Update on Marine Being Discharged for His Wearing Uniform to Protest

Military justice proves to be an oxymoron in KansasCity.
Help Adam now. Please visit Sgt. Kokesh's blog and support him http://kokesh.blogspot.com/ His discharge date from the Individual Ready Reserveis June 18 and a Marine General is to rule on the board's recommendation by then. The board recommended Adam Kokesh receive a general discharge under honorable conditions. To hear Kokeshtell it, it's a middle ground decision he wants no part of.

http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=3394446&version=16&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Please visit Sgt. Kokesh's blog and support himhttp://kokesh.blogspot.com/


Follow Adam and the crewhttp://www.yellowrosepeacebus.blogspot.com/
For more videos http://www.vfpdc.org/


Best regards,
Tony Teolis
Veterans For Peace Chapter 16http://www.vfpdc.org/vfpdc@vfpdc.org

VFW sides with veteran facing discipline for wearing uniform at protest

WASHINGTON - The nation’s largest veterans group on Friday urged the military to "exercise a little common sense" and call off its investigation of a group of Iraq war veterans who wore their uniforms during anti-war protests.

"Trying to hush up and punish fellow Americans for exercising the same Democratic right we’re trying to instill in Iraq is not what we’re all about," said Gary Kurpius, national commander of the 2.4 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"Someone in the Marine Corps needs to exercise a little common sense and put an end to this matter before it turns into a circus," Kurpius said.

A military panel in Kansas City, Mo., is holding a hearing on Monday to decide whether Marine Cpl. Adam Kokesh’s discharge status should be changed from honorable to "other than honorable" after he was photographed wearing fatigues _ with military insignia removed _ during a mock patrol with other veterans at a protest rally in April.

The Marine Corps is investigating whether Kokesh might have violated a rule prohibiting troops from wearing uniforms without authorization. Kokesh was honorably discharged following a combat tour in Iraq, but he remains part of the Individual Ready Reserve, a pool of former active duty service members in unpaid, non-drill status.

Kokesh also was cited for making a disrespectful comment to a military officer investigating the incident. His attorney, Michael Lebowitz, has called the case an effort to stifle critics of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy. Read this article

Survey:

Should VA Secretary Nicholson hire veterans to staff the VA?

TOPIC: Veteran confidence in the VA is at its lowest level since the VA was established in the last century. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson has promised reform but many veterans believe Nicholson has, to date, failed. The majority of veterans believe that the VA would better serve veterans if more veterans were employed by the VA, particularly now and in the near electoral future since fewer military veterans hold seats in Congress than any time since the end of World War One when the Department of Veterans Affairs was created.The following survey MUST be responded to at this website:http://home.pacbell.net/veterans/vahire.htm

Any survey responses sent by email will NOT be includedin the Survey Results Report to be posted on the SurveyQuestions website:
http://home.
SURVEY QUESTIONS (http://home. pacbell.net/ veterans/ vahire.htm):

1/7. Should the Secretary of Veterans Affairs submit a formal request to Congress for approval to bypass or amend Civil Service new-hire statutes to obtain hiring preference for Honorably Discharged military veterans?

2/7. Should the Secretary of Veterans Affairs submit a formal request to the President and Commander-in- Chief for an Executive Order permitting the Department of Veterans Affairs to give hiring preference to Honorably Discharged military veterans?

3/7. Should VA rentention bonuses be eliminated?

4/7. Once upon a time 90 percent of American professionals (doctors, lawyers, judges, etc.) could proudly boast former employment with retailers such as Sears Roebuck. Montgomery Wards or J.C. Penney either during their youth, while attending college, or entering the work force immediately after military service ... but fewer than one-tenth of one percent of American veterans have obtained employment with the Department of Veteran Affairs. Do the non-veteran, Civil Service Union employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs discriminate against military veterans applying for employment?

5/7. In your opinion, would the Department of Veterans Affairs serve American veterans more efficiently and more respectfully if the majority of VA staffers and employees were military veterans?

6/7. Are you a member of a Congressionally chartered veterans organization?


7/7. Have the Congressionally chartered veterans organizations failed American veterans by not placing more veterans on the staff and employment rolls of the Department of Veterans Affairs?

Contact Person for this Survey:
Roger Simpson, Public Information Officer
The American War LibraryBuilding Two,
16907 Brighton AvenueGardena CA 90247-5420Telephone/Fax: 1-310-532-0634

Send The Cold War Service Petition to Your Lawmakers Download Here

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/4/11/973769/Cold%20War-Medal%20Petition%201.pdf

Front Page of the NJ Star Ledger

A Must Read for NY Veterans

Thinning of Veterans’ Ranks Leaves Breach in Collective Memory

By CLYDE HABERMAN

Published: May 29, 2007

New York State’s veteran population is at its lowest point since before World War II, and the shrinking numbers have human consequences. NY Times Article