Vietnam War Virtual Wall

http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm

The Military Order of the Purple Heart

The Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 723, Katy, Texas invites all combat wounded men and women of all wars to become a member. If you are interested contact Dave Lemak at 281-633-0098 or by e-mail to uscmdelta1@yahoo.com.

Air Force ROTC Website And Houston Corps of Cadets Website

The Air Force ROTC website and the Houston Corps of Cadets website have been revamped. These websites contain many links including ones to our 17 universities and colleges, veterans organizations, Junior ROTC units in Houston, DoD research conferences HMAC have co-hosted with UH, leadership seminars, post-9/11 GI Bill information, and lots more.

Lone Star Veterans Association

The newly formed veterans association is a subcommittee of the Houston Military Affairs committee. It is established as a network of community leaders, veterans’ organizations and government agencies to aid veterans and their families in their transition from military to civilian life.

CONTACT: For more information, call Shannon Wilson, University of St. Thomas Director of Veteran Services at 713-942-3409.

America GI Forum – National Veterans Outreach Program, Inc.

Launched in San Antonio, Texas in 1972, the American GI Forum-National Veterans Outreach Program (NVOP) first sought to reach out to disenfranchised veterans of the Vietnam War by engaging other Vietnam-era veterans to communicate the availability of local resources and services for ex-military personnel. The initiative struggled with various hurdles early on, the most significant of which was funding, but eventually gained critical support from other veteran service organizations as well as influential community and civic leaders. Thirty-six years of dedicated service and 350,000 participants later the NVOP remains committed to the needs of underserved veteran populations.

For more information, call (713) 666-4796.

MONTFORT POINT MARINE ASSOCIATION

The association is having a membership drive. For more information contact Montfort Point Marine Association, Houston Chapter; POC; MSGT (Ret) Nate Broussard 281-905-1768.

VETERANS AFFAIRS NOTES

The following news releases were issued by the Michael E. DeBakey Medical Center and the full press release may be found at
www.houston.va.gov

VA Suicide Prevention Program Adds Chat Service

Marsh Named Head of Mental Health at DeBakey VA

DeBakey VA Opens ‘Welcome Center’ for Returning Combat Veterans

OI Houston – Operation Warrior Lift

You may already know that the 72nd Army Infantry Battalion National Guard based in Houston will soon deploy more than 3,000 troops to Iraq. Operation Interdependence, Inc. has pledged to support these troops by sending Civilian Rations each month, just as OI nationwide has supported more than one million men and women of the military since 2001.

I spoke with the 72nd Battalion’s Public Affairs Officer, Major Adam Collett, today concerning the unit’s deployment schedule. On October 4, there will be a deployment ceremony at Minute Maid Park downtown for the 1,000 troops based in Houston. OI will have a table at that event to be sure that the signup procedure for receiving C-rats during deployment is clear.

Following the ceremony on October 4, the whole unit of more than 3,000 troops will report to Ft. Bliss in El Paso for two months of training prior to departure for Iraq. This training will span the Thanksgiving holiday. The soldiers will be granted 4 days leave for the holiday; but for some reason related to the timing of their deployment, they will not receive travel funds from the Army.

It is a concern that soldiers will either have to stay on base at Ft. Bliss due to lack of funds or try to rent a car and make the long drive. This could possibly be dangerous. Operation Warrior Lift has been proposed as a way to help these brave soldiers come home for Thanksgiving safely. Chartered buses or chartered planes to the major cities in Texas would be a good solution, but funds would need to be donated to cover the cost. Operation Warrior Lift would give the troops a morale boost prior to their deployment, as well as contributing to their well being and safety.

If you are interested in helping the 72nd Army Infantry Battalion National Guard spend Thanksgiving with their loved ones, please let me know; and I will direct you to the proper contact person. Does anyone have a cousin who owns a bus company or charters planes? J I have met several of these fine warriors, and our country is in good hands.

If you are interested in helping with Operation Warrior Lift for the 72nd Army Infantry Battalion NG, the person to contact is:
Amy E. Urbanek Telephone: (281) 633-7254

Honor Our Military Society Award

The Award name is “Honor our Military Society”, www.honorourmilitarysociety.com. Our society will be made up civilians, veterans active and retired, patriots and all individuals who feel that there should be more recognition of soldiers who have performed their duties to the military , society and the good of all men in an exceptional manner. We feel that there are a lot of extraordinary military men and women who are active or retired that have never been acknowledge for their performance . Our mission is to find a soldier retired or active duty that has or is currently showing performance at his position as a soldier active or retired , that has or have shown and is working to assist or have assisted the Military ,veterans, civilians and society as a whole.

We will start honoring a veteran once a month at the HMAC luncheon. It will only take a few minutes to present, a short review of his/her Bio, maybe a quick talk by the commanding officer and pictures of all involved in the society.

Charlie Houssiere is the president of the society with Dave Lemak and John Bolester as directors. We will be adding additional veterans as directors to the list of men who review the resume’s of the vets that are nominated for this award and vote on them. The award will consist of a presentation at the HMAC luncheon, $100 Gift Certificate, a plaque to honor the soldier and coverage of the event with pictures that should get into many military and local newspapers.

Anyone interested in submitting a soldier to be considered for this award, need any information please feel free to contact Charlie at choussiere@comcast.net, 713-331-1894 or www.my-va-loan.com.

Wounded Warriors Family Support

Wounded Warriors Family Support can offer to qualified beneficiaries the opportunity to use for one week, a fully furnished condominium unit at Bahama Bay Resort in Orlando, Florida. These condominiums are ADA compliant. We can also provide passes to Universal Orlando Resort, Wet ‘n Wild Orlando, and Sea World Orlando.

Wounded Warriors Family Support has another property at The Victorian Resort and Conference Center in Galveston, Texas for the use of our qualified applicants.

Also available are baseball tickets to Kansas City Royals, Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres Home Games; as well as, the San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins football games.

Qualified beneficiaries are the dependent families of those who, while serving in the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Navy, or Air Force, have been wounded, injured or killed while engaged in direct combat operations as defined by the Department of Defense. Wounded Warriors Family Support is a family oriented program.

In order to qualify, service members must have dependent children. Widows with dependent children of those killed in action or died of wounds are also eligible.

Preference will go to enlisted members with children who have been separated from active duty because of injuries or wounds sustained in combat operations.

Documentation must include a DD 214, DD 215, DD 1300, WD AGO 53-55 or General Orders

NOTE:

The house in Galveston has been under utilized. It’s not ADA accessible and they have opened their criteria for the Galveston house to accept:

Any Veteran: Does not have to be OEF/OIF but they will get preference.
They do not have to have children, they prefer they do but is open now.
The way that they would go about securing this would be to go to the website:

www.woundedwarriorsfamilysupport.org

Then click on programs
Then fill application
And put referred by VA Galveston/Houston