Month: July 2022

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Veterans robbed of life-saving burn pits bill have a message for Republicans

Veterans robbed of life-saving burn pits bill have a message for Republicans

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Last night, veterans, family members and advocates camped out on the steps of the US Capitol.

They had been there since Thursday morning – just hours after a group of Republican lawmakers derailed a bill providing healthcare access to veterans suffering from toxic exposure to burn pits.

And they’re not going to go away.

“If the veterans during war don’t get to go home on recess or go on vacation then neither should those 25 senators,” Rosie Torres told The Independent on Friday morning from her position at the Capitol.

“We’re not going to leave until we get a yes from all those senators on Monday. We are not going anywhere until it’s done.

“We’ve been here since 8am yesterday and we were here throughout the night. No one left. No one went to take a shower. No one slept.

“Throughout the night we had members of Congress and just everyday Americans who care stopping by. We had veterans standing watch here with us, people bringing us food: Jon [Stewart] sent pizza. Senator Gillibrand brought us pizza.

“It rained… It was a sort of nice moment for veterans as there was that camaraderie together.”

While many lawmakers and Americans came and went, around 25 members of the veteran community didn’t budge from their spot all night – ironically the same number of GOP senators who “blindsided” them during Wednesday’s vote on the SFC Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act.

It’s not how Ms Torres – cofounder of Burn Pits 360 and the wife of veteran Le Roy Torres – expected to be spending this trip to Washington DC.

For more than a decade, she has travelled back and forth to the capital lobbying the US government to take the issue of burn pits seriously.

The fight was supposed to now be over.

She had gone to the capital along with other veteran community members to see what they all hoped would be the bill’s final passage before it would land on President Joe Biden’s desk.

Ms Torres was looking forward to going to the White House to see the bill that she and so many others had fought so long for to be finally signed into law.

After all, it appeared to be a done deal.

Rosie Torres (centre) with members of the veteran community and lawmakers during Thursday night’s sit in at the Capitol

(Burn Pits 360)

Back on 16 June, the Senate had voted 84 to 14 in favour of the bill – a landslide vote especially in what is an evenly divided Senate.

Due to some changes, the bill had to be sent back to the House for a final vote where it passed with a 342-88 vote on 14 July.

Landing back in the Senate with a minor technical fix, another vote was called – a vote that many believed to be largely procedural given the overwhelming support just one month earlier.

On Wednesday, the US senators cast their votes on the motion to invoke cloture on the bill, paving the way for a final vote on its passage.

The bill tanked, with a 55-42 vote – five short of the needed 60 votes needed to pass.

Only eight Republican senators voted to move it forward, with 25 who voted in favour of it just one month earlier reversing their support in the 11th hour after Senator Pat Toomey branded the bill a “slush fund”.

In an added insult, Republicans were even seen celebrating the blow to the veteran community on the Senate floor.

Footage from the roll call vote captured a group of GOP senators shaking hands on the chamber floor.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz – who famously abandoned his state to holiday in Cancun in the midst of a deadly winter storm – and Montana Senator Steve Haines even gave each other a celebratory fist-bump as Mr Haines “no” vote was read out.

John Feal, a veterans advocate and a 9/11 first responder, branded their actions “repulsive”.

Jon Stewart blasted GOP lawmakers after they blocked the burn pits bill

(EPA)

“It’s repulsive and repugnant – Ted Cruz and Steve Daines are two of the biggest colossal douchebags in Washington DC,” he told The Independent on Friday.

Jon Stewart, TV host and veterans advocate, also slammed them as “despicable” for “celebrating their victory over veterans with cancer”.

“Way to go, guys! You finally handed it to ‘big veteran with cancer.’ Well done,” he mocked them.

To Ms Torres, the moment the bill tanked was “a gut punch”.

Her husband is one of a staggering 3.4 million US servicemembers and veterans estimated to have been exposed to burn pits and airborne toxins while serving their country overseas.

Le Roy was deployed to Iraq in 2007 as a member of the Army reserve.

He began suffering respiratory issues while on deployment and was hospitalised within a matter of weeks of returning home to the US at the end of his tour.

After being medically discharged from the Army, he was diagnosed with constrictive bronchiolitis – a rare terminal condition caused by toxic exposure.

For years, the VA denied Le Roy’s condition was connected to his service to his country and denied him healthcare and claims for service-connected illness.

His story echoes that of thousands of veterans across the US who returned home from war with terminal illnesses from burn pits and then found themselves denied healthcare and benefits from the country that sent them there.

Between 2007 and 2020, the VA turned down a staggering 80 per cent of all disability claims mentioning burn pits.

Finally, the PACT Act would give veterans like Le Roy access to the healthcare and disability benefits that they need. The bipartisan bill presumptively links 23 cancers, respiratory illnesses and other conditions to a veterans’ exposure to burn pits while on deployment overseas.

After he voted against the bill on Wednesday, Mr Toomey insisted that he does support it but wants to add an amendment on provisional spending to address what he describes as a “budget gimmick” that he claims could lead to $400bn spending unrelated to veterans.

His comments have been slammed by Democrats, veterans and supporters who responded in full force with a highly emotional press conference on Thursday where Senator Kristen Gillibrand said that Republicans “just sentenced veterans to death” and Mr Stewart called the group of lawmakers “cowards”.

The bill’s derailing has especially sparked a fierce battle between Mr Toomey and Mr Stewart.

The popular TV host has slammed the GOP lawmaker on social media and gone on a media blitz to rail against his actions.

“No spending that is not related to veterans has been added to this bill, no last-minute budget gimmicks have been added to this bill, it is purely based on toxic exposure and healthcare to veterans,” he said on Fox News on Friday.

Mr Toomey’s office responded by accusing Mr Stewart of “launching false accusations and ad hominin attacks” against him when he is trying to “stop the PACT Act from being used as a vehicle for a $400bn spending binge totally unrelated to veterans”.

As far as Mr Feal is concerned, Mr Toomey’s comments about the bill are all “lies”.

“Anything that comes out of his mouth right now is a lie and is disingenuous,” he told The Independent.

“It’s the furthest thing from the truth. And the fact that he’s retiring at the end of the year and is doing this is proof that he is a piece of s***. Usually when members of Congress retire they do the morally right thing… this man was put up to do this and was probably offered something out of it.

Le Roy Torres was diagnosed with constrictive bronchiolitis and toxic brain injury from his exposure to burn pits overseas

(Burn Pits 360)

“Telling everyone this is a slush fund is a lie. Telling everyone he wasn’t offered a vote [on his amendment] is a lie. He’s unAmerican.”

Mr Feal added that it hasn’t been lost on the veteran community that several of the other 25 GOP lawmakers who changed their minds at the last minute are in fact veterans themselves.

“That’s like your buddy getting shot on the battlefield and just leaving them to die,” he said.

Though “disgusted”, Mr Feal isn’t exactly surprised by the week’s events.

As a 9/11 survivor who first lobbied the US government to pass the law that now gives first responders healthcare for illnesses and injuries sustained at Ground Zero, he’s seen it before.

“This is eerily similar to what we experienced with the 9/11 bill,” he said.

“[This week], we were caught off guard and thought we had a victory but we were bamboozled.

“But I’ve seen this before and we’re not reacting, we’re responding… we’re going to keep up the pressure until Monday when another vote is called.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said that he will “give our Republican friends” another chance to pass the bill on Monday, as the clock is ticking to get it passed before the summer recess.

On 5 August, senators head off for a month-long break.

Mr Feal is confident that “it’s going to get passed” as he warns “I am not afraid to square up to a senator” when lives are on the line.

“They have Ted Cruz and Steve Daines fist bumping. We have Jon Stewart telling Americans that they stabbed veterans in the back. And we have John Feal, his sidekick, saying f*** you,” he said.

“We’re talking about human life – people are dying and when you can’t put aside your political party and think like a human being then you don’t deserve to be in office.”

But the veteran community says that even a week delay is too long for the veterans who are in need of life-saving healthcare and access to disability benefits now.

A US service member throws something into a burn pit in Iraq

(U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Julianne Showalter)

“People will die waiting for this. Someone will die this weekend,” said Mr Feal.

Mr Toomey and the other GOP lawmakers holding up the bill have “veterans’ blood on their hands”, agreed Ms Torres.

“These veterans’ blood is on their hands. Every day that he wastes and plays partisan politics, someone else dies,” she said.

“Time is of the essence. People don’t have time. Captain [Rafael] Barbosa’s wife is here – he has stage four colon cancer.

“A woman stopped by to bring us cookies yesterday who has stage four cancer related to toxic exposure. She is an Iraq War veteran and she stopped by with her husband in tears to share her story.”

Another veteran suffering from burn pits killed himself while the bill’s passage has rumbled on, she said.

Ms Torres had a strong message for Mr Toomey: “Time is of the essence – stop the delay. Your tactics are killing veterans.”

Between now and Monday’s vote, she and other members of the veteran community will continue to stage their sit-in outside the naiton’s Capitol.

Mr Stewart, Mr Feal and other advocates will drum up attention in the media.

And veteran groups will hold rallies to amplify the message and urge Americans to lobby lawmakers to act.

As Ms Torres said: “We’re letting Americans know you elected these people and this is what they’re doing to veterans.”

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Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge Wednesday Dive

Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge Wednesday Dive



https://combatwounded.org/challenges/scuba-challenge-2021/

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Plans for $300 billion VA budget on track after senators back big spending boost

Plans for $300 billion VA budget on track after senators back big spending boost

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Plans for a $300-billion budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs in fiscal 2023 appear likely to become law after Senate appropriators backed that target in their latest spending proposal.

But when lawmakers will formally approve the funding deal remains unclear.

On Thursday, Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee released their draft budget for next year, a $1.7 trillion plan that includes about $300 billion for VA operations. That figure closely mirrors both the mark approved for veterans programs and benefits by the House Appropriations Committee last month and what was suggested by the White House earlier this year.

In a statement, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M. and chair of the appropriations committee’s veterans panel, said the proposal “provides a groundbreaking investment in VA healthcare and research, and funds VA’s efforts to improve infrastructure and modernize the disability claims process.”

If approved, the budget would be about a 10% increase from fiscal 2022 levels and represent the largest spending plan in department history.

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It would also mark another year of significant growth for VA program spending, even as other federal departments have seen cuts in recent years.

In 2001, the entire VA budget — including both discretionary program spending and mandatory benefits payouts — amounted to about $45 billion. By 2013, the budget totaled $139 billion, still less than half of this year’s request.

Despite that dramatic rise, lawmakers have generally backed the growth in VA spending, and appear more in sync on the veterans spending plan than other budget proposals.

For example, Senate and House appropriators have already offered at least four different budget targets for the Defense Department for fiscal 2023, ranging from $762 billion to $847 billion.

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Chamber leaders are expected to spend the next few months negotiating a compromise on those differences. Meanwhile, the comparatively non-controversial VA spending plan is unlikely to move ahead until the entire federal budget plan is agreed upon.

The $300 billion Senate plan for VA includes $13.9 billion for mental health care (up 6% from this year), $2.7 billion for homeless assistance programs (up 24%), $911 million for gender specific health care programs (up 8%) and $183 million for substance abuse disorder programs (up 17%).

If lawmakers cannot reach a full federal spending plan before the end of the current fiscal year (Sept. 30), they will need to adopt a short-term budget extension to stave off a partial government shutdown.

If that does not happen, however, most VA programs and operations will continue even without an active budget plan because Congress approves advanced appropriations for the department annually. That will keep benefits checks, hospital services and related support programs active even if a political fight shuts down other departments.

Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.

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Africom Dealing With Strategic Competition, Terrorism Threats > U.S. Department of Defense > Defense Department News

Africom Dealing With Strategic Competition, Terrorism Threats > U.S. Department of Defense > Defense Department News

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While strategic competition with China and Russia remains the main challenge for U.S. Africa Command, the African continent is “the central focus of terrorism in the world,” Army Gen. Stephen J. Townsend told the Defense Writers Group today. 

Townsend is stepping down as commander of U.S. Africa Command next month. He told the defense reporters that the emergence of China on the continent is the first-and-foremost challenge for the command. 

“China is acting in a very whole-of-government way, leading with development and economic measures on the continent,” he said. “They are proceeding … to increase their access and influence on the continent, and they have a desire … to establish more military bases on the continent.” 

China has one base in Djibouti — its first overseas base — and seeks another on Africa’s Atlantic coast. Townsend said that would be a bad development for U.S. interests on the continent. 

Russia is a different challenge, characterized by the band of mercenaries — the Wagner Group — representing the nation in Africa. Russia is acting in “a self-interested, exploitative and extractive way,” the general said.  

Russia is not interested in sincerely helping African nations, but in helping themselves to the natural resources of the continent, he said. 

The most immediate threat is that posed by violent extremist organizations. “Some of the most lethal terrorists on the planet are now in Africa,” Townsend said. “They were once in Iraq, and Syria and Afghanistan.”  

Al-Qaida and the Islamic State are present on the continent, and groups like al-Shabab in Somalia, for example, are financing terror groups in Africa and other areas of the globe, Townsend said. And all of this is exacerbated by climate change.  

“The environment is definitely affecting lives in Africa — drought, famine, desertification — all of these things … will continue to be challenges,” he said. 

Africa Command’s most successful engagement strategy is its sponsorship of exercises on the continent. African Lion and Flintlock are the largest, but there are many more smaller exercises that draw representatives from around the continent, Townsend said. African troops see the value of these exercises as a way to learn new skills and engage with service members from the United States and partner nations.  

“Every time we have a big exercise, usually someone creates a patch for the exercise,” he said. “It’s not unusual to see [African soldiers] wearing the patches months later.”  

The exercises are also important to the United States for building a spirit of cooperation with allies fostered by rigorous training. The last administration cut the command’s exercise budget. Townsend was able to get much of the money back. “Our exercise program is still pretty robust — it’s adequate,” he said. “I think, as so long as we don’t see future reductions to those resources, that I’m satisfied with the amount of exercise engagement we can do in Africa.” 

The command’s objective is an economy-of-force mission — meaning the judicious employment and distribution of force. Africa Command personnel are used to doing a lot with little resources. One program they depend on is the National Guard’s State Partnership Program. This program pairs a nation with state National Guard organizations. For example, the New York National Guard is paired with South Africa, and the Massachusetts National Guard is paired with Kenya.  

There are 15 African nations paired with U.S. states under the program, Townsend said, and this allows U.S. National Guardsmen to engage with the militaries of their African partners year-round.  

“What I love about that program is it is at a low level; it’s at a very user-friendly level,” he said. “It’s not big exercises but constant low-level touches.” 

A strong example of the program’s success is Ukraine’s partnership with the California National Guard, which allowed the nation to train and develop a professional noncommissioned officer corps that has been very successful against the Russian invasion, the general said. That same effort is helping African nations professionalize their militaries.  

“We have a waiting list of African partners who want to get on the state partnership list, and we probably can absorb about one a year,” he said. “And I’m you’re eagerly looking forward to our next state partnership, because I think they’re very valuable.”

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US Air Force PJs honored for daring 2017 ocean rescue mission

US Air Force PJs honored for daring 2017 ocean rescue mission

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From the Revolutionary War Battles of Lexington and Concord to the Afghanistan battle of Takur Ghar, the National Guard often immortalizes its most significant missions in the form of oil paintings. Last month, the Guard unveiled the latest such painting, which depicts a 2017 mission where seven airmen with the New York Air National Guard jumped out of an airplane in the middle of the night over the middle of an ocean to rescue complete strangers suffering from severe burns. It was a complicated mission that the airmen pulled together in less than a day, but they pulled it off, even when things went sideways.

“The amount of complexity in that mission just can’t be overstated,” said Col. Jeffrey Cannet, the commander of the New York-based 106th Operations Group, who piloted the HC-130 search and rescue aircraft on the mission, in an Air National Guard press release. “The fact that these guys had to do that, all out there, alone and unafraid, getting it done, was just a testament to their skill and ability.”

The incident began early in the morning of April 24, 2017, when an explosion aboard the cargo ship Tamar badly injured two sailors and killed two more. The crew of the 625-foot vessel, which was in transit from Baltimore, Maryland to Gibraltar, at the western edge of the Mediterranean sea, contacted the Coast Guard, which then contacted the New York Air National Guard and its 106th Rescue Wing. With its HC-130 search and rescue planes and trained pararescuemen, the 106th was best prepared to respond to the emergency. Still, the Tamar was about 1,500 miles off the New York coast, and that distance was a stretch even for these airmen.

“1,500 miles out … was a bit out of reach for anybody else, and quite frankly I think everybody thought it was out of reach for us too,” Cannet said at the unveiling and award ceremony last month, where each airman received an Air Force Commendation Medal for heroism. But he and his men thought differently.

“No we got this, this is not an impossible mission,” he said. “We got the skills, the equipment, the training. We can pull this off.”

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The 106th could not formally be assigned to the Tamar rescue because it was a civil search and rescue mission, the wing wrote in a press release, but all the airmen involved volunteered for the flight anyway. Those airmen included combat rescue officers Lt. Col. Edward Boughal and Maj. Marty Viera; and pararescuemen Master Sgt. Jordan St. Clair; Senior Master Sgt. Erik Blom; Master Sgt. Jedediah Smith; and Staff Sgt. Michael Hartman.

Also called ‘PJs,’ Air Force pararescuemen are elite specialists in search and rescue and combat medicine who train to rescue downed pilots or special operators cut off behind enemy lines. Combat rescue officers are the commissioned leaders of PJs. But before these highly-trained airmen could rescue the sailors, they first had to do some shopping for medical and surgical supplies at local hospitals.

pararescue painting
New York Air National Guard Airmen who were part of the 2017 mission to save two crewmen on board the Motor Vessel Tamar pose with a painting commemorating the mission during an awards ceremony on June 4, 2022 at F.S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach, New York (Staff Sgt. Kevin Donaldson/U.S. Air Force)

The mission got a little dicier shortly after takeoff, where a hydraulic failure aboard the HC-130 threatened to end the mission before it could fully begin. The flight engineer, Master Sgt Keith Weckerle, managed to mitigate the problem, which he might have been accustomed to due to the unit’s aging aircraft.

“The wing accomplishes its mission in both combat and peacetime with aging aircraft, some dating back to the ’60s,” the 106th Rescue Wing said in a 2017 video about the mission.

Luckily, the HC-130 made it over a thousand miles from the 106th’s base on Long Island all the way to the Tamar, which was pretty much right in the middle of the Atlantic by that time. But getting to the ship was only the first step in the complicated mission plan. Next, they had to drop equipment bundles and two inflatable Zodiac boats on target in the dead of night. Then they would parachute out of the aircraft, swim to the Zodiacs, get in, pick up the floating supplies, get to the Tamar and board it via rope ladder with 15-foot waves tossing them up and down. 

Jumping out of the aircraft would be its own challenge — the HC-130 was 1,400 feet above the dark waters, which is a comparatively low altitude to jump from. The low cloud ceiling and urgency to get to the dying sailors below made it worth the risk, the airmen decided, but it was still a risky operation. “Perilous” weather conditions and high seas also contributed to making the jump an “extraordinarily dangerous situation,” said Senior Master Sgt. Tom Pierce at the ceremony last month.

“I definitely found a moment to pray,” said Viera, one of the combat rescue officers, in a 2017 press release. “I (wondered), did I kiss my wife and son goodbye enough? I was like, God, if this is my time to go, I guess this is it. But please, I would really like to make an impact on these people’s lives.”

rescue mission
New York Air National Guard Combat Rescue Officers, pararescuemen and HC-130 aircrew members assigned to the 106th Rescue Wing plan for their rescue jump into the North Atlantic to aid injured crewmen on board the ship Tamar on April 24, 2017 as the plane flies eastward over the ocean. One sailor had been killed and three injured in a fire on the ship that morning. A second seaman died before the New York Airman could get to the ship. (U.S. Air Force)

Though each of the airmen wore flashing beacons and red and green chemical lights, the risk of a mid-air collision was very real.

“Collisions can be potentially fatal at that altitude,” said Boughal, the other combat rescue officer. “There were a couple of moments where I was thinking, ‘Where are my guys?’ because it was so dark.”

It was risky, but Smith, one of the PJs, was pumped.

“I distinctly remember on the ramp of the C-130 … and Jed’s eyes lit up after the green light illuminated that sent the first team into the inky blackness of the night,” said Boughal. “He turned to me with a big smile, fist-pumped me and yelled out ‘we’re doing this!’ I remember thinking ‘glad he’s on the team.’”

It was good Smith was pumped, because the going was about to get tough. The seven airmen made it onto the Tamar, but now they had to keep two severely injured men alive for three days as the ship made its way to the Azores, an archipelago about 870 miles off the coast of Portugal. There, Portuguese helicopters would pick up the sailors and ferry them to a hospital, but they had to live through the journey first.

“When we got there we found the crewmen badly burned on their face, arms, legs and hands,” said St. Clair, one of the PJs. “The initial report was that they were conscious, talking and were mobile. But we knew the end state. Their lives were absolutely at risk.”

The incredible story of a daring Air Force pararescue mission in the middle of the Atlantic
New York Air National Guard Airmen from the 103rd Rescue Squadron prepare to jump from an HC-130 search and rescue plane of the 102nd Rescue Squadron 1,300 miles east into the North Atlantic on April 24, 2017 as they go to the aid of two badly burned crewman on board the Slovenian-owned ship the Tamar. (U.S. Air Force)

One of the sailors, a Slovenian, said it was getting harder for him to breathe, so the airmen slid a tube down his throat to hook him up to a ventilator. The airmen then took 90-minute shifts watching over the patients while removing dead tissue, reducing pressure on the wounds, and making incisions on badly burned tissue to establish blood circulation., according to a press release. After a few hours, the airway of the second sailor, a Filipino, “became compromised but was too swollen to allow a tube to pass,” the press release said. Thinking fast, the pararescuemen performed a cricothyrotomy, where medical providers cut a slit through the patient’s throat through which they can pass a breathing tube.

“Now here’s this poor guy, pulse-ox crashing, literally taking his last agonal gasps, and up steps Jordan [St. Clair] to calmly and methodically find his airway, place the tube, and save this guy’s life like he was tying his shoelaces,” Boughal said at the ceremony. “Jordan has ice in his veins.”

Over three days, the airmen kept vigil over the patients and managed their fluids and pain levels. It helped that they could call Lt. Col. Stephen “Doc” Rush, the 106th Medical Group commander, for his insight. But keeping the patients alive was not the final challenge: the airmen also had to figure out how to lower the patients three stories to the ship’s deck so that they could be hoisted onto the Portuguese helicopter. They managed by rigging up a belay system using ropes, and then three of the airmen went with the patients aboard the helicopter to keep them alive on the way to the hospital. 

“What they ended up having to do on that ship that day was remarkable,” Cannet said, about the medical care his airmen provided.

The incredible story of a daring Air Force pararescue mission in the middle of the Atlantic
Air Force pararescuemen treat a patient aboard the Tamar during a rescue mission in April 2017. (Screenshot via YouTube/106th Rescue Wing)

Even after the helicopter departed, the danger was not over for the four airmen still on the Tamar, who had to get down onto a waiting tugboat in high seas. At one point the waves crushed the tug against the Tamar so hard that it cut the rope ladder the airmen were using in half. With the ladder gone, the airmen jumped into the tug one by one and made it out safely. The patients also survived and are alive today.

“Those two men are alive and enjoying life today because of our ability to provide a capability that very few organizations can,” said St. Clair at the award ceremony.

The idea of immortalizing that mission in a painting came from Chief Master Sgt. Brian Mosher, the 106th Operations Group superintendent, said Maj. Michael O’Hagan, the wing’s public affairs officer, in a press release. O’Hagan knew a painter named Todd L.W. Doney, a former illustrator who teaches art at County College of Morris, New Jersey. Doney charges up to $15,000 per canvas, but he “agreed to do the job for materials and time only.” 

The incredible story of a daring Air Force pararescue mission in the middle of the Atlantic
An airman from Esquadra 751, the Portuguese Air Force search and rescue organization, accompanies a litter carrying one of the injured Tamar crewman off the ship onto a hovering Merlin helicopter on April 27, in the North Atlantic after he and another badly burned sailor had been treated by members of the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing for the past three days. (Senior Master Sgt. Erik Blom/U.S. Air National Guard)

The artist drew from photographs of the mission and from the memories of the aircrew and pararescue team who were there that day. The airmen made sure the parachute cords were the right color, that there were the right number of cargo rollers on the HC-130 deck, and that the loadmaster’s uniform was the right pattern.

“I think what sticks out most in my mind, is you look at the ship, and you see the guys out there,” said 1st Lt. Jamie Bustamante, the loadmaster in the painting. “I do remember seeing all that.”

For his part, Doney said that what makes the painting special is the heroic deed it portrays.

“It wouldn‘t be a great painting unless those guys did what they did,” he said. “It was really awesome to honor these guys who jumped out in the middle of the night to save lives.”

The incredible story of a daring Air Force pararescue mission in the middle of the Atlantic
Members of the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing who worked together to save two badly burned sailors on board the 625-foot long bulk cargo carrier Tamar pose for a picture in front of their HC-130 search and rescue aircraft at Lajes Field in the Azores on April 28, 2017. (U.S. Air Force)
The incredible story of a daring Air Force pararescue mission in the middle of the Atlantic
This painting, by New Jersey Artist Todd L.W. Doney, commemorates a 2017 rescue mission in which Airmen assigned to the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing flew 1,200 miles out into the Atlantic to save the lives of two sailors on the Slovenian freighter Tamar. (Todd L.W. Doney)

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"Interviews with My Lai Veterans" (1970) Reel America Preview

"Interviews with My Lai Veterans" (1970) Reel America Preview



50 YEARS AGO on March 16, 1968 between 347 (U.S. Army estimate) and 504 (Vietnamese government estimate) unarmed …

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Chuck Schumer says he will give ‘our Republican friends’ another chance to pass burn pits bill before recess

Chuck Schumer says he will give ‘our Republican friends’ another chance to pass burn pits bill before recess

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he plans to give “our Republican friends” one more chance to vote on the burn pits bill before the Senate goes off on a one-month recess.

Mr Schumer spoke to The Independent on Capitol Hill on Thursday hours after GOP lawmakers voted to block a landmark bill that would provide much-needed healthcare and disability benefits to veterans sick and dying from toxic exposure to burn pits.

The Democrat revealed he plans to bring the vote back to the Senate floor on Monday in a last-ditch effort to get the bill passed before lawmakers head off on recess on 5 August.

“We are going to give our Republican friends another opportunity to vote on this Monday night,” he said.

He added that he will also give Senator Pat Toomey the chance to bring his amendments to the floor “and try to get the votes”.

Pennsylvania Republican Mr Toomey voted against the bill and has been complaining for weeks about it, saying that he wanted to add an amendment on provisional spending.

Following Wednesday’s vote, he claimed he was trying to address a “budget gimmick” in the bill that he said would lead to an increase in spending “on who knows what”.

His comments were slammed by Democratic Senator Jon Tester who told him veterans will die because of the delay he and his fellow GOP lawmakers are causing.

On Wednesday, the PACT Act collapsed in the US Senate when dozens of Republicans unexpectedly changed their minds and decided to vote against it.

The bill received just 55 of the needed 60 votes to pass a cloture motion on Wednesday, as just eight Republicans voted to move it forward.

The sudden refusal to support the bill that will provide healthcare to thousands of sick veterans came as a surprise as 25 of the GOP lawmakers who voted against it had voted to pass the same bill just one month earlier.

Back on 16 June, senators voted 84 to 14 in favour of the bill, in a move that was celebrated by veterans, their families and advocates who have spent years battling for the US government to take the issue of burn pits seriously.

The vote meant it seemed certain that the bill would become law in a matter of weeks.

Senator Pat Toomey has pushed back on the bill for weeks

(2022 CQ-Roll Call, Inc.)

First it was sent back to the House for a final vote on the Senate’s amendments.

There, it passed with a 342-88 vote on 14 July.

Because of a minor technical fix the House made, the Senate was required to vote on it again before it could be sent to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

But – between one month and the next – dozens of Republican senators decided that they no longer supported expanding healthcare and disability access to US servicemembers and decided to change their vote.

Now, with the Senate scheduled to go on recess in a week’s time, thousands of veterans in desperate need of healthcare and disability benefits have now been left high and dry for even longer.

Democratic lawmakers, veterans and advocates slammed the GOP lawmakers for blocking the bill in a highly emotional press conference on Thursday morning.

TV host Jon Stewart, who has been lobbying Congress to pass legislation to support veterans who are sick and dying from toxic exposure to burn pits, slammed the “lies” and “hypocrisy” from Senators Toomey and Mitch McConnell.

The TV host accused the Republicans of “abject cruelty” and said their refusal to pass the bill will cost lives.

“I’m used to the lies, I’m used to the hypocrisy, I’m used to the cowardice, I’m used to all of it, but I am not used to the cruelty,” he said.

Veterans and advocates have condemned the GOP lawmakers now stopping veterans getting healthcare

(Getty Images)

The veterans who are sick and dying don’t have that time to wait until after the recess, he said, as he branded the GOP lawmakers “cowards”.

“Now they say, ‘Well, this will get done. Maybe after we get back from our summer recess, maybe during the lame duck’ – because they’re on Senate time. Do you understand? You live around here? Senate time is ridiculous,” he said.

“These motherf***ers live to 200. They’re tortoises. They live forever and they never lose their jobs and they never lose their benefits and they never lose all those things.”

“Well, they’re not on Senate time,” he said of the veterans. “They’re on human time. They’re on cancer time.”

New York Senator Kristen Gillibrand echoed the outrage over the sudden turnaround from her GOP counterparts.

“This is total bulls***,” she shouted. “They have just sentenced veterans to death.”

When asked for his reaction to Mr Stewart’s comments, Mr Toomey replied: “That’s not worth responding to.”

His office directed The Independent to his tweet on Wednesday where he said he was trying to solve a “budget gimmick”.

“Tonight, the Senate voted to give us the chance to fix a completely unnecessary budget gimmick in the underlying text of the PACT Act. This gimmick allows $400B in spending completely unrelated to veterans care,” he said.

“We can easily fix this tonight, and there is no reason we cannot do so NOW. This simple fix would not reduce spending on veterans in the underlying bill by a single penny. It’s wrong to use a veterans bill to hide an unrelated slush fund.”

When asked for comment, Mr McConnell’s office referred The Independent to his comments on the Senate floor where he said that he supports the “substance of the bill” but that lawmakers first need to “fix the underlying accounting issue”.

“Yesterday, the Senate should have been able to clear bipartisan legislation to expand VA health benefits for millions of men and women who have served bravely in our armed forces… A bill this important and this bipartisan deserves for us to fix this accounting gimmick, and then it deserves to become law,” he said.

Under the legislation, 23 cancers, respiratory illnesses and other conditions will now be presumptively linked to a veterans’ exposure to burn pits while on deployment overseas.

This means service men and women who have returned home from serving their country and developed one of these conditions will be given automatic access to healthcare and disability benefits.

It will also fund federal research on the impact of burn pits on the nation’s troops.

An estimated 3.5 million servicemembers and veterans are estimated to have been exposed to burn pits and airborne toxins while serving the US overseas, according to the Veterans Affairs (VA).

During America’s post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, huge open-air pits were used to burn mountains of trash including food packaging, human waste and military equipment on US military bases.

Thousands of US service members returned home from deployment and developed health conditions including rare cancers, lung conditions, respiratory illnesses and toxic brain injuries caused by breathing in the toxic fumes from the pits.

But, until now, the burden of proof has always been on veterans to prove their condition is directly caused by this toxic exposure.

In September 2020, a senior VA official testified before Congress that almost 80 percent of disability claims mentioning burn pits were rejected between 2007 and 2020.

In the last six months, the president has made tackling the issue of burn pits a higher priority and repeatedly urged lawmakers in the House and Senate to pass legislation to support veterans.

During his State of the Union address in March, said that he believes his son Beau Biden may have died as a result of toxic exposure to burn pits during his deployment to Iraq.

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Marine vet’s prisoner swap needs to be quiet, Russia says

Marine vet’s prisoner swap needs to be quiet, Russia says

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The Kremlin warned Thursday that a possible prisoner swap with the United States involving American basketball star Brittney Griner needs to be negotiated quietly without fanfare.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that Washington had offered Russia a deal that would bring home Griner and another jailed American, Marine veteran Paul Whelan. A person familiar with the matter said the U.S. government proposed trading convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Whelan and Griner.

Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges in 2020. He and his family have vigorously asserted his innocence. The U.S. government has denounced the charges as false.

Asked about the U.S. offer, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied that prisoner swaps were typically negotiated discreetly behind the scenes.

“We know that such issues are discussed without any such release of information,” Peskov told reporters during a conference call. “Normally, the public learns about it when the agreements are already implemented.”

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He emphasized that “no agreements have been finalized” and refused to provide further details.

In a separate statement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russian and U.S. officials have conducted negotiations about possible prisoner exchanges and “there has been no concrete result yet.”

“We proceed from the assumption that interests of both parties should be taken into account during the negotiations,” Zakharova said.

Blinken’s comments marked the first time the U.S. government publicly revealed any concrete action it has taken to secure Griner’s release. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and player for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury was arrested at a Moscow airport in mid-February when inspectors found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a news conference, Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at the State Department in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

In a sharp reversal of previous policy, Blinken said he expects to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss the proposed prisoner deal and other matters. It would be their first phone call since before Russia sent its troops into Ukraine.

Russia has for years expressed interest in the release of Bout, a Russian arms dealer once labeled the “Merchant of Death.” He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2012 on charges that he schemed to illegally sell millions of dollars in weapons.

Griner’s trial on drug charges started in a court outside Moscow this month, and she testified Wednesday that she didn’t know how the cartridges ended up in her bag but that she had a doctor’s recommendation to use cannabis to treat career-related pain.

The 31-year-old has pleaded guilty but said she had no criminal intent in bringing the cartridges to Russia and packed in haste for her return to play in a Russian basketball league during the WNBA’s offseason. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of transporting drugs.

On Wednesday, Griner testified that a language interpreter translated only a fraction of what was being said while she was detained at Moscow’s airport and that officials told her to sign documents, but “no one explained any of it to me.”

Griner also said that besides the poor translation, she received no explanation of her rights or access to a lawyer during the initial hours of her detention. She said she used a translation app on her phone to communicate with a customs officer.

Her arrest came at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington ahead of Russia sending troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24. Griner’s five months of detention have raised strong criticism among teammates and supporters in the United States.

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The Biden administration has faced political pressure to free Griner and other Americans whom the U.S. has declared to be “wrongfully detained” — a designation sharply rejected by Russian officials.

Washington has long resisted prisoner swaps out of concern that they could encourage additional hostage-taking and promote false equivalency between a wrongfully detained American and a foreign national regarded as justly convicted.

In April, however, the government struck a deal to trade U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed for jailed Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.

Matthew Lee and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

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Peru: Castillo supporters rally in Lima to demand confirmation of election results

Peru: Castillo supporters rally in Lima to demand confirmation of election results



Subscribe to our channel! rupt.ly/subscribe Supporters of Peruvian presidential candidate Pedro Castillo took to the streets of Lima on Saturday, amid continued …

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4 Nominees for Positions Within DOD Testify Before Senate > U.S. Department of Defense > Defense Department News

4 Nominees for Positions Within DOD Testify Before Senate > U.S. Department of Defense > Defense Department News

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On Capitol Hill today, four nominees to positions within the Defense Department met with senators to discuss their vision for how they might handle their roles if confirmed. 




Radha Plumb: deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment




Milancy D. Harris: deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security




Laura Taylor-Kale: assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy




Brendan Owens: assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations and environment

“We have the finest military in the world and the creativity and competence of a thriving commercial sector that is also the envy of the world,” Plumb said. “If confirmed, my task will be to match warfighter requirements from our military with the technologies in that vibrant industrial base to ensure our military has the capabilities it needs to prevail in critical missions anytime, anywhere.” 

If confirmed, Plumb said she believes the department must establish clear transition pathways for critical new technologies such as hypersonics, artificial intelligence and directed energy. She also said the department must find ways to leverage new acquisition pathways to acquire software and software-intensive systems to meet the needs of warfighters and also invest in the defense industrial base to reduce foreign dependency. 

Plumb currently serves as the chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense. She has previously held positions at Google, Facebook, the RAND Corporation, the Department of Energy and the White House National Security Council. 

“Defense, intelligence and security efforts provide critical support to the secretary’s national defense strategy and are essential to ensuring the United States retains its strategic advantage today and in the future,” Harris said. “I approach my nomination with a clear focus on ensuring we are best positioned to collaborate with allies and partners, collect information, conduct analysis on intelligence priorities and protect our intelligence and innovations.” 

Nominated as the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, Harris told senators the department should ensure it recruits and retains a workforce that reflects the diversity of the nation and must also increase reciprocity across the intelligence community and create educational and broadening opportunities. 

Harris currently serves as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for irregular warfare and counterterrorism. She’s also held positions within the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Counterterrorism Center and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. 

Nominated as assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy, Taylor-Kale said that her tenure in the role, if confirmed, would be shaped by her belief that U.S. economic security is fundamentally national security. 

“My experience in international economics and development finance has reinforced my view that our open democratic system and market-driven, rules-based economy is our strength,” she said. “And that our resilience and innovative defense industrial base powers our ability to prevail in an age of strategic competition against China and other competitors.” 

If confirmed, Taylor-Kale said she’d focus on key issues that include, among other things, engaging industry and strategic allies as partners to mitigate the department’s supply chain risks, increasing competition and supporting small business and non-traditional suppliers, protecting the defense industrial base from foreign adversary capital, and increasing domestic production of critical minerals and strategic materials. 

Currently, Taylor-Kale serves as a fellow for innovation and economic competitiveness at the Council on Foreign Relations. She has held previous positions within the International Trade Administration, the U.S. Development Finance Corporation, the State Department and the World Bank. 

Nominated to, among other things, manage the Defense Department’s global portfolio of real estate, Owens said if confirmed, he’d be honored to serve the men and women who defend the nation. 

“I will do everything I can to ensure their ability to decisively execute their mission, while those of us serving in support of that mission safeguard their well-being,” he said. “For most of the force, this starts by ensuring they have safe, healthy, efficient and resilient places to live and work. These places should be enhancing the health, well-being and readiness of our servicemembers and their families.” 

If confirmed, Owens said he will be a champion for service members to ensure their environment, homes, workplaces and infrastructure serve to enhance their ability to complete their mission and thrive. He also noted that nearly every military installation in what would be his portfolio is dependent on local communities for their energy needs and that this presents risk to the department. He told lawmakers he believes that due to the large size of the Defense Department, ongoing efforts by the department to enhance energy resilience on military installations through things like microgrids, building-to-grid integration, energy generation and storage, could benefit not just local communities but also the nation as a whole. 

Owens, an engineer, currently serves as a principal of Black Vest Strategy, a consulting firm he founded. He also served for 19 years within the U.S. Green Building Council and before that as an energy manager at Fort Belvoir. 

All four nominees  will need to be confirmed by the U.S. senate before assuming their roles within the DOD.

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