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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-28/dupont-sends-in-former-cops-to-enforce-seed-patents-commodities.html
DuPont Co. (DD), the world’s second-biggest seed company, is sending dozens of former policeofficers across North America to prevent a practice generationsof farmers once took for granted.
The provider of the best-selling genetically modifiedsoybean seed is looking for evidence of farmers illegally savingthem from harvests for replanting next season, which is notallowed under sales contracts. The Wilmington, Delaware-basedcompany is inspecting Canadian fields and will begin in the U.S.next year, said Randy Schlatter, a DuPont senior manager.
DuPont is protecting its sales of Roundup Ready soybeans,so called because they tolerate being sprayed by Monsanto Co. (MON)’sRoundup herbicide.
For years enforcement was done by Monsanto,which created Roundup Ready and dominates the $13.3 billionbiotech seed industry, though it’s moving on to a new line ofseeds now that patents are expiring. That leaves DuPont to playthe bad guy, enforcing alternative patents so cheaper “illegalbeans” don’t get planted.
READ MORE: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-28/dupont-sends-in-former-cops-to-enforce-seed-patents-commodities.html
3 Ocak 2013 Perşembe
Monsanto's Aspartate (and Glutamate) Cause Damage
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http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/06/aspartame-most-dangerous-substance-added-to-food.aspx
Aspartateand glutamate act as neurotransmitters in the brain by facilitating thetransmission of information from neuron to neuron. Too much aspartateor glutamate in the brain kills certain neurons by allowing the influxof too much calcium into the cells. This influx triggers excessiveamounts of free radicals, which kill the cells. The neural cell damagethat can be caused by excessive aspartate and glutamate is why they arereferred to as "excitotoxins." They "excite" or stimulate the neuralcells to death.
Aspartic acid is an amino acid. Taken in its free form (unbound toproteins) it significantly raises the blood plasma level of aspartateand glutamate. The excess aspartate and glutamate in the blood plasmashortly after ingesting aspartame or products with free glutamic acid(glutamate precursor) leads to a high level of those neurotransmittersin certain areas of the brain.
The blood brain barrier (BBB), which normally protects the brain fromexcess glutamate and aspartate as well as toxins, 1) is not fullydeveloped during childhood, 2) does not fully protect all areas of thebrain, 3) is damaged by numerous chronic and acute conditions, and 4)allows seepage of excess glutamate and aspartate into the brain evenwhen intact.
The excess glutamate and aspartate slowly begin to destroy neurons.The large majority (75 percent or more) of neural cells in a particulararea of the brain are killed before any clinical symptoms of a chronicillness are noticed. A few of the many chronic illnesses that have beenshown to be contributed to by long-term exposure to excitatory aminoacid damage include:
READ MORE:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/06/aspartame-most-dangerous-substance-added-to-food.aspx
Aspartateand glutamate act as neurotransmitters in the brain by facilitating thetransmission of information from neuron to neuron. Too much aspartateor glutamate in the brain kills certain neurons by allowing the influxof too much calcium into the cells. This influx triggers excessiveamounts of free radicals, which kill the cells. The neural cell damagethat can be caused by excessive aspartate and glutamate is why they arereferred to as "excitotoxins." They "excite" or stimulate the neuralcells to death.
Aspartic acid is an amino acid. Taken in its free form (unbound toproteins) it significantly raises the blood plasma level of aspartateand glutamate. The excess aspartate and glutamate in the blood plasmashortly after ingesting aspartame or products with free glutamic acid(glutamate precursor) leads to a high level of those neurotransmittersin certain areas of the brain.
The blood brain barrier (BBB), which normally protects the brain fromexcess glutamate and aspartate as well as toxins, 1) is not fullydeveloped during childhood, 2) does not fully protect all areas of thebrain, 3) is damaged by numerous chronic and acute conditions, and 4)allows seepage of excess glutamate and aspartate into the brain evenwhen intact.
The excess glutamate and aspartate slowly begin to destroy neurons.The large majority (75 percent or more) of neural cells in a particulararea of the brain are killed before any clinical symptoms of a chronicillness are noticed. A few of the many chronic illnesses that have beenshown to be contributed to by long-term exposure to excitatory aminoacid damage include:
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http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/06/aspartame-most-dangerous-substance-added-to-food.aspx
'Were we marines used as guinea pigs on Okinawa?'
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Growing evidence suggests that the U.S. military tested biochemical agents on its own forces on the island in the 1960s
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20121204zg.html
Newly discovered documents reveal that 50 years ago this week, the Pentagon dispatched a chemical weapons platoon to Okinawa under the auspices of its infamous Project 112. Described by the U.S. Department of Defense as "biological and chemical warfare vulnerability tests," the highly classified program subjected thousands of unwitting American service members around the globe to substances including sarin and VX nerve gases between 1962 and 1974.According to papers obtained from the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the 267th Chemical Platoon was activated on Okinawa on Dec. 1, 1962, with "the mission of operation of Site 2, DOD (Department of Defense) Project 112." Before coming to Okinawa, the 36-member platoon had received training at Denver's Rocky Mountain Arsenal, one of the key U.S. chemical and biological weapons (CBW) facilities. Upon its arrival on the island, the platoon was billeted just north of Okinawa City at Chibana — the site of a poison gas leak seven years later. Between December 1962 and August 1965, the 267th platoon received three classified shipments — codenamed YBA, YBB and YBF — believed to include sarin and mustard gas.For decades, the Pentagon denied the existence of Project 112. Only in 2000 did the department finally admit to having exposed its own service members to CBW tests, which it claimed were designed to enable the U.S. to better plan for potential attacks on its troops. In response to mounting evidence of serious health problems among a number of veterans subjected to these experiments, Congress forced the Pentagon in 2003 to create a list of service members exposed during Project 112. While the Department of Defense acknowledges it conducted the tests in Hawaii, Panama and aboard ships in the Pacific Ocean, this is the first time that Okinawa — then under U.S. jurisdiction — has been implicated in the project.READ MORE: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20121204zg.htmlFrederick family sues U.S. over scientist's mysterious death
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-scientist-death-lawsuit-20121128,0,3664418.story
The sons of a Cold War scientist who plunged to his death in 1953 several days after unwittingly taking LSD in a CIA mind-control experiment sued the government Wednesday. They claimed the CIA murdered their father, Frank Olson, by pushing him from a 13th-story window of a hotel — not, as the CIA says, that he jumped to his death.
Sons Eric and Nils Olson of Frederick sought unspecified compensatory damages in the lawsuit filed in federal court, but their lawyer, Scott D. Gilbert, said they also want to see a broad range of documents related to Olson's death and other matters that they say the CIA has withheld from them since the death.
Olson was a bioweapons expert at Fort Detrick, the Army's biological weapons research center in Maryland. Their lawsuit claims the CIA killed Olson when he developed misgivings after witnessing extreme interrogations in which they allege the CIA committed murder using biological agents Olson had developed.
The CIA had a program in the 1950s and 1960s called MK-ULTRA, which involved brainwashing and administering experimental drugs like LSD to unsuspecting individuals. The project was investigated by Congress in the 1970s.
Olson consumed a drink laced with LSD by CIA agents on Nov. 19, 1953, the suit says. Later that month, after being taken to New York City, purportedly for a "psychiatric" consultation, Olson plunged to his death.
At the time — when Eric and Nils Olson were 9 and 5 years old, respectively — the CIA said he died in an accident and did not divulge to his family that Olsen had been given LSD.
READ MORE: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-scientist-death-lawsuit-20121128,0,3664418.story
The sons of a Cold War scientist who plunged to his death in 1953 several days after unwittingly taking LSD in a CIA mind-control experiment sued the government Wednesday. They claimed the CIA murdered their father, Frank Olson, by pushing him from a 13th-story window of a hotel — not, as the CIA says, that he jumped to his death.
Sons Eric and Nils Olson of Frederick sought unspecified compensatory damages in the lawsuit filed in federal court, but their lawyer, Scott D. Gilbert, said they also want to see a broad range of documents related to Olson's death and other matters that they say the CIA has withheld from them since the death.
Olson was a bioweapons expert at Fort Detrick, the Army's biological weapons research center in Maryland. Their lawsuit claims the CIA killed Olson when he developed misgivings after witnessing extreme interrogations in which they allege the CIA committed murder using biological agents Olson had developed.
The CIA had a program in the 1950s and 1960s called MK-ULTRA, which involved brainwashing and administering experimental drugs like LSD to unsuspecting individuals. The project was investigated by Congress in the 1970s.
Olson consumed a drink laced with LSD by CIA agents on Nov. 19, 1953, the suit says. Later that month, after being taken to New York City, purportedly for a "psychiatric" consultation, Olson plunged to his death.
At the time — when Eric and Nils Olson were 9 and 5 years old, respectively — the CIA said he died in an accident and did not divulge to his family that Olsen had been given LSD.
READ MORE: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-scientist-death-lawsuit-20121128,0,3664418.story
Planned Agent Orange cleanup met with optimism in Vietnam
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http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=23586727
HANOI, Vietnam — Nguyen Thuy Linh, 8, concentrated on the page in front of her. On it, her teacher had outlined the numbers 1 through 10 in short dashes, and Linh was painstakingly tracing over them with the blue marker clutched in her hand.
As she completed each number she said it out loud in Vietnamese. "Bon," she announced as she finished the number 4 and starts on five. "Nam."
This is good progress for the young student at the Vietnamese Friendship Village in Hanoi, Vietnam. When she first arrived a short time ago, she spoke in noises and grunts instead of words. Now she's learned a few simple phrases and greetings.
"We're helping her to communicate very slowly," said her teacher, Nguyen Thi Oanh, speaking through an interpreter. "It's challenging because she cannot pay attention for long."
Officials at the Vietnam Friendship Village believe Linh's disabilities, and the disabilities of all the young people they serve, were caused by Agent Orange. During the Vietnam War, 20 million gallons of the herbicide were used by the U.S. military to defoliate acres upon of acres of jungle and destroy crops.
READ MORE: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=23586727
HANOI, Vietnam — Nguyen Thuy Linh, 8, concentrated on the page in front of her. On it, her teacher had outlined the numbers 1 through 10 in short dashes, and Linh was painstakingly tracing over them with the blue marker clutched in her hand. As she completed each number she said it out loud in Vietnamese. "Bon," she announced as she finished the number 4 and starts on five. "Nam."
This is good progress for the young student at the Vietnamese Friendship Village in Hanoi, Vietnam. When she first arrived a short time ago, she spoke in noises and grunts instead of words. Now she's learned a few simple phrases and greetings.
"We're helping her to communicate very slowly," said her teacher, Nguyen Thi Oanh, speaking through an interpreter. "It's challenging because she cannot pay attention for long."
Officials at the Vietnam Friendship Village believe Linh's disabilities, and the disabilities of all the young people they serve, were caused by Agent Orange. During the Vietnam War, 20 million gallons of the herbicide were used by the U.S. military to defoliate acres upon of acres of jungle and destroy crops.
READ MORE: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=23586727
2 Ocak 2013 Çarşamba
Freedom Flight's POW / MIA Message From Above
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Jim Tuorila’s most memorable hot air balloon flight comes with a small bit of irony attached to one of its more prominent elements—altitude. The veteran balloon pilot and co-founder of Freedom Flight, Inc., a non-profit organization that raises awareness as well as hot air balloons, had flown hundreds of times. But when one of his passengers requested that he take his distinctive black balloon with the easily recognizable POW/MIA logo to 5,000 feet, Tuorila acquiesced with little enthusiasm.
“I don’t like to fly high,” he said, laughing. “I’m afraid of heights. I can’t lean over the side of a tall building and feel comfortable. I probably wouldn’t be flying this balloon if it weren’t for the issue.”
But the POW/MIA issue and the balloon are inseparable. The striking black craft with its three 30-foot high POW/MIA logos is like no other and is easily spotted even in a sky like Albuquerque’s in October, when mass ascensions at the Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta might number more than a thousand colorful balloons in all shapes and sizes gliding over the city.
Tuorila’s three guests that day came with special significance. So he opened up the balloon’s gas burners and the black craft rose into the air. His passengers were women married to men still listed as MIA from the Vietnam War. He doesn’t remember which one asked that he fly to 5,000 feet, but Tuorila has been a psychologist at a VA Medical Center in Minnesota for 20 years; he was curious to see what would happen when they reached that altitude. Balloon flights generally skim the earth, the better to see and be seen. At 5,000 feet, people on the ground are barely able to see the balloon. He couldn’t imagine why his passenger wanted to climb that high.
He said that the moment they reached the requested altitude will stay with him forever.
“We get up there and she says this is the altitude the military said her husband was at when he ejected from his plane over Vietnam,” he said. “She wanted to see what the world looked like when he ejected. It touched me so deeply that I’ll never forget that flight with those women.”
Freedom Flight, the POW/MIA Hot Air Balloon Team, has flown in more than seven hundred events since its first flight in November 1989. The non-profit now has three balloons that attend 35 to 45 events a year, staffed entirely by volunteers. The organization grew out of Tuorila’s vocation—psychology—and his avocation—hot air balloons.
In 1981, while attending graduate school at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, he worked with a group of World War II ex-POWs called the “Lost Battalion,” all of them survivors of more than three years in Japanese prison camps. That work inspired Tuorila to write his doctoral dissertation on the effects of captivity, especially regarding the work of Victor Frankl and his famous writings following his own imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps.
While doing his doctoral internship at the Topeka, Kansas, VA Medical Center, Tuorila and his wife volunteered to crew for a hot air balloon. When he went to work in Minnesota, they saw a balloon in flight one day and decided to volunteer again.
In 1987, he appeared on a local TV program to talk about the emotional difficulties families face when a loved one returns after years of captivity. On the program he met the daughter of a Navy pilot shot down and declared MIA. The daughter told him that the government story of her father’s disappearance was very much at odds with the story told by her father’s wingman, who made a point of finding the pilot’s family to tell them the true story of the incident.
By then, Tuorila and his wife were crewing on a balloon flown by a Vietnam veteran who had been encouraging him to set up a non-profit with an eye toward calling attention to the POW/MIA issue.
Then one day at work, his professional life and his weekend life coalesced.
“I told my co-therapist, ‘You know, I’ve been flying and working with balloons for five years now. What about a black POW/MIA balloon? What kind of attention would that get?’ “
The co-therapist and co-founder of Freedom Flight, Vietnam veteran Bill Nohner, thought it was a great idea. A year later, Freedom Flight, Inc., obtained status as a non-profit educational organization.
In 1989, the first flight went up. Its first passenger was Henry Sha, a World War II veteran and ex-POW who happened to stop his car when the balloon landed nearby. Invited onboard, he didn’t hesitate.
Now in its sixteenth year, Freedom Flight continues to attract attention, sometimes through a little luck. At the 2005 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Tuorila volunteered to give rides to the media. A Voice of America camera crew making a documentary on the balloon fiesta accepted his offer. When the crew members found out who they were flying with, a new angle for the documentary emerged.
“When they found out what we were doing with the balloon, I think the program changed to include Freedom Flight and everything we were doing,” Tuorila said.
The change was in keeping with how Tuorila describes the past sixteen years. “The reception we’ve gotten over the years make the hair on the back of my neck stand up,” Tuorila said. “It’s been incredible. I’ve had what I assume to be a Vietnam veteran come up, put $100 in my pocket and say, ‘Keep it up,’ then walk away. I’ve had family members of the missing come up to me with tears in their eyes. I’ve had ex-POWs come up and thank us. Everywhere we go, the reception has been positive and overwhelming, and that keeps us flying.”
For more information on Freedom Flight go to www.freedomflight.org or call Jim Tuorila at 320-252-7208.
“I don’t like to fly high,” he said, laughing. “I’m afraid of heights. I can’t lean over the side of a tall building and feel comfortable. I probably wouldn’t be flying this balloon if it weren’t for the issue.”
But the POW/MIA issue and the balloon are inseparable. The striking black craft with its three 30-foot high POW/MIA logos is like no other and is easily spotted even in a sky like Albuquerque’s in October, when mass ascensions at the Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta might number more than a thousand colorful balloons in all shapes and sizes gliding over the city.
Tuorila’s three guests that day came with special significance. So he opened up the balloon’s gas burners and the black craft rose into the air. His passengers were women married to men still listed as MIA from the Vietnam War. He doesn’t remember which one asked that he fly to 5,000 feet, but Tuorila has been a psychologist at a VA Medical Center in Minnesota for 20 years; he was curious to see what would happen when they reached that altitude. Balloon flights generally skim the earth, the better to see and be seen. At 5,000 feet, people on the ground are barely able to see the balloon. He couldn’t imagine why his passenger wanted to climb that high.
He said that the moment they reached the requested altitude will stay with him forever.
“We get up there and she says this is the altitude the military said her husband was at when he ejected from his plane over Vietnam,” he said. “She wanted to see what the world looked like when he ejected. It touched me so deeply that I’ll never forget that flight with those women.”
Freedom Flight, the POW/MIA Hot Air Balloon Team, has flown in more than seven hundred events since its first flight in November 1989. The non-profit now has three balloons that attend 35 to 45 events a year, staffed entirely by volunteers. The organization grew out of Tuorila’s vocation—psychology—and his avocation—hot air balloons.
In 1981, while attending graduate school at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, he worked with a group of World War II ex-POWs called the “Lost Battalion,” all of them survivors of more than three years in Japanese prison camps. That work inspired Tuorila to write his doctoral dissertation on the effects of captivity, especially regarding the work of Victor Frankl and his famous writings following his own imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps.
While doing his doctoral internship at the Topeka, Kansas, VA Medical Center, Tuorila and his wife volunteered to crew for a hot air balloon. When he went to work in Minnesota, they saw a balloon in flight one day and decided to volunteer again.
In 1987, he appeared on a local TV program to talk about the emotional difficulties families face when a loved one returns after years of captivity. On the program he met the daughter of a Navy pilot shot down and declared MIA. The daughter told him that the government story of her father’s disappearance was very much at odds with the story told by her father’s wingman, who made a point of finding the pilot’s family to tell them the true story of the incident.
By then, Tuorila and his wife were crewing on a balloon flown by a Vietnam veteran who had been encouraging him to set up a non-profit with an eye toward calling attention to the POW/MIA issue.
Then one day at work, his professional life and his weekend life coalesced.
“I told my co-therapist, ‘You know, I’ve been flying and working with balloons for five years now. What about a black POW/MIA balloon? What kind of attention would that get?’ “
The co-therapist and co-founder of Freedom Flight, Vietnam veteran Bill Nohner, thought it was a great idea. A year later, Freedom Flight, Inc., obtained status as a non-profit educational organization.
In 1989, the first flight went up. Its first passenger was Henry Sha, a World War II veteran and ex-POW who happened to stop his car when the balloon landed nearby. Invited onboard, he didn’t hesitate.
Now in its sixteenth year, Freedom Flight continues to attract attention, sometimes through a little luck. At the 2005 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Tuorila volunteered to give rides to the media. A Voice of America camera crew making a documentary on the balloon fiesta accepted his offer. When the crew members found out who they were flying with, a new angle for the documentary emerged.
“When they found out what we were doing with the balloon, I think the program changed to include Freedom Flight and everything we were doing,” Tuorila said.
The change was in keeping with how Tuorila describes the past sixteen years. “The reception we’ve gotten over the years make the hair on the back of my neck stand up,” Tuorila said. “It’s been incredible. I’ve had what I assume to be a Vietnam veteran come up, put $100 in my pocket and say, ‘Keep it up,’ then walk away. I’ve had family members of the missing come up to me with tears in their eyes. I’ve had ex-POWs come up and thank us. Everywhere we go, the reception has been positive and overwhelming, and that keeps us flying.”
For more information on Freedom Flight go to www.freedomflight.org or call Jim Tuorila at 320-252-7208.
The purpose of Vietnam Veterans of America's national organization
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The purpose of Vietnam Veterans of America's national organization, the state councils, and chapters is:
* To help foster, encourage, and promote the improvement of the condition of the Vietnam veteran.
* To promote physical and cultural improvement, growth and development, self-respect, self-confidence, and usefulness of Vietnam-era veterans and others.
* To eliminate discrimination suffered by Vietnam veterans and to develop channels of communications which will assist Vietnam veterans to maximize self-realization and enrichment of their lives and enhance life-fulfillment.
* To study, on a non-partisan basis, proposed legislation, rules, or regulations introduced in any federal, state, or local legislative or administrative body which may affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others; and to develop public-policy proposals designed to improve the quality of life of the Vietnam-era veteran and others especially in the areas of employment, education, training, and health.
* To conduct and publish research, on a non-partisan basis, pertaining to the relationship between Vietnam-era veterans and the American society, the Vietnam War experience, the role of the United States in securing peaceful co-existence for the world community, and other matters which affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others.
* To assist disabled and needy war veterans including, but not limited to, Vietnam veterans and their dependents, and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans.
* To help foster, encourage, and promote the improvement of the condition of the Vietnam veteran.
* To promote physical and cultural improvement, growth and development, self-respect, self-confidence, and usefulness of Vietnam-era veterans and others.
* To eliminate discrimination suffered by Vietnam veterans and to develop channels of communications which will assist Vietnam veterans to maximize self-realization and enrichment of their lives and enhance life-fulfillment.
* To study, on a non-partisan basis, proposed legislation, rules, or regulations introduced in any federal, state, or local legislative or administrative body which may affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others; and to develop public-policy proposals designed to improve the quality of life of the Vietnam-era veteran and others especially in the areas of employment, education, training, and health.
* To conduct and publish research, on a non-partisan basis, pertaining to the relationship between Vietnam-era veterans and the American society, the Vietnam War experience, the role of the United States in securing peaceful co-existence for the world community, and other matters which affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others.
* To assist disabled and needy war veterans including, but not limited to, Vietnam veterans and their dependents, and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans.
Strategic Plan - VVA's Roadmap to the Future
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VVA, like most service organizations these days, is in a period of transition. This is not unusual since change or evolution is natural, and historically VVA has been a catalyst for change within the veterans service community. What is different today is the rapid pace and complexity that these changes have and will continue to have on VVA's ability to be a relevant factor both to ourselves and to society as a whole. The VVA leadership recognized that VVA would need a method or process to address the multitude of opportunities to emerge and to meet the challenges it would encounter in this fast-changing "reality" that is taking us into the 21st century.
In earlier years, VVA utilized a strategic plan that was developed and approved by the national board of directors in 1989. A review indicated that indeed this plan had actually served VVA very well as it focused the entire organization on the issues and concerns that were relevant and important during that time period. Many of VVA's successes and victories can be traced back to the clarity of purpose that the plan brought forth to the entire organization. What the plan lacked was a process that continued its implementation and kept the plan alive as the dynamics of VVA leadership at all levels evolved and changed.
The need to create a comprehensive process or methodology for the development and implementation of a new strategic plan for VVA was recognized by the VVA national president James L. Brazee, Jr., and a Strategic Planning Committee was established for this purpose.
The president appointed VVA national treasurer Jack McManus to chair the new Strategic Planning Committee, and he, in turn, appointed committee members that represented the diverse interests of the various constituencies and organizational levels within VVA. It is important to recognize that the committee was intentionally structured to include representation from large and small chapters, large and small state councils, the VVA staff, VVA associates, non-BOD committee chairs, national BOD members, minority and women veteran members, and elected national officers.
The reasoning behind having such diversity in the committee makeup was ultimately the plan would need to reflect the real differences of interests within the organization at each level. The intent was to be truly representative of our memberships' interests so that the individual members could embrace and own the plan. The committee believes that if the entire organization claims ownership in the Strategic Plan, then the implementation of the various elements of this plan will be more successful at all levels.
Core Values
Advocacy:
We are committed to unrelenting advocacy for fairness in the treatment of veterans so that never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.
Meaningful Achievement:
We want to make a difference, focusing on issues that stand as critical barriers to a fulfilling life for veterans and all Americans.
Integrity:
We tell the truth and take responsibility.
Compassion:
We care about comrades and others in needs.
Camaraderie:
We support each other and feel we're all members of one family.
Vision & Mission Statements
Vision:
We are leading the challenge to do what is right for America and its veterans.
Mission:
Using the shared vision of our membership:
· we aggressively advocate on issues important to veterans;
· provide programs and services that improve the well-being of all veterans and their families;
· and serve our communities.
Goals, Rationales, and Strategies
Membership Goal:
To proactively recruit, retain, and develop an informed and personally effective membership dedicated to VVA's values, mission, and goals.
Membership Rationale:
The operative phrases in the membership goal are: Informed, personally effective, and dedicated membership who embrace VVA's values, mission, and goals. In other words, as we seek to expand our membership, we offer opportunities for increasing personal effectiveness to those who share our values and commitment. The new strategic plan will let prospective members know the kind of organization they are joining. Vigorous pursuit of the goals and strategies by chapters offer many opportunities for the full use of prospective members' talents according to the interests. The strategy calls for an effective external communications program to aid recruitment, combined with training to promote personal and professional development for members through their participation in chapter activities.
Membership Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive master plan, which includes all levels; a targeted effort to recruit members (using professional and personal contact and face-to-face marketing resources); and a program to retain them.
Advocacy Goal:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives to focus our energy and resources as an effective catalyst for the retention and improvement of veterans benefits.
Advocacy Rationale:
America has an "unfinished agenda" for public policy and funding of programs affecting veterans. Health care looms large at all levels of government. Other issues range from protecting and improving service-connected compensation benefits and veterans employment preferences to advocating research and/or programs addressing Agent Orange, PTSD, and homelessness as well as specialized programs relating to women, minority, and incarcerated veterans. In an age of government downsizing, veterans benefits across the board are at risk. There is an enormous educational job to be done among Vietnam veterans, public policymakers and the general public.
When it comes to passionate and powerful advocacy, VVA is clearly a leader in the veterans community, and the situation is ripe for action. More and more Vietnam veterans are being elected at all levels of government. In short, the Vietnam generation is in charge. But there are many challenges: Advocacy goals are not focused sufficiently to establish a clear agenda in order to concentrate efforts to achieve it. Not all VVA members accept a "political" role for the organization; veterans service organizations have competing legislative and administrative agendas; and VVA's own advocacy efforts are often scattered. Thus, there is a need to establish key legislative and administrative priorities in VVA and among veterans service organizations.
Advocacy Strategy:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives, consolidate existing VVA advocacy functions and focus our energy and resources to most effectively advocate for the advancement of veterans' concerns.
Direct Services Strategy:
Maintain, expand, and support our network of veteran service representatives nationwide. Publicize direct service information and conduct training on how to build community-based coalitions. Offer the tools necessary; information and training for providing direct services and for building community-based coalitions to meet the needs of veterans and their families.
Direct Services Rationale:
VVA seeks to assure a decent, positive lifestyle for veterans by working at two levels: Actually providing VVA-sponsored services and by building the community's commitment and capacity to provide essential services to veterans and their families.
VVA has a strong base expertise in veterans benefits and provides representation for veterans to receive benefits due them. As our population ages, new concerns ranging from long-term health care to career upheavals and retirement need to be anticipated. While we continue to provide direct services, we need to help members understand the complexity of emerging needs. And we need to train members in how to build community-based coalitions to address these needs.
Direct Services Goal:
Participate in providing direct services needed by veterans and their families.
Community Service Goal:
Enable VVA members to their community and promote positive social change.
Community Service Rationale:
Creating safe and viable communities, whether rural, urban, or suburban, is high on America's agenda. The opportunity to provide meaningful service to his/her community is an important reason for any veteran to become and remain involved in a VVA chapter. VVA has a history of community involvement-chapters have conducted a wide variety of creative, effective programs attacking gang warfare, drug addiction, family strife, homelessness, help to the elderly and disabled, and education on the Vietnam War at various academic levels.
However, these efforts are largely isolated. There is no organized network for communication among community service efforts, no mentoring program, and no designated responsibility at any level of VVA. Therefore, the first step is to document how chapters are serving their communities and to organize a mentoring program among chapters to inspire continued innovation.
Community Service Strategy:
Create a database of current and past community activities and develop and implement a commmunity mentor program, which stimulates community service activities.
Financial Goal:
Continuously expand the financial base to assure adequate resources to support VVA's mission at all operational levels.
Financial Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive Financial/Funding Master Plan that provides a diversified funding base for all operational levels of the organization. The plan would include: A description of the current situation, needs and priorities, existing and potential resources, training needs, opportunities and methods at all levels, restrictions, allocation formulas, and means for monitoring and evaluating achievement of goals.
Financial Rationale:
VVA has tremendous potential for fundraising. Members recognize the need to devote energy to obtaining resources. The VVA name is well established, and we have a record of success. Moreover, many Vietnam veterans who are nearing their peak earning years in successful careers represent an important and largely untapped source for financial support.
On the other hand, we lack a comprehensive approach, relying too heavily on funding from just a few sources. We need a plan based on modern fundraising techniques plus training and technical assistance to enable chapters, state councils, and the national office to participate in a well-coordinated effort. The plan should also describe how resources will be shared to support national, state, and local operations.
Communications Goal:
Create a clear communications system/structure identifying responsibility throughout VVA, effectively using new and existing technology.
Communications Rationale:
Effective, two-way communication inside VVA and with various publics is critical to our success. VVA wants to be the authoritative voice and clearinghouse for information on topics of interest to veterans. The information age is producing increasingly accessible technology for inter-personal communication through the Internet and for mass media. VVA may not be taking full advantage of these channels. Some of the technology has not reached every chapter or member. Most important, responsibility for conveying information and providing feedback has not been established throughout VVA. Hence, the need to create a clear strategy for communicating with external audiences and to establish a system and structure that defines responsibility at all levels for our internal communications.
Communications Strategy:
Establish effective communication channels and assign responsibility at all levels. Make effective use of new and existing technology to assure accurate information exchange within these channels and encourage use and feedback between all levels.
Organizational Effectiveness Goal:
Continuously improve the ability of VVA at all levels to service a growing membership.
Organizational Effectiveness Rationale:
Assuring a positive future for VVA requires an ongoing effort to continuously improve the effectiveness of the organization itself. Success depends on: a) commitment to VVA's values and vision, b) cooperation in the pursuit of clear goals and strategies c) agreement on roles-who gets to do what d) constant, accurate feedback from VVA's members and external audiences to anticipate needs and to measure accomplishment and e) effective leadership. Making this happen is not a one-shot project. It is an ongoing process, requiring constant attention and resources. Equipping VVA's leaders for continuous improvement of the organization begins by helping them to explore implications of the strategic plan through planning with their constituencies. Feedback from these discussions about VVA's directions and ways to implement the plan at national, state, and local levels will provide the basis for designing a systematic, continuous improvement process to keep VVA strong. There must also be an ongoing, periodic review of VVA's organizational and committee structure to make VVA's operations as efficient and effective as possible and to ensure that VVA's structure changes appropriately as the organization j evolves. Additionally, VVA's resource allocation must be constantly geared to making the best possible use of limited fiscal and staff resources. Doing so will necessitate prioritizing national convention and board resolutions and directives so that VVA's priorities will be determined by a deliberate process and not by reactions to emerging and changing events.
Organizational Effectiveness Strategy:
Develop and implement a process to address the purposes, roles, and responsibilities of each organizational element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of each organizational elements to measure and reward accomplishments.
Implementation Roles
Role of the Board:
Approve the strategic plan; act as spokesperson for VVA's vision, values, and strategic directions; provide policy; and prioritize resources for plan implementation.
Role of Committees:
Review strategic plan; adjust agendas/objectives to support the strategies; develop work plans to measure achievement of objectives.
Role of State Council:
Review the strategic plan; develop objectives for state-level activities; provide technical advice and support to chapters.
Role of Chapters:
Review national and state strategies and objectives; decide how they are able to support them; implement appropriate activities.
Role of Conference of State Council President:
Act as advisory and leadership development resource amongst state council presidents, providing knowledge, evaluation, and feedback on the various objectives and activities implemented to fulfill the plans' goals and strategies from VVA's chapters and state councils.
Role of National Staff:
Internally - develop and implement objectives in support of the strategic plan, report to the board on implementation.
Externally - provide resources, training, and technical support to state councils and chapters to support their strategic planning and evaluation processes.
Methodology
VVA's Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
This exhaustive examination not only informed our planning, it also yielded some important implications for the way we operate.
The single most important conclusion is that merely producing a strategic plan will not be sufficient to move VVA successfully into the 21st century. What is required is a planning and evaluation process that cascades through all levels of the organization to align our energies to implement the plan. Without such a process, supported by members skilled in facilitation, meaningful implementation is highly unlikely.
A second overarching conclusion is that implementing our roadmap for the future depends on empowering people at all levels through strong leadership, clear responsibility and authority, sufficient resources, and above all, a new level of cooperation among all elements of the organization.
Like every organization these days, VVA is in transition. To grow and remain relevant, we must change in order to respond to changes occurring around us. The new global economy, the march of technology, and the maturing of our membership are just a few of the forces already impacting us. Not only do we need to change, we need to change fast just to stay up.
The core values expressed in the plan are those things that our members believe are why they joined VVA and what needs to be here for them to remain committed to VVA. The committee utilized these core values to guide its decision-making during the planning process and are important to be considered when implementing the plan.
The vision statement is how we want the organization to be viewed by our members, our staff, and the public at any ideal point in the future.
The mission statement: simply addresses how and what we do as an organization based upon rethinking our basic purposes.
The goals define areas from our mission statement where we can achieve specific results.
The rationale is a summary analysis of the forces likely to effect the achievement success of the stated goal.
The strategy for each goal defines in a broad sense what should be accomplished to attain specific achievements.
Objectives and workplans committees at all levels, including chapters and state councils and the national staff, are asked to establish objectives and work plans for each goal and strategy, including measurable outcomes. This will require the committee and national staff to rethink their work and shift their resources and energy to align their work with the Strategic Plan.
Chapters and state councils should undertake an assessment of their respective entity to determine how they can best align their objectives and activities to best support this Strategic Plan.
The roles identify the responsibilities that each entity within the organization could be expected to perform for the successful implementation of the Strategic Plan.
Follow-up a continuing effort will be undertaken by leaders of VVA to: Communicate the values, mission, goals, and strategies throughout VVA; support committees, national staff, state councils, and chapters in their efforts to achieve the goals; and measure and recognize achievement.
The Proposed Strategic / Operational Planning Model
* The model is constructed from the bottom up.
* After the plans are completed, one can easily check the consistency of current activities with agreements made in preceding blocks.
* Thus, the strategic plan serves to keep the organization on course: in pursuit of its mission-consistent with realities in the environment- and aligned with the core values of its members.
Workplans - Action plans of individuals responsible for achieving the objectives.
Objectives - Major results needed to implement the strategy in certain time.
Roles - Who gets to do what to align resources and people with the plan.
Strategies -The grand design for achieving each goal.
Goals - Four of five "chunks" of the mission (area for achievement).
Mission - The "match" between the core values and the realities of the environment
determines the core business of the organization.
SWOT Analysis - Organization's strengths and weaknesses, plus anticipated opportunities and threats in the environment.
Core Values - Specific aspirations members hold for the organization.
In earlier years, VVA utilized a strategic plan that was developed and approved by the national board of directors in 1989. A review indicated that indeed this plan had actually served VVA very well as it focused the entire organization on the issues and concerns that were relevant and important during that time period. Many of VVA's successes and victories can be traced back to the clarity of purpose that the plan brought forth to the entire organization. What the plan lacked was a process that continued its implementation and kept the plan alive as the dynamics of VVA leadership at all levels evolved and changed.
The need to create a comprehensive process or methodology for the development and implementation of a new strategic plan for VVA was recognized by the VVA national president James L. Brazee, Jr., and a Strategic Planning Committee was established for this purpose.
The president appointed VVA national treasurer Jack McManus to chair the new Strategic Planning Committee, and he, in turn, appointed committee members that represented the diverse interests of the various constituencies and organizational levels within VVA. It is important to recognize that the committee was intentionally structured to include representation from large and small chapters, large and small state councils, the VVA staff, VVA associates, non-BOD committee chairs, national BOD members, minority and women veteran members, and elected national officers.
The reasoning behind having such diversity in the committee makeup was ultimately the plan would need to reflect the real differences of interests within the organization at each level. The intent was to be truly representative of our memberships' interests so that the individual members could embrace and own the plan. The committee believes that if the entire organization claims ownership in the Strategic Plan, then the implementation of the various elements of this plan will be more successful at all levels.
Core Values
Advocacy:
We are committed to unrelenting advocacy for fairness in the treatment of veterans so that never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.
Meaningful Achievement:
We want to make a difference, focusing on issues that stand as critical barriers to a fulfilling life for veterans and all Americans.
Integrity:
We tell the truth and take responsibility.
Compassion:
We care about comrades and others in needs.
Camaraderie:
We support each other and feel we're all members of one family.
Vision & Mission Statements
Vision:
We are leading the challenge to do what is right for America and its veterans.
Mission:
Using the shared vision of our membership:
· we aggressively advocate on issues important to veterans;
· provide programs and services that improve the well-being of all veterans and their families;
· and serve our communities.
Goals, Rationales, and Strategies
Membership Goal:
To proactively recruit, retain, and develop an informed and personally effective membership dedicated to VVA's values, mission, and goals.
Membership Rationale:
The operative phrases in the membership goal are: Informed, personally effective, and dedicated membership who embrace VVA's values, mission, and goals. In other words, as we seek to expand our membership, we offer opportunities for increasing personal effectiveness to those who share our values and commitment. The new strategic plan will let prospective members know the kind of organization they are joining. Vigorous pursuit of the goals and strategies by chapters offer many opportunities for the full use of prospective members' talents according to the interests. The strategy calls for an effective external communications program to aid recruitment, combined with training to promote personal and professional development for members through their participation in chapter activities.
Membership Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive master plan, which includes all levels; a targeted effort to recruit members (using professional and personal contact and face-to-face marketing resources); and a program to retain them.
Advocacy Goal:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives to focus our energy and resources as an effective catalyst for the retention and improvement of veterans benefits.
Advocacy Rationale:
America has an "unfinished agenda" for public policy and funding of programs affecting veterans. Health care looms large at all levels of government. Other issues range from protecting and improving service-connected compensation benefits and veterans employment preferences to advocating research and/or programs addressing Agent Orange, PTSD, and homelessness as well as specialized programs relating to women, minority, and incarcerated veterans. In an age of government downsizing, veterans benefits across the board are at risk. There is an enormous educational job to be done among Vietnam veterans, public policymakers and the general public.
When it comes to passionate and powerful advocacy, VVA is clearly a leader in the veterans community, and the situation is ripe for action. More and more Vietnam veterans are being elected at all levels of government. In short, the Vietnam generation is in charge. But there are many challenges: Advocacy goals are not focused sufficiently to establish a clear agenda in order to concentrate efforts to achieve it. Not all VVA members accept a "political" role for the organization; veterans service organizations have competing legislative and administrative agendas; and VVA's own advocacy efforts are often scattered. Thus, there is a need to establish key legislative and administrative priorities in VVA and among veterans service organizations.
Advocacy Strategy:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives, consolidate existing VVA advocacy functions and focus our energy and resources to most effectively advocate for the advancement of veterans' concerns.
Direct Services Strategy:
Maintain, expand, and support our network of veteran service representatives nationwide. Publicize direct service information and conduct training on how to build community-based coalitions. Offer the tools necessary; information and training for providing direct services and for building community-based coalitions to meet the needs of veterans and their families.
Direct Services Rationale:
VVA seeks to assure a decent, positive lifestyle for veterans by working at two levels: Actually providing VVA-sponsored services and by building the community's commitment and capacity to provide essential services to veterans and their families.
VVA has a strong base expertise in veterans benefits and provides representation for veterans to receive benefits due them. As our population ages, new concerns ranging from long-term health care to career upheavals and retirement need to be anticipated. While we continue to provide direct services, we need to help members understand the complexity of emerging needs. And we need to train members in how to build community-based coalitions to address these needs.
Direct Services Goal:
Participate in providing direct services needed by veterans and their families.
Community Service Goal:
Enable VVA members to their community and promote positive social change.
Community Service Rationale:
Creating safe and viable communities, whether rural, urban, or suburban, is high on America's agenda. The opportunity to provide meaningful service to his/her community is an important reason for any veteran to become and remain involved in a VVA chapter. VVA has a history of community involvement-chapters have conducted a wide variety of creative, effective programs attacking gang warfare, drug addiction, family strife, homelessness, help to the elderly and disabled, and education on the Vietnam War at various academic levels.
However, these efforts are largely isolated. There is no organized network for communication among community service efforts, no mentoring program, and no designated responsibility at any level of VVA. Therefore, the first step is to document how chapters are serving their communities and to organize a mentoring program among chapters to inspire continued innovation.
Community Service Strategy:
Create a database of current and past community activities and develop and implement a commmunity mentor program, which stimulates community service activities.
Financial Goal:
Continuously expand the financial base to assure adequate resources to support VVA's mission at all operational levels.
Financial Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive Financial/Funding Master Plan that provides a diversified funding base for all operational levels of the organization. The plan would include: A description of the current situation, needs and priorities, existing and potential resources, training needs, opportunities and methods at all levels, restrictions, allocation formulas, and means for monitoring and evaluating achievement of goals.
Financial Rationale:
VVA has tremendous potential for fundraising. Members recognize the need to devote energy to obtaining resources. The VVA name is well established, and we have a record of success. Moreover, many Vietnam veterans who are nearing their peak earning years in successful careers represent an important and largely untapped source for financial support.
On the other hand, we lack a comprehensive approach, relying too heavily on funding from just a few sources. We need a plan based on modern fundraising techniques plus training and technical assistance to enable chapters, state councils, and the national office to participate in a well-coordinated effort. The plan should also describe how resources will be shared to support national, state, and local operations.
Communications Goal:
Create a clear communications system/structure identifying responsibility throughout VVA, effectively using new and existing technology.
Communications Rationale:
Effective, two-way communication inside VVA and with various publics is critical to our success. VVA wants to be the authoritative voice and clearinghouse for information on topics of interest to veterans. The information age is producing increasingly accessible technology for inter-personal communication through the Internet and for mass media. VVA may not be taking full advantage of these channels. Some of the technology has not reached every chapter or member. Most important, responsibility for conveying information and providing feedback has not been established throughout VVA. Hence, the need to create a clear strategy for communicating with external audiences and to establish a system and structure that defines responsibility at all levels for our internal communications.
Communications Strategy:
Establish effective communication channels and assign responsibility at all levels. Make effective use of new and existing technology to assure accurate information exchange within these channels and encourage use and feedback between all levels.
Organizational Effectiveness Goal:
Continuously improve the ability of VVA at all levels to service a growing membership.
Organizational Effectiveness Rationale:
Assuring a positive future for VVA requires an ongoing effort to continuously improve the effectiveness of the organization itself. Success depends on: a) commitment to VVA's values and vision, b) cooperation in the pursuit of clear goals and strategies c) agreement on roles-who gets to do what d) constant, accurate feedback from VVA's members and external audiences to anticipate needs and to measure accomplishment and e) effective leadership. Making this happen is not a one-shot project. It is an ongoing process, requiring constant attention and resources. Equipping VVA's leaders for continuous improvement of the organization begins by helping them to explore implications of the strategic plan through planning with their constituencies. Feedback from these discussions about VVA's directions and ways to implement the plan at national, state, and local levels will provide the basis for designing a systematic, continuous improvement process to keep VVA strong. There must also be an ongoing, periodic review of VVA's organizational and committee structure to make VVA's operations as efficient and effective as possible and to ensure that VVA's structure changes appropriately as the organization j evolves. Additionally, VVA's resource allocation must be constantly geared to making the best possible use of limited fiscal and staff resources. Doing so will necessitate prioritizing national convention and board resolutions and directives so that VVA's priorities will be determined by a deliberate process and not by reactions to emerging and changing events.
Organizational Effectiveness Strategy:
Develop and implement a process to address the purposes, roles, and responsibilities of each organizational element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of each organizational elements to measure and reward accomplishments.
Implementation Roles
Role of the Board:
Approve the strategic plan; act as spokesperson for VVA's vision, values, and strategic directions; provide policy; and prioritize resources for plan implementation.
Role of Committees:
Review strategic plan; adjust agendas/objectives to support the strategies; develop work plans to measure achievement of objectives.
Role of State Council:
Review the strategic plan; develop objectives for state-level activities; provide technical advice and support to chapters.
Role of Chapters:
Review national and state strategies and objectives; decide how they are able to support them; implement appropriate activities.
Role of Conference of State Council President:
Act as advisory and leadership development resource amongst state council presidents, providing knowledge, evaluation, and feedback on the various objectives and activities implemented to fulfill the plans' goals and strategies from VVA's chapters and state councils.
Role of National Staff:
Internally - develop and implement objectives in support of the strategic plan, report to the board on implementation.
Externally - provide resources, training, and technical support to state councils and chapters to support their strategic planning and evaluation processes.
Methodology
VVA's Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
This exhaustive examination not only informed our planning, it also yielded some important implications for the way we operate.
The single most important conclusion is that merely producing a strategic plan will not be sufficient to move VVA successfully into the 21st century. What is required is a planning and evaluation process that cascades through all levels of the organization to align our energies to implement the plan. Without such a process, supported by members skilled in facilitation, meaningful implementation is highly unlikely.
A second overarching conclusion is that implementing our roadmap for the future depends on empowering people at all levels through strong leadership, clear responsibility and authority, sufficient resources, and above all, a new level of cooperation among all elements of the organization.
Like every organization these days, VVA is in transition. To grow and remain relevant, we must change in order to respond to changes occurring around us. The new global economy, the march of technology, and the maturing of our membership are just a few of the forces already impacting us. Not only do we need to change, we need to change fast just to stay up.
The core values expressed in the plan are those things that our members believe are why they joined VVA and what needs to be here for them to remain committed to VVA. The committee utilized these core values to guide its decision-making during the planning process and are important to be considered when implementing the plan.
The vision statement is how we want the organization to be viewed by our members, our staff, and the public at any ideal point in the future.
The mission statement: simply addresses how and what we do as an organization based upon rethinking our basic purposes.
The goals define areas from our mission statement where we can achieve specific results.
The rationale is a summary analysis of the forces likely to effect the achievement success of the stated goal.
The strategy for each goal defines in a broad sense what should be accomplished to attain specific achievements.
Objectives and workplans committees at all levels, including chapters and state councils and the national staff, are asked to establish objectives and work plans for each goal and strategy, including measurable outcomes. This will require the committee and national staff to rethink their work and shift their resources and energy to align their work with the Strategic Plan.
Chapters and state councils should undertake an assessment of their respective entity to determine how they can best align their objectives and activities to best support this Strategic Plan.
The roles identify the responsibilities that each entity within the organization could be expected to perform for the successful implementation of the Strategic Plan.
Follow-up a continuing effort will be undertaken by leaders of VVA to: Communicate the values, mission, goals, and strategies throughout VVA; support committees, national staff, state councils, and chapters in their efforts to achieve the goals; and measure and recognize achievement.
The Proposed Strategic / Operational Planning Model
* The model is constructed from the bottom up.
* After the plans are completed, one can easily check the consistency of current activities with agreements made in preceding blocks.
* Thus, the strategic plan serves to keep the organization on course: in pursuit of its mission-consistent with realities in the environment- and aligned with the core values of its members.
Workplans - Action plans of individuals responsible for achieving the objectives.
Objectives - Major results needed to implement the strategy in certain time.
Roles - Who gets to do what to align resources and people with the plan.
Strategies -The grand design for achieving each goal.
Goals - Four of five "chunks" of the mission (area for achievement).
Mission - The "match" between the core values and the realities of the environment
determines the core business of the organization.
SWOT Analysis - Organization's strengths and weaknesses, plus anticipated opportunities and threats in the environment.
Core Values - Specific aspirations members hold for the organization.
Jackpot! VVA's Twelfth Biennial Convention
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Any way you look at it, VVA’s 12th biennial National Convention, which was held Aug. 10-13 at the Silver Legacy Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada, was a huge success. A record number of Convention delegates, 736 from across the nation, rolled up their collective sleeves and spent three and a half days debating and enacting a series of resolutions that will guide the organization through the next two years. On Friday, the delegates cast their votes for VVA’s four national officers and nineteen members of the Board of Directors. More than a thousand delegates and guests—including some 125 AVVA members taking part in the organization’s National Leadership Conference—took in the stirring opening ceremonies that kicked off the Convention and the moving (and rocking) Saturday Night Awards Banquet, which ended the event.
“We did ourselves proud in Reno,” said outgoing VVA President Tom Corey, who stepped down after two terms. “The delegates showed a seriousness of purpose that we have come to expect at VVA Conventions. The election campaigns were hard fought. And after the votes were counted, we came together in support of our new national leaders who will guide us through another two years. I look forward to working with them.”
John Rowan of Middle Village, New York, the New York State Council president who had served as the chair of VVA’s Conference of State Council Presidents and three terms on the Board of Directors, was elected VVA’s sixth national president, defeating former VVA Vice President Ed Chow. Jack Devine of Dimondale, Michigan, a former VVA Board member who chairs VVA’s Project 112/SHAD Task Force, was chosen as national Vice President. Barry Hagge of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, the long-time chair of VVA’s Constitution Committee, was elected national Secretary, and Alan Cook of Castro Valley, California, won re-election as national Treasurer.
“It’s a great honor to serve as VVA’s national President,” Rowan said. “We have a great team in place to run this great veterans’ service organization for the next two years. I am looking forward to working with VVA members all across the nation on every level to support Vietnam veterans and their families In Service to America.”
The Convention got off to an exuberant start at 9:00 on Wednesday morning with the Opening Ceremonies, which began with rousing renditions of the Vietnam-War-era songs “Run Through the Jungle” and “Fortunate Son” by an uncannily realistic John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival) impersonator as black and white war-time images were displayed on four huge video screens. The ceremonies also included moving tributes to former VVA National President George Duggins (who died just a week before the Convention) and other VVA members lost in the previous year, as well as warm welcomes from Nevada State Council President Virgie Hibbler, Jr., Reno Mayor Robert Cashell, and AVVA President Mary Miller.
Most of those on hand agreed that the highlight of the morning was the powerful Keynote Speech delivered by VVA member Allen Hoe, a former Americal Division medic from Honololu who today is one of Hawaii’s most prominent attorneys—and whose son, U.S. Army Lt. Nainoa Hoe, was killed in action in Iraq in January.
“I have stopped trying to understand why the events in my life have come to me in the manner they have and at the times they had,” Hoe said. “Sayings like ‘there but for the grace of God’ have true meaning in my world. I learned many lessons on the battlefields of Hiep Duc and Que Son Valley—when all is lost, you need to remember: someone else has it twice as bad as you.”
The delegates put in long hours on the Convention floor on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and during evening caucuses with the officer and board candidates. On Thursday, the delegates heard from Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield, the No. 2 person in the VA. On Friday, the delegates honored Tabeatha Allen, a security guard at the hotel who all week had been thanking VVA members for their service. When members learned that Allen was a twice-wounded veteran of the war in Iraq, she was prevailed upon to come onto the Convention floor and be introduced. What followed was a thunderous ovation, as Convention delegates showed their allegiance to VVA’s founding principle: “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
With the work of the Convention complete by noon on Saturday, nearly everyone joined in the autographing and book-signing event featuring Raquel Welch, who signed photos for more than two and a half hours. Also taking part was John Hulme, who directed the acclaimed HBO documentary, Unknown Soldier: Searching for a Father, the story of his quest to learn about his father, U.S. Marine Lt. Jack Hulme, who in 1969 was killed in action in Vietnam when John Hulme was three weeks old.
Raquel Welch, who made a Bob Hope tour trip to Vietnam in 1967, and John Hulme received the VVA President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Saturday night Awards Banquet, which was emceed by VVA member Troy Evans, the veteran Hollywood character actor best known for his recurring roles on China Beach and ER. Evans, in fact, reprised one of his China Beach bits, “Sarge’s Rules for How to Stay Alive in Vietnam” on stage. That included the old chestnut: “When you’ve secured an area, don’t forget to tell the enemy. They may have other plans.”
Also receiving an Excellence in the Arts Award: Wayne Karlin, the author of—among many other acclaimed works—the novel Lost Armies and the memoir Rumors and Stones. Karlin, a former Marine helicopter doorgunner, is one of the finest, most accomplished, and most honored writers to come out of the Vietnam War.
The Awards Banquet concluded with a tribute to retiring VVA President Tom Corey, who said that while he was stepping down as President, he would continue to be an active veterans’ advocate and work with VVA for years to come.
“We did ourselves proud in Reno,” said outgoing VVA President Tom Corey, who stepped down after two terms. “The delegates showed a seriousness of purpose that we have come to expect at VVA Conventions. The election campaigns were hard fought. And after the votes were counted, we came together in support of our new national leaders who will guide us through another two years. I look forward to working with them.”
John Rowan of Middle Village, New York, the New York State Council president who had served as the chair of VVA’s Conference of State Council Presidents and three terms on the Board of Directors, was elected VVA’s sixth national president, defeating former VVA Vice President Ed Chow. Jack Devine of Dimondale, Michigan, a former VVA Board member who chairs VVA’s Project 112/SHAD Task Force, was chosen as national Vice President. Barry Hagge of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, the long-time chair of VVA’s Constitution Committee, was elected national Secretary, and Alan Cook of Castro Valley, California, won re-election as national Treasurer.
“It’s a great honor to serve as VVA’s national President,” Rowan said. “We have a great team in place to run this great veterans’ service organization for the next two years. I am looking forward to working with VVA members all across the nation on every level to support Vietnam veterans and their families In Service to America.”
The Convention got off to an exuberant start at 9:00 on Wednesday morning with the Opening Ceremonies, which began with rousing renditions of the Vietnam-War-era songs “Run Through the Jungle” and “Fortunate Son” by an uncannily realistic John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival) impersonator as black and white war-time images were displayed on four huge video screens. The ceremonies also included moving tributes to former VVA National President George Duggins (who died just a week before the Convention) and other VVA members lost in the previous year, as well as warm welcomes from Nevada State Council President Virgie Hibbler, Jr., Reno Mayor Robert Cashell, and AVVA President Mary Miller.
Most of those on hand agreed that the highlight of the morning was the powerful Keynote Speech delivered by VVA member Allen Hoe, a former Americal Division medic from Honololu who today is one of Hawaii’s most prominent attorneys—and whose son, U.S. Army Lt. Nainoa Hoe, was killed in action in Iraq in January.
“I have stopped trying to understand why the events in my life have come to me in the manner they have and at the times they had,” Hoe said. “Sayings like ‘there but for the grace of God’ have true meaning in my world. I learned many lessons on the battlefields of Hiep Duc and Que Son Valley—when all is lost, you need to remember: someone else has it twice as bad as you.”
The delegates put in long hours on the Convention floor on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and during evening caucuses with the officer and board candidates. On Thursday, the delegates heard from Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield, the No. 2 person in the VA. On Friday, the delegates honored Tabeatha Allen, a security guard at the hotel who all week had been thanking VVA members for their service. When members learned that Allen was a twice-wounded veteran of the war in Iraq, she was prevailed upon to come onto the Convention floor and be introduced. What followed was a thunderous ovation, as Convention delegates showed their allegiance to VVA’s founding principle: “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
With the work of the Convention complete by noon on Saturday, nearly everyone joined in the autographing and book-signing event featuring Raquel Welch, who signed photos for more than two and a half hours. Also taking part was John Hulme, who directed the acclaimed HBO documentary, Unknown Soldier: Searching for a Father, the story of his quest to learn about his father, U.S. Marine Lt. Jack Hulme, who in 1969 was killed in action in Vietnam when John Hulme was three weeks old.
Raquel Welch, who made a Bob Hope tour trip to Vietnam in 1967, and John Hulme received the VVA President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Saturday night Awards Banquet, which was emceed by VVA member Troy Evans, the veteran Hollywood character actor best known for his recurring roles on China Beach and ER. Evans, in fact, reprised one of his China Beach bits, “Sarge’s Rules for How to Stay Alive in Vietnam” on stage. That included the old chestnut: “When you’ve secured an area, don’t forget to tell the enemy. They may have other plans.”
Also receiving an Excellence in the Arts Award: Wayne Karlin, the author of—among many other acclaimed works—the novel Lost Armies and the memoir Rumors and Stones. Karlin, a former Marine helicopter doorgunner, is one of the finest, most accomplished, and most honored writers to come out of the Vietnam War.
The Awards Banquet concluded with a tribute to retiring VVA President Tom Corey, who said that while he was stepping down as President, he would continue to be an active veterans’ advocate and work with VVA for years to come.
VA Resists C-123 Veterans' FOIA for Agent Orange Data
To contact us Click HERE
Early last year, LtCol Paul Bailey submitted our formal FOIA (Freedom of Information Act request) to the Veterans Administration, seeking information about how VA officials managed their participation in two meetings with C-123 veterans hosted by Senator Burr's staff in Washington DC. Our request to the Air Force for their materials had been granted earlier. It is our fear that the VA participants approached the question of C-123 dioxin contamination with a mindset of denial, rather than even-handed scientific concern. In went our FOIA as we hoped to learn about how we were treated at the meetings.
Result? $5000 in pushback from the VA as they denied the perfectly valid appeal! To prevent us getting information about ourselves. $5000 to make sure we'd never get it! $5000 to make sure veterans would never learn that VA officials approached our concerns about Agent Orange exposure with a determination not to uncover the truth, but instead to construct any argument necessary to prevent our access to VA medical care and benefits. Our concerns for this FOIA focused on uncovering all the information located by the VA, how they interpreted it, what instructions they gave their officials and whether those instructions were neutral or whether those instructions were to
Government agencies usually can't bury information like this without running up against the FOIA itself, but obviously there are times when the requested information might cause bureaucrats discomfort. This seem to be one of those instances. Solution? Delay. Delay. Delay. Delays then followed by charging prohibitive fees for the information requested! That's the VA solution to keep embarrassing information out of the hands of C-123 veterans.
But we have rights and options, and one was to appeal the VA's pricing and refusal to provide an expedited response. Paul submitted that appeal in May and the GSA took until late November to get around to refusing it..again! They claimed the FOIA law required VA to charge us because only journalistic, educational, and not-for-profit requests can be free. Another free category - information requested is in the public interest and informs the public of how the government operates. VA's Assistant General Counsel Deborah McCallum wrote Paul about her refusal to grant his appeal even though we were fully justified, but she was also required to tell us of a final route for an appeal before going to court: The Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) acts as a final arbiter of our rights to this information - and so we submitted our appeal on behalf of The C-123 Veterans Association on December 24, 2012.
In this last out-of-court appeal, we explained our journalistic presence in the form of blogs, web sites and newsletters, We explained that the public is intensely interested in both Agent Orange and veterans health care. We explained that we have no commercial interest in the requested materials, and that the Air Force honored an identical request, using the same FOIA law and regulations, and that the information is, after all, about US!
In it, we explained the justification for our FOIA and the reasons its denial were improper. Now...we are waiting once again. The impact: we won't have the data in time for the 15 Jan 2013 briefing we are scheduled to give the Institute of Medicine's Agent Orange committee, but we will have both the VA and the Air Force extensive collections of materials ready to give Congress early in 2013 as we continue our struggle.
So...more waiting, more hoping. Keep the faith!
Early last year, LtCol Paul Bailey submitted our formal FOIA (Freedom of Information Act request) to the Veterans Administration, seeking information about how VA officials managed their participation in two meetings with C-123 veterans hosted by Senator Burr's staff in Washington DC. Our request to the Air Force for their materials had been granted earlier. It is our fear that the VA participants approached the question of C-123 dioxin contamination with a mindset of denial, rather than even-handed scientific concern. In went our FOIA as we hoped to learn about how we were treated at the meetings.Result? $5000 in pushback from the VA as they denied the perfectly valid appeal! To prevent us getting information about ourselves. $5000 to make sure we'd never get it! $5000 to make sure veterans would never learn that VA officials approached our concerns about Agent Orange exposure with a determination not to uncover the truth, but instead to construct any argument necessary to prevent our access to VA medical care and benefits. Our concerns for this FOIA focused on uncovering all the information located by the VA, how they interpreted it, what instructions they gave their officials and whether those instructions were neutral or whether those instructions were toGovernment agencies usually can't bury information like this without running up against the FOIA itself, but obviously there are times when the requested information might cause bureaucrats discomfort. This seem to be one of those instances. Solution? Delay. Delay. Delay. Delays then followed by charging prohibitive fees for the information requested! That's the VA solution to keep embarrassing information out of the hands of C-123 veterans.
But we have rights and options, and one was to appeal the VA's pricing and refusal to provide an expedited response. Paul submitted that appeal in May and the GSA took until late November to get around to refusing it..again! They claimed the FOIA law required VA to charge us because only journalistic, educational, and not-for-profit requests can be free. Another free category - information requested is in the public interest and informs the public of how the government operates. VA's Assistant General Counsel Deborah McCallum wrote Paul about her refusal to grant his appeal even though we were fully justified, but she was also required to tell us of a final route for an appeal before going to court: The Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) acts as a final arbiter of our rights to this information - and so we submitted our appeal on behalf of The C-123 Veterans Association on December 24, 2012.
In this last out-of-court appeal, we explained our journalistic presence in the form of blogs, web sites and newsletters, We explained that the public is intensely interested in both Agent Orange and veterans health care. We explained that we have no commercial interest in the requested materials, and that the Air Force honored an identical request, using the same FOIA law and regulations, and that the information is, after all, about US!
In it, we explained the justification for our FOIA and the reasons its denial were improper. Now...we are waiting once again. The impact: we won't have the data in time for the 15 Jan 2013 briefing we are scheduled to give the Institute of Medicine's Agent Orange committee, but we will have both the VA and the Air Force extensive collections of materials ready to give Congress early in 2013 as we continue our struggle.
So...more waiting, more hoping. Keep the faith!
1 Ocak 2013 Salı
Strategic Plan - VVA's Roadmap to the Future
To contact us Click HERE
VVA, like most service organizations these days, is in a period of transition. This is not unusual since change or evolution is natural, and historically VVA has been a catalyst for change within the veterans service community. What is different today is the rapid pace and complexity that these changes have and will continue to have on VVA's ability to be a relevant factor both to ourselves and to society as a whole. The VVA leadership recognized that VVA would need a method or process to address the multitude of opportunities to emerge and to meet the challenges it would encounter in this fast-changing "reality" that is taking us into the 21st century.
In earlier years, VVA utilized a strategic plan that was developed and approved by the national board of directors in 1989. A review indicated that indeed this plan had actually served VVA very well as it focused the entire organization on the issues and concerns that were relevant and important during that time period. Many of VVA's successes and victories can be traced back to the clarity of purpose that the plan brought forth to the entire organization. What the plan lacked was a process that continued its implementation and kept the plan alive as the dynamics of VVA leadership at all levels evolved and changed.
The need to create a comprehensive process or methodology for the development and implementation of a new strategic plan for VVA was recognized by the VVA national president James L. Brazee, Jr., and a Strategic Planning Committee was established for this purpose.
The president appointed VVA national treasurer Jack McManus to chair the new Strategic Planning Committee, and he, in turn, appointed committee members that represented the diverse interests of the various constituencies and organizational levels within VVA. It is important to recognize that the committee was intentionally structured to include representation from large and small chapters, large and small state councils, the VVA staff, VVA associates, non-BOD committee chairs, national BOD members, minority and women veteran members, and elected national officers.
The reasoning behind having such diversity in the committee makeup was ultimately the plan would need to reflect the real differences of interests within the organization at each level. The intent was to be truly representative of our memberships' interests so that the individual members could embrace and own the plan. The committee believes that if the entire organization claims ownership in the Strategic Plan, then the implementation of the various elements of this plan will be more successful at all levels.
Core Values
Advocacy:
We are committed to unrelenting advocacy for fairness in the treatment of veterans so that never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.
Meaningful Achievement:
We want to make a difference, focusing on issues that stand as critical barriers to a fulfilling life for veterans and all Americans.
Integrity:
We tell the truth and take responsibility.
Compassion:
We care about comrades and others in needs.
Camaraderie:
We support each other and feel we're all members of one family.
Vision & Mission Statements
Vision:
We are leading the challenge to do what is right for America and its veterans.
Mission:
Using the shared vision of our membership:
· we aggressively advocate on issues important to veterans;
· provide programs and services that improve the well-being of all veterans and their families;
· and serve our communities.
Goals, Rationales, and Strategies
Membership Goal:
To proactively recruit, retain, and develop an informed and personally effective membership dedicated to VVA's values, mission, and goals.
Membership Rationale:
The operative phrases in the membership goal are: Informed, personally effective, and dedicated membership who embrace VVA's values, mission, and goals. In other words, as we seek to expand our membership, we offer opportunities for increasing personal effectiveness to those who share our values and commitment. The new strategic plan will let prospective members know the kind of organization they are joining. Vigorous pursuit of the goals and strategies by chapters offer many opportunities for the full use of prospective members' talents according to the interests. The strategy calls for an effective external communications program to aid recruitment, combined with training to promote personal and professional development for members through their participation in chapter activities.
Membership Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive master plan, which includes all levels; a targeted effort to recruit members (using professional and personal contact and face-to-face marketing resources); and a program to retain them.
Advocacy Goal:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives to focus our energy and resources as an effective catalyst for the retention and improvement of veterans benefits.
Advocacy Rationale:
America has an "unfinished agenda" for public policy and funding of programs affecting veterans. Health care looms large at all levels of government. Other issues range from protecting and improving service-connected compensation benefits and veterans employment preferences to advocating research and/or programs addressing Agent Orange, PTSD, and homelessness as well as specialized programs relating to women, minority, and incarcerated veterans. In an age of government downsizing, veterans benefits across the board are at risk. There is an enormous educational job to be done among Vietnam veterans, public policymakers and the general public.
When it comes to passionate and powerful advocacy, VVA is clearly a leader in the veterans community, and the situation is ripe for action. More and more Vietnam veterans are being elected at all levels of government. In short, the Vietnam generation is in charge. But there are many challenges: Advocacy goals are not focused sufficiently to establish a clear agenda in order to concentrate efforts to achieve it. Not all VVA members accept a "political" role for the organization; veterans service organizations have competing legislative and administrative agendas; and VVA's own advocacy efforts are often scattered. Thus, there is a need to establish key legislative and administrative priorities in VVA and among veterans service organizations.
Advocacy Strategy:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives, consolidate existing VVA advocacy functions and focus our energy and resources to most effectively advocate for the advancement of veterans' concerns.
Direct Services Strategy:
Maintain, expand, and support our network of veteran service representatives nationwide. Publicize direct service information and conduct training on how to build community-based coalitions. Offer the tools necessary; information and training for providing direct services and for building community-based coalitions to meet the needs of veterans and their families.
Direct Services Rationale:
VVA seeks to assure a decent, positive lifestyle for veterans by working at two levels: Actually providing VVA-sponsored services and by building the community's commitment and capacity to provide essential services to veterans and their families.
VVA has a strong base expertise in veterans benefits and provides representation for veterans to receive benefits due them. As our population ages, new concerns ranging from long-term health care to career upheavals and retirement need to be anticipated. While we continue to provide direct services, we need to help members understand the complexity of emerging needs. And we need to train members in how to build community-based coalitions to address these needs.
Direct Services Goal:
Participate in providing direct services needed by veterans and their families.
Community Service Goal:
Enable VVA members to their community and promote positive social change.
Community Service Rationale:
Creating safe and viable communities, whether rural, urban, or suburban, is high on America's agenda. The opportunity to provide meaningful service to his/her community is an important reason for any veteran to become and remain involved in a VVA chapter. VVA has a history of community involvement-chapters have conducted a wide variety of creative, effective programs attacking gang warfare, drug addiction, family strife, homelessness, help to the elderly and disabled, and education on the Vietnam War at various academic levels.
However, these efforts are largely isolated. There is no organized network for communication among community service efforts, no mentoring program, and no designated responsibility at any level of VVA. Therefore, the first step is to document how chapters are serving their communities and to organize a mentoring program among chapters to inspire continued innovation.
Community Service Strategy:
Create a database of current and past community activities and develop and implement a commmunity mentor program, which stimulates community service activities.
Financial Goal:
Continuously expand the financial base to assure adequate resources to support VVA's mission at all operational levels.
Financial Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive Financial/Funding Master Plan that provides a diversified funding base for all operational levels of the organization. The plan would include: A description of the current situation, needs and priorities, existing and potential resources, training needs, opportunities and methods at all levels, restrictions, allocation formulas, and means for monitoring and evaluating achievement of goals.
Financial Rationale:
VVA has tremendous potential for fundraising. Members recognize the need to devote energy to obtaining resources. The VVA name is well established, and we have a record of success. Moreover, many Vietnam veterans who are nearing their peak earning years in successful careers represent an important and largely untapped source for financial support.
On the other hand, we lack a comprehensive approach, relying too heavily on funding from just a few sources. We need a plan based on modern fundraising techniques plus training and technical assistance to enable chapters, state councils, and the national office to participate in a well-coordinated effort. The plan should also describe how resources will be shared to support national, state, and local operations.
Communications Goal:
Create a clear communications system/structure identifying responsibility throughout VVA, effectively using new and existing technology.
Communications Rationale:
Effective, two-way communication inside VVA and with various publics is critical to our success. VVA wants to be the authoritative voice and clearinghouse for information on topics of interest to veterans. The information age is producing increasingly accessible technology for inter-personal communication through the Internet and for mass media. VVA may not be taking full advantage of these channels. Some of the technology has not reached every chapter or member. Most important, responsibility for conveying information and providing feedback has not been established throughout VVA. Hence, the need to create a clear strategy for communicating with external audiences and to establish a system and structure that defines responsibility at all levels for our internal communications.
Communications Strategy:
Establish effective communication channels and assign responsibility at all levels. Make effective use of new and existing technology to assure accurate information exchange within these channels and encourage use and feedback between all levels.
Organizational Effectiveness Goal:
Continuously improve the ability of VVA at all levels to service a growing membership.
Organizational Effectiveness Rationale:
Assuring a positive future for VVA requires an ongoing effort to continuously improve the effectiveness of the organization itself. Success depends on: a) commitment to VVA's values and vision, b) cooperation in the pursuit of clear goals and strategies c) agreement on roles-who gets to do what d) constant, accurate feedback from VVA's members and external audiences to anticipate needs and to measure accomplishment and e) effective leadership. Making this happen is not a one-shot project. It is an ongoing process, requiring constant attention and resources. Equipping VVA's leaders for continuous improvement of the organization begins by helping them to explore implications of the strategic plan through planning with their constituencies. Feedback from these discussions about VVA's directions and ways to implement the plan at national, state, and local levels will provide the basis for designing a systematic, continuous improvement process to keep VVA strong. There must also be an ongoing, periodic review of VVA's organizational and committee structure to make VVA's operations as efficient and effective as possible and to ensure that VVA's structure changes appropriately as the organization j evolves. Additionally, VVA's resource allocation must be constantly geared to making the best possible use of limited fiscal and staff resources. Doing so will necessitate prioritizing national convention and board resolutions and directives so that VVA's priorities will be determined by a deliberate process and not by reactions to emerging and changing events.
Organizational Effectiveness Strategy:
Develop and implement a process to address the purposes, roles, and responsibilities of each organizational element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of each organizational elements to measure and reward accomplishments.
Implementation Roles
Role of the Board:
Approve the strategic plan; act as spokesperson for VVA's vision, values, and strategic directions; provide policy; and prioritize resources for plan implementation.
Role of Committees:
Review strategic plan; adjust agendas/objectives to support the strategies; develop work plans to measure achievement of objectives.
Role of State Council:
Review the strategic plan; develop objectives for state-level activities; provide technical advice and support to chapters.
Role of Chapters:
Review national and state strategies and objectives; decide how they are able to support them; implement appropriate activities.
Role of Conference of State Council President:
Act as advisory and leadership development resource amongst state council presidents, providing knowledge, evaluation, and feedback on the various objectives and activities implemented to fulfill the plans' goals and strategies from VVA's chapters and state councils.
Role of National Staff:
Internally - develop and implement objectives in support of the strategic plan, report to the board on implementation.
Externally - provide resources, training, and technical support to state councils and chapters to support their strategic planning and evaluation processes.
Methodology
VVA's Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
This exhaustive examination not only informed our planning, it also yielded some important implications for the way we operate.
The single most important conclusion is that merely producing a strategic plan will not be sufficient to move VVA successfully into the 21st century. What is required is a planning and evaluation process that cascades through all levels of the organization to align our energies to implement the plan. Without such a process, supported by members skilled in facilitation, meaningful implementation is highly unlikely.
A second overarching conclusion is that implementing our roadmap for the future depends on empowering people at all levels through strong leadership, clear responsibility and authority, sufficient resources, and above all, a new level of cooperation among all elements of the organization.
Like every organization these days, VVA is in transition. To grow and remain relevant, we must change in order to respond to changes occurring around us. The new global economy, the march of technology, and the maturing of our membership are just a few of the forces already impacting us. Not only do we need to change, we need to change fast just to stay up.
The core values expressed in the plan are those things that our members believe are why they joined VVA and what needs to be here for them to remain committed to VVA. The committee utilized these core values to guide its decision-making during the planning process and are important to be considered when implementing the plan.
The vision statement is how we want the organization to be viewed by our members, our staff, and the public at any ideal point in the future.
The mission statement: simply addresses how and what we do as an organization based upon rethinking our basic purposes.
The goals define areas from our mission statement where we can achieve specific results.
The rationale is a summary analysis of the forces likely to effect the achievement success of the stated goal.
The strategy for each goal defines in a broad sense what should be accomplished to attain specific achievements.
Objectives and workplans committees at all levels, including chapters and state councils and the national staff, are asked to establish objectives and work plans for each goal and strategy, including measurable outcomes. This will require the committee and national staff to rethink their work and shift their resources and energy to align their work with the Strategic Plan.
Chapters and state councils should undertake an assessment of their respective entity to determine how they can best align their objectives and activities to best support this Strategic Plan.
The roles identify the responsibilities that each entity within the organization could be expected to perform for the successful implementation of the Strategic Plan.
Follow-up a continuing effort will be undertaken by leaders of VVA to: Communicate the values, mission, goals, and strategies throughout VVA; support committees, national staff, state councils, and chapters in their efforts to achieve the goals; and measure and recognize achievement.
The Proposed Strategic / Operational Planning Model
* The model is constructed from the bottom up.
* After the plans are completed, one can easily check the consistency of current activities with agreements made in preceding blocks.
* Thus, the strategic plan serves to keep the organization on course: in pursuit of its mission-consistent with realities in the environment- and aligned with the core values of its members.
Workplans - Action plans of individuals responsible for achieving the objectives.
Objectives - Major results needed to implement the strategy in certain time.
Roles - Who gets to do what to align resources and people with the plan.
Strategies -The grand design for achieving each goal.
Goals - Four of five "chunks" of the mission (area for achievement).
Mission - The "match" between the core values and the realities of the environment
determines the core business of the organization.
SWOT Analysis - Organization's strengths and weaknesses, plus anticipated opportunities and threats in the environment.
Core Values - Specific aspirations members hold for the organization.
In earlier years, VVA utilized a strategic plan that was developed and approved by the national board of directors in 1989. A review indicated that indeed this plan had actually served VVA very well as it focused the entire organization on the issues and concerns that were relevant and important during that time period. Many of VVA's successes and victories can be traced back to the clarity of purpose that the plan brought forth to the entire organization. What the plan lacked was a process that continued its implementation and kept the plan alive as the dynamics of VVA leadership at all levels evolved and changed.
The need to create a comprehensive process or methodology for the development and implementation of a new strategic plan for VVA was recognized by the VVA national president James L. Brazee, Jr., and a Strategic Planning Committee was established for this purpose.
The president appointed VVA national treasurer Jack McManus to chair the new Strategic Planning Committee, and he, in turn, appointed committee members that represented the diverse interests of the various constituencies and organizational levels within VVA. It is important to recognize that the committee was intentionally structured to include representation from large and small chapters, large and small state councils, the VVA staff, VVA associates, non-BOD committee chairs, national BOD members, minority and women veteran members, and elected national officers.
The reasoning behind having such diversity in the committee makeup was ultimately the plan would need to reflect the real differences of interests within the organization at each level. The intent was to be truly representative of our memberships' interests so that the individual members could embrace and own the plan. The committee believes that if the entire organization claims ownership in the Strategic Plan, then the implementation of the various elements of this plan will be more successful at all levels.
Core Values
Advocacy:
We are committed to unrelenting advocacy for fairness in the treatment of veterans so that never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.
Meaningful Achievement:
We want to make a difference, focusing on issues that stand as critical barriers to a fulfilling life for veterans and all Americans.
Integrity:
We tell the truth and take responsibility.
Compassion:
We care about comrades and others in needs.
Camaraderie:
We support each other and feel we're all members of one family.
Vision & Mission Statements
Vision:
We are leading the challenge to do what is right for America and its veterans.
Mission:
Using the shared vision of our membership:
· we aggressively advocate on issues important to veterans;
· provide programs and services that improve the well-being of all veterans and their families;
· and serve our communities.
Goals, Rationales, and Strategies
Membership Goal:
To proactively recruit, retain, and develop an informed and personally effective membership dedicated to VVA's values, mission, and goals.
Membership Rationale:
The operative phrases in the membership goal are: Informed, personally effective, and dedicated membership who embrace VVA's values, mission, and goals. In other words, as we seek to expand our membership, we offer opportunities for increasing personal effectiveness to those who share our values and commitment. The new strategic plan will let prospective members know the kind of organization they are joining. Vigorous pursuit of the goals and strategies by chapters offer many opportunities for the full use of prospective members' talents according to the interests. The strategy calls for an effective external communications program to aid recruitment, combined with training to promote personal and professional development for members through their participation in chapter activities.
Membership Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive master plan, which includes all levels; a targeted effort to recruit members (using professional and personal contact and face-to-face marketing resources); and a program to retain them.
Advocacy Goal:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives to focus our energy and resources as an effective catalyst for the retention and improvement of veterans benefits.
Advocacy Rationale:
America has an "unfinished agenda" for public policy and funding of programs affecting veterans. Health care looms large at all levels of government. Other issues range from protecting and improving service-connected compensation benefits and veterans employment preferences to advocating research and/or programs addressing Agent Orange, PTSD, and homelessness as well as specialized programs relating to women, minority, and incarcerated veterans. In an age of government downsizing, veterans benefits across the board are at risk. There is an enormous educational job to be done among Vietnam veterans, public policymakers and the general public.
When it comes to passionate and powerful advocacy, VVA is clearly a leader in the veterans community, and the situation is ripe for action. More and more Vietnam veterans are being elected at all levels of government. In short, the Vietnam generation is in charge. But there are many challenges: Advocacy goals are not focused sufficiently to establish a clear agenda in order to concentrate efforts to achieve it. Not all VVA members accept a "political" role for the organization; veterans service organizations have competing legislative and administrative agendas; and VVA's own advocacy efforts are often scattered. Thus, there is a need to establish key legislative and administrative priorities in VVA and among veterans service organizations.
Advocacy Strategy:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives, consolidate existing VVA advocacy functions and focus our energy and resources to most effectively advocate for the advancement of veterans' concerns.
Direct Services Strategy:
Maintain, expand, and support our network of veteran service representatives nationwide. Publicize direct service information and conduct training on how to build community-based coalitions. Offer the tools necessary; information and training for providing direct services and for building community-based coalitions to meet the needs of veterans and their families.
Direct Services Rationale:
VVA seeks to assure a decent, positive lifestyle for veterans by working at two levels: Actually providing VVA-sponsored services and by building the community's commitment and capacity to provide essential services to veterans and their families.
VVA has a strong base expertise in veterans benefits and provides representation for veterans to receive benefits due them. As our population ages, new concerns ranging from long-term health care to career upheavals and retirement need to be anticipated. While we continue to provide direct services, we need to help members understand the complexity of emerging needs. And we need to train members in how to build community-based coalitions to address these needs.
Direct Services Goal:
Participate in providing direct services needed by veterans and their families.
Community Service Goal:
Enable VVA members to their community and promote positive social change.
Community Service Rationale:
Creating safe and viable communities, whether rural, urban, or suburban, is high on America's agenda. The opportunity to provide meaningful service to his/her community is an important reason for any veteran to become and remain involved in a VVA chapter. VVA has a history of community involvement-chapters have conducted a wide variety of creative, effective programs attacking gang warfare, drug addiction, family strife, homelessness, help to the elderly and disabled, and education on the Vietnam War at various academic levels.
However, these efforts are largely isolated. There is no organized network for communication among community service efforts, no mentoring program, and no designated responsibility at any level of VVA. Therefore, the first step is to document how chapters are serving their communities and to organize a mentoring program among chapters to inspire continued innovation.
Community Service Strategy:
Create a database of current and past community activities and develop and implement a commmunity mentor program, which stimulates community service activities.
Financial Goal:
Continuously expand the financial base to assure adequate resources to support VVA's mission at all operational levels.
Financial Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive Financial/Funding Master Plan that provides a diversified funding base for all operational levels of the organization. The plan would include: A description of the current situation, needs and priorities, existing and potential resources, training needs, opportunities and methods at all levels, restrictions, allocation formulas, and means for monitoring and evaluating achievement of goals.
Financial Rationale:
VVA has tremendous potential for fundraising. Members recognize the need to devote energy to obtaining resources. The VVA name is well established, and we have a record of success. Moreover, many Vietnam veterans who are nearing their peak earning years in successful careers represent an important and largely untapped source for financial support.
On the other hand, we lack a comprehensive approach, relying too heavily on funding from just a few sources. We need a plan based on modern fundraising techniques plus training and technical assistance to enable chapters, state councils, and the national office to participate in a well-coordinated effort. The plan should also describe how resources will be shared to support national, state, and local operations.
Communications Goal:
Create a clear communications system/structure identifying responsibility throughout VVA, effectively using new and existing technology.
Communications Rationale:
Effective, two-way communication inside VVA and with various publics is critical to our success. VVA wants to be the authoritative voice and clearinghouse for information on topics of interest to veterans. The information age is producing increasingly accessible technology for inter-personal communication through the Internet and for mass media. VVA may not be taking full advantage of these channels. Some of the technology has not reached every chapter or member. Most important, responsibility for conveying information and providing feedback has not been established throughout VVA. Hence, the need to create a clear strategy for communicating with external audiences and to establish a system and structure that defines responsibility at all levels for our internal communications.
Communications Strategy:
Establish effective communication channels and assign responsibility at all levels. Make effective use of new and existing technology to assure accurate information exchange within these channels and encourage use and feedback between all levels.
Organizational Effectiveness Goal:
Continuously improve the ability of VVA at all levels to service a growing membership.
Organizational Effectiveness Rationale:
Assuring a positive future for VVA requires an ongoing effort to continuously improve the effectiveness of the organization itself. Success depends on: a) commitment to VVA's values and vision, b) cooperation in the pursuit of clear goals and strategies c) agreement on roles-who gets to do what d) constant, accurate feedback from VVA's members and external audiences to anticipate needs and to measure accomplishment and e) effective leadership. Making this happen is not a one-shot project. It is an ongoing process, requiring constant attention and resources. Equipping VVA's leaders for continuous improvement of the organization begins by helping them to explore implications of the strategic plan through planning with their constituencies. Feedback from these discussions about VVA's directions and ways to implement the plan at national, state, and local levels will provide the basis for designing a systematic, continuous improvement process to keep VVA strong. There must also be an ongoing, periodic review of VVA's organizational and committee structure to make VVA's operations as efficient and effective as possible and to ensure that VVA's structure changes appropriately as the organization j evolves. Additionally, VVA's resource allocation must be constantly geared to making the best possible use of limited fiscal and staff resources. Doing so will necessitate prioritizing national convention and board resolutions and directives so that VVA's priorities will be determined by a deliberate process and not by reactions to emerging and changing events.
Organizational Effectiveness Strategy:
Develop and implement a process to address the purposes, roles, and responsibilities of each organizational element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of each organizational elements to measure and reward accomplishments.
Implementation Roles
Role of the Board:
Approve the strategic plan; act as spokesperson for VVA's vision, values, and strategic directions; provide policy; and prioritize resources for plan implementation.
Role of Committees:
Review strategic plan; adjust agendas/objectives to support the strategies; develop work plans to measure achievement of objectives.
Role of State Council:
Review the strategic plan; develop objectives for state-level activities; provide technical advice and support to chapters.
Role of Chapters:
Review national and state strategies and objectives; decide how they are able to support them; implement appropriate activities.
Role of Conference of State Council President:
Act as advisory and leadership development resource amongst state council presidents, providing knowledge, evaluation, and feedback on the various objectives and activities implemented to fulfill the plans' goals and strategies from VVA's chapters and state councils.
Role of National Staff:
Internally - develop and implement objectives in support of the strategic plan, report to the board on implementation.
Externally - provide resources, training, and technical support to state councils and chapters to support their strategic planning and evaluation processes.
Methodology
VVA's Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
This exhaustive examination not only informed our planning, it also yielded some important implications for the way we operate.
The single most important conclusion is that merely producing a strategic plan will not be sufficient to move VVA successfully into the 21st century. What is required is a planning and evaluation process that cascades through all levels of the organization to align our energies to implement the plan. Without such a process, supported by members skilled in facilitation, meaningful implementation is highly unlikely.
A second overarching conclusion is that implementing our roadmap for the future depends on empowering people at all levels through strong leadership, clear responsibility and authority, sufficient resources, and above all, a new level of cooperation among all elements of the organization.
Like every organization these days, VVA is in transition. To grow and remain relevant, we must change in order to respond to changes occurring around us. The new global economy, the march of technology, and the maturing of our membership are just a few of the forces already impacting us. Not only do we need to change, we need to change fast just to stay up.
The core values expressed in the plan are those things that our members believe are why they joined VVA and what needs to be here for them to remain committed to VVA. The committee utilized these core values to guide its decision-making during the planning process and are important to be considered when implementing the plan.
The vision statement is how we want the organization to be viewed by our members, our staff, and the public at any ideal point in the future.
The mission statement: simply addresses how and what we do as an organization based upon rethinking our basic purposes.
The goals define areas from our mission statement where we can achieve specific results.
The rationale is a summary analysis of the forces likely to effect the achievement success of the stated goal.
The strategy for each goal defines in a broad sense what should be accomplished to attain specific achievements.
Objectives and workplans committees at all levels, including chapters and state councils and the national staff, are asked to establish objectives and work plans for each goal and strategy, including measurable outcomes. This will require the committee and national staff to rethink their work and shift their resources and energy to align their work with the Strategic Plan.
Chapters and state councils should undertake an assessment of their respective entity to determine how they can best align their objectives and activities to best support this Strategic Plan.
The roles identify the responsibilities that each entity within the organization could be expected to perform for the successful implementation of the Strategic Plan.
Follow-up a continuing effort will be undertaken by leaders of VVA to: Communicate the values, mission, goals, and strategies throughout VVA; support committees, national staff, state councils, and chapters in their efforts to achieve the goals; and measure and recognize achievement.
The Proposed Strategic / Operational Planning Model
* The model is constructed from the bottom up.
* After the plans are completed, one can easily check the consistency of current activities with agreements made in preceding blocks.
* Thus, the strategic plan serves to keep the organization on course: in pursuit of its mission-consistent with realities in the environment- and aligned with the core values of its members.
Workplans - Action plans of individuals responsible for achieving the objectives.
Objectives - Major results needed to implement the strategy in certain time.
Roles - Who gets to do what to align resources and people with the plan.
Strategies -The grand design for achieving each goal.
Goals - Four of five "chunks" of the mission (area for achievement).
Mission - The "match" between the core values and the realities of the environment
determines the core business of the organization.
SWOT Analysis - Organization's strengths and weaknesses, plus anticipated opportunities and threats in the environment.
Core Values - Specific aspirations members hold for the organization.
Jackpot! VVA's Twelfth Biennial Convention
To contact us Click HERE
Any way you look at it, VVA’s 12th biennial National Convention, which was held Aug. 10-13 at the Silver Legacy Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada, was a huge success. A record number of Convention delegates, 736 from across the nation, rolled up their collective sleeves and spent three and a half days debating and enacting a series of resolutions that will guide the organization through the next two years. On Friday, the delegates cast their votes for VVA’s four national officers and nineteen members of the Board of Directors. More than a thousand delegates and guests—including some 125 AVVA members taking part in the organization’s National Leadership Conference—took in the stirring opening ceremonies that kicked off the Convention and the moving (and rocking) Saturday Night Awards Banquet, which ended the event.
“We did ourselves proud in Reno,” said outgoing VVA President Tom Corey, who stepped down after two terms. “The delegates showed a seriousness of purpose that we have come to expect at VVA Conventions. The election campaigns were hard fought. And after the votes were counted, we came together in support of our new national leaders who will guide us through another two years. I look forward to working with them.”
John Rowan of Middle Village, New York, the New York State Council president who had served as the chair of VVA’s Conference of State Council Presidents and three terms on the Board of Directors, was elected VVA’s sixth national president, defeating former VVA Vice President Ed Chow. Jack Devine of Dimondale, Michigan, a former VVA Board member who chairs VVA’s Project 112/SHAD Task Force, was chosen as national Vice President. Barry Hagge of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, the long-time chair of VVA’s Constitution Committee, was elected national Secretary, and Alan Cook of Castro Valley, California, won re-election as national Treasurer.
“It’s a great honor to serve as VVA’s national President,” Rowan said. “We have a great team in place to run this great veterans’ service organization for the next two years. I am looking forward to working with VVA members all across the nation on every level to support Vietnam veterans and their families In Service to America.”
The Convention got off to an exuberant start at 9:00 on Wednesday morning with the Opening Ceremonies, which began with rousing renditions of the Vietnam-War-era songs “Run Through the Jungle” and “Fortunate Son” by an uncannily realistic John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival) impersonator as black and white war-time images were displayed on four huge video screens. The ceremonies also included moving tributes to former VVA National President George Duggins (who died just a week before the Convention) and other VVA members lost in the previous year, as well as warm welcomes from Nevada State Council President Virgie Hibbler, Jr., Reno Mayor Robert Cashell, and AVVA President Mary Miller.
Most of those on hand agreed that the highlight of the morning was the powerful Keynote Speech delivered by VVA member Allen Hoe, a former Americal Division medic from Honololu who today is one of Hawaii’s most prominent attorneys—and whose son, U.S. Army Lt. Nainoa Hoe, was killed in action in Iraq in January.
“I have stopped trying to understand why the events in my life have come to me in the manner they have and at the times they had,” Hoe said. “Sayings like ‘there but for the grace of God’ have true meaning in my world. I learned many lessons on the battlefields of Hiep Duc and Que Son Valley—when all is lost, you need to remember: someone else has it twice as bad as you.”
The delegates put in long hours on the Convention floor on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and during evening caucuses with the officer and board candidates. On Thursday, the delegates heard from Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield, the No. 2 person in the VA. On Friday, the delegates honored Tabeatha Allen, a security guard at the hotel who all week had been thanking VVA members for their service. When members learned that Allen was a twice-wounded veteran of the war in Iraq, she was prevailed upon to come onto the Convention floor and be introduced. What followed was a thunderous ovation, as Convention delegates showed their allegiance to VVA’s founding principle: “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
With the work of the Convention complete by noon on Saturday, nearly everyone joined in the autographing and book-signing event featuring Raquel Welch, who signed photos for more than two and a half hours. Also taking part was John Hulme, who directed the acclaimed HBO documentary, Unknown Soldier: Searching for a Father, the story of his quest to learn about his father, U.S. Marine Lt. Jack Hulme, who in 1969 was killed in action in Vietnam when John Hulme was three weeks old.
Raquel Welch, who made a Bob Hope tour trip to Vietnam in 1967, and John Hulme received the VVA President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Saturday night Awards Banquet, which was emceed by VVA member Troy Evans, the veteran Hollywood character actor best known for his recurring roles on China Beach and ER. Evans, in fact, reprised one of his China Beach bits, “Sarge’s Rules for How to Stay Alive in Vietnam” on stage. That included the old chestnut: “When you’ve secured an area, don’t forget to tell the enemy. They may have other plans.”
Also receiving an Excellence in the Arts Award: Wayne Karlin, the author of—among many other acclaimed works—the novel Lost Armies and the memoir Rumors and Stones. Karlin, a former Marine helicopter doorgunner, is one of the finest, most accomplished, and most honored writers to come out of the Vietnam War.
The Awards Banquet concluded with a tribute to retiring VVA President Tom Corey, who said that while he was stepping down as President, he would continue to be an active veterans’ advocate and work with VVA for years to come.
“We did ourselves proud in Reno,” said outgoing VVA President Tom Corey, who stepped down after two terms. “The delegates showed a seriousness of purpose that we have come to expect at VVA Conventions. The election campaigns were hard fought. And after the votes were counted, we came together in support of our new national leaders who will guide us through another two years. I look forward to working with them.”
John Rowan of Middle Village, New York, the New York State Council president who had served as the chair of VVA’s Conference of State Council Presidents and three terms on the Board of Directors, was elected VVA’s sixth national president, defeating former VVA Vice President Ed Chow. Jack Devine of Dimondale, Michigan, a former VVA Board member who chairs VVA’s Project 112/SHAD Task Force, was chosen as national Vice President. Barry Hagge of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, the long-time chair of VVA’s Constitution Committee, was elected national Secretary, and Alan Cook of Castro Valley, California, won re-election as national Treasurer.
“It’s a great honor to serve as VVA’s national President,” Rowan said. “We have a great team in place to run this great veterans’ service organization for the next two years. I am looking forward to working with VVA members all across the nation on every level to support Vietnam veterans and their families In Service to America.”
The Convention got off to an exuberant start at 9:00 on Wednesday morning with the Opening Ceremonies, which began with rousing renditions of the Vietnam-War-era songs “Run Through the Jungle” and “Fortunate Son” by an uncannily realistic John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival) impersonator as black and white war-time images were displayed on four huge video screens. The ceremonies also included moving tributes to former VVA National President George Duggins (who died just a week before the Convention) and other VVA members lost in the previous year, as well as warm welcomes from Nevada State Council President Virgie Hibbler, Jr., Reno Mayor Robert Cashell, and AVVA President Mary Miller.
Most of those on hand agreed that the highlight of the morning was the powerful Keynote Speech delivered by VVA member Allen Hoe, a former Americal Division medic from Honololu who today is one of Hawaii’s most prominent attorneys—and whose son, U.S. Army Lt. Nainoa Hoe, was killed in action in Iraq in January.
“I have stopped trying to understand why the events in my life have come to me in the manner they have and at the times they had,” Hoe said. “Sayings like ‘there but for the grace of God’ have true meaning in my world. I learned many lessons on the battlefields of Hiep Duc and Que Son Valley—when all is lost, you need to remember: someone else has it twice as bad as you.”
The delegates put in long hours on the Convention floor on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and during evening caucuses with the officer and board candidates. On Thursday, the delegates heard from Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield, the No. 2 person in the VA. On Friday, the delegates honored Tabeatha Allen, a security guard at the hotel who all week had been thanking VVA members for their service. When members learned that Allen was a twice-wounded veteran of the war in Iraq, she was prevailed upon to come onto the Convention floor and be introduced. What followed was a thunderous ovation, as Convention delegates showed their allegiance to VVA’s founding principle: “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
With the work of the Convention complete by noon on Saturday, nearly everyone joined in the autographing and book-signing event featuring Raquel Welch, who signed photos for more than two and a half hours. Also taking part was John Hulme, who directed the acclaimed HBO documentary, Unknown Soldier: Searching for a Father, the story of his quest to learn about his father, U.S. Marine Lt. Jack Hulme, who in 1969 was killed in action in Vietnam when John Hulme was three weeks old.
Raquel Welch, who made a Bob Hope tour trip to Vietnam in 1967, and John Hulme received the VVA President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Saturday night Awards Banquet, which was emceed by VVA member Troy Evans, the veteran Hollywood character actor best known for his recurring roles on China Beach and ER. Evans, in fact, reprised one of his China Beach bits, “Sarge’s Rules for How to Stay Alive in Vietnam” on stage. That included the old chestnut: “When you’ve secured an area, don’t forget to tell the enemy. They may have other plans.”
Also receiving an Excellence in the Arts Award: Wayne Karlin, the author of—among many other acclaimed works—the novel Lost Armies and the memoir Rumors and Stones. Karlin, a former Marine helicopter doorgunner, is one of the finest, most accomplished, and most honored writers to come out of the Vietnam War.
The Awards Banquet concluded with a tribute to retiring VVA President Tom Corey, who said that while he was stepping down as President, he would continue to be an active veterans’ advocate and work with VVA for years to come.
VA Resists C-123 Veterans' FOIA for Agent Orange Data
To contact us Click HERE
Early last year, LtCol Paul Bailey submitted our formal FOIA (Freedom of Information Act request) to the Veterans Administration, seeking information about how VA officials managed their participation in two meetings with C-123 veterans hosted by Senator Burr's staff in Washington DC. Our request to the Air Force for their materials had been granted earlier. It is our fear that the VA participants approached the question of C-123 dioxin contamination with a mindset of denial, rather than even-handed scientific concern. In went our FOIA as we hoped to learn about how we were treated at the meetings.
Result? $5000 in pushback from the VA as they denied the perfectly valid appeal! To prevent us getting information about ourselves. $5000 to make sure we'd never get it! $5000 to make sure veterans would never learn that VA officials approached our concerns about Agent Orange exposure with a determination not to uncover the truth, but instead to construct any argument necessary to prevent our access to VA medical care and benefits. Our concerns for this FOIA focused on uncovering all the information located by the VA, how they interpreted it, what instructions they gave their officials and whether those instructions were neutral or whether those instructions were to
Government agencies usually can't bury information like this without running up against the FOIA itself, but obviously there are times when the requested information might cause bureaucrats discomfort. This seem to be one of those instances. Solution? Delay. Delay. Delay. Delays then followed by charging prohibitive fees for the information requested! That's the VA solution to keep embarrassing information out of the hands of C-123 veterans.
But we have rights and options, and one was to appeal the VA's pricing and refusal to provide an expedited response. Paul submitted that appeal in May and the GSA took until late November to get around to refusing it..again! They claimed the FOIA law required VA to charge us because only journalistic, educational, and not-for-profit requests can be free. Another free category - information requested is in the public interest and informs the public of how the government operates. VA's Assistant General Counsel Deborah McCallum wrote Paul about her refusal to grant his appeal even though we were fully justified, but she was also required to tell us of a final route for an appeal before going to court: The Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) acts as a final arbiter of our rights to this information - and so we submitted our appeal on behalf of The C-123 Veterans Association on December 24, 2012.
In this last out-of-court appeal, we explained our journalistic presence in the form of blogs, web sites and newsletters, We explained that the public is intensely interested in both Agent Orange and veterans health care. We explained that we have no commercial interest in the requested materials, and that the Air Force honored an identical request, using the same FOIA law and regulations, and that the information is, after all, about US!
In it, we explained the justification for our FOIA and the reasons its denial were improper. Now...we are waiting once again. The impact: we won't have the data in time for the 15 Jan 2013 briefing we are scheduled to give the Institute of Medicine's Agent Orange committee, but we will have both the VA and the Air Force extensive collections of materials ready to give Congress early in 2013 as we continue our struggle.
So...more waiting, more hoping. Keep the faith!
Early last year, LtCol Paul Bailey submitted our formal FOIA (Freedom of Information Act request) to the Veterans Administration, seeking information about how VA officials managed their participation in two meetings with C-123 veterans hosted by Senator Burr's staff in Washington DC. Our request to the Air Force for their materials had been granted earlier. It is our fear that the VA participants approached the question of C-123 dioxin contamination with a mindset of denial, rather than even-handed scientific concern. In went our FOIA as we hoped to learn about how we were treated at the meetings.Result? $5000 in pushback from the VA as they denied the perfectly valid appeal! To prevent us getting information about ourselves. $5000 to make sure we'd never get it! $5000 to make sure veterans would never learn that VA officials approached our concerns about Agent Orange exposure with a determination not to uncover the truth, but instead to construct any argument necessary to prevent our access to VA medical care and benefits. Our concerns for this FOIA focused on uncovering all the information located by the VA, how they interpreted it, what instructions they gave their officials and whether those instructions were neutral or whether those instructions were toGovernment agencies usually can't bury information like this without running up against the FOIA itself, but obviously there are times when the requested information might cause bureaucrats discomfort. This seem to be one of those instances. Solution? Delay. Delay. Delay. Delays then followed by charging prohibitive fees for the information requested! That's the VA solution to keep embarrassing information out of the hands of C-123 veterans.
But we have rights and options, and one was to appeal the VA's pricing and refusal to provide an expedited response. Paul submitted that appeal in May and the GSA took until late November to get around to refusing it..again! They claimed the FOIA law required VA to charge us because only journalistic, educational, and not-for-profit requests can be free. Another free category - information requested is in the public interest and informs the public of how the government operates. VA's Assistant General Counsel Deborah McCallum wrote Paul about her refusal to grant his appeal even though we were fully justified, but she was also required to tell us of a final route for an appeal before going to court: The Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) acts as a final arbiter of our rights to this information - and so we submitted our appeal on behalf of The C-123 Veterans Association on December 24, 2012.
In this last out-of-court appeal, we explained our journalistic presence in the form of blogs, web sites and newsletters, We explained that the public is intensely interested in both Agent Orange and veterans health care. We explained that we have no commercial interest in the requested materials, and that the Air Force honored an identical request, using the same FOIA law and regulations, and that the information is, after all, about US!
In it, we explained the justification for our FOIA and the reasons its denial were improper. Now...we are waiting once again. The impact: we won't have the data in time for the 15 Jan 2013 briefing we are scheduled to give the Institute of Medicine's Agent Orange committee, but we will have both the VA and the Air Force extensive collections of materials ready to give Congress early in 2013 as we continue our struggle.
So...more waiting, more hoping. Keep the faith!
Challenge to VA - C-123 Veterans WERE Exposed by Skin Contact
To contact us Click HERE
VA "Dry Dioxin Transfer" Excuse Shot Down - Proven Unscientific!
A key part of the VA's pretense that C-123 veterans were not exposed to dioxin aboard our aircraft is their invention of something called "dry dioxin transfer." Don't bother looking it up in Wikipedia - the idea is novel to the VA, created to dismiss the many Air Force tests which clearly proved our airplanes contaminated with dioxin, by pretending that aircrews, maintenance and aerial port personnel were not exposed to the contamination. I know...makes no sense to anyone but the VA. Admittedly, exposure and contamination are separate points, but the US Government has not made the distinction before this.
But despite the recent challenges of scientists and physicians from throughout North America, the VA continues to pretend their concept of "dry dioxin transfer" somehow makes enough scientific sense to prevent even the benefit of the doubt helping us veterans. WRONG - it makes NO sense! VA says that once Agent Orange dried on the C-123 it may have continued to contaminate, but contamination doesn't mean exposure. And the law reads that veterans must evidence exposure, not just contamination. So as the VA struggles to insure veterans' exposure claims are denied, they sling false inventions like"dry dioxin transfer" at us. The VA says the skin is a perfect barrier to dioxin exposure, when the truth is that dermal exposure is highly likely. Necessary for this VA pretense is that the skin be a perfectly clean, undamaged, oil-free surface. Guess the VA wonks never flew in a transport aircraft in their lives! Especially, not a C-123!
Thanks to a visit to a VA Regional Office, many of the documents used by the VA to deny veterans claims were made available for review. A key find was an article in the TOX Journal about dermal exposure to dioxin, carried in a 1995 article published in the TOX journal. In this key document, clearly known to the VA but obviously known to them, the likelihood of dermal exposure is carefully spelled out. In addition to the dioxin we ingested and inhaled aboard the Provider, the article's authors explain that our skin provided no special barrier to exposure. Indeed, they establish that dermal exposure is usually the most intense of the three routes of exposure.
So another missile is launched into the VA balloon and down it goes in flames, This TOX article joins the opinion of Dr. Jeanne Stellman, Professor Emerita at Columbia University who earlier destroyed the VA's dry dioxin transfer joke. Still, none of this push-back against the VA will mean much until some clear-headed VA policy maker sees what mistakes have been made about us by their staffers. I hope it will be of use during conversations at the Institute of Medicine conference at UC Irvine on 15 Jan 2013...it certainly will be a part of the materials I forward to the VA for support of my own Agent Orange exposure claim and I suggest you do the same!
Last article for 2012 - God bless and keep you all.
Wes Carter and Family
McMinnville, Oregon
December 31, 2012
(thanks to MSgt Kathy Voiland for her help with the TOX article)
A key part of the VA's pretense that C-123 veterans were not exposed to dioxin aboard our aircraft is their invention of something called "dry dioxin transfer." Don't bother looking it up in Wikipedia - the idea is novel to the VA, created to dismiss the many Air Force tests which clearly proved our airplanes contaminated with dioxin, by pretending that aircrews, maintenance and aerial port personnel were not exposed to the contamination. I know...makes no sense to anyone but the VA. Admittedly, exposure and contamination are separate points, but the US Government has not made the distinction before this.
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| Working C-123 Hand |
Thanks to a visit to a VA Regional Office, many of the documents used by the VA to deny veterans claims were made available for review. A key find was an article in the TOX Journal about dermal exposure to dioxin, carried in a 1995 article published in the TOX journal. In this key document, clearly known to the VA but obviously known to them, the likelihood of dermal exposure is carefully spelled out. In addition to the dioxin we ingested and inhaled aboard the Provider, the article's authors explain that our skin provided no special barrier to exposure. Indeed, they establish that dermal exposure is usually the most intense of the three routes of exposure. |
| VA Science? |
Last article for 2012 - God bless and keep you all.
Wes Carter and Family
McMinnville, Oregon
December 31, 2012
(thanks to MSgt Kathy Voiland for her help with the TOX article)
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