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CHRISTMAS GREETINGS FROM VA WATCHDOG DOT ORG --

And memories from a Christmas overseas:

Six Stars on Christmas Day.

Story below:

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Dear VA Watchdog Readers,

Merry Christmas.  May you have a wonderful Christmas and a safe New Year.

It's been a fairly normal year for veterans. 

We have a new VA Secretary..."Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." 

We learned that a Democratic Congress can do nothing just as well as a Republican Congress.

We heard from our VA leaders:  PTSD can be "cured"...the VA budget is "adequate"...veteran suicide issues are being "addressed"...and homeless veterans are being "helped."

So, 2007 was pretty much a normal year for veterans...we got kicked around and had to listen to lots of bull, but we survived.

And, that's the key.  We are survivors.  Not matter what old Uncle Sam seems to throw our direction, we bounce back and keep on going.

My sincere hope is that 2008 won't be quite so "normal" a year.

Working together, we can facilitate positive change in the VA system.  Let's do that.  Let's not be afraid to tell our elected representatives that they must protect the benefits we have earned.  They may not understand that concept, but they will understand this concept:

"I'm a veteran, and I vote!"

Here's to a better New Year, right after we have that Merry Christmas.

God Bless all my Brother and Sister veterans.

Larry Scott

Every week I write an article for the Fort Lewis Ranger newspaper.  Here is an article I wrote about Christmas overseas.

Six Stars on Christmas Day

A surprise visit from the “Two Wise Men”

by Larry Scott

Every old GI has a story about Christmas when they were in the military. The most poignant stories are usually about the Christmas spent overseas, away from family and friends.

Some of the Christmases away from home are better than others. I spent two Christmases overseas while on active duty. One was in the Azores, “The Rock,” an island in the Atlantic hundreds of miles off the coast of Portugal.

On Christmas Day that year, a number of NCOs crowded into my room to watch American Forces Television. Of course, some stateside mastermind had decided the Crystal Gayle Christmas Special was just the right touch for the GIs overseas. We tended to disagree with that assessment as we sat there and watched her sing, "I’ll Have a Blue Christmas Without You," while consuming way too much cheap champagne, courtesy of the Class 6 Store.

The other Christmas overseas wasn’t as blue and taught me a valuable lesson about military leadership.

This was Christmas 1977. I was stationed at American Forces Korea Network (AFKN) HQ in Seoul, Korea. I was on an unaccompanied tour, the family back home.

A Christmas tradition at AFKN, and most other units, was that the GIs who did not have family in country pulled Christmas Day duty. That way the GIs on an accompanied tour could be with their families for the holiday. I volunteered for (or was volunteered for, I forget which) Christmas Day duty on-the-air at AFKN radio. This meant a 12-hour shift playing Christmas music and being cheerful for all the GIs stationed on the Korean Peninsula. After a couple of hours on the air, playing nothing but Christmas records (remember records and turntables?), I was bored to death.

Then, I noticed two gentlemen dressed in civilian clothing walking down the hall of AFKN HQ toward my on-air studio. They looked familiar, but I couldn’t place them. They walked right up to the sound-proof door, pulled it open and entered the studio.

Then I recognized them and jumped to my feet and came to attention. The first gentleman said, “Why are you doing that? I don’t see an officer.” The second one said, “Nope, no officers here. Just us guys.”

They then spent a couple of minutes thanking me for pulling duty on Christmas Day and allowing others to spend time with their families. A brown paper bag appeared. It was handed to me. Inside was a bottle of something lethal and we all enjoyed a sip, a Christmas toast. Then they both shook my hand, put an arm around my shoulder and thanked me again. As they turned to leave, the first gentleman said, “Well, time to go thank some other good guys.” And they left.

It took me a moment or two to realize what had just happened, and to recuperate from the toast, whiskey, I think, Early Times, I think. Two men, considered then, and ever more so now, to be the finest military leaders, had taken time out of their Christmas Day to thank me for doing my duty.

The first gentleman was General John W. Vessey Jr., Commander of the Eighth United States Army. General Vessey went on to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The second gentleman was Major General Robert C. Kingston. General Kingston went on to command the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force and earn four stars.

I will never forget that Christmas Day and the few minutes these two great military men spent with me. Just two guys with a bottle, a smile, a "Thank you," a slap on the back and a "Merry Christmas." They didn’t have to do it, but they did. And it helped me understand why the men and women who served under them were so devoted and called them “Sir” not because they had to, but because they had earned it.

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Larry Scott  --

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