Women vet organizations: Following is a partial list of veteran organizations which have been established specifically for women.

• Air Force Women Officers Assoc., P.O. Box 780155 San Antonio, TX 78278

• All Navy Women’s National Alliance , P.O. Box 147, Goldenrod, FL.,32733-0147 www.anwna.com/

• Army Special Services Association, 609 Concord Place, Pleasanton, CA 94566

• Army Women’s Museum, Mifflin Hall, Bldg.5000,Rm. 103B, Ft Lee, VA., 23801-6000 www.awm.lee.army.mil

• Coast Guard/SPAR, Inc., 5904 Mt. Eagle Dr., Ap. 1616 Alexandria, VA 22303

• Hispanic Women Veterans Coalition, P.O. Box 25047 Harper Woods, MI 48225-1825

• National Assoc. of Black Military Women, PO Box 2798, Laurel, MD., 20708-2798 www.members.aol.com/_ht_a/khnabmw/myhomepage/

• National Navy Women’s Reunion, P.O. Box 147, Golden Rod FL 32733-0147

• National Org of World War Nurses, 1509 Emilie St., Green Bay, WI., 54301

• Nat’l Women Veterans Conference, Inc., 2902 Irving Street Denver, CO 80211-6756

• Navy Nurse Corps Association , P.O. Box 1229 Oak Harbor, WA 98277

• Retired Army Medical Specialist Corps Assn., PO. Box 39451, Serna Station San Antonio, TX 78268

• Retired Army Nurse Corps Assn. , P.O. Box 681026. Serna Station San Antonio, TX 78218-1235 www.militaryrn.com/ranca.htm

• Society of Retired Air Force Nurses, P.O. Box 681026 San Antonio, TX,78268

• The Circle of Sisters, 827 Lowell Blvd. Denver, CO 80204

• United Women Veterans, 113 S. Orchard St, Theinsville, WI., 53092

• Vietnam Women Veterans www.spencergroup.net/vwv/

• Vietnam Women’s Memorial Project, 2001 S Street, NW, #610 Washington, DC 20009-6000 <wwmpdc@aol.com>

• WAC Foundation, P.O. Box 5339, Ft McClellan, AL 36205

• WAC Veterans’ Association, P.O. Box 5577, Fort McClellan AL 36205-5577 www.armywomen.org

• WASP , P.O. Box 9212 Ft. Wayne, IN 46809 www.wasp-wwii.org/

• WAVES National, 506 60th St SE, Grand Rapids, MI., 49548-6812 wavesnational.hypermart.net/

• Women Marines Association, 818 Wildview Way, Knoxville, TN.,37920 www.womenmarines.org/

• Women Miltary Aviators, Inc., P.O. Box 46819 Washington, D.C. 20050-6819

• Women Officers Professional Assn, P.O. Box 1621, Arlington, VA., 22210 members.aol.com/dittyman8/wopa.html

• Women Veterans of America, P.O. Box 290283, Homecrest Station Brooklyn NY 10229-0005

• WWII Flight Nurses Association, 2111 Spring Lake Rd Fruitland, FL 32731-5154

[Source: Various Nov 2012]

VA claim denial update: A strange thing happened when Christopher DeLara filed for disability benefits after his tour in Iraq. The U.S. Army said it had no records showing he had ever been overseas. The Army said it could find no field records documenting any of the combat incidents related to his PTSD. DeLara appealed, fighting for five years before a judge accepted the testimony of an officer in his unit. 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.

A joint investigation by ProPublica and The Seattle Times has found that the recordkeeping breakdown was especially acute in the early years of the Iraq War, when insurgents deployed improvised bombs with devastating effects on U.S. soldiers. The military has also lost or destroyed records from Afghanistan, according to officials and previously undisclosed documents. The loss of field records — after-action write-ups, intelligence reports and other day-to-day accounts from the war zones — has far-reaching implications. It has complicated efforts by soldiers like DeLara to claim benefits. And it makes it harder for military strategists to learn the lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan, two of the nation’s most protracted wars. Military officers and historians say field records provide the granular details that, when woven together, tell larger stories hidden from participants in the day-to-day confusion of combat.

The Army says it has taken steps to improve handling of records — including better training and more emphasis from top commanders. But officials familiar with the problem said the missing material may never be retrieved. There was confusion about whether classified field records could be transported back to the units’ headquarters in the United States. As a result, some units were instructed to erase computer hard drives when they rotated home, destroying the records that had been stored on them.

At the outset of the Iraq War, military commanders tried to avoid repeating that mistake, ordering units to preserve all historical records. But the Army botched the job. Despite new guidelines issued in 2008 to safeguard records, some units still purged them. Historians had complained about lax recordkeeping for years with little result.

Missing field records aren’t necessarily an obstacle for benefit claims. The Department of Veterans Affairs also looks for medical and personnel records, which can be enough. The VA has also relaxed rules for proving post-traumatic stress to reduce the need for the detailed documentation of field reports. But even the VA concedes that unit records are helpful. And assembling a disability case from witness statements can take much more time, said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the retired Army vice chief of staff who worked to combat suicides and improve treatment of soldiers with PTSD and brain injuries. [Source: Stars & Stripes | Peter Sleet/Hal Bernton | 9 Nov 12]

Tricare prime update: With the presidential election over, Defense officials are expected to announce soon that military retirees and their dependents living more than 40 miles from a military treatment facility or base closure site will lose access to Tricare Prime, the military’s managed care option. These beneficiaries would be expected to shift to Tricare Standard, their fee-for-service insurance option, which would mean an increase in out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries who are frequent users of health services. A total of 171,000 retirees and dependents are expected to have to shift coverage when remote Prime networks go away. Tentative plans are for this to occur April 1 in the West Region, which would coincide with UnitedHealth Military and Veterans Services taking over the region’s support contract from TriWest Healthcare Alliance after 16 years. The North and South Tricare regions are expected to close down Prime service areas beyond 40-mile catchment areas of bases or base closure sites by Oct. 1, 2013, the date when current Prime enrollment periods expire for most beneficiaries.

Active duty members and their families generally would not be impacted. Drilling National Guard members and reservists living far from military bases could see small increases to health costs. Under Tricare Prime, beneficiaries get managed care through providers in the network. They pay an annual enrollment fee of $269.28 for individual coverage or $538.56 for family coverage. Retirees and family members also are charged co-pays of $12 for each doctor visit. Under Tricare Standard, beneficiaries can choose their own physicians and pay no annual enrollment fee. But when they need care, retirees must cover 25 percent of allowable charges. Retirees also have an annual deductible of $150 for the individual or $300 per family. Total out-of-pocket costs, however, are capped at $3,000 per family.

Contracts for every region are now settled. Health Net Federal Services has been running the North Region under the new contract since April 2011. Humana Military Healthcare Services has operated the South Region 9 under the new contract since April this year. But all Prime service areas have been maintained with contract modifications, awaiting final word from Defense that Prime area restrictions are to be implemented. The new contracts were drafted during the Bush administration and are intended to be more comprehensive and efficient. But sensitive to how a change in Prime eligibility might be used by politicians this fall, Defense officials ordered plans to end Prime for retirees living outside catchment areas, including draft notification letters, shelved until after the election. Plans for implementation have not changed, congressional and health sources said. But they also have not been announced officially yet. “The Department is considering whether to maintain the same number of PSAs (Prime service areas) as it has now,” said Cynthia O. Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense. Until a decision is final on reducing PSAs, the department won’t confirm the number of beneficiaries potentially impacted or the likely dates for executing the changes. [Source: Military.com | Tom Philpott | 8 Nov 2012]

Flags: The American Legion Post 70 has on hand American flags, all of the military service flags, POW/MIA flags, and S.C. State flags. Contact a member of Post 70 to purchase flags; the cost is $5.

American Legion Post 70 - Meeting at 1800 on the third Tuesday of the month. For more information please contact Thomas Crisp at 940-2793.

American Legion Post 24, of Newberry, meeting is on the second Tuesday of the month at 1830.

The American Legion Auxiliary – Unit 24 meet the same day at 3 p.m. at Post 24