Cold War Veterans Blog

Dave Jones — Veterans services are on the road to improvement

Dave Jones/Veterans Corner
Grand County, CO Colorado,


First of all let me say Happy Holidays to all and huge Thanks for your service to our beautiful country from Grand County. My wish this Holiday is that our troops come home safe and soon. This year has been a tough for some of our veterans. The waiting for compensation, disability, and healthcare answers have been trying this year. The President, Congress and Veterans Administration (VA) are committed to and aggressively trying to cut the time in processing claims and the time in getting healthcare for Veterans. In the near future the VA will be staffed up and the system will become more effective.

VA Secretary outlines plans to stop veteran homelessness

VA Secretary Shinseki unveiled the department's comprehensive plan to end homelessness among Veterans by marshalling the resources of government, business and the private sector. His and President Obama's goal is ending homelessness among Veterans within the next five years. “Those who have served this nation as Veterans should never find themselves on the streets, living without care and without hope,” Shinseki said. The plan in detail is on the Web site www.va.gov.

PTSD diagnoses to be based on veteran testimonies

Veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will find it easier to file VA disability claims. They will no longer be required to provide evidence other than their own testimonies of an event that caused their PTSD. VA published a proposal in the August 24, 2009 Federal Register noting that it would no longer require “corroboration of a stressor” (the event that caused the PTSD) if a VA psychiatrist or psychologist confirms that a Veteran's stressful experience “adequately supports” a PTSD diagnosis and the Veteran's symptoms are related to the stressor. Details will be out in January 2010.

The Cold War: A global struggle against communism, 1945-1991

Beyond the major wars in Korea (1950-53) and Vietnam (1958-75) Americans waged campaigns-both overt and covert-against the Soviet Union and its surrogates on a truly global scale. Millions of Americans served in the Cold War between 1945 and 1991. Many were in overlooked campaigns, crises and confrontations and on forgotten fronts beyond the full-fledged wars in Korea and Vietnam. While many of these limited conflicts occurred on the ground, others were played out on the world's seas (and beneath them) or in the air space over hostile borders. The triumph should be credited to soldiers who patrolled hostile borders, airmen who flew aerial reconnaissance missions, sailors who kept watch over and under the seas, marines who fought isolated firefights and advisers who assisted fledgling armies resisting communism. The ultimate honor goes to 382 Americans killed as a result of hostile communist action in North China, Korea's DMZ, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Southeast Europe, over barren landscapes and open seas. It is to these servicemen the public owes a special debt of gratitude. And it is on this 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall that we remind the nation of that debt. A quote from Bob Doyle in a May 24, 1990 tribute to the Armed Forces reads: “You have won the Cold War... (Your) underappreciated valor (helped) topple the Berlin Wall, and bring down dictators the world over...For the past four decades the world behind the Iron Curtain looked to Americans for hope, and America looked to you to get the job done. Today, the free world says Thank You.”

To all Veterans and their Families I am here to help with whatever you need to get answers to or just to listen. Please call me, Dave Jones at 970-509-9024 Grand County Veterans Service Officer. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.