11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
Honoring And Keeping Faith
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On September 17, 1999, National POW/MIA Recognition Day, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen officiated over a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
One part of the ceremony was the dedication of the inscription on the cover of the empty crypt of the Vietnam Unknown. It reads: "Honoring and Keeping Faith with America's Missing Servicemen,'' an epilogue to the events that began on May 11, 1972, when Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, while flying a combat mission in his A-37 over South Vietnam, was brought down by enemy anti-aircraft fire. Several days later, remains were recovered and turned over to American authorities. Officially, the remains were listed as "believed to be'' those of Blassie.
Known testing methods, however, could not determine conclusively the identity.
U.S. Army authorities at the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii determined in the late 1970s that the identification of the remains was improbable and reclassified the remains as "unknown''. In 1983, a decision was made by DOD officials to inter these remains in the crypt of the Vietnam Unknown. President Reagan presided over the ceremony on November 11, 1984.
Twelve years later, following the receipt of a letter from Michael J. Blassie's mother, Secretary Cohen ordered the opening of the crypt and exhumation of the remains. Newly developed mitochondrial DNA analysis confirmed that the remains were Blassie's. In February 1998, the Pentagon announced that the crypt would remain empty and that an inscription would be carved into its cover.
In President Clinton's annual POW/MIA Recognition Day proclamation, he said: "On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we remember with profound gratitude those who suffered captivity and those whose fate remains unknown. Many American POWs were tortured at the hands of their captors; all experienced the ordeal of being held against their will and the anguish of indefinite separation from their families and their homeland.
"Today we also honor the valiant families of our fellow citizens who remain missing--families who have had to suffer not only the absence of their loved ones but also the uncertainty of their fate. As Americans, we remain unshakable in our resolve to achieve the fullest possible accounting of those missing and to strive to bring home the remains of those who have died. Only by doing so can we begin to acknowledge the debt we owe to these patriots and assuage the grief of the families they left behind for the sake of our Nation.''
The Latest Numbers
The following summarizes American efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting: 2,054 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War: Army: 651 (9 in northern Vietnam, 497 in southern Vietnam, 110 in Laos, 35 in Cambodia. Navy: 417 (286 in northern Vietnam, 92 in southern Vietnam, 28 in Laos, 3 in
Cambodia) Air Force: 683 (233 in northern Vietnam, 165 in southern Vietnam, 268 in Laos, 17 in Cambodia) Marine Corps: 263 (24 in northern Vietnam, 203 in southern Vietnam, 22 in Laos, 14 in Cambodia) Coast Guard:1 in southern Vietnam
In addition, 39 civilians remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam War: 22 in southern Vietnam; 12 in Laos; 5 in Cambodia.
A total of 529 Americans have been accounted for since 1973: 391 in Vietnam; 129 in Laos; 7 in Cambodia; and 2 in China. Since 1993, during the Clinton Administration, 160 Americans have been accounted for: 88 in Vietnam; 66 in Laos; and 6 in Cambodia.
One part of the ceremony was the dedication of the inscription on the cover of the empty crypt of the Vietnam Unknown. It reads: "Honoring and Keeping Faith with America's Missing Servicemen,'' an epilogue to the events that began on May 11, 1972, when Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, while flying a combat mission in his A-37 over South Vietnam, was brought down by enemy anti-aircraft fire. Several days later, remains were recovered and turned over to American authorities. Officially, the remains were listed as "believed to be'' those of Blassie.
Known testing methods, however, could not determine conclusively the identity.
U.S. Army authorities at the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii determined in the late 1970s that the identification of the remains was improbable and reclassified the remains as "unknown''. In 1983, a decision was made by DOD officials to inter these remains in the crypt of the Vietnam Unknown. President Reagan presided over the ceremony on November 11, 1984.
Twelve years later, following the receipt of a letter from Michael J. Blassie's mother, Secretary Cohen ordered the opening of the crypt and exhumation of the remains. Newly developed mitochondrial DNA analysis confirmed that the remains were Blassie's. In February 1998, the Pentagon announced that the crypt would remain empty and that an inscription would be carved into its cover.
In President Clinton's annual POW/MIA Recognition Day proclamation, he said: "On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we remember with profound gratitude those who suffered captivity and those whose fate remains unknown. Many American POWs were tortured at the hands of their captors; all experienced the ordeal of being held against their will and the anguish of indefinite separation from their families and their homeland.
"Today we also honor the valiant families of our fellow citizens who remain missing--families who have had to suffer not only the absence of their loved ones but also the uncertainty of their fate. As Americans, we remain unshakable in our resolve to achieve the fullest possible accounting of those missing and to strive to bring home the remains of those who have died. Only by doing so can we begin to acknowledge the debt we owe to these patriots and assuage the grief of the families they left behind for the sake of our Nation.''
The Latest Numbers
The following summarizes American efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting: 2,054 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War: Army: 651 (9 in northern Vietnam, 497 in southern Vietnam, 110 in Laos, 35 in Cambodia. Navy: 417 (286 in northern Vietnam, 92 in southern Vietnam, 28 in Laos, 3 in
Cambodia) Air Force: 683 (233 in northern Vietnam, 165 in southern Vietnam, 268 in Laos, 17 in Cambodia) Marine Corps: 263 (24 in northern Vietnam, 203 in southern Vietnam, 22 in Laos, 14 in Cambodia) Coast Guard:1 in southern Vietnam
In addition, 39 civilians remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam War: 22 in southern Vietnam; 12 in Laos; 5 in Cambodia.
A total of 529 Americans have been accounted for since 1973: 391 in Vietnam; 129 in Laos; 7 in Cambodia; and 2 in China. Since 1993, during the Clinton Administration, 160 Americans have been accounted for: 88 in Vietnam; 66 in Laos; and 6 in Cambodia.
Freedom Flight's POW / MIA Message From Above
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Jim Tuorila’s most memorable hot air balloon flight comes with a small bit of irony attached to one of its more prominent elements—altitude. The veteran balloon pilot and co-founder of Freedom Flight, Inc., a non-profit organization that raises awareness as well as hot air balloons, had flown hundreds of times. But when one of his passengers requested that he take his distinctive black balloon with the easily recognizable POW/MIA logo to 5,000 feet, Tuorila acquiesced with little enthusiasm.
“I don’t like to fly high,” he said, laughing. “I’m afraid of heights. I can’t lean over the side of a tall building and feel comfortable. I probably wouldn’t be flying this balloon if it weren’t for the issue.”
But the POW/MIA issue and the balloon are inseparable. The striking black craft with its three 30-foot high POW/MIA logos is like no other and is easily spotted even in a sky like Albuquerque’s in October, when mass ascensions at the Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta might number more than a thousand colorful balloons in all shapes and sizes gliding over the city.
Tuorila’s three guests that day came with special significance. So he opened up the balloon’s gas burners and the black craft rose into the air. His passengers were women married to men still listed as MIA from the Vietnam War. He doesn’t remember which one asked that he fly to 5,000 feet, but Tuorila has been a psychologist at a VA Medical Center in Minnesota for 20 years; he was curious to see what would happen when they reached that altitude. Balloon flights generally skim the earth, the better to see and be seen. At 5,000 feet, people on the ground are barely able to see the balloon. He couldn’t imagine why his passenger wanted to climb that high.
He said that the moment they reached the requested altitude will stay with him forever.
“We get up there and she says this is the altitude the military said her husband was at when he ejected from his plane over Vietnam,” he said. “She wanted to see what the world looked like when he ejected. It touched me so deeply that I’ll never forget that flight with those women.”
Freedom Flight, the POW/MIA Hot Air Balloon Team, has flown in more than seven hundred events since its first flight in November 1989. The non-profit now has three balloons that attend 35 to 45 events a year, staffed entirely by volunteers. The organization grew out of Tuorila’s vocation—psychology—and his avocation—hot air balloons.
In 1981, while attending graduate school at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, he worked with a group of World War II ex-POWs called the “Lost Battalion,” all of them survivors of more than three years in Japanese prison camps. That work inspired Tuorila to write his doctoral dissertation on the effects of captivity, especially regarding the work of Victor Frankl and his famous writings following his own imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps.
While doing his doctoral internship at the Topeka, Kansas, VA Medical Center, Tuorila and his wife volunteered to crew for a hot air balloon. When he went to work in Minnesota, they saw a balloon in flight one day and decided to volunteer again.
In 1987, he appeared on a local TV program to talk about the emotional difficulties families face when a loved one returns after years of captivity. On the program he met the daughter of a Navy pilot shot down and declared MIA. The daughter told him that the government story of her father’s disappearance was very much at odds with the story told by her father’s wingman, who made a point of finding the pilot’s family to tell them the true story of the incident.
By then, Tuorila and his wife were crewing on a balloon flown by a Vietnam veteran who had been encouraging him to set up a non-profit with an eye toward calling attention to the POW/MIA issue.
Then one day at work, his professional life and his weekend life coalesced.
“I told my co-therapist, ‘You know, I’ve been flying and working with balloons for five years now. What about a black POW/MIA balloon? What kind of attention would that get?’ “
The co-therapist and co-founder of Freedom Flight, Vietnam veteran Bill Nohner, thought it was a great idea. A year later, Freedom Flight, Inc., obtained status as a non-profit educational organization.
In 1989, the first flight went up. Its first passenger was Henry Sha, a World War II veteran and ex-POW who happened to stop his car when the balloon landed nearby. Invited onboard, he didn’t hesitate.
Now in its sixteenth year, Freedom Flight continues to attract attention, sometimes through a little luck. At the 2005 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Tuorila volunteered to give rides to the media. A Voice of America camera crew making a documentary on the balloon fiesta accepted his offer. When the crew members found out who they were flying with, a new angle for the documentary emerged.
“When they found out what we were doing with the balloon, I think the program changed to include Freedom Flight and everything we were doing,” Tuorila said.
The change was in keeping with how Tuorila describes the past sixteen years. “The reception we’ve gotten over the years make the hair on the back of my neck stand up,” Tuorila said. “It’s been incredible. I’ve had what I assume to be a Vietnam veteran come up, put $100 in my pocket and say, ‘Keep it up,’ then walk away. I’ve had family members of the missing come up to me with tears in their eyes. I’ve had ex-POWs come up and thank us. Everywhere we go, the reception has been positive and overwhelming, and that keeps us flying.”
For more information on Freedom Flight go to www.freedomflight.org or call Jim Tuorila at 320-252-7208.
“I don’t like to fly high,” he said, laughing. “I’m afraid of heights. I can’t lean over the side of a tall building and feel comfortable. I probably wouldn’t be flying this balloon if it weren’t for the issue.”
But the POW/MIA issue and the balloon are inseparable. The striking black craft with its three 30-foot high POW/MIA logos is like no other and is easily spotted even in a sky like Albuquerque’s in October, when mass ascensions at the Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta might number more than a thousand colorful balloons in all shapes and sizes gliding over the city.
Tuorila’s three guests that day came with special significance. So he opened up the balloon’s gas burners and the black craft rose into the air. His passengers were women married to men still listed as MIA from the Vietnam War. He doesn’t remember which one asked that he fly to 5,000 feet, but Tuorila has been a psychologist at a VA Medical Center in Minnesota for 20 years; he was curious to see what would happen when they reached that altitude. Balloon flights generally skim the earth, the better to see and be seen. At 5,000 feet, people on the ground are barely able to see the balloon. He couldn’t imagine why his passenger wanted to climb that high.
He said that the moment they reached the requested altitude will stay with him forever.
“We get up there and she says this is the altitude the military said her husband was at when he ejected from his plane over Vietnam,” he said. “She wanted to see what the world looked like when he ejected. It touched me so deeply that I’ll never forget that flight with those women.”
Freedom Flight, the POW/MIA Hot Air Balloon Team, has flown in more than seven hundred events since its first flight in November 1989. The non-profit now has three balloons that attend 35 to 45 events a year, staffed entirely by volunteers. The organization grew out of Tuorila’s vocation—psychology—and his avocation—hot air balloons.
In 1981, while attending graduate school at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, he worked with a group of World War II ex-POWs called the “Lost Battalion,” all of them survivors of more than three years in Japanese prison camps. That work inspired Tuorila to write his doctoral dissertation on the effects of captivity, especially regarding the work of Victor Frankl and his famous writings following his own imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps.
While doing his doctoral internship at the Topeka, Kansas, VA Medical Center, Tuorila and his wife volunteered to crew for a hot air balloon. When he went to work in Minnesota, they saw a balloon in flight one day and decided to volunteer again.
In 1987, he appeared on a local TV program to talk about the emotional difficulties families face when a loved one returns after years of captivity. On the program he met the daughter of a Navy pilot shot down and declared MIA. The daughter told him that the government story of her father’s disappearance was very much at odds with the story told by her father’s wingman, who made a point of finding the pilot’s family to tell them the true story of the incident.
By then, Tuorila and his wife were crewing on a balloon flown by a Vietnam veteran who had been encouraging him to set up a non-profit with an eye toward calling attention to the POW/MIA issue.
Then one day at work, his professional life and his weekend life coalesced.
“I told my co-therapist, ‘You know, I’ve been flying and working with balloons for five years now. What about a black POW/MIA balloon? What kind of attention would that get?’ “
The co-therapist and co-founder of Freedom Flight, Vietnam veteran Bill Nohner, thought it was a great idea. A year later, Freedom Flight, Inc., obtained status as a non-profit educational organization.
In 1989, the first flight went up. Its first passenger was Henry Sha, a World War II veteran and ex-POW who happened to stop his car when the balloon landed nearby. Invited onboard, he didn’t hesitate.
Now in its sixteenth year, Freedom Flight continues to attract attention, sometimes through a little luck. At the 2005 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Tuorila volunteered to give rides to the media. A Voice of America camera crew making a documentary on the balloon fiesta accepted his offer. When the crew members found out who they were flying with, a new angle for the documentary emerged.
“When they found out what we were doing with the balloon, I think the program changed to include Freedom Flight and everything we were doing,” Tuorila said.
The change was in keeping with how Tuorila describes the past sixteen years. “The reception we’ve gotten over the years make the hair on the back of my neck stand up,” Tuorila said. “It’s been incredible. I’ve had what I assume to be a Vietnam veteran come up, put $100 in my pocket and say, ‘Keep it up,’ then walk away. I’ve had family members of the missing come up to me with tears in their eyes. I’ve had ex-POWs come up and thank us. Everywhere we go, the reception has been positive and overwhelming, and that keeps us flying.”
For more information on Freedom Flight go to www.freedomflight.org or call Jim Tuorila at 320-252-7208.
The purpose of Vietnam Veterans of America's national organization
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The purpose of Vietnam Veterans of America's national organization, the state councils, and chapters is:
* To help foster, encourage, and promote the improvement of the condition of the Vietnam veteran.
* To promote physical and cultural improvement, growth and development, self-respect, self-confidence, and usefulness of Vietnam-era veterans and others.
* To eliminate discrimination suffered by Vietnam veterans and to develop channels of communications which will assist Vietnam veterans to maximize self-realization and enrichment of their lives and enhance life-fulfillment.
* To study, on a non-partisan basis, proposed legislation, rules, or regulations introduced in any federal, state, or local legislative or administrative body which may affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others; and to develop public-policy proposals designed to improve the quality of life of the Vietnam-era veteran and others especially in the areas of employment, education, training, and health.
* To conduct and publish research, on a non-partisan basis, pertaining to the relationship between Vietnam-era veterans and the American society, the Vietnam War experience, the role of the United States in securing peaceful co-existence for the world community, and other matters which affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others.
* To assist disabled and needy war veterans including, but not limited to, Vietnam veterans and their dependents, and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans.
* To help foster, encourage, and promote the improvement of the condition of the Vietnam veteran.
* To promote physical and cultural improvement, growth and development, self-respect, self-confidence, and usefulness of Vietnam-era veterans and others.
* To eliminate discrimination suffered by Vietnam veterans and to develop channels of communications which will assist Vietnam veterans to maximize self-realization and enrichment of their lives and enhance life-fulfillment.
* To study, on a non-partisan basis, proposed legislation, rules, or regulations introduced in any federal, state, or local legislative or administrative body which may affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others; and to develop public-policy proposals designed to improve the quality of life of the Vietnam-era veteran and others especially in the areas of employment, education, training, and health.
* To conduct and publish research, on a non-partisan basis, pertaining to the relationship between Vietnam-era veterans and the American society, the Vietnam War experience, the role of the United States in securing peaceful co-existence for the world community, and other matters which affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others.
* To assist disabled and needy war veterans including, but not limited to, Vietnam veterans and their dependents, and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans.
Strategic Plan - VVA's Roadmap to the Future
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VVA, like most service organizations these days, is in a period of transition. This is not unusual since change or evolution is natural, and historically VVA has been a catalyst for change within the veterans service community. What is different today is the rapid pace and complexity that these changes have and will continue to have on VVA's ability to be a relevant factor both to ourselves and to society as a whole. The VVA leadership recognized that VVA would need a method or process to address the multitude of opportunities to emerge and to meet the challenges it would encounter in this fast-changing "reality" that is taking us into the 21st century.
In earlier years, VVA utilized a strategic plan that was developed and approved by the national board of directors in 1989. A review indicated that indeed this plan had actually served VVA very well as it focused the entire organization on the issues and concerns that were relevant and important during that time period. Many of VVA's successes and victories can be traced back to the clarity of purpose that the plan brought forth to the entire organization. What the plan lacked was a process that continued its implementation and kept the plan alive as the dynamics of VVA leadership at all levels evolved and changed.
The need to create a comprehensive process or methodology for the development and implementation of a new strategic plan for VVA was recognized by the VVA national president James L. Brazee, Jr., and a Strategic Planning Committee was established for this purpose.
The president appointed VVA national treasurer Jack McManus to chair the new Strategic Planning Committee, and he, in turn, appointed committee members that represented the diverse interests of the various constituencies and organizational levels within VVA. It is important to recognize that the committee was intentionally structured to include representation from large and small chapters, large and small state councils, the VVA staff, VVA associates, non-BOD committee chairs, national BOD members, minority and women veteran members, and elected national officers.
The reasoning behind having such diversity in the committee makeup was ultimately the plan would need to reflect the real differences of interests within the organization at each level. The intent was to be truly representative of our memberships' interests so that the individual members could embrace and own the plan. The committee believes that if the entire organization claims ownership in the Strategic Plan, then the implementation of the various elements of this plan will be more successful at all levels.
Core Values
Advocacy:
We are committed to unrelenting advocacy for fairness in the treatment of veterans so that never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.
Meaningful Achievement:
We want to make a difference, focusing on issues that stand as critical barriers to a fulfilling life for veterans and all Americans.
Integrity:
We tell the truth and take responsibility.
Compassion:
We care about comrades and others in needs.
Camaraderie:
We support each other and feel we're all members of one family.
Vision & Mission Statements
Vision:
We are leading the challenge to do what is right for America and its veterans.
Mission:
Using the shared vision of our membership:
· we aggressively advocate on issues important to veterans;
· provide programs and services that improve the well-being of all veterans and their families;
· and serve our communities.
Goals, Rationales, and Strategies
Membership Goal:
To proactively recruit, retain, and develop an informed and personally effective membership dedicated to VVA's values, mission, and goals.
Membership Rationale:
The operative phrases in the membership goal are: Informed, personally effective, and dedicated membership who embrace VVA's values, mission, and goals. In other words, as we seek to expand our membership, we offer opportunities for increasing personal effectiveness to those who share our values and commitment. The new strategic plan will let prospective members know the kind of organization they are joining. Vigorous pursuit of the goals and strategies by chapters offer many opportunities for the full use of prospective members' talents according to the interests. The strategy calls for an effective external communications program to aid recruitment, combined with training to promote personal and professional development for members through their participation in chapter activities.
Membership Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive master plan, which includes all levels; a targeted effort to recruit members (using professional and personal contact and face-to-face marketing resources); and a program to retain them.
Advocacy Goal:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives to focus our energy and resources as an effective catalyst for the retention and improvement of veterans benefits.
Advocacy Rationale:
America has an "unfinished agenda" for public policy and funding of programs affecting veterans. Health care looms large at all levels of government. Other issues range from protecting and improving service-connected compensation benefits and veterans employment preferences to advocating research and/or programs addressing Agent Orange, PTSD, and homelessness as well as specialized programs relating to women, minority, and incarcerated veterans. In an age of government downsizing, veterans benefits across the board are at risk. There is an enormous educational job to be done among Vietnam veterans, public policymakers and the general public.
When it comes to passionate and powerful advocacy, VVA is clearly a leader in the veterans community, and the situation is ripe for action. More and more Vietnam veterans are being elected at all levels of government. In short, the Vietnam generation is in charge. But there are many challenges: Advocacy goals are not focused sufficiently to establish a clear agenda in order to concentrate efforts to achieve it. Not all VVA members accept a "political" role for the organization; veterans service organizations have competing legislative and administrative agendas; and VVA's own advocacy efforts are often scattered. Thus, there is a need to establish key legislative and administrative priorities in VVA and among veterans service organizations.
Advocacy Strategy:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives, consolidate existing VVA advocacy functions and focus our energy and resources to most effectively advocate for the advancement of veterans' concerns.
Direct Services Strategy:
Maintain, expand, and support our network of veteran service representatives nationwide. Publicize direct service information and conduct training on how to build community-based coalitions. Offer the tools necessary; information and training for providing direct services and for building community-based coalitions to meet the needs of veterans and their families.
Direct Services Rationale:
VVA seeks to assure a decent, positive lifestyle for veterans by working at two levels: Actually providing VVA-sponsored services and by building the community's commitment and capacity to provide essential services to veterans and their families.
VVA has a strong base expertise in veterans benefits and provides representation for veterans to receive benefits due them. As our population ages, new concerns ranging from long-term health care to career upheavals and retirement need to be anticipated. While we continue to provide direct services, we need to help members understand the complexity of emerging needs. And we need to train members in how to build community-based coalitions to address these needs.
Direct Services Goal:
Participate in providing direct services needed by veterans and their families.
Community Service Goal:
Enable VVA members to their community and promote positive social change.
Community Service Rationale:
Creating safe and viable communities, whether rural, urban, or suburban, is high on America's agenda. The opportunity to provide meaningful service to his/her community is an important reason for any veteran to become and remain involved in a VVA chapter. VVA has a history of community involvement-chapters have conducted a wide variety of creative, effective programs attacking gang warfare, drug addiction, family strife, homelessness, help to the elderly and disabled, and education on the Vietnam War at various academic levels.
However, these efforts are largely isolated. There is no organized network for communication among community service efforts, no mentoring program, and no designated responsibility at any level of VVA. Therefore, the first step is to document how chapters are serving their communities and to organize a mentoring program among chapters to inspire continued innovation.
Community Service Strategy:
Create a database of current and past community activities and develop and implement a commmunity mentor program, which stimulates community service activities.
Financial Goal:
Continuously expand the financial base to assure adequate resources to support VVA's mission at all operational levels.
Financial Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive Financial/Funding Master Plan that provides a diversified funding base for all operational levels of the organization. The plan would include: A description of the current situation, needs and priorities, existing and potential resources, training needs, opportunities and methods at all levels, restrictions, allocation formulas, and means for monitoring and evaluating achievement of goals.
Financial Rationale:
VVA has tremendous potential for fundraising. Members recognize the need to devote energy to obtaining resources. The VVA name is well established, and we have a record of success. Moreover, many Vietnam veterans who are nearing their peak earning years in successful careers represent an important and largely untapped source for financial support.
On the other hand, we lack a comprehensive approach, relying too heavily on funding from just a few sources. We need a plan based on modern fundraising techniques plus training and technical assistance to enable chapters, state councils, and the national office to participate in a well-coordinated effort. The plan should also describe how resources will be shared to support national, state, and local operations.
Communications Goal:
Create a clear communications system/structure identifying responsibility throughout VVA, effectively using new and existing technology.
Communications Rationale:
Effective, two-way communication inside VVA and with various publics is critical to our success. VVA wants to be the authoritative voice and clearinghouse for information on topics of interest to veterans. The information age is producing increasingly accessible technology for inter-personal communication through the Internet and for mass media. VVA may not be taking full advantage of these channels. Some of the technology has not reached every chapter or member. Most important, responsibility for conveying information and providing feedback has not been established throughout VVA. Hence, the need to create a clear strategy for communicating with external audiences and to establish a system and structure that defines responsibility at all levels for our internal communications.
Communications Strategy:
Establish effective communication channels and assign responsibility at all levels. Make effective use of new and existing technology to assure accurate information exchange within these channels and encourage use and feedback between all levels.
Organizational Effectiveness Goal:
Continuously improve the ability of VVA at all levels to service a growing membership.
Organizational Effectiveness Rationale:
Assuring a positive future for VVA requires an ongoing effort to continuously improve the effectiveness of the organization itself. Success depends on: a) commitment to VVA's values and vision, b) cooperation in the pursuit of clear goals and strategies c) agreement on roles-who gets to do what d) constant, accurate feedback from VVA's members and external audiences to anticipate needs and to measure accomplishment and e) effective leadership. Making this happen is not a one-shot project. It is an ongoing process, requiring constant attention and resources. Equipping VVA's leaders for continuous improvement of the organization begins by helping them to explore implications of the strategic plan through planning with their constituencies. Feedback from these discussions about VVA's directions and ways to implement the plan at national, state, and local levels will provide the basis for designing a systematic, continuous improvement process to keep VVA strong. There must also be an ongoing, periodic review of VVA's organizational and committee structure to make VVA's operations as efficient and effective as possible and to ensure that VVA's structure changes appropriately as the organization j evolves. Additionally, VVA's resource allocation must be constantly geared to making the best possible use of limited fiscal and staff resources. Doing so will necessitate prioritizing national convention and board resolutions and directives so that VVA's priorities will be determined by a deliberate process and not by reactions to emerging and changing events.
Organizational Effectiveness Strategy:
Develop and implement a process to address the purposes, roles, and responsibilities of each organizational element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of each organizational elements to measure and reward accomplishments.
Implementation Roles
Role of the Board:
Approve the strategic plan; act as spokesperson for VVA's vision, values, and strategic directions; provide policy; and prioritize resources for plan implementation.
Role of Committees:
Review strategic plan; adjust agendas/objectives to support the strategies; develop work plans to measure achievement of objectives.
Role of State Council:
Review the strategic plan; develop objectives for state-level activities; provide technical advice and support to chapters.
Role of Chapters:
Review national and state strategies and objectives; decide how they are able to support them; implement appropriate activities.
Role of Conference of State Council President:
Act as advisory and leadership development resource amongst state council presidents, providing knowledge, evaluation, and feedback on the various objectives and activities implemented to fulfill the plans' goals and strategies from VVA's chapters and state councils.
Role of National Staff:
Internally - develop and implement objectives in support of the strategic plan, report to the board on implementation.
Externally - provide resources, training, and technical support to state councils and chapters to support their strategic planning and evaluation processes.
Methodology
VVA's Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
This exhaustive examination not only informed our planning, it also yielded some important implications for the way we operate.
The single most important conclusion is that merely producing a strategic plan will not be sufficient to move VVA successfully into the 21st century. What is required is a planning and evaluation process that cascades through all levels of the organization to align our energies to implement the plan. Without such a process, supported by members skilled in facilitation, meaningful implementation is highly unlikely.
A second overarching conclusion is that implementing our roadmap for the future depends on empowering people at all levels through strong leadership, clear responsibility and authority, sufficient resources, and above all, a new level of cooperation among all elements of the organization.
Like every organization these days, VVA is in transition. To grow and remain relevant, we must change in order to respond to changes occurring around us. The new global economy, the march of technology, and the maturing of our membership are just a few of the forces already impacting us. Not only do we need to change, we need to change fast just to stay up.
The core values expressed in the plan are those things that our members believe are why they joined VVA and what needs to be here for them to remain committed to VVA. The committee utilized these core values to guide its decision-making during the planning process and are important to be considered when implementing the plan.
The vision statement is how we want the organization to be viewed by our members, our staff, and the public at any ideal point in the future.
The mission statement: simply addresses how and what we do as an organization based upon rethinking our basic purposes.
The goals define areas from our mission statement where we can achieve specific results.
The rationale is a summary analysis of the forces likely to effect the achievement success of the stated goal.
The strategy for each goal defines in a broad sense what should be accomplished to attain specific achievements.
Objectives and workplans committees at all levels, including chapters and state councils and the national staff, are asked to establish objectives and work plans for each goal and strategy, including measurable outcomes. This will require the committee and national staff to rethink their work and shift their resources and energy to align their work with the Strategic Plan.
Chapters and state councils should undertake an assessment of their respective entity to determine how they can best align their objectives and activities to best support this Strategic Plan.
The roles identify the responsibilities that each entity within the organization could be expected to perform for the successful implementation of the Strategic Plan.
Follow-up a continuing effort will be undertaken by leaders of VVA to: Communicate the values, mission, goals, and strategies throughout VVA; support committees, national staff, state councils, and chapters in their efforts to achieve the goals; and measure and recognize achievement.
The Proposed Strategic / Operational Planning Model
* The model is constructed from the bottom up.
* After the plans are completed, one can easily check the consistency of current activities with agreements made in preceding blocks.
* Thus, the strategic plan serves to keep the organization on course: in pursuit of its mission-consistent with realities in the environment- and aligned with the core values of its members.
Workplans - Action plans of individuals responsible for achieving the objectives.
Objectives - Major results needed to implement the strategy in certain time.
Roles - Who gets to do what to align resources and people with the plan.
Strategies -The grand design for achieving each goal.
Goals - Four of five "chunks" of the mission (area for achievement).
Mission - The "match" between the core values and the realities of the environment
determines the core business of the organization.
SWOT Analysis - Organization's strengths and weaknesses, plus anticipated opportunities and threats in the environment.
Core Values - Specific aspirations members hold for the organization.
In earlier years, VVA utilized a strategic plan that was developed and approved by the national board of directors in 1989. A review indicated that indeed this plan had actually served VVA very well as it focused the entire organization on the issues and concerns that were relevant and important during that time period. Many of VVA's successes and victories can be traced back to the clarity of purpose that the plan brought forth to the entire organization. What the plan lacked was a process that continued its implementation and kept the plan alive as the dynamics of VVA leadership at all levels evolved and changed.
The need to create a comprehensive process or methodology for the development and implementation of a new strategic plan for VVA was recognized by the VVA national president James L. Brazee, Jr., and a Strategic Planning Committee was established for this purpose.
The president appointed VVA national treasurer Jack McManus to chair the new Strategic Planning Committee, and he, in turn, appointed committee members that represented the diverse interests of the various constituencies and organizational levels within VVA. It is important to recognize that the committee was intentionally structured to include representation from large and small chapters, large and small state councils, the VVA staff, VVA associates, non-BOD committee chairs, national BOD members, minority and women veteran members, and elected national officers.
The reasoning behind having such diversity in the committee makeup was ultimately the plan would need to reflect the real differences of interests within the organization at each level. The intent was to be truly representative of our memberships' interests so that the individual members could embrace and own the plan. The committee believes that if the entire organization claims ownership in the Strategic Plan, then the implementation of the various elements of this plan will be more successful at all levels.
Core Values
Advocacy:
We are committed to unrelenting advocacy for fairness in the treatment of veterans so that never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.
Meaningful Achievement:
We want to make a difference, focusing on issues that stand as critical barriers to a fulfilling life for veterans and all Americans.
Integrity:
We tell the truth and take responsibility.
Compassion:
We care about comrades and others in needs.
Camaraderie:
We support each other and feel we're all members of one family.
Vision & Mission Statements
Vision:
We are leading the challenge to do what is right for America and its veterans.
Mission:
Using the shared vision of our membership:
· we aggressively advocate on issues important to veterans;
· provide programs and services that improve the well-being of all veterans and their families;
· and serve our communities.
Goals, Rationales, and Strategies
Membership Goal:
To proactively recruit, retain, and develop an informed and personally effective membership dedicated to VVA's values, mission, and goals.
Membership Rationale:
The operative phrases in the membership goal are: Informed, personally effective, and dedicated membership who embrace VVA's values, mission, and goals. In other words, as we seek to expand our membership, we offer opportunities for increasing personal effectiveness to those who share our values and commitment. The new strategic plan will let prospective members know the kind of organization they are joining. Vigorous pursuit of the goals and strategies by chapters offer many opportunities for the full use of prospective members' talents according to the interests. The strategy calls for an effective external communications program to aid recruitment, combined with training to promote personal and professional development for members through their participation in chapter activities.
Membership Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive master plan, which includes all levels; a targeted effort to recruit members (using professional and personal contact and face-to-face marketing resources); and a program to retain them.
Advocacy Goal:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives to focus our energy and resources as an effective catalyst for the retention and improvement of veterans benefits.
Advocacy Rationale:
America has an "unfinished agenda" for public policy and funding of programs affecting veterans. Health care looms large at all levels of government. Other issues range from protecting and improving service-connected compensation benefits and veterans employment preferences to advocating research and/or programs addressing Agent Orange, PTSD, and homelessness as well as specialized programs relating to women, minority, and incarcerated veterans. In an age of government downsizing, veterans benefits across the board are at risk. There is an enormous educational job to be done among Vietnam veterans, public policymakers and the general public.
When it comes to passionate and powerful advocacy, VVA is clearly a leader in the veterans community, and the situation is ripe for action. More and more Vietnam veterans are being elected at all levels of government. In short, the Vietnam generation is in charge. But there are many challenges: Advocacy goals are not focused sufficiently to establish a clear agenda in order to concentrate efforts to achieve it. Not all VVA members accept a "political" role for the organization; veterans service organizations have competing legislative and administrative agendas; and VVA's own advocacy efforts are often scattered. Thus, there is a need to establish key legislative and administrative priorities in VVA and among veterans service organizations.
Advocacy Strategy:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives, consolidate existing VVA advocacy functions and focus our energy and resources to most effectively advocate for the advancement of veterans' concerns.
Direct Services Strategy:
Maintain, expand, and support our network of veteran service representatives nationwide. Publicize direct service information and conduct training on how to build community-based coalitions. Offer the tools necessary; information and training for providing direct services and for building community-based coalitions to meet the needs of veterans and their families.
Direct Services Rationale:
VVA seeks to assure a decent, positive lifestyle for veterans by working at two levels: Actually providing VVA-sponsored services and by building the community's commitment and capacity to provide essential services to veterans and their families.
VVA has a strong base expertise in veterans benefits and provides representation for veterans to receive benefits due them. As our population ages, new concerns ranging from long-term health care to career upheavals and retirement need to be anticipated. While we continue to provide direct services, we need to help members understand the complexity of emerging needs. And we need to train members in how to build community-based coalitions to address these needs.
Direct Services Goal:
Participate in providing direct services needed by veterans and their families.
Community Service Goal:
Enable VVA members to their community and promote positive social change.
Community Service Rationale:
Creating safe and viable communities, whether rural, urban, or suburban, is high on America's agenda. The opportunity to provide meaningful service to his/her community is an important reason for any veteran to become and remain involved in a VVA chapter. VVA has a history of community involvement-chapters have conducted a wide variety of creative, effective programs attacking gang warfare, drug addiction, family strife, homelessness, help to the elderly and disabled, and education on the Vietnam War at various academic levels.
However, these efforts are largely isolated. There is no organized network for communication among community service efforts, no mentoring program, and no designated responsibility at any level of VVA. Therefore, the first step is to document how chapters are serving their communities and to organize a mentoring program among chapters to inspire continued innovation.
Community Service Strategy:
Create a database of current and past community activities and develop and implement a commmunity mentor program, which stimulates community service activities.
Financial Goal:
Continuously expand the financial base to assure adequate resources to support VVA's mission at all operational levels.
Financial Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive Financial/Funding Master Plan that provides a diversified funding base for all operational levels of the organization. The plan would include: A description of the current situation, needs and priorities, existing and potential resources, training needs, opportunities and methods at all levels, restrictions, allocation formulas, and means for monitoring and evaluating achievement of goals.
Financial Rationale:
VVA has tremendous potential for fundraising. Members recognize the need to devote energy to obtaining resources. The VVA name is well established, and we have a record of success. Moreover, many Vietnam veterans who are nearing their peak earning years in successful careers represent an important and largely untapped source for financial support.
On the other hand, we lack a comprehensive approach, relying too heavily on funding from just a few sources. We need a plan based on modern fundraising techniques plus training and technical assistance to enable chapters, state councils, and the national office to participate in a well-coordinated effort. The plan should also describe how resources will be shared to support national, state, and local operations.
Communications Goal:
Create a clear communications system/structure identifying responsibility throughout VVA, effectively using new and existing technology.
Communications Rationale:
Effective, two-way communication inside VVA and with various publics is critical to our success. VVA wants to be the authoritative voice and clearinghouse for information on topics of interest to veterans. The information age is producing increasingly accessible technology for inter-personal communication through the Internet and for mass media. VVA may not be taking full advantage of these channels. Some of the technology has not reached every chapter or member. Most important, responsibility for conveying information and providing feedback has not been established throughout VVA. Hence, the need to create a clear strategy for communicating with external audiences and to establish a system and structure that defines responsibility at all levels for our internal communications.
Communications Strategy:
Establish effective communication channels and assign responsibility at all levels. Make effective use of new and existing technology to assure accurate information exchange within these channels and encourage use and feedback between all levels.
Organizational Effectiveness Goal:
Continuously improve the ability of VVA at all levels to service a growing membership.
Organizational Effectiveness Rationale:
Assuring a positive future for VVA requires an ongoing effort to continuously improve the effectiveness of the organization itself. Success depends on: a) commitment to VVA's values and vision, b) cooperation in the pursuit of clear goals and strategies c) agreement on roles-who gets to do what d) constant, accurate feedback from VVA's members and external audiences to anticipate needs and to measure accomplishment and e) effective leadership. Making this happen is not a one-shot project. It is an ongoing process, requiring constant attention and resources. Equipping VVA's leaders for continuous improvement of the organization begins by helping them to explore implications of the strategic plan through planning with their constituencies. Feedback from these discussions about VVA's directions and ways to implement the plan at national, state, and local levels will provide the basis for designing a systematic, continuous improvement process to keep VVA strong. There must also be an ongoing, periodic review of VVA's organizational and committee structure to make VVA's operations as efficient and effective as possible and to ensure that VVA's structure changes appropriately as the organization j evolves. Additionally, VVA's resource allocation must be constantly geared to making the best possible use of limited fiscal and staff resources. Doing so will necessitate prioritizing national convention and board resolutions and directives so that VVA's priorities will be determined by a deliberate process and not by reactions to emerging and changing events.
Organizational Effectiveness Strategy:
Develop and implement a process to address the purposes, roles, and responsibilities of each organizational element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of each organizational elements to measure and reward accomplishments.
Implementation Roles
Role of the Board:
Approve the strategic plan; act as spokesperson for VVA's vision, values, and strategic directions; provide policy; and prioritize resources for plan implementation.
Role of Committees:
Review strategic plan; adjust agendas/objectives to support the strategies; develop work plans to measure achievement of objectives.
Role of State Council:
Review the strategic plan; develop objectives for state-level activities; provide technical advice and support to chapters.
Role of Chapters:
Review national and state strategies and objectives; decide how they are able to support them; implement appropriate activities.
Role of Conference of State Council President:
Act as advisory and leadership development resource amongst state council presidents, providing knowledge, evaluation, and feedback on the various objectives and activities implemented to fulfill the plans' goals and strategies from VVA's chapters and state councils.
Role of National Staff:
Internally - develop and implement objectives in support of the strategic plan, report to the board on implementation.
Externally - provide resources, training, and technical support to state councils and chapters to support their strategic planning and evaluation processes.
Methodology
VVA's Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
This exhaustive examination not only informed our planning, it also yielded some important implications for the way we operate.
The single most important conclusion is that merely producing a strategic plan will not be sufficient to move VVA successfully into the 21st century. What is required is a planning and evaluation process that cascades through all levels of the organization to align our energies to implement the plan. Without such a process, supported by members skilled in facilitation, meaningful implementation is highly unlikely.
A second overarching conclusion is that implementing our roadmap for the future depends on empowering people at all levels through strong leadership, clear responsibility and authority, sufficient resources, and above all, a new level of cooperation among all elements of the organization.
Like every organization these days, VVA is in transition. To grow and remain relevant, we must change in order to respond to changes occurring around us. The new global economy, the march of technology, and the maturing of our membership are just a few of the forces already impacting us. Not only do we need to change, we need to change fast just to stay up.
The core values expressed in the plan are those things that our members believe are why they joined VVA and what needs to be here for them to remain committed to VVA. The committee utilized these core values to guide its decision-making during the planning process and are important to be considered when implementing the plan.
The vision statement is how we want the organization to be viewed by our members, our staff, and the public at any ideal point in the future.
The mission statement: simply addresses how and what we do as an organization based upon rethinking our basic purposes.
The goals define areas from our mission statement where we can achieve specific results.
The rationale is a summary analysis of the forces likely to effect the achievement success of the stated goal.
The strategy for each goal defines in a broad sense what should be accomplished to attain specific achievements.
Objectives and workplans committees at all levels, including chapters and state councils and the national staff, are asked to establish objectives and work plans for each goal and strategy, including measurable outcomes. This will require the committee and national staff to rethink their work and shift their resources and energy to align their work with the Strategic Plan.
Chapters and state councils should undertake an assessment of their respective entity to determine how they can best align their objectives and activities to best support this Strategic Plan.
The roles identify the responsibilities that each entity within the organization could be expected to perform for the successful implementation of the Strategic Plan.
Follow-up a continuing effort will be undertaken by leaders of VVA to: Communicate the values, mission, goals, and strategies throughout VVA; support committees, national staff, state councils, and chapters in their efforts to achieve the goals; and measure and recognize achievement.
The Proposed Strategic / Operational Planning Model
* The model is constructed from the bottom up.
* After the plans are completed, one can easily check the consistency of current activities with agreements made in preceding blocks.
* Thus, the strategic plan serves to keep the organization on course: in pursuit of its mission-consistent with realities in the environment- and aligned with the core values of its members.
Workplans - Action plans of individuals responsible for achieving the objectives.
Objectives - Major results needed to implement the strategy in certain time.
Roles - Who gets to do what to align resources and people with the plan.
Strategies -The grand design for achieving each goal.
Goals - Four of five "chunks" of the mission (area for achievement).
Mission - The "match" between the core values and the realities of the environment
determines the core business of the organization.
SWOT Analysis - Organization's strengths and weaknesses, plus anticipated opportunities and threats in the environment.
Core Values - Specific aspirations members hold for the organization.
Jackpot! VVA's Twelfth Biennial Convention
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Any way you look at it, VVA’s 12th biennial National Convention, which was held Aug. 10-13 at the Silver Legacy Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada, was a huge success. A record number of Convention delegates, 736 from across the nation, rolled up their collective sleeves and spent three and a half days debating and enacting a series of resolutions that will guide the organization through the next two years. On Friday, the delegates cast their votes for VVA’s four national officers and nineteen members of the Board of Directors. More than a thousand delegates and guests—including some 125 AVVA members taking part in the organization’s National Leadership Conference—took in the stirring opening ceremonies that kicked off the Convention and the moving (and rocking) Saturday Night Awards Banquet, which ended the event.
“We did ourselves proud in Reno,” said outgoing VVA President Tom Corey, who stepped down after two terms. “The delegates showed a seriousness of purpose that we have come to expect at VVA Conventions. The election campaigns were hard fought. And after the votes were counted, we came together in support of our new national leaders who will guide us through another two years. I look forward to working with them.”
John Rowan of Middle Village, New York, the New York State Council president who had served as the chair of VVA’s Conference of State Council Presidents and three terms on the Board of Directors, was elected VVA’s sixth national president, defeating former VVA Vice President Ed Chow. Jack Devine of Dimondale, Michigan, a former VVA Board member who chairs VVA’s Project 112/SHAD Task Force, was chosen as national Vice President. Barry Hagge of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, the long-time chair of VVA’s Constitution Committee, was elected national Secretary, and Alan Cook of Castro Valley, California, won re-election as national Treasurer.
“It’s a great honor to serve as VVA’s national President,” Rowan said. “We have a great team in place to run this great veterans’ service organization for the next two years. I am looking forward to working with VVA members all across the nation on every level to support Vietnam veterans and their families In Service to America.”
The Convention got off to an exuberant start at 9:00 on Wednesday morning with the Opening Ceremonies, which began with rousing renditions of the Vietnam-War-era songs “Run Through the Jungle” and “Fortunate Son” by an uncannily realistic John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival) impersonator as black and white war-time images were displayed on four huge video screens. The ceremonies also included moving tributes to former VVA National President George Duggins (who died just a week before the Convention) and other VVA members lost in the previous year, as well as warm welcomes from Nevada State Council President Virgie Hibbler, Jr., Reno Mayor Robert Cashell, and AVVA President Mary Miller.
Most of those on hand agreed that the highlight of the morning was the powerful Keynote Speech delivered by VVA member Allen Hoe, a former Americal Division medic from Honololu who today is one of Hawaii’s most prominent attorneys—and whose son, U.S. Army Lt. Nainoa Hoe, was killed in action in Iraq in January.
“I have stopped trying to understand why the events in my life have come to me in the manner they have and at the times they had,” Hoe said. “Sayings like ‘there but for the grace of God’ have true meaning in my world. I learned many lessons on the battlefields of Hiep Duc and Que Son Valley—when all is lost, you need to remember: someone else has it twice as bad as you.”
The delegates put in long hours on the Convention floor on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and during evening caucuses with the officer and board candidates. On Thursday, the delegates heard from Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield, the No. 2 person in the VA. On Friday, the delegates honored Tabeatha Allen, a security guard at the hotel who all week had been thanking VVA members for their service. When members learned that Allen was a twice-wounded veteran of the war in Iraq, she was prevailed upon to come onto the Convention floor and be introduced. What followed was a thunderous ovation, as Convention delegates showed their allegiance to VVA’s founding principle: “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
With the work of the Convention complete by noon on Saturday, nearly everyone joined in the autographing and book-signing event featuring Raquel Welch, who signed photos for more than two and a half hours. Also taking part was John Hulme, who directed the acclaimed HBO documentary, Unknown Soldier: Searching for a Father, the story of his quest to learn about his father, U.S. Marine Lt. Jack Hulme, who in 1969 was killed in action in Vietnam when John Hulme was three weeks old.
Raquel Welch, who made a Bob Hope tour trip to Vietnam in 1967, and John Hulme received the VVA President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Saturday night Awards Banquet, which was emceed by VVA member Troy Evans, the veteran Hollywood character actor best known for his recurring roles on China Beach and ER. Evans, in fact, reprised one of his China Beach bits, “Sarge’s Rules for How to Stay Alive in Vietnam” on stage. That included the old chestnut: “When you’ve secured an area, don’t forget to tell the enemy. They may have other plans.”
Also receiving an Excellence in the Arts Award: Wayne Karlin, the author of—among many other acclaimed works—the novel Lost Armies and the memoir Rumors and Stones. Karlin, a former Marine helicopter doorgunner, is one of the finest, most accomplished, and most honored writers to come out of the Vietnam War.
The Awards Banquet concluded with a tribute to retiring VVA President Tom Corey, who said that while he was stepping down as President, he would continue to be an active veterans’ advocate and work with VVA for years to come.
“We did ourselves proud in Reno,” said outgoing VVA President Tom Corey, who stepped down after two terms. “The delegates showed a seriousness of purpose that we have come to expect at VVA Conventions. The election campaigns were hard fought. And after the votes were counted, we came together in support of our new national leaders who will guide us through another two years. I look forward to working with them.”
John Rowan of Middle Village, New York, the New York State Council president who had served as the chair of VVA’s Conference of State Council Presidents and three terms on the Board of Directors, was elected VVA’s sixth national president, defeating former VVA Vice President Ed Chow. Jack Devine of Dimondale, Michigan, a former VVA Board member who chairs VVA’s Project 112/SHAD Task Force, was chosen as national Vice President. Barry Hagge of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, the long-time chair of VVA’s Constitution Committee, was elected national Secretary, and Alan Cook of Castro Valley, California, won re-election as national Treasurer.
“It’s a great honor to serve as VVA’s national President,” Rowan said. “We have a great team in place to run this great veterans’ service organization for the next two years. I am looking forward to working with VVA members all across the nation on every level to support Vietnam veterans and their families In Service to America.”
The Convention got off to an exuberant start at 9:00 on Wednesday morning with the Opening Ceremonies, which began with rousing renditions of the Vietnam-War-era songs “Run Through the Jungle” and “Fortunate Son” by an uncannily realistic John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival) impersonator as black and white war-time images were displayed on four huge video screens. The ceremonies also included moving tributes to former VVA National President George Duggins (who died just a week before the Convention) and other VVA members lost in the previous year, as well as warm welcomes from Nevada State Council President Virgie Hibbler, Jr., Reno Mayor Robert Cashell, and AVVA President Mary Miller.
Most of those on hand agreed that the highlight of the morning was the powerful Keynote Speech delivered by VVA member Allen Hoe, a former Americal Division medic from Honololu who today is one of Hawaii’s most prominent attorneys—and whose son, U.S. Army Lt. Nainoa Hoe, was killed in action in Iraq in January.
“I have stopped trying to understand why the events in my life have come to me in the manner they have and at the times they had,” Hoe said. “Sayings like ‘there but for the grace of God’ have true meaning in my world. I learned many lessons on the battlefields of Hiep Duc and Que Son Valley—when all is lost, you need to remember: someone else has it twice as bad as you.”
The delegates put in long hours on the Convention floor on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and during evening caucuses with the officer and board candidates. On Thursday, the delegates heard from Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield, the No. 2 person in the VA. On Friday, the delegates honored Tabeatha Allen, a security guard at the hotel who all week had been thanking VVA members for their service. When members learned that Allen was a twice-wounded veteran of the war in Iraq, she was prevailed upon to come onto the Convention floor and be introduced. What followed was a thunderous ovation, as Convention delegates showed their allegiance to VVA’s founding principle: “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
With the work of the Convention complete by noon on Saturday, nearly everyone joined in the autographing and book-signing event featuring Raquel Welch, who signed photos for more than two and a half hours. Also taking part was John Hulme, who directed the acclaimed HBO documentary, Unknown Soldier: Searching for a Father, the story of his quest to learn about his father, U.S. Marine Lt. Jack Hulme, who in 1969 was killed in action in Vietnam when John Hulme was three weeks old.
Raquel Welch, who made a Bob Hope tour trip to Vietnam in 1967, and John Hulme received the VVA President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Saturday night Awards Banquet, which was emceed by VVA member Troy Evans, the veteran Hollywood character actor best known for his recurring roles on China Beach and ER. Evans, in fact, reprised one of his China Beach bits, “Sarge’s Rules for How to Stay Alive in Vietnam” on stage. That included the old chestnut: “When you’ve secured an area, don’t forget to tell the enemy. They may have other plans.”
Also receiving an Excellence in the Arts Award: Wayne Karlin, the author of—among many other acclaimed works—the novel Lost Armies and the memoir Rumors and Stones. Karlin, a former Marine helicopter doorgunner, is one of the finest, most accomplished, and most honored writers to come out of the Vietnam War.
The Awards Banquet concluded with a tribute to retiring VVA President Tom Corey, who said that while he was stepping down as President, he would continue to be an active veterans’ advocate and work with VVA for years to come.
8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar
Freedom Flight's POW / MIA Message From Above
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Jim Tuorila’s most memorable hot air balloon flight comes with a small bit of irony attached to one of its more prominent elements—altitude. The veteran balloon pilot and co-founder of Freedom Flight, Inc., a non-profit organization that raises awareness as well as hot air balloons, had flown hundreds of times. But when one of his passengers requested that he take his distinctive black balloon with the easily recognizable POW/MIA logo to 5,000 feet, Tuorila acquiesced with little enthusiasm.
“I don’t like to fly high,” he said, laughing. “I’m afraid of heights. I can’t lean over the side of a tall building and feel comfortable. I probably wouldn’t be flying this balloon if it weren’t for the issue.”
But the POW/MIA issue and the balloon are inseparable. The striking black craft with its three 30-foot high POW/MIA logos is like no other and is easily spotted even in a sky like Albuquerque’s in October, when mass ascensions at the Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta might number more than a thousand colorful balloons in all shapes and sizes gliding over the city.
Tuorila’s three guests that day came with special significance. So he opened up the balloon’s gas burners and the black craft rose into the air. His passengers were women married to men still listed as MIA from the Vietnam War. He doesn’t remember which one asked that he fly to 5,000 feet, but Tuorila has been a psychologist at a VA Medical Center in Minnesota for 20 years; he was curious to see what would happen when they reached that altitude. Balloon flights generally skim the earth, the better to see and be seen. At 5,000 feet, people on the ground are barely able to see the balloon. He couldn’t imagine why his passenger wanted to climb that high.
He said that the moment they reached the requested altitude will stay with him forever.
“We get up there and she says this is the altitude the military said her husband was at when he ejected from his plane over Vietnam,” he said. “She wanted to see what the world looked like when he ejected. It touched me so deeply that I’ll never forget that flight with those women.”
Freedom Flight, the POW/MIA Hot Air Balloon Team, has flown in more than seven hundred events since its first flight in November 1989. The non-profit now has three balloons that attend 35 to 45 events a year, staffed entirely by volunteers. The organization grew out of Tuorila’s vocation—psychology—and his avocation—hot air balloons.
In 1981, while attending graduate school at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, he worked with a group of World War II ex-POWs called the “Lost Battalion,” all of them survivors of more than three years in Japanese prison camps. That work inspired Tuorila to write his doctoral dissertation on the effects of captivity, especially regarding the work of Victor Frankl and his famous writings following his own imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps.
While doing his doctoral internship at the Topeka, Kansas, VA Medical Center, Tuorila and his wife volunteered to crew for a hot air balloon. When he went to work in Minnesota, they saw a balloon in flight one day and decided to volunteer again.
In 1987, he appeared on a local TV program to talk about the emotional difficulties families face when a loved one returns after years of captivity. On the program he met the daughter of a Navy pilot shot down and declared MIA. The daughter told him that the government story of her father’s disappearance was very much at odds with the story told by her father’s wingman, who made a point of finding the pilot’s family to tell them the true story of the incident.
By then, Tuorila and his wife were crewing on a balloon flown by a Vietnam veteran who had been encouraging him to set up a non-profit with an eye toward calling attention to the POW/MIA issue.
Then one day at work, his professional life and his weekend life coalesced.
“I told my co-therapist, ‘You know, I’ve been flying and working with balloons for five years now. What about a black POW/MIA balloon? What kind of attention would that get?’ “
The co-therapist and co-founder of Freedom Flight, Vietnam veteran Bill Nohner, thought it was a great idea. A year later, Freedom Flight, Inc., obtained status as a non-profit educational organization.
In 1989, the first flight went up. Its first passenger was Henry Sha, a World War II veteran and ex-POW who happened to stop his car when the balloon landed nearby. Invited onboard, he didn’t hesitate.
Now in its sixteenth year, Freedom Flight continues to attract attention, sometimes through a little luck. At the 2005 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Tuorila volunteered to give rides to the media. A Voice of America camera crew making a documentary on the balloon fiesta accepted his offer. When the crew members found out who they were flying with, a new angle for the documentary emerged.
“When they found out what we were doing with the balloon, I think the program changed to include Freedom Flight and everything we were doing,” Tuorila said.
The change was in keeping with how Tuorila describes the past sixteen years. “The reception we’ve gotten over the years make the hair on the back of my neck stand up,” Tuorila said. “It’s been incredible. I’ve had what I assume to be a Vietnam veteran come up, put $100 in my pocket and say, ‘Keep it up,’ then walk away. I’ve had family members of the missing come up to me with tears in their eyes. I’ve had ex-POWs come up and thank us. Everywhere we go, the reception has been positive and overwhelming, and that keeps us flying.”
For more information on Freedom Flight go to www.freedomflight.org or call Jim Tuorila at 320-252-7208.
“I don’t like to fly high,” he said, laughing. “I’m afraid of heights. I can’t lean over the side of a tall building and feel comfortable. I probably wouldn’t be flying this balloon if it weren’t for the issue.”
But the POW/MIA issue and the balloon are inseparable. The striking black craft with its three 30-foot high POW/MIA logos is like no other and is easily spotted even in a sky like Albuquerque’s in October, when mass ascensions at the Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta might number more than a thousand colorful balloons in all shapes and sizes gliding over the city.
Tuorila’s three guests that day came with special significance. So he opened up the balloon’s gas burners and the black craft rose into the air. His passengers were women married to men still listed as MIA from the Vietnam War. He doesn’t remember which one asked that he fly to 5,000 feet, but Tuorila has been a psychologist at a VA Medical Center in Minnesota for 20 years; he was curious to see what would happen when they reached that altitude. Balloon flights generally skim the earth, the better to see and be seen. At 5,000 feet, people on the ground are barely able to see the balloon. He couldn’t imagine why his passenger wanted to climb that high.
He said that the moment they reached the requested altitude will stay with him forever.
“We get up there and she says this is the altitude the military said her husband was at when he ejected from his plane over Vietnam,” he said. “She wanted to see what the world looked like when he ejected. It touched me so deeply that I’ll never forget that flight with those women.”
Freedom Flight, the POW/MIA Hot Air Balloon Team, has flown in more than seven hundred events since its first flight in November 1989. The non-profit now has three balloons that attend 35 to 45 events a year, staffed entirely by volunteers. The organization grew out of Tuorila’s vocation—psychology—and his avocation—hot air balloons.
In 1981, while attending graduate school at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, he worked with a group of World War II ex-POWs called the “Lost Battalion,” all of them survivors of more than three years in Japanese prison camps. That work inspired Tuorila to write his doctoral dissertation on the effects of captivity, especially regarding the work of Victor Frankl and his famous writings following his own imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps.
While doing his doctoral internship at the Topeka, Kansas, VA Medical Center, Tuorila and his wife volunteered to crew for a hot air balloon. When he went to work in Minnesota, they saw a balloon in flight one day and decided to volunteer again.
In 1987, he appeared on a local TV program to talk about the emotional difficulties families face when a loved one returns after years of captivity. On the program he met the daughter of a Navy pilot shot down and declared MIA. The daughter told him that the government story of her father’s disappearance was very much at odds with the story told by her father’s wingman, who made a point of finding the pilot’s family to tell them the true story of the incident.
By then, Tuorila and his wife were crewing on a balloon flown by a Vietnam veteran who had been encouraging him to set up a non-profit with an eye toward calling attention to the POW/MIA issue.
Then one day at work, his professional life and his weekend life coalesced.
“I told my co-therapist, ‘You know, I’ve been flying and working with balloons for five years now. What about a black POW/MIA balloon? What kind of attention would that get?’ “
The co-therapist and co-founder of Freedom Flight, Vietnam veteran Bill Nohner, thought it was a great idea. A year later, Freedom Flight, Inc., obtained status as a non-profit educational organization.
In 1989, the first flight went up. Its first passenger was Henry Sha, a World War II veteran and ex-POW who happened to stop his car when the balloon landed nearby. Invited onboard, he didn’t hesitate.
Now in its sixteenth year, Freedom Flight continues to attract attention, sometimes through a little luck. At the 2005 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Tuorila volunteered to give rides to the media. A Voice of America camera crew making a documentary on the balloon fiesta accepted his offer. When the crew members found out who they were flying with, a new angle for the documentary emerged.
“When they found out what we were doing with the balloon, I think the program changed to include Freedom Flight and everything we were doing,” Tuorila said.
The change was in keeping with how Tuorila describes the past sixteen years. “The reception we’ve gotten over the years make the hair on the back of my neck stand up,” Tuorila said. “It’s been incredible. I’ve had what I assume to be a Vietnam veteran come up, put $100 in my pocket and say, ‘Keep it up,’ then walk away. I’ve had family members of the missing come up to me with tears in their eyes. I’ve had ex-POWs come up and thank us. Everywhere we go, the reception has been positive and overwhelming, and that keeps us flying.”
For more information on Freedom Flight go to www.freedomflight.org or call Jim Tuorila at 320-252-7208.
A SHORT HISTORY OF VVA
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Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) is the only national Vietnam veterans organization congressionally chartered and exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans and their families.
By the late 1970s, it was clear the established veterans groups had failed to make a priority of the issues of concern to Vietnam veterans. As a result, a vacuum existed within the nation's legislative and public agenda. In January 1978, a small group of Vietnam veteran activists came to Washington, D.C., searching for allies to support the creation of an advocacy organization devoted exclusively to the needs of Vietnam veterans. VVA, initially known as the Council of Vietnam Veterans, began its work. At the end of its first year of operation in 1979, the total assets were $46,506.
Council members believed that if the nation's attention was focused on the specific needs of Vietnam veterans, a grateful nation would quickly take remedial steps. However, despite persuasive arguments before Congress, which were amplified by highly supportive editorials printed in many leading American newspapers, they failed to win even a single legislative victory to bring new and needed programs into creation to help Vietnam veterans and their families.
It soon became apparent that arguments couched simply in terms of morality, equity, and justice were not enough. The U.S. Congress would respond to the legitimate needs of Vietnam veterans only if the organization professing to represent them had political strength. In this case, strength translated into numbers which meant membership. By the summer of 1979, the Council of Vietnam Veterans had transformed into Vietnam Veterans of America, a veterans service organization made up of, and devoted to, Vietnam veterans.
Hindered by the lack of substantial funding for development, the growth of membership was at first slow. The big breakthrough came when the American hostages were returned from Iran in January 1981. It was as if America went through an emotional catharsis that put the issues of the Vietnam era on the table for public discussion. The question was asked why parades for the hostages but not for Vietnam veterans? Many veterans complained about the lack of recognition and appreciation for past national service. Vietnam-era veterans wanted action in the form of programs that would place the latest generation of veterans on the same footing as veterans from previous wars.
Membership grew steadily, and for the first time, VVA secured significant contributions. The combination of the public's willingness to talk about the Vietnam War and the basic issues that it raised, as well as the veterans themselves coming forward, was augmented by the nation's dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in November 1982. The week-long activities rekindled a sense of brotherhood among the veterans and a feeling that they shared an experience that was too significant to ignore.
In 1983, VVA took a significant step by founding Vietnam Veterans of America Legal Services (VVALS) to provide assistance to veterans seeking benefits and services from the government. By working under the theory that a veteran representative should be an advocate for the veteran rather than simply a facilitator, VVALS quickly established itself as the most competent and aggressive legal-assistance program available to veterans. VVALS published the most comprehensive manual ever developed for veteran service representatives, and in 1985, VVALS wrote the widely acclaimed Viet Vet Survival Guide -- over 150,000 copies of which are now in print.
The next several years saw VVA grow in size, stature, and prestige. VVA's professional membership services, veterans service, and advocacy work gained the respect of Congress and the veterans community. In 1986, VVA's exemplary work was formally acknowledged by the granting of a congressional charter.
Today, Vietnam Veterans of America has a national membership of approximately 50,000, with 525 chapters throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. VVA state councils coordinate the activities of local chapters. VVA places great emphasis on coordinating its national activities and programs with the work of its local chapters and state councils and is organized to ensure that victories gained at the national level are implemented locally.
VVA strives for individual and group empowerment and locally originated action to assist veterans and other needy members of their communities. These volunteer programs offer unique and innovative services to an ever-widening population. They include: support for homeless shelters; substance-abuse education projects and crime-prevention campaigns; sponsorship of youth sports, Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts, Big Brothers/Big Sisters; and relief to other communities affected by natural disasters and chronic poverty.
VVA is governed by a national board of directors and by national officers -- 24 women and men democratically elected by VVA delegates, are sent by their respective chapters to biennial conventions. VVA's essential purpose is to promote the educational, economic, health, cultural, and emotional readjustment of the Vietnam-era veteran to civilian life. This is done by promoting legislation and public-awareness programs to eliminate discrimination suffered by Vietnam veterans.
VVA's government-relations efforts combine the three ingredients essential to success in the legislative arena -- lobbying, mobilizing constituents, and working with the media -- to achieve its ambitious agenda. Legislative victories have included the establishment and extension of the Vet Center system, passage of laws providing for increased job-training and job-placement assistance for unemployed and underemployed Vietnam-era veterans, the first laws assisting veterans suffering from Agent Orange exposure, and landmark legislation (i.e., Judicial Review of veterans claims) permitting veterans to challenge adverse VA decisions in court. All were enacted largely as a result of VVA's legislative efforts. The Vietnam-era Veterans in Congress (VVIC), formed in 1978, in part through the efforts of VVA, now boasts a membership of nearly 100 members of Congress.
VVA helps to provide greater public awareness of the outstanding issues surrounding Vietnam-era veterans by disseminating written information on a continual basis. The VVA Veteran ®, VVA's award-winning newspaper, is mailed to all VVA members and friends of the organization. In addition, self-help guides on issues such as Agent Orange, to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, to discharge upgrading are published and made available to anyone interested.
By the late 1970s, it was clear the established veterans groups had failed to make a priority of the issues of concern to Vietnam veterans. As a result, a vacuum existed within the nation's legislative and public agenda. In January 1978, a small group of Vietnam veteran activists came to Washington, D.C., searching for allies to support the creation of an advocacy organization devoted exclusively to the needs of Vietnam veterans. VVA, initially known as the Council of Vietnam Veterans, began its work. At the end of its first year of operation in 1979, the total assets were $46,506.
Council members believed that if the nation's attention was focused on the specific needs of Vietnam veterans, a grateful nation would quickly take remedial steps. However, despite persuasive arguments before Congress, which were amplified by highly supportive editorials printed in many leading American newspapers, they failed to win even a single legislative victory to bring new and needed programs into creation to help Vietnam veterans and their families.
It soon became apparent that arguments couched simply in terms of morality, equity, and justice were not enough. The U.S. Congress would respond to the legitimate needs of Vietnam veterans only if the organization professing to represent them had political strength. In this case, strength translated into numbers which meant membership. By the summer of 1979, the Council of Vietnam Veterans had transformed into Vietnam Veterans of America, a veterans service organization made up of, and devoted to, Vietnam veterans.
Hindered by the lack of substantial funding for development, the growth of membership was at first slow. The big breakthrough came when the American hostages were returned from Iran in January 1981. It was as if America went through an emotional catharsis that put the issues of the Vietnam era on the table for public discussion. The question was asked why parades for the hostages but not for Vietnam veterans? Many veterans complained about the lack of recognition and appreciation for past national service. Vietnam-era veterans wanted action in the form of programs that would place the latest generation of veterans on the same footing as veterans from previous wars.
Membership grew steadily, and for the first time, VVA secured significant contributions. The combination of the public's willingness to talk about the Vietnam War and the basic issues that it raised, as well as the veterans themselves coming forward, was augmented by the nation's dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in November 1982. The week-long activities rekindled a sense of brotherhood among the veterans and a feeling that they shared an experience that was too significant to ignore.
In 1983, VVA took a significant step by founding Vietnam Veterans of America Legal Services (VVALS) to provide assistance to veterans seeking benefits and services from the government. By working under the theory that a veteran representative should be an advocate for the veteran rather than simply a facilitator, VVALS quickly established itself as the most competent and aggressive legal-assistance program available to veterans. VVALS published the most comprehensive manual ever developed for veteran service representatives, and in 1985, VVALS wrote the widely acclaimed Viet Vet Survival Guide -- over 150,000 copies of which are now in print.
The next several years saw VVA grow in size, stature, and prestige. VVA's professional membership services, veterans service, and advocacy work gained the respect of Congress and the veterans community. In 1986, VVA's exemplary work was formally acknowledged by the granting of a congressional charter.
Today, Vietnam Veterans of America has a national membership of approximately 50,000, with 525 chapters throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. VVA state councils coordinate the activities of local chapters. VVA places great emphasis on coordinating its national activities and programs with the work of its local chapters and state councils and is organized to ensure that victories gained at the national level are implemented locally.
VVA strives for individual and group empowerment and locally originated action to assist veterans and other needy members of their communities. These volunteer programs offer unique and innovative services to an ever-widening population. They include: support for homeless shelters; substance-abuse education projects and crime-prevention campaigns; sponsorship of youth sports, Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts, Big Brothers/Big Sisters; and relief to other communities affected by natural disasters and chronic poverty.
VVA is governed by a national board of directors and by national officers -- 24 women and men democratically elected by VVA delegates, are sent by their respective chapters to biennial conventions. VVA's essential purpose is to promote the educational, economic, health, cultural, and emotional readjustment of the Vietnam-era veteran to civilian life. This is done by promoting legislation and public-awareness programs to eliminate discrimination suffered by Vietnam veterans.
VVA's government-relations efforts combine the three ingredients essential to success in the legislative arena -- lobbying, mobilizing constituents, and working with the media -- to achieve its ambitious agenda. Legislative victories have included the establishment and extension of the Vet Center system, passage of laws providing for increased job-training and job-placement assistance for unemployed and underemployed Vietnam-era veterans, the first laws assisting veterans suffering from Agent Orange exposure, and landmark legislation (i.e., Judicial Review of veterans claims) permitting veterans to challenge adverse VA decisions in court. All were enacted largely as a result of VVA's legislative efforts. The Vietnam-era Veterans in Congress (VVIC), formed in 1978, in part through the efforts of VVA, now boasts a membership of nearly 100 members of Congress.
VVA helps to provide greater public awareness of the outstanding issues surrounding Vietnam-era veterans by disseminating written information on a continual basis. The VVA Veteran ®, VVA's award-winning newspaper, is mailed to all VVA members and friends of the organization. In addition, self-help guides on issues such as Agent Orange, to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, to discharge upgrading are published and made available to anyone interested.
The purpose of Vietnam Veterans of America's national organization
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The purpose of Vietnam Veterans of America's national organization, the state councils, and chapters is:
* To help foster, encourage, and promote the improvement of the condition of the Vietnam veteran.
* To promote physical and cultural improvement, growth and development, self-respect, self-confidence, and usefulness of Vietnam-era veterans and others.
* To eliminate discrimination suffered by Vietnam veterans and to develop channels of communications which will assist Vietnam veterans to maximize self-realization and enrichment of their lives and enhance life-fulfillment.
* To study, on a non-partisan basis, proposed legislation, rules, or regulations introduced in any federal, state, or local legislative or administrative body which may affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others; and to develop public-policy proposals designed to improve the quality of life of the Vietnam-era veteran and others especially in the areas of employment, education, training, and health.
* To conduct and publish research, on a non-partisan basis, pertaining to the relationship between Vietnam-era veterans and the American society, the Vietnam War experience, the role of the United States in securing peaceful co-existence for the world community, and other matters which affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others.
* To assist disabled and needy war veterans including, but not limited to, Vietnam veterans and their dependents, and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans.
* To help foster, encourage, and promote the improvement of the condition of the Vietnam veteran.
* To promote physical and cultural improvement, growth and development, self-respect, self-confidence, and usefulness of Vietnam-era veterans and others.
* To eliminate discrimination suffered by Vietnam veterans and to develop channels of communications which will assist Vietnam veterans to maximize self-realization and enrichment of their lives and enhance life-fulfillment.
* To study, on a non-partisan basis, proposed legislation, rules, or regulations introduced in any federal, state, or local legislative or administrative body which may affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others; and to develop public-policy proposals designed to improve the quality of life of the Vietnam-era veteran and others especially in the areas of employment, education, training, and health.
* To conduct and publish research, on a non-partisan basis, pertaining to the relationship between Vietnam-era veterans and the American society, the Vietnam War experience, the role of the United States in securing peaceful co-existence for the world community, and other matters which affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others.
* To assist disabled and needy war veterans including, but not limited to, Vietnam veterans and their dependents, and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans.
Strategic Plan - VVA's Roadmap to the Future
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VVA, like most service organizations these days, is in a period of transition. This is not unusual since change or evolution is natural, and historically VVA has been a catalyst for change within the veterans service community. What is different today is the rapid pace and complexity that these changes have and will continue to have on VVA's ability to be a relevant factor both to ourselves and to society as a whole. The VVA leadership recognized that VVA would need a method or process to address the multitude of opportunities to emerge and to meet the challenges it would encounter in this fast-changing "reality" that is taking us into the 21st century.
In earlier years, VVA utilized a strategic plan that was developed and approved by the national board of directors in 1989. A review indicated that indeed this plan had actually served VVA very well as it focused the entire organization on the issues and concerns that were relevant and important during that time period. Many of VVA's successes and victories can be traced back to the clarity of purpose that the plan brought forth to the entire organization. What the plan lacked was a process that continued its implementation and kept the plan alive as the dynamics of VVA leadership at all levels evolved and changed.
The need to create a comprehensive process or methodology for the development and implementation of a new strategic plan for VVA was recognized by the VVA national president James L. Brazee, Jr., and a Strategic Planning Committee was established for this purpose.
The president appointed VVA national treasurer Jack McManus to chair the new Strategic Planning Committee, and he, in turn, appointed committee members that represented the diverse interests of the various constituencies and organizational levels within VVA. It is important to recognize that the committee was intentionally structured to include representation from large and small chapters, large and small state councils, the VVA staff, VVA associates, non-BOD committee chairs, national BOD members, minority and women veteran members, and elected national officers.
The reasoning behind having such diversity in the committee makeup was ultimately the plan would need to reflect the real differences of interests within the organization at each level. The intent was to be truly representative of our memberships' interests so that the individual members could embrace and own the plan. The committee believes that if the entire organization claims ownership in the Strategic Plan, then the implementation of the various elements of this plan will be more successful at all levels.
Core Values
Advocacy:
We are committed to unrelenting advocacy for fairness in the treatment of veterans so that never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.
Meaningful Achievement:
We want to make a difference, focusing on issues that stand as critical barriers to a fulfilling life for veterans and all Americans.
Integrity:
We tell the truth and take responsibility.
Compassion:
We care about comrades and others in needs.
Camaraderie:
We support each other and feel we're all members of one family.
Vision & Mission Statements
Vision:
We are leading the challenge to do what is right for America and its veterans.
Mission:
Using the shared vision of our membership:
· we aggressively advocate on issues important to veterans;
· provide programs and services that improve the well-being of all veterans and their families;
· and serve our communities.
Goals, Rationales, and Strategies
Membership Goal:
To proactively recruit, retain, and develop an informed and personally effective membership dedicated to VVA's values, mission, and goals.
Membership Rationale:
The operative phrases in the membership goal are: Informed, personally effective, and dedicated membership who embrace VVA's values, mission, and goals. In other words, as we seek to expand our membership, we offer opportunities for increasing personal effectiveness to those who share our values and commitment. The new strategic plan will let prospective members know the kind of organization they are joining. Vigorous pursuit of the goals and strategies by chapters offer many opportunities for the full use of prospective members' talents according to the interests. The strategy calls for an effective external communications program to aid recruitment, combined with training to promote personal and professional development for members through their participation in chapter activities.
Membership Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive master plan, which includes all levels; a targeted effort to recruit members (using professional and personal contact and face-to-face marketing resources); and a program to retain them.
Advocacy Goal:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives to focus our energy and resources as an effective catalyst for the retention and improvement of veterans benefits.
Advocacy Rationale:
America has an "unfinished agenda" for public policy and funding of programs affecting veterans. Health care looms large at all levels of government. Other issues range from protecting and improving service-connected compensation benefits and veterans employment preferences to advocating research and/or programs addressing Agent Orange, PTSD, and homelessness as well as specialized programs relating to women, minority, and incarcerated veterans. In an age of government downsizing, veterans benefits across the board are at risk. There is an enormous educational job to be done among Vietnam veterans, public policymakers and the general public.
When it comes to passionate and powerful advocacy, VVA is clearly a leader in the veterans community, and the situation is ripe for action. More and more Vietnam veterans are being elected at all levels of government. In short, the Vietnam generation is in charge. But there are many challenges: Advocacy goals are not focused sufficiently to establish a clear agenda in order to concentrate efforts to achieve it. Not all VVA members accept a "political" role for the organization; veterans service organizations have competing legislative and administrative agendas; and VVA's own advocacy efforts are often scattered. Thus, there is a need to establish key legislative and administrative priorities in VVA and among veterans service organizations.
Advocacy Strategy:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives, consolidate existing VVA advocacy functions and focus our energy and resources to most effectively advocate for the advancement of veterans' concerns.
Direct Services Strategy:
Maintain, expand, and support our network of veteran service representatives nationwide. Publicize direct service information and conduct training on how to build community-based coalitions. Offer the tools necessary; information and training for providing direct services and for building community-based coalitions to meet the needs of veterans and their families.
Direct Services Rationale:
VVA seeks to assure a decent, positive lifestyle for veterans by working at two levels: Actually providing VVA-sponsored services and by building the community's commitment and capacity to provide essential services to veterans and their families.
VVA has a strong base expertise in veterans benefits and provides representation for veterans to receive benefits due them. As our population ages, new concerns ranging from long-term health care to career upheavals and retirement need to be anticipated. While we continue to provide direct services, we need to help members understand the complexity of emerging needs. And we need to train members in how to build community-based coalitions to address these needs.
Direct Services Goal:
Participate in providing direct services needed by veterans and their families.
Community Service Goal:
Enable VVA members to their community and promote positive social change.
Community Service Rationale:
Creating safe and viable communities, whether rural, urban, or suburban, is high on America's agenda. The opportunity to provide meaningful service to his/her community is an important reason for any veteran to become and remain involved in a VVA chapter. VVA has a history of community involvement-chapters have conducted a wide variety of creative, effective programs attacking gang warfare, drug addiction, family strife, homelessness, help to the elderly and disabled, and education on the Vietnam War at various academic levels.
However, these efforts are largely isolated. There is no organized network for communication among community service efforts, no mentoring program, and no designated responsibility at any level of VVA. Therefore, the first step is to document how chapters are serving their communities and to organize a mentoring program among chapters to inspire continued innovation.
Community Service Strategy:
Create a database of current and past community activities and develop and implement a commmunity mentor program, which stimulates community service activities.
Financial Goal:
Continuously expand the financial base to assure adequate resources to support VVA's mission at all operational levels.
Financial Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive Financial/Funding Master Plan that provides a diversified funding base for all operational levels of the organization. The plan would include: A description of the current situation, needs and priorities, existing and potential resources, training needs, opportunities and methods at all levels, restrictions, allocation formulas, and means for monitoring and evaluating achievement of goals.
Financial Rationale:
VVA has tremendous potential for fundraising. Members recognize the need to devote energy to obtaining resources. The VVA name is well established, and we have a record of success. Moreover, many Vietnam veterans who are nearing their peak earning years in successful careers represent an important and largely untapped source for financial support.
On the other hand, we lack a comprehensive approach, relying too heavily on funding from just a few sources. We need a plan based on modern fundraising techniques plus training and technical assistance to enable chapters, state councils, and the national office to participate in a well-coordinated effort. The plan should also describe how resources will be shared to support national, state, and local operations.
Communications Goal:
Create a clear communications system/structure identifying responsibility throughout VVA, effectively using new and existing technology.
Communications Rationale:
Effective, two-way communication inside VVA and with various publics is critical to our success. VVA wants to be the authoritative voice and clearinghouse for information on topics of interest to veterans. The information age is producing increasingly accessible technology for inter-personal communication through the Internet and for mass media. VVA may not be taking full advantage of these channels. Some of the technology has not reached every chapter or member. Most important, responsibility for conveying information and providing feedback has not been established throughout VVA. Hence, the need to create a clear strategy for communicating with external audiences and to establish a system and structure that defines responsibility at all levels for our internal communications.
Communications Strategy:
Establish effective communication channels and assign responsibility at all levels. Make effective use of new and existing technology to assure accurate information exchange within these channels and encourage use and feedback between all levels.
Organizational Effectiveness Goal:
Continuously improve the ability of VVA at all levels to service a growing membership.
Organizational Effectiveness Rationale:
Assuring a positive future for VVA requires an ongoing effort to continuously improve the effectiveness of the organization itself. Success depends on: a) commitment to VVA's values and vision, b) cooperation in the pursuit of clear goals and strategies c) agreement on roles-who gets to do what d) constant, accurate feedback from VVA's members and external audiences to anticipate needs and to measure accomplishment and e) effective leadership. Making this happen is not a one-shot project. It is an ongoing process, requiring constant attention and resources. Equipping VVA's leaders for continuous improvement of the organization begins by helping them to explore implications of the strategic plan through planning with their constituencies. Feedback from these discussions about VVA's directions and ways to implement the plan at national, state, and local levels will provide the basis for designing a systematic, continuous improvement process to keep VVA strong. There must also be an ongoing, periodic review of VVA's organizational and committee structure to make VVA's operations as efficient and effective as possible and to ensure that VVA's structure changes appropriately as the organization j evolves. Additionally, VVA's resource allocation must be constantly geared to making the best possible use of limited fiscal and staff resources. Doing so will necessitate prioritizing national convention and board resolutions and directives so that VVA's priorities will be determined by a deliberate process and not by reactions to emerging and changing events.
Organizational Effectiveness Strategy:
Develop and implement a process to address the purposes, roles, and responsibilities of each organizational element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of each organizational elements to measure and reward accomplishments.
Implementation Roles
Role of the Board:
Approve the strategic plan; act as spokesperson for VVA's vision, values, and strategic directions; provide policy; and prioritize resources for plan implementation.
Role of Committees:
Review strategic plan; adjust agendas/objectives to support the strategies; develop work plans to measure achievement of objectives.
Role of State Council:
Review the strategic plan; develop objectives for state-level activities; provide technical advice and support to chapters.
Role of Chapters:
Review national and state strategies and objectives; decide how they are able to support them; implement appropriate activities.
Role of Conference of State Council President:
Act as advisory and leadership development resource amongst state council presidents, providing knowledge, evaluation, and feedback on the various objectives and activities implemented to fulfill the plans' goals and strategies from VVA's chapters and state councils.
Role of National Staff:
Internally - develop and implement objectives in support of the strategic plan, report to the board on implementation.
Externally - provide resources, training, and technical support to state councils and chapters to support their strategic planning and evaluation processes.
Methodology
VVA's Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
This exhaustive examination not only informed our planning, it also yielded some important implications for the way we operate.
The single most important conclusion is that merely producing a strategic plan will not be sufficient to move VVA successfully into the 21st century. What is required is a planning and evaluation process that cascades through all levels of the organization to align our energies to implement the plan. Without such a process, supported by members skilled in facilitation, meaningful implementation is highly unlikely.
A second overarching conclusion is that implementing our roadmap for the future depends on empowering people at all levels through strong leadership, clear responsibility and authority, sufficient resources, and above all, a new level of cooperation among all elements of the organization.
Like every organization these days, VVA is in transition. To grow and remain relevant, we must change in order to respond to changes occurring around us. The new global economy, the march of technology, and the maturing of our membership are just a few of the forces already impacting us. Not only do we need to change, we need to change fast just to stay up.
The core values expressed in the plan are those things that our members believe are why they joined VVA and what needs to be here for them to remain committed to VVA. The committee utilized these core values to guide its decision-making during the planning process and are important to be considered when implementing the plan.
The vision statement is how we want the organization to be viewed by our members, our staff, and the public at any ideal point in the future.
The mission statement: simply addresses how and what we do as an organization based upon rethinking our basic purposes.
The goals define areas from our mission statement where we can achieve specific results.
The rationale is a summary analysis of the forces likely to effect the achievement success of the stated goal.
The strategy for each goal defines in a broad sense what should be accomplished to attain specific achievements.
Objectives and workplans committees at all levels, including chapters and state councils and the national staff, are asked to establish objectives and work plans for each goal and strategy, including measurable outcomes. This will require the committee and national staff to rethink their work and shift their resources and energy to align their work with the Strategic Plan.
Chapters and state councils should undertake an assessment of their respective entity to determine how they can best align their objectives and activities to best support this Strategic Plan.
The roles identify the responsibilities that each entity within the organization could be expected to perform for the successful implementation of the Strategic Plan.
Follow-up a continuing effort will be undertaken by leaders of VVA to: Communicate the values, mission, goals, and strategies throughout VVA; support committees, national staff, state councils, and chapters in their efforts to achieve the goals; and measure and recognize achievement.
The Proposed Strategic / Operational Planning Model
* The model is constructed from the bottom up.
* After the plans are completed, one can easily check the consistency of current activities with agreements made in preceding blocks.
* Thus, the strategic plan serves to keep the organization on course: in pursuit of its mission-consistent with realities in the environment- and aligned with the core values of its members.
Workplans - Action plans of individuals responsible for achieving the objectives.
Objectives - Major results needed to implement the strategy in certain time.
Roles - Who gets to do what to align resources and people with the plan.
Strategies -The grand design for achieving each goal.
Goals - Four of five "chunks" of the mission (area for achievement).
Mission - The "match" between the core values and the realities of the environment
determines the core business of the organization.
SWOT Analysis - Organization's strengths and weaknesses, plus anticipated opportunities and threats in the environment.
Core Values - Specific aspirations members hold for the organization.
In earlier years, VVA utilized a strategic plan that was developed and approved by the national board of directors in 1989. A review indicated that indeed this plan had actually served VVA very well as it focused the entire organization on the issues and concerns that were relevant and important during that time period. Many of VVA's successes and victories can be traced back to the clarity of purpose that the plan brought forth to the entire organization. What the plan lacked was a process that continued its implementation and kept the plan alive as the dynamics of VVA leadership at all levels evolved and changed.
The need to create a comprehensive process or methodology for the development and implementation of a new strategic plan for VVA was recognized by the VVA national president James L. Brazee, Jr., and a Strategic Planning Committee was established for this purpose.
The president appointed VVA national treasurer Jack McManus to chair the new Strategic Planning Committee, and he, in turn, appointed committee members that represented the diverse interests of the various constituencies and organizational levels within VVA. It is important to recognize that the committee was intentionally structured to include representation from large and small chapters, large and small state councils, the VVA staff, VVA associates, non-BOD committee chairs, national BOD members, minority and women veteran members, and elected national officers.
The reasoning behind having such diversity in the committee makeup was ultimately the plan would need to reflect the real differences of interests within the organization at each level. The intent was to be truly representative of our memberships' interests so that the individual members could embrace and own the plan. The committee believes that if the entire organization claims ownership in the Strategic Plan, then the implementation of the various elements of this plan will be more successful at all levels.
Core Values
Advocacy:
We are committed to unrelenting advocacy for fairness in the treatment of veterans so that never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.
Meaningful Achievement:
We want to make a difference, focusing on issues that stand as critical barriers to a fulfilling life for veterans and all Americans.
Integrity:
We tell the truth and take responsibility.
Compassion:
We care about comrades and others in needs.
Camaraderie:
We support each other and feel we're all members of one family.
Vision & Mission Statements
Vision:
We are leading the challenge to do what is right for America and its veterans.
Mission:
Using the shared vision of our membership:
· we aggressively advocate on issues important to veterans;
· provide programs and services that improve the well-being of all veterans and their families;
· and serve our communities.
Goals, Rationales, and Strategies
Membership Goal:
To proactively recruit, retain, and develop an informed and personally effective membership dedicated to VVA's values, mission, and goals.
Membership Rationale:
The operative phrases in the membership goal are: Informed, personally effective, and dedicated membership who embrace VVA's values, mission, and goals. In other words, as we seek to expand our membership, we offer opportunities for increasing personal effectiveness to those who share our values and commitment. The new strategic plan will let prospective members know the kind of organization they are joining. Vigorous pursuit of the goals and strategies by chapters offer many opportunities for the full use of prospective members' talents according to the interests. The strategy calls for an effective external communications program to aid recruitment, combined with training to promote personal and professional development for members through their participation in chapter activities.
Membership Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive master plan, which includes all levels; a targeted effort to recruit members (using professional and personal contact and face-to-face marketing resources); and a program to retain them.
Advocacy Goal:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives to focus our energy and resources as an effective catalyst for the retention and improvement of veterans benefits.
Advocacy Rationale:
America has an "unfinished agenda" for public policy and funding of programs affecting veterans. Health care looms large at all levels of government. Other issues range from protecting and improving service-connected compensation benefits and veterans employment preferences to advocating research and/or programs addressing Agent Orange, PTSD, and homelessness as well as specialized programs relating to women, minority, and incarcerated veterans. In an age of government downsizing, veterans benefits across the board are at risk. There is an enormous educational job to be done among Vietnam veterans, public policymakers and the general public.
When it comes to passionate and powerful advocacy, VVA is clearly a leader in the veterans community, and the situation is ripe for action. More and more Vietnam veterans are being elected at all levels of government. In short, the Vietnam generation is in charge. But there are many challenges: Advocacy goals are not focused sufficiently to establish a clear agenda in order to concentrate efforts to achieve it. Not all VVA members accept a "political" role for the organization; veterans service organizations have competing legislative and administrative agendas; and VVA's own advocacy efforts are often scattered. Thus, there is a need to establish key legislative and administrative priorities in VVA and among veterans service organizations.
Advocacy Strategy:
Identify and prioritize legislative and administrative objectives, consolidate existing VVA advocacy functions and focus our energy and resources to most effectively advocate for the advancement of veterans' concerns.
Direct Services Strategy:
Maintain, expand, and support our network of veteran service representatives nationwide. Publicize direct service information and conduct training on how to build community-based coalitions. Offer the tools necessary; information and training for providing direct services and for building community-based coalitions to meet the needs of veterans and their families.
Direct Services Rationale:
VVA seeks to assure a decent, positive lifestyle for veterans by working at two levels: Actually providing VVA-sponsored services and by building the community's commitment and capacity to provide essential services to veterans and their families.
VVA has a strong base expertise in veterans benefits and provides representation for veterans to receive benefits due them. As our population ages, new concerns ranging from long-term health care to career upheavals and retirement need to be anticipated. While we continue to provide direct services, we need to help members understand the complexity of emerging needs. And we need to train members in how to build community-based coalitions to address these needs.
Direct Services Goal:
Participate in providing direct services needed by veterans and their families.
Community Service Goal:
Enable VVA members to their community and promote positive social change.
Community Service Rationale:
Creating safe and viable communities, whether rural, urban, or suburban, is high on America's agenda. The opportunity to provide meaningful service to his/her community is an important reason for any veteran to become and remain involved in a VVA chapter. VVA has a history of community involvement-chapters have conducted a wide variety of creative, effective programs attacking gang warfare, drug addiction, family strife, homelessness, help to the elderly and disabled, and education on the Vietnam War at various academic levels.
However, these efforts are largely isolated. There is no organized network for communication among community service efforts, no mentoring program, and no designated responsibility at any level of VVA. Therefore, the first step is to document how chapters are serving their communities and to organize a mentoring program among chapters to inspire continued innovation.
Community Service Strategy:
Create a database of current and past community activities and develop and implement a commmunity mentor program, which stimulates community service activities.
Financial Goal:
Continuously expand the financial base to assure adequate resources to support VVA's mission at all operational levels.
Financial Strategy:
Develop and implement a comprehensive Financial/Funding Master Plan that provides a diversified funding base for all operational levels of the organization. The plan would include: A description of the current situation, needs and priorities, existing and potential resources, training needs, opportunities and methods at all levels, restrictions, allocation formulas, and means for monitoring and evaluating achievement of goals.
Financial Rationale:
VVA has tremendous potential for fundraising. Members recognize the need to devote energy to obtaining resources. The VVA name is well established, and we have a record of success. Moreover, many Vietnam veterans who are nearing their peak earning years in successful careers represent an important and largely untapped source for financial support.
On the other hand, we lack a comprehensive approach, relying too heavily on funding from just a few sources. We need a plan based on modern fundraising techniques plus training and technical assistance to enable chapters, state councils, and the national office to participate in a well-coordinated effort. The plan should also describe how resources will be shared to support national, state, and local operations.
Communications Goal:
Create a clear communications system/structure identifying responsibility throughout VVA, effectively using new and existing technology.
Communications Rationale:
Effective, two-way communication inside VVA and with various publics is critical to our success. VVA wants to be the authoritative voice and clearinghouse for information on topics of interest to veterans. The information age is producing increasingly accessible technology for inter-personal communication through the Internet and for mass media. VVA may not be taking full advantage of these channels. Some of the technology has not reached every chapter or member. Most important, responsibility for conveying information and providing feedback has not been established throughout VVA. Hence, the need to create a clear strategy for communicating with external audiences and to establish a system and structure that defines responsibility at all levels for our internal communications.
Communications Strategy:
Establish effective communication channels and assign responsibility at all levels. Make effective use of new and existing technology to assure accurate information exchange within these channels and encourage use and feedback between all levels.
Organizational Effectiveness Goal:
Continuously improve the ability of VVA at all levels to service a growing membership.
Organizational Effectiveness Rationale:
Assuring a positive future for VVA requires an ongoing effort to continuously improve the effectiveness of the organization itself. Success depends on: a) commitment to VVA's values and vision, b) cooperation in the pursuit of clear goals and strategies c) agreement on roles-who gets to do what d) constant, accurate feedback from VVA's members and external audiences to anticipate needs and to measure accomplishment and e) effective leadership. Making this happen is not a one-shot project. It is an ongoing process, requiring constant attention and resources. Equipping VVA's leaders for continuous improvement of the organization begins by helping them to explore implications of the strategic plan through planning with their constituencies. Feedback from these discussions about VVA's directions and ways to implement the plan at national, state, and local levels will provide the basis for designing a systematic, continuous improvement process to keep VVA strong. There must also be an ongoing, periodic review of VVA's organizational and committee structure to make VVA's operations as efficient and effective as possible and to ensure that VVA's structure changes appropriately as the organization j evolves. Additionally, VVA's resource allocation must be constantly geared to making the best possible use of limited fiscal and staff resources. Doing so will necessitate prioritizing national convention and board resolutions and directives so that VVA's priorities will be determined by a deliberate process and not by reactions to emerging and changing events.
Organizational Effectiveness Strategy:
Develop and implement a process to address the purposes, roles, and responsibilities of each organizational element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of element within VVA and define the means for the leadership of each organizational elements to measure and reward accomplishments.
Implementation Roles
Role of the Board:
Approve the strategic plan; act as spokesperson for VVA's vision, values, and strategic directions; provide policy; and prioritize resources for plan implementation.
Role of Committees:
Review strategic plan; adjust agendas/objectives to support the strategies; develop work plans to measure achievement of objectives.
Role of State Council:
Review the strategic plan; develop objectives for state-level activities; provide technical advice and support to chapters.
Role of Chapters:
Review national and state strategies and objectives; decide how they are able to support them; implement appropriate activities.
Role of Conference of State Council President:
Act as advisory and leadership development resource amongst state council presidents, providing knowledge, evaluation, and feedback on the various objectives and activities implemented to fulfill the plans' goals and strategies from VVA's chapters and state councils.
Role of National Staff:
Internally - develop and implement objectives in support of the strategic plan, report to the board on implementation.
Externally - provide resources, training, and technical support to state councils and chapters to support their strategic planning and evaluation processes.
Methodology
VVA's Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
Strategic Plan provides a roadmap for building a positive future for our organization. The strategic plan spells out the core values we share, affirms our fundamental purposes through our mission statement, and establishes a framework of goals and strategies to focus our energies and resources. The plan presents a simple and necessarily concise framework for subsequent planning and actions that must take place at all levels.
To assist the committee, we engaged Mr. Dwight Fee, a well-respected expert in strategic planning and organizational development to act as the facilitator for the planning process and to keep the committee focused.
The committee utilized the illustrated planning model as a guide through this Strategic Planning process. In addition, the Strategic Plan from 1989 was utilized from the perspective of "lessons learned," building upon the fine work of that earlier plan.
Further, the committee conducted a survey of VVA members and leaders-from chapter and state council presidents to the BOD, the national officers, and staff. The survey asked them to identify trends in society likely to affect VVA and its members. It also asked them to suggest how VVA may need to change.
The utilization of this survey data assured the committee that the "voice of the membership" was also fully recognized and incorporated into the planning process.
The committee also examined the strengths and limitations of VVA, seeking to match our strengths to the emerging opportunities in the world around us.
This exhaustive examination not only informed our planning, it also yielded some important implications for the way we operate.
The single most important conclusion is that merely producing a strategic plan will not be sufficient to move VVA successfully into the 21st century. What is required is a planning and evaluation process that cascades through all levels of the organization to align our energies to implement the plan. Without such a process, supported by members skilled in facilitation, meaningful implementation is highly unlikely.
A second overarching conclusion is that implementing our roadmap for the future depends on empowering people at all levels through strong leadership, clear responsibility and authority, sufficient resources, and above all, a new level of cooperation among all elements of the organization.
Like every organization these days, VVA is in transition. To grow and remain relevant, we must change in order to respond to changes occurring around us. The new global economy, the march of technology, and the maturing of our membership are just a few of the forces already impacting us. Not only do we need to change, we need to change fast just to stay up.
The core values expressed in the plan are those things that our members believe are why they joined VVA and what needs to be here for them to remain committed to VVA. The committee utilized these core values to guide its decision-making during the planning process and are important to be considered when implementing the plan.
The vision statement is how we want the organization to be viewed by our members, our staff, and the public at any ideal point in the future.
The mission statement: simply addresses how and what we do as an organization based upon rethinking our basic purposes.
The goals define areas from our mission statement where we can achieve specific results.
The rationale is a summary analysis of the forces likely to effect the achievement success of the stated goal.
The strategy for each goal defines in a broad sense what should be accomplished to attain specific achievements.
Objectives and workplans committees at all levels, including chapters and state councils and the national staff, are asked to establish objectives and work plans for each goal and strategy, including measurable outcomes. This will require the committee and national staff to rethink their work and shift their resources and energy to align their work with the Strategic Plan.
Chapters and state councils should undertake an assessment of their respective entity to determine how they can best align their objectives and activities to best support this Strategic Plan.
The roles identify the responsibilities that each entity within the organization could be expected to perform for the successful implementation of the Strategic Plan.
Follow-up a continuing effort will be undertaken by leaders of VVA to: Communicate the values, mission, goals, and strategies throughout VVA; support committees, national staff, state councils, and chapters in their efforts to achieve the goals; and measure and recognize achievement.
The Proposed Strategic / Operational Planning Model
* The model is constructed from the bottom up.
* After the plans are completed, one can easily check the consistency of current activities with agreements made in preceding blocks.
* Thus, the strategic plan serves to keep the organization on course: in pursuit of its mission-consistent with realities in the environment- and aligned with the core values of its members.
Workplans - Action plans of individuals responsible for achieving the objectives.
Objectives - Major results needed to implement the strategy in certain time.
Roles - Who gets to do what to align resources and people with the plan.
Strategies -The grand design for achieving each goal.
Goals - Four of five "chunks" of the mission (area for achievement).
Mission - The "match" between the core values and the realities of the environment
determines the core business of the organization.
SWOT Analysis - Organization's strengths and weaknesses, plus anticipated opportunities and threats in the environment.
Core Values - Specific aspirations members hold for the organization.
Jackpot! VVA's Twelfth Biennial Convention
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Any way you look at it, VVA’s 12th biennial National Convention, which was held Aug. 10-13 at the Silver Legacy Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada, was a huge success. A record number of Convention delegates, 736 from across the nation, rolled up their collective sleeves and spent three and a half days debating and enacting a series of resolutions that will guide the organization through the next two years. On Friday, the delegates cast their votes for VVA’s four national officers and nineteen members of the Board of Directors. More than a thousand delegates and guests—including some 125 AVVA members taking part in the organization’s National Leadership Conference—took in the stirring opening ceremonies that kicked off the Convention and the moving (and rocking) Saturday Night Awards Banquet, which ended the event.
“We did ourselves proud in Reno,” said outgoing VVA President Tom Corey, who stepped down after two terms. “The delegates showed a seriousness of purpose that we have come to expect at VVA Conventions. The election campaigns were hard fought. And after the votes were counted, we came together in support of our new national leaders who will guide us through another two years. I look forward to working with them.”
John Rowan of Middle Village, New York, the New York State Council president who had served as the chair of VVA’s Conference of State Council Presidents and three terms on the Board of Directors, was elected VVA’s sixth national president, defeating former VVA Vice President Ed Chow. Jack Devine of Dimondale, Michigan, a former VVA Board member who chairs VVA’s Project 112/SHAD Task Force, was chosen as national Vice President. Barry Hagge of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, the long-time chair of VVA’s Constitution Committee, was elected national Secretary, and Alan Cook of Castro Valley, California, won re-election as national Treasurer.
“It’s a great honor to serve as VVA’s national President,” Rowan said. “We have a great team in place to run this great veterans’ service organization for the next two years. I am looking forward to working with VVA members all across the nation on every level to support Vietnam veterans and their families In Service to America.”
The Convention got off to an exuberant start at 9:00 on Wednesday morning with the Opening Ceremonies, which began with rousing renditions of the Vietnam-War-era songs “Run Through the Jungle” and “Fortunate Son” by an uncannily realistic John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival) impersonator as black and white war-time images were displayed on four huge video screens. The ceremonies also included moving tributes to former VVA National President George Duggins (who died just a week before the Convention) and other VVA members lost in the previous year, as well as warm welcomes from Nevada State Council President Virgie Hibbler, Jr., Reno Mayor Robert Cashell, and AVVA President Mary Miller.
Most of those on hand agreed that the highlight of the morning was the powerful Keynote Speech delivered by VVA member Allen Hoe, a former Americal Division medic from Honololu who today is one of Hawaii’s most prominent attorneys—and whose son, U.S. Army Lt. Nainoa Hoe, was killed in action in Iraq in January.
“I have stopped trying to understand why the events in my life have come to me in the manner they have and at the times they had,” Hoe said. “Sayings like ‘there but for the grace of God’ have true meaning in my world. I learned many lessons on the battlefields of Hiep Duc and Que Son Valley—when all is lost, you need to remember: someone else has it twice as bad as you.”
The delegates put in long hours on the Convention floor on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and during evening caucuses with the officer and board candidates. On Thursday, the delegates heard from Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield, the No. 2 person in the VA. On Friday, the delegates honored Tabeatha Allen, a security guard at the hotel who all week had been thanking VVA members for their service. When members learned that Allen was a twice-wounded veteran of the war in Iraq, she was prevailed upon to come onto the Convention floor and be introduced. What followed was a thunderous ovation, as Convention delegates showed their allegiance to VVA’s founding principle: “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
With the work of the Convention complete by noon on Saturday, nearly everyone joined in the autographing and book-signing event featuring Raquel Welch, who signed photos for more than two and a half hours. Also taking part was John Hulme, who directed the acclaimed HBO documentary, Unknown Soldier: Searching for a Father, the story of his quest to learn about his father, U.S. Marine Lt. Jack Hulme, who in 1969 was killed in action in Vietnam when John Hulme was three weeks old.
Raquel Welch, who made a Bob Hope tour trip to Vietnam in 1967, and John Hulme received the VVA President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Saturday night Awards Banquet, which was emceed by VVA member Troy Evans, the veteran Hollywood character actor best known for his recurring roles on China Beach and ER. Evans, in fact, reprised one of his China Beach bits, “Sarge’s Rules for How to Stay Alive in Vietnam” on stage. That included the old chestnut: “When you’ve secured an area, don’t forget to tell the enemy. They may have other plans.”
Also receiving an Excellence in the Arts Award: Wayne Karlin, the author of—among many other acclaimed works—the novel Lost Armies and the memoir Rumors and Stones. Karlin, a former Marine helicopter doorgunner, is one of the finest, most accomplished, and most honored writers to come out of the Vietnam War.
The Awards Banquet concluded with a tribute to retiring VVA President Tom Corey, who said that while he was stepping down as President, he would continue to be an active veterans’ advocate and work with VVA for years to come.
“We did ourselves proud in Reno,” said outgoing VVA President Tom Corey, who stepped down after two terms. “The delegates showed a seriousness of purpose that we have come to expect at VVA Conventions. The election campaigns were hard fought. And after the votes were counted, we came together in support of our new national leaders who will guide us through another two years. I look forward to working with them.”
John Rowan of Middle Village, New York, the New York State Council president who had served as the chair of VVA’s Conference of State Council Presidents and three terms on the Board of Directors, was elected VVA’s sixth national president, defeating former VVA Vice President Ed Chow. Jack Devine of Dimondale, Michigan, a former VVA Board member who chairs VVA’s Project 112/SHAD Task Force, was chosen as national Vice President. Barry Hagge of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, the long-time chair of VVA’s Constitution Committee, was elected national Secretary, and Alan Cook of Castro Valley, California, won re-election as national Treasurer.
“It’s a great honor to serve as VVA’s national President,” Rowan said. “We have a great team in place to run this great veterans’ service organization for the next two years. I am looking forward to working with VVA members all across the nation on every level to support Vietnam veterans and their families In Service to America.”
The Convention got off to an exuberant start at 9:00 on Wednesday morning with the Opening Ceremonies, which began with rousing renditions of the Vietnam-War-era songs “Run Through the Jungle” and “Fortunate Son” by an uncannily realistic John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival) impersonator as black and white war-time images were displayed on four huge video screens. The ceremonies also included moving tributes to former VVA National President George Duggins (who died just a week before the Convention) and other VVA members lost in the previous year, as well as warm welcomes from Nevada State Council President Virgie Hibbler, Jr., Reno Mayor Robert Cashell, and AVVA President Mary Miller.
Most of those on hand agreed that the highlight of the morning was the powerful Keynote Speech delivered by VVA member Allen Hoe, a former Americal Division medic from Honololu who today is one of Hawaii’s most prominent attorneys—and whose son, U.S. Army Lt. Nainoa Hoe, was killed in action in Iraq in January.
“I have stopped trying to understand why the events in my life have come to me in the manner they have and at the times they had,” Hoe said. “Sayings like ‘there but for the grace of God’ have true meaning in my world. I learned many lessons on the battlefields of Hiep Duc and Que Son Valley—when all is lost, you need to remember: someone else has it twice as bad as you.”
The delegates put in long hours on the Convention floor on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and during evening caucuses with the officer and board candidates. On Thursday, the delegates heard from Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield, the No. 2 person in the VA. On Friday, the delegates honored Tabeatha Allen, a security guard at the hotel who all week had been thanking VVA members for their service. When members learned that Allen was a twice-wounded veteran of the war in Iraq, she was prevailed upon to come onto the Convention floor and be introduced. What followed was a thunderous ovation, as Convention delegates showed their allegiance to VVA’s founding principle: “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
With the work of the Convention complete by noon on Saturday, nearly everyone joined in the autographing and book-signing event featuring Raquel Welch, who signed photos for more than two and a half hours. Also taking part was John Hulme, who directed the acclaimed HBO documentary, Unknown Soldier: Searching for a Father, the story of his quest to learn about his father, U.S. Marine Lt. Jack Hulme, who in 1969 was killed in action in Vietnam when John Hulme was three weeks old.
Raquel Welch, who made a Bob Hope tour trip to Vietnam in 1967, and John Hulme received the VVA President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Saturday night Awards Banquet, which was emceed by VVA member Troy Evans, the veteran Hollywood character actor best known for his recurring roles on China Beach and ER. Evans, in fact, reprised one of his China Beach bits, “Sarge’s Rules for How to Stay Alive in Vietnam” on stage. That included the old chestnut: “When you’ve secured an area, don’t forget to tell the enemy. They may have other plans.”
Also receiving an Excellence in the Arts Award: Wayne Karlin, the author of—among many other acclaimed works—the novel Lost Armies and the memoir Rumors and Stones. Karlin, a former Marine helicopter doorgunner, is one of the finest, most accomplished, and most honored writers to come out of the Vietnam War.
The Awards Banquet concluded with a tribute to retiring VVA President Tom Corey, who said that while he was stepping down as President, he would continue to be an active veterans’ advocate and work with VVA for years to come.
7 Temmuz 2012 Cumartesi
Big Dip in Veterans Unemployment in June 2012
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Big dip in unemployment rate for young veterans
Jul 6, 2012 - The jobless rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans fell dramatically in June despite an overall economy that produced few jobs and left the national unemployed rate unchanged.
The unemployment rate for Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans fell to 9.5 percent, down from 12.7 percent the previous month and from 13.3 percent in June 2011, according to the employment situation report released Friday by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For veterans of all generations, the June jobless rate was 7.4 percent, a slight improvement over the 7.8 percent rate for May.
The national unemployment rate remains 8.2 percent in a sour economy that produced just 80,000 jobs last month.
snip More programs are coming.
More than 25,000 unemployed veterans, aged 35 to 60, have signed up to take part in the first phase of a two-year job training program, the Veterans Reemployment Assistance Program or VRAP, that provides one year of monthly GI Bill benefits to those enrolled in education or vocational training programs that should qualify them at the end for a job in a high-demand skills.
There is still room in the program, which can sign up 45,000 veterans now and another 54,000 veterans beginning in October. read more>>>
No matter what group takes a dip in employment, especially these veterans and this past decade plus though, be they veterans, manufacturing, even lower wage, and shouldn't be, service sector employee's, across the economic job sectors, brings with the ability to boost their communities needs. Thus real business personal hire with the rise in those needs, unlike the reagan capitalist, who are supposed to according to their new capitalist mantra, continue hoarding any monetary gains and force the workers they have to work harder while complaining, or are used by the media and those of same ideology in same, they don't know what Washington will do so they don't hire in their business needs until frankly it might be to late and they've lost customers or services etc..
Thousands of veterans sign up
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Thousands of veterans sign up for job education
Jul 05, 2012 - Unemployed veterans may be heading back to school in mass under a federal program to get out-of-work veterans trained and back in the job market.
Officials at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs say there has been an enormous response to a new skills-based program that pays for up to a year of education toward an associate degree or a non-college-degree or certificate.
In fewer than seven weeks since the VA began accepting applications for the Veteran Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP), 27,080 unemployed veterans have applied.
That’s more than half the maximum amount the VRAP program will allow in its first year, VA spokesman Randal Noller said this week. read more>>>
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