Next Meeting:

Due to Thanksgiving, this month’s meeting will be

15 November at 7:00 PM

October Meeting Minutes

Minutes were not available at press time.

Commander’s Comments

Have a safe and joyous Thanksgiving feast!

Always,

Ruth

Do You Have An E-mail Address?

E-mailing the newsletter saves mailing costs. If you have e-mail access, send a message to Greg, at Gdarbo6844@aol.com. Addresses are for the exclusive use of the members to pass information and not to be sold or freely passed to others outside the Post without formal consent of the member. No funds solicitation is authorized via e-mail.

News of Interest to Veterans

National Suicide Crisis Hot Line Planned for Veterans

Nicholson: A Call for Help Needs Immediate Response

Washington – To ensure veterans with mental health crises have immediate access to trained coordinators, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will establish a 24-hour, national suicide prevention hot line.

“This is another significant step to ensure that veterans, particularly the newest generation of combat vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, receive accessible and compassionate care for their mental health concerns,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson.

The hot line, which is scheduled to begin operations by August 31, 2007, will be based at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center in New York State. Staffed by mental health professionals, it will operate seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

In addition to staffing the hot line, the suicide prevention coordinators will take part in training clinicians and non-clinicians on warning signs for suicide, guide veterans into care and work within facilities to identify veterans at risk for suicide.

VA’s Canandaigua facility is already a VA center of excellence focused on suicide prevention, mental health education and research.

VA has the nation’s largest mental health program. The Department recently announced plans to provide suicide prevention coordinators at each of its 153 medical centers, joining more than 9,000 mental health professionals.

Mental health services are provided at each of VA’s 153 medical centers and more than 900 outpatient clinics. Last month, Nicholson announced an initiative to hire 100 new employees to provide readjustment counseling at each of the Department’s 207 community-based Vet Centers.

In July, VA will convene a four-day mental health forum in Washington with the Department’s top mental health professionals to review a wide range of issues, such as integrating mental health services with primary care, combat trauma, suicide prevention and the special needs of the newest generation of combat veterans.

PTSD Symptoms May be Delayed for Years

Associated Press, by Bernice Andrews, professor of psychology at Royal Holloway University of London, Chris Brewin, professor of psychology at University College London, Rosanna Philpott of Royal Holloway University of London, and Lorna Stewart, a research psychologist. Their work was done under contract with the British Ministry of Defense. (Denver, September 4, 2007) - Veterans groups say a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry shows that the U.S. military is underestimating the extent of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder problem for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The comprehensive review of studies of PTSD, published this week, found that in many cases combat veterans did not manifest the symptoms for years.

"The military studies consistently showed high rates of delayed-onset PTSD," the report said.

"It's pretty common knowledge that its effects often do not appear for months or longer. But this is groundbreaking for Vietnam veterans and it means we should do something for newer veterans and not just let it lay there," said Steve Robinson, a Gulf War veteran and Director of Veterans Affairs for Veterans for America.

Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, said the Department of Veterans Affairs needs more doctors as well as more workers to process claims more quickly.

"Because of the surge of Iraq and Vietnam veterans now overwhelming the VA, if the rules aren't changed more veterans will suffer broken homes, lost jobs, substance and alcohol abuse and even homelessness," Sullivan said.

These groups and some members of Congress had been critical of the Army for misdiagnosing cases of PTSD, but this year the military stepped up efforts to recognize both PTSD and mild brain damage resulting from improved explosive devices, the signature wound of the Iraq war.

"It is well-documented that for some people PTSD doesn't emerge for many years. For some it comes and goes over many years," said Dr. Laurie Leitch, a psychotherapist and research psychologist who has studied the issue.

"From our experience in just the four and a half years of combat in Iraq we have seen psychiatric injury manifest itself months and sometimes years after a first deployment and some of that is compounded with second, third and sometimes fourth deployments. We have no assurance that any of our loved ones are safe or sound. They will be at risk for decades to come," said Nancy Lessin, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out.

"They wave their flag when you attack, when you come back they turn their back," Lessin said, quoting a cadence the group's members chant when they march in protest.

Army doctors recognize that PTSD may only appear months after veterans return, but delays for years would be beyond the capability of the military's medical system or Veterans Affairs hospitals, said Lessin. The Centers for Disease Control says identifying PTSD can be very difficult.

COL Kelly Wolgast, director of Fort Carson's Evans Army Community Hospital, recently said that in addition to being examined immediately after their return from Iraq, soldiers would be re-examined in six to eight months.

The report this week said in some cases World War II and Korean War veterans did not show the symptoms of PTSD for 30 years, though it could not be ruled out that they had experienced some that had not been noticed or diagnosed.

The authors looked at 74 studies, narrowing them down based on the reliability of their definitions of PTSD to 10 case studies and 19 group studies. Some car accident victims also did not experience PTSD's effects for months or years.

Brian Injuries Plague Returning GIs

Associated Press, (Nashville, September 10, 2007) - The war in Iraq is not over, but one legacy is already here in this city and others across America: an epidemic of brain-damaged Soldiers.

Thousands of troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, or TBI. These blast-caused head injuries are so different from the ones doctors are used to seeing from falls and car crashes that treating them is as much faith as it is science.

"I've been in the field for 20-plus years dealing with TBI. I have a very experienced staff. And they're saying to me, 'We're seeing things we've never seen before,'" said Sandy Schneider, director of Vanderbilt University's brain injury rehabilitation program.

Doctors also are realizing that symptoms overlap with post-traumatic stress disorder, and that both must be treated. Odd as it may seem, brain injury can protect against PTSD by blurring awareness of what happened.

But as memory improves, emotional problems can emerge: One of the first "graduates" of Vanderbilt's program committed suicide three weeks later.

"Of all the ones here, he would not have been the one we would have thought," Schneider said. "They called him the Michelangelo of Fort Campbell" - a guy who planned to go to art school.

As more troops return from the war, brain injuries are a growing burden - for them, for the few programs to treat them, and for taxpayers who pay for their care and disability if they cannot hold jobs.

Most TBIs are mild, and most of these patients recover within a year. But one-fifth of the troops with these mild injuries will have prolonged or lifelong symptoms and need continuing care, the military estimates. Nearly all of the moderate and severe ones will, too.

Though the full number of those suffering from TBI is still unknown, the problem is straining the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Until now, "they were dealing with a cohort of aging veterans with diabetes, heart disease, lung disease," said Dr. Jeffrey Drazen, editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine and a VA adviser.

Now, these young, brain-injured troops need highly specialized care, and how much it will help long-term is unknown, he said.

People with TBI have frequent headaches, dizziness, and trouble concentrating and sleeping. They may be depressed, irritable and confused, and easily provoked or distracted. Speech or vision also can be impaired.

Some sufferers have been misdiagnosed with personality disorders. Others have lost jobs because of unrecognized and untreated symptoms.

"It's the so-called invisible injury. It's where a troop takes 10 times the normal time to pack his rucksack ... a complicated injury to the most complicated part of the body," said Dr. Alisa Gean, a neurosurgeon at the University of California, San Francisco.

Diagnosing it is imprecise - damage rarely shows up on CAT scans or other tests.

Treating it is even more difficult. Lacking a cure, doctors focus on symptoms - headaches, anxiety, vision problems, etc. But they lack good treatments for some of these, too, and are considering some experimental approaches being pushed by private companies with little proof they work.

Many troops get no care at all. Some are sent back to fight with their brain injuries undetected, especially if they had no obvious wounds.

What happened to Eric O'Brien and Bryan Malone shows the scope of this problem.

O'Brien, a 32-year-old Army staff sergeant from Iowa's Quad Cities, was teasing Malone, 22, a specialist from Haughton, La., in a Baghdad gym last summer.

"I told him and his workout partner: 'Put some more weight on it,'" prompting the men to get up. Seconds later, a rocket hit where they had sat. They survived, but a pressure wave from the blast coursed through their brains.

"I patted myself down head to toe, making sure I wasn't missing a limb," and felt odd, like "I must be missing a chunk of my head,'" O'Brien said. He remembers little else except walking through debris to pick up his iPod and sunglasses.

As for Malone, an air conditioning vent had fallen on his head and he had shrapnel wounds. He had multiple surgeries, spent several months in Walter Reed Army Medical Center and now has titanium mesh reinforcing his skull.

O'Brien, however, had shrapnel removed from his scalp and then was sent back to his unit - "no antibiotics, no pain medication or anything. They just sent me on my way."

When he later complained of pain, doctors gave him Motrin. When he discovered a trickle of blood from his hip, they said he would be fine. Six weeks later, when he could barely walk, tests revealed shrapnel in his hip. By then, he was having headaches and trouble sleeping.

O'Brien had been through multiple previous explosions - troops average one a month, a study found - and each raises the risk that the next one will do harm. Soldiers and Marines are proud and reluctant to go "off mission" just because "they get their bell rung," said Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, a top Defense Department physician.

"Most of the treatment is explaining the situation and giving the tincture of time - giving it time to heal," he said. If no big symptoms appear in eight to 12 hours, "they're probably ready to go back."

Officers also face pressure to return troops to duty, said Jordan Grafman, a neuroscientist who studies TBI at the National Institutes of Health.

"People don't want to lose these guys from their command - they can't replace them fast enough," he said.

During a surprise visit to Iraq with President Bush on Labor Day, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military was "much smarter about this now," and urged troops to watch for signs of TBI and post-traumatic stress.

"They are every bit as much battle injuries as is a bullet or shrapnel. It is OK, it is OK to seek help for those kinds of war wounds, and I ask you all to help your buddies understand what you see in them," he said.

But that was long after O'Brien was hurt. His TBI was not diagnosed for months, until his hip injury landed him back at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. By then, the Army needed help treating TBI and was contracting with private rehab centers like Schneider's at Vanderbilt.

Malone and O'Brien had become friends, helping each other cope with wounds.

"They were sent to us together," Schneider said.

"I'll need to get milk and bread and eggs. Milk and bread and eggs. Next thing you know, I drive right by Wal-Mart," O'Brien said.

"I can vaguely tell you what we talked about at the beginning of this conversation," Malone said.

Memory trouble is a common sign of TBI. It isn't like Alzheimer's disease, where people are so disconnected from reality that they forget things like how a key works or where they live. It isn't like amnesia, where a chunk of the past is missing.

"I don't have any problem remembering the past. I have trouble with now," O'Brien said.

Multiple or complex tasks confound and irritate people with TBI. Therapists challenge them through exercises, like a computer game where they run a hot dog stand and must manage inventory, set prices, do banking and anticipate demand according to the weather.

Other therapy focuses on life skills like following directions while paying attention to something else.

"I counted three trash cans," O'Brien announced after a scouting mission to find landmarks using a map and tally cans along the way.

"I counted five," said therapist Jenny Owens.

Improving these skills is key to living a normal life, especially driving.

"Most of them don't drive. A van brings them down. They were hitting mailboxes, they'd get lost. We draw them maps and they forget when they're supposed to be here," Schneider said.

The Army gives some injured Soldiers Palm Pilots - handheld computers to help manage their lives.

"It costs them more for us to miss two appointments than to give us one of these," O'Brien explained.

But devices and mental exercises do only so much. Troops must be able to use information and reason, but TBI keeps many from being aware of their gaps.

"They don't realize their judgment is impaired," said Vanderbilt neuropsychologist Elizabeth Fenimore.

The training that helped them in combat situations is hurting them now.

"These guys are taught to be alert all the time," so they sleep poorly, Schneider said.

"Their nervous system becomes acclimated to being constantly on alert - fight or flight," Fenimore said.

Malone knows it well.

"I worry about every little thing - people breaking into my house, loud booms ... I'm jumpy," he said.

"I'm going to Afghanistan next year," said O'Brien, determined to stay in the Army and support his two daughters, who live with his ex-wife in Texas.

"I'm trying," added Malone. "They're telling me they don't think my brain can take it. I think, 'Why don't you let me decide?'"

Doctors don't know whether either will return. But after all they've been through, if one does and the other does not, "it's going to be tough," Malone said. "It's going to be tough for whichever one stays back."

VA Agrees with Key Points about PTSD Treatment in New Institute of Medicine Report

Washington (October 18, 2007) – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today agreed with a new Institute of Medicine (IOM) report finding exposure-based therapies for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to be effective.

The report released today by the IOM Committee on Treatment of PTSD concluded among its key findings that exposure-based therapies such as prolonged exposure therapy and cognitive processing therapy have proven to be effective treatments for PTSD, while more research is needed on pharmacotherapy to determine its effectiveness.

“VA is pleased to see IOM agrees with us that exposure-based therapies are effective treatments for PTSD,” said Dr. Antonette Zeiss, VA’s Deputy Chief of Mental Health Services. “VA has been making the therapies readily available, even before the IOM report was released.”

Prolonged exposure therapy utilizes techniques to promote confrontation with feared objects, situations, memories and images. It involves use of psychoeducation, breathing retraining, prolonged exposure to the memory of the trauma through imaginary reliving, and repeated exposure to safe situations being avoided because of traumatic fear.

Cognitive process therapy involves psychoeducation; written exposure in which patients write about the impact of trauma on themselves and others and interpret traumatic events; challenging patient’s interpretations of traumatic events and cognitive restructuring of their beliefs that have been disrupted by traumatic events.

Dr. Zeiss said VA began developing training about a year ago for its mental health professionals in the use of exposure-based therapies, starting with cognitive processing therapy and now including prolonged exposure therapy.

In fact, VA’s Dr. Patricia Resick, head of the Women’s Division of the National Center for PTSD in Boston, is a leading researcher in cognitive processing therapy. And the leading researcher in prolonged exposure therapy is Dr. Edna Foa, who helps train VA mental health professionals.

Dr. Zeiss said VA also concurs with other key conclusions of the report that more research is needed about pharmacotherapy as an effective treatment. It is important to note, Dr. Zeiss said, the IOM conclusion states only more research is needed, not that medications have been found to be ineffective.

VA provides treatment for PTSD through cognitive and exposure-based therapies, with the use of drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

VA is a recognized international leader in treatment and research for PTSD. In 1989, the Department created the National Center for PTSD, which promotes research, trains health care professionals and serves as an information resource for researchers and clinicians around the world.

Pace Thanks World War II Marines for Setting Standard for Today’s Troops

American Forces Press Service, by Donna Miles (Louisville, KY, September 6, 2007) - Marine Gen. Peter Pace last night thanked veterans of the storied 4th Marine Division who fought in Iwo Jima and other major World War II battles for setting the example for today’s troops and demonstrating why they’ll never fail in combat.

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addresses the audience at the 4th Marine Division reunion at Louisville, Ky., Sept. 5, 2007. Pace was the keynote speaker at the national reunion.

Pace, the first Marine to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thanked members of the 4th Marine Division Association gathered here for their 60th reunion for preserving the freedoms he and other Americans were lucky to be born into.

The “Fighting Fourth” fought “incredible battles” in Roi-Namur, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima, Pace said. During 63 days of combat over the course of two years, the division suffered staggering casualties: 17,722 killed and wounded.

The unit’s perseverance through the bloody Pacific battles has become part of the heritage left to today’s Marines and an example for them to live up to, the chairman said.

He shared impressions from his visit earlier this week to Iraq, where he met with U.S. troops wearing the Marine Corps’ eagle, globe and anchor insignia “as proudly as you do and I do.”

“Allow me to report to you, very, very freshly, that your corps and the lance corporals and corporals and sergeants and second and first lieutenants and captains who make the decisions that make the difference are as good at what they do as you were at what you did,” Pace told the group.

“You can be proud of them. I sure am,” he said. “And I am happy to report to you as a fellow Marine that our corps is in great hands.”

Like the 4th Marine Division before them, today’s Marines are putting their lives on the line to protect the same freedoms, Pace said.

“And as you deserve every bit to be known as ‘the greatest generation,’ I honestly believe that these young Marines -- these 18- and 19- and 20-year-old Marines today -- will go down in history as another great generation that saved our country from a threat that is not yet fully understood for what it is,” he said.

Pace called current debate about whether the United States should be in a war at all “misunderstood.”

“We didn’t know we were in a war until Sept. 11, 2001, even though our enemy had declared war on us several years before,” he said. “As long as you have an enemy who is trying to destroy your way of life, you are in a war. If they are trying to kill you, you are in a war.

“So the discussion is not whether we are going to be in a war or not,” he said. “The discussion is about where we are going to stand and fight.”

Today’s troops know what’s at stake for their country as they stand and fight the war against violent extremism, Pace said.

They also understand the cost of their service to their families, their units and themselves.

Pace recalled the sense of fear he personally faced serving as a platoon leader in Vietnam. “Marines know fear,” he said. “But what we fear more than physical danger is that somehow we will let down the Marine on our left or the Marine on our right, or worse, that we will let down the heritage of our corps that we have inherited from those who have gone before us.”

The chairman thanked the 4th Marine Division members for their service to the country and the legacy they left to the Marines who have followed in their footsteps. “Thank you … for the strength, vigor, (and) vitality of your corps, because it is you who we do not want to ever let down,” he said.

Claire Chaffin, national president of the 4th Marine Division Association, praised Pace for recognizing the similarities between what he and his fellow Marines confronted in the Pacific during World War II and what troops are facing today in the Middle East.

“It was important that he drew a comparison between Marines of the Second World War who kept the enemy from our shores and paid tribute to the troops doing the same thing today,” he said.

A corpsman who joined the division at age 17 and fought in all four of its major battles, Chaffin said many of the tactics his unit used still serve as textbook examples for today’s troops.

But despite similarities, he said, there are striking differences between what his unit and today’s Marines face. “They don’t know the enemy. He can pat you on the back, then shoot you,” he said. “So in some ways, this is a very different kind of war.”

What’s remained constant, said Herb Hertensteiner of St. Charles, Mo., are the basic characteristics every Marine possesses -- whether they’re serving in Iraq today or served with the 4th Marine Division more than 60 years ago.

“Everyone knows his job, and they never forget who they are,” said 81-year-old Hertensteiner, who retired with 20 years in the Marine Corps. “I’m still a Marine. And no matter what happens, they’re Marines, too.”

Medicare for Military Retirees

Part B or Not Part B?

By Tammy Flanagan National Institute of Transition Planning September 28, 2007 - One of the big queries that comes up at every pre-retirement seminar is "Do I need Medicare -- especially Part B? Or should I stick with the benefits I can continue to receive into retirement under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program?" The answer is, it depends. That's not what you probably wanted to hear, I know. Let's look at some of the factors in play here.

First, some definitions. Medicare Part A pays for inpatient hospital stays, care at skilled nursing facilities and some home health care. Part B is insurance that helps pay for doctors' services and outpatient care. It also covers other medical services, such as physical and occupational therapy, and some home health care.

That may sound like a pretty good package, but Medicare A and B is not enough insurance by itself. Even the combination of the two does not include catastrophic coverage benefits, for one thing. If you only had Medicare, and had to be hospitalized for more than 60 days, your co-pay would be almost $250 per day. And Medicare pays nothing if you are hospitalized more than 150 days.

Also, the cost of Part B premiums has gone up a lot since they were $3 per month in 1966. Even up until 2000, the premium was under $50 a month. But now the costs are much higher, and a new law has changed how Part B premiums are calculated for some people with higher incomes. The bottom line is that depending on income, coverage costs between $93.50 and $161.40 a month, or $1,122 up to $1,936.80 per year. Some retirees are beginning to question the value of this coverage.

Pondering Part C

If you have Part A and B coverage, you can join a Medicare Advantage plan, also known as Medicare Part C. This is an HMO that contracts with Medicare. Services must be obtained from the HMO's network of doctors and hospitals to receive full benefits. The HMO may charge a monthly premium and require co-payments.

With one of these plans, you do not need your FEHBP coverage, because Medicare Advantage plans generally offer many of the same benefits that an FEHBP policy would provide, such as extra days in the hospital after you have used the number of days that Medicare covers.

Some of the FEHBP HMOs, however, also offer a Medicare Advantage option. And some of these HMOs will coordinate coverage to your advantage if you enroll in both their FEHBP HMO and their Medicare Advantage plan. For example, in one of the FEHBP HMOs, for members with both Medicare Parts A and B, Medicare covers hospice care for those who receive care from any Medicare-certified hospice. Members with Medicare Part B only must receive care from HMO network providers. Check your plan's Web site to see how it coordinates with Medicare.

Also, those who use FEHBP HMO coverage should remember that with Medicare coverage, you may use doctors outside of your HMO network and receive Medicare benefits for these services.

Military Matters

Before we go any further on the FEHBP-Medicare issue, let's take a quick detour to look at issues for military service members and retirees. They and their families have their own issues to consider, relative to the military's TRICARE managed health program.

When TRICARE beneficiaries (other than eligible active-duty family members) become entitled to Medicare Part A, and purchase Medicare Part B, they do not experience a break in TRICARE coverage. The TRICARE for Life program, which covers retirees, pays secondary to Medicare.

There are no enrollment fees for TFL. Beneficiaries, other than active-duty family members, are required to purchase Medicare Part B. For more information, see the TRICARE section of Military.com.

By law, some military veterans over 65 have secondary coverage to Medicare under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs. CHAMPVA provides similar benefits as those provided to military beneficiaries under the TRICARE or TRICARE for Life.

If you have TRICARE For Life or CHAMPVA benefits along with Medicare A and B, you have very good health coverage and would not need to have FEHBP coverage. If you carry FEHBP coverage into retirement, you may suspend this coverage to use your TRICARE benefits.

Bottom Line:

So what about those who aren't eligible for TRICARE and who want to remain in an FEHBP fee-for-service setup, such as the Blue Cross Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan?

This is where the decision about whether to enroll in Medicare Part B can get stickier. The first thing to know is that your FEHBP plan will cover you after 65 even if you do not enroll in Medicare. But your FEHBP plan would like for you to enroll in Medicare, since Medicare would then be the primary payer of your health care expenses. So what are they going to offer you as an incentive?

As I showed you in the HMO example above, there will be less out-of-pocket expense if you have Medicare as your primary coverage. Most fee-for-service FEHBP plans will waive deductibles and co-pays if Medicare A and B are your primary insurance. Look at your plan's brochure or check out its Web site to learn about the coordination with Medicare.

You generally won't need to use the preferred providers when Medicare is the primary payer, as long as you use doctors and facilities that accept Medicare patients. But be sure to check to see how much the catastrophic out-of-pocket limits are. This is how much you might be spending if you don't pay the $1,122 to $1,936.80 per year for Medicare Part B.

Over your lifetime, it's possible to have out-of-pocket medical expenses that would exceed the cost of enrolling in Medicare Part B. These could be mostly eliminated by Medicare enrollment. If you wait to sign up for Medicare until later, you will face even bigger premiums. If you think that Medicare Part B is expensive, imagine how much your expenses will be in the event of a chronic illness or serious medical condition -- especially when you are living on a fixed income in retirement.

Here's my bottom-line advice: Take Medicare at 65 if you are retired. If you are still working and over 65, you still have some time to decide, if you are carrying your FEHBP coverage as an employee.

Points To Ponder

The views expressed in the following article were deemed interesting enough by me to include in the newsletter. I take full responsibility and the content does not reflect the opinion of the members of the Post. Please contact me if these articles offend you. – Greg d’Arbonne

Former Major Leaguer Rick Monday “Signed” by the Citizens Flag Alliance

This press release went from CFA Headquarters July 5 to 6,680 daily and weekly papers. It was also put on US Newswire for DC circuit. We would appreciate you running it in any of your publications or in some other fashion, passing the word that Rick Monday is part of the Citizens Flag Alliance.

Indianapolis - One year after personally lobbying members of the U.S. Senate on the flag amendment, two-time major league All-Star and 19-year baseball great, Rick Monday became a member of the Board of Directors of the Citizens Flag Alliance.

"It was certainly a case of divine intervention when my wife, Barbaralee, and I happened to cross paths with Gen. Patrick Brady and the CFA in June 2006. Barbaralee came across a rather poignant editorial, 'Will They Still Sing God Bless America' written by CFA President, Dan Wheeler. She picked up the phone, and the rest as they say, is history. We proudly joined them on Capitol Hill pushing for the passage of the flag amendment," said Monday. "Since the flag incident 30 years ago, I have heard first hand what our flag means to the people of this country and I wanted to make sure their voices were heard."

At the invitation of the United States Congress, the Mondays were in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of an attempted flag burning during a baseball game at Dodger Stadium in 1976. The attempt was cut short by then-Chicago Cubs outfielder Rick Monday when he ran to left centerfield and tore the flag away from protestors, preventing its desecration. The stadium scoreboard lit up with the words, "Rick Monday, You made a great play." Indeed it was and it ultimately became one of the 100 Classic Moments in the History of the Game as determined by the Baseball Hall of Fame. In May 2006, the United States Senate unanimously consented to Senate Resolution 477, honoring Monday for "his courage and patriotism; upholding the noble ideals and freedoms represented by the American Flag" thus making his heroic rescue a permanent part of the Congressional Record of our nation.

Reflecting on his actions, Monday said, "That flag represents all the rights and freedoms that we have in this country. If you desecrate the flag, you desecrate the efforts of all the people who fought and died to protect those rights and freedoms."

"Rick's sentiments were exactly what the Citizens Flag Alliance has voiced for more than a decade," said Wheeler. "Very seldom during this campaign to secure a flag amendment have we had the sort of break needed to push the issue to the top. I was well aware of Rick's actions that day in 1976, but to hear from him personally about the incident and to learn of his desire to help our cause, well, it was just the kind of break we had long awaited."

Over the last year, both Rick and Barbaralee have traveled the nation, sharing the story and offering a glimpse of the very flag he rescued. "What they were doing was wrong then, in 1976. In my mind, it's wrong now," said Monday. "It's the way I was raised. My thoughts were reinforced with my six years in the Marine Corp Reserves. It was also reinforced by a lot of friends who lost their lives protecting the rights and freedoms that flag represented."

Monday, now in his 14th year as announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, will join the 24 other members of the Board of Directors who represent the more than 145 organizations that comprise the Citizens Flag Alliance, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to secure a constitutional amendment to return to the American people their right to protect Old Glory.

For more information contact: Marty Justis at 317 630-1384

Quote For Veterans Day

A veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to The United States of America,” for an amount of “up to and including my life”.

That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.

- Author Unknown