Thoughts on Veterans Day

This is a reprint of a post of mine from November 2015.

When I was a kid in the 1940s, it was pretty obvious that this nation was at war.  Everyone was involved in some activity to help the war effort. I and my friends collected aluminum foil.  My sisters knitted.  We went to the market with ration book in hand.  Every so often we prepared for an air raid.  My brothers served in the Battle of the Bulge and other combat.  All of my male cousins and most of the men I knew were drafted.  I learned to read via the headlines and the lead stories of the war that the newspapers carried every day.  I practiced my writing by writing letters to my brothers.  All of the men in East Cambridge were drafted.  It was pretty obvious why we should celebrate their efforts.  Hardly anyone was against the GI Bill.  I can fully understand why in the '50s and '60s Armistice Day was a big deal.  And, I can readily understand why Eisenhower renamed Armistice Day to Veterans Day in 1954.

However, I find it very hard to understand the brouhaha that is now made of Veterans Day.  When Nixon abolished the draft in 1973, people now had a choice as to whether they wanted to join the military or not, as they always had a choice whether they should join the police, become a teacher, practice medicine, fight fires, etc.  There are many professions where the goal is not making a dollar.  Soldiers are not the only ones risking their lives.  Police and firefighters also risk their lives.  The military is not the only important profession that keeps this country whole.  Where would we be without teachers or policemen?  Why don't we have a teacher's day or a policemen's day?

The fact of a volunteer army makes us more susceptible to go to war, especially because we know so few of the volunteers. As I said above, many of the people I knew in the '40s were drafted and risked their lives defending this country.  Some of my relatives served in Korea.  Friends served in Vietnam or moved to Canada.  Coffins landed in the military base in Bedford, MA almost every night.  We were all involved in these wars and realized their cost.  The President didn't tell us to avoid the fact that we were at war, we were all helping the war effort.  That was our duty as citizens, no matter our age or circumstances.

It is interesting that most of the politicians that will be speaking on Veterans Day have not served in any capacity in the military.  I'll end with a comment from Aaron O'Connell, a professor at Annapolis, "Uncritical support of all things martial is quickly becoming the new normal for our youth. Hardly any of my students at the Naval Academy remember a time when their nation wasn’t at war."

My feelings re Veterans Day

This is the third year I have posted this.

When I was a kid in the 1940s, it was pretty obvious that this nation was at war. Everyone was involved in some activity to help the war effort. I and my friends collected aluminum foil. My sisters knitted. We went to the market with ration book in hand. Every so often we prepared for an air raid. My brothers served in the Battle of the Bulge and other combat. All of my male cousins and most of the men I knew were drafted. I learned to read via the headlines and the lead stories of the war that the newspapers carried every day. I practiced my writing by writing letters to my brothers. All of the men in East Cambridge were drafted. It was pretty obvious why we should celebrate their efforts. Hardly anyone was against the GI Bill. I can fully understand why in the '50s and '60s Armistice Day was a big deal. And, I can readily understand why Eisenhower renamed Armistice Day to Veterans Day in 1954. 

However, I find it very hard to understand the brouhaha that is now made of Veterans Day. When Nixon abolished the draft in 1973, people now had a choice as to whether they wanted to join the military or not, as they always had a choice whether they should join the police, become a teacher, practice medicine, fight fires, etc. There are many professions where the goal is not making a dollar. Soldiers are not the only ones risking their lives. Police and firefighters also risk their lives. The military is not the only important profession that keeps this country whole. Where would we be without teachers or policemen? Why don't we have a teacher's day or a policemen's day?  

The fact of a volunteer army makes us more susceptible to go to war, especially because we know so few of the volunteers. As I said above, many of the people I knew in the '40s were drafted and risked their lives defending this country. Some of my relatives served in Korea. Friends served in Vietnam or moved to Canada. Coffins landed in the military base in Bedford, MA almost every night. We were all involved in these wars and realized their cost. The President didn't tell us to avoid the fact that we were at war, we were all helping the war effort. That was our duty as citizens, no matter our age or circumstances. 

It is interesting that most of the politicians that will be speaking on Veterans Day have not served in any capacity in the military. I'll end with a comment from Aaron O'Connell, a professor at Annapolis, "Uncritical support of all things martial is quickly becoming the new normal for our youth. Hardly any of my students at the Naval Academy remember a time when their nation wasn’t at war."

Thoughts on Veterans Day

This is a reprint of a post of mine from November 2015.

When I was a kid in the 1940s, it was pretty obvious that this nation was at war.  Everyone was involved in some activity to help the war effort. I and my friends collected aluminum foil.  My sisters knitted.  We went to the market with ration book in hand.  Every so often we prepared for an air raid.  My brothers served in the Battle of the Bulge and other combat.  All of my male cousins and most of the men I knew were drafted.  I learned to read via the headlines and the lead stories of the war that the newspapers carried every day.  I practiced my writing by writing letters to my brothers.  All of the men in East Cambridge were drafted.  It was pretty obvious why we should celebrate their efforts.  Hardly anyone was against the GI Bill.  I can fully understand why in the '50s and '60s Armistice Day was a big deal.  And, I can readily understand why Eisenhower renamed Armistice Day to Veterans Day in 1954.

However, I find it very hard to understand the brouhaha that is now made of Veterans Day.  When Nixon abolished the draft in 1973, people now had a choice as to whether they wanted to join the military or not, as they always had a choice whether they should join the police, become a teacher, practice medicine, fight fires, etc.  There are many professions where the goal is not making a dollar.  Soldiers are not the only ones risking their lives.  Police and firefighters also risk their lives.  The military is not the only important profession that keeps this country whole.  Where would we be without teachers or policemen?  Why don't we have a teacher's day or a policemen's day?

The fact of a volunteer army makes us more susceptible to go to war, especially because we know so few of the volunteers. As I said above, many of the people I knew in the '40s were drafted and risked their lives defending this country.  Some of my relatives served in Korea.  Friends served in Vietnam or moved to Canada.  Coffins landed in the military base in Bedford, MA almost every night.  We were all involved in these wars and realized their cost.  The President didn't tell us to avoid the fact that we were at war, we were all helping the war effort.  That was our duty as citizens, no matter our age or circumstances.

It is interesting that most of the politicians that will be speaking on Veterans Day have not served in any capacity in the military.  I'll end with a comment from Aaron O'Connell, a professor at Annapolis, "Uncritical support of all things martial is quickly becoming the new normal for our youth. Hardly any of my students at the Naval Academy remember a time when their nation wasn’t at war."

Why not Fireman's Day?

 When I was a kid in the 1940s, it was pretty obvious that this nation was at war. Everyone was involved in some activity to help the war effort. I and my friends collected aluminum foil. My sisters knitted. We went to the market with ration book in hand. Every so often we prepared for an air raid. My brothers served in the Battle of the Bulge and other combat. All of my male cousins and most of the men I knew were drafted. I learned to read via the headlines and the lead stories of the war that the newspapers carried every day. I practiced my writing by writing letters to my brothers. All of the men in East Cambridge were drafted. It was pretty obvious why we should celebrate their efforts. Hardly anyone was against the GI Bill. I can fully understand why in the '50s and '60s Armistice Day was a big deal. And, I can readily understand why Eisenhower renamed Armistice Day to Veterans Day in 1954. 

However, I find it very hard to understand the brouhaha that is now made of Veterans Day. When Nixon abolished the draft in 1973, people now had a choice as to whether they wanted to join the military or not, as they always had a choice whether they should join the police, become a teacher, practice medicine, fight fires, etc. There are many professions where the goal is not making a dollar. Soldiers are not the only ones risking their lives. Police and firefighters also risk their lives. The military is not the only important profession that keeps this country whole. Where would we be without teachers or policemen? Why don't we have a teacher's day or a policemen's day?  

The fact of a volunteer army makes us more susceptible to go to war, especially because we know so few of the volunteers. As I said above, many of the people I knew in the '40s were drafted and risked their lives defending this country. Some of my relatives served in Korea. Friends served in Vietnam or moved to Canada. Coffins landed in the military base in Bedford, MA, almost every night. We were all involved in these wars and realized their cost. The President didn't tell us to avoid the fact that we were at war, we were all helping the war effort. That was our duty as citizens, no matter our age or circumstances. 

It is interesting that most of the politicians that will be speaking on Veterans Day have not served in any capacity in the military. I'll end with a comment from Aaron O'Connell, a professor at Annapolis, "Uncritical support of all things martial is quickly becoming the new normal for our youth. Hardly any of my students at the Naval Academy remember a time when their nation wasn’t at war."

(This is the fourth year I have posted the above.)

Why not Firemen's Day?

When I was a kid in the 1940s, it was pretty obvious that this nation was at war.  Everyone was involved in some activity to help the war effort. I and my friends collected aluminum foil.  My sisters knitted.  We went to the market with ration book in hand.  Every so often we prepared for an air raid.  My brothers served in the Battle of the Bulge and other combat.  All of my male cousins and most of the men I knew were drafted.  I learned to read via the headlines and the lead stories of the war that the newspapers carried every day.  I practiced my writing by writing letters to my brothers.  All of the men in East Cambridge were drafted.  It was pretty obvious why we should celebrate their efforts.  Hardly anyone was against the GI Bill.  I can fully understand why in the '50s and '60s Armistice Day was a big deal.  And, I can readily understand why Eisenhower renamed Armistice Day to Veterans Day in 1954.

However, I find it very hard to understand the brouhaha that is now made of Veterans Day.  When Nixon abolished the draft in 1973, people now had a choice as to whether they wanted to join the military or not, as they always had a choice whether they should join the police, become a teacher, practice medicine, fight fires, etc.  There are many professions where the goal is not making a dollar.  Soldiers are not the only ones risking their lives.  Police and firefighters also risk their lives.  The military is not the only important profession that keeps this country whole.  Where would we be without teachers or policemen?  Why don't we have a teacher's day or a policemen's day?

The fact of a volunteer army makes us more susceptible to go to war, especially because we know so few of the volunteers. As I said above, many of the people I knew in the '40s were drafted and risked their lives defending this country.  Some of my relatives served in Korea.  Friends served in Vietnam or moved to Canada.  Coffins landed in the military base in Bedford, MA almost every night.  We were all involved in these wars and realized their cost.  The President didn't tell us to avoid the fact that we were at war, we were all helping the war effort.  That was our duty as citizens, no matter our age or circumstances.

It is interesting that most of the politicians that will be speaking on Veterans Day have not served in any capacity in the military.  I'll end with a comment from Aaron O'Connell, a professor at Annapolis, "Uncritical support of all things martial is quickly becoming the new normal for our youth. Hardly any of my students at the Naval Academy remember a time when their nation wasn’t at war."

Why not Teacher's Day?

When I was a kid in the 1940s, it was pretty obvious that this nation was at war.  Everyone was involved in some activity to help the war effort. I and my friends collected aluminum foil.  My sisters knitted.  We went to the market with ration book in hand.  Every so often we prepared for an air raid.  My brothers served in the Battle of the Bulge and other combat.  All of my male cousins and most of the men I knew were drafted.  I learned to read via the headlines and the lead stories of the war that the newspapers carried every day.  I practiced my writing by writing letters to my brothers.  All of the men in East Cambridge were drafted.  It was pretty obvious why we should celebrate their efforts.  Hardly anyone was against the GI Bill.  I can fully understand why in the '50s and '60s Armistice Day was a big deal.  And, I can readily understand why Eisenhower renamed Armistice Day to Veterans Day in 1954.

However, I find it very hard to understand the brouhaha that is now made of Veterans Day.  When Nixon abolished the draft in 1973, people now had a choice as to whether they wanted to join the military or not, as they always had a choice whether they should join the police, become a teacher, practice medicine, fight fires, etc.  There are many professions where the goal is not making a dollar.  Soldiers are not the only ones risking their lives.  Police and firefighters also risk their lives.  The military is not the only important profession that keeps this country whole.  Where would we be without teachers or policemen?  Why don't we have a teacher's day or a policemen's day?

The fact of a volunteer army makes us more susceptible to go to war, especially because we know so few of the volunteers. As I said above, many of the people I knew in the '40s were drafted and risked their lives defending this country.  Some of my relatives served in Korea.  Friends served in Vietnam or moved to Canada.  Coffins landed in the military base in Bedford, MA almost every night.  We were all involved in these wars and realized their cost.  The President didn't tell us to avoid the fact that we were at war, we were all helping the war effort.  That was our duty as citizens, no matter our age or circumstances.

It is interesting that most of the politicians that will be speaking on Veterans Day have not served in any capacity in the military.  I'll end with a comment from Aaron O'Connell, a professor at Annapolis, "Uncritical support of all things martial is quickly becoming the new normal for our youth. Hardly any of my students at the Naval Academy remember a time when their nation wasn’t at war."

A Better Way To Acknowledge Armistice Day

Yes, I know we now refer to November 11 as Veterans Day, but I prefer Armistice Day, which focuses more on avoiding war than the term "Veterans Day". I agree with Daniel Bendetson that we should acknowledge the importance of this day in a more forthright manner: a period of silence that we share as a group.

Bendetson is just a kid but he is starting out well.

Veterans Day, Armistice Day, Remembrance Day

Whatever you call it, R.J. at Sparrowchat has some comments about the day - and the world - that you should read.

The True Cost of War: A Moral Balance Sheet

From the Unitarian Universalist Association:

One Day in Iraq

To date, more than 3,100 American military members have been killed in Iraq, and another 400 have been killed in Afghanistan. On average, another college-aged soldier (between the ages of 18 and 22) is killed every day.

The money the US spends on average in just one day in Iraq, $259 million, could have provided 22,615 college-aged students with a full year’s tuition or enrolled 35,500 three- and four-year-olds a full year in Head Start pre-school programs.

One Week in Iraq

The toll of the war on Iraqi civilians has been devastating. Estimates of the number of Iraqi dead range up to half a million.

As many as 3.8 million Iraqis have already fled their homes, and an additional 10,500 civilians become refugees on average every week.

The money spent in one week in Iraq could have provided three meals a day for nearly an entire year for 6 million children, the same number that dies from hunger and malnutrition every year.

One Month in Iraq

In addition to the tens of thousands of injuries American service members have sustained in fighting in Iraq, more than 500 have undergone “major amputations” – the loss of arms or legs. In the four years of fighting in Iraq, that totals ten servicemen and women losing a limb every month (or one every three days).

For less than the amount spent in one month in Iraq, New Orleans’ neighborhoods could be completely rebuilt and improved to meet standards that would better protect them against another hurricane.

One Year in Iraq

More than 34,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in Iraq in 2006 alone. That is equivalent to 93 civilians killed every day.

The money spent in Iraq in one year could have paid the health insurance premiums for half of all uninsured Americans, including all uninsured American children.

Four years in Iraq

More than 3,100 American service members have been killed since the invasion, and more than 23,500 soldiers have been wounded. As many as 300,000 veterans have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, two-thirds of whom are not being treated.

What could we have purchased with $400 billion, had our national priorities matched our moral potential?

We could have funded full American compliance in the Kyoto Protocol, which is estimated to cost $75 billion less than what we’ve already spent in Iraq.

We could have purchased life-giving treatment, including costly antiretroviral drugs, for every person in the world infected with HIV/AIDS. For almost six full years.

The Years Ahead

Even if it ends tomorrow, we will be paying for this war for decades to come. When we factor in the future costs of veterans’ medical care, disability payments, and the price of rebuilding our depleted military, the total cost could exceed $1.2 trillion.

Imagine what our world might look like in a few years if we had focused those resources on making the world healthier, wealthier, better educated, and safer.

As Americans, it is our duty to hold ourselves and our government accountable for any decision to spend American lives and money on a futile war. These are moral choices, and they have moral consequences.

© Unitarian Universalist Association, 2007. References and source material are available upon request. This document maybe be reproduced in its entirety and freely distributed. When material is excerpted we ask only that it be attributed to the UUA.

Veterans killing themselves

7300 veterans killed themselves in 2014. That's 20 a day, almost 1 an hour. The VA looked at 55 million veterans records between 1979 and 2014 from all 50 states. Two interesting findings: 65 percent of all veterans who committed suicide in 2014 were 50 years or older. Since 2001, adult civilian suicides increased 23 percent, while veteran suicides increased 32 percent.

However, the rate of suicide was less for those male veterans who used veterans affairs services (11%) and increased 35 percent among those who didn’t. Among female veterans who used the services suicides increased nearly 5% and increased 98%.

An appropriate article for Veterans Day

William Rivers Pitt writes about the Sacred Soldier at Truthout. He, too, questions how we deal with the voluntary Army. Some excerpts:

• After so very many years of condensed war –seven decades and counting since Pearl Harbor and the National Security Act, with the inevitable violent blowback hitting us where we live -- the United States has fully adopted the siege mentality necessary for the implementation of a permanent state of conflict. That mentality has poured out of the Pentagon and down onto Main Street everywhere, patrolled by armored police driving through communities of color with tanks and sporting military-grade weaponry that came to them at a steep discount from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The nightly footage from the local news and the international news looks more and more similar by the day.
• The fault lies with politicians who glorify and take advantage of the Sacred Soldier in equal measure, even as they slash funding for real soldiers who desperately need it. The trauma of multiple deployments, combined with the deliberate undermining of the national economy for the benefit of the wealthy, has made for a hard homecoming for many of those real soldiers. Their reward -- to be used as advertisements for the vast payday of permanent war whether they like it or not -- is beneath contempt, and profoundly dangerous.
• Many soldiers today do not even want you to thank them for their service. They wish simply to come home, to heal, and to find their parcel of normal after a season in Hell. This is the most reasonable expectation imaginable, and the fact that this country still struggles to fulfill even this small measure of solace tells you all you need to know about our national priorities. Any nation that does not care for its war veterans has no business making new ones.

Keeping photographers out

Last week I wrote about what appears to be a new White House policy barring media photographers from certain events while at the same time having White House photographers film the events and make them generally available. The deputy press secretary explains the policy, “There are certain circumstances where it is simply not feasible to have independent journalists in the room when the president is making decisions.”

Apparently, Mr. Obama makes decisions at some strange events. Dana Milbank has some examples: The president and first lady waving to a sea of people, with the Washington Monument in the background, on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s march; Obama swimming with one of his daughters in the Gulf of Mexico to show that the water is clean; Obama embracing one of his daughters in Nelson Mandela’s prison cell; the president touring the West Bank church on the spot where Jesus is thought to have been born (news photographers were allowed to shoot images when George W. Bush toured that location); Obama alone on the Rosa Parks bus, sitting in the same row where the civil rights icon sat; Obama shaking hands on Veterans Day with the oldest living World War II veteran; Obama shaking hands with Mitt Romney in the Oval Office; the first lady and the president greeting kids the day White House tours resumed this month.

A transparent administration or a 1984 administration?

Let’s stop celebrating Veterans’ Day

If we continue to support November 11 as a holiday honoring military veterans, then we should also have holidays honoring many more professions, such as policemen, firefighters, doctors, teachers, etc. Since the advent of our volunteer army in 1973, those in the military profession are there of their own free will. What is it about a military job that makes it deserving of a holiday? Don’t police and firefighters risk their lives protecting us? 

I can understand why we would honor those who were drafted into the military and those military professionals who led these draftees. But why single out for honor people who have not been forced into the military, who wanted to become a soldier, who knew and accepted the associated risks?

Can This Be Right?

At a hearing about the military's treatment of wounded soldiers, Scott Gould, the deputy secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, said veterans were benefiting from a suicide prevention crisis line, which has fielded more than 400,000 calls and led to more than 14,000 "rescues" since it began in July 2007.

To make it easy, let's say those are the numbers for a full 4 years. Gould is saying that they get 100,000 calls a year or about 275 a day and there are about 3,500 "rescues" a year or about 96 a day. How many people are in the military? Wikipedia says there were almost 1,500,000 in 2009 Then about 7% use the suicide prevention line every year and 1% of the members of the military are serious cases every year. That doesn't sound right to me.

If Gould is correct, that's another black mark against the volunteer army.

Caring for our veterans

Jonathan Schulze was another example of how well we are caring for the veterans of the current wars. Note the use of 'was'. He's dead. Depressed and suicidal after coming home, he hung himself in the cellar of his parent's home.

Although Jonathan was hit by shrapnel, his real problem was his emotional health. He and his family recognized the problem and went to the local VA hospital. The person who screens people complaining of mental problems was not in that day; Jonathan and his family went home. The next day he learned that he was 26th on the waiting list for the 12 beds that were available. A few days later he killed himself.

There are 1,500,000 people who have served and are serving this country in Iraq and Afghanistan. Estimates are that 20% of them will have some form of PTSD. What will happen with these people? Will this country try to help them? Or, will we continue to cut our taxes and plan trips to Mars?

Take the Quiz

Bill Quigley has a test for you.

1. How many deaths are there worldwide each year due to acts of terrorism?

2. How many deaths are there worldwide each day due to poverty and malnutrition?

3. 1n 1965, CEOs in major companies made 24 times more than the average worker. In 1980, CEOs made 40 times more than the average worker. In 2007, CEOs earned how many times more than the average worker?

4. In how many of the more than 3,000 cities and counties in the US can a full-time worker who earns the minimum wage afford to pay rent and utilities on a one-bedroom apartment?

5. In 1968, the minimum wage was $1.65 per hour. How much would the minimum wage be today if it had kept pace with inflation since 1968?

6. True or false? People in the United States spend nearly twice as much on pet food as the US government spends on aid to help foreign countries.

7. How many people in the world live on $2 a day or less?

8. How many people in the world do not have electricity?

9. People in the US consume 42 kilograms of meat per person per year. How much meat and grain do people in India and China eat?

10. How many cars does China have for every 1,000 drivers? India? The US?

11. How much grain is needed to fill an SUV tank with ethanol?

12. According to The Wall Street Journal, the richest one percent of Americans earns what percent of the nation's adjusted gross income? Five percent? Ten percent? Fifteen percent? Twenty percent?

13. How many people does our government say are homeless in the US on any given day?

14. What percentage of people in homeless shelters are children?

15. How many veterans are homeless on any given night?

16. The military budget of the United States in 2008 is the largest in the world at $623 billion per year. How much larger is the US military budget than that of China, the second-largest in the world?

17. The US military budget is larger than how many of the countries of the rest of the world combined?

18. Over the 28-year history of the Berlin Wall, 287 people perished trying to cross it. How many people have died in the last four years trying to cross the border between Arizona and Mexico?

19. India is ranked second in the world in gun ownership with four guns per 100 people. China is third with third firearms per 100 people. Which country is first and how widespread is gun ownership?

20. What country leads the world in the incarceration of its citizens?

For the answers, go here.

But Why

Yesterday there was a Memorial Day Tribute here. We heard Obama's Memorial Day speech, sang the Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America, listened to a roll call of residents who served in the military and watched a video consisting of clips from military funerals and memorials at veterans cemeteries around the country. It was a moving event.

Last night I watched the National Memorial Day Celebration on PBS. It was much more theatrical than our morning show but also quite moving.

I wouldn't have expected any negativism at these events. But still I kept thinking of the futility of our wars since WWII. By and large, we did not make things better for the world. We did not win any of these wars. We damaged the lives of many. We wasted tons of money.

The truly sad and fearful part is that things are worse in the 21st century. To most of us the wars are a nonentity. We don't have a relative there. We know few people who do. Unlike WWII the news about the war does not dominate the media reports; Deflategate gets more attention than ISIS. We now bomb countries with which we have not declared war. We kill civilians on the premise that there is some bad guy near them. WHY?

Herold Noel, Hero

You really should listen to this. It’s the story of Herold Noel, a veteran of Iraq, who is “fighting his second war – a mental war”, a war against post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), a war that he “will be fighting all” his life. I think that the first time I heard about PTSD was 30 years ago when the Vietnam vets started reporting their post-war troubles. Now, it’s starting again.

Noel is an example of the talent that is hidden in so many people and seldom gets a chance to express itself. He’s only 25 but tells his story with a simple mastery that is heart-moving. He has devoted his life to speaking out for himself and his fellow veterans who gave their all in the war but now need help after the war.

He joined the Army at 19 as a way to achieve the American dream. He was determined to leave the drug- and crime-infested streets of his Brooklyn neighborhood. He served as a driver of a fuel truck. When he came back, he found that this experience was not enough to get a job driving a truck in New York or, in fact, getting any sort of job. So, he lost his kids, had problems with his wife and was homeless. He drank to stop the pain. Eventually he reached the point of attempted suicide, but was too drunk to go through with it.

The next day, someone from an organization called Black Veterans for Social Justice, gave him money to buy his kids Christmas presents. And that was the start of his journey back. Another organization, Operation Truth, was a conduit to an anonymous donor paying for an apartment for Herold and his wife for a year. Now, he has devoted his life to advocating for help for himself and his fellow veterans. He spoke before a Congressional committee in support of a bill to help those with PTSD. And he spoke with assurance, with honesty, frankly and movingly – without notes. His message was simple: Honor the living as well as we honor the dead.

He still carries in his jeep the magazines (the gun kind) that carried the clips which killed eight people. He wants to “give a life back by giving someone hope for life”.

Combining work and vacation time

David Shulkin, the secretary of veterans affairs, has been called to task by the Inspector General for a 10-day, $122,000 business trip he took to Europe in July, which included $4200 airfare for his wife. He led a VA team to Copenhagen and London for 10 days in July,but only 3-1/2 days were devoted to business. The rest of the time was spent on sightseeing and unofficial activities, such as attending the Wimbledon tennis tournament using free tickets. He was not alone; he was accompanied by his wife, a small staff and a six-person security detail.

To justify paying for the secretary’s wife’s $4,000 airfare, the IG's report said, the department’s chief of staff altered an email to indicate that Dr. Shulkin and his wife had been specifically invited to an honorary dinner in Denmark, when in fact they had not. While the couple were in London, the report found, they improperly accepted tickets to a tennis match at Wimbledon.

Shulkin is not the only cabinet secretary to be accused of lavish spending on travel. Tom Price was dismissed as secretary of health and human services over his use of private jets.

JPMorgan Chase and some settlements

Pam Martens of Wall Street on Parade is not a friend of the big banks. She has just read and applauds a book, "JPMadoff: The Unholy Alliance between America’s Biggest Bank and America’s Biggest Crook" by Helen Davis Chaitman and Lance Gotthoffer, that  compares JPMorgan Chase to the Gambino crime family. She quotes the following from the book. (JPMC is JPMorgan Chase.)

• In April 2011, JPMC agreed to pay $35 million to settle claims that it overcharged members of the military service on their mortgages in violation of the Service Members Civil Relief Act and the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. 
• In March 2012, JPMC paid the government $659 million to settle charges that it charged veterans hidden fees in mortgage refinancing transactions. 
• In October 2012, JPMC paid $1.2 billion to settle claims that it, along with other banks, conspired to set the price of credit and debit card interchange fees. 
• On January 7, 2013, JPMC announced that it had agreed to a settlement with the Office of the Controller of the Currency (‘OCC’) and the Federal Reserve Bank of charges that it had engaged in improper foreclosure practices.
• In September 2013, JPMC agreed to pay $80 million in fines and $309 million in refunds to customers whom the bank billed for credit monitoring services that the bank never provided. 
• On November 15, 2013, JPMC announced that it had agreed to pay $4.5 billion to settle claims that it defrauded investors in mortgage-backed securities in the time period between 2005 and 2008. 
• On December 13, 2013, JPMC agreed to pay 79.9 million Euros to settle claims of the European Commission relating to illegal rigging of benchmark interest rates.
• In February 2012, JPMC agreed to pay $110 million to settle claims that it overcharged customers for overdraft fees. 
• In November 2012, JPMC paid $296,900,000 to the SEC to settle claims that it misstated information about the delinquency status of its mortgage portfolio.
• In July 2013, JPMC paid $410 million to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to settle claims of bidding manipulation of California and Midwest electricity markets. 
• On November 19, 2013, JPMC agreed to pay $13 billion [that’s billion with a ‘b’] to settle claims by the Department of Justice; the FDIC; the Federal Housing Finance Agency; the states of California, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York; and consumers relating to fraudulent practices with respect to mortgage-backed securities. 
• In December 2013, JPMC paid $22.1 million to settle claims that the bank imposed expensive and unnecessary flood insurance on homeowners whose mortgages the bank serviced. 
• On May 15, 2015, five financial institutions, including JPMC, pled guilty to a criminal conspiracy to fix the foreign exchange market, paying a total of $5.6 billion in fines. JPMC paid $892 million in fines.

The total of these payments is about $21 billion in five years. Or, $11,506,849 a day.