Grassley’s official statement:

America’s veterans put their lives on the line to defend freedom, protect national security and secure the safety of loved ones at home.

It’s important on Veterans Day to recognize the significant contributions made each and every day by our men and women in uniform. They put their own lives on hold in noble service to their country. We owe those who serve in uniform a debt of gratitude. Because of their sacrifices, future generations of Americans will continue to live under the blessings of freedom.

Harkin’s official statement:

Each year on Veterans Day we honor those soldiers who have served and protected our country. As we think of our loved ones now gone and salute those among us who have served in the nation’s armed forces, let us also remember to honor our veterans in practical ways, by ensuring that they receive the benefits and recognition that they have earned.

In Congress, we have worked to honor the service of our men and women in uniform by providing additional funding for traumatic brain injury treatment and psychological health care, passing a 21st Century GI Bill to improve access to quality education, and providing a much needed increase in benefits to keep pace with the rising cost-of-living. Soon, the Senate will pass the annual Veterans Appropriations bill, to expand benefits for caregivers of wounded veterans, and to improve access to health care for women who have served.

While our country may never be able to fully repay our veterans for their sacrifice, we can express our gratitude and pledge to always stand with them. We send our thoughts to all the troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world and to the military families they leave behind here at home.

A contingent of World War II veterans from Iowa are currently visiting the nation’s capital as a part of the Honor Flight program.

The National Guard Bureau made the request Friday, Jan. 9, as a result of increased operational requirements and growing participant estimates. Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Iowa Army National Guard, and Airmen from the 185th Air Refueling Wing and 132nd Fighter Wing, Iowa Air National Guard, will be activated in mid-January. Officials anticipate the service men and women be activated for 10 days with duties to include crowd management, traffic control, personnel support and transportation.

Members from the following Iowa Army and Air National Guard units will be activated for the inauguration mission (number of Soldiers or Airmen per unit are approximate):

Boone

• Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (45 Soldiers)

Camp Dodge, Johnston

• Troop A, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (55 Soldiers)
• Troop B, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (40 Soldiers)
• Company C, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (40 Soldiers)
• Company B, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (30 Soldiers)

Carroll

• Company A, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (55 Soldiers)

Des Moines

• 132nd Fighter Wing (40 Airmen)

LeMars

• Troop C, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (85 Soldiers)

Sioux City

• Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (90 Soldiers)
• Troop D, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (65 Soldiers)
• 185th Air Refueling Wing (40 Airmen)

Cedar Rapids

• Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (140 Soldiers)

Dubuque

• Company A, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (100 Soldiers)

Davenport

• Company A, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (55 Soldiers)

Council Bluffs

• Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (85 Soldiers)

Denison

• Company D, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (40 Soldiers)

Red Oak

• Company F, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (15 Soldiers)

Shenandoah

• Company B, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (90 Soldiers)

A total of approximately 7,000 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from at least eight states will supplement security, communications, medical evacuation and other support during the presidential inauguration period.

Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks visited with area veterans after delivering the keynote address at the Metro Area Veterans Council service on Tuesday.

There was nothing usual about the Metro Area Veterans Council inviting Ottumwa ophthalmologist Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks to keynote their annual Veterans Day service in Cedar Rapids. Miller-Meeks, a Republican who recently lost her bid to become Iowa’s first female member of Congress, is a veteran, as is her husband. But as she spoke of honor, commitment and the quest of veterans to remain relevant, the political undertones were unmistakable.

“Your actions have consequences, and your words have meaning,” Miller-Meeks said during her keynote address. “For those of you in this room who are worried that Veterans Day and the honor and commitment and sacrifice that you’ve made is losing its popularity and you will be forgotten, I’m imploring you to become relevant again.”

Miller-Meeks went on to tell veterans and their spouses that they can play a significant role in welcoming home the men and women who are now returning from war and by serving as a support system for the families who await their soldier’s return.

“So, for those of you who think you may become irrelevant, I am telling you that your time for leadership has not passed,” she said. “Your time for leadership is now. It is not the person who has the rank that is the leader. It is the person who emerges from whatever circumstance to bring the solution, to forward the issue, to speak for those who cannot speak. Your time for leadership is now.”

The call for a second wave of service ends with Miller-Meeks stating, “It is not always the victor who is well-remembered in history; sometimes it is those who have been vanquished.”

Following the event, many in the audience came up to speak with Miller-Meeks and show their support for her congressional run and her continued service in Iowa’s 2nd District. She has not publicly indicated if she will again venture into politics, but, if she takes her own advice, it’s quite certain that she will remain relevant.

An audio file featuring a musical selection from the service performed by the New Horizons Band and narrated by Cary J. Hahn, a journalist and Navy veteran, is available.

Cox, who graduated from Davenport Central High School, is survived by his wife, Annie Cox, a native of Princeton, Iowa and their five-year old daughter Sophia Cox.

Friends of Cox remember him for his sense of humor and calm nature, The Quad-City Times reports.

Cox was the 68th person with Iowa ties to die in Iraq and Afghanistan since March 2003.

Gulf war veteran David Brown is treated to a free hair cut by Lee Fennern, owner of Lee's Family Barber in Atkins. Haircuts were just one of the services available for veterans at the annual Veterans Stand Down in Cedar Rapids on Friday.

If there was one common thread among the volunteers gathered at the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Cedar Rapids Friday, it was simply that our nation’s veterans “deserve better than this.”

Roughly 50 veterans — some homeless and others nearly homeless — were offered free services ranging from dental and health exams to haircuts to survival kits. In addition to the veterans, the annual “Veterans Stand Down” event also serviced about 35 non-veterans who were in need.

When the day was complete, organizers wished they could do more.

“This year’s event has been drastically scaled down,” said Joe Stutler, who is one of five members on the Linn County Veterans Affairs Commission. “Normally this would be a three-day event, but we’ve had some water issues in Cedar Rapids.”

Event organizers have previously used Veterans Memorial Coliseum in downtown Cedar Rapids as the event location and for storage during the year, but when the city was flooded in June, the group lost just about everything — several thousands of dollars in equipment, supplies and other miscellaneous items.

“Without the much larger facility, we’ve had to scale back to a one-day event,” Stutler said. “But we are considering the possibility of doing three events throughout the year now instead of one that’s larger. We think that might help to better distribute the services we can offer.”

Stutler and the other organizers tried to get the word out to as many veterans as possible, but they know they haven’t reach them all.

“It’s tough to find the invisible people, and, in our society, the homeless tend to be invisible,” Stutler said. “I know that we’ve seen a large increase as to the number of veterans we are servicing through the Linn County Veterans Affairs Commission and Department — especially because of the floods.

“There are all types of people who are homeless that may not be classified as such on first glance. For instance, the people who are living on someone’s couch or in a friend’s living room. Another thing that people may not understanding is that, because of the floods, many of our homeless actually lost their ‘homes.’ That is, the parks and bridges and other areas that they used as homes were also affected by the flood waters. Any personal items they may have had in those areas was likely swept away.”

Jack Primer, a Vietnam (and beyond) veteran, attended the event both as a volunteer and as someone looking to take advantage of the services being provided. He said that he is one of the lucky ones because he got help purchasing his home from a locally organized program for veterans. Without that program and others like it, he said that he’s not sure what would happen to veterans in need.

“Programs like this just mean a lot to our veterans,” Primer said. “Many of the veterans don’t realize that the services [here today] are available to them. They don’t know there are service organizations out there that can help them such as the colleges and the HACAP programs. So they come here and then they suddenly realize, ‘Hey, look what’s available to me.’ It’s good for them.”

In addition to the services, Primer said just having time for veterans to be with other veterans is important.

“It’s especially hard for veterans of the Vietnam and post-Vietnam eras,” he said. “For a lot of us, we just didn’t [get] the opportunity to prove that we weren’t the things that we were called — war mongers, for instance. Many turned to alcohol and drug use. These were good men, but, eventually, they just lost everything. So it means a lot for them to be able to come somewhere and be together. It means a lot for them to have the camaraderie that they find at these types of events.”

Apolitical politicians

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack spoke one-on-one with the men and women attending the Veterans Stand Down event in Cedar Rapids on Friday.

As veterans and their family members sorted through donated clothing and military cold weather gear, many found their rucksacks being held open by elected officials and candidates for office.

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, Iowa Reps. Swati Dandekar and Art Staed and Iowa House candidate Gretchen Lawyer, all Democrats, came to the event to listen to the attendees’ concerns and to volunteer.

“As you’ve seen, many of the people here are my friends,” said Dandekar in a quick interview that was interrupted several times by men and women approaching her to say a few words or to give a hug. “I want to hear what they have to say. Most importantly, I’m honored to be with veterans who have fought for us. When we talk about freedom and security, these men and women are the ones who have been there for us.”

Staed, who serves on the House Veterans Committee, said that such events are important to veterans and to him as a legislator.

“I’ve seen and heard veterans’ needs for services and access to existing services,” Staed said. “Because of their voices — that’s why we pushed for so much in the last legislative session. For instance, increasing the funding for the Veterans Trust. No one should be homeless — particularly not those who have served our country. So, I’m just out here today to support them and do what I can to help.”

Loebsack made his way around the event slowly. Every few steps he was stopped by a veteran or a volunteer who wanted him to hear a personal story or ask a question.

“Local efforts, like today’s Stand Down, are indispensable to connecting our veterans, including those who are homeless, with food and critical services to help them find housing, employment and health care,” said Loebsack. “I attended the Stand Down so I could speak face-to-face with veterans about challenges in their lives, especially those who have been hard it by the floods, so I can continue my efforts in Congress to ensure Iowa veterans are treated with the compassion and support they deserve.”

“We lost our place and we lost every piece of donation and every [Veterans Administration] supply that we had in the basement at Veterans Memorial Colosseum,” Linn County Veteran Affairs Director Don Tyne told The Cedar Rapids Gazette. “With the other social service agencies also impacted by the flood, they probably only had the assets to do a one-day event.”

A Stand Down, according to the Vietnam Veterans of San Diego Stand Down’s step-by-step procedural manual (1995), “is an intervention that was conceived from the ground up specifically designed for veterans. It is designed to transform the despair and immobility of the homeless into the momentum necessary to get into recovery, to resolve legal issues, to seek employment, to access health services and benefits, to reconnect with the community and get off the street.”

Although veterans are the intended target of the Cedar Rapids Stand Down, the event is open to all non-veterans, homeless or near-homeless, as well.

Gauging the number of homeless veterans in Iowa or the Unites States is a difficult task, because it’s hard to track veterans once they leave the service and no records are kept on this population. However, the U.S. Department of Veterans Administration estimates that nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, and the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Urban Institute, 1999) estimates that veterans account for 23 percent of all homeless people in America.

The event runs from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is free to attend. Showers will be provided and attendees will be provided food (breakfast and lunch will be served), clothing, assessment screenings and will have access to a number of community service providers, including representatives from the housing, employment, substance-abuse treatment and the VA and Social Security benefits counseling sectors.

Moreover, organizations such as the Area Substance Abuse Council, Iowa Legal Aid, the IRS, Social Security, the VA Substance Abuse Program and VA Medical and Mental Health will offer classes from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Forty-one service organizations participated in last year’s Stand Down, which provided relief for 84 participants (55 veterans and 29 non-veterans).

By that same token, I also believe that when veterans or the families of veterans choose to speak of their experiences, the nation should stop and listen with grave intent.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs recently held a meeting on sexual assault in the military. My hat is off to U.S. Reps. Louise Slaughter of New York and Jane Harman of California for providing testimony at the hearing. My heart broke while listening to the testimony of Mary Lauterbach, the mother of murdered Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, and Ingrid Torres, a Red Cross worker who was raped while serving in Korea.

Merle Wilberding, an attorney for the Lauterbach family and Iowa native, wrote an editorial for Iowa Independent that was published Monday.

The horrific facts surrounding the murder have overshadowed underlying allegations of sexual assault and the Marines’ responses to those allegations. I believe that Maria Lauterbach would be alive today if the Marines had provided a more effective system to protect victims of sexual assault, a more effective support program, and a more expeditious investigation and prosecution system.

Six months before her murder, Maria Lauterbach filed a rape claim against [Marine Cpl. Cesar] Laurean, a superior in her unit at Camp Lejeune. The period while the claim was pending was a nightmare for Maria. She was subjected to intimidation and harassment. She was sucker-punched in the face one evening. Another evening, her brand new car was keyed – or rather screw-drivered – from bumper to bumper.

Her real concerns were that her superiors and the NCIS investigators did not believe her. Worse yet, she was compelled to be in meetings and formations with her assailant, and she was unsuccessful in getting a base transfer. Finally, she told her mother, Mary Lauterbach, that she just wanted it to go away…

In the last six months I have been contacted by more than a dozen families and support groups, all seeking specific help for women in the military who have been sexually assaulted. The stories have been virtually identical – the complaining victim becomes isolated, taunted, and tormented. She is not guided or directed to appropriate support programs, she does not feel protected from her assailant, and she finds herself treated as the guilty party, not the victim.

The fourth annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military (PDF file), completed by the Department of Defense, cites 2,688 cases of sexual assault by military personnel in the 2007 fiscal year. Because of the reasons Wilberding outlines in his editorial, these statistics are suspected to be low. And, in contrast to civil proceedings where 40 percent of arrested rape suspects are prosecuted, the Department of Defense reports that only 8 percent of those investigated for sexual assault were referred to courts martial.

During the course of testimony, Harman said physicians at a California Veterans Affairs hospital told her that 41 percent of female veterans treated there were victims of sexual assault. In addition, the doctors said that 29 percent of all treated female veterans had been raped. Harman has introduced a bill that would compel the DOD to create a strategy to both investigate and prosecute sexual assault charges in the military. It also calls for improved protections for victims who report such crimes.

For her part, Slaughter announced that she would re-introduce the Military Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Act, which creates an Office of Victim Advocates within the DOD, improves counseling programs and enhances confidentiality for those who report sexual abuse.

While we must applaud both congresswomen for bringing their findings to the hearing, we also must admonish them for continuing to try to play by the rules of a failed system. The Department of Defense already has an Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response:

“The Department of Defense does not tolerate sexual assault and has implemented a comprehensive policy that reinforces a culture of prevention, response and accountability that ensures the safety, dignity and well-being of all members of the Armed Forces. Our men and women serving throughout the world deserve nothing less, and their leaders — military and civilian — are committed to maintaining a workplace environment that rejects sexual assault and attitudes that promote such behaviors.”

Dr. Kaye Whitley, director of the office, was ordered by her superior, Michael Dominguez, to ignore a congressional subpoena and did not testify at the hearing — a hearing on the very topic she is paid to address each and every day. When questioned by Rep. John Tierney of Massachusetts, the chairman of the subcommittee, Dominguez, while not asserting executive privilege, said that he gave Whitley a direct order to not appear before or answer to Congress.

“I’m extremely disappointed,” Harman said when asked about Whitley’s absence. “The leadership starts at the top, and there’s clearly a major problem at the Department of Defense. There’s an epidemic of assaults and rapes against military women by U.S. soldiers. They’re more likely to be raped and assaulted than they are to be killed in Iraq. And the Defense Department has to send its top people up here to help Congress oversee and decide what to do about this problem.”

While sexual assault and rape are not games, we all understand that politics, for the most part, is a process of manipulating the rules to one’s maximum benefit. When the rules change, good politicians understand that they must adapt if they intend to be effective. But what we see here — indeed what we’ve witnessed time and time again for the past decade — are politicians who believe the gentlemen tactics of the British Army are sufficient against the guerrilla warfare of the colonists.

In an ideal world, the formation of a new and more effective task force or office within the Department of Defense would be of benefit to the soldiers who have been victims of sexual violence. The proposals by the two legislators, when taken in context with the refusal of government agencies to acknowledge the authority of Congress, would do little more than add more pork to a government agency that has already soaked its lips in fat and loosened its belt at the expense of taxpayers. Without real congressional oversight, sexual violence will continue to escalate.

While the game of politics rambles on behind closed doors and before the nation, another soldier is being attacked. While we watch and nod and offer up bills that provide mouth service, another soldier is harassed for being a victim. While the tennis ball volleys from one side of the net to the other, another soldier is, for all practical purposes, bound and placed before a firing squad.

Don’t ask. Don’t tell. It isn’t just a shameful cliche for gays anymore.

VFF recently launched a campaign, “Four Months, For Victory,” to educate the American public about why achieving success in Iraq and Afghanistan is imperative. VFF feels that some politicians and members of the media have failed to assess the situation in Iraq objectively, neglecting to report on the successes the military has achieved, especially in the last year.

Hayden will join seven other veterans who will be returning to the respective Iraqi cities where they previously patrolled as active members of their military units. He will share his real-time updates on the VFF blog and will report his on-the-ground assessment back to VFF, which in turn will review the findings as a means of presenting its case to the public and elected officials responsible for shaping policy.

“The great danger is that policy becomes divorced from events on the ground,” VFF Chairman Pete Hegseth said in a statement. “The only responsible course is to ensure that decisions on troop levels and other matters reflect the demands of the battlefield. To reduce forces ignorant of, or despite, the consequences would be to risk disaster.”

According to a VFF press release:

The analysis of the group will focus on determining the depth and durability of recent gains, the troop levels required to achieve stability, the potential consequences of a rapid American withdrawal, the proper “conditions-based” metrics needed to measure the right balance of U.S. and Iraqi forces, the status of displaced people seeking to return to their homes, and the prospects for the return of al Qaeda to Iraq, among other issues.

“Senator Obama has stated his intention to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq on a fixed timetable and without almost any consideration for facts on the ground and events in the region,” Hegseth said “A policy of effectively unconditional withdrawal from Iraq raises troubling questions. Through this on-the-ground assessment, members of VFF are committed to providing fact-based analysis of critical policy decisions.”

Ben Hayden speaks at Vets for Freedom press event in Des Moines earlier this year

Feeling slighted by the media’s portrayal of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an advocacy group composed of combat veterans is on a mission to present their side of the story. Based on firsthand experiences in these conflicts, the nonpartisan organization Vets for Freedom launched a campaign to educate the American public about why achieving success in these conflicts is imperative.

“When I moved back to Iowa after leaving the Marines, I felt like everything I was hearing on the news was so one-sided,” Ben Hayden, Iowa state captain of Vets for Freedom, told the Iowa Independent during a telephone interview. “For those of us who fought in the Iraq war, we weren’t really getting the chance or were not given the voice to express our perceptions of what was really happening on the ground, which seemed to be the opposite of what people were hearing in the news.”

“During my deployments, I also thought it was a morale downer whenever I read the newspaper, and the only thing I was reading was how people didn’t want us to be there,” Hayden said.

After graduating from Ankeny High School in 2003, Hayden, who now resides in Coralville, joined the Marines and served two deployments to Iraq with the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion in 2005 and 2006.

“I really wanted to join the Marines after 9-11,” Hayden said. “I wanted to help out in some way and felt compelled to enlist. My brother is in the Marines and served in Afghanistan at the time, so that’s why I felt drawn to the Marines more than any other military branch.”

Hayden first heard of Vets for Freedom in September 2007 and got actively involved with the organization one month later. “I wanted to speak out and tell people what was really going on over there,” he said, “and I felt that Vets for Freedom, which was founded by combat veterans, was the best avenue to push this cause.”

As the VFF state captain for the Iowa chapter, which currently has about 115 members, Hayden is primarily responsible for disseminating the organization’s message to the media in Iowa. “What I want to do is take our message down to the local level, so people who don’t watch the national media get a chance to hear our message,” Hayden said.

During his first deployment to Iraq, when his unit partook in the siege of Fallujah, Hayden first felt the mission was bigger than himself. “I was overwhelmed by an outpouring of emotions from the Iraqi people, thanking us for what we were doing and begging us to do even more,” Hayden said. “To have parents come up to me on the streets and thank me for what we were doing and seeing people sacrifice their safety by telling us where the bad guys were made me want to come back to America and tell people what is really going on.

“Our mission is to educate the American people about the importance of achieving success in both Iraq and Afghanistan, by applying our firsthand knowledge to the issues of strategy in American politics,” Hayden said. “We have a history of supporting candidates on both sides of the aisle. Basically we want the American people to know that it is extremely important for us to succeed in Iraq and Afghanistan and that it should not be such a partisan issue.”

Hayden defines success in Iraq and Afghanistan as helping create a democratic society that is able to stand on its own, protect itself and create its own form of a stable democracy. “I think that we will see success when Iraqis can go to the voting booths and to police stations to sign up without having suicide bombers blow them up,” Hayden said. “We see that Iraq now accounts for 75 percent of its own spending, and there are over 540,000 members in the Iraqi armed forces. I don’t think we are too far off from fully achieving success. At the same time we do need to be concerned about the terrorists; we don’t want to just leave Iraq and have these terrorists running rampant in the country.”

Moreover, Hayden contends that this vision of democracy in Iraq has to be something that can be agreed upon by the U.S. and Iraqi governments. “We don’t want to see terrorist organizations come in and take over the government, then harbor other terrorists, which may pose an even bigger threat to national security.”

Hayden remains optimistic about achieving success in Iraq and points to last year’s troop surge as one of the factors helping lay the foundation for success in Iraq. “We have seen some of the violence levels drop dramatically this past year,” Hayden said. “When you look back at the beginning of the surge and where the Iraqi government and military was and how many terrorist organizations we had in the country and compare these to today, these are measurements of success.”

Vets for Freedom maintains nonpartisan status, pledges to hold candidates accountable

Regarding this year’s political campaigns, Hayden drew distinctions between VFF and past veterans’ advocacy groups such as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004. “We are not a 527 group, and we are not here to elect any candidate,” Hayden said. “As veterans, it is and always will be our job to protect the American people. We feel that we have seen the eyes of the enemies and what they are capable of doing, so it is our responsibility to get the word out and tell the people of Iowa that it is very important to be educated on this issue, regardless of what party they are in. This issue is way bigger than any election.

“The Iraqi people are extremely grateful for what we have done, and this message has been misconstrued by the media,” Hayden said. “If people would understand the importance of this issue, they would understand that we need to achieve success in Iraq and Afghanistan. “This is not a political issue, nor is it a partisan issue. To make it either one is extremely demeaning not only to the vets who have fought there but to the family and friends of those who did not make it home.”

However, Hayden said VFF will hold all candidates accountable for their words and actions that affect their vision of success in the wars. VFF launched an ad on the Internet in May that called on the presumptive Democrat presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, to pay a visit to Iraq (see video below). “We felt that it is important if he is going to run for president, he should go to Iraq and see the success that has happened since the surge. Two months later, he did just that.”

Sen. Obama: When Will You Finally Visit Iraq? (Vets for Freedom ad)

“Again, we don’t see this as a partisan issue,” Hayden said. “We don’t care one way or another what candidate you vote for. We want everyone to know how the candidates feel and what they think about the situation in Iraq We have taken it upon ourselves to hold these candidates accountable for their actions and stances on Iraq.”

A new lottery ticket is being sold to pay for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund

For many Iowa veterans, the war-front follows them home, where they have to battle for benefits already promised to them by the government through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund (VTF). The annual battle came to an end last week when the Iowa Lottery introduced the first of four games, Stars & Stripes, that will directly benefit the fund.

“We’re very excited about having a sustainable, annual funding source for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund,” Kent Hartwig, legislative liaison for the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, told the Iowa Independent in a telephone interview. “The response from the veterans who have received assistance from this fund has been tremendous, and this will go a long way furthering our ability to help veterans who are in need.”To help bridge monetary gaps in federal benefits, lawmakers created the VTF in 2003 with the intent of giving the state flexibility with regard to Iowa’s returning veterans and their families, in particular issues that aren’t covered by federal funding such as job training, unemployment assistance, travel expenses for wounded veterans related to follow-up medical care, nursing home care, counseling programs and honor guard services.

Moreover, lawmakers intended for the VTF to eventually contain $50 million in 10 years, but only $5 million has been appropriated to the fund thus far, and Gov. Chet Culver’s 2008 budget did not contain any additional revenue for the fund.

To fill the gap left in Culver’s budget, Rep. McKinley Bailey, D-Webster City, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, sponsored legislation, House File 2359, earlier this year that authorized the lottery games and appropriated the funds to the VTF. The new lottery games are estimated to generate up to $3 million a year for the trust fund at a minimal impact on the general fund.

“The trust fund was created to assist veterans and their dependents who slip through the cracks of the federal system,” Bailey said on the House floor in March. “As the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue, those cracks become more and more apparent. As a state we have an obligation, a sacred obligation, to ensure that our veterans are taken care of when they come home. That means picking up the slack for the federal government when it lets our veterans down.”

Even though Culver did not budget money for the VTF this year, he did sign the bill into law March 11, thus guaranteeing funding by removing appropriations from lawmakers and placing it in the hands of the Iowa Lottery.

“We have developed a good partnership with the Iowa Lottery,” Hartwig said. “This funding stream is a good way of doing it because it is outside the General Assembly. Before the VTF was appropriated on an annual basis, and now the lottery funds will go directly into the trust fund.”

“With the lottery, we are guaranteed to receive some amount of money every year; granted, this will vary depending on sales,” Hartwig said. “But now this is something we can count on annually to help grow the principal balance. Since we can only spend the interest, when the fund stays at $5 million, we are not able to expand our program.”

Hartwig said the VTF has given out over $100,000 since December, the biggest draw assisting unemployed veterans with service-related disabilities, who have seen gaps in their federal funding.

Moreover, Hartwig sees the IDVA’s new relationship with the Iowa Lottery as a plus, because it helps get the organization’s name out, marketing it through the tickets, which include the IDVA’s contact number at the top of every ticket. “For us, the lottery puts a spotlight on our organization. It creates a win-win situation (see below), especially since we don’t quite have the marketing resources as the Iowa Lottery.”

Benefits for veterans outweigh gambling concerns

The government’s growing dependency on using gambling revenues as a source of funding programs such as the VTF have sparked some concerns among those who deal with the negative effects of gambling.

“The new game is in line with the mission of the Iowa Lottery in terms of help and funding that is available,” Mark Vander Linden, head of the Iowa Department of Health’s Gambling Treatment and Prevention program, told the Iowa Independent during a telephone interview. “All states, except Alaska and Hawaii, have some sort of gambling. I think how Iowa chooses to addresses people who get into trouble because of gambling is probably one of the more progressive, especially in terms of using the revenues coming in from gambling to help those who are negatively affected by gambling.”

One-half of one percent of the gross revenues generated from the Iowa Lottery are earmarked for gambling treatment programs, including the 1-800-BETSOFF hotline run through Vander Linden’s office.

“The number of clients that we serve on the help line related to lottery gambling are relatively small,” Vander Linden said. “I don’t anticipate that this new scratch-off ticket is different enough to cause an increase in calls.”

However, Amy Kluver, a gambling treatment counselor at Problem Gambling Services, argues that lottery and scratch tickets may be part of a larger problem. “People think that taking care of the casino is the big issue, but there are definitely people who struggle with scratch tickets and pull tabs on a daily basis,” Kluver told the Iowa Independent in a telephone interview.

“Merging support for veterans with lottery tickets is an unfortunate aspect from our perspective,” Kluver said. “Our clients, who already have gambling problems, don’t need another reason or excuse to go out and buy another scratch ticket. They can certainly find enough reasons or excuses on their own, and this will merely supply them another reason.”

“Thankfully, not everyone has a gambling problem; it is just unfortunate that we have to turn to the lottery, especially from a gambling treatment counselor’s perspective, who sees people fueled by these types of addictions,” Kluver said. “It is unfortunate that veterans are not getting the care and service they deserve and should be getting, without having to depend on the lottery.”

Kluver, however, said that the state of Iowa is lucky that does have a program it can turn to increase funding for veterans they need. “I realize it’s not possible to find a program that makes everyone happy,” Kluver said. “But if people really want to help veterans, then they should donate money directly to them, which would be better than going out to buy a bunch of scratch tickets.”