By Andrea Kelly

Arizona Daily Star

A national veteran’s group that supports clean energy has called on the local Conservatives for Congress Committee to remove its ad criticizing U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ inquiry about renewable energy in America’s wars.

The Operation Free organization includes thousands of veterans, including more than 700 who have participated in lobbying activities in Washington, D.C., gone on a multi-state tour, or signed letters asking Congress to take action to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

They are responding to an ad Conservatives for Congress is airing on local television stations this week, which highlights an exchange between Giffords and Gen. David Petraeus about the American troops’ oil dependence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The heavily-edited video in the ad includes just a few words from each, carefully selected from a four-minute question and answer exchange in a congressional committee meeting.

U.S. Marine Corps veteran Jonathan Murray called the ad “inaccurate and even insulting” during a news conference Wednesday. Murray is an Operation Free director.

The news conference also included former Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Commander Lt. Gen. Norman Seip, who said reducing dependence on oil will reduce the number of dangerous convoys to transport the fuel. “Which means less opportunities for our enemy to attack our young men and women and put them in harm’s way,” Seip said.

Also Wednesday, Giffords released a list of 20 veterans condemning the ad and supporting her for taking on a life-and-death issue for troops.

“The bogus ad by Conservatives for Congress takes an issue of life and death for our troops and turns it into fodder for a cheap political attack. What a disgrace. Shame on them for disrespecting our brave men and women in uniform,” the group says in a joint statement. Included among the 20 is Retired Gen. John Wickham, former President Ronald Reagan’s U.S. Army Chief of Staff.

Conservatives for Congress has rejected the request.

“We’re not going to take it down,” said Steve Christy, chairman of the Conservatives for Congress Committee.

In a written statement, he said the groups calling for the ad’s removal are associated with “leftist” or “progressive” agendas, including the Huffington Post, the Truman National Security Project and the Progressive Policy Institute.

“The point of our ad is that Giffords dogmatic obsession with peripheral items such as solar street lights is but one example of the myopic and leftist views she holds that place her outside the mainstream of the people she supposedly represents,” Christy said in the statement.

Tucson, Ariz. – As momentum for Gabrielle Giffords continues to grow, Giffords for Congress today released Veterans for Giffords. This new web video features veterans from across Southern Arizona standing up and expressing support for Gabrielle.

A member of the House Armed Services Committee, Gabrielle fights for Southern Arizona’s veterans. She worked to pass the biggest VA funding increase ever and looks out for the needs of Southern Arizona’s military families.

Gabrielle is also the only member of Congress with a spouse on active duty in the military. Her husband, Mark, is a U.S. Navy Captain and NASA space shuttle commander.

Earlier this year, Gabrielle was endorsed by leading veterans from across Southern Arizona. “Gabrielle is the most sincere, loyal person to veterans’ issues I’ve ever known. She is the best friend veterans have ever had in Arizona,” said U.S. Air Force Retired Master Sergeant Bob Berry.

Other Southern Arizona veterans who endorsed Gabrielle include Sierra Vista Mayor Robert Strain, a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and Retired Gen. John Wickham, who was appointed U.S. Army Chief of Staff by President Ronald Reagan.

Gabrielle Giffords is a third generation Southern Arizonan and the only military spouse in Congress. Gabrielle is not like other politicians. She’s voted against a Congressional pay raise every time one has come up, and she doesn’t make earmark requests for campaign contributors. She takes an independent view on the issues and was rated Arizona’s most moderate member of Congress by the National Journal in 2009. Most importantly, Gabrielle stands up for Southern Arizona by working across the aisle to secure the border, protect our servicemen and veterans and create jobs by investing in solar energy.

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Dear Friend,

Gabrielle and longtime supporter and WWII veteran Bob Berry of Green Valley, AZ.

I hope you are enjoying this holiday weekend with friends and family.  As we commemorate Memorial Day with celebrations, parades and barbeques, I hope you will join me and my family in remembering what makes this holiday so important: the troops who have fought bravely to protect the country we hold so dear.

(more…)

Op-Ed by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

Sierra Vista Herald

The 40 American volunteer aid workers had survived the earthquake. But they were separated into five small groups, waiting to be rescued from the devastated foreign nation.

Using rudimentary tools — hand-drawn maps, signaling mirrors and large letters stomped into the dirt — the aid workers attracted the attention of U.S. Air Force helicopter crews who had been dispatched to rescue them.

The men and women were located, loaded into the choppers and taken to a central point to be evaluated for injuries. All returned home safely.

(more…)

Veterans say congresswoman works tirelessly for Arizona’s military community

“Gabrielle is the most sincere, loyal person to veterans’ issues I’ve ever known. She works tirelessly to make a better life for veterans. She is the best friend veterans have ever had in Arizona.” – U.S. Air Force Retired Master Sergeant Bob Berry

Giffords for Congress today announced that leading Southern Arizona veterans have committed their support to Gabrielle Giffords.

Among the 10 Arizona veterans endorsing the congresswoman today are Sierra Vista Mayor Robert Strain, Arizona Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander Joe Reagan and retired General John Wickham, who served as U.S. Army Chief of Staff under President Ronald Reagan.

“These veterans are true patriots,” said Michael McNulty, chairman of Giffords for Congress. “While they have held a wide variety of roles in their service to our country, they all share a great regard for Gabrielle’s tireless and effective work on behalf of our men and women in uniform, their families and Arizona’s veterans and military facilities.

(more…)

Arizona Daily Star, March 16, 2010

Rhonda Bodfield | Posted: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 6:37 pm

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on Monday penned a letter to First Lady Michelle Obama asking her to attend Women’s Equality Day at Fort Huachuca on Aug. 24.

That date, coincidentally, is the same day as Arizona’s primary election, when it will become clear which candidate Giffords will face in November.

Giffords request is a follow-up from a February invitation from Major Gen. John Custer, who asked Mrs. Obama to be the keynote speaker at the event, to honor the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote in August 1920.

Noting women make up 20 percent of the modern military, Giffords wrote, “The opportunity to hear you share your experiences as a wife, mother, lawyer, public servant and First Lady would mean a great deal to the soldiers, families and civilians who live and work at the Fort.”

Republican challenger Brian Miller, one of four running in the GOP primary, pondered whether presidential visits are being dangled to wavering representatives to get them to commit to the health care bill. “Will this trip include some campaign stumping for our current Congresswoman?” he speculated.

Willcox Range News – November 11, 2009

By U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords/For the Range News

When our nation asked Raymond Federico to serve, he answered the call.

Raymond joined the U.S. Navy and served in Southeast Asia, seeing combat from the decks of troop transports and other ships. He manned a .50-caliber machine gun on boats patrolling the rivers of Vietnam.

Patriots such as Raymond are at the forefront of our minds as we mark Veterans’ Day. But honoring the service of veterans like him must go beyond mere words. Deeds are required and Raymond is among the many veterans who know just how serious that requirement is.

After firing the big guns with no ear protection for almost four years, Raymond developed tinnitus and hearing loss and filed for a service-related disability. Earlier this year, Raymond was working for a Tucson automobile dealer, but lost his job and had trouble making his mortgage payments when the business closed.

Things became a little easier for Raymond and his wife when Congress passed the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act.

Like many bills concerning our veterans, this one had strong bipartisan support. It increased the annual compensation rate for disabled veterans and their dependent survivors by the same cost-of-living adjustment payable to Social Security recipients.

“It certainly helped so we didn’t get behind in our bills,” Raymond said.

On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a nation, we must pledge that when service members such as Raymond return home, we leave no veteran behind.

To help fulfill this solemn commitment, I am proposing needed changes to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, which went into effect in August. This bill restores the promise of a full, four-year college education for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

These benefits will be available to 2.1 million veterans and to all children of fallen soldiers since 9/11. This is an excellent bill, but I want to make it better.

Some retired veterans eligible for education benefits are unlikely to use them, because they have degrees or went on to careers. I have proposed that eligible veterans who retired before Aug. 1, 2009 have the right to transfer those benefits to other family members.

I also am proposing that housing allowances under the bill be available to veterans who take classes online. And I am asking that veterans who received benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill also be eligible, under some circumstances, for benefits under the Post 9/11 GI Bill, up to a maximum total of 48 months of benefits.

This year Congress has passed numerous bills to improve the lives of the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Each bill will benefit our nation’s heroes, past and present, and the military families who support them.

Among those bills was the Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act, which will provide better healthcare services for the 1.8 million women veterans.

We also passed the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, which authorizes Congress to approve Veterans Affairs medical care appropriations one year in advance. This will help assure that veterans’ medical care will be delivered quickly and will end a cycle of late payments by Congress to the VA.

Legislation, though, is only half the battle. This is why I am urging the Veterans Department to establish a much-needed Vet Center in Cochise County. And this is why I and other members of Congress successfully persuaded the VA to change a policy that required Southern Arizona veterans to travel to Phoenix to collect emergency education benefits.

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee who represents a district with two military installations and a large number of veterans, I know how important it is to keep our promises to the courageous men and women who served in our armed forces. I also know that I am far from alone.

From KVOA.com,

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was at Davis-Monthan Air Force base Thursday for an informational session on the new Post 911 GI Bill effective August 1^st 2009.

Officials from the military, the University of Arizona and Pima Community College joined U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to explain provisions and benefits of the Post 911 GI Bill.

Giffords says the three major benefits include up to 100% paid tuition, a monthly housing stipend, and a stipend of up to $1,000 a year for books and supplies.

She says these benefits will vary depending on your state of residence, number of units taken, and amount of post Sept. 11, 2001 active-duty service.

The education benefits are for service members and veterans who have served on active duty for 90 or more days since Sept. 10, 2001.

Post-9/11 benefit payments are tiered based on the amount of creditable active-duty service since Sept. 10, 2001.

100% – 36 or more total months

100% – 30 or more consecutive days with Disability related Discharge.

90% – 30 total months

80% – 24 total months

70% – 18 total months

60% – 12 total months

50% – six total months

40% – 90 or more days

Undergraduates in Arizona can receive up to $657.00 per credit hour or a maximum of $15,000.59 total fees paid per term.

For other states click here: http://www.gibill.va.gov/GI_Bill_Info/CH33/Tuition_and_fees.htm

Further benefits include $100 per month for tutorial services and up to $2000 for license or certification test reimbursement.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is currently accepting applications for the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

More information is available at http://www.gibill.va.gov/

You can apply using the VA Form 22-1990.

Sierra Vista Herald/Review,  Published Saturday, May 16, 2009

By Bill Hess

TUCSON – Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas says it is time the few remains of soldiers from the 1860s through the 1880s  who died in the then Arizona Territory be given a final resting place.

“They need land where they will have final peace,” the bishop of the Diocese of Tucson said Friday morning.

Prior to blessing the remains of 57 soldiers, three children and an Army civilian employee at All Faiths Cemetery in Tucson, the bishop said, “All of us want our lives to be remembered and respected.”

In the case of the remains, which were placed in small wooden caskets constructed by Palominas resident Joe Smith, they have been moved a few times.

Some of the remains may have even been separated, with some being moved to California while parts remained in Tucson.

“These bodies will find their eternal rest,” Kicanas said.

The remains of the soldiers who protected the Arizona Territory in the 1800s have been forgotten for more than a century.

Years ago, their graves were paved over as roads were built in downtown Tucson. But as preparations were made for a new Pima County and city of Tucson court complex, the remains were rediscovered.

In a legal archaeological process, the remains of the 61 people, along with more than 1,700 other remains, were processed for removal and relocation.

The Arizona Department of Veterans Services, through the state-operated Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery’s administrator Joe Larson, then started the process of having the soldiers placed among the honored dead of all branches of the services that served after them.

Before the bishop gave the final blessing for the journey from Tucson to Sierra Vista on Friday, motorcyclists representing many veterans organizations carefully placed 35-star flags on each small coffin. The national banners were from the era the remains of soldiers fought under in the 1800s. The remains included cavalrymen, infantrymen, cooks, farriers, musicians and others who were stationed in the territory from the Civil War through some of the Indian Wars.

Kicanas led the people at the Tucson cemetery in singing the first verse of “Amazing Grace.”

“We pray for their souls, for those who gave their lives for the protection of our country,” the bishop said.

Blessing each casket with holy water, Kicanas told each of those whose souls were represented in the caskets to “sleep in everlasting peace.”

Then he asked the riders to form a semi-circle in an area between the rows of the caskets and blessed each of them asking God to grant them a safe drive from Tucson to Sierra Vista as they escorted the remains.

Each casket was then carried by two of the riders and placed on one of two government vehicles as a pair of soldiers from Fort Huachuca’s 11th Signal Brigade saluted each coffin as it went between them.

The trip from All Faiths Cemetery to the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery on Buffalo Soldier Trail took slightly more than two hours.

Upon arrival, Fort Huachuca Chaplain (Col.) Thomas Day said a prayer as the remains were received in Sierra Vista.

Soldiers and airmen from the fort then removed and ceremonially folded two large 50-star American flags that covered the caskets in the trucks.

The caskets were then removed and placed in an area where they would remain overnight waiting for today’s 10 a.m. reburial ceremony in Sierra Vista.

The Victorian-era style cemetery-within-a-cemetery that will be the final resting place was nearby. Each grave will be marked with a marble headstone in the style of the 1880s.

There will be no names on the markers, even though records indicated the possibility of names for some of those in the Tucson graves. Each tombstone will be marked unknown because of the lack of DNA required by the federal government to confirm the identification of a set of remains.

Kicanas said the short farewell ceremony in Tucson and the one today in Sierra Vista are meant to give those who served so many years ago in Arizona the recognition they deserve.

As birds sang in the growing heat of the Tucson cemetery, the bishop again addressed the remains in the caskets, saying where they were going in Sierra Vista.

“May this new resting place be a your final eternal resting place,” he said.

U S Army Online Magazine May 7, 2009

By C. Todd Lopez

Two members of Congress who’ve lived the life of a military spouse say the experience has better helped them understand the military family and helps them connect better with those who serve.

“Since being married to him, I understand the stresses that military families go through,” said Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, congresswoman from Arizona’s 8th district.

Giffords’ husband is Navy Capt. Mark E. Kelly, an astronaut, who currently is assigned at Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas. Kelly works on the space shuttle and has spent nearly 40 days in space — he’s served as pilot on STS-108 in 2001 and STS-121 in 2006, and was Space Shuttle Discovery’s commander on STS-124 in 2008. He spends a lot of time training in Texas while Giffords remains in either Washington, D.C. or Arizona.

“We try to see each other if possible twice a month. That’s our goal. But it’s been more like once every three weeks,” she said. “But I am very proud of what he does — he serves his country with great honor and great distinction.”

Giffords serves on the House Armed Services Committee, where she is responsible for helping make decisions that affect the entire Department of Defense. She said her short time as a military spouse — she and her husband have only been together since 2007 — has given her better insight to the lives of both military members and their spouses.

“As a woman on the Armed Services Committee and a military spouse, it provides me a unique perspective,” she said. “(I’m) able to visit our troops in theater and have a conversation (with them,) not about how the weapons systems are working or not necessarily how the operation is going, but what is happening back at home. How are the kids? How is the spouse doing? ”

Giffords said she believes that communities can do more to help military families, on a person-to-person level, in the school systems, and also with the mental health issues for military members and their spouses.

“I feel very strongly that counseling should be made available to Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, spouses and family members that are struggling because of maybe post traumatic stress disorder, maybe traumatic brain injury or maybe the stress of just being deployed,” she said. “And I am concerned about the divorce rate, about domestic violence rate, and the suicide rate. Those are problems we as a community cannot ignore.”

Both Giffords and husband Capt. Mark Kelly are serving their country though — she in the Congress and he in space. She said she’s proud of the work he does and proud to serve.

“Both of us are really honored to serve our nation,” she said.

Rep. Thomas Rooney, of Florida’s 16th district, is also a former military spouse — though it’d be more appropriate to say he was half of a dual-military household. Both he and his wife, Tara, began serving in the Army in 2000 as part of the Judge Advocate Corps, after the two attended law school together.

“We got married after law school and decided to join,” Rooney said, saying a recruiter had convinced them the opportunities for advancement and exciting cases were greater in the Army than in the civilian world.

The two served first at Fort Hood, Texas, where he was part of the 1st Cavalry Division and she was in III Corps.

“She was probably the most squared-away judge advocate that I ever met,” he said. “Very attention-to-detail oriented and she was a great legal assistance attorney.”

The two took a second assignment in New York at West Point, where Rooney served as an instructor of law and wife Tara switched to the Reserves. While Rooney was half of a military couple, his interactions with other military families at both his assignments have brought him a perspective that many others don’t have.

“Seeing what the spouses had to go through, supporting their spouse whether male or female, watching some of them deploy, and just becoming a support system with the rest of our friends that we either went through basic with or were stationed with — especially spouses with small children — it was very hard,” Rooney said.

“I think that what spouses go through in the modern era is certainly something I am very comfortable with, which is why I want to be on the subcommittee for personnel. You want people to want to be in the military. You want spouses to be happy — to be happy their better half served in the military. It should not be an encumbrance at all.”

Military spouses, he added are “probably the most unsung hero part of the military.”

Rooney said he is working on legislation now that helps military spouses better deal with some of the stresses they face when Soldiers come home — specifically dealing with PTSD.

“Our bill would make it a lot easier to identify what the needs are of each individual warfighter when they get home,” he said. “A large part of it was to assist the spouses who really have to deal with it in a way they probably never anticipated.

“I think the first or second bill I sponsored was directly written because of my concern for military spouses — with PTSD. I talked to a lot of women who when their husband got home, whatever level of stress they may have had, they were not ready to deal with that. And so I just thought if as a Congress we can make it easier on them by making (more accessible) whatever care the returning warfighter is going to get … then all the better.”