. If you know other Vietnam veterans, please let them know about the registry. Also, if you belong to any veterans group, please encourage them to publicize the registry. Please print clearly on the registration form; also, indicate if you belong to a veterans group. NamNews 2-05 Page 18 7 May 1988 It is hoped that 100,000 Vietnam veterans will register over a five-year period. The first main project of the registry is a reunion for the staff and patients of the 24th Evac. Hospital, Vietnam. Thank you for your interest in the registry. Sincerely, /s/ Larry Horn Director ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 19 7 May 1988 ================================================================= MEMORIES ================================================================= Survivors by Joan Renne, Sysop Friend's BBS, Omaha, NE IN MEMORY of RUSSELL A. SELLMAN (and all the others who find the world too painful) May they rest in peace Dear Sonnie, Thanks for telling us about Russell, but it didn't make my day very good either. Your friend could have been the husband of my dearest friend, and the father of children my kids go to school with, or his mother, and yes . . . he could have been my friend too. We could all have known how hard it was for him, and we know what it's like for his wife, and our kids understand what their friends are going through now, because, you see . . . we have been there too. "They" call us the Survivors of the suicide victim. We are the widows, and the children and the parents of the victim, and yet we wonder who is the real victim of this violence. Maybe we can help by telling you a little bit about how we feel right now. Most of us married men like your friend after they came home (back to "The World") from Vietnam. Some of us knew them in high school, and others from way back in kindergarten. We knew what you were like before you went to Nam, but we didn't understand what had happened to change you so much. You wouldn't talk to us, so how could we know? Some of us were fortunate to have been raised in and around the military, so we already had a good support group in place. That poor wife, and those children are going to need all of our support . . . for a long time. We KNOW how much you hurt, and we wish we could comfort you, but our job is to hang on to the survivors and let them talk and talk and talk about your friend, her husband, their father, and his parents. We will hear them say, "If only," and "If I had known," and "I didn't think he meant it," and "Why, damn it WHY have you REJECTED US?" We Survivors will hear her say over and over again, "What did we do or not do that made his life so miserable to make him take drugs and drink till he passed out?" "He kicked the drugs once, but someone told him it wouldn't hurt to drink once in awhile, and then he went right back to the drugs and the drink." And we will be the ones to hear his wife say, "God forgive me, because I can't forgive myself." Later on, in a year or two we will hear her say, "God, forgive him, because I can't!" We knew about the dreams and the flashbacks he had, and we knew about his physical pain and how hard we tried to get him to NamNews 2-05 Page 20 7 May 1988 go to the Vet Center, but no . . . he didn't want that. He said it was his right to go to the VAMC and that he had earned that right, and we agreed with him, but his attitude was kind of bad. He demanded, yes DEMANDED, that he be treated just perfect . . . just like he treated the men in the field, and that of course, was the very best he knew how. Combat medics are a breed apart, and civilian doctors, residents and medical students in the VAMC can never live up to what he and all the veterans want. They have no idea what you have been through, and even if you told them they don't have time to listen. Do you know that those same doctors, residents and medical students don't have time to listen to the wives and family members either? They call us hysterical females and spaced out children who have no business at the VAMC trying to get better care for you, or a change of doctors, or a fresh start on an old problem. No, they don't listen to us when we say, "He is going to kill himself!" They don't hear us when we say, "Please, please help him . . ." And of course they won't hear the sobs of his wife and children for all the things that might have been. We "Survivors," try to distance ourselves from old friends, because we feel they may think what you did is our fault. It takes a long time, only God knows how long, before we realize that what he did was his act, not ours. He did it. We didn't. His parents will blame us, and most likely his friends will too, but somehow we have to go on, and that's the hardest part of all. Going on means there is going to be more pain than we think we can bear, and the children will never quite know how to tell their friends what you did or why. Those children are going to think it's their fault . . . BUT IT IS NOT, and we must reassure them constantly that what their daddy did was not done to hurt them, and that their daddy didn't kill himself because of something they might have done. How do you tell a child that? How do you make them believe that? Sure, he was a good medic, but a better man? Maybe. We could see the pain in his eyes when he talked to his male Nam Vet buddies about the ones he tried so hard to save and couldn't. You could hear the anger in his voice when he talked of his treatment by an employee at the VAMC. We could hear the despair in his sighs of frustration at a public who seemed not to care. Is there anything you could have done to have prevented his final act? No. There is nothing you could have done if he had made up his mind. You might have delayed it this time but that's all. He probably sent his wife and children away . . . maybe he drove them away from him so they wouldn't be there to find him. How do I know all these things? I've been there, and I am a widow. I am the survivor of a career military man who served 21 years, which included two tours to Nam. I am the survivor of a man who took his life, and I live with the ache in my heart for the man I loved so much. The date I will never forget in July 28, 1978. That's the day my husband decided he had dealt with this world of pain long enough. NamNews 2-05 Page 21 7 May 1988 How did I get to where I am now? By living with a mixed bag of raw emotions that ran the gambit of numbing shock to anger, denial, relief, guilt, and finally to acceptance. I had to talk and talk and talk about him and how he killed himself until finally my friends and family told me to forget it. "Don't think about it, and quit talking about it," that's what they said to me. How could I NOT think about it? " Don't be morbid," they said. Morbid? Morbid, when the most important person in my life has killed himself? "Will you put that part of your life away and just forget it?" How do you put that away and forget? It isn't easy, and it takes hard work just to get past the shock and pain. Settling up the accounts hurts a lot, and then finding that his insurance doesn't cover suicide, so now you don't have the money to bury him. Writing the thank you notes for people's kindness (or was it curiosity?) is very unpleasant, but it has to be done. By this time, a wife has found all the friends and family have gone away to continue their lives and she and her kids are alone. What to do? What in the World will we do without him? Those thoughts are there for a long time, but life for us does go on and we have to know how and where do we begin again. Life began again for me when I helped form a group for other survivors. The group was very beneficial, but there were so many angry and confused people who were just as baffled and afraid as I was that there seemed to be nothing else to do but to reach out and to try to help them. That took the better part of five years and then a sudden discovery that I WAS surviving, and doing okay, and that my life could go on without him, but first I needed directions on where to start living again. I had to start getting involved in old interests, and begin finding new ones. It meant going into therapy to find out who I was, and how to help my children through the rest of their lives. It meant going back to school to learn how to support myself and my children, it also meant living on welfare for awhile, and how I hated that! It also meant joining Alcoholics Anonymous, and learning how to live just One day at a time. I'm better and stronger now that I don't look for answers in the bottom of a bottle. I too found the numbing peace and quiet in alcohol that you used. Alcohol is no longer a matter of choice for me. No, I haven't forgotten, and I know I never will, but it is no longer the heavy burden that weighed me down and put me into the deep pit of hell in a and paralyzing depression. The ache of missing him is still there, but it's no longer the raw pain of grief. It's there every time I go the VAMC to ask more questions about him, or when someone says, "You're so young to be a widow," or when I'm asked for my marital status. There is one problem I've not dealt with too well, and that is not having a male friend or lover in my life. I don't trust too well anymore. I never want to go through the pain of loosing someone again. My children don't trust other people very much either. NamNews 2-05 Page 22 7 May 1988 Maybe trust is what all this is about to begin with, we can't trust those that haven't been where we have been, or those who haven't seen what we have seen, or who haven't lost what we have lost. Trust is something our Vietnam vets didn't get too much of in Vietnam or back in the world. It was hard to tell in Vietnam who was the enemy, but back here it seems we were all enemies. The young men and women of that generation have gone through so much turmoil during and after the Vietnam War. The healing has to start with you, and me and all the rest of us who lay our heads down at night and ask for God to take our pain and suffering, and to give us the courage to change the things we can. Somehow we have to listen to each other and let others learn to listen to us. We have to allow, not demand or beg to be treated with respect. We have to realize that not all of us served in the military or in combat and that we all don't have the foggiest idea of what that was like in Vietnam. We need to write and talk and go where we can teach others or at least give them a small idea of where we were and what we did, and how we feel now. We will miss Russell, and all the others like him. For a brief moment or two he has touched us all, and I pray that we can accept what he did. Maybe his death brought us all a little closer to each other so that we will hear the sighs, and listen for the pain and despair and we will be able to help divert the anger and rage of our friends and buddies. Maybe we can be aware enough to do something--anything--to make a difference in the life of another man before he has made up his mind that life is not worth living. Rest in Peace, Russell, rest in peace. We will be here to help your wife and children; we will listen to your friends mourn, and we will hold them and love them until the ragged edge of pain lessens. We won't forget you and the others who think there is no other way, so you go ahead and rest in peace, we'll do the heavy duty work and try to help all of them get through your last act of violence. You rest in peace, someone has to, but it won't be us. We have to go on about the business of living without you. One last thought about your children, Russell. If they loved you, and I'm sure they did, then what you did was alright, and it's okay to take your life if things don't go just right. Can you hear them say, "Daddy did it, so I can too." Can you? R. I. P. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 23 7 May 1988 True Friendship, Old Friendship By Jim Trotter I want to tell you about a friend of mine named Beak. His real name is General Lewis Jr. As a child, he was Junior. But the men who followed him in Vietnam noticed his sharply hooked nose, an inheritance from a Cherokee Indian ancestor, and the name Beak has been with him since. As boys, we lived at opposite ends of a big field dotted with walnut and hemlock trees. I can't say for sure how long Beak and I have been friends, but one of those stories that parents love to tell at dinner parties helps me date it. Once I stepped on one of my little brother's dirty diapers. ""All of a sudden,'' my mother or father would say, ""we heard this awful cursing and screaming coming from the bathroom. We jumped out of bed and ran in there, and little Jimmy was dancing around on one foot, cursing like a sailor. I've never heard such awful language, and he couldn't have been more than 5. He said, "You'd cuss, too, if you had (bleep) all over your foot.''' The purpose of my relating the story is to tell you that my parents blamed my new and vivid command of blue language on someone else, on my friend Beak. I also remember the moment that our friendship took the sharp turn into an unspoken, and yet powerfully understood commitment. We were fighting in the lower end of the field, Beak against me and my two first cousins. That was an even fight, him against the three of us, until one of the cousins got behind him and started choking him. I changed sides , and we never opposed each other again. There was a time in gym class when a bully was chasing and occasionally striking a couple of us with a dog chain. When Beak came into the room and saw that, it became a desperate day for the bully. There was the year we were marble champions of the school. We started out with a bag of 50, and at the end of the season we got tired of counting when we reached 4,000. Beak was a shooter. In the years before we left the big field between the two houses, we would lie on our backs in the grass on summer nights, staring up at the stars, sharing our thoughts and dreams, sharing the simple happiness of the innocent. Time separated us. Beak dropped out of high school. I went on to college and he went on to war. Still, every time we came together the bond was always there. There were no awkward moments, only the unspoken assurance. But, as with so many others, Beak was different when he came back from Vietnam. He had dropped too far from a helicopter and injured his back. One of our own gunships fired on his position, hitting a couple of his own men, and he returned fire with the machine gun that he carried. He had terrible NamNews 2-05 Page 24 7 May 1988 nightmares, and there was always the pain in his back. But he never, ever burdened anyone with those stories. He managed bars around town and lived alone. When my family's fortunes unraveled a few years ago, Beak was there. There was no happiness involved for either of us then, but he was at my back, and that made it better. And now we get to the good part of the story. I put Beak and his wife, Peggy Sue, on the plane Tuesday, as they left San Jose to return to Tennessee. The trip out here was the first time Peggy had ever been on a plane, and it was Beak's first trip to California since he shipped out of Oakland to Vietnam. The trip was a present they gave to each other for their second wedding anniversary. They had a wonderful time -- Monterey, Tahoe, San Francisco, the works. ""I like your friends,'' said a woman, whose perception I admire. ""I think these are the people we refer to when we speak of the good heart.'' Beak and Peggy, wonderful together, are full of plans. They have land and Beak has been clearing timber. They are excited about the future. As we sat on a deck in Sausalito on Sunday, watching across a calm bay as the last sun faded against city walls, Beak said, "I never would have thought it possible, but it has become right again." I knew exactly what he meant. This was not my concept. It is one that I learned from another friend. It is simply this: everything comes around again, even happiness. No matter how desperate things might seem, if you hang on, if you survive, you'll see it all again. We exchanged our hugs and words at the airport. I thought about my old friend, about those long ago summer nights in the field, about the intervening, troubled decades, and how now, at long last, it had become right for him again. I just wanted to tell you about this friend of mine named Beak. (Jim Trotter is a columnist for the San Jose Mercury News. The above article appears by permission. You can write to Jim at 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, 95190 or call 920-5764) ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 25 7 May 1988 VIETNAM ERA SERVICE, A PERSONAL VIEW, #4 of a series - Chuck Sterling - Las Cruces, NM - NASW, Las Cruces, NM (Opus 15/4) This is the fourth of a series of essays documenting my experiences and recollections while in the U.S. Navy during the period from early 1967 until my release from active duty in mid 1969. In this article, I continue the discussion of our security arrangements and some of the actions that involved MCB 40. During MCB 40's deployment at Phu Bai the situation was a kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, we had a lot of equipment and enough people, but, we were inexperienced when it came to waging war, like most of the Americans in Vietnam, and we made lots of mistakes. We learned the rules by breaking them. Predictably, incoming rounds sound different from outgoing artillery. With the artillery, you hear a tremendous rolling BOOooommmm..., followed (maybe) by the sound of the shell as it goes over. When an incoming shell hits in the distance, the sound is very different, and difficult to spell... Probably "..kafooOOMP!!" is pretty accurate. When they hit close, it sounds as much like a very close lightning strike as anything else. Anybody that's been under an incoming round can tell you they are hard to hear as they drop, especially if you're not expecting it. I never heard an incoming round before it exploded, though a few were close enough to throw rocks and debris around us. The first attack came during the morning muster. I always thought it was a bad idea to get everybody standing in a small group, but nobody ever asked my opinion. An advantage to working the midwatch was skipping morning muster, as I did that morning. One shell in the right place would have killed a lot of people, especially on Sunday, when the whole battalion formed up in the Alpha Company yard. Pure luck either way. The first shell hit over by route one. I had no idea what the noise was, but when people started running for the holes, I got the idea. I wasted a few seconds deciding on a bunker, then anybody still behind me was running on slippery ground. There was one night attack in particular that I remember, toward the end of our tour. The first round hit in Bravo sector, just across the wire from my hut, maybe a hundred yards away. I wrote home that it fell in a warehouse, with nobody inside, and that the guy on guard duty there survived only because he was outside watering the flowers. I think I spoke with some of the guys from Bravo through NamNews 2-05 Page 26 7 May 1988 the fence about it, but that's a hazy memory. Asleep when the noise woke me, I thought it was thunder. I was standing next to my bunk, waiting for the next bolt to hit and confirm that it really was lightning, when the second rocket hit about two hundred feet to the other side of the hut, on the far side of our "club". It hit in an open area between buildings, leaving a ten-foot wide, five- foot deep crater and no other damage. I later photographed our radioman standing in the bottom. I was in the middle of the pack getting out of the door into the mortar hole, just as number three hit a hut in the Chief's area, and got in the tunnel just before the debris from the second hit started landing around us. We sat in the dark for ten minutes or so waiting for the next one, but only two landed in our camp. The third rocket destroyed Chief Petty Officer hut #6, wounding sixteen men, with two hospitalized, one in serious condition. The Chief that got the worst of it was a little older than most of us and a little slower waking up and getting moving, but what made the difference was his delaying long enough to put on his shirt or boots (I forget exactly...). He was just going out the door when the rocket hit, and lost some meat on his legs in exchange for some shrapnel in his back. I wrote home that he would be OK, though I'm sure I meant that relative to being dead. After several attacks, many of us got lazy about getting under cover, and the ho-hum attitude that got that man injured was shared by many of us. I guess we just figured the rockets were always going to land someplace else, like they USUALLY did. After that, my attitude changed, and I was the first one out the door if I heard anything I couldn't identify, even a slamming door. Anybody that thought they had heard incoming need only look at my rack for confirmation. If I was still in bed, it wasn't incoming. Got a bad fright out of that attack, and found it very difficult to sleep for weeks afterward. Previously, I had slept outside in a hammock once in a while, but gave that up both because of my fear of being outside when the next attack came (not very sensible, inside was just as unsafe) and because the mosquitoes were starting to show up. There were always some men who routinely slept in their mortar pits, and I tried a variation on that solution to overcome my insomnia. I finally got some sleep in the underground command post where our radio room was located. After somebody complained about my sleeping in such luxury, I asked for and got the midwatch in the radio room on a more or less permanent basis. This permitted me to sleep in the morning until the heat of the day woke me up. Toward the end of the deployment we started rotating watches again, but by then I was back to "normal". NamNews 2-05 Page 27 7 May 1988 One time that a rocket landed "someplace else", it destroyed the brand-new $2000 hardwood bar (you could buy a new car for under $4000 in those days) that was installed in an officer's or commander's lounge over in the 24th Corps area. This was a source of some amusement for the enlisted men at Phu Bai. Poetic justice, from our point of view. Fortunately the bar was vacant at the time. Another night, another alert. During intermission at the nightly movie, the siren started, changing my immediate plans. Prior to the siren, I had been standing in line waiting for my turn at the almost-buried fifty-gallon drum once full of diesel oil (remember those?). As the siren began, I was about half finished, and had to stay half- finished for a while. Redefined pain for a few minutes, too. No rockets were landing anywhere near us, so shortly we finished draining out the beer and restarted the movie. We had a close call when our mortar crew started walking rounds up to our own perimeter instead of "out there" where they were supposed to be shooting. I had forgotten about this until I read about it in one of my letters home, and can't provide any details beyond that. Two or three times during my tour there was an E.O.D. (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) explosion on our side of the base. It was far enough away from us that by the time the sound of the explosion reached us a small but distinct mushroom cloud had already formed, yet the sound was still extremely loud and shook the buildings as it passed. I guess if we'd been paying attention we could have felt the ground wave, too. Naturally, the first E.O.D. explosion caught me by surprise, and my first sobering thought was that somebody was bombing us. Somebody set me straight before I went off the deep end and made a complete fool of myself. Later in the tour, after the advance party from the battalion sent to relieve us had arrived, there was another E.O.D. blast, and I was amused to see one of the newcomers looking every which way for someplace to run to, obviously confused. I, now an old salt , walking calmly to dinner, informed this guy what was happening, hoping he felt as uncomfortable as I did several months earlier. During those last few weeks in country, the Phu Bai combat base was hit several times. I wrote home that the man in the relief MCB's advance party who was to take over communications from us suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent home. After remembering my own initial bewilderment and fear, I feel I can understand his situation. Had I really perceived how tenuous was our existence in Vietnam, I myself might have been MCB 40's first casualty. MCB 5, another Seabee battalion, stationed in Da Nang, was victim of a burning ammunition dump during my tour. Some of you probably remember that better than I, as MCB 5 was not the only unit affected. I spoke with their comm people NamNews 2-05 Page 28 7 May 1988 about it after the fact, and was told their camp was leveled and that many people were injured, though I think nobody was killed. The ammunition that went up included several 500-pound bombs (if memory serves me), and, as those blew, the men in the mortar tunnels were physically thrown from one end of the tunnel to other and back. This episode was far more violent than anything we experienced in Phu Bai, and I thought it appropriate to include here for background and contrast. Lest this sound like we were constantly dodging rockets and diving into the ground, let me explain that we were hit once a month, on the average, and only three times did rockets impact in Camp Campbell. Two of those three times major damage was caused, at least as much as ten pounds of T.N.T. can cause. On a separate occasion a long range light round caught a man in the forearm, causing a flesh wound and a minor flurry of activity as radios were passed out. Most of the time, though, it was business as usual. We were a construction battalion, and that's what we spent most of our time doing. The war was not a very personal thing for most of MCB 40's personnel, security being the noted exception. Most of us were drivers, carpenters, electricians, steelworkers and the like, with military duties taking a back seat to our normal day's work. From my vantage point, that of a radio operator and technician, it was easy to overlook, for weeks at a time, that there was a war going on. I rarely left the base, and then only for a short trips rarely lasting overnight. I carried starlight scopes to a repair facility north of Hue a few times. On one occasion I carried a pile of Motorola FM radios to Da Nang for repair. Turned out they had the wrong crystals in them. I barely remember that trip, the highlights being the helicopter ride from hilltop to hilltop and, in Da Nang, watching my driver threaten, with his M-16, Vietnamese kids that were climbing up onto the truck to throw off his cargo. Weird place. The only other time I left Phu Bai was when I went on "R&R" to China Beach at Da Nang, but that's part of another story. Further essays will focus on our daily work and recreation, so I won't get started on that just yet. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 29 7 May 1988 Where is this Young Man Now? By Greg Lake A young boy, playing in the fields of Oakland was, caught one day in the reign of his sweet innocence. Green grass, wet, dripping, fun, Hopalong Cassidy games and caps were in his gun. Now rain is night and terror, napalm, no longer sweet, but an enemy to fear and dread because he listened to his elders and believed what They had said. Where is this child, now old at 20, with wrinkles on his face, whose scars, no... bullet holes, and anguish his favorite taste. He's standing in the dark by liquor stores looking for his fix, or down alleys of dirty streets with hookers who want to trade their tricks. With T.V. shows that he can't watch by tractors, with farmers whose fields lie fallow, in a hungry child's stomach. With tears that no one can see. With middle-aged mothers who hang flags on their wall with old yellowed telegrams pinned nearby in their memory saying Your son won't be coming back. He can be found late at night with his hands on his childrens throats screaming with terror at nightmares, that are near, yet far, remote. With IBM computers that don't function for these boys. He can be found with Harriet who's visiting Ozzie's grave or scanning through old T.V. guides looking NamNews 2-05 Page 30 7 May 1988 for shows that no one thought to save. He's riding on busses with Martin King's widow, and shadows, and ghosts, or on a psychiatrist's couch, hungry, asking for a piece of burnt toast. He can be found in the early dawn's chill at the Vet Center hoping it's open. Asking, "Why?" Kissinger and others argued over table sizes and shapes and talked, while in simultaneous jungles we walked, and we walked and we walked searching for our plane ride home. A family, bound together, by the silence of a tomb. Where is this young man now? Did he get lost on the college campus, one Spring day Kent State, or in Nixon's face a Cambodian map it's done too late. Most are lost, yet, still among us listening to the news and others with no legs can be found, squatting, on the corners selling pencils, trying to buy new shoes. Greg Lake March 16, 1988 ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 31 7 May 1988 A Little Man by Lefty Frizzell RVN 1969-1972 He was a little man....not to big in size...but large at heart. He never had much...in fact, as far as I know the only wrist watch that he ever had was one I got for him in Japan many years ago...Seikos were cheap and lasted forever. He drove an old car. And today, both his houses would be declared unsafe, and the neighborhoods would be free fire zones. But there was a time when the houses were much newer....and the neighborhood not so bad. He was an Assistant Scoutmaster...never did figure out why he did not become THE Scoutmaster. He had 5 kids....I grew up with them....In fact, his oldest daughter was the first girl that I had a crush on, and during a very traumatic time of my life, was there like a wife to support me when I needed it....He was the one to cry when I returned from Vietnam....I was amazed....he was ecstatic....he had been told I had been killed during the TET Offensive...Never knew who told him....never could find out... I got busy in the service. I only saw him a few times after I became an adult...I only called him twice after I got out of the Army.....Never did get by to see him....I promised and either I was too lazy or there was just too much to do....I don't know... but that is something that I will have to deal with myself....I will see him Tuesday for the first time in nearly 15 years....I will never get the chance to talk to him again.....I messed that up too....but I can remember our last conversation over the phone.....Not too much....not too little. In my minds eye, I can see him peeling potatoes for our old scout troop..wearing his old Navy fatigues....I can remember seeing "Ellis " on his rear shoulder. I can remember him loosing his temper, one time....and that was at me...as usual...I can also remember when everyone else had given up on me and had written me off as the Neighborhood Juvenile Delinquent.....he hunkered down, dug in his heels, and did his DAMNEDEST to bring me around single handed... I can remember the day I made my Eagle.....I cried, my father cried, and Mr. Ellis cried too....I can remember him trying to teach me bead work...I still have the 3 inch piece of junk that took me 3 weeks to do....That HLF in white beads was a killer... I will bury him Tuesday at 11:30 am. After all he has done for me it is the last thing that I can do for him. He never had much.....He worked for the same company for as long as I can remember....and printers never did make big money. But, he always told me that money was the beginning of trouble and that all a man could ask for was to pay his bills and feed his family. Anything left over was gravy. It took me nearly 10 years to understand what he was talking about...This may sound corny, and I really don't care....He was a big man to me, and all NamNews 2-05 Page 32 7 May 1988 the gold in the world could not buy one moment from me of the time that he spent teaching me the things that a man ought to know when no one else cares enough about him to take the time to teach him...tracking a deer, fishing and just man to man talk... Tonite, Dear Lord there is another star in your heavens... It wont be very big....it might even get lost out there....but take care of it for us will ya? .....cause Lord, I'm going to be looking and to me and a few others it will be the biggest and brightest one out there....and Lord if you have Scout Troops in Heaven.....This time can he be the Scoutmaster? ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 33 7 May 1988 A MESSAGE TO MY COUNTRY For nearly twenty years it's festered deep within my soul; The time I spent imprisoned in an Asiatic hole; The friends I lost for certain and the guys we never found; And the over fifty thousand who lie six feet underground; The times when those we went to help set traps for us at night; Or cringed behind some cover while we carried on the fight; The government who sent us there but wouldn't let us win; And all the sorry bastards who cursed soldiers 'cause they'd been; The ones who demonstrated, throwing words and sometimes stones; Who formed such strong opinions in the safety of their homes; And those who only knew the war from TV's nightly news; By journalists in Saigon who inspired such peoples' views; The heat and dust and then the rain that made it soggy hell; The vermin that disturbed our sleep and constant rancid smell; The night that fifteen hundred rounds of mortar fire came in; And Khe Sanh lay in ruins while we wrote to next of kin; The villages we found where Charlie'd been the night before; To leave his vicious message carved in tortured human gore; The drugs that some men seemed to think would help to keep them sane; The only way that some of them could handle so much pain; The men who had just days to go, but died there anyway; And those who had a year to go, but died the first few days; The feeling of death's presence in the dark from seven yards; Or of brotherhood with strangers who can't leave the Veterans' wards... Copyright 1986, by Ed Howdershelt PO Box 530861 Grand Prairie, Tx. 75053-0861 ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 34 7 May 1988 ================================================================= GENERAL ARTICLES ================================================================= Agent Orange Update Submitted by the San Jose Vet Venter In a UPI story which appeared in the March 28th Stars & Stripes, Peter Kahn, Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Rutgers University, said he believes his study known as "Project Pointman" will prove that the recently terminated study by the Centers for Disease Control was improperly designed. "I'm not going to say they screwed up exactly," Kahn said, "But they made assumptions that weren't valid that I believe led them to the wrong conclusion." Co-researcher and executive director of the New Jersey State Commission on Agent Orange Wayne Wilson was not so kind stating, "I think they're dead wrong." (Good choice of words Wayne!) Wilson added, "We're going to take our results to the U.S. Congress and to the veterans' community, and I think they'll agree this problem has not been adequately studied." (Do tell...) Kahns statements set off a pissing match with Dr Robert Worth, head of the C.D.C.'s Agent Orange Project who defended the governments action saying, "Anything we report that doesn't go along with popular theory is easily labeled as government propaganda." The C.D.C. ended it's study last year concluding that "only three out of every one thousand ground troops would have received moderate to high doses of Dioxin, the toxic chemical in Agent Orange, and that there was no practical way of locating them." According to Kahn, they were looking in the wrong place. Citing troop position records as "notoriously unreliable", Kahn said that a better measure would be to find those who served in areas of repeated spraying, regardless of whether or not they were present at the time of spraying. "We know that anybody who lives in an industrial country carries a body burden of Dioxin, which they pick up from the environment - from the water, the food, the ground. We see no reason that why Vietnam soldiers should be any different." Kahn and his associates obtained maps of heavily sprayed areas and determined that several units were likely candidates for the "highly exposed" award. The 1st Cavalry, 2nd Bn. of the 8th Infantry was chosen for further study. Does your brain hurt from all this? If they ever did find an answer, could you feel comfortable with the results. Stay tuned for the ongoing saga, "Agent Orange - Of course it is, or isn't, maybe", playing now at research facilities around the country. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 35 7 May 1988 101ST AIRBORNE REUNION August 17 - 21 Omaha, Nebraska Veterans of the Army's 101st Airborne Division are coming to Omaha for their 43rd annual International reunion and convention. Col. John J. Cooper, Jr., Ret., president of the 101st Airborne Association, predicts from 1,400 to 1,700 members are expected to attend, accompanied by up to 4,000 family members. The reunion and convention will be Aug. 17 - 21 at the Holiday Inn Central. Other convention hotels will be the nearby Howard Johnson's and Ramada Inn. A replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., will be on display during the convention. The half-size memorial will stand in front of the W. Dale Clark Library along 14th St, between Douglas and Farnam Streets. The replica is the same length as the original, 594 594 feet, but is half as tall. The 101st Airborne Division was activated August 16, 1942 at Camp Claiborne, La. It's members have been one of the most highly decorated fighting units. The 101st Reunion also welcomes Air Mobile and sister Divisions. GLOBAL TRAVEL SERVICE, INC A New 800 Number ================ A new 800 number has been assigned for attendees who will require air transportation to the 1988 "GATHERING OF THE EAGLES" in Omaha, Nebraska. We experienced some technical problems, but have it corrected. THE NEW AIRBORNE NUMBER IS: 1-800-255-2255, ask for EXTENSION 1516. For those of you who had difficulty calling, we ask that you please call again at your earliest convenience to get the BEST FARES to Omaha. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you, and hope to be talking to you soon. GLOBAL TRAVEL SERVICE, with Eastern and Continental airlines, are offering attendees to the 43rd Reunion a 5% discount off any already discounted airfares to Omaha. Global, together with the Midwest Chapter of the 101st Airborne Division Association, have put together many activities for you. In addition to air fare, Global Travel Service can pre-register you for the many activities we have planned. NamNews 2-05 Page 36 7 May 1988 REMEMBER: All you need to do is call Global at 1-800-255-2255 EXTENSION 1516 for airline reservations and activity information. "GATHERING OF THE EAGLES" AUGUST 17-21, 1988 OMAHA, NEBRASKA 1988 REUNION REGISTRATION FORM (Please Print or Type) NAME:________________________________ SPOUSE:_______________________________ UNIT:________________________________ COMPANY:______________________________ ADDRESS:____________________________________________________ (Street) (City) (State) (Zip) PHONE:_____________________________ REGISTRATION IS $55.00 PER PERSON ENCLOSED IS $____________TO REGISTER ___________ PERSONS MAIL TO: 101st AIRBORNE DIVISION REUNION C/O GLOBAL TRAVEL SERVICE, INC. SUITE 200 8424 WEST CENTER ROAD OMAHA, NEBRASKA 68124 1-800-255-2255, EXT. 1516 Global Travel Service has reserved additional rooms at the Ramada Inn directly across the street from the Holiday Inn (walkable). To avoid waiting in line to register for the many activities during the reunion, you can pre-register, by selecting your choice and prepaying your selection. All costs are per person and include round trip transportation via motorcoach for each activity. NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS DATE TIME COST TOTAL __ Golf at Offutt AFB - Aug 18 7:30A $20.00 $ Capehart G.C. is one of Nebraska's finest golf courses. Shotgun Start! __ Golf at Benson G.C. Aug 19 7:30A $26.00 $ Benson is one of the NamNews 2-05 Page 37 7 May 1988 most established golf courses in Nebraska. Shotgun Start! __ Western Bar-B-Que with Aug 18 6:30P $17.00 $ all the "fixins", music and fun. College of St Mary Campus. __ Headquarters, Strategic Aug 19 9:00A $5.00 $ Air Command Tour. Three hour tour of SAC Command Post at Offutt AFB. __ Henry Doorly Zoo - Aug 19 10:00A $13.50 $ A special day for the or 101st at one of the Aug 20 Noon - $11.25 (child) country's finest zoos. 2 departures - 2 returns. Includes admission, train ride and lunch. __ Bluffs Run - Greyhound Dog Track - Aug 17 4:00P $10.00 $ Clubhouse & Lounge - air conditioned - (Matinee) features full service - sit-down dining - 8:00P also individual 10" color TV monitors at (Evening) each table. Proper attire required. __ Boystown Breakfast /Old Market Tour. Aug 18 9:00A $10.00 $ A complete tour of Boystown with breakfast and a leisure tour of Omaha's Old Market. __ Ak-Sar-Ben Thoroughbred Racing "101st Claiming Race" Aug 20 2:00P $10.00 $ A special claiming race for the 101st, with sky diving competition. __ Belle of Brownville Dinner Cruise: Aug 17 6:30P $24.00 $ Cruise the "Mighty Missouri River" with friends, good food, music and dancing. __ Champagne Reception & Brunch with Theresa Aug 19 11:00A $10.00 $ Bloomingdale: Author, lecturer.... "SENSE & MOMSENSE", an approach to "MOM" that will delight you. TOTAL ENCLOSED $___________ NamNews 2-05 Page 38 7 May 1988 BACK TO THE BUSH! Well, the initial itinerary is in and things are starting to really look up for the "Back to the Bush" trip to back to Vietnam being sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Valhalla of San Jose, California! All the amenities are includes as follows: Round trip air fare All hotels and lodging Three meals per day All transportation (Rail/Bus/Boat/Plane) Daily sightseeing tours of your choice (there are many tours available in every city, or you are free to go off on your own!) Cultural performances sponsored by the Vietnamese government Vietnamese and Cambodian visas (yes, you can take a sightseeing tour into Cambodia!) English-speaking tour guides and interpreters in every city All you have to furnish is your body, your international passport, and have your inoculations up to date (ouch!). Here's what it looks like so far: Day 1 Depart San Francisco via Japan Airlines Day 2 Arrive Hong Kong (Overnight stay because we will arrive too late to depart for SE Asia that evening. There will be a breakfast in Hong Kong before we leave) Day 3 Depart Hong Kong for Bangkok, Thailand (We will need to stay two nights in Bangkok to get all of our visas issued so you will have plenty of time for a little R&R!) Day 5 Depart Bangkok, Thailand for Hanoi, Vietnam (We will stay two days in Hanoi) Day 7 Depart Hanoi for Hue City (We will stay two days in Hue City) Day 9 Depart Hue City for Da Nang (We will stay two days in Da Nang) Day 11 Depart Da Nag for Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) (We will stay two days in Ho Chi Minh City) Day 13 Depart Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for Bangkok, Thailand (We must stay overnight in Bangkok again to "check out") Day 14 Depart Bangkok, Thailand for Hong Kong and San Francisco, California, USA! NamNews 2-05 Page 39 7 May 1988 That's what I have so far! I will keep everyone apprised of any changes as they become available. Looks like this whole trip is going to cost us approximately $2,000.00 each. I am making every attempt to get this price cut down. After the first 15 seats are sold, the price will begin dropping so start saving now, sign ups will begin in a couple months after everything is finalized. A refundable deposit will be required for reservations. All deposits are refundable, but certain restrictions will apply. There's more than ten months to get ready for this so start saving now! Don't put it off. This is a trip of a lifetime! To do this by yourself would bankrupt you so take advantage of this group discount! For further information contact" Todd Looney 28 Cecil Avenue, Suite 179 San Jose, California 95128 or E-Mail to 143/27 24 hours a day! ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 40 7 May 1988 VA Home Loan Costs on the Rise By WILLIAM M. WELCH Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Reagan's proposal to sharply raise fees for VA home loans failed its initial congressional test before a House committee that also recommended increased spending on veterans' medical care. The House Veterans Affairs Committee, voting unanimously by voice Thursday, called for an additional $716 million in the Veterans Administration budget for fiscal 1988. Included in the report to the full House Budget Committee was a recommendation that $30 million be added to the VA budget to care for the treatment of veterans with AIDS. The panel also voted unanimously to send to the full House a resolution saying Congress opposes Reagan administration spending recommendations that would eliminate money to care for certain categories of middle-income veterans. "Unlike the president's budget, we have recognized that the veteran population is getting older and that as they get older, they will seek care more often and they will require longer lengths of stay," said the panel's chairman, Rep. G.V. Montgomery, D-Miss. Reagan's proposed VA budget included a provision to raise the fee for home buyers under the VA mortgage guarantee program from 1 percent to 2.5 percent of the loan amount. Critics said that would more than double the amount of cash veterans must have when they get a VA loan and decrease the attractiveness of the program to veterans. Lenders and homebuilders have opposed the increase. The committee's proposal would keep the fee at 1 percent and require an additional $411 million in outlays to cover revenues anticipated by the fee increase. It also would add $246 million to allow the VA's system of hospitals and other medical facilities to continue current services in fiscal 1988. The president's proposal would eliminate money to care for veterans of moderate income and who are not otherwise entitled to care because of military injury or other reason. The committee estimated the administration's proposal would reduce VA patients per year by more than 13,548. The committee also voted for more money to house homeless veterans, to build VA hospitals and nursing homes, and to treat AIDS, the deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome. "The VA is treating approximately 1,000 patients a year," Montgomery said. "We were told the average cost per patient is about $40,000, yet OMB (the Office of Management and Budget) is not allowing VA to ask for any additional money for the care and treatment of these veterans." NamNews 2-05 Page 41 7 May 1988 Veterans Health Care Veterans' health care - traditionally one of the least controversial items in the federal budget - soon will become a bigger issue as an expected explosion in demand drives up cost. During WWII, 17 million Americans served in the military; about 11 million of them are still living and in the next few years most of those will turn 65. The number of veterans aged 65 & older, now about four million, is expected to double by 1990 and triple by 2000, as veterans of the Korean War also turn 65. By the year 2000, two-thirds of all American men over 65 will be Veterans. For the VA, 65 is a key year because veterans then become entitled to health care regardless of income and aging increases the need for health care. As a result of this expected increase in demand, the cost of the VA health care system, currently $8.8 billion, is expected to shoot to $9.85 billion by 1990 and $12.6 billion by 2000, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Moreover, since VA health care is an entitlement, everyone who meets the criteria for program is automatically entitled to full benefits, decisions that Congress and future administrations make on VA benefits may be played out on larger scale with other entitlements programs including Medicare. Total VA health care budget represents about 2.5% of the cost of health care in the U.S. In 1983, the system included 172 hospitals, 226 outpatient clinics, 103 nursing homes & 16 veterans' homes. Because of space limitations in its hospitals the VA has established a system of priorities for serving vets. Those receiving top priority are veterans needing hospitalization because of injuries or disease incurred in the line of duty during active service. Second are veterans who were discharged because of service-connected disability but who need treatment for an ailment not connected to their disability. Third are other vets who are admitted if care is necessary if they are unable to pay for care elsewhere. Certain vets, such as those needing treatment because of exposure to Agent Orange or radiation from nuclear weapons testing, are admitted regardless of ability to pay, as are those over 65. Some have suggested a cost-saving step such as restricting eligibility for VA health care to veterans with disabilities resulting from service would save $3.5 billion per year after 1990. But Veterans' groups likely will resist fiercely any attempt to cut back on the current level of service. As many members of Congress argue, despite budget NamNews 2-05 Page 42 7 May 1988 constraints, Congress will pay whatever it costs to take care of the veterans. "Thirty million vets is a potent political force" said Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo.,Chairman Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. Daschale agreed. "They are well-organized, experienced in getting their message heard on Capitol Hill and can clearly demonstrate a need. My guess is that they are going to be in a strong position to make their case on Capitol Hill any time they want." ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 43 7 May 1988 Marital Adjustments of Combat Veterans with PTSD FROM CLINICIAN'S RESEARCH DIGEST Existing research suggest that Vietnam combat veterans may be at increased risk for a variety of interpersonal problems, e.g. in relation to intimacy, sociability, hostility and social isolation. One of the first studies of marital adjustment in this population reports that "help-seeking" combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may differ from other (minimal combat or non-PTSD) veterans in their behavior toward spouses or partners. PTSD veterans were found to be: 1. "less self-disclosing and expressive to their partners, and...[to have] greater difficulty adjusting to marital and cohabiting relationships", and 2. "more expressive of hostility and prone to physical aggression" toward partners. On the other hand, PTSD veterans appeared just as affectionate with their partners as non-PTSD veterans. On the basis of these findings, the authors argue that relationship or marital counseling may be an important adjunct to the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 44 7 May 1988 VA Hospitals By GENE GRABOWSKI Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- About one-third of the patients studied in Veterans Administration hospitals in 1984 did not belong there, but were admitted because of mismanagement and poor testing by doctors, the General Accounting Office said Thursday. In a report, the congressional watchdog agency concluded that the VA could save billions of dollars on planned expansion by cutting unnecessary admissions and excessive stays at its 172 hospitals across the country. If the VA continues to handle patients inefficiently, "it will either have to expand its capacity to a greater extent than now projected or turn away many of the veterans it expects to be seeking care," the GAO suggested. The report found that hospital stays for many patients could be reduced if VA hospital officials would adopt patient management practices used widely in the medical community. "VA's central office has issued policy guidelines which recommend using many of these practices," the GAO said. "However, managers at the hospitals GAO visited have not fully implemented the policies and therefore keep patients hospitalized longer than necessary." The report said a corresponding review of 350 patients treated at seven VA hospitals in 1982 found that 43 percent of the days they were admitted were "medically avoidable." About half those excess days resulted from poor patient management, such as admitting the patient and then needlessly waiting several days before performing surgery, the study said. The other half occurred when patients were kept in the hospital because cheaper alternatives, such as nursing homes and hospice beds, were unavailable. VA Administrator Harry N. Walters, in a letter to the GAO, agreed with some of the criticism and said some problems cited are already being corrected. But he challenged whether savings would be as great as the report suggested. Walters also said that savings from shifting people to less-costly out-of-hospital facilities is impossible if the facilities are not available. "Unless it can be demonstrated that alternate treatment facilities actually existed and could have accommodated patients, it does not seem reasonable for GAO to conclude that patients are hospitalized inappropriately," he wrote. NamNews 2-05 Page 45 7 May 1988 "If such patients were not considered in determining the percentage of inappropriately hospitalized VA patients, the percent would be estimated as 20 instead of 43 as stated by GAO." GAO investigators cited the following examples of wasteful practices at VA hospitals: --A man was admitted on a Friday and remained over the weekend awaiting a Tuesday operation. --A man with blood in his urine was admitted for tests that he should have had done as an outpatient. --A woman was admitted for seven days for cancer tests she should have had as an outpatient. --A man was kept 10 unnecessary days before he was sent to a nursing home. The GAO report was based on two different reviews of VA hospital patients. In the first, the agency's consultant team of doctors and nurses reviewed 350 randomly selected medical files of patients at seven hospitals who had been discharged in 1982. Those hospitals were in Philadelphia, Chicago (West Side), Phoenix, Boston, New Orleans, Seattle and San Diego. In the second review, the GAO's chief medical adviser visited six of the seven VA hospitals in 1984 to evaluate conditions of patients in medical and surgical beds. The medical adviser checked on nearly 800 patients, representing about 44 percent of the VA's medical and surgical patients at the time. The adviser concluded that 244 patients, or 31 percent, did not belong in medical and surgical care beds, and should have been treated in less costly facilities. Among other corrective steps, the GAO said: --Diagnostic evaluations, such as blood tests and chest X-rays, should be done before admission, not afterward. --Elective surgery should be scheduled before a patient is admitted and all admissions for surgery should be avoided just before weekends. --Testing and evaluation of results should be done in less time. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 46 7 May 1988 ================================================================= WOMEN VETERANS ================================================================= Women Vets Update VA Administrator Thomas K. Turnage responded to a recent report from the Advisory Committee on Women Veterans that covered such areas as health care, the homeless issue, and data collection. Turnage described what steps the VA would take to implement the Committees findings including: * Providing VA women veteran coordinators in outreach activities to homeless veterans and ensuring that separate statistics be kept on women veterans so that they can be better identified and their needs can be better evaluated. * The stocking of pajamas for women at medical center canteens that meet better comfort criteria. * Developing hair care service for female inpatients at VA medical centers * Developing a list of women veterans organizations as part of efforts to inform female veterans about VA benefits. Turnage also said the VA would be expanding specialized substance abuse treatment programs for women veterans as the number of female veterans seeking treatment increases. He emphasized that all VA facilities have counseling for physically abused veterans, male and female alike even though many medical centers don't have female patient loads large enough to support a separate program for abused female veterans. Turnage has also taken steps to encourage other governmental agencies to keep better statistics on women veterans and to encourage the female vets themselves to remain in the federal government. The VA Advisory Committee on Women Veterans was formed in 1983 to review VA policy and procedures and make recommendations to the Administrator. The 21 member committee is chaired by retired Air Force Major General Jeanne Holm. Its biannual meeting is scheduled for March 23-25 at the VA's Central Office in Washington, D.C. NamNews 2-05 Page 47 7 May 1988 ================================================================= WANTED ================================================================= By: Alex Humphrey If you would like a rubbing taken of the name of a relative, friend or loved one from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, you can get it done by writing: Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Inc. 4200 Wisconsin Avenue NW Suite 106-108 Washington DC 20016 Attention: Name Rubbing ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 48 7 May 1988 NAM VET NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION FORM The Nam Vet Newsletter is a non-profit publication available free of charge to anyone wishing to have a copy. It can be obtained in electronic computer format by anyone having access to a computer and modem by dialing up any of the IVVEC hosting bulletin board systems listed in this issue of the Nam Vet. It can also be mailed to you in printed format if you are willing to pay the $1.67 cost for postage and the mailing envelope. If you desire to have the Nam Vet mailed to you in printed format, please complete the subscription form below, clip it out, and mail it to: Nam Vet Newsletter Vietnam Veterans Valhalla 28 Cecil Avenue San Jose, California 95128 If you send your payment in check or money order, please make it payable to Todd Looney. NAME_____________________________________________________________ STREET ADDRESS __________________________________________________ CITY/STATE/ZIP __________________________________________________ AMOUNT ENCLOSED ($1.67 per month desired) _______________________ If this subscription is for someone else, to whom shall we credit the gift? ______________________________________ may88 NamNews 2-05 Page 49 7 May 1988 O O SOME GAVE ALL ... ! pow mia pow mia - BRING THEM HOME NOW! - pow mia pow mia ! ! O O ! ! ~~~~~ ~ ~ O~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~ O ~~ ~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~ ! ! ~~~~ ~ ~~ O ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~O~~~ ~~~ ~ ~~~~ ~~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ O~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ O ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~ ! ! ~~~ ~~ ~~ ~ O ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ O ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ ~ ! ! ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ O ~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ O ~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ ! ! ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ O ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ O ~ ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ O ~_~_~_~_~_ ~ O ~ ~~~~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ! ! ~~~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~~ ~ O ) O ~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ /(O) / O \ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~ ~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ / / O \~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ! ! ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~~ / PRISONER / \~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~ ~~~~~~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~ / / MISSING \~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~ ~~ ! ! ~~~ ~ ~~ ~~ / OF /\ \~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~~ ~ ! ! ~ ~~~~ ~~ ~ / / \ IN \~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ! ! ~~~ ~~~ ~ / WAR / ~~ \ \ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~~ ~ (_________ / ~ ~~ \ ACTION / ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ! ! ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ \ / ~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ! ! ~~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~ \ / ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ! ! ~~ ~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ! ! ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ! ! ~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~ SOME STILL GIVE ! ~ ~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ! ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ! ! mia pow mia pow - BRING THEM HOME NOW! - mia pow mia pow ! ----------------------------------------------------------------- NamNews 2-05 Page 50 7 May 1988 ================================================================= International Vietnam Veterans EchoConference Nodes ================================================================= Max. Node # Baud BBS Name Phone Number City/State/Country ================================================================= 632/350 1200 Yarra Valley BBS 61-3-848-331 Melbourne Australia 114/113 2400 Corwin's Keep 1-602-894-1470 Tempe AZ 153/123 9600 DAETECH 1-604-420-2641 Burnaby BC 153/133 2400 Hot Line Data Network 1-604-533-0421 Langley BC 153/135 2400 DAETECH 2 1-604-420-9485 Burnaby BC 153/501 2400 Valley Hub 1-604-850-0021 Clearbrook BC 220/20 2400 Old Frog's Almanac 1-604-758-3072 Nanaimo BC 10/215 2400 Silver BBS 1-619-226-4502 San Diego CA 103/501 2400 Mount Silverthorn 1-714-544-3369 Tustin CA 103/507 9600 Philosopher's Log 1-714-535-1258 Anaheim CA 125/12 2400 The Grape Vine 1-707-546-4938 Santa Rosa CA 125/7 2400 Survival Forum 1-707-545-0746 Santa Rosa CA 125/78 2400 Living Sober BBS 1-415-342-2859 San Mateo CA 143/22 2400 P-CAD's Board 1-408-279-4908 San Jose CA 143/27 2400 Vietnam Veterans Valhalla 1-408-293-7894 San Jose CA 143/86 2400 Cat's Tail BBS/S.T.O.P. 1-415-349-8245 San Mateo CA 161/1 9600 Nerd's Nook 1-415-672-2504 Concord CA 161/34 9600 Now and Zen OPUS 1-916-962-1952 Fair Oaks CA 161/39 2400 Nightline 1-916-362-1755 Mather AFB CA 161/5 9600 River City II OPUS 1-916-646-9678 Sacramento CA 161/509 2400 Enterprize 1-415-758-1650 Pinole CA 161/56 2400 Nat'l Family Forum 1-415-651-4147 Freemont CA NamNews 2-05 Page 50 7 May 1988 161/66 2400 Generic BBS 1-916-722-3659 Citrus Heights CA 161/7 2400 Mover Mouse BBS 1-415-883-1644 Fremont CA 161/943 9600 Eagle's Nest 1-916-334-2822 Sacramento CA 401/100 2400 The Board Room 1-213-498-6425 Belmont Shores CA 401/200 1200 CSULB 1-213-494-8737 Long Beach CA 202/401 2400 jabberWOCky 1-619-743-9935 Escondido CA 104/28 2400 Pinecliff BBS 1-303-444-7073 Boulder CO 104/51 2400 P2 B2 1-303-329-3337 South Denver CO 104/739 2400 The Phoenix 1-303-841-9570 Parker CO 141/250 9600 Wilton Woods 1-203=762-8481 Wilton CT 135/35 1200 The Way Out BBS 1-305-665-3283 Miami FL 363/10 1200 Midas Touch 1-305-648-1133 Orlando FL 363/9 1200 Wit's End 1-305-894-0807 Orlando FL 366/38 9600 Jolly Green Giant 1-904-651-3875 Shalimar FL 18/43 9600 Athens Echo 1-404-546-7857 Athens GA 370/10 2400 OnLine OPUS 1-404-548-0726 Athens GA 370/5 9600 Athens Forum 1-404-546-7857 Athens GA 12/1 2400 Aura Net 1-808-533-0190 Honolulu HI 11/109 2400 Peoria OPUS Net 1-309-691-5416 Peoria IL 115/20 2400 North Shore BBS 1-312-491-2611 Evanston IL 115/429 2400 Chicago Business 1-312-491-2611 Evanston IL 115/529 2400 Elk Grove Repeater 1-312-529-1586 Elk Grv Vlg IL 115/761 2400 ICS/TRIX 1 OPUS 1-312-761-7887 Chicago IL 11/202 1200 The SouthSide BBS 1-317-882-9330 Indianapolis IN 227/1 9600 Michiana TechLine 1-219-258-0286 Mishawaka IN 108/50 2400 The ZOO BBS 1-606-283-2040 Independence KY NamNews 2-05 Page 51 7 May 1988 108/90 2400 DATANET Info System 1-606-727-3638 Erlanger KY 321/109 9600 Pioneer Valley PCUG-1 1-413-256-1037 Amherst MA 321/201 2400 Mountain Top 1-413-684-2886 Dalton MA 321/202 9600 Jones' Nose 1-413-528-5663 Gt Barrington MA 321/203 2400 VETLink #1 1-413-443-6313 Pittsfield MA 109/648 2400 Falcon's Rock 1-301-345-7459 College Park MD 109/717 1200 The Tin Badge BBS 1-301-589-2016 Silver Spring MD 109/722 1200 Ronnie's Roadies BBS 1-301-736-0135 Camp Sprngs MD 13/29 9600 Berkshire Board 1-301-574-1984 Essex MD 13/30 9600 The Futurists BBS 1-301-529-0716 Perry Hall MD 13/33 9600 Avi-Technic 1-301-252-0717 Lutherville MD 261/628 2400 Liberty Hall 1-301-833-8933 Reisterstown MD 261/628.1 2400 Systemhouse Link 1-301-833-8933 Reisterstown MD 1/214 2400 Region 14 Echo Coor 1-612-377-3398 Minneapolis MN 1/314 2400 Software Dist 1-612-377-3469 Minneapolis MN 282/1 9600 Midwest Echo Star 1-612-377-3469 Minneapolis MN 151/100 9600 NC Central 1-919-851-8460 Raleigh NC 151/1000 2400 REDCON 1-919-859-3353 Raleigh NC 151/20 2400 Metro Link 1-704-541-8626 Charlotte NC 151/60 2400 VMC-BBS 1-919-945-4850 Lewisville NC 143/99 2400 Friend's BBS 1-402-896-2669 Omaha NE 132/101 2400 BBS Source Archive 1-603-888-8179 Nashua NH 150/803 2400 Jersey Vertex 1-609-869-0139 Moorestown NJ 15/4 2400 NASW New Mexico 1-505-646-2868 Las Cruces NM 107/105 2400 NY Transfer 1-718-442-1056 Staten Island NY NamNews 2-05 Page 52 7 May 1988 108/105 2400 Global Time Systems 1-606-341-7910 Cincinnati OH 110/20 2400 EDS Data 1-513-455-2431 Dayton OH 157/1 2400 Auer Register 1-216-883-0578 Cleveland OH 147/14 9600 Dark Star TBBS 1-405-691-0863 Oklahoma City OK 385/4 2400 Info-Net 1-405-357-6181 Lawton OK 385/6 2400 Bink's Barn 1-405-357-2473 Lawton OK 11/700 9600 FCAU IBM Net 1-416-427-0682 Toronto ON 221/156 9600 Waterloo CBCS PUBLIC 1-519-746-5020 Waterloo ON 221/157 9600 Waterloo CBCS Echomail Unpublished Waterloo ON 105/16 2400 Net 105 EchoMail Hub 1-503-761-3003 Portland OR 105/61 2400 Shotgun OPUS 1-503-760-4521 Portland OR 157/506 2400 Beacon Hill OPUS 1-412-962-9514 Transfer PA 18/6 2400 The Burnout Board 1-901-353-4563 Memphis TN 362/1 2400 The Mines of Moria 1-615-344-9601 Chattanooga TN 362/501 2400 Coconut Telegraph 1-615-698-4858 Chattanooga TN 106/108 9600 Stormy Weather I 1-713-644-4345 Houston TX 106/111 2400 Shutterbug's OPUS 1-713-880-4329 Houston TX 106/113 2400 The Opus Network 1-713-780-4153 Houston TX 106/114 2400 The Fireside 1-713-496-6319 Houston TX 106/132 2400 Fast BBS OPUS 1-713-392-0093 Katy TX 106/357 2400 TMBBS 1-713-497-5433 Houston TX 106/666 2400 Anything Goes OPUS 1-713-997-2624 Houston TX 124/106 9600 CHAI Way II 1-214-250-3323 Dallas TX 124/110 9600 Flying Dutchman 1-214-642-3436 Dallas TX 124/117 2400 NCC-1701 Node 1 1-214-240-8821 Dallas TX NamNews 2-05 Page 53 7 May 1988 124/117 2400 NCC-1701 1-214-240-8821 Dallas TX 124/14 2400 Chrysalis 1-214-985-9054 Dallas TX 124/200 2400 Dallas Outbound 1-214-437-4075 Dallas TX 124/201 2400 Hardweird 1-204-931-2987 Dallas TX 124/214 2400 *CHRYSALIS* 1-214-985-9054 Dallas TX 130/5 2400 CUSSNET UTA 1-817-273-3966 Arlington TX 136/200 2400 The Chai Way II 1-214-358-3738 Austin TX 381/201 2400 Pro Link 1-915-944-2952 San Angelo TX 382/1 2400 Crystal Palace 1-512-339-8037 Lake Travis TX 382/14 9600 Corona Del Mar 1-512-729-7026 Rockport TX 109/604 2400 ShanErin 1-703-941-8291 Alexandria VA 109/639 2400 The RENEX BBS 1-703-494-8331 Woodbridge VA 1/217 2400 Region 17 Echo Coord 1-206-848-5317 Puyallup WA 138/101 9600 Story Board 1-206-848-5317 Puyallup WA 138/3 2400 Puget Sound Gateway 1-206-848-9232 Puyallup WA 138/35 2400 US HDS Human Service 1-206-442-8127 Seattle WA 138/4 2400 PTC Net 1-206-757-5248 Mount Vernon WA 138/49 9600 The Cohort 1-206-848-2646 Puyallup WA 138/52 2400 Burrell's Ballpark 1-206-752-4672 Tacoma WA 343/111 2400 Lessor Puget TB 1-206-742-8067 Edmonds WA 343/9 1200 Everett OPUS 1-206-355-1295 Everett WA 139/640 2400 Fox Valley Tech 1-414-735-2513 Appleton WI 154/200 2400 PC-Express 1-414-327-4104 Greenfield WI