Monday, February 07, 2011

Court rules an Iraq War veteran will get his job back

Todd South (Chattanooga Times Free Press) reports Iraq War veteran Mickel Hoback has his job back. South reports the Chattanooga Police Department fired him "for having post-traumatic stress disorder" in 2009 and now the Hamilton County Chancery Court has ruled that he must be rehired. That's the short hand of what happened. Read South and learn about what appears to have been (at best) an over eager VA doctor.

Meanwhile Jeremy Schwartz (Austin American-Statesman) reports from Mosul on Fort Hood's 4th Advise and Assist Brigade 1st Cavalry Division who are training Iraqi soldiers where the January 15 attack took place on US soldiers resulting in the deaths of Spc Michael Bartley and Spc Martin Lamar with a third US soldier injured. From the article:

But the shooting left the Fort Hood unit shaken. The training program was shut down as soldiers visited chaplains and combat stress counselors and talked through their grief. Older soldiers who had experienced loss and violence on previous tours to Iraq helped their younger comrades, and the soldiers held an emotional memorial service.
For the three privates, the loss of LaMar, a 43-year-old former Marine who had recently enlisted in the Army, hung heavy.
"He was the oldest guy in the platoon," Grey said. "He would help us with problems back home; he would give us advice."
"It was a traumatic event," Winski said. "This is unique, like a little kid throwing a grenade, something totally unexpected."

And, of course, if US forces remain in Iraq past 2011 under DoD, they will be training still. If the US forces are switched to State Dept supervision, the soldiers will still be training Iraqis. That was addressed in last week's hearings (Tuesday's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Thursday's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing) and in the report released by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And the refusal of so many to address that ensures that we don't give a damn about what Donald Rumsfeld is saying. Take a magazine/site called (made up name) American Progressive Nation which wants to serve up a post calling out Donald Rumsfeld for saying/inferring the Iraq War was 'worth it.' Do they think the war is over at American Progressive Nation? It's not over. And it's not ending and that was established in last week's hearings that American Progressive Nation did not cover. They didn't cover the fact that the war will continue past 2011 and they want to mock Donald Rumsfeld? It really seems like they and Donald Rumsfeld are two of a kind.

Last week came the news that home foreclosures were increasing among veterans and that 15.2% was the unemployment rate for young Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans. Senator Patty Murray's office issued the following on Friday:



(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), released the following statement after the Department of Labor reported that the unemployment rate for veterans rose to 9.9% overall, and 15.2% for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This is a very disappointing report that demonstrates clearly the need for us to move quickly to help our nation’s veterans find jobs.

“We all know that veterans going from the battlefield to the working world face a unique set of challenges. And as we see with today’s numbers, far too many of our veterans coming home from overseas are having trouble finding work in this tough economic climate.

“Our veterans have the skills, determination, discipline and talent to succeed in the workplace, but despite learning a wide range of technical and leadership skills through their service, they often find it difficult to transfer these skills to civilian professions. And all too often, they fall through the cracks of existing employment assistance programs or do not qualify for their services.

“So I am going to keep working to pass legislation to help our veterans find jobs. Because no veteran should come home from serving their country and not be able find work that would allow them to support themselves and their families.”

Last Congress, Senator Murray introduced the Veterans’ Employment Act of 2010, which was the first comprehensive approach to address skyrocketing unemployment rates among veterans, especially those returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill included a number of proposals that improve training, skills translation, education, and small business assistance. Murray plans to introduce similar legislation in the near future.


Bonnie notes that Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Unnatural Obsession" went up last night. This week on Law and Disorder Radio (begins airing this morning on WBAI at 9:00 EST and around the country throughout the week), Michael Ratner, Heidi Boghosian and Michael S. Smith address sexual abuse by priests (guest for the segment Barbara Blaine and Pam Spees) and the anniversary of Roe v. Wade with guests Cristia Lee and Elizabeth Maloney.


The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.






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