Update March 1, 2015

1/83rd Unit News	1. Health Issue - Neal Schwartz (68-69) recently contacted me about some materials he received from the VA. Here is the beginning of the communication that he received "Dear Veteran, On January 16, 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) sent you an email with instructions on how to securely share the health care information contained in your VA Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) with non-VA providers. Due to recent updates to VA’s eBenefits website, some users have experienced difficulty in completing the authorization to share information. We apologize for any inconvenience. If you are a Premium* eBenefits account holder, we invite you to Connect Your Docs through the VLER Health Information Exchange." There was more after this as well. Neal then followed up with this note to me... "Hi Bill, I’m wondering if anyone else has any info or ideas on this from the VA. When I first got this I went in to sign up for it, but first I read the disclaimers. There seemed to be something there that made me feel like too much information would be shared with too many people. I guess I had a concern about things like PTSD being shared too far which might prevent the purchase of a firearm, not that I need anymore, I just don’t want some other agency messing with my rights. Maybe there’s a lawyer in the group that can better read and advise us on the gobbledygook contained in the disclaimer. I guess I could go back in and get a copy of the disclaimer to analyze. I think it might be a good thing to share the VA Health Record with the National Health Record, but I don’t want everyone browsing around in it. Let me know what you think we might do with this. I wonder if anyone else has signed up." Neal asked our Howard Sanger (68-69), who is a tax attorney for his thoughts on the disclaimer that came with the materials Neal received. Here is what Howard had to say... "Frankly, I think the centralization of all medical records makes sense. I will likely sign up for "eHealth Exchange". I skimmed what you sent me. I didn't analyze every word, as I do daily, when parsing the Internal Revenue Code for a client with an IRS issue. Thus feel free to relay to others that you and I discussed VA Medical Records. But please make it clear that I just skimmed what you sent, and that I did not do a careful analysis." At this point, Neal attempted to sign up online for the eHealth Exchange but ran into problems with their website. I had received a different mailing from the VA asking me to enroll in the "Million Veteran Program" and then replied to Neal with the following... "I did not receive an email like that but I did receive something in the mail from the Department of Veterans Affairs which wanted me to enroll in the "Million Veteran Program". This is supposed to be a "research program to improve health care for Veterans and their families". The invitation to join "is open to all Veterans registered in the VA Healthcare System". The mailing included a "Baseline Survey" that they asked me to complete after which they would schedule an appointment at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. After looking at the Survey and reading how they were going to protect my confidentiality and privacy, I was very skeptical and decided to ignore the request. They did ask to return a form saying I declined to participate but I did not do that either. I don't really trust the VA on such matters. They plan to study how "genes affect health". It makes you wonder if this is some attempt to control benefits by saying your genes were the cause of health problems and not as the result of your military service. I had meant to ask the group if anyone else had received such a mailing but forgot. I will now do that in the next update and mention what you received as well." So the question is, have any of you received either of those mailings and, if so, what have you done about it? 2. New Email Address - Tom Sellers (68-69) has a new email address, it can be found on the Roster. 3. Late Arriving March Birthday - Happy Birthday to Don Lages (66-67). 4. Photos - I recently received some photos from Win Langley (66-67) that he received from Susan Rosegay, the widow of John Rosegay (66-67). John was a very good friend who passed away in 2006. I added those photos and identified those in the photos that I knew but there are a couple who I could not ID. If you 66-67 guys could take a look and let me know who these guys are, I would appreciate it. Look on this page for the John Rosegay link in the first column. 5. Unit Merchandise - See section below. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Be sure to let me know what is going on in your life so we can share it with everyone in this section. See the latest 1/83rd News by clicking here.
Photo of the Week	Statue at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC (Courtesy of Barbara Bina (wife of Tony "B" Battery 1966-67)
General News	1. Nothing this time to report.
Interesting Links and More	1. Dennis Mack (66-67) sent this true story of one man's fight with United Airlines who damaged his guitar in baggage handling. Interesting and entertaining. Apparently his response to United was very effective. A Canadian musician from Halifax named Dave Carroll had difficulty with United Airlines. He spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor guitar. During his final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video for YouTube exposing their lack of cooperation. The Manager responded: "Good luck with that one, pal." So, he posted a retaliatory video on YouTube which has since received over 6 million hits. United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was: "Good luck with that one, pal." Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has led to a sharp increase in orders. Click here. 2. Walt Noechel (69-70) sent this video which is pretty amazing. This is about an archer who would put Robin hood to shame, I have never seen anything like this. 3. Don Aird (70-71) sent this recent addition to the "Waste Disposal" section of our website. Look for "A Special Yankee Candle" on this page. 4. Don Aird (70-71) sent this poignant ANZAC tribute video. 5. Don Aird (70-71) also sent his link about the effort to gather photos of all those listed on the Vietnam Veterans memorial in DC. I would imagine that most of us are already aware of this effort but, if you are not, maybe you can help. This story also lists the number accounted for by state along with how many are still needed.
Website Updates	1. If you come across anything that you think may be a good addition to our website let me know. Also, if you have any questions or suggestions regarding the website, let me know. 2. Check out all the latest updates by looking at the website Table of Contents.
Vietnam Veterans of America Update	1. VVA Update for February 13, 2015 2. VVA Update for February 20, 2015 3. VVA Update for February 27, 2015 4. VVA website
1/83rd Merchandise	Unit Merchandise - The proceeds from Cap, Decal and Patch sales will all go to the Reunion fund. a. Unit Crest Patches (same patch as has been available 3.25"h x 2.75"w - $6 each. Here is a photo. b. Unit Crest Decals (Decal is round 3.5" x 3.5") - $5 each. Here is a photo. c. 1/83rd Caps (Adjustable) - $20 each. Here is a photo. d. Unit Hat Patches (same patch as is on the 1/83rd cap - $6 each. Here is a photo. If you are interested in any of these items, send me a check. Make sure you supply your mailing address. If you want an 83rd Artillery Unit Crest Pin, I have a link on the website where you can order them from one of the 3 vendors listed. I have bought from all 3 of them and they are identical in quality, all are very good. Please note that Uniform Accessories will ship 2 for one price where the other 2 only ship 1 for almost the same price.
1/83rd Roster	Review your entry on the website Roster and let me know if any changes are necessary. If your email stops working, I cannot reach you if you have incomplete contact details on the roster.
Missing members of the 1/83rd	Help us find those former 83rd members who haven't found us yet!! I am sure that each of us has someone they would really like to reconnect with. If we all pitch in, we may find many more of our old buddies. Here are some ways to do that: 1. If you are in contact or have contact info for any 1/83rd guys please contact them and tell them about our group or at least tell me and I will contact them. 2. Look through the roster on the website and if you know of others who are not listed, let me know who they are. Also, if you see any incorrect or missing info (including your own entry) let me know. 3. If you have copies of old orders tucked away someplace, send me a copy so I can make sure those names are on the roster. 4. Sometimes all it takes is a name and location and we can find someone but the more details we know the better our chances.
Rules & Regs	I recently updated the "Rules & Regs" document, if anyone would like an updated copy, let me know. Go to Contact Us and submit your request or email me directly.
Advisory	If you get an email from and it has a website link included anywhere within the email, most times you should be able to just click on the link and you will be taken to the website. Sometimes however, the link will not work because, in sending you the email, the link is deactivated although it is still usable. If this should happen, another way to use the link is to copy and paste it into the address line on your browser. Please be sure to let me know if you have any questions on this. Please make sure that your email system allows emails to be received from both of my email addresses, bill_t_08012@yahoo.com and artillery_83rd@yahoo.com Please note that there are no blank spaces in email addresses. What you see in mine between words/characters is the underscore (_) character.