A MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War

         Our Nation’s Vietnam War Commemoration is a long-overdue opportunity for all Americans to recognize, honor, and thank our Vietnam Veterans and their families for their service and sacrifices during one of America’s longest wars.

VA Central Office, along with nearly 9,000 organizations across the country, has joined with the Department of Defense as a commemorative partner to honor our Nation’s Vietnam Veterans.  I have designated March 29, 2016, as a day for our Department to express our tremendous gratitude and support to this generation of Americans through ceremonies across the Nation.   

This commemoration recognizes all men and women who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces during the U.S. involvement in Vietnam—November 1, 1955, to May 15, 1975.  Nine million Americans, approximately 7.2 million living today, served during that period, and the commemoration makes no distinction between Veterans who served in-county, in-theater, or were stationed elsewhere during those 20 years.  All answered the call of duty. 

This commemoration has special significance for those of us at VA because of our honored mission to serve those who have “borne the battle.”  It’s also an opportunity to remember our VA colleagues who served in this generation of Veterans, to extend our heartfelt appreciation to them and to their families who shared the burden of their loved one’s service. 

Please visit http://www.vietnamwar50th.com/ to learn how your organization or facility can become a commemorative partner.  This partnership provides historical media and beautifully-struck lapel pins and other recognition items for presentation to Vietnam Veterans.

Thank you for your continued service to VA and America’s Veterans.

Robert A. McDonald

USAF Cheats on FOIA Response - then USAF Demands Return of FOIA Response

What a comedy of errors! The C-123 Veterans Association submitted an FOIA in August 2012 for everything associated with the Air Force C-123 Consultative Letter. That letter was a messed-up analysis of the aircraft's contamination and twisted conclusion that veterans somehow were not exposed to Agent Orange.

The request was approved completely – documentation, correspondence, recordings, emails...everything was to be released within the required response time of 20 days. What we got, however, after waiting 347 days, was a CD loaded with a bunch of decades-old records and a single page related to the massive study - and not even a copy of that study! That's not good, because the Freedom of Information Act assures us that citizens have a right to this information, and the FOIA is an important cornerstone of American democracy, according to the Congress, the Supreme Court and the President. Hey, Air Force - its the law!

But apparently not an important enough law to the folks at Wright-Patterson AFB. They feel free to delay as they wish, and to withhold information as they wish, even about this 60-year-old warplane. Apparently, something in the issue embarrasses the Air Force in some way, or there is something which needs being covered up (from their perspective) and that (from their perspective) makes it perfectly okay to sneer at our rights.

But the joke - FOIA officials at Wright-Patterson AFB almost immediately demanded RETURN of their CD. Seems they inadvertently included a full page of civilian employees' Social Security numbers. The same error as I'd pointed out to them two years ago, but this time we'd posted the CD of information before we noticed their problem (and immediately informed the 88th FOIA officials, of course) so it was out for all the world to see, and now AF has to find those employees and do a big mea culpa.

Ranch Hand Combat Hits Tally Board