GI Special:

thomasfbarton@earthlink.net

2.9.06

Print it out: color best.  Pass it on.

 

GI SPECIAL 4B8:

 

 

 

 

ArchAngel Reports:

Problems With The VA

02-06-2006

 

From: ArchAngel1BL@aol.com

To: GI Special

Sent: February 07, 2006

Subject: ArchAngel and the VA

 

ArchAngel is reporting a new issue that in which not only for personal reasons, but also to help others who are or will be in the same boat. 

 

After fighting for my husband’s rights and others rights, we are now having to fight for VA rights. 

 

As we all know, Veterans Affairs are not all what they are cracked up to be, and I don't blame them for it, it's because of the government not really caring for their own military heroes then and now.  Because of cut backs the VA is under staffed, over worked and along with the veterans themselves, stressed out because of it all. 

 

After taking my husband to the VA hospital, over 100 miles one way, to see a doctor and get some pain medicine, we found that after all was said and done, it was a waste of time. 

 

X-rays were taken which we both knew would not show anything because when it came to his condition the best imaging device that will show the medical symptom would be an MRI. 

 

From there, we waited in a waiting area where almost every chair had somebody in it waiting.  From the look of it, veterans from past wars most likely.  Everyone talking about how things were running now with their VA health benefits. 

 

One overheard conversation was a veteran complaining that he had to drive over 225 miles just to come in and see a doctor. 

 

Anyway, after waiting a few minutes we were called in.  Here is where we found it to be a waste of time more than anything. 

 

The doctor, who told us in person that he was not aware of any rules and regulations involving veterans affairs, treated my husband and I like we had no idea as to what my husbands medical needs were, when in fact we knew that he would be in pain and be taking medication for the rest of his life. 

 

Not really looking or examining my husband, the only thing the doctor really did was making sure he kept his face in the computer. 

 

Just for a brief moment did he turn around and put his hand on my husband's left knee (the most damaged).  That was all he did, no range of motion exam, nothing else. 

 

 

The doctor tried to change our mind, but couldn't and then prescribed a prescription (non steroid) that will help.  So we thought!!! 

 

He was prescribed Sulendac, which he was to take three times a day for pain and inflammation.  He started taking the drug the moment we got home, and from that day (Friday) up until Sunday morning, he had to stop taking the drug because he was giving him stomach problems such as cramps, pains and a few trips to the bathroom.  

 

The following Monday, I called the VA Hospital and requested to speak to the doctor who saw my husband, and the operator who spoke with me on the other end said that it was impossible and that even if I was to talk to him the doctor would not be able to prescribe him a new prescription.  

 

All I wanted to do was talk to the doctor, but again, I was told no and that the best thing to do was to come back to the hospital and be seen again.  I hung up the phone.  From that point on, my husband and I both agreed that the best way to get the medical treatment he needs was to go and pay out of our pocket and see a civilian doctor where we know he will get treated right.  Our appointment is in a couple of weeks. 

 

What I just have told you was what our veterans of today and yesterday have to face. 

 

It is truly a nightmare.

 

But, what I am about to tell you may shock you, but then again it may not. 

 

I helped my husband file for his VA Compensation Claim, and after 8 1/2 months, the VA came to a decision.   My husband was only approved for two of 7 listed medical conditions that he filed. 

 

One of the listed was exposure to asbestos, and it was denied because they said they never received the information that we sent explaining how he was exposed to it, when in fact I did send it. 

 

Everything besides his knees were denied because of lack of grounds such as not listed in medical records and if they were in the records, it wasn't listed as chronic. 

 

It's all really a bunch of BS to my husband and I both, and we plan to appeal the decision, and also fight another matter involving the government stealing my husband's VA Compensation.

 

Everything that I am about to tell you now is something that our future veterans will most certainly face unless something gets changed. 

 

The 20% that my husband was rated, was a slap in the face, but that wasn't a hard slap, the hard slap along with a punch in the stomach is this. 

 

Because my husband was medically discharged with severance pay, all VA compensation that is owed to my husband is being withheld until that severance pay is paid back in full. 

 

This is the exact passage in the letter: 

 

You received a severance pay allowance of $$$$$ from the military for your chronic right knee strain and status post surgical repair of left knee with residual chronic strain. 

 

We must hold back all of your VA compensation until this severance amount is paid back.

 

VA shall withhold (after federal income tax) the severance amount received after Sept. 30, 1996.   Severance amount received prior to Oct. 1, 1996, will include the amount before taxes are taken out.   After an amount equal to your severance pay allowance is paid back. 

 

Never at anytime were we told of this.

 

It wasn't noted in any of the paper work that he received when he was discharged from the military and nowhere on the VA Form 21-526 does it state withholding of money. 

 

The only part of the form where it mentions money is under Section VII.

 

Under that section it reads: 

 

When you file this application, you are telling us that you want to get VA compensation instead of military retired pay.  If you currently receive military retired pay, you should be aware that we will reduce your retired pay by the amount of any compensation that you are awarded.  VA will notify the Military Retired Pay Center of all benefit changes.  You must sign 21e if you want to keep getting military retired pay instead of VA compensation.  If you have gotten both military retired pay and VA compensation, some of the amount you get may be recouped by VA, or in the case of VSI, by the Department of Defense. 

 

Again, nowhere does it mention compensation will be withheld to pay back severance pay.

 

Because of these matters, our State Rep. has been contacted in hopes something can be done if not for us, then maybe it will be fixed for our future veterans. 

 

ArchAngel would like to make a suggestion to those about to file for VA Compensation. 

 

There is a book out there called "The Veteran's Survival Guide:  How to File and Collect on VA Claims," written by John D. Roche. 

 

Take my word for it, if I knew about this book last year before I sent my husband's claim off, I think that it would have had a better outcome. 

 

The author, a ret. Maj. in the Air Force, worked for three years as a claims adjudication specialist for the Veterans Administration.  He explains everything that you need to do to make a sound claim. 

 

He has one of the highest rates of wins on appeal cases. 

 

I personally, after reading the book, think that it should be suggested to our military to read. 

 

So much of it I found to be true from VA hiring non-qualified doctors to letting nurses perform physical exams. 

 

Because of these things and others, the VA is full of appeals in which in most cases the veteran making the appeal wins the case. 

 

So, again, get this book and read it, it just might save you from a 5 years of appeal battles against the VA. 

 

Which, sad to say, is something that my husband and I will have to face. 

 

 

 

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

 

 

MARINE DIES FROM IED ATTACK NEAR BAGHDADI

 

2/8/2006 HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND NEWS RELEASE Number: 06-02-08CM

 

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq:  A Marine assigned to 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), died when the vehicle he was riding in was attacked by an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations near Baghdadi, Feb. 6.

 

Soldier Dies From IED Attack In Al Anbar

 

02/08/06 MNF Release A060208d

 

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq:  A Soldier assigned to the 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, attached to Regimental Combat Team 2, died as a result of wounds received when the vehicle he was riding in was attacked by an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations in al Anbar province, Feb. 5.

 

MARINE DIES IN NON-HOSTILE VEHICLE ACCIDENT NEAR AL QAIM

 

2/8/2006 HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND NEWS RELEASE Number: 06-02-08CM

 

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq:  A Marine assigned to 2d Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), died in a non-hostile vehicle accident while conducting combat operations near al Qaim, Feb. 7.

 

North Graduate Reported Killed

 

February 8 - 15, 2006 Suburban News Publications

 

The flag at Westerville North High School was lowered to half staff Tuesday in honor of one of its graduates who reportedly died in Iraq Monday.

 

School district officials said they have been informed Jake Spann, a Marine private who graduated from North in 2003, was killed while on routine patrol Monday, when the Humvee he was riding in ran over a land mine.  Reportedly two Marines in the vehicle died immediately and Spann died en route to a medical facility.

 

Spann is survived locally by his mother, Deborah Nealon, and has siblings attending district schools, officials said.

 

Louisiana Soldier Dead In Baghdad

 

February 6, 2006 U.S. Department of Defense News Release No. 109-06

 

Spc. William S. Hayes III, 23, of St. Tammany, La., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Feb. 5, of a non-combat related injury.   Hayes was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

 

Soldier Killed

 

02/06/06 By Kent Erdahl, KSFY

 

A Parkston man has become the 16th soldier with South Dakota ties killed in Iraq.

 

The parents of 22-year-old Sergeant Jeremiah Boehmer tell KSFY they were notified of Jeremiah's death on Sunday.  According to military officials, Boehmer's striker unit was doing a route security sweep when an improvised explosive device detonated and killed him.

 

Boehmer was stationed in the Army and a 2002 graduate of Parkston High School.  

 

He is the second casualty from the town.

 

New York City Soldier Killed

 

[Thanks to Alan S, who sent this in.]

 

February 7, 2006 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, FORT CAMPBELL, Ky.

 

A New York City soldier from the 101st Airborne Division died in Iraq when his Humvee rolled into a canal, the Army said Tuesday.

 

Spc. Sergio A. Mercedes Saez died in Baghdad on Sunday. Saez, 23, was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat team.

 

There have been 119 soldiers from Fort Campbell killed in the Iraq war.

 

S.D. Soldier Wounded In December Dies

 

02/8/06 BRENDA WADE SCHMIDT, Argus Leader

 

A Yankton soldier injured in December in Iraq died Tuesday in Texas.

 

The death of Spc. Allen Kokesh Jr., 21, is the third for the Charlie Battery 147th Field Artillery unit of the South Dakota National Guard.

 

Kokesh died at the Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

 

Kokesh was recovering from a leg amputation, an injury to his left elbow, burns and injuries to his eyes, his family had said a month ago when he was in critical but stable condition.

 

Major Orson Ward, Guard spokesman, said Kokesh recently had complications.

 

"They had some setbacks over the weekend," he said.

 

Kokesh was injured Dec. 4 when two separate roadside bombs exploded, killing Sgt. 1st Class Richard Schild, 40, of Tabor and Staff Sgt. Daniel Cuka, 27, of Yankton.  A fourth soldier, Sgt. Corey Briest of Yankton, also was injured and remains hospitalized, according to the National Guard.  Pvt. Warren Bender of Redfield also was hurt in the Dec. 4 explosion but is out of the hospital.

 

Four soldiers who are taking the place of four wounded from the Yankton unit will leave for Iraq this weekend.

 

Kokesh's death is the 19th for soldiers with South Dakota ties.

 

Memorial and funeral arrangements are pending, Ward said.

 

U.S. Drone Down In Baghdad

 

February 8, 2006 The Associated Press

 

An unarmed and unmanned U.S. aircraft providing security coverage for Ashoura went down near Baghdad's eastern Sadr City neighborhood Tuesday, but the cause of the mishap was not immediately known, the military said Wednesday.

 

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft shortly after it took off at about 10:30 a.m. from an airfield in Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad, the military said.  The aircraft, belonging to Multi-National Division-Baghdad forces, made a "controlled parachute landing," said the military.

 

REALLY BAD PLACE TO BE:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

A U.S. soldier near the wreckage of cars bombed in Baghdad February 3, 2006. REUTERS/Ali Jasim

 

 

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

 

 

Occupation Troops Kill Afghan Demonstrators

 

2.8.05 Washington Post & CNN & By Paul Ames, Associated Press

 

Protests spread across Afghanistan, where at least three demonstrators died in a clash with NATO soldiers and hundreds rampaged through Kabul, trashing U.N. vehicles and throwing stones at buildings used by international agencies, visitors and troops.

 

As alliance commanders rushed reinforcements Tuesday to bolster embattled Norwegian troops after they were surrounded by Afghan demonstrators who shot and hurled grenades at them, NATO insisted the expansion of the Afghan mission would go ahead as planned in the summer.

 

Afghan police have shot and killed several protesters trying to storm a U.S. military base, bringing the death toll from this week's violent demonstrations over caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed to at least 10.

 

Hundreds of protesters hurled rocks at police in the southern city of Qalat on Wednesday.  Officers first fired into the air to try to clear the crowd but turned their guns on protesters as they tried to attack the base, provincial police said.

 

Reuters quoted police and medical officials as saying three people were killed and 20 others wounded, while police told The Associated Press the death toll was four.

 

Eyewitnesses told CNN five people were killed, possibly including a police officer. 

 

Qalat is the capital of Zabul province, which is in the heartland of the Afghan insurgency.

 

Protesters held several smaller anti-cartoon demonstrations across the country on Wednesday, including in the capital Kabul, where hundreds of university students chanted "Death to the Danish!  Death to Americans!"

 

Resistance Attacks Kandahar Police Station

 

2.8.06 Wall St. Journal

 

A suspected Taliban bomber on a motorbike killed 13 at a Kandahar police station.

 

 

 

 

TROOP NEWS

 

 

MORE:

 

[Thanks to Phil G, who sent this in.]

 

U.S. General Says He Would Kill Rumsfeld’s “Hatchetman”

 

February 7, 2006 JEFFREY ST. CLAIR, Counterpunch [Excerpt]

 

As Rumsfeld's hatchetman, Dr. Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, has become so hated and feared inside the Pentagon that one general told the Army Times: "If I had one round left in my revolver, I'd take out Stephen Cambone".

 

This raises the concept of fragging to an entirely new level.

 

THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

The coffin of Army Sgt. Myla Maravillosa during burial at a cemetery in Inabanga, Bohol province in the central Philippines January 19, 2006.  Maravillosa, a Filipino-American was killed in an attack by insurgents on Christmas eve in Iraq. REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo

 

“Less Than 12,000” More Sailors Going To Bush’s Imperial Slaughterhouse:

Will Go Looking For IEDs And Work In Prisons

 

February 7, 2006  From Mike Mount, CNN, WASHINGTON

 

The U.S. Navy will try to lift some of the burden off U.S. Army troops in Iraq this year by increasing the number of sailors inside that country and taking on duties soldiers have been doing, according to the Navy's top sailor.

 

In a briefing to Pentagon reporters Tuesday, Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the Chief of Naval Operations, said the Navy will start playing a bigger role in Iraq by adding to the 4,000 sailors already operating in the country.

 

While not giving specifics, Mullen said sailors with expertise in disposing of explosive ordnance will also be brought in.

 

Such teams are used in disposing of the countless weapons caches found in the country as well as assisting in roadside bomb removal.

 

Other duties will include security roles, with some 500 sailors expected to take over operations at a prison inside the country, Mullen said.  He would not say which facility the sailors would take over.

 

Mullen would not say how many sailors he is expecting to put into Iraq or when they will start filling the various duties. 

 

He did say the number of sailors would be less than 12,000.

 

Veterans Rally In Albany For Bill To Monitor Soldiers' Health

 

February 08, 2006 By ROB HART, Staten Island Advance, ALBANY

 

Veterans and soldiers' advocates, including two Staten Islanders, rallied at the state capitol yesterday for a bill that would test and monitor the health of National Guard soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) introduced the measure, which would provide for medical screening of soldiers to look for hazardous materials, including depleted uranium, a product of uranium enrichment that is used in military weapons and tank armor, and treatment for those who are affected.

 

The bill also would create a registry for National Guard soldiers for the purpose of cataloguing and investigating their health.

 

Debra Anderson of West Brighton, a member of Military Families Speak Out, said that her husband, who recently returned from a year in Iraq, suffers from fatigue and rashes, which, along with headaches and joint pain, are some of the symptoms of exposure to depleted uranium.

 

"Troops put their lives on the line every day," Mrs. Anderson said. "They should be taken care of when they get home."

 

George McAnanama of Livingston, a member of Veterans for Peace who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, said that while the federal government deployed the National Guard, the state should take care of its militia.

 

"The state Legislature still holds responsibility for monitoring their health," McAnanama said.

 

Assemblyman John Lavelle (D-North Shore), who joined Dinowitz at a press conference announcing the bill, wants to introduce legislation to mandate a full physical for soldiers when they leave and upon their return, as a means of comparison.

 

Led by National Guard veterans who served in Iraq and who have tested positive for depleted uranium, the 30-strong group of activists left Dinowitz's event and marched to a nearby Vietnam memorial.

 

One of their goals, the group said, was to garner support from the Republican Senate majority.  Among their visits was a sit-down with Robert Helbock, an aide to state Sen. John Marchi (R-Staten Island).

 

"It's something worth evaluating," said Helbock.  "The senator has asked me to get him more background information on this to see exactly what's involved."

 

“Soldiers:  Do NOT Go See That Turkish Vampire Movie!”

[Commands’ Idiot Order Guarantees Troops Will Go See That Turkish Vampire Movie: Duh.]

 

02/08/06 Translation from Turkish language by MSNBC, WASHINGTON:

 

Kurtlar Vadisi is expected to break Turkish box office records.

 

An articles in the US army’s “Stars and Stripes” magazine said that American soldiers serving in Europe to stay away from cinemas screening the film Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak (Valley of the Wolves: Iraq).

 

The magazine cited an order sent to the US base in Hohenfels Germany.

 

Apart from recommending US troops stay away from cinemas where the movie is being screened, the order also stressed the military personal should “not to discuss the movie with anybody they do not know.”

 

The magazine added that American soldiers serving at the Incirlik airbase close to the southern Turkish city of Adana should be wary of crowds.

 

Kurtlar Vadisi has a number of scenes depicting US troops in Iraq in a poor light, showing them abusing prisoners, shooting innocent civilians and even being involved in the illegal trade of organs.

 

 

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

 

 

British Defense Minister Admits Iraqis Support The Armed Resistance

 

08 February 2006 By Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian UK

 

British troops will not wait for the end of the insurgency before leaving Iraq and there will be "significantly fewer" in the country by next year, John Reid, the defense secretary, said last night.

 

He made it clear that it was ultimately up to the Iraqis to look after themselves.

 

 

The point at which Iraqis are fully in control of their nation again will not be the point when attacks cease ... The day we leave will not be the final step on the road for the new Iraq. It will be the first".

 

Resistance Roundup

 

February 8, 2006 The Associated Press & Xinhua

 

Iraq's higher education minister escaped unharmed Wednesday from a car bomb attack on his convoy.

 

"A booby-trapped car parking by the roadside detonated near Uqba Bin Nafi Square at about 9:45 a.m. (0645 GMT) when the four vehicle convoy of Sami al-Mudhafar, minister of Higher Education, was passing by" the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

 

Mudhafar survived unhurt, but a policeman was killed and three people wounded, including two of the minister's bodyguards, the source said.

 

The attack on independent Shiite lawmaker Sami al-Mudafar was the second attempt on his life within the past two years.  The first occurred when he was education minister under the transitional government of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

 

Higher Education Ministry spokesman Bassel al-Khatib said a car bomb exploded in downtown Baghdad's Karradah district as al-Mudafar's four-vehicle convoy passed.

 

A blast injured two Iraqi policemen in northern Baghdad, police said.

 

A roadside bomb went off near a police patrol in eastern Baghdad near the al-Mustansriyah fuel station, wounding three policemen.

 

 

 

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

 

 

“No Officer Can Advance Beyond The Rank Of Lt. Col. Unless He Toes The Political Line”

 

February 7, 2006 by Paul Craig Roberts, LewRockwell.com [Excerpt]

 

In the politicized US military, no officer can advance beyond the rank of Lt. Col. unless he toes the political line.

 

The game is played to advance in rank as high as possible, collect the pension, and be rewarded for compliant behavior with consultancies.  Real leadership means making waves, and that is not tolerated.

 

The No Fly List:

Ignorance In Action

 

February 6, 2006 By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS, CounterPunch [Excerpt]

 

Consider the no-fly list.

 

This list has no purpose whatsoever but to harass and disrupt the livelihoods of Bush's critics. 

 

If a known terrorist were to show up at check-in, he would be arrested and taken into custody, not told that he could not fly.   What sense does it make to tell someone who is not subject to arrest and who has cleared screening that he or she cannot fly?  

 

How is this person any more dangerous than any other passenger?

 

If Senator Ted Kennedy, a famous senator with two martyred brothers, can be put on a no-fly list, as he was for several weeks, anyone can be put on the list.  The list has no accountability.  People on the list cannot even find out why they are on the list.  There is no recourse, no procedure for correcting mistakes.

 

I am certain that there are more Bush critics on the list than there are terrorists. According to reports, the list now comprises 80,000 names!

 

This number must greatly dwarf the total number of terrorists in the world and certainly the number of known terrorists.

 

“Gee, That One Turned Out Well”

 

02/08/06 By David Honish, Veterans For Peace, News.messages.yahoo.com [Excerpt]

 

At the 1964 Democan National Convention LBJ said "...If Mr. Ho Chee Minh thinks he can push ME around, well then he's got another thing coming to him."

 

Gee, that one turned out well.

 

What a pity LBJ & Ho did not just step outside and settle it between them like gentlemen without involving the other 300 million of us.

 

“Dear Internal Revenue Service:

“I Am Enclosing Four Toilet Seats”

 

[Thanks to Mary R, who sent this one.]

 

Dear Internal Revenue Service:

 

Enclosed you will find my 2005 tax return showing that I owe $3,407.00 in taxes. 

 

Please note the attached article from the USA Today newspaper; dated 12 November, wherein you will see the Pentagon (Department of Defense) is paying $171.50 per hammer and NASA has paid $600.00 per toilet seat.

 

I am enclosing four (4) toilet seats (valued @ $2,400) and six (6) hammers valued @ $1,029), which I secured at Home Depot, bringing my total remittance to $3,429.00. 

 

Please apply the overpayment of $22.00 to the "Presidential Election Fund," as noted on my return.  You can do this inexpensively by sending them one (1) 1.5" Phillips Head screw (see aforementioned article from USA Today newspaper detailing how H. U. D. pays $22.00 each for 1.5" Phillips Head Screws).  One screw is enclosed for your convenience.

 

It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year.

 

Sincerely,

A Satisfied Taxpayer

 

THE COMMUNIST SGT. CRUMPLEY:

A KANAK TALE

 

February 07, 2006 BY Max Watts

 

Once upon a time there was an American Communist, Forrest Crumpley.

 

He had been born in 1915, in a village in Missouri, so small you can’t find it on the map. By 1942 he was a Sergeant in the US Army.  He was intelligent and had been made the Battalion Intelligence Officer.

 

Sometimes funny, logical, things can happen in the Army, but don’t count on them.

 

In this case, as could be expected, Division was outraged at this logic… a dedicated anti-fascist intelligence Officer, in the great war against … amongst other things, fascism.

 

Wheels were set into motion, and Sgt Crumpley learned that his days as Sergeant would soon be over, he was about to be retrograded, busted, back to Private.

 

Now Forrest had been a Private in the United States Army, he had joined up in 1933, eighteen years old, as there was no work or money at home, and he didn’t want to be a charge on his, very poor, family.  Now, about 27, he didn’t fancy going back to Privacy. Wanted to stay an NCO, a Sergeant.

 

In fact he had even been in OCS, Officer Candidate School, but the night before graduating as a Lieutenant he was simply thrown out.  No reason given, but he figured: too Red.  Although, in principle, the Communists then were 150% for the anti-fascist war, and sometimes, when they did slip thru, made top quality officers.  Fighting Hitler, Musso, and Tojo.  Forrest didn’t.  Slip thru.  Side-stepped.

 

As he was an intelligence Officer, and, exceptionally, intelligent too, he learned that if he went overseas he would keep his rank, Sergeant.

 

So, as in any case he wanted to fight fascism, Japanese, Italian, or German, he requested overseas duty and got it.

 

Wound up, still a Sergeant, in Noumea. New Caledonia, today also called Kanaky.

 

A French colony.  Where "the" French, i.e. the government of the Third Republic, had dumped some survivors of the Paris Commune, of 1871.  Many, about 30,000, they had already shot after Paris was captured in the bloody week of May. 21 to 30^th, 1871. Ending the first Communard, working class, government in the world.

 

The English sent Irish revolutionaries to Australia, the French, as often out of luck, had to make do with much smaller New Caledonia.  For their convicts, revolutionaries.

 

I don’t know, one never knows everything, whether Forrest Crumpley, an intelligent Communist, knew, before hand, about New Caledonia, Noumea, its history, contradictions.  But he learned.  And became involved in some of them…

 

When he got there, to Kanaky, Crumpley expected to soon go North, with his unit, fight the Japanese.  It didn’t happen.  Four times.  His file must have followed him, and somehow Headquarters felt Communists should stay (safe?) on the beach in New Caledonia, rather than fall in combat…

 

********************************************************

 

Erka’s father, a Sergeant in Hitler’s German Army, the Wehrmacht, wasn’t much of a Communist, but he had said, after "they" had crushed Poland in 3 weeks in 1939: "We (i.e. Germans) will lose this war."  Later on this would have got him hung or shot, but in 1939 all that happened, when his fiancée’s family denounced him to the Gestapo, was that his file was marked: "Not to be promoted".

 

And thus his life, Erka’s father’s life, was saved.  Too.  Had he been normally promoted, become a junior Lt. or Captain, an officer in Hitler’s Wehrmacht, he’d have died, as did almost all his classmates.  Fighting for Hitler. 

 

As a Sergeant Erka’s father, like Forrest, survived.

 

********************************************************

 

But Sgt Crumpley realised he was on thin ice.  If he hung around Noumea, headquarters for up to 100,000 US troops, indefinitely.

 

He figured he’d be better off up-country, away from the command.  He learned that there was a project, to grow veggies for the US Army, vitamins, working with the French (and the then still silent natives, the Kanaks).  He already knew about farming, from Missouri, and had had a little, one year, High School, French.  Figured it would help him get the job if he learned more – French – and, a good Union man, went to the Noumea Labor Hall.  Asked if there was anyone there, who could teach him more French…

 

*****************************************

 

Now I shall have to make another step aside, into history… Background.  After "the" French (Flag Imperialists) had "got" Kanaky, they killed, one way or another, most of the Kanaks.  Took their Land away… When these objected, they were shot.  In 1878, in 1916, at other times too.

 

My friends the Leenhardts had connections to Kanaky, New Caledonia.  Their Protestant family had missioned there.  Grandpa Leenhardt landed in Noumea from France in 1901.  He had studied some of the Kanak Languages.  The administrators told him: "Mais Monsieur, c’est guerre la peine; you have wasted your time.  The Kanaks are a dying race."

 

Just as Aborigines in Australia!   Exactly.

 

But then the French Imperialists found a lot of Nickel under the main island.  To convert it into surplus value it had to be mined.  Labor Power was needed.  The Kanaks were dead, or too few, unwilling.  Useless as miners.  Miners.  Fortunately – fortunately for Le Nickel – the Company – France had an empire.  In those days.  Other colonies. Indochina.  Vietnam.  Tonkin.  So Tonkinois were brought to Kanaky.

 

Like the Brits brought "Indians" to Fiji!  Yes!

 

To work.  To stop them getting ideas, scampering off, these Tonkinois were locked up in barracks.  Indentured labor.  Like, somewhat, slaves.

 

Foremen, skilled miners, were also needed.  These had to be brought from France.  With some French ideas, uppity ideas, including unionisation.  By the time Sgt Crumpley arrived in Noumea, there was a union hall.  In Noumea.

 

Of course French fascists would have disliked, squashed, such union halls.  But in New Caledonia there had been a supplementary, internal, CONTRADICTION.

 

Thanks to the German Nazis, French Fascism, Vichy, Petain, was in power in France as of July 1940.  Their administrators, in New Caledonia, Kanaky, were pro-fascist, pro-Japanese.

 

De Gaulle, a then minor French general, continued the war: "France has lost a battle, not the war!"  His supporters, anti-fascists, in New Caledonia, putsched against the local "Vichy" regime, for anti-fa De Gaulle in September 1940.  When their putsch ran into trouble, they had asked for and received help from … Australia. 

 

Thus, by the time the US Army arrived in 1942, there was a "Gaullist" anti-fascist, left-leaning, governor in Noumea.  Unions were, now, in.  Tolerated.

 

And Forrest Crumpley, Communist, found friends in the Union Movement.  Took French Lessions from Union Secretary Jeanne Tunica y Casas.  And became her good friend.

 

The story, and later life, troubles and tragedy of Jeanne Tunica are material for another tale, perhaps a book. (1).

 

In the early 1940’s, when she and the American Communist Sergeant Crumpley worked in New Caledonia/Kanaky it was a – troubled – success story.

 

For a time, during the – also – anti-fascist – war they united some American soldiers, French Unionists, Miners, semi-slave indentured Tonkinois Vietnamese workers, and – the long silenced Kanaks. .They began to sort out some of the fundamental contradictions of Flag Imperialism.

 

They, also Sgt. Crumpley, and his then friend US Army Lt. Lewis Feuer, attempted to improve lives in that – for so many miserable – French Colony, New Caledonia.  Unite, as the song says: The Human Race.  A little later Jeanne Tunica formed the first Communist Party of New Caledonia.  She was, probably before she, a woman, was even allowed to vote, elected to the Provincial Parliament… Later on, perhaps, for that…

 

**************************************************

 

The war ended. Japanese Fascism, Imperialism, was defeated.  Sgt Crumpley returned to his wife, Elsa, lived and worked in Seattle, later in California.  During the anti-Communist wave he had some hard knocks, but survived.

 

Crumpley opened his own printing plant… Fidelity Printing in San Jose, used his motto everywhere he could: “Labor produces all wealth -- and deserves to get more of it.”  He printed for scores of community organizations, some of which couldn't pay him for the press work he churned out on equipment he often built himself.

 

Mr. Crumpley never retired from activism.  He picked coffee beans in Nicaragua during the Contra fight against that the people of that country, served on the 1988 Santa Clara County grand jury, pushed for affordable housing, was active in the Federation of Retired Union Members and wrote numerous published letters to the Mercury News (2).

 

Sgt Forrest Crumpley, 90, died of skin cancer Oct. 22, 2005...

 

I had found and telephoned his home one day too late... Elsa, his wife, continues his work.

 

(1) See also Andrew Mc Lennan, ABC Radio; the Listening Room.

(2) Thanks also to Betty Barnacle, San Jose Mercury News

 

Max Watts

 

 

 

OCCUPATION REPORT

 

 

Foreign occupation troops with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) stop and search at gunpoint a group of Iraqi citizens near the western Iraq town of Hit, February 3, 2006. REUTERS/Bob Strong

 

[Fair is fair.  Let’s bring 150,000 Iraqis over here to the USA.  They can kill people at checkpoints, bust into their houses with force and violence, overthrow the government, put a new one in office they like better and call it “sovereign,” and “detain” anybody who doesn’t like it in some prison without any charges being filed against them, or any trial.]

 

[Those Iraqis are sure a bunch of backward primitives.  They actually resent this help, have the absurd notion that it’s bad their country is occupied by a foreign military dictatorship, and consider it their patriotic duty to fight and kill the soldiers sent to grab their country.  What a bunch of silly people.  How fortunate they are to live under a military dictatorship run by George Bush.  Why, how could anybody not love that?  You’d want that in your home town, right?]

 

 

 

The Occupation Runs Out Of Gas:

Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait Cut Off Supplies:

Collaborators Won’t Pay Their Bills

 

 

February 8th, 2006 by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch

 

Iraq's gasoline comes from two sources: domestic refineries process a limited amount of the nation's crude into gasoline, but it is imports from neighboring nations that run most of the country's vehicles and generators.

 

Saudi Arabia and Turkey supply more than half of Iraq's domestic needs.  In August 2005, after Iraq's debt rose into the millions, Saudi Arabia turned off the spigot.  On January 21st, after Baghdad's unpaid bill topped a billion dollars, Turkey stopped loading gasoline for Iraq.

 

The supply from Kuwait is also drying up.

 

Lloyd-Owen International (LOI), a Florida-based company, had arranged to truck in 1.3 billion liters of gasoline from the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation to gas stations throughout Iraq over the last 19 months.

 

On February 2, Alan Waller, chief executive officer of LOI, stopped supplies to Baghdad because of payment arrears.  By this weekend, Iraq's imports had plummeted from the previous norm of 12 million liters a day to three million.

 

In a strongly worded letter he emailed to this weekend to Thomas Delare, the economic counselor at the United States embassy in Baghdad, Waller wrote: "The government of Iraq is unwilling to pay what is correctly owed us or even meet to discuss and that we cannot get any assistance from the U.S. administration in order to help.  As such, I can only step back and pull all my international staff out of Iraq for their own safety and let the Iraqi people deal with the situation in their own way."

 

Waller claimed that the government of Iraq has illegally canceled his contract and is now negotiating with a different U.S. company, Global Network Transportation, to deliver fuel in Iraq.  

 

The non-payment has infuriated the Iraqi security guards on LOI's payroll, who threaten to line 400 trucks along the one-lane highway from Iraq to Kuwait to blockade the border.

 

Despite sitting on the world's third biggest oil reserves, Iraq's exports slumped from a high of 2.1 million barrels per day just 1.1 million barrels a day in December, their lowest level since the war in 2003.

 

This slide, together with the delivery crisis, has led to major gasoline shortages in Baghdad, where vulnerable drivers wait in quarter-mile-long lines.

 

 

With gasoline supplies dwindling and anger growing, Washington and Baghdad are scrambling to return Iraq to what passes for normal.  Iraqi oil ministry officials say that the payments will resume soon.  "The oil ministry is working with the government in order to speed up the payment process.  There is no problem.  It is just a matter of time and the money will be paid," ministry spokesman Asim Jihad told reporters.

 

U.S. embassy officials are more pessimistic.  "I scheduled to have some high level meetings in the next several days with Ministry of Oil officials," Delare wrote to Waller on February 6.  "I wish I had encouraging news for you, but despite our efforts to resolve the payments arrears problems, we have had no success so far," the embassy economic counselor in Baghdad added.

 

But officials in Baghdad do have another fallback plan: their one-time arch enemy, Iran,