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Sears Heroes at Home program
After some requests from readers, I did some checking. Sears announced on their FaceBook Page that due to a very large response, they reached their 20,000 person limit very early, and have closed the registration. I’m sorry, I wish we could have found out better news for you.
LAW
Thanks for coming back to visit! If you would like to write for Parents Zone - please let LAW or TechMama know!
Happy Thanksgiving
From the authors on ParentsZone to you – we wish you a peaceful, happy and wonderful Thanksgiving. We are thankful for you, our readers; we are thankful for the men and women of the Armed Forces who are not home today; who are sitting in messhalls and FOBS and on ships around the world, eating their Thanksgiving dinner and wishing they were home.
LAW
Hooah Mail
Getting mail to our loved ones in Afghanistan can take a long time, internet access can also be sporadic. So the Army has started Hooah Mail. A friend of mine sent me this:
Beginning 1 December 2009 the Army will launch “HooahMail” as a pilot program for fast, easy, secure, letter-style correspondence to OEF deployed Soldiers. Based on a proven system used by the Marine Corps since 2003, HooahMail brings another method to keep in touch with military members in Afghanistan. From Stateside, HooahMail offers a computer based process which will generate a printed, sealed, letter-style document for direct delivery to forward operating bases throughout the OEF area of operations. This one-way system will allow secure download capabilities at selected OEF remote sites. These letters will then be printed on special equipment which will print, fold, seal and address the envelope for free delivery to OEF Soldiers. HooahMail will be distributed just like regular mail through unit mail-rooms. At sites which don’t get daily postal mail service, HooahMail will offer a free, convenient way to communicate. This method could reduce delivery time in some cases from 14+ days to remote locations to same/next day service, with an average 4 days to all other locations in Afghanistan. HooahMail will augment traditional postal letter mail service.
Funded by Department of the Army, and supported by the current postal command structure, HooahMail offers a new and exciting way to strengthen communications to our OEF Soldiers. For more information about HooahMail visit their website at www.hooahmail.us.
Stop Loss Pay
The Roundtable phone call yesterday : by now everyone should have received an email with your own case number, this is for you to “track” the status of your case online. They are working on the program to get an online tracking capability.
The deficiency notices aren’t saying you are NOT qualified. They need to check the records YOU sent, against what they have in PERRMS. That’s going to take some time. There may be a difference in dates, there are a few that don’t jibe with the Social Security Numbers that are on the list, and those are being worked on. Wounded servicemembers’ cases are being handled first. Those who were KIA are not in this program, they are or were handled separately.
There are thousands and thousands of files to go through. The number we heard on the call, was 16,000! so far, they know that 10,000 were eligible.
If you didn’t have your Dash4, only had your DD214, or an LES, they will find the rest of your documentation, again, this is going to take time. That’s a hard thing to hear, I know. But they are working as fast and as accurately as they can, according to Maj. Whitley
Anyone who sent in hardcopy by mail, those have to be scanned in, and since there were hundreds of them, expect even more delay.
Maj. Whitley explained this as well: If you went past your ETS, you were stop lossed and are eligible. IF you were IRR and were recalled, you are NOT.
Major Whitley wanted to make this really really clear. They are NOT in the business of saving the DoD money. This is money that is earmarked for YOU, won’t go into DoD’s pockets if its not sent out by a certain date.
ParentsZone will keep checking on the progress of this program. When we hear something, we’ll make sure you do too.
LAW
Caregivers & wounded warriors – PBS
From BlueStar Mamaw and from the Director of New Media for PBS/NOW Magazine:
Hello Writers, Bloggers, and Citizens,
This weekend, the newsmagazine NOW on PBS will take a hard look at America’s new wounded warriors — why are their family caregivers overworked and under-supported?
I think your audience, colleagues, and members will be very interested. I’m pasting more information below. Know that the show will be available free and in full on our website starting immediately after broadcast at www.pbs.org/now
Show Description:
The Pentagon estimates that as many as one in five American soldiers are coming home from war zones with traumatic brain injuries, many of which require round-the-clock attention. But lost in the reports of these returning soldiers are the stories of family members who often sacrifice their entire livelihoods to care for them. On Friday, November 20 at 8:30 pm (check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html), NOW reveals how little has been done to help these family caregivers, and reports on proposals to provide critical support, though some say the ideas are just too expensive. At what point do the costs of war come at too high a price?
In addition to showing the program, our website will feature resources for family caregivers, a view of petitions seeking to create change, and a poll question launching Thursday evening:
Should family members be compensated for their care of wounded veterans?
Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.
————————-
Joel Schwartzberg
Director of New Media
NOW on PBS
www.pbs.org/now
Stop Loss Pay – give me your input!!!!
I will be on the phone for this: so let me know what you want me to ask
Maj. Roy Whitley, the Army’s Project Manager for Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay, will provide a status update on the Army’s first month of processing claims for this new benefit. The Department of Defense introduced Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay last month when it announced that service members, veterans and survivors are eligible to receive $500 for every month they served under Stop Loss between September 11, 2001 and September 30, 2008. Maj. Whitley will explain the Army’s system for processing the estimated 120,000 eligible claims, as well as answer questions about receiving the pay.
LET ME KNOW YOUR QUESTIONS! I’ll be definitely asking about lack of responsiveness, how to check on the status, any deadlines (or lack thereof).
The Targets
As parents, we all worry about our children. Worry is something that starts long before our children are born. Then we realize the worry will never end. As parents of military members, we share another fear. Fear, we dread hearing the words, “Mom, Dad. I will be deploying on….” Those words pull on our heart even more because we know they will intentionally be in harm’s way.
What we try not to fear is when they are stateside on a base or post. The murderer of 12 soldiers and 1 police officer on Fort Hood came as such a shock. Were they not supposed to be safe?
When my son deployed this fall on a naval ship I knew in my mind that all would probably be well. However, to be honest watching that ship sink smaller into the horizon left me with a pit in my stomach. I wanted to jump in the ocean and bring him back. I think about him every night before I go to sleep. I wonder where he is. I wonder if he will be safe while in port. No, I am sure I do not have the same fear as a mother of a service member in Afghanistan or Iraq, but fear is still fear.
When my son came home from boot camp, he told me that he is not allowed to travel in uniform. Why? Beause he is a target. A target? My Son?
Last week we found out just how much of a target our children are. It is shameful, but real. It is why I lay awake at night.
Welcome Back Veterans Video Thanks
http://www.welcomebackveterans.org/thanks
Hope you can take a second to take a look and join the movement.
