Sunday, July 23, 2017

Marureen Robinson & Dinh Nit - a MUST Watch

To skip my tirade, scroll down and click on the blue link and control + click. 

I have been pleasantly surprised over the years about the size of the American Heart of my Brothers and Sisters who served in Vietnam in many different capacities.  Adoptions in any foreign country are difficult, made even more so during times of armed conflict. One can get a feel how governmental bureaucracy can frustrate by making the road toward a goal filled with potholes. In the case of adoptions and sponsorship, add another government and one finds the road is also mined.  Hats off to this Nurse and all those who adopted children of war.   

When I see stories such as this, it brings back the good memories of those who did good things for people, both in Vietnam and in the U.S. after the war.  I worked with several psychologists, social workers and nurses who served in Vietnam and they continued serving by not only helping Vietnam Veterans adjust back to life after war a mission, but to finally convince the established mental health community of problems around Post Traumatic Stress.  They have helped those who served in Vietnam and those that came after.

I am equally disappointed in the general American populace that only express negativity on what America and its citizens have done and continue to do around the world.  From major aid programs after the World Wars to helping a country enter the world economy, to assisting in disaster situations on most continents, the U.S. shows a big heart.  Can you show me a country that has done more to assist others, more often than the U.S?   

On my trips to Vietnam, I have seen ongoing projects from helping poor people with decent housing, orphanage work, medical missions, teaching skills, establishing schools and libraries, and at risk, removal of UEX from former war zones. Even those assigned to combat duties helped when time permitted.  Cleft pallets, limb deformities, major skin problems,  and other medical problems were re-mediated by the score.  I saw the healing process when military men helped others.  An almost unknown movie Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder is an example.

The work of CORDS building schools and clinics during wartime had a positive effect even though those helped were eventually merged into a society they fought against. It helped them find work and better health for the future.  The medical aid provided by the U.S. and our allies helped improve the infant mortality rate improved as it did the life expectancy of the civilian population.  This was unheard of in previous wars.  The USG continues official aid through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

There were combat-related mistakes such as misdirected airstrikes and a long term problem with defoliation that used toxic agents.  Where possible, the victims were assisted.  Dioxin has had terrible effects on both the civilian and military people but our government is still attempting to assist the current government in re-mediating the severely damaged areas. Perhaps what most people in America are unaware of were the risks taken by the military in Medevacs of civilians who purposely targeted by the enemy.  I was witness to this one evening in October 1966 in Ben Tre, Kien Hoa Province.  During an operation when most ARVN troops were in the field, the VC targeted only the civilian and dependent area of the town.  It resulted in 106 women and children killed or seriously wounded.  When the Province Hospital went to overflow, the U.S. Army flew Medevac missions for hours taking the wounded out to other hospitals although it was apparent that the VC used the attack to ambush Medevac aircraft.   In the end, the VC lost as the Night Ghost, Spooky, sent a flight of several AC-47s that put a halt to the mortar attack.  Nine U.S. helicopters took rounds that night.  

The humanitarian side of America is still visible.  It is even more visible in places that were once our enemy.  In 2012, the wife and I went on a healing journey, sponsored by Soldiers Heart https://www.soldiersheart.net/ with other Vietnam Veterans and their wives in 2012.  We saw the good work that volunteers can do.   On a recent trip, my wife Betty, a retired Nurse, volunteered to help on a long-term medical mission (Vets With a Mission)  http://www.vetswithamission.org/ to Vietnam (their 28th year) working with mostly under served Vietnamese poor and minorities.  Most members of the team were Vietnam Veterans. The Internist started his medical career as a Special Forces Medic.  The Dentist started as a Navy Corpsman with The Fleet Marine Force. Several others served in aviation, air control or ground combat.  One team member, a former USSF A Team member served in Vietnam in 1963. Since then, he has been supporting the education of children in a family where he served in Vietnam. Over the years, that has been a sizable amount.   All people in that area are better off because of his contributions to a very poor and oppressed family and village.  Several other non-veterans on the team had veteran relatives.   Several of the team members also teach first aid in poor areas to treat common local problems from snake bites to skin infections throughout the year.  I asked them why they volunteered and most replied that it was a calling in a spiritual way and as simple as a payback for their good fortune.  To help others less fortunate, whether from a religious/spiritual, moral or humanitarian standpoint is simply the right thing to do.

This non-governmental organization or NGO is one of over 800 NGOs that exist to help the Vietnamese people.  More than 40% are American and we provide over 50% of funds going into the country to help people.  I know a few Vietnam Veterans who have helped NGOs over the years.   One, a local retired Doc, Richard Small who volunteered to work MEDCAPs in Vietnam when he didn't have to.  A Purple Heart was his pay.  After the war, he has volunteered with Habitats for Humanity on several of their missions.  He was also wounded on one of those missions from a critter bite.  He continues volunteer work with the Fisher House among other things.  Ask him if he would do it again.  

The Vietnam Veteran Association Foundation (VVAF) was the first approved NGO in Vietnam.  Their mission was to help find some of our MIAs.  They also furnished the Vietnamese officials locations where they might find their own MIAs.  The way was paved by General Vessey, retired Army Chief of Staff who the Vietnamese trusted.

Some sadness comes to mind when I read of the good things we do.  Currently, those former Vietnamese who chose freedom and the United States have not received the aid that we give former enemies.  I have known former VIetnamese Soldiers - most of whom have passed away from Agent Orange-related Cancers that have never gotten U.S. medical assistance.  Another category are our civilian volunteers who worked in Vietnam during the war.  They also have Agent Orange related medical problems but no programs such as the VA to help them.

There are good opportunities out there to help others and receive some healing in return.  It is the best medicine for post-traumatic problems.  I recall a few days I had with a TDY SF team in An Giang Province in 1962. They spent most of their time trying to get the population healthy.  They identified a serious infectious problem and brought in medicine and help that saved many, many lives.  The local people still remember things like that.  Even from former enemies there.

Lou

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Bill Laurie <

Seven minute video.  Maureen Robinson served two tours as a U.S. Army nurse in Viet Nam.   On her second tour she encountered a sickly malnourished orphan of about one year.     She decided to adopt him, no easy chore given bureaucratic battles she had to fight.    Her persistence paid off and the adoption went through.   Here, both Maureen and her son Mark reflect on their wonderful experience.

https://vimeo.com/226579781

Saturday, July 22, 2017

SUMMER OF LOVE

 SUMMER OF LOVE

Summer of Love Musical Event and Vietnam Veteran Tribute

 

SumLovePoster7.6 (1).pdf3 MB

Show all 1 attachments (3 MB) Download

Save to OneDrive - Personal

I accepted a request to spread the word among Vietnam Veterans about the event on the attached flyer.  A part of it is a 15-20 minute tribute to Vietnam Veterans for their service during hard times.

I am hoping that even if you cannot attend, you will pass on the word to you Vietnam Veteran friends and organization members.  I am hoping that the turn-out will be enough to perhaps convince the event staff to put on another show concurrent with National Vietnam Veteran Day, March 29th.

After I accepted this task, I found out about some family problems out of state and I will not be here for the performance, leaving on the 5th of August. 

I am looking for some assistance from VVA Chapter 1076 and Chapter 17.  After all, it is a Vietnam Vet tribute.  It is also a great opportunity to present to the public, the information on Veteran Benefits, Agent Orange and other activities such as the Veterans Courts, Service Dogs, etc., we conduct in our communities.  The joint information booth would do well at an event like this.

Lou

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Want to see your representative do the"Washington-two-step”?

Ask this question.               

Who died before they collected Social Security?

KEEP PASSING THIS AROUND UNTIL

EVERY ONE HAS HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ IT...

THIS IS SURE SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!!!!

THE ONLY THING WRONG WITH THE

GOVERNMENT'S CALCULATION OF AVAILABLE SOCIAL SECURITY IS THEY FORGOT

TO FIGURE IN THE PEOPLE WHO DIED BEFORE THEY EVER COLLECTED A SOCIAL SECURITY CHECK!!!

WHERE DID THAT MONEY GO?

Remember, not only did you and I contribute to Social Security but your employer did, too.  It totaled 15% of your income before taxes.

If you averaged only $30K over your working life, that's close to $220,500.

Read that again.

Did you see where the Government paid in one single penny?

We are talking about the money you and your employer put in a Government bank to insure you and me that we would have a retirement check from the money we put in, not the Government.

Now they are calling the money we put in an entitlement when we reach the age to take it back.

If you calculate the future invested value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer's contribution) at a simple 5% interest (less than what the Government pays on the money that it borrows).

After 49 years of working you'd have $892,919.98. If you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $26,78760 per year and it would last better than 30 years (until you're 95 if you retire at age 65) and that's with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit!

If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.

THE FOLKS IN WASHINGTON

HAVE PULLED OFF A BIGGER PONZI  SCHEME

THAN BERNIE MADOFF EVER DID.

Entitlement my foot; I paid cash for my social security insurance!

Just because they borrowed the money for other government spending, doesn't make my benefits some kind of charity or handout!!

Remember the benefits for members of Congress?

+ free healthcare,

+ outrageous retirement

        packages,

+ 67 paid holidays,

+ three weeks paid

         vacation,

+ unlimited paid sick

        days.

Now that's welfare, and they have the nerve to call my social security retirement payments entitlements?

They call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives, and now, when it's time for us to collect, the government is running out of money.

Why did the government borrow from it in the first place?  It was supposed to be in a locked box, not part of the general fund.

Sad isn't it?

99% of people won't have the guts to forward this.

I'm in the 1%

--

I JUST DID!

Saturday, July 15, 2017

National Park Pass $$$

  Today, 7:09 AM

Lou Rothenstein (loumicsm@yahoo.com)

Inbox

Hurry! National Park Senior Pass price on the rise

July 10, 2017 Emily Woodbury

If you don’t already have your $10 Senior Pass from the National Park Service make sure to get it before the new price increase on August 28, when the price will jump from $10 to $80. Since 1994, the pass has been an incredible bargain for U.S. citizens and permanent residents 62 and older.

The hike comes as a requirement set by legislation passed by Congress in December 2016. Pass holders are given lifetime access to more than 2,000 sites and parks. The fee increase will support critical investments in maintenance projects at national parks and federal recreational lands nationwide. The legislation also introduces a new annual Senior Pass that can be purchased for $20. Seniors who purchase annual Senior Passes for four years can trade them in for a lifetime Senior Pass at no additional charge.

THE SENIOR PASS can be used at sites managed by the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Funds from passes are used to enhance the visitor experience and support priority projects and programs.

The pass can be purchased for $10 before August 28 at a national park or other Federal recreation area that charges an entrance or standard amenity (day use) fee. The pass can also be obtained by mail or online, for $10 before August 28 but there will be an additional $10 charge for processing, for a total of $20. Due to expected high order volume, there could be delays with online and mail order processing of up to several months.

The Senior Pass covers all entrance fees and standard amenity (day use) fees and may provide senior discounts for things such as tours or campsites. The pass also waives the entrance fee for traveling companions. At per-vehicle fee sites, the pass admits the pass holder and all passengers in a noncommercial vehicle. At a per-person fee site, the pass admits the pass holder and three other adults. Children under 16 are always admitted free.



If you are a disabled veteran, you are entitled to a free National Park Pass. 


Lou

Friday, July 14, 2017

Summer of Love 50th Anniversary Concert on Sunday, 8/20.

NEIL C. JOHNSON (neil.see.johnson@gmail.com);

Tina Sansouci (chelsa51@gmail.com);

+6 more

I will be attending a meeting for this event probably tomorrow, Saturday.   I couldn't make VVA meetings.

The basic idea is a musical and stage tribute to Vietnam Veterans (free of charge entry) and that includes Vietnamese-American Veterans at the Silverton, 08 August 2017.   Sponsor is The Vegas Voice.

Please do not schedule anything to conflict with this event.  Also, it is a great opportunity for VVA 17 and 1076 to set up our tables/literature, etc., to a audience of pro-veteran people.  

There will be some media coverage.   Please notify your directors/officers of this great opportunity.

I will be writing the 50th Vietnam War Committee for some support when I find out more.

Lou

Thursday, July 13, 2017

BRAVE NEW WORLD - OR NOT?

 

Lou Rothenstein (loumicsm@yahoo.com)

The 4th Industrial Revolution or is it the fifth?  Time seems to be moving faster these days.  With technical things changing society faster and faster, it seems that the education system has fallen behind.   I talked with a headhunter I knew from the military who said in his technical area, they don't even ask about college much these days.  Experience, ideas, drive, accomplishments and a few other areas seem to be what is needed in this revolution.  I read where there is a shortage of skilled trades like machinists, repair folks of all types.  

I pray that this revolution will find a replacement for politicians.

Lou

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Kids can be such a joy

 

While I sat in the reception area of my doctor's office, a woman rolled an elderly man in a wheelchair into the room. As she went to the receptionist's desk, the man sat there, alone and silent. Just as I was thinking I should make small talk with him, a little boy slipped off his mother's lap and walked over to the wheelchair. Placing his hand on the man's, he said, “I know how you feel. My Mom makes me ride in the stroller too.”

*****

As I was nursing my baby, my cousin's six year old daughter, Krissy, came into the room. Never having seen anyone breast feed before, she was intrigued and full of all kinds of questions about what I was doing. After mulling over my answers, she remarked, "My mom has some of those, but I don't think she knows how to use them."

*****

Out bicycling one day with my eight-year-old granddaughter, Carolyn, I got a little wistful. “In ten years,” I said, “you'll want to be with your friends and you won't go walking, biking, and swimming with me like you do now.

Carolyn shrugged. “In ten years you'll be too old to do all those things anyway.”

******

Working as a pediatric nurse, I had the difficult assignment of giving immunization shots to children. One day, I entered the examining room to give four-year-old Lizzie her injection.

“No, no, no!” she screamed.

“Lizzie,” scolded her mother, "that's not polite behavior.”

With that, the girl yelled even louder, “No, thank you! No, thank you!"

******

On the way back from a Cub Scout meeting, my grandson innocently said to my son, “Dad, I know babies come from mommies’ tummies, but how do they get there in the first place?”

After my son hemmed and hawed awhile, my grandson finally spoke up in disgust, “You don't have to make up something, Dad. It’s okay if you don’t know the answer.”

*****

Just before I was deployed to Iraq, I sat my eight-year-old son down and broke the news to him. “I’m going to be away for a long time,” I told him. “I’m going to Iraq.”

“Why?” he asked. “Don't you know there’s a war going on over there?”

*****

Paul Newman founded the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for children stricken with cancer, AIDS, and blood diseases. One afternoon, he and his wife, Joanne Woodward, stopped by to have lunch with the kids. A counselor at a nearby table, suspecting the young patients wouldn’t know Newman was a famous movie star, explained, “That’s the man who made this camp possible. Maybe you’ve seen his picture on his salad dressing bottle?”

Blank stares.

“Well, you’ve probably seen his face on his lemonade carton”

An eight-year-old girl perked up. “How long was he missing?”

*****

And my personal favorite...

God’s Problem Now!

His wife's graveside service was just barely finished, when there was a massive clap of thunder, followed by a tremendous bolt of lightning, accompanied by even more thunder rumbling in the distance. The little, old man looked at the pastor and calmly said, "Well, she’s there."

*****

Keep a SMILE on your face ~ And a SONG in your heart!

A smile - is a sign of joy.

A hug - is a sign of love.

A laugh - is a sign of happiness.

And a friend like me? - Well that's just a sign of good taste!

We'll be friends until I'm senile.

Then we'll be NEW friends!

Kids can be such a joy

 

While I sat in the reception area of my doctor's office, a woman rolled an elderly man in a wheelchair into the room. As she went to the receptionist's desk, the man sat there, alone and silent. Just as I was thinking I should make small talk with him, a little boy slipped off his mother's lap and walked over to the wheelchair. Placing his hand on the man's, he said, “I know how you feel. My Mom makes me ride in the stroller too.”

*****

As I was nursing my baby, my cousin's six year old daughter, Krissy, came into the room. Never having seen anyone breast feed before, she was intrigued and full of all kinds of questions about what I was doing. After mulling over my answers, she remarked, "My mom has some of those, but I don't think she knows how to use them."

*****

Out bicycling one day with my eight-year-old granddaughter, Carolyn, I got a little wistful. “In ten years,” I said, “you'll want to be with your friends and you won't go walking, biking, and swimming with me like you do now.

Carolyn shrugged. “In ten years you'll be too old to do all those things anyway.”

******

Working as a pediatric nurse, I had the difficult assignment of giving immunization shots to children. One day, I entered the examining room to give four-year-old Lizzie her injection.

“No, no, no!” she screamed.

“Lizzie,” scolded her mother, "that's not polite behavior.”

With that, the girl yelled even louder, “No, thank you! No, thank you!"

******

On the way back from a Cub Scout meeting, my grandson innocently said to my son, “Dad, I know babies come from mommies’ tummies, but how do they get there in the first place?”

After my son hemmed and hawed awhile, my grandson finally spoke up in disgust, “You don't have to make up something, Dad. It’s okay if you don’t know the answer.”

*****

Just before I was deployed to Iraq, I sat my eight-year-old son down and broke the news to him. “I’m going to be away for a long time,” I told him. “I’m going to Iraq.”

“Why?” he asked. “Don't you know there’s a war going on over there?”

*****

Paul Newman founded the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for children stricken with cancer, AIDS, and blood diseases. One afternoon, he and his wife, Joanne Woodward, stopped by to have lunch with the kids. A counselor at a nearby table, suspecting the young patients wouldn’t know Newman was a famous movie star, explained, “That’s the man who made this camp possible. Maybe you’ve seen his picture on his salad dressing bottle?”

Blank stares.

“Well, you’ve probably seen his face on his lemonade carton”

An eight-year-old girl perked up. “How long was he missing?”

*****

And my personal favorite...

God’s Problem Now!

His wife's graveside service was just barely finished, when there was a massive clap of thunder, followed by a tremendous bolt of lightning, accompanied by even more thunder rumbling in the distance. The little, old man looked at the pastor and calmly said, "Well, she’s there."

*****

Keep a SMILE on your face ~ And a SONG in your heart!

A smile - is a sign of joy.

A hug - is a sign of love.

A laugh - is a sign of happiness.

And a friend like me? - Well that's just a sign of good taste!

We'll be friends until I'm senile.

Then we'll be NEW friends!