American Legion posted February 3, 2010:

Earlier this week, President Obama signed into law the Veterans’ Emergency Fairness Act of 2009. This important legislation amends existing statutes to allow the VA to reimburse eligible veterans for portions of emergency treatment that are not covered by their private insurance. Before this change in law, VA could only pay outside hospitals directly, or reimburse veterans in cases where they did not have private health insurance.

“Many veterans enrolled in VA health care have limited private health insurance, and this new legislation helps to correct previous inequities in the law, and helps to ensure that a trip to the emergency room doesn’t cause financial ruin for those who honorably and selflessly served this nation,” said American Legion National Commander Clarence Hill.

“The American Legion appreciates Congress recognizing the need for this legislation and the president for acting quickly to sign it into law,” said Hill.

This legislation, introduced by Senator Daniel Akaka, D- Hawaii, also allows VA to reimburse veterans retroactively for emergency care received before the bill’s passage.

Posted by Bacon on February 4th, 2010 filed in Hero of the week

Where were you in 1970? I was in junior high school.

Sergeant Major Caffie was in Vietnam. When he first flew in, “It was 10 p.m. at night. You would see the tracers coming in, you could see the tracers going out. It makes you think ‘this is the real deal.” (From DefenseLink)

He survived Vietnam. eventually left active duty and went to school on the G.I. Bill while staying on the rolls in the inactive reserves. But he soon discovered that he missed the camaraderie of military service and joined the active reserves – officially the U.S. Army Reserves – in 1974.

Thus continued a career that spanned four decades of service, including a recent deployment to Iraq where, as Command Sergeant Major for the 377th Theater Support Command, he was responsible for 43,500 Soldiers.

He retired last month, bringing a long and distinguished Army career to an end.

Thank you, Sergeant Major, for your service. Others have the watch now, many of whom were touched by your inspirational leadership. Sergeant Major Caffie is our hero of the week.

(There is a great interview on the DefenseLink website, during which he describes his affection for the Soldiers he served with, as well as the respect he has for the U.S. military.)