Priority 8 VETS (Most whom are Contractors)

Did they see it coming?????

Then- January 24, 2003
WASHINGTON, DC — The Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), Anthony Principi, has announced that health care enrollment for new Priority Group 8 veterans will be suspended for one year (News Release, January 17, 2003).

Entire story -

New Priority 8 Veterans Not Eligible for VA Health Care
WASHINGTON, DC — January 24, 2003 — The Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), Anthony Principi, has announced that health care enrollment for new Priority Group 8 veterans will be suspended for one year (News Release, January 17, 2003). Priority Group 8 veterans are those veterans with no service–connected disabilities and with incomes above a threshold amount that is based on geographic location.

The decision applies only to Priority Group 8 veterans who did not enroll for VA health care benefits by January 17, 2003, and not to those who are already receiving VA health care. It also does not apply to veterans in other priority categories.

A Plan for Veterans Who Receive Medicare
The VA and the Department of Health and Human Services are working on ways to give elderly Priority Group 8 veterans access to a “VA+Choice Medicare” plan. The plan calls for the VA to participate as a Medicare+Choice provider. Eligible veterans would be able to use their Medicare benefits to obtain care from the VA.

Legislation to Fund VA Health Care
The VA is unable to provide all enrolled veterans with health care services because of the increased number of veterans seeking care, according to Mr. Principi. More than half of all new enrollees have been in Priority Group 8. Also, the demand for VA health care is expected to continue.

The veterans’ organization, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), believes that the solution to the health care problem lies in “proper funding” (VFW Washington Weekly, January 21, 2003). Along with other veterans’ groups such as the American Legion and Disabled American Veterans, the VFW supports legislation that would provide mandatory funding for all enrolled users of the VA health care system.

Senator Tim Johnson (D–SD) has introduced the Veterans Health Care Funding Guarantee Act (S.B. 50), which ties veterans’ health care funding levels to medical inflation and the number of veterans using the system each year. The VFW believes that the bill would end annual battles over veterans’ appropriations and greatly improve access to care for all veterans.

Here we are today?

ArmyTimes.com says...

Bill calls for all vets to get VA care


By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Apr 19, 2007 15:05:45 EDT
A key senator has joined forces with a New Jersey congressman in trying to re-open enrollment for veterans’ medical care to veterans with moderate incomes and no service-connected disabilities.
The bill, introduced in the House and Senate, would restore eligibility to veterans’ health care to about 242,000 people.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a member of the Senate veterans’ affairs and appropriations committees, has joined Rep. Steve Rothman, D-N.J., in sponsoring the Honor Our Commitment to Veterans Act, which would reverse a Bush adminisatration decision fouir years ago to bar new enrollments in the VA health plan for those in Priority 8, the lowest category on VA’s health care priority list.

Priority 8 includes veterans who either have no service-connected disability or a zero percent disability rating, with incomes above a threshold based on family size. The thresholds range from $27,790 for a veteran with no dependents to $38,948 for a veteran with four dependents, with an additional $1,866 in income to allow for each additional dependent.

The enrollment ban took effect on Jan. 17, 2003, and was done to cut costs (And only last 1 year). VA officials said that most of the veterans who are in Priority 8 either have or could get other medical coverage.

“When it comes to veterans' healthcare, caveats and exceptions are not acceptable,” Murray said.

Her bill, S 1147, is similar to a measure introduced in January by Rothman, a member of the House Appropriations Committee who has been trying to get enrollment reopened for Priority 8 veterans since 2004. “My legislation demands that the federal government fully fund VA health care services so that no veteran in need is turned away,” Rothman said.

Rothman’s bill, HR 463, has 37 cosponsors. Murray didn’t have any original cosponsors for her bill.

Both bills take the same approach by requiring the VA to allow enrollment for any veteran who applies, which would terminate the enrollment freeze.

The cost of restoring the eligibility of Priority 8 veterans for VA health care is a matter of some dispute. Murray’s office estimates it would cost $519 million to provide coverage today and $2.3 billion to provide coverage through 2012.

Murray said the Bush administration cut off enrollment for new Priority 8 veterans in the face of budgetary problems and growing backlogs for patients when there were other options. “Instead of confronting the VA’s shortfall head on by asking for the resources necessary to address them, this administration cut off care to veterans of modest means,” she said.

Rothman said the enrollment ban is particularly hard on people in high-cost areas, like the New Jersey counties he represents. That is because they generally earn more money, making them more likely to exceed the income thresholds — but their cost of living is higher as well.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/04/military_veterancare_eligibility_070419w/

Military Law Review Concerning Military Contractors

The link is to a Military Law Review done in 1995 by the U.S. Army. It states that Military Contractors (in the war zones) have exactly the same rights and obligations as active duty personnel!

According to this review, Contractors can be armed because they are "legal" targets for the enemy.

This is a MUST READ for all Contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan, under the LOGCAP Contracts.

It even names "LOGCAP" in the review. It includes everyone working under it's contracts.

I'll warn you now, this Military Law Review is long. It's 310 pages! It's in PDF format. You won't be able to see it unless you have Adobe Reader 6.0 or later. You can download it for free here : http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/ . They now have Reader 8.0!

If you're going to Iraq or Afghanistan, you need to read this and share it with your friends and family.

Good Luck! Be Well and May God Bless!!

Civilians at War Part 1 & 2

Civilians at War Part 3,4,5

The battle scars of a private war

US: The battle scars of a private war
by T. Christian Miller, L A Times
February 12th, 2007

HOUSTON - On a cold, overcast day here Friday, nine families came together in a hushed hotel ballroom to receive one of the nation's most prestigious civilian honors. Executives in dark blue suits shifted uncomfortably as an Army major general in battle fatigues awarded posthumous Defense of Freedom medals to the families' loved ones, all contractors killed while working in Iraq.But this was no public recognition of sacrifice. The event was held in secret, with guards to keep out the media. The Army even refused to release the names of those it was honoring. The nation's gratitude was delivered behind closed doors.A thousand miles to the north, a day later, a group of contractors got together on their own dime in a gritty cinder-block VFW hall beside a freeway in Knoxville, Tenn. This time, there were neither medals nor executives. Instead, there weresudsy beers, loud music and the camaraderie of men and women who swappedwar stories of public indifference, bureaucratic ineptitude and corporate incompetence. "This is what we've got. This is our party," said Jana Crowder, the wife of a contractor. She organized the conference, which drew a few dozen people, from as far as South Dakota and Maine.The contrasting events signal the issues that surround a new and largely invisible kind of pseudo-veteran: the thousands of contractors who have been injured, some fatally, working in Iraq for the U.S. government.Nearly 125,000 contractors are now at work in Iraq supporting roughly 135,000 troops, according to the most recent military figures. The ratio is far higher than for any previous U.S. conflict, military analysts say.More than 750 contractors have been killed in Iraq, according to Department of Labor statistics, and almost 8,000 injured. The figures include Americans, Iraqis and other nationalities employed under U.S. government contracts.Contractors' surviving relatives and wounded contractors have many of the same problems as military members and their families, including searing grief, difficult recoveries and unanswered questions.But the contractors' status as private employees on a public mission has created an uncertain future, where surviving a bullet in the head does not mean a lifetime of care and where a local bar becomes the closest thing to a veteran's hospital.All contractors working overseas are supposed to be covered by federal workers' compensation. Under the system, contracting companies purchase insurance to cover workers' injuries, lost wages and, in the case of death, benefits to survivors.Though the system has worked smoothly in some cases, many contractors have found themselves fighting for medical care and psychological counseling in a civilian healthcare system. Contractors with head wounds and fist-sized holes in their sides have had to fly back to the U.S. on commercial jets for medical care.For support, they have only a homemade system of sympathy, patched together through websites and e-mail.Many of the injured are blue-collar Americans, cops and truckers and oil rig hands who saw Iraq as a way to make some money and support the war. They are scattered across the U.S., isolated from those who suffered similar experiences.Few contractors expect to be treated like returning soldiers. They are quick to acknowledge that they were paid better and could quit when they wanted.But many served side by side with American troops, lived in the same harsh conditions, and braved mortar fire and roadside bombs without the protection of armored vehicles or weapons. They are frustrated at the difficulty they have encountered in getting help for their troubles.Some contractors have seen their efforts in Iraq dismissed by friends and neighbors as the product of greed."There's no support," said Art Faust, 56, a former trucker for KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary now being spun off into a separate company. Faust, of Porter, Texas, has been trying to get psychological treatment after being caught in an ambush in which three other truckers and a soldier were killed. "It's just like someone hit the delete button."The Houston medal ceremony, jointly sponsored by KBR and the Department of Defense, underscored the meshing of the American military with contractors. KBR holds the single largest contract in Iraq, with 50,000 workers supplying food, fuel and mail to the military. The contractors work alongside soldiers, helping rebuild the country and providing private security guards to diplomats and senior U.S. officials.All told, the Pentagon has awarded 119 contractors the Defense of Freedom medal, which is considered the civilian equivalent of a Purple Heart. Of those, 95 have gone to KBR employees, according to KBR officials. The officials declined to provide names or access to the event, citing privacy concerns. The Times was given access by family members who received the award.Bruce A. Stanski, a KBR executive vice president, told the families that the KBR workers were "true heroes." "We at KBR will never forget those who lost their lives carrying out their critical work. They work side by side with our soldiers, providing them with the bare necessities and the comforts of home."Maj. Gen. Jerome Johnson, head of the Army's Sustainment Command, which oversees the KBR contract, spoke for nearly half an hour before presenting the families with the medal, created after the Sept. 11 attacks to honor civilians working for the Defense Department.Johnson, who strode across a low riser decorated with U.S. and KBR flags, compared the KBR workers to soldiers and said their work was vital to the U.S. cause in Iraq. Meanwhile, Ray Charles' "America the Beautiful" played. "Some of your loved ones may not have been wearing a uniform, at least not now, but they were American soldiers," he said, alluding to the many contractors in Iraq who are military veterans.Afterward, several families said they appreciated the effort by KBR and the military to recognize their loved ones. But they expressed dismay at the lack of communication over the circumstances of the deaths. For many families, the only explanations came from news accounts and recollections of fellow drivers. Lloyd Dagit's son Keven was killed in the ambush that trapped Faust in September 2005. "KBR has never come and said, 'Here's what happened,' " Dagit said. He continued: "They may say he was part of their family. That means we're part of their family."Most of the people who gathered the following day in Knoxville were also truckers who had worked for KBR. In the dim light of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1733, they commiserated around low, round tables. Faded red, white and blue streamers hung from the ceiling. Gray-haired Vietnam veterans drank at the bar. A local band blasted Stevie Wonder's "Superstition."Unable to access local veterans' hospitals, some of the men took a class in post-traumatic stress in a small room beside the bar. Several had been diagnosed with the disorder but had been unable to get steady treatment.Driver Robert Rowe, 46, of Ohio, was shot in the knee in August 2004 while hauling ice for KBR in a convoy near Baghdad. Army medics treated him, and he flew home with his knee oozing blood under thick bandages. He is still battling KBR's insurer, American International Group Inc., to get workers' compensation. He lives out of his truck and friends' homes, unable to afford his old apartment.AIG did not respond to a request for comment Sunday, but it has maintained that 90% of claims by Iraq contractors have been paid without dispute. "I look at that flag now, and I say, 'What the hell does that represent anymore?' " said Rowe, who served in the military before going to Iraq for KBR. Halliburton

Mother works to memorialize contractor son slain in Iraq

Mother works to memorialize contractor son slain in Iraq
THOMAS J. SHEERAN
Associated Press
BRATENAHL, Ohio - While the nation pauses on Memorial Day to honor its war dead, Donna Zovko works to keep alive the memory of her son, who was killed in Iraq while serving as a civilian contractor.
She wants him and other contractors to be remembered along with the fallen members of the nation's military.
"On my Jerry's headstone there's no `contractor'," said Donna Zovko, whose son, Jerko "Jerry" Zovko, 32, was killed in a March 31, 2004, ambush with three civilian colleagues in Fallujah. Their mutilated bodies were burned and two were hung from a bridge.
Jerry Zovko, an Army veteran, was working for Pentagon contractor Blackwater USA hauling food to American troops. His mother likes to think of him as a comrade in arms to U.S. troops even though he was working for a civilian contractor.
"How will Americans treat or remember my son as a contractor that was killed?" she asked. "It's their choice, but he was there to protect our freedom and to help the Iraqis. He was not there for the money."
Zovko has waged a high-profile campaign for tighter oversight of military contractors, appearing in a documentary film, "Iraq for Sale: the War Profiteers," and testifying before a congressional committee Feb. 7.
More than 3,400 members of the U.S. military have died since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003. More than 900 civilian employees of U.S. government contractors have been killed.
Donna Zovko sobbed occasionally during a recent interview on her high-rise balcony overlooking Lake Erie near Cleveland and said she rejects the suggestion that contractors in Iraq are only motivated by big paychecks.
"I prefer to think of him the way he told me," Zovko said. "That he was needed there and the skills that he learned in the military were needed and he went."
While the military takes care of its own, Zovko said, "In private contracting no one is responsible. They put it under the carpet and go on. It's not talked about. It's not answered to."
She understands the honors accorded military victims but hopes people remember the contributions made by those hired by the Pentagon to free soldiers and Marines for combat duty.
Zovko especially feels for civilian contractors without a military background like her son, who was buried with military honors at the Ohio Western Reserve National Center near Akron.
"My heart breaks for them because if it was 9/11 that moved those young men to go and become contractors and to go there with such a pure heart and a good will and lose their lives, their families cannot count on those companies that contracted their son," she said.
She blames contractors for thinking more about profits than the safety of their employees.
Blackwater has argued that it abided by its contractual obligations.
"The four men lost in Fallujah weigh heavily on the hearts of everyone at Blackwater and our sympathies remain with the families," the company told The Associated Press in an e-mail on Friday.
Blackwater does not release the names of those killed and memorializes its dead in private. At its headquarters in Moyock, N.C., the company engraves a stone in its memorial rock garden for each contractor killed while serving.
Nancy Taylor, who teaches future school counselors at John Carroll University in nearby University Heights, said Zovko's advocacy on military contractor oversight could bring attention to the issue of contractor deaths.
"As an American public, if we're not tuned into them, we need to be aware about them. That's something that Donna Zovko seems to be doing, making people aware of her son so that people can appreciate their efforts and support what they stood for," Taylor said.
"Anybody who has, in essence, been martyred certainly deserves the same respect as any other person, whether they had a uniform on or not."
Zovko's suggestion for remembering her son and the three killed with him, Scott Helvenston, Wesley Batalona, and Michael Teague, was to put their name on proposed legislation to increase oversight of military contractors.
She said it isn't hard emotionally visiting her son's grave, but is difficult leaving the cemetery.
"I know the way the casket was laid in the ground, if my Jerry's body was whole where his body would be and I can touch the ground where his heart would be. I pray and pray. You can never say enough prayers."
Associated Press writer Mike Baker in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

Playing the number game!

500,000 Troops in Iraq in 1990 Gulf War?
Funny how we had 500,000 AMERICAN TROOPS in Iraq during Gulf War and now we have only 130,000 to 160,000 during Operation Iraqie Freedom, we've replaced the missing 380,000 troops with American Contractors?
Sending them into a WAR ZONE without proper protection?
Most contractors are ex military, who go now to support the only thing they ever knew how to do.....
Was it the Clinton Admin....downsizing our military?
OR
is it so they could cover up the numbers of American's being killed or injured on the FRONT LINES?