FYI All,
Start your planning now for the 2018 Department Convention Golf Tournament.
Information included here.
Please help spread the word.
Thanks!
From: adjutant post 26 [mailto:mesapost26@qwestoffice.net]
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2018 7:12 AM
To: Angel Juarez <ajuarez@azlegion.org>
Subject: Golf
Angel;
Here is the golf Info
For god and country;
Sid Hagel
Commander Post 26
Mesapost26
(O) 480-964-8792
(F) 480-964-0677
FYI All,
Thanks for all that you do for Veterans!
From: Raughter, John B. [mailto:jraughter@legion.org]
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2018 6:52 AM
To: All Legion Leadership
Subject: Media Alert: American Legion National Commander Embarks on Nationwide Radio Tour
Legion Leaders,
National Commander Denise H. Rohan will be appearing on 18 radio shows across the nation tomorrow morning to discuss Memorial Day, the need for the U.S. government to provide a strong veterans health care system, and other concerns of The American Legion . If you are in the listening area of one of the taped appearances, you may wish to contact the station or visit its website to find out the planned broadcast time if it has been scheduled. All listed times are Eastern Time. The Commander will be discussing The American Legion before a “drive-time” listening audience of nearly 20 million.
After the broadcasts, most or all of the interviews will be posted on www.legion.org/commander/radio
Sincerely,
John Raughter
7:10-7:20 NBC NEWS NETWORK NATIONAL (0) TAPE
7:20-7:35 TALK WITH AUDREY SYNDICATED (0) TAPE
7:35-7:45 WOCA-AM-FM ORLANDO (19) LIVE
7:50-8:00 KLTF-AM MINNEAPOLIS (15) LIVE
8:00-8:10 PATCH ONLINE MICHIGAN STATEWIDE (0) TAPE
8:10-8:20 WATD-AM / WMEX-AM BOSTON (7) TAPE
8:20-8:30 WYYZ-AM/FM ATLANTA (10) TAPE
8:30-8:40 WMBS-AM/FM PITTSBURGH (23) TAPE
8:40-8:45 NORTHERN NEWS NETWORK MONTANA STATEWIDE (0) TAPE
-BREAK-
9:05-9:15 LET’S JUST TALK SYNDICATED (0) TAPE
9:20-9:30 THE ANGIE AUSTIN SHOW SYNDICATED (0) TAPE
9:50-10:00 WAMD-AM / WHGM-AM / WKHZ-AM / WYRE-AM BALTIMORE (27) TAPE
10:10-10:20 WCBC-AM WASHINGTON DC (8) LIVE
10:20-10:30 WFIN-AM TOLEDO (76) TAPE
10:30-10:40 GLOBAL AMERICAN BROADCASTING NETWORK NATIONAL (0) LIVE
10:40-10:50 WSRB-FM WYCA-FM CHICAGO (3) TAPE
10:50-11:00 CRN DIGITAL TALK SYNDICATED (0) TAPE
11:00-11:15 TENNESSEE RADIO NETWORK STATEWIDE (0) TAPE
NBC News Radio National
Seattle, WA
Profile – News Talk
Interviewer – Harmon Shay
Show – Harmon Shay Reporting – Taped
Focus – NBC News Radio provides over 150 news, sports, music, talk, entertainment programs, features, live events and 24/7 formats. Through its subsidiaries, NBC News Radio provides local content to the radio and TV industries including news, sports, weather, traffic, video news services and other information. NBC News Radio serves more than 850 radio stations and 122 affiliates air the news at the top of the hour.
Audience – 9,740,646
Talk With Audrey Syndicated
New York, NY
Profile – Talk, News
Interviewer – Audrey Adams
Show – Talk With Audrey – Taped
Focus – Talk with Audrey seeks to empower it’s listeners by providing informative, educational and cultural programming that speaks to the diverse populations of America. Each week, the show will feature a new topic and guest from the cosmetic, health, fitness, financial, entertainment or travel industry.
Audience – 1,127,612
Affiliates
WPAT-AM 930 New York Audience – 714,177 – Airs on Mondays at 5:30 PM ET
KMET-AM 1490 Los Angeles Audience – 120,204 – Airs on Tuesdays at 1 PM ET
WEHA-FM 88.7 Philadelphia Audience – 109,548 – Airs on Thursday at 1 PM ET
KEST-AM 1450 San Francisco Audience – 81,000 – Airs on Monday at 9:30 AM ET.
WBCA-FM 102.9 Boston Audience – 28,350 – Airs on Thursdays at 5:00 PM ET
WBNW-AM 1120 Boston Audience – 72,333 – Airs on Thursdays at 5:00 PM ET
The Gospel Plane Houston – Airs on Tuesday’s at 12 PM ET – Audience 2,000
WOCA-AM 1360 / FM 96.3 Orlando-Ocala
Ocala, FL
Profile – Talk, News, Sports
Interviewer – Larry Whitler and Robin MacBlane
Show – A.M. Ocala – Live
Focus – Live morning show with a mix of news weather and health topics all brought with a laugh. Hosted by Larry Whitler and co-host Robin MacBlane
Audience – 110,000
KLTF-AM 960 Minneapolis
Little Falls, MN
Profile – News/Talk
Interviewer – Ron Specker
Focus – Ron is morning show host from 6-9AM daily. Show focuses on local news, politics, events and guests focusing on health, business and lifestyle stories.
Audience – 53,298
Patch Online Michigan Statewide
Detroit, MI
Interviewer – Deb Nicholson
Profile – Localized News Website
Focus – Patch provides hyperlocalized content and serves as a community-specific news and information platform dedicated to providing comprehensive, hyper-localized coverage.
Audience – 170,400
WATD-AM 1460 / WMEX-AM 1510 Boston
Boston, MA
Profile – Talk, News
Interviewer – Ron Van Dam
Show – The Ron Van Dam Show- Taped
Focus – Presenting interviews and features in a magazine-style format, covering local news such as politics community events and lifestyle stories.
WATD-AM Audience –31,500
WMEX-AM Audience – 15,500
WYYZ-AM 1120 / FM 102.7 Atlanta
Jasper, GA
Profile – News Talk
Interviewer – Matt Youngblood
Show – Pickens AM – Live
Matt Youngblood is anchor and veteran news reporter for WYYZ. Morning Talk features discussion panels of local news and events that surround the community.
Audience – 67,600
WMBS-AM 590 / FM 101.FM Pittsburgh
Uniontown, PA
Profile – News Talk
Interviewer – Bill Madden
Show – What’s On Your Mind?
Focus – News program from 1-3 PM daily featuring discussion panels of local news and events that surround the community.
Audience – 48,050
Northern News Network Montana Statewide
Billings, MT
Profile – Talk, News
Interviewer – Brian Bennett
Show Name – Montana News
Focus – Northern News Network provides Montana state news programs eight times daily to Montana radio stations, along with Montana sports, weather, legislative reports and an hour-long daily statewide talk show focusing on Montana issues and events. 30 affiliates total.
Audience – 630,000
Let’s Just Talk Syndicated
Cincinnati, OH
Profile – News, Talk
Interviewer – Kathryn Raaker
Show – Let’s Just Talk – Taped
Focus – Nationally syndicated family radio program featuring expert guests, current issues, popular world issues and entertainment information.
Audience – 611,500
Genesis Communications Network
Aurora, CO
Profile – News Talk
Interviewer – Angie Austin
Show – The Angie Austin Show – Taped
Focus – "The Angie Austin Show" is about encouragement. Most of the news we see and hear every day is really negative and quite depressing. Angie Austin reported that news for 22 years and now wants to share the positive things that are happening in our communities. It’s sharing stories of hope and victory. Guests on the show are real people who have overcome obstacles in their lives and professionals who can offer advice and help to those struggling with a variety of situations. Airs on 28 affiliates.
Audience – 2,462,544
WAMD-AM / WHGM-AM / WKHZ-AM / WYRE-AM Baltimore
Aberdeen, MD / Havre de Grace, MD
Profile – News, Talk, Gospel
Interviewer – Horace Tittle
Show – Focus on the Community
Focus – Family programming featuring topics such as city and state government news, the economy, business development, health issues and cultural events. Guests include local and national newsmakers.
WHGM-AM – 62,690
WAMD-AM – 6,300
WKHZ-AM – 15,060
WYRE-AM – 5,250
WCBC-AM 1270 Washington D.C.
Cumberland, MD
Profile – News Talk
Interviewer – Dave Norman
Show – The Dave Norman Show – Live
Focus – The Dave Norman show featuring expert guests, current issues, sports, popular world issues and entertainment information.
Audience – 86,560
WFIN-AM 1330 Toledo
Finley, OH
Profile – News, Sports
Interviewer – Chris Oaks
Show Name – Good Mornings
Focus – Good Mornings with host Chris Oaks is a fun, hip, and lively show that has everyone talking. You get all the latest local and national news and information. You’ll also hear interviews with local newsmakers and features with information you can really use.
Audience – 12,159
Global American Broadcasting Network
SDG Radio Network
Cable Radio Network
Port Lucie, FL
Profile – News Talk
Interviewer – Bill Martinez
Show Name – Bill Martinez Live – Live
Focus – Welcome to Bill Martinez Live, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that is committed to solutions over partisanship…involvement over invalidation…The United States over party politics. The best answers come when we adre all engaged, involved and united for everyone’s higher good. It is syndicated to 270 stations on the CRN, GAB, and SGD networks.
Audience – 5,250,000
WSRB-FM 106.3 Chicago
Hammond, IN
Profile – R&B
Interviewer – Debra Rhodes
Show – Real Talk – Taped
Focus – “Real Talk” features the opportunity for the community to ask questions of politicians, community leaders, educators, and policymakers. Hammond, IN is 27 miles south of downtown Chicago.
Audience – 65,310
CRN Digital Talk Radio National
Los Angeles, CA
Profile – News Talk
Interviewer –Mike Horn and Matt Bissontz
Show – What’s Cooking Today
Focus – Wake up in the morning with Mike and Matt. Live talk about news, politics, and popular culture, all with a laugh. Airs live between 8 and 9 AM Pacific on 190 CRN 1 cable systems and between 10 and 11 PM PT Weekdays on KCBQ-AM San Diego and WHTH-AM Columbus. Also airs on Wednesdays between 9 and 10 AM PT on KVON-AM Napa/San Francisco, plus ROKU, Apple TV and 29 additional Radio America terrestrial stations on the weekend.
Audience – 2,169,865
Tennessee Radio Network Statewide
Nashville, TN
Profile – Talk, News
Interviewer – Robert Buan
Show – Tennessee Matters
Focus – Distributes news, weather, and sports to 79 stations in Tennessee. The network is owned by Clear Channel Communications. Flagship station is WLAC-AM
Audience – 2,167,245
John B. Raughter
Deputy Director, Media Relations
Phone: (317) 630-1350 Fax: (317) 630-1368
FYI All,
Start your planning now for the 2018 Department Convention Golf Tournament.
Information included here.
Please help spread the word.
Thanks!
From: adjutant post 26 [mailto:mesapost26@qwestoffice.net]
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2018 7:12 AM
To: Angel Juarez <ajuarez@azlegion.org>
Subject: Golf
Angel;
Here is the golf Info
For god and country;
Sid Hagel
Commander Post 26
Mesapost26
(O) 480-964-8792
(F) 480-964-0677
FYI All,
Resent to include the attachment that I missed before.
Thanks,
Angel
From: carol culbertson [mailto:carolculbertson@earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 7:12 PM
To: Angel Juarez <ajuarez@azlegion.org>
Subject: Fw: West Valley Veterans Treatment Court Panel – April 13th 7:00 pm @ ASU West
for Angel
FYI All,
Resent to include the attachment that I missed before.
Thanks,
Angel
From: carol culbertson [mailto:carolculbertson@earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 7:12 PM
To: Angel Juarez <ajuarez@azlegion.org>
Subject: Fw: West Valley Veterans Treatment Court Panel – April 13th 7:00 pm @ ASU West
for Angel
FYI All,
Please attend if you are able. We could use a West Valley Veterans Court.
Thanks!
From: carol culbertson [mailto:carolculbertson@earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 11:59 AM
To: claudehc@yahoo.com
Subject: Invitation to veterans) West Valley Veterans Treatment Court Panel – April 13th 7:00 pm @ ASU West
West Valley Veterans Treatment Court Panel – April 13th 7:00 pm @ ASU West
Invitation to/Opportunity for veterans
Hello All!
Please red letter the date!
May 19, 2018
The Homecoming Dinner in honor of
Department Commander Domingo Bonilla
Department President Yolanda Bonilla and
Detachment Commander Matthew Griffis
to be held at
Mathew B. Juan Post 35
2240 W. Chandler Blvd,
No-Host Cocktails: 4:00 pm
Dinner: 5:00 pm
Roast Beef or Chicken Alfredo
and sides and dessert of course.
Please watch for invitation and ticket order forms that will be issued around May 1 with a RSVP needed by May 12.
Here attached is the form and you may see it come to your Post, Unit or Squadron from other sources.
Nearby Hotels:
Hampton Inn 855-238-1591 Fairfield Inn 855-239-9483
Quality Inn 855-239-9223 Comfort Inn 855-239-9246
In an undisputed contest, shooting their highest score this season, 644 points, Arizona American Legion defeated Ashley Ridge AFJROTC. Arizona American Legion finishes the season in thirty-eighth place with a 2 – 6 record. Arizona American Legion was led by Anton Bichler who shot a 239. The remaining contributing members were Chandler Boyd, Jared Stenbak. Arizona American Legion is from Glendale, AZ, and is coached by Dan Palmer.
Ashley Ridge AFJROTC dropped to 1 – 7 on the season. They finish the season in forty-first place. Ashley Ridge AFJROTC is from Summerville, SC, and is coached by Bill Clark.
These two teams are competing in the National Air Rifle "New Shooter" League. Sponsored by the Orion Scoring System, the league is a national team league exclusive to athletes in their first year of competition. Teams are from high schools and junior rifle clubs throughout the United States. Over 10 weeks each team competes in 8 games. Each week, each team is paired with another team with a near equal win-loss record. The winner of the league is the team with the best win loss record.
In each game the teams compete in what is known as a Three-Position Air Rifle match. The match is modeled after Olympic Rifle competitions but adapted to high school age athletes. Each athlete will shoots 10 shots in three different shooting positions, prone, standing, and kneeling. Each shot is worth a maximum of 10 points. The sum of points scored in the 30 shots is the athlete’s total. The team score is comprised of the best four athletes from each team.
For more information on the league, including complete standings, visit http://www.orionscoringsystem.com/AirRifleNewShooterLeague
Box Score: http://www.orionresults.com/team/GamePage.aspx?MatchID=1.1.799961378.1
Arizona American Legion team page: http://www.orionresults.com/team/LeagueTeam.aspx?TeamID=762
Ashley Ridge AFJROTC team page: http://www.orionresults.com/team/LeagueTeam.aspx?TeamID=779
26 Mar-01 Apr 18
Good morning Legionnaires and veterans advocates, today is Monday, April 9, 2018 which is National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, National Winston Churchill Day, Appomattox Day and National Chicken Little Awareness Day
This Day in History:
· 1865: At Appomattox, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, blocked from joining the surviving Confederate force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union cavalry, Lee had no other option.
· On this day in 1859, a 23-year-old Missouri youth named Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) receives his steamboat pilot’s license.
· On this day in 1940, German warships enter major Norwegian ports, from Narvik to Oslo, deploying thousands of German troops and occupying Norway. At the same time, German forces occupy Copenhagen, among other Danish cities.
· On this day in 1918, German troops launch “Operation Georgette” the second phase of their final, last-ditch spring offensive, against Allied positions in Armentieres, France, on the River Lys.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
· Lubbock Online: Levelland native talks about nomination as head of VA
· Federal Times: Where are the veterans in the federal workforce?
· Military Times: Vet unemployment up in March
· Army Times: Army IDs 2 soldiers killed in Apache helicopter crash
· CNN: House Armed Services chairman: Military readiness ‘at a crisis point’
· Military.com: First All-Female C-130 Crew to Fly in Combat Looks Back on Mission
· Defense News: Five big questions for Jim Mattis on Capitol Hill this week
If you wish to be removed from this email list, kindly email me at mseavey with “Remove from Daily Clips” in the subject line. If you have received this from someone who forwarded it and would like to be added, email me at mseavey and I will promptly add you to the list, that you might get the daily American Legion News.
Lubbock Online: Levelland native talks about nomination as head of VA
Posted Apr 8, 2018 at 12:23 AMUpdated Apr 8, 2018 at 12:25 AM
Levelland native Dr. Ronny Jackson — the rear admiral who is President Donald Trump’s nominee as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs — knows he will someday be a veteran and his sons will be veterans.
“I’m going to be a vet one day soon. If I do get confirmed, I won’t stay on active duty, I’ll be a vet right away,” Jackson said Thursday in a phone interview with the Avalanche-Journal, the first interview he did after being nominated.
Jackson, currently the physician to the president, noted that it’s in his best interest and his children’s best interest to do what is right for veterans. He is also a United States Navy rear admiral.
“I’ve been overseas, and I’ve been deployed in combat zones with Marines and soldiers and airmen and sailors, and I’ve seen first-hand what they go through, the injuries and the things they come home with. I’ve seen how that happens, and how devastating it is to them and their families. I just want to make sure that we do our part as a country and we let them know that we appreciate that and we take care of them,” Jackson said.
Veterans are like anyone else — they don’t see themselves as entitled or eligible for anything that normal people don’t expect, the VA nominee said. Veterans just want good quality care and they want to know that they have access to care.
“We owe the vets the absolute best care that’s available out there,” Jackson said.
The naval officer was appointed as a White House physician under President George W. Bush, whom he calls “Bush 43” to distinguish him from his father, President George H.W. Bush, whom Jackson calls “Bush 41″. He served as First Lady Laura Bush’s personal physician, and also spent a lot of time at the Bush ranch in Texas with the family.
“I was the first lady’s assigned physician. I traveled everywhere she went,” Jackson said. “She and I got along really well, as did President Bush and I, because we were all from Texas. Obviously I grew up just due north from where they grew up.”
He continued as a White House physician under President Barack Obama, when several of the physicians who had seniority at the time left for a variety of reasons.
“I kind of got catapulted toward the top of the docs who were currently there, as far as seniority goes,” Jackson said, noting that he was the deputy director of the White House medical unit for about a year before becoming director. Then Obama appointed him as his personal physician.
As a personal physician to the president, Jackson does not wait in his office for the president to have a medical problem.
“I take care of basically the entire White House compound. I oversee all of the care here,” Jackson said, adding that over 18 acres, that’s about 7,000 people.
“We do urgent care here, anybody who is injured or they are sick, they come see us. We do a lot of travel medicine, because, of course, we have a lot of travelers here, so immunizations and travel preparation, we do all of that,” Jackson said. “And we do, basically, a lot of primary care as well, and I take care of and end up being a primary-care provider for most of the senior folks in the White House who work in the East Wing and the West Wing, the president’s senior staff and cabinet members.”
When Obama left in 2017, Jackson said he was ready to retire because he had 20-plus years in the military and a new administration was coming into the White House.
“Typically, anyone who’s in an appointed spot in one administration, they won’t carry on to the next administration, especially when it changes from one party to the other,” he said.
“I made a lot of good relationships in the Bush 43 administration, and some of the people that were working on the Trump transition had been a part of the Bush 43 administration, and they knew me,” Jackson said. “They talked to President Trump about it, and I talked about it with him, and he just immediately appointed me as his physician as well.”
Some national critics have acknowledged that Jackson is a great doctor while also questioning his experience in management, particularly of a large agency like the VA.
“I’ve been in leadership school for 23 years now. … And I’ve been able to rise to the level of an admiral, a flag officer in the Navy. I didn’t just stumble into that. So I’ve gotten a lot of leadership background, I’ve got a lot of leadership experience as a Navy officer, and I’ve got a lot of day-to-day leadership experience,” he said. “You know, I’m not just an officer in the Navy; I’m an emergency medicine physician in the military. I’ve been confronted on a day-to-day basis with life and death decisions.
“I think I’ve got what it takes, and you know, I don’t buy into that argument at all.”
Despite his assertion that he didn’t stumble into the VA nomination, Jackson said much of his life has been serendipitous.
When he started college, he never dreamed of going to medical school or becoming a doctor.
After taking classes at South Plains College and going on to Texas A&M in Galveston to pursue a degree in marine biology, Jackson found himself with a problem common to college students: he needed money. He applied for a job at the University of Texas medical school in Galveston as an autopsy assistant and found it interesting.
“It sounds a little bit gross, but you know, it was pretty educational. They would teach me a lot of stuff about different disease processes as we were doing an autopsy. That’s what got me interested in medical school,” Jackson said.
His mother, Norma, also told the A-J in a Jan. 26 story that her son had never wanted to be a doctor.
“He was fixing to graduate, and he called me and his daddy, and told us he had decided he wanted to be a doctor. And we thought, ‘What in the world?’ But anyway, he made a doctor, and we’re glad for that,” Norma Jackson said.
He didn’t have any plans of joining the military, either, but didn’t have money for medical school. Once he was admitted, he called a Navy recruiter who had told him to call back once he was admitted to a medical school, and he learned about a program in which he could be a Navy diver and a doctor.
“I really liked diving, so I signed on,” he said.
He never dreamed of becoming a White House physician, but he was nominated by his specialty leader, who is responsible for all emergency medicine doctors in the Navy.
“I didn’t even know the job existed,” Jackson said. “I just got an email out of nowhere saying that I’d been nominated for a job at the White House. Luckily, it was on an old email account that I wasn’t checking very often, but I saw it before the deadline, but only shortly before the deadline, maybe just four or five days.”
He scrambled to get an application package in.
“I kind of cut a lot of corners,” Jackson said.
But a few months later, he got an email out of the blue, and this one said he was one of three physicians selected for an interview. Unfortunately, it was 2005 and he was stationed in Iraq.
“Once again, I thought that was it — this is where the road stops because I wasn’t going to be able to be back in D.C. for an interview, because I was once again in the middle of the desert,” Jackson said. But his supervisor wanted him to succeed.
That supervisor was Lt. Gen. John E. Wissler, who had been a military aide to Bush 41. Wissler summoned him to his office and told him to pack his bags for a flight on a transport plane full of broken helicopters back to the United States.
After a crazy few days in Washington D.C. , had to get a new suit because he’d lost 40 pounds in Iraq, and interviewed for three days at the White House. He got the job that launched him on an unthinkable trajectory to possibly get a seat on the president’s cabinet.
“I really haven’t planned my life out real meticulously. I’ve just kind of tried to enjoy what I’m doing and do a good job, and one think has led to another,” Jackson said.
Looking back at growing up in Levelland, Jackson said: It was an experience that I appreciate now more as I’ve gotten older and I’ve lived all over the world. Levelland and that part of West Texas is just a special place with people that are like nowhere else in the world,” Jackson said. “It instilled a lot of small town values with me that I’ve carried with me throughout my career. So you know, I can’t say enough good things about West Texas. I’m proud to be a West Texan.”
Jackson said he misses the people of Levelland, but not the sand storms and weather extremes. He remembers Levelland as a place that had only two restaurants: The Spot and The Chat ‘n’ Chew. He preferred The Spot, he said.
“It’s grown a little bit,” he said.
Those West Texas values probably led him into the Navy.
“My parents, they didn’t really have the money to fork over and help me pay for med school,” Jackson said. “My mom and dad kind of instilled in me, and I think a lot of other people when I was growing up in Levelland were the same way, they didn’t like to spend money they didn’t have.”
Federal Times: Where are the veterans in the federal workforce?
By: Ken Chamberlain 1 day ago
AddThis Sharing Buttons
Share to Facebook80Share to TwitterShare to Google+Share to EmailShare to More8
Federal government representatives talk about their commitment in hiring veterans, but how well do they really do?
Not bad, actually.
In fiscal 2016 (the latest year for which data is available), roughly one-quarter to one-half of the workers at the largest agencies, such as the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, are military veterans, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
Other agencies, including some of the relatively smaller ones, such as AID and EPA, employ a significantly smaller percentage of veterans.
There’s been relatively little variation from fiscal 2014 to 2016 in the percentages, as demonstrated in the chart below. And overall, 31.1 percent of federal workers were veterans in fiscal 2016, only a slight bump from 2012 when veterans made up 29.7 percent of the workforce.
Military Times: Vet unemployment up in March
AddThis Sharing Buttons
Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to EmailShare to Copy Link
By: Natalie Gross 2 days ago
As the national unemployment rate remained unchanged for the sixth month in a row, the percentage of veterans without jobs ticked upward in March, the latest federal figures show.
The unemployment rate among post-9/11 veterans grew to 5 percent last month — up from 3.3 percent in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For veterans of all eras, the unemployment rate rose from 3.5 to 4.1 percent, slightly higher than the nonveteran rate of 4 percent.
Experts warn the monthly veteran unemployment numbers can be volatile, since the data is drawn from a smaller sample size than the overall population. Annual averages show post-9/11 veteran unemployment has declined significantly since its peak of 12.1 percent in 2011, reaching an all-time low annual average of 4.5 percent in 2017.
Nationally, unemployment remained steady at 4.1 percent as the U.S. added 103,000 jobs, primarily in the manufacturing, health care and mining fields.
Army Times: Army IDs 2 soldiers killed in Apache helicopter crash
By: Stephen Weigand and Michelle Tan 16 hours ago
4.4K
The Army has identified the two soldiers who died Friday when their AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed at the local training area at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Both soldiers were assigned to the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.
They are Chief Warrant Officer 3 Ryan Connolly and Warrant Officer James Casadona.
Connolly, 37, was an instructor pilot in the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade. He joined the Army in 2001 and arrived at Fort Campbell in 2016.
Connolly’s awards and decorations include two Air Medals, three Army Commendation Medals, the Army Achievement Medal, the Meritorious Unit Commendation, the Army Superior Unit Award, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and the Iraq Campaign Medal.
Casadona, 28, was a pilot in the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade. He joined the Army in 2012 and arrived at Fort Campbell in 2018.
His awards and decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and an Army Service Ribbon.
“The Destiny Brigade has suffered a great tragedy and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the deceased,” said Col. Craig Alia, commander of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, in a statement. “This is an unfortunate event, and we are saddened by the loss of our fellow Soldiers. We ask that everyone respect the privacy of the families as they grieve the loss of their loved ones.”
The crew was conducting routine training at the time of the accident, according to the 101st Airborne. There were no other casualties.
The cause of the accident is under investigation.
The crash occurred at the end of a deadly week for military aviation.
On April 3, a Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed during a training flight in California, killing the four crew members on board.
The next day, on April 4, an F-16 from the Air Force’s Thunderbirds crashed near Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, killing the pilot.
CNN: House Armed Services chairman: Military readiness ‘at a crisis point’
By Casey Riddle and Devan Cole, CNN
Updated 4:24 PM ET, Sat April 7, 2018
(CNN)The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee called the deaths of two soldiers in an Apache helicopter crash in Kentucky on Friday "heartbreaking" in a statement Saturday, adding that military readiness is in crisis.
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said he grieves "over the loss of our men and women in uniform," and added that "the tragic deaths of troops killed in aviation accidents over the past month is especially heartbreaking."
"What has been evident to me for some time is now becoming clear to the American people. The readiness of our military is at a crisis point," he said.
Thornberry’s remarks come after a string of military air crashes in the last several days that have killed seven service members. He emphasized that ensuring the safety of US troops has to be the Pentagon’s highest priority.
"Congress voted to provide our troops the funds they need to begin turning this crisis around" and that "there can be no higher priority for the Department of Defense than ensuring that our aircraft are safe and that pilots get the training they need."
The 101st Airborne Division said in a statement that the crash took place at the local training area of the soldiers’ base at Fort Campbell, which straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee state line.
The accident happened at about 9:50 p.m., local time Friday evening and involved two soldiers from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, the statement said.
The crew was conducting routine training when the accident occurred and there were no other casualties, it said. The cause of the accident is under investigation, the Army said.
The Army is not releasing the names of the deceased pending notification of the next of kin.
"This is a day of sadness for Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne," said Brig. Gen. Todd Royar, acting senior commander of the 101st Airborne Division and Ft. Campbell. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Families during this difficult time."
