American Legion gives a local high school student a chance to live his dreams on and off the field.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 29, 2011

Jimmy Kazunas, a sixteen year old rising senior at Good Counsel High School feels a tremendous debt of gratitude to the American Legion. A member of the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Post 295 Baseball Team, his top ranked Maryland State Junior Legion squad appears to be on its way to an invite to the National Amateur Baseball Federation High School Championship tournament in Tennessee in late July. However, Kazunas will not be joining them; he has a busy week including a meeting planned with President Obama scheduled for the week of the tournament. Kazunas meeting with the President is once again thanks to the American Legion. An International Baccalaureate honors student, it all started when Kazunas was selected to participate in the American Legion Maryland Boys State earlier this month. The week long resident program is sponsored throughout the country annually by the American Legion. Each Boys State is comprised of rising high school seniors selected from their respective states. As part of the process each Boys State elects a peer to represent them at the Boys Nation. Kazunas had the honor of being elected as the Maryland Senior Delegate to Boys Nation this July, hence the meeting with the President. Kazunas will be one of the ninety eight young men representing nearly twenty thousand American Legion Boys State delegates from around the country. Kazunas credits his school guidance counselor for nominating and helping guide him to the American Legion Boys State Program. He credits baseball great Brooks Robinson for guiding him in his decision to play American Legion Baseball.

Kazunas states “I had the opportunity to meet and spend an evening with Brooks Robinson while watching a minor league baseball game last year. We talked about his high school experience with baseball; his school did not have enough players to field a baseball team. I was shocked and I asked him how he learned to play. He said he played American Legion. He could not say enough good things about how the American Legion affected his life. He spoke of the lifelong friendships formed as well as the level of play. He told me his professional career began as a result of a scout seeing him at a Legion Game.”

Kazunas is in a somewhat similar situation. Although his school has a baseball team, Kazunas is also a track athlete. An all WCAC conference cross country runner, he was finally convinced by his track coaches and track teammates to run and train year round last year. He continues to run eight to ten miles each day throughout the summer, waking up at five am to beat the heat. His training and events have also expanded to include mid distance and hurdles. All last winter he traveled to meets throughout the country. In the spring, after returning from Nike Indoor Track Nationals, the high school baseball season was well underway without him. He continued with track and in the spring he helped Good Counsel win its first overall WCAC Track championship in over 25 years.

As the spring track season was winding down he remembered his talk with Brooks Robinson. He missed playing baseball, he looked to American Legion Baseball which was just starting up after the high school baseball season had ended. Kazunas stated “When I was at American Legion Baseball tryouts I was rusty, but fortunately I was able to make the team. I was a little worried because I had not played in a while. I went out to have fun and figured if I didn’t make the team I at least had a chance to play again because tryouts lasted a few weeks. I made the team and it has been a blast. If I still wanted to play baseball the other option would have been showcases. I don’t know if I would have continued playing, it just wouldn’t be the same. With Legion ball our team plays together all summer. We play against teams from all over the state. We all pull for each other as teammates, its not just hey look at me. Showcases don’t give you that team experience. I guess Mr. Robinson was right when he said “nothing beats Legion ball” The American Legion has made this the greatest summer I could have ever dreamed. I get to play baseball almost every day with my teammates and then I get to meet the President”.

The American Legion was chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization devoted to mutual helpfulness. It is the nation’s largest veteran’s service organization, committed to mentoring and sponsorship of youth programs in local communities, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting a strong national security, and continued devotion to fellow service members and veterans.

The American Legion Vietnam Veterans Memorial Post 295 has been serving the Gaithersburg/Germantown communities since 1983. Post 295 commitment to the community is evident through the 28 year sponsorship of the highly successful senior/junior American Legion baseball programs. In addition to baseball, Post 295 sponsors Cub Scout Pack 1760 and has served wounded warriors since 2003 with Operation Provide Comfort. More information may be found at http://www.post295.org/.

American Legion Boys State is among the most respected and selective educational programs of government instruction for U.S. high-school students. A participatory program in which students become part of the operation of local, county and state government, Boys State was founded in 1935. Only those who illustrate leadership, character, scholarship, loyalty and service in their schools and community are considered. Merit and ability are the basis for evaluation during the selection process. At the conclusion of each Boys State, two representatives (a senior and junior delegate) are elected by their peers to represent their state at Boys Nation in Washington, where the young leaders receive an education on the structure and function of federal government.

A highlight of the Boys Nation experience is a private meeting with the President of the United States. A famous photograph taken in the summer of 1963 depicts a young William Jefferson Clinton, as a Boys Nation delegate, shaking hands and greeting President John F. Kennedy in the Rose garden. Taken just four months Kennedy’s death, it is said to be one of President Clinton’s most prized possessions. Since Boys Nation began, a number of its graduates have been elected to public office, including presidents, congressmen, state governors and state legislators. Members of this prestigious program are considered to be the future government, business, and military leaders of the United States.

American Legion Baseball is a national institution. The league still stands atop the traditional values upon which it was founded nearly 85 years ago. Since 1925, American Legion Baseball has taught hundreds of thousands of young Americans the importance of sportsmanship, good health and active citizenship. American Legion Baseball enjoys a reputation as one of the most successful and tradition-rich amateur athletic leagues. Nearly 75 percent of current college players are program graduates. More than half of current major-leaguers played Legion Baseball. So did almost every working MLB manager, along with several former commissioners. In all, more than 50 program graduates are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Legion Baseball's alumni base includes some of the sport's most recognizable names. Yogi Berra played for Fred W. Stockholm Post 245 in St. Louis and was once quoted as saying it was the most fun he ever had. Ted Williams suited up for a post in San Diego. Frank Robinson led his Oakland, Calif., team to the only back-to-back national championships in program history.

Gaithersburg Post 295 standout pitcher Charlie Cononie was drafted in the 24th round by Tampa Bay. Current Yankees slugger Mark Texeira played in the league's 1997 World Series. Babe Ruth was too old to join when Legion Baseball started, but he spent the final years of his life promoting the program as its director of operations. Other prominent players include Brooks Robinson, Ryne Sandberg, Roy Campanella, Dusty Baker, Albert Pujols, Greg Maddux and Chipper Jones

New Option for Marking Veterans’ Graves in Private Cemeteries

Veterans’ Medallion Available for Order

New Option for Marking Veterans’ Graves in Private Cemeteries

WASHINGTON (June 29, 2010) – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki announced today that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is offering bronze medallions to attach to existing, privately purchased headstones or markers, signifying a deceased's status as a Veteran.

“For Veterans not buried in a national or state Veterans cemetery, or those without a government grave marker, VA is pleased to offer this option that highlights their service and sacrifices for our country,” said Secretary Shinseki.

The new item can be furnished instead of a traditional government headstone or marker for Veterans whose death occurred on or after Nov. 1, 1990, and whose grave in a private cemetery is marked with a privately purchased headstone or marker.

Under federal law, eligible Veterans buried in a private cemetery are entitled to either a government-furnished grave marker or the new medallion, but not both. Veterans buried in a national or state Veterans cemetery will receive a government headstone or marker of the standard design authorized at that cemetery.

The medallion is available in three sizes: 5 inches, 3 inches and 1 ½ inches in width. Each bronze medallion features the image of a folded burial flag adorned with laurels and is inscribed with the word “Veteran” at the top and the branch of service at the bottom.

Next of kin will receive the medallion, along with a kit that will allow the family or the staff of a private cemetery to affix the medallion to a headstone, grave marker, mausoleum or columbarium niche cover.

More information about VA-furnished headstones, markers and medallions can be found at http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/hm/hmtype.asp .

VA is currently developing an application form for ordering the medallion. Until it is available, applicants may use the form for ordering government headstones and markers, VA Form 40-1330. Instructions on how to apply for a medallion are found on the VA Web site at www.cem.va.gov/hm_hm.asp .

Veterans with a discharge issued under conditions other than dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children can be buried in a VA national cemetery. Other burial benefits available for all eligible Veterans, regardless of whether they are buried in a national cemetery or a private cemetery, include a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or grave marker.

The new medallions will be available only to Veterans buried in private cemeteries without a government headstone or marker. Families of eligible decedents may also order a memorial headstone or marker when remains are not available for interment.

VA operates 131 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico and 33 soldiers' lots and monument sites. More than 3 million Americans, including Veterans of every war and conflict -- from the Revolutionary War to the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan -- are buried in VA’s national cemeteries on more than 19,000 acres.

Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from the VA Web site on the Internet at www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 1-800-827-1000.

Innovative Program Helps Troubled Veterans Turn Lives Around

By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2005 – A unique center here is helping troubled veterans turn their lives around by providing a military-style program designed to help them beat addictions, develop career skills, land jobs, find homes, and become productive citizens.

The Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training, MCVET for short, offers an ambitious array of programs aimed at getting veterans back on their feet and into the mainstream sober, drug-free and self-sufficient. Military service provides the common thread behind the program. All "students," as participants are called, are veterans, as well as 75 percent of the staff.

The result is a program that puts heavy emphasis on the structure its students once embraced. "In many cases, the military was the last structure in their lives," said retired Army Col. Charles Williams, the center's executive director.

Williams and the rest of the MCVET staff are convinced that a return to that structure is the best way for troubled vets to begin their recovery. So from the day they enter the program, living in open-bay-style dormitories with beds sporting hospital corners and shoes placed "dress-right-dress" beneath their bunks, students re-enter the disciplined world many said goodbye to when they left the military. And just like in the military, they advance to leadership positions in the program and enjoy perks like semiprivate rooms as they make progress.
Darvis Tabrizi, who entered the MCVET program in August 2004, said the structure was exactly what he needed to deal with the alcohol and drug addiction that got him thrown out of the Navy in 2003 and ultimately left him jobless, homeless and estranged from his family.

"I needed to be grounded and I needed to be structured, and this place gave me that," Tabrizi said.

"It provided a foundation and a structured process to guide me," agreed Ezekiel Pankey, who went through the program nine years ago and now conducts outreach to tell other veterans who might need it about the program.

But MCVET is far more than a boot camp. Students tap into a wide array of services as they confront their demons and move forward. The Department of Veterans Affairs provides medical services and psychological counseling critical in overcoming drug and alcohol addiction or post-traumatic stress disorder or other psychological difficulties. The Department of Housing and Urban Development provides housing assistance to the veterans, many of them homeless when they enter the program. The Department of Labor funds job training.
"It all comes together here," Williams said. "We are taking our students from dependence to independence."

Much of the program's emphasis is on education, with the schedule of activities revolving around classes that range from confronting addictions to developing life skills to help them cope on the "outside."

While MCVET offers all the tools needed for troubled vets to move on with their lives, the most important predictor of success comes from the students themselves.

"You have to give 100 percent and really want to be here," Tabrizi said. "This place works, but only if you want it to work."

"This is not a place to hibernate," Williams said. "It's a place to get your life together, and that takes hard work and a genuine commitment."
Just two months into the program, Crystal Showell, a 10-year member of the Coast Guard who is struggling to overcome drug and alcohol addiction, said she feels well on the way to a new start. She's attending mandatory classes that she said have taught her more about herself and her addictions in 60 days than she picked up during four years of college.

"I want to learn to live clean and sober and be strong enough when I leave here so I don't need that crutch anymore," the former petty officer said.

As they tackle these basics, students also begin focusing on what's ahead in their careers.
"We're not looking to simply get these people jobs. We want them to have a skill that provides them a career that pays a living wage, not a minimum wage," Williams said. "We don't want any of our people going to McDonald's unless they're eating or managing the place."
Getting to that point doesn't happen overnight, Williams acknowledged. Students can stay in the MCVET program for as long as five years, advancing from one phase to another as they begin the process of rebuilding their lives.

"You can't take a person who's been on drugs 10 years and rehabilitate them in 30 days," he said. "It takes time to do this."

Even after students have completed the program, gotten a job and moved into their own homes, the staff keeps in touch with them to see how they're doing and catch them if they begin backsliding.

If there's one lesson Andre Walters learned since coming to MCVET 18 months ago, it's that past mistakes don't have to become a lifetime pattern. "There's a sense of fulfillment, of satisfaction in knowing that you don't have to be a quitter and give up just because you made mistakes in the past," he said. "You can turn things around, and you do that here through teamwork and camaraderie and hard work."

A year into the program, Tabrizi is putting his life back together. He's "clean" and has re-established his relationship with his family. He's got a job at the MCVET front desk and is sharpening his computer skills as he prepares to return to school. A former Navy aviation machinist mate, Tabrizi is looking forward to studying helicopter mechanics at the University of the District of Columbia this spring and has already been promised a job at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, maintaining helicopters for the medevac crews.
Looking back, Tabrizi said he'd never have been able to make the turnaround he's experienced without the MCVET staff and program. "I just wanted a way out, and I found it here," he said. "The staff here gave me hope and made me want to do it, and they taught me to be a better person."

Williams, who helped establish the MCVET program 11 years ago, said he's confident it's made a huge difference in the lives of the 5,000 students who've participated in the program so far.
"We don't say we've saved every one of them," he said. "But of those who stay 30 days, seven out of 10 will return to their families as productive citizens with jobs."

Jeffrey Kendrick, a retired Air Force master sergeant who's director of operations at MCVET, said the staff "gets swept up" in the gratification of helping veterans jump-start their lives.
"It's a very rewarding experience, because you see that your work actually pays off in the end," he said. "The staff is this program's greatest strength. It's not just a job. We believe in what we do here."

Rheebe Bryant, a retired soldier who's now a drug and alcohol counselor at MCVET, said the program provides a unique opportunity to serve men and women who have served their country. "The satisfaction here is helping other veterans," she said. "At the end of the day, you know that you've helped someone."

Related Sites:Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training

I am sure you missed this...

County Executive Ike Leggitt named the new County Library the Rockville Memorial Library with little fanfare.

The renaming occurs in the second to last paragraph of his Veterans Day letter. The change was noticed by the Gazzette but not front page.

Thanks does go out to all of the members of the American Legion, who for the past 3 years have pushed for the renaming and to the members of the county's Commission on Veterans Affairs that were able to make it happen.

Vets Shielded From Health Care Reform

Military.com
Vets Shielded From Health Care Reform
By Tom Philpott November 25, 2009
Military Beneficiaries, Vets Shielded From Health Reform

The national health reform bill passed by the House last month and the Senate version to be debated in early December pose no threat to current health care benefits provided to military families, retirees or veterans, say advocates for these beneficiaries as well as congressional committee staffs.

The House-passed Affordable Health Care for America Act ( HR 3962 ) states in Section 311 that "nothing" in the bill "shall be construed as affecting" authorities used by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to provide TRICARE programs or VA health care benefits.

The Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), the Fleet Reserve Association of America, the American Legion and other veterans' service organizations have studied the legislative language of both bills. Their own reviews, and assurances they've received from relevant committees, give them confidence that the bills won't impact benefits or fees charged by TRICARE or VA, nor will these beneficiaries be exposed to any new tax liabilities.

"We have not talked to anybody – Republican, Democrat, anyone in the [Obama] administration or serving in Congress -- who is trying to do anything to affect military people" as part of national health reform legislation, said Steve Strobridge, MOAA's director of government relations. "They all are trying to hold military beneficiaries harmless."

Steve Robertson , legislative director for the American Legion, said he has assurances from the armed services committees, veterans' affairs committees and congressional leaders including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that health reform will not impact TRICARE programs or VA health care.

"My comfort level is pretty high," Robertson said.

Confusing the issue for many beneficiaries has been an e-mail being passed among military retirees that warns falsely that the Congressional Budget Office has drafted legislation to attach new fees to TRICARE for Life, the prized insurance supplement relied on by Medicare-eligible retirees.

The e-mail is filled with misinformation. CBO has no authority to draft legislation. CBO did release a report last December presenting options for holding down federal health care costs; a few of those options would raise fees on military retirees and veterans. But neither the Obama administration nor any members of Congress have embraced any of these ideas.

"Everyday I get to answer e-mails from people who are still telling me that this ‘CBO legislation' is moving through rapidly," said Robertson.

Other military retirees and disabled veterans are worried by news reports that national health care reform will impose an excise tax on "Cadillac" health insurance programs. Will that include TRICARE or VA health care? It will not, say service groups and informed congressional staffs.
Strobridge noted that the Senate bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (HR 3590), doesn't contain the same specific language of the House bill does to shield TRICARE programs and VA health benefits.

However, the Senate bill's provision to allow an excise tax on "applicable employer-sponsored coverage" lists, among government plans, only the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan for possible inclusion. TRICARE and VA health care benefits are not named. Finance committee staffers have explained that this was intentional to shield these programs.

MOAA has urged senators to add three clarifying provisions to their bill. One would duplicate language of the House bill that nothing in the legislation alters health care program authorities for DoD and VA.

Other language is sought to explicitly exclude TRICARE, TRICARE for Life and VA health care programs from any health reform bill excise tax on certain employer-provided plans. Finally, MOAA wants language in the Senate bill calling for a study of national health reform's impact on veterans to include a study of the impact on TRICARE and TRICARE for Life.

Military people who seek assurance that the Senate health reform bill won't impact them negatively end up "looking for something that isn't there," Strobridge said. The Senate, like the House, should make it clear, he said.

"There are lots of people out there who would like to raise military fees" on health benefits, Strobridge said. "But they are not trying to do it in this legislation…As far as we can see, everybody in Congress is trying to bend over backwards to protect the military. And that's true of both parties."

The only real threat to military and veteran benefits posed by national health reform, he continued, is the likelihood that it will add to the annual federal budget deficit which was $1.4 trillion last year. That will increase political pressure, over time, to curb federal entitlements including military health care and retirement plans, said Strobridge. Pressure on defense budgets already is enormous.

"That's why Defense leaders have been saying for years ‘I don't what to pay this $10 billion for TRICARE for Life that we put in the defense bill every year.' I want to shift more costs to the beneficiary.' That is what the Bush administration said the last three years," Strobridge said.
"We haven't even started to talk about the effect of the baby boom generation on Medicare and Social Security" on future budgets, he added.

Given that pressure, MOAA has been pressing Congress to define in law that military members and retirees have earned through service certain unassailable rights to promised retirement and health care benefits.

"What we're concerned about is that budget pressure will drive arbitrary decisions. That is what has hurt us in the past," said Strobridge. Congress should take steps to spell out what military folks have earned.

"If you don't have any rules to rely on," he said, "when the budget tidal wave comes it will sweep you away."

Tailgating with the Ravens

SMD Commander Steve Tatro (front left) led the charge at the Ravens Game to pass out information on becoming a Legionnaire. I was beautiful weather for a tailgate party. We talked to many Veterans who where not members and several who were.

National Commander expresses condolences over Ft. Hood Shootings

WASHINGTON (Nov. 5, 2009) -- American Legion National Commander Clarence E. Hill released the following statement concerning this afternoon's shootings at Ft. Hood:
"My first reaction is purely emotional. I must say that I am shocked and speechless. I simply cannot believe we have soldiers who would do this to their comrades. The American Legion extends condolences to the victims and the families of those affected by the shootings at Fort Hood. The facts are not all out and there is still much about the events that we do not yet know. We do know, however, that The American Legion will reach out to assist any soldiers, family members or other victims of this horrible tragedy in any way possible. We will release further statements as the facts become known."

John Brieden, a Texan and past national commander of The American Legion, said, "The first thought I have about this tragedy is that I'm angry. You've got folks who are preparing to deploy into a dangerous area of the world, and you've got them here at home being attacked. And it makes me angry that they would lose their lives in this way, right here in America."
Brieden said The American Legion has several programs such as its Family Support Network that are designed to reach out to families who suffer tragic losses. "All of a sudden, we have families with a father, mother, a spouse who isn't going to be coming home. So how do you deal with this?

"Yes, they need help," Brieden said. "And The American Legion will certainly be helping those families who lost loved ones in such a horrible incident. We intend to help as much as we possibly can."
Killeen American Legion Post 223, and Coppers Cover Post 582 in Texas are standing by to lend whatever assistance might be needed in the area.

Media contacts: Craig Roberts, (202) 263-2982, Cell (202) 406-088 or Joe March, (317) 630-1253; Cell (317) 748-1926. A high resolution photo of Nat. Cmdr. Hill is available at www.legion.org.