I attended the Annual Meeting 27 July thru 1 August in Louisville.

Items of special note presented in the opening session were:

* AVVA was accredited to process service related claims as of  17
July 2009
* Ischemic heart disease and Parkinson's disease have been added
to presumptive service connected list for Vietnam Veterans.  VVA is
still working on getting hypertension added.
* 75 percent of Veterans are not going to Veterans Administration
or belonging Veteran Service Organizations.  Visit
VeteransHealth.org which provides more information on service
connected rights.
* Vietnam Veterans are 3 times more likely to develop prostate
cancer than the general non-Veteran population.  Similar findings for
Persian Gulf War Veterans with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).

Keynote speaker was LTG (Retired) Russel Honore on the topic of TOPS
(Taking Other Peoples Shit).  He indicated that "you always gotta be
ready with a big old can of whoop-ass".  His main point was that we
should give all of our Veterans either TriCare or the Federal Employee
Health Care Plan to cover their health needs.

I attended the Public Affairs Committee which talked about how they have
improved "The Veteran".  I contacted Carol Engle (CEngle@vva.org) in the
meeting.  She offered to review our current website and provide
assistance in approving it.  (Note, there is a one-time fee of $25 for
this assistance).  There were several take-away points from this
session.  Chapters should:
* Educate local school and college students on the Vietnam War,
most don't even know where it was fought.
* Advertise and publicize VA Veterans' benefits and how to claim
them
* Support the building of the Gold Star Mothers National Monument
in Washington DC.

I also attended the Government Affairs workshop.  They will conduct
advocacy workshops in our area or in DC.

I played a beneficial role in getting VVA policy changed so as to take a
proactive role in getting reviews of Dishonorable Discharges.  Over
1,000,000 Vietnam Veterans received less than honorable discharges
during the war, many of them were "Dishonorable Discharges".  Often the
DDs arose out of Veterans who served honorably their entire tour in
theater and then just couldn't adjust to garrison life when they
returned stateside.  Many of those went AWOL to see family and then
returned, or got in other trouble.  The DD then barred the Veteran from
receiving any needed VA Benefits for life.  The policy change would ask
the Secretary for Veterans Affairs to direct the Service Secretaries to
review these discharges with a more balanced prospective.

Former Miss America, Heather French is the daughter of a Vietnam
Veteran.  She came to talk to the VVA Convention attendees about
"prostates, PSAs, and digital rectal exams".  She has set up a
foundation for Veterans to address this important issue (providing free
exams at the Kentucky State Fair).  She is also a life member of AVVA.

BG (retired) Jose Riojas, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, talked
about w2hat the VA is now doing:
* Established Agent Orange link with Parkinson's and Heart Disease

* President Obama has charged the DVA to become a 'high
performance' organization
* VA goal is to be the provider of first choice for Veterans
* VA is expanding healthcare for 500,000 Category 8 Veterans in
the next 2 years at a cost of $2 Billion.
* VA has established a funded program to eliminate the problem of
having 133,000 Veterans homeless every day.  Program goal is to take
this number to zero in the next 5 years.  There is $3.2 Billion in
current VA budget to start this process.
* VA has cut benefits claim processing time in half, but the
backlog continues to grow.  VA has committed to significantly reduce
that benefits claims backlog.
* Two new initiatives to create a seamless transition from active
duty to retired status are: common electronic medical records and
electronic service records.  Veterans should not need to save every
piece of paper they have ever been given just in case they need to
establish service connection for some unknown future claim.
* We are 40 years from Vietnam use of Agent Orange, and 20 years
past Gulf War Syndrome and yet we are still trying to adjudicate what
they cause and who have been exposed.  VA has committed to finding a
better way to handle making these determinations.

On the side, I talked with BG Riojas regarding the situation with
Congressman Lane Evans and asked for his assistance.  I provided more
information in a follow-up email after the meetings.

I danced the "Funky Chicken" for the enjoyment of Veterans in
attendance.  I'll never be asked to do that again.

I also made presentations of 4 American Flag Neckties to:  LTG (Retired)
Honore, BG (Retired) Riojas, VVA President John Rowan, and Mr Marty
Herbert (US House of Representatives Majority Staff Director for the
Sub-committee on Oversight and Investigation of the Veterans Affairs
Committee).  These are contacts which may be of use to us in the future.