Tuesday, 7 February 2006
More Than 260,000 Fortunate Sons (and Daughters) Cannot Get VA Heath Care. Lyrics by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
When I “volunteered” for Vietnam in November of 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival (you youngsters do a google search) appeared on the Ed Sullivan show (ditto google search) with a hit song that symbolized what most young Americans at that time felt about the Vietnam draft and still do feel about Selective Service today. In fact, looking at and listening to the words closely many Veterans today can clearly see that they apply even to young so-called “volunteers” today. Even the attractive reup bonus packages do not change the real meaning of Fortunate Son, because what those who do not risk their lives, limbs, or fortunes sending them off to war earn is lottery winnings in comparison. The song Fortunate Son went on to become popular among the troops serving in Vietnam and a favorite on Good Morning, Vietnam. It symbolized the distain that we held for those who avoided military service, or combat, especially those who waved the flag as they did so, more than we disliked the anti-war protestors. This of course included those who fled to the National Guard during that period to avoid combat with the exception of a few scarce Guard and Reserve units among us. Most National Guard units of the 1960s stayed within the United States for riot control against anti-war demonstrations and the Civil Rights movement. The governors of at least 10 Southern states, including Texas and Alabama, refused to federalize and release their National Guard units for service in Vietnam when requested by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. The Regular Armed Services ‘ racially integrated’ by 1949 with the coming of the Korean War, but the state National Guard was still a uniquely white man’s institution throughout the Vietnam War not being forced to integrate until around 1972. For southern state governors to release their state militias for federal service would mean integration, and that they would not allow. Our current Commander-In-Chief benefited from these racial policies in many ways. He was a fortunate son in this song. Source: http://www.sing365.com
FORTUNATE SON
------Creedence Clearwater Revival
Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail To The Chief",
oh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no senator's son,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no,
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, why don't they help themselves? oh.
But when the taxman come to the door,
Lord, the house look a like a rummage sale, yes,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no millionaire's son, no, no.
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no.
Yeh, some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, how much should we KILL,
oh, they only answer, more, more, more, yoh,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no military son, SON, NO
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, NO NOBobby “Indy Thinker” Hanafin dedicates Fortunate Son to Operation Firing for Effect 2006 the Veterans March on Washington, DC coming in April 2006, which I wrote about in my last post. The story of more that 260,000 Veterans barred from using the VA Heath Care network, because they now supposedly are among the Fortunate Sons who managed to avoid serving their country in combat during wartime when they were young men and women was foretold on Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) and many Veterans advocacy forums since before 2000.
Frankly, it is not the story that is amazing because it is old news. We heard this cry repeatedly since President Bush took office to lead the Republican leaders of Congress, including now Congressman Steve Buyer, in an increasingly aggressive attack on our Veterans benefits. Yet when the rubber hits the road, Veterans remain divided so much that Congress does not view any voting block or demonstration from us in Washington, DC as a political threat. Especially when Veterans shoot themselves in the foot (like trying to get out of combat) and VOTE for the very politicians who WE cannot be stupid enough to not know are going back to Washington to cut Veterans, Military Retiree, Troop, and Military Family benefits. Doing this survey of the Google search engine is really the amazing story. The exposure this story got nationwide says to Bobby “Indy Thinker” Hanafin “maybe, just maybe THIS TIME things will be a little bit different. This time IF Veterans can stay focused on WHOM their enemy is, and what their priorities are. WE can make the members of Congress ‘of both parties’ view us as a political threat to be reckoned with.Do not settle for any negotiated deals or halfway measure, because that is what the Congressional leaders and leaders of the VA are going to try to do. That is what leaders of our various VSOs have always settled for, and that is why it is taking decades to get NOWHERE with mandatory funding of the VA system except lip service from everyone. Congress will offer sugar to one Veterans group and vinegar to another in order to pit one against the other to divide any cohesive unity from becoming a political movement going further into 2006. Do not let that happen. Settle for nothing less than full mandatory funding of the VA Health Care system - nothing less. Where the government gets the money to care for America’s Veterans = ALL OF AMERICA’S VETERANS is their problem. President Bush and the other leaders of his party can passionately find money to subsidize permanent tax cuts for those not sacrificing for the War on Terror. They can find the money to make mandatory funding of the VA Health Care system permanent and take care of those who served their nation in uniform for 20 or more years then our Vice-President did with just as much passion.Regarding means testing to gain access to the VA Health Care system Indy Thinker has these words of wisdom for Congressman Steve Buyer and all Veterans who think as he does about Veterans they think are Fortunate Sons and Daughters. For VA income limits to access OUR heath benefits, in general you are looking at a low of $26,902 for a single unmarried Veteran and a high of $37,703 for a married Vet with four kids: http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/DOCS/MTFinancialThresholds.pdfDo YOU consider an annual income of between $26,902 and $37,703 the definition of a Fortunate Veteran and grounds for denying a Vet access to the VA?How much money does Congressman Buyer make a year? How much did he get in campaign contributions to call the rest of our brothers and sisters Fortunate Veterans and continue leading this effort to bar them from the VADo not know what the definition of Fortunate Son is that Steve Buyer and Vets whom think as he does, and yes WE are surrounded at our VSO Posts, Chapters, Bars and Clubs by fellow Veterans who say one thing and do another. They may preach mandatory funding of the VA system to retain and maintain membership levels, but ask yourself what aggressive actions have they really taken to make it happen. Why, because they are Vets who feel and vote the same way about VA funding as Steve Buyer does and they infest our Veterans Service Organizations. How dare they even be members of “Veterans Service” organizations? Any Senator or Congressman’s who never served in uniform plus most who did has an income that exceeds the high of $37,703 multiple times in campaign contributions alone not to mention government income and guaranteed health care. How much is your handsome income level Congressman Buyer?When military recruiters or draft boards processed us for war as young men and women they did not ask us how much money Veterans made THEN. It is no damn business of the government how much money Veterans make NOW. Let us bring this process of means testing Veterans to an immediate stop NOW. Fellow Veterans we have also been taken for fools by the diversion of the Flag Amendment swindle as Congress spent decades dismantling the G.I. Bill or Rights under our noses.
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8 Feb 2006
 Bobby "Indy Thinker" Hanafin
[QUOTE] The old saying back then was that they were drafting only those who were so poor and dumb that they had to have a fence post to lean on in order to grunt.(civilians saying this which got back to us).
Are you calling a "Fortunate Son" and a "Fortunate Veteran" the same
thing? Maybe that is your point.
I believe the hardship status for IRS is above $28,000 somewhere now
as in Aug 2004 it was set at $28,000 and below for a married couple. Where the VA gets its figures for means testing is beyond me as I don't like means testing for veterans who have "earned" their benefits by not being draft dodgers. Jerry Lenox [QUOTE]
Brother Lenox,
Thanx for getting back to me on my long winded article Bro. Better yet thank you for making the time and effort to read it. My VA service connection tends to show through my writing, but it is therapy. Some Bros deal with it by painting, some by poetry, some by photography, some by building unit websites that never forget the war. Me I write and write and write.
Frankly, I write the way I talk. Can't shut me up.
Anyway Bro the old saying about only drafting the dumb and poor has a basis in FACT and half truth my friend, I know this from personal experience. You see not all of us dumb and poor minority Vietnam Vets were drafted.
Ever heard of Project 100,000?
No it was not any boots on the ground special operation in the Nam.
Bro, I dropped out of high school in South Baltimore, MD and hit the streets at the age of 16. By the age of 17 I was in front of a judge who in September 1969 gave me two choices: either reform school or "join the Army".
Not having a high school diploma, and not passing the armed forces aptitude test plus being under age, I was allowed to "enlist" under Secretary Robert McNamara's Project 100,000 which drastically lowered both mental aptitude standards and education level as a last ditch effort to avoid drafting college students (Fortunate Sons).
However, as you can see by my case not all us dumb and poor folks were minority or drafted, but MOST I got to know were. In fact, the largest proportion sent to Veitnam were draftees under Project 100,000 than volunteers who might make a career out of the Army. I do not believe the Marine corp had such a program. Like today it was meeting its limited quota of volunteers compared to the vastly larger Army.
Jerry you can either look up Project 100,000 on Google or here is a bibliography on the program from the U.S. Army History Center at Carlisle Barracks, PA:
USAMHI Mil Service-Recruiting
RefBranch
dv Mar 89, Feb 93
PROJECT 100,000/TRANSITION, 1966-71
A Working Bibliography of MHI Sources
DOD manpower entry and exit programs: one reduced mental requirements so that a quota of 100,000 men could be drawn from previous ineligibles and the other provided some civilian job skill training prior to discharge.
Bell, William G., et al. Two Centuries of Service: The Army's Civil Contributions to American Society. Draft ed, DC: CMH, 1975. pp. 159-64. UZ423U53.
Coble, Charles R., Jr. "Social Action Programs in the Department of Defense." PhD dss, U of NC, Chapel Hill, 1969. On microfilm. D-C16.
Curry, G. David. Sunshine Patriots: Punishment and the Vietnam Offender. South Bend, IN: U of Notre Dame, 1985. 146 p. DS557.7D7C87.
McFann, Howard W. Progress Report on HumRRO Research on Project 100,000. Paper, HUMRRO, George Washington U, 1969. 17 p. U408.3M23.
Sticht, Thomas G., et al. Cast-off Youth: Policy and Training Methods From the Military Experience. NY: Praeger, 1987. 216 p. U716C35. See Chap 4 (30 p.) for analysis of prev studies on project.
U.S. Dept of Army. Historical Summary, 1969-1971. Wash, DC: CMH, 1969-71. UA24A15.
Fact Sheet: Project Transition. Pamphlet 360-601, May 1968. 4 p. MilPubs.
U.S. Dept of Defense. Military Personnel Data Files and Reporting Procedures for "Project One Hundred Thousand." Instruction No. 1145.3, 29 Nov 1967 (29 p.) & 10 Sep 1970 (26 p.). MilPubs(Attic).
Annual Reports, 1968-72. UA23.2A1. See DOD "Manpower" sections, e.g., 1968 (p. 73-74), and see Dept of Army portions.
Warsinske, John. Company Command in Vietnam...Oral History Collections. Special Bib 276, Nov 1990. ca 250 p. Ref/Z6724H6U55no26. See Sec II, p. 125, for identity of pertinent interviews. Project 100,000 p.2
Zeidner, Joseph, & Drucker, Arthur J. Behavioral Science in the Army: A History of the Army Research Institute. Wash, D.C.: the Inst, 1988. 323 p. U22.3Z44,
See pp. 75-81.
Methinks Brother Lenox that TARGETING 100.000 dumb and poor black, hispanic , and poor white draftees, and volunteers did not happen and that 100,000 is not a significant number (mostly ending up in Vietnam) then you Bro need to throw away your copy of B.G. Burkett's "Stolen Valor," because the only valor stolen has been academic integrity, fair and factual analysis of Vietnam in Burkett's book.
Burkett is a businessman from Texas with close ties to the Bush family who served as a REMF in NAM, a female lawyer wrote his book for him, it was financed by the Willian Colby institute (a CIA front), from which he recieved honors, awards, and money for the book that is not worth wiping a Vets butt with. Burkett attacks only fake Veterans who hold an opposite political agenda or ideology from his. Should I go on?
Lastly, he is the mastermind behind every attack on the military record of Vietnam Veterans who oppose George W. Bush and a close confidant of Karl Rove. Burkett even orchestrated the smear campaign against John McCain in the Republican primary election of 2000 and Swiftboat Veterans for Bush campaign smear against Senator John Kerry.
Yes this man Burkett literally wrote the book, but it really is not about "Stolen Valor," it is about assassinating the military character of Vietnam Veterans for political gain, and he and Karl Rove have made it an art form.
Anyway Brother Lenox "It don't mean nothin." I play by Burkett and Karl Rove's rules. HINT.
A conservative Republican since 1980, I play to WIN, and I am not same "low-life moral and ethical slime" as Burkett from Texas, his buddies Karl Rove or George W. Bush.
Thanx again for your feed back to my personal email addy.
Bobby "Indy Thinker" Hanafin
Regarding calling a Veteran a "Fortunate Son" and a "Fortunate Veteran" the same thing being my point, I guess you could say that given that Project 100,000 was a FACT, Fortunate Son was a FACT, and means tesing of Veterans today attempts to make us appear to be "Fortunate sons" in the eyes of the American public today. One could see and use the analogy. Frankly, I think that I used it well.
Regardless, YOU GOT THE POINT = I don't like means testing for veterans who have "earned" their benefits.
And that means EVERYTHING BRO.
Thanks again for your feedback.
Bobby "Indy Thinker" Hanafin
Jerry Lenox wrote:
Woodstock was in August of 1969- yes remember those days.(I didn't
attend).
I had enlisted in the USArmy in June 1962 and in Dec 1963 while I was
home on leave en route from the 82d Abn Div to the 173d Abn Bde by some
means I was informed that I had been drafted and to report to the draft
board to which I was supposed to have done already sometime back. Needless
to say, the draft board was quite irked at my showing them an active duty ID
card and me "spoiling someone else's Christmas" as it was stated. Thought
they had them a real draft dodger- to make the story short.The old saying
back then was that they were drafting only those who were so poor and dumb
that they had to have a fence post to lean on in order to grunt.(civilians
saying this which got back to us).
Are calling a "Fortunate Son" and a "Fortunate Veteran" the same thing?
Maybe that is your point.
I believe the hardship status for IRS is above $28,000 somewhere now as
in Aug 2004 it was set at $28,000 and below for a married couple. Where the
VA gets its figures for means testing is beyond me as I don't like means
testing for veterans who have "earned" their benefits by not being draft
dodgers.
We were in company formation at Ft Bragg. The First Sergeant said he had
some interesting news about one of his troops who had gone on leave that was
relayed to him. It was" I have some fortunate news -do you know that Lenox
is a draft dodger" It took a second or two and the whole place roared with
laughter. Don' mean nothin'-not a thing.
Jerry
junjlx@msn.com
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