[Vision2020] Group Calls for Changes in Alaska Guard

[Tom Hansen]

This extends far beyond the pale; to deploy troops to a combat zone and 
fail to provide sufficient health care upon their return, only to re-
deploy them six month later.

Somebody MUST account for this!

>From the Army times at:

http://www.ArmyTimes.com

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Group calls for changes in Alaska Guard

The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Oct 13, 2008 10:44:41 EDT
   
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — A report by a nonpartisan veterans group is slamming 
the ongoing deployments of the Alaska National Guard to Iraq and 
Afghanistan.

Washington, D.C.-based Veterans For America released the report after a 
weeklong trip to Alaska.

The report says the Guard was deployed without the proper programs in 
place to care for returning troops. It primarily blames “inadequate 
leadership.”

As 2007 ended, 80 percent of the Guard had been deployed overseas since 
the Sept. 11 attacks.

About 140 members of the 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment are set to 
start mobilizing in December.

The report was particularly critical of what it called a lack of access to 
health care.

It notes that guardsmen in major cities have limited access to Veterans 
Affairs benefits. It also says about one-quarter live in rural areas and 
must spend more than $1,000 to travel to Anchorage.

“The families of Guard deployed from rural Alaska were hit very hard,” the 
report states. “For instance, those on public assistance lost their food 
stamps and Medicare eligibility when their husbands were deployed because 
their household income temporarily increased.”

The report calls for “radical changes” in the way the Guard is run, 
including accepting reimbursements from Veterans Affairs and mandatory 
face-to-face mental and physical health screenings. The group advocates a 
halt to Guard deployments until the issues can be settled.

The state’s Department of Military and Veterans Affairs calls the report’s 
conclusion “unsubstantiated.”

“The Alaska National Guard is a professional organization that works hard 
to ensure its guardsmen and families receive the highest level of care, 
and this report has substantial claims that need to be corrected,” said 
department commissioner Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell.

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Pro patria, 
 
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the 
tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." 
 
-- Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr. 


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