Veterans’ Affairs

I want to share an experience I had today. I had just left from a meeting with Peter and Mara from Harbor Homes. If you know Nashua, NH then you will know the area that I will describe. If you travel north on Main St. There is an intersection that has a pub on the right called Peddlers Daughter and on the left is an alley way with railroad tracks running through it. As I approached the red light I looked over towards the alley and noticed two people picking in the trash. I just stared through my car window. It looked like they were eating something from a bag. Most people would have just turned their head away in disgust and driven on, but I just watched.

The light turned green and for a moment I hesitated. I remember thinking that I could just drive home or do something. I cut across a lane and went down the adjoining road and turned around. I went back, parked and walked up to them.

I don’t know how much I had in my pocket but I just pulled out what I had and smiled and said that they deserved a better meal than that. The woman responded by saying that she didn’t want it. I insisted and without a word just nodded and walked back to my car.

On the way home I thought about the documentary. I thought about what goal I hope to accomplish in the end. I have no idea who those people were. All I knew was their situation was worse off than mine and I did something. I just hope that for a moment they felt like someone genuinely cared, because I did. Selfless service mixed with a little compassion can go a long way. That’s what I hope to spread when this is all said and done.

Today I met with Peter Kelleher, the President and CEO of Harbor Homes and Mara Huberlie, the Director of Development. It was a very good conversation. I look forward to speaking and working with Harbor Homes as I move along with this documentary. I was very grateful that they provided me an opportunity to interview the folks at Buckingham Place. The stories told that day will live with me for a long time. I will also remember the sincere kindness among the people who lived there. The outlook that each of them had is so promising. They just knew they’d be taken care of.

It makes you wonder why a place like this cannot exist in every major city across America. I’m not talking about a homeless shelter but a real transitional home for veterans like Buckingham Place. The issue is more human motivation or the willingness to want to produce change in my opinion. Imagine if you will, a place that can accommodate not only the veteran but his/her family as well. A place that is safe, offers programs to help them become better citizens AND puts them in line with the resources that they need such as VA Benefits, etc. It’s a reality and people will soon find out how simple it is.

Like I said, if people can be aware of the problems and be provided a solution to fix it, the next step is just acting upon it.

Bottom line is Buckingham Place needs money to maintain their services. Bills that get treated like this, make it that much more difficult and can cause people to second guess the ease of implementation.

H.R.2699
Title: To amend title 38, United States Code, to repeal authority for adjustments to per diem payments to homeless veterans service centers for receipt of other sources of income, to extend authorities for certain programs to benefit homeless veterans, and for other purposes.

The actions taken:

ALL ACTIONS:

6/13/2007:

Referred to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

6/20/2007:

Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

This bill is going no where at the moment. This one and many like it will never see the light of day. Makes you wonder why people don’t act on items like this. With only 3 co-sponsers and no action since the middle of last year, people ought to be ashamed of themselves.

If you’d like to contact the person who sponsored this bill, his name is Patrick Murphey. He can be reach here.

Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans

Another filming segment is on the horizon. I will be capturing the stories of current war veterans. I hope to get a round table type discussion which will allow my fellow brothers to just talk candidly. I will be the facilitator but the emphasis will be their story since they’ve returned. For variance I plan to get guys with good and bad stories. The transition between the two will be important for this documentary.

I will post more details soon.

Would it be to much ask of a person to follow through with their word when they say they want to help? People often blame others for not doing enough. The question I’d like to ask is how much has been done overall? When we elect officials we trust that they will follow through with their promises. However that is only a fraction of where it should end. As civilians we are empowered to raise awareness and truly execute our right as free citizens to ask the hard questions and to attempt change.

So it goes back to the topic at hand. The deviation from resolution is a multifaceted endeavor. We can either accept it for what it is or we can push the envelope to ensure the end product is delivered. Let’s dumb it down a bit.

You have place an order from Amazon for a book. The selection and transaction is already in place. We can consider this the candidate and ballot.

Once you place your order, the process is then put in the hands and responsibility of Amazon. This would equate to the vote you placed and the committee who counts and solidifies your vote.

Your order is placed on a truck and sent out to your residence. This would be the validation of the candidate and therefore bringing him/her to office.

After you receive your product you inspect it and enjoy your book or at least attempt to. You may read it in one sitting or in the course of a week. Either way you will eventually place it on a shelf and gain some insight or knowledge from it. From time to time you may reference it in a conversation or quote certain passages from it. The book remains in place and you don’t think about it until the next book comes out or the topic is brought up. At this point I would consider this the phase where a person is placed in office and begins their work. All the things they say may or may not happen. Just like the book, you read about what might happen but did it really? This representative either follows through or not. They will do many things with their agenda in mind. They may even sway with their decisions at times due to their constituents requests. This is when I compare the book to the representative because authors will at times write with their own agenda mind or from certain reader feedback. It has been known to happen a time or two.

The deviation from resolution is in full affect at this point. The representative has the voice of his/her constituents and has the power to bring change. Then you have citizens who have the power to raise awareness. With a little tact and involvement, certain decisions may have more focus brought upon them or change completely. Citizens are empowered and are embodied with the ability to bring reform just like the people who represent them. However, at the end of the day the power ends with the stroke of the pen from that elected representative. They can either act on it with all things considered or move on to the next chapter.

The book may become viral and keep the reader going because the body within it is satisfying. It encompasses what the reader truly enjoys and wants in a book. Or the book may be replaced with something more interesting because the other one just couldn’t deliver with what the hype made it out to be. It’s a dog eat dog kind of world with books and politicians these days. What many people don’t realize is that you may select the book but you don’t have to read it!

Never give up your position, one lost battle is not the entire war.

With each day that I gain some more insight about VA related issues, I wonder how we ever got here. I’ve been doing alot of research on the bills that have been introduced to congress and there is a serious lack of consideration in many of the bills. It is fact that a majority of these bills will never see the light of day. Why, is the first question I ask myself. Now don’t get me wrong, there are many reasons for bills to be revamped, voted, studied, etc. That fact remains that many of these great bills will just fall to the way side after a period of two years. That’s right, if the bill is not approved by congress then it is cleared from the books and filed away.

I will list the bills that are now considered dead that were introduced by the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

Read the rest of this entry »

I will do my best to post a post interview video each and every time there is a film shoot. I think it is important to document the documentary with these videos. There is so much I want to say about each experience but I will get to all that at a later time. For the moment the primary focus is ensuring that this film goes as smooth as possible.

I will be posting very soon what the next segment will be.

If you have an interest to learn more about who makes a Buckingham Place exist, please visit: http://www.harborhomes.org/

There is a section right in the middle that allows you to donate towards their cause. I implore you to look into it.

After the Interview - Buckingham Place

I will be posting a video about the shoot at Buckingham Place later on today. It’s late as I type this and I want to ensure I do my best with it. So please check back throughout the day for this update. I will also post it on YouTube. If you really feel motivated you can subscribe to my YouTube channel and as soon as I update with a video you will be emailed. Food for thought.

The day before the shoot at Buckingham Place.