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Introduction A little-known benefit from the Interior Department gives military veterans with any disability rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs a free lifetime pass to national parks and other recreation areas, as well as discounts on some fees. The lifetime Access Pass is advertised as available to those who "have been medically determined to have a permanent disability ... does not have to be a 100 percent disability." Got a VA Rating? You Can Get a Free Lifetime National Parks Pass WWW.MILITARY.COM The pass could also get you camping and other discounts. How to Just go to the following website: America the Beautiful - National Parks & Federal Recreational Lands Access Pass | USGS Store STORE.USGS.GOV Good luck folks!

Here are the bills that are being introduced according to militarybenefits.info/legislation-watch. There are a bunch of them in here so I'm going to post up the link and you guys can read through them. Some bills do go all the way back to 2018. https://militarybenefits.info/legislation-watch/

Why a Host? Since this board was created over 10 years ago the Veterans Forum has been a big part of our community. But, the activity on the board has long been mediocre, and I know exactly why! Because most veterans are fine just not talking about their service. Typically their service was long ago, maybe on some far off land, and it was a time of their lives they'd rather keep to themselves, or perhaps they just felt really modest about their service and never felt their service was much to write home about. There are so many more reasons why, if we went into them here I'd never finish this introduction. So I am hoping by having an official host for this forum, that we may interact more as a veteran, and with a veteran(s). We want this forum to be a good place for everyone, non veterans and veterans alike to get together and just talk about all kinds of things related to our veterans. Introduction So, I'd like to announce that @AndrewB will be taking over our Veterans Forum as our new host. Andrew volunteered. At first Andrew was thinking the "Free For All" would be a good fit for him. After he and I spoke a little more we both thought the Veterans Forum would be pretty danged cool for him to take over as well, so really we are getting a "two fer" from Andrew, he'll be hosting the Free For All and the Veterans. I'll let Andrew answer most of your questions if you have any regarding his background in service of our nation, and his experience on other software platforms for hosting and operations. But I can say this, Andrew served active duty Army from 2003 to 2006 and he did his time in the Sandbox (Baghdad from 2003 to 2004) and in 2006 he transitioned to the National Guard until 2015 for a total of 12 years in service to our great nation. See Staff Directory, our new host is listed. https://thepatriotwoodworker.com/staff/ Duties Andrew will be performing the basic duties of forum hosts, such as monitoring topics, looking for violators of our policies, foul language, distasteful posts, images or anything that is not family friendly. Andrew, you have chosen a job that is akin to the Maytag Repairman, since our folks here are the absolute best, the above listed violations are hardly ever seen. Among his basic forum duties Andrew will also be responsible for the following: Posting relevant topics to the community regarding Veterans Affairs. Posting changes in policy that effects our veterans from the House of Representatives to the Executive branch. Reporting on new laws that are passed by our congress. Reporting on laws in the pipeline that effect our veterans. Posting reminders of veterans related holidays, and anniversaries of historic battles and wars. And, if there are more items our members would like to see here, please let us know here in this topic. This job may turn out to be a pretty big job, we may have to solicit help from another veteran for Andrew! In Closing So let's give our friend AndrewB a nice welcome to the host circle, and as a part of our Patriot Woodworker Staff. We are very happy you are here Andrew.

Dear folks, is there anyone here who is masterful at making walking canes? We have a disabled veteran who has contacted us, and needs a hand up. Our community is willing to pay you for your work. We will be gifting this walking assistant to our veteran. No disrespect is intended to our folks here, but I would like only a woodworker who builds canes and is masterful at your work, we can't risk a "one off" product with mistakes or a bad design style. Our disabled veterans deserve only the best. Please drop me a line here if you are interested in helping us with this project. We'll be asking for images of your prior work in canes, thank you! Request from our veteran

You gotta love the guys at Veteran Owned Black Riffle Coffee Company!

Sent to me by a Twitter friend-

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/22/us/wwii-veteran-100-birthday-cards-trnd/index.html James South C/O 5800 North Park Drive, Watauga, TX 76148

If we must spend government money, tax payers money, this is one of the areas where it's best spent, paying back those who protect us and keep us safe from the bad actors of the world, and who have paid the price with their body and mind. A pat on the back where a pat on the back is due, fine job Mr. President. Trump eases student loan forgiveness for disabled veterans - POLITICO WWW.POLITICO.COM “The debt of these disabled veterans will be entirely erased,” Trump said during remarks at a veterans convention in...

@eldonthemarine. I noticed your question in chat this morning. Right off the top of my head I am going to say that may be almost impossible to come up with a number and here is why I think that. There are over 20 million veterans in the United States, that is a whole lot of veterans. Woodworking is a main stream hobby/trade, to what degree would a veteran be considered a woodworker? The question may be as hard as asking how many veterans play golf, or drive a Chevy. You may be the first to compile a database! . Eldon, there are quiet a few organizations that target veterans for woodworking programs, and many trade schools that offer special programs and tuition breaks for veterans, especially for veterans of OEF and OIF. I am taking a leap here but I would say that those educational institutions probably do not know how many veterans are currently woodworkers. Now, not to be a wet rag here, so I'd like to know more about your research and why this question is being posed or in other words, what is the context of your research, the main body of your research. Because there may be a better question to ask that will help your research. Thanks for joining Eldon, and I hope to hear more about your project.

Dick Cole, last of the Doolittle Raiders, dies at 103 https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/04/09/a-legend-passes-dick-cole-last-of-the-doolittle-raiders-dies-at-103/ https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/04/08/last-surviving-doolittle-raider-honored-florida.html Larry

www.sltrib.com/news/2019/03/19/utah-pilot-killed-world/?fbclid=IwAR2NUvlbY1CnRdEUB-cuqVlatBR5X-9PTv33hAsIg6ulWfCQFWfV27d9F7w I like this.

I am friends with Mark Wilson on Facebook, many of you may remember that Mark was one of the very first wounded veterans we helped raise a shop, acquire the tools and machinery he needed to work the wood, and our sponsors really came to the table to outfit his shop, he is a blind woodworker, injury received by shotgun blast to his face and blinded. My friend Mark posted this on Facebook, I replied: Amen amen amen my brother Mark! Just so ya'll know, he's doing fine, really well. Still working the wood, and going on trips all over the USA and participating in Wounded Warrior Games and Competitions. Our friend Mark on the table saw at the Chicago Heinz Center for the Blind Rehabilitation clinic. I took a break from working on some issues for our community here, while plugging away at those issues, I remembered our friend Mark Wilson, and he touched many hearts here. Service animals, fully functional folks traveling with those service animals, as psychological service pets, really chaps my hide, you all know the ones I am talking about, and then there's Mark Wilson. Our friend Mark with his service dog

Check out this link to see Marine Sergeant Major Grace Carle! hat https://www.google.com/search?q=marine+sergeant+major+grace+carle&tbm=isch&source=hp&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjy9cu2iIPhAhVJ04MKHS7SAOMQsAR6BAgFEAE&biw=1680&bih=895#imgrc=760l2Kpv8rCTqM:

On last nights news, I saw a video on a Texas WWII vet that is turning 100 on March 2. His birthday wish is to receive 100 birthday cards. Here is a link to another video on him that shows more information. This video shows he has received 2,500 cards. The video I saw last night shows he has received 10,000. https://abc13.com/society/family-asks-for-birthday-cards-for-wwii-vet-fighting-cancer/5119970/ While looking at this video, I found story on 92 year old vet in Oklahoma who is battling cancer. His birthday is April 17. He enjoys getting mail but does not get very much. https://abc7chicago.com/society/veteran-asks-for-100-birthday-cards-but-gets-thousands/5159623/ Thought maybe some of us might have a birthday card or two that needs to be mailed somewhere and maybe a sheet of paper that needs a letter written on it and mailed. Their addresses are show in the written portion of articles. Larry

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/18/us/sailor-kiss-vj-day-photo-george-mendonsa-dies/index.html

At a local restaurant that we visit regularly , one of the waitresses there told us a story this week about her dad. He is 94. He was 19 when he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. If any of you have seen the movie "Monument Men" he is one of those who went to get the gallery of hidden arts that Hitler stole. It was important to get there and remove the art before the Russians got there because Russia would have claimed the works for themselves. He was among the men who carried the art out and got away just before the Russians arrived. She said that she never heard the story until a couple weeks ago when she read about her dad in the newspaper. When she asked him why he never told this to the family, he said "I didn't think it was important". He never told the family of his interview with the movie producers for the making of the film and she had never seen the movie. Needless to say, she is very proud of him. Dad is 94 and her mom is 92.

Check out this veterans website and products- https://riserburnwoodcrafts.com/

You just have to appreciate this one. Young people forget that we old people had a career before we retired...... Charley, a new retiree-greeter at Wal-Mart, just couldn't seem to get to work on time. Every day he was 5, 10, 15 minutes late. But he was a good worker, really tidy, clean-shaven, sharp-minded and a real credit to the company and obviously demonstrating their "Older Person Friendly" policies. One day the boss called him into the office for a talk. "Charley, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you do a bang-up job when you finally get here; but your being late so often is quite bothersome." "Yes, I know boss, and I am working on it." "Well good, you are a team player. That's what I like to hear.” “Yes sir, I understand your concern and I’ll try harder.” Seeming puzzled, the manager went on to comment, “It's odd though your coming in late. I know you're retired from the Armed Forces. What did they say to you there if you showed up in the morning so late and so often?" The old man looked down at the floor, then smiled. He chuckled quietly, then said with a grin, "They usually saluted and said, ‘Good morning, Admiral, can I get your coffee, sir?’” give the man some respect.......

I just purchased a bag of the 12 oz. "Coffee or Die" blend, dark roast, it's a bit pricey, but hey, it's veteran owned and they employ veterans! I purchased my first bag this morning, thanks to @Stick486 for introducing us to Black Rifle Coffee at this topic I'll report back on taste and aroma when I get my first cup brewed. The image below is what I purchased. If you follow this link you'll get 10 percent off your first purchase as a guest of mine. https://www.talkable.com/x/7Z11sh and we'll get 5 dollars cash for our Patriot Woodworker Community!

Hooch? Yep, what we used to call those "houses". Missionary buildings were still smoldering after "Sandy" dropped a couple "tanks" on it. Rest of the village wasn't too badly burnt. Mid afternoon, cleared the place, and set up for the night. One hooch in the mid was mine as a CP. Around 2am, we had some visitors. Rather violent fellows. Started to shoot the place up. We had all the radid-dios stacked along one wall, to the right of the single doorway. Nathan Victor type sprays the wall on the other side of the doorway, kicks in the shabby door, looking around a bit wide eyed. Seems he thought he got us, BUT.....No more bullets in the gun( hate when that happens) so, catching sight of an American Adviser standing there, charges anyway. Seems that long pointy thing was aimed at ME? Block the dang thing to the side, and add a right cross to the jaw for good measure. Stalling for a bit of time...ah, .45 finally gets out, and.... He had two friends just outside the broken door, they got the same welcome as their buddy. One just doesn't intrude into MY Hooch, you know? Next morning, load up, and head on to the next "burg" along the canal/roadway , heading West.