Ride in Honor of Iwo Jima Vets May 19

A Veteran's Story V: James Starowicz

In honor of Memorial Day at the end of the month the Insider Staff is putting out the call for veterans and those with military background  to submit essay's. We put out the call in a previously published article with some ideas and plans for this project. http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/05/wanted-guest-blogs-from-veterans.html.
 
Below is an excerpt from the blog of military veteran James Starowicz, USN All Shore '67-'71 GMG3 Vietnam In Country '70-'71 from North Carolina. We wrote to Starowicz, but have not as of yet, have received an answer. We have chosen to include a sample of his blog below as it seems Starowicz has single handily created some what of an online digital library of resources for veterans via dozens of relevant news articles from the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom until now linked somewhere on his pages.  He also provides  a variety commentary, statistical information, and book recommendations on the subject of veterans.

Who is Starowicz and how did we find him? Starowicz's blog came to our attention because he commented on a story about Sen. Murphy  posted on a local media site.  Although only a name on a screen to us, we gain incite into his person via his online presence. Starowicz is a veteran who  is one of  thousands of vets who are using the internet and social networking phenomenon to tell his or her story.The internet is allowing incite into veteran's worlds, an area previously only available through published accounts,  autobiographies, and films. With the playing field a little more level because of the internet, every soldier theoretically can  have a soap box if they so choose, will those in charge be listening?

How are veteran bloggers changing societies views about war, policy and the way we view veteran's historically? Starowicz is a Vietnam vet, long home, but, how do soldiers blogging from the front lines play a role on our perception of war? Historians gain knowledge of wartime from soldiers via salvaged diaries and letters home, and the futures's historians will read online accounts, skpe videos, and emails to loved ones it seems. With veterans of WWII  now well into their 80's and 90's, time is of the essence to preserve their first hand accounts digitally.

Has the internet changed with way in which returning veteran's cope? Is it "easier" to assimilate back into civilian life as veteran today than it was 20 years ago because of the changes in communication? Or did we as a society provide better treatment of returning vets prior to the internet age?  

Perhaps some of our readers who are veterans can chime in.

Starowicz also addresses  the serious issues of soldier suicide and homelessness, both important issues that everyone should remember this Memorial Day.
His blogs are : http://honoringthefallenoifoef.blogspot.com/, http://imagineaworldof.blogspot.com/

We would be honored to hear from more veterans to add to our month long project.The Middletown Insider staff thanks you for your sacrifice! 
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“We are dealing with veterans, not procedures—with their problems, not ours.” —General Omar Bradley, First Administrator of the Veterans Administration

"If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American." -Andrew Rosenthal 10 Feb. 2013

“Why in 2009 were we still using paper?” VA Assistant Secretary Tommy Sowers “When we came in, there was no plan to change that; we’ve been operating on a six month wait for over a decade.” 27 March 2013

WHY? GOOD QUESTION THOSE SERVED SHOULD ANSWER!

Prior too this present Executive and Veterans Administrations and just touching on the problems:

Army Times Oct. 16, 2008 - VA claims found in piles to be shredded

CNN iReport October 25, 2008 - House Vets' Committee To Probe VA Shredder Scandal

Tampa Bay Times Oct 27, 2008 - Hundreds of VA documents improperly shredded, review finds {Tampa Bay Times search page and series of articles}

CBS News February 11, 2009 - Veterans' Claims Found in Shredder Bins

And more disturbing in relation to even before and through the early years of the Afghanistan, quickly abandoned missions of, and Iraq occupations, this: ProPublica and The Seattle Times Nov. 9, 2012 - Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans
"DeLara's case is part of a much larger problem that has plagued the U.S. military since the 1990 Gulf War: a failure to create and maintain the types of field records that have documented American conflicts since the Revolutionary War."

Add in the issues of finally recognizing in War Theater and more Veterans, by this Veterans Administration and the Executive Administrations Cabinet, what the Country choose to ignore from our previous decades and wars of: The devastating effects on Test Vets and from PTS, Agent Orange, Homelessness, more recent the Desert Storm troops Gulf War Illnesses, Gulf War Exposures with the very recent affects from In-Theater Burn Pits and oh so so much more! Tens of Thousands of Veterans' that have been long ignored and maligned by previous VA's and the whole Country and through their representatives!

How does a Country HONOR It's Fallen, by Their Own 'Sacrifice' in Taking Care of the Brothers and Sisters They Served With!!

These present wars have yet to be paid for, rubber stamping and rapid deficits rising started before 9/11 and continued with same for the wars. But especially in the early some six years of extremely little was added to the Veterans Administration budgets by those Congresses, and since obstructed by same war rubber stampers, as to the long term results of War, DeJa-Vu all over again. Keeping the VA under budgeted causes problems and of many grow worse, which costs more to correct much more, which is the goal of those seeking to privatize Government Agencies as they attack the people of and which was created by their own incompetence and ideologies, but doing those served will!

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." - Abraham Lincoln

"To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan" - President Lincoln
James Starowicz
USN All Shore '67-'71 GMG3 Vietnam In Country '70-'71

A Veteran's Story II: Ken McClellan

In honor of Memorial Day at the end of the month the Insider Staff is putting out the call for veterans and those with military background  to submit essay's. We put out the call in a previously published article with some ideas and plans for this project. http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/05/wanted-guest-blogs-from-veterans.html.
 Submissions can be sent to middletowninsider@gmail.com

We are honored to have received a submission from resident veteran Ken McClellan published below.The Middletown Insider staff thanks you for your sacrifice.

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All right.  I have a story for you.

I was serving in a Ranger Battalion, and going through the Jumpmaster Course.  This is a course where they teach parachutists how to …. How shall I put it?  How to throw other guys out of airplanes.   I’m paraphrasing.  It’s a course that teaches how to make sure other parachutists are rigged up properly and ready to perform a parachute jump, how to spot a drop zone, and make sure everyone gets out of the plane over the drop zone.

As part of the training, students jump out of the plane carrying a Container- Weapons and Individual Equipment (CWIE).  This box is strapped to the front of you, hangs down to your toes, and can weigh over 100 pounds.  You can’t walk with this thing, you sort of kick it forward and walk up to it, kick it and walk.  Once you exit the aircraft, you drop it on a long strap, so it doesn’t break your leg when you land.

So, I was in the airplane, all rigged up with my CWIE, parachute, all ready to go.  I kicked the box out the door and it dragged me after.  Not a pretty exit, but I got out, and didn’t hit the edge of the door or the tail of the airplane, so it was good.  I waited for the parachute to open.  You can tell when it opens, because you slow down a lot, very fast.  It’s called an opening shock.  Well, this time there wasn’t much of a shock.  More like a slight tug.  I looked up, and my parachute looked like a rolled up newspaper, instead of a large billowing canopy.  Not good.  But, I was well-trained. I tucked back in, grabbed the rip-cord for my reserve and pulled.   On the bright side, I’d keep the handle as a souvenir.  The small pilot chute popped out of the bag, and sort of waved at me.  Not good.  But, I was well-trained.  I threw away the rip-cord handle, tucked back in, grabbed the pilot chute, yanked it out and threw it off to the side, just like I’d been trained to do.  The chute opened, slowing my descent.  I dropped the CWIE container on it’s strap and hit the ground almost immediately.  Made it!   I landed without injuring myself!  Always a good thing.  I start gathering my equipment, and look around, there’s a sergeant running across the drop zone toward me.  I think, “That’s nice, someone coming to check if I’m ok”.   The sergeant runs right past me to the parachute, picks it up and starts examining it, like he’s looking for damage.   “I’m fine” I called out.  He looked up, as if just realizing I was there, and said something like, “Oh, ok”, and went back to looking at the parachute.   So, on the good side, even with a malfunction, I was on the ground in one piece.  But I didn’t have a souvenir.  So, while the guy was examining the parachute, I got out of my harness, and walked off the drop zone.  I figured if he was so interested in the parachute, he could carry it off himself.

Ken McClellan

Some Thoughts on a Forgotten War & Its Veterans

                                                                American Legion Post 75 Middletown CT
                                               

Missing in Action: 22 Years of the Cold War

The American Legion is a federally chartered organization and that charter allows veteran membership in the organization only if service occurred during the specified periods: An individual is eligible for membership in the corporation only if the individual... has served in the Armed Forces of  The United States at any time during any period specified below:

An individual is eligible for membership in the corporation only
if the individual - has served in the Armed Forces of -
 the United States at any time during any period from -
(i) April 6, 1917, through November 11, 1918;
(ii) December 7, 1941, through December 31, 1946;
(iii) June 25, 1950, through January 31, 1955;
(iv) February 28, 1961, through May 7, 1975;
(v) August 24, 1982, through July 31, 1984;
(vi) December 20, 1989, through January 31, 1990; or
(vii) August 2, 1990, through the date of cessation of
hostilities, as decided by the United States Government

The Cold War:

From 1945 to the Soviet Union's breakup in 1991, was all about avoiding total nuclear war. It turned hot in Korea and Vietnam and sparked conflicts from Lebanon to Grenada. But soldiers on duty between flare-ups didn't do battle. When the war that wasn't came to an end, they got no monuments, no victory medals. Nor can they join the American Legion. There is a 22 year combined Cold War gap and there are  anywhere from 3.5 to 5 million vets who served during those years who remain ineligible for various honors and, of course, membership in the American Legion.

What did our veterans do while on active duty during The Cold War? As explained in an article in The Wall Street Journal (Nov 9):

There is no National Defense Service Medal for veterans of the Cold War. What were America's GIs up to? They went on alert when Egypt claimed the Suez Canal in 1956. They manned missile silos in North Dakota and piloted B-52s aimed at Soviet targets. They crewed nuclear-armed submarines and drove tanks in the Fulda Gap between West and East Germany. Some of what they did is still secret.

What was the Cold War

The Cold War is the name given to the relationship that developed primarily between the USA and the USSR after World War Two. The Cold War was to dominate international affairs for decades and many major crises occurred - the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam,Hungary and the Berlin Wall being just some. For many the growth in weapons of mass destruction was the most worrying issue.

Do note that USSR in 1945 was Russia post-1917 and included all the various countries that now exist individually (Ukraine, Georgia etc) but after the war they were part of this huge country up until the collapse of the Soviet Union (the other name for the USSR).

Logic would dictate that as the USA and the USSR fought as allies during World War Two, their relationship after the war would be firm and friendly. This never happened and any appearance that these two powers were friendly during the war is illusory.

Source

Note: The author served with the U.S. Army Security Agency in Germany during the Cold War and was temporarily stationed in divided Berlin.

                                                      U.S. Soldiers at the Berlin Wall c1981 (Getty Images)

Veterans Locally Honored Today & Veteran's Park Project Update

Wreaths laid at Veteran's Cementary today to honor
the fallen.

The Middletown Insider would like to thank all the brave men and women who fought for freedom for this country. Sunday is Veterans’ Day. Today is a day to honor them, their sacrifices, and patriotism in this country. Let us never, ever forget the service of veterans and what that means.

Veterans’ organizations of Middletown held at commemorative ceremonies Sunday, November 11, and at the State Veterans Cemetery on Bow Lane at 2pm.

Local and state dignitaries gave blessings and speeches about the meaning of commemorating veterans.
The Middletown Corale sang the National Anthem and later in the ceremony fallen heroes were commemorated by the playing of Taps. 

Veterans gathered today at the ceremony.

State Veteran's Affairs Commissioner Linda Swartz gave powerful speech asking those present to not only remember the soldiers who had fallen in battle, but those who were plagued by disability both in the form of physical handicaps, mental trauma such as PTSD, and the lasting effects of Agent Orange exposure after combat as well. Swartz asked the crowd to also include in their personal reflections and prayers all soldiers missing in action, and those who had taken their own lives because of trauma experienced as a result their military service.
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Middletown currently has a project in the works to overhaul Veteran's Park. The project will include the Trees of Honor Memorial project which will honor fallen Connecticut soldiers who had lost their lives in the recent Wars on Terror.  This tribute project is being funded by Trees of Honor Incorporated. Councilman Todd Berch (D) who had originally proposed a dog park at Tynan Park in Middletown,which was voted down by the Planning and Zoning Commission, is advocating for the theoretical project's proposed relocation to Veteran's Park. Ultimately, the Common Council will have the final say as to if and where a dog park will be created. A dog park is not in the City's budgeted plan,according to Berch's previous statements to media and before the P&Z Commission, the dog park would be funded by donations. 
The Veteran's Museum temporarily housed at The City of Middletown has plans to build a new Veteran's Museum to replace the annex modular building currently located on the Eckersley Hall property (which just passed referendum to become the new & long awaited Senior Center) to be located at Veteran's Park. The Veteran's Museum temporarily housed in the annex modular building on the Eckersley Hall property will be moved to a new facility to be built at Vet's Park according to the landscape plan done showing the Trees of Honor Memorial.