Memorial Day

Memorial Day is approaching quickly and activity has been picking up in my office as American flags are picked up by service organizations and individuals. Henry County makes available the funds to purchase over 5,000 graveside flags. Every veteran grave in Henry County has a flag placed beside it before Memorial Day. This is just one way our veterans are honored.

Many schools invite veterans to attend Veterans Day programs. Restaurants give veterans discounts or free meals. Stores give discounts on purchases with proper ID.  A military Honor Guard is present at most veterans funerals.  These are just  a few ways that our veterans are remembered.

But what makes a veteran?  He is the teenager that crossed the ocean in the bowels of a transport ship to fight the Germans during WW II.  The young lady that cared for wounded soldiers at the battle front as they were brought into field hospitals. The young B-25 belly gunner who had his canopy shot from under him by German fighters planes and ended up hanging under the plane in his harness. The bomber continued to the target and returned to its airfield in England safely. The young lieutenant who led his platoon through the jungles and swamps of Vietnam looking for Viet Cong.

The young woman Marine who traveled across Iraq from village to village promoting good will and handing out soccer balls to children. The Air Force crew chief  who flew aboard bombers that dropped atomic bombs during Operation Teapot in the 50's. The teenage sailor who was aboard a warship that was sunk during a WW II sea battle in the Pacific.  Was rescued, assigned to another ship that was torpedoed. Survived still again, and yes, his last ship was sunk. All these veterans are Henry County residents and have done things a non veteran can't imagine. 

Not all of us were involved in combat but were an important element that supported the troops in harms way: supply, medical, training, intelligence, finance, chaplains, flight crews, electronics, mechanics, judicial, munitions, technicians, etc. The list goes on and on.

The young mother of two in the checkout line, or the elderly gentleman sharing coffee and conversation with friends at a local restaurant just might be veterans. Think about that this Memorial Day and everyday.
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A documentary about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is coming to Indianapolis  on Tuesday May 24 at 7 p.m. for one night only. "Soledad O' Brian Presents: The War Comes Home - The New Battlefront." This film follows two veterans on the edge of suicide as they attend a life-changing boot camp. Healing, meditation and team-building exercises are part of the treatment over the course of five days, with the cameras recording their recovery.

The documentary will be shown at AMC Indianapolis 17 at 4325 South Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN. Call (317) 784-0989 for ticket information.

Discharges: No One Should Be Without Theirs

Where is your Discharge?

   On a sunny wind blown morning in 1966, I stopped by the administration building at Walker Air Force Base in Roswell, New Mexico to process out of the Air Force. A clerk pulled my records and starting typing. Within half an hour, I was loading my belongings into my English Ford and driving off the base for the last time. In my possession was my honorable discharge. Proof that I had served four years in the US Air Force. 

   A discharge is the most important piece of paper a veteran should have in his or her possession. You can't file a disability claim, get health care, apply for a VA mortgage or sign up for the GI Bill without it. That DD-214 or discharge is the key that will unlock the door to many benefits. If you already have your discharge, have certified copies made and store them away safely. You can go to you county recorders office and have them copy the discharge. If you need more copies, go back and the recorders office can issue certified copies.

   If you misplaced or had your discharge destroyed, have no fear. You can go online at www.archives.gov and apply for another one. This is the National Archives in St. Louis. When you fill out the request, you will end up printing out a form that must be signed and sent to St. Louis. All fax and mailing information is on the form.

Sample of a DD-214

   Indiana National Guard members can contact National Guard HQ in Indianapolis where discharges are stored. 

   You can also have a Veteran Service Officer help you fill out and send the request. VSOs are county employees and do not work for the VA. Every county in the Indiana has such an office. Check with the courthouse in your area.

   That discharge is the key that will unlock the process of applying for VA benefits. 
  A discharge can also be a tool to discover a father, grandparent, or great-grandparent's past history. When a relative was in the service, where they served, what battles they were in, the ship or ships they served on and what awards and decorations they earned. 

   Ask relatives if they have a copy of their discharge. If they don't, offer to obtain a copy for them. 

   Our offices work with regional VA offices to help veterans file claims of all types and help vets sign up for the VA Healthcare System.

   Please call me at 765.529.4305 or email you questions to jguglielmi@henryco.net.

Sgt. Maj. fired from USPS and told to be reinstated with back pay

Stars & Stripes  published a story that has been ongoing since 2000. Sgt. Maj. Richard Erickson, who was in the National Guard, was fired from the US Postal Service for taking a leave. The Stars & Strips follows.

Postal Service ordered to reinstate GI, potentially pay millions in back pay, fees

By Chris Carroll

Stars and Stripes

Published: January 3, 2014

Sgt. Maj. Richard Erickson, a Special Forces member wrongly fired by the U.S. Postal Service while on an operation in 2000, is entitled to reinstatement plus 13 years of lost pay and benefits, a federal board ruled Monday.

WASHINGTON — A federal board has again ordered the U.S. Postal Service to reinstate a National Guardsman wrongly fired from his job as a postal worker because he took military leave, telling the agency to pay him what could add up to millions in back pay, benefits and legal fees.

On Monday, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, which rules on disputed federal personnel actions, reiterated that the decision in 2000 to fire Sgt. Maj. Richard Erickson, now 50, violated federal laws designed to protect troops’ civilian jobs.

The board made a similar ruling in 2012 and ordered the Postal Service to immediately reinstate Erickson, a decorated long-time Special Forces member, even if it planned to appeal. But the Postal Service appealed the ruling without reinstating Erickson.

On Monday, the board also declared that a Postal Service argument that Erickson was not entitled to back pay and benefits because he did not meet a deadline to request reemployment was invalid because he had already been wrongly fired.

According to the ruling, which the board described as its “final decision,” the Postal Service has 20 days to reinstate Erickson and 60 days to provide back pay since 2000, plus interest and benefits. The Postal Service must also report back to the Merit Systems Protection Board and describe how it has carried out the actions, the ruling said.

Erickson’s attorney, Matthew Estes of the law firm Tully Rinckey, said that his client hopes the ongoing battle with the Postal Service — which has included numerous rulings from the Merit System Protection Board as well as a federal court — is over.

“As far as we’re concerned, this is the end of the road and we’re finally done,” he said.

Estes said the law firm has not yet made a precise calculation of what Erickson is owed, but said that with more than a decade of back pay, lost benefits and attorney fees, it could exceed $2 million.

Postal Service spokeswoman Darlene Casey said Friday she could not comment on the ruling or how the Postal Service planned to react.

“It is inappropriate for us to comment at this time, as litigation is ongoing and appeals are possible,” Casey said.

Erickson, who served with the 3rd Special Forces Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group at the time of his firing, has been battling for reinstatement for years. He was hired in 1988 by the Postal Service and joined the National Guard in 1990, he said.

He missed several years of work because of military service, but never surpassed the five-year limit established by the Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. Nevertheless, the Postal Service argued he had abandoned his job.

Erickson, who is now active duty and works for U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., was on an operation with the Special Forces when he received a letter informing him that he’d been fired.

“I thought it was a joke at first,” he said. “Here I am doing my call to duty — what I’m required to do because I’m in the military — and they fire me for it.”

He said he knows other soldiers who have illegally lost jobs because of the obligations of military service, and said he hopes Monday’s ruling encourages them to fight back. And he hopes it serves as a warning to employers not inclined to follow the law.

Erickson, who said he has been fortunate to have the Army to support his family after losing his post office job, isn’t sure he wants to go back to a civilian job working for the agency that threw him out of a job and worked to keep him gone even though he’s entitled to it.

“It’s a shame,” he said. “You go over there and fight the enemy, then you come back here and have to fight your employer for your job.”

Carroll.chris@stripes.com
Twitter: @ChrisCarroll_