Randle Tolliver, Post Quartermaster/Adjutant

post6660@movfw.org

 

Please see our page at www.facebook.com/VFW-Post-6660 for more post information.

Our next meeting is 2 PM, Sunday, 20 December at the Courthouse in Centerville.

VFW Post 6660 will hold a Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day event at the Veterans Memorial at the Courthouse in Centerville at 2 PM on Monday, 7 December.  Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day honors the 2,403 service members and civilians killed in the Japanese attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  The day after the attack, President Roosevelt delivered his famous Infamy Speech to a Joint Session of Congress, calling for a formal declaration of war on the Empire of Japan. Congress obliged his request less than an hour later. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, and Congress issued a declaration of war against Germany and Italy later that same day. The Unites States had entered World War II.  We would also like to take the opportunity to recognize all our WWII veterans.  If you have a friend or family member who served in WWII, please contact Elmer Winingar at (573) 637-2585, Jay Parks at (573) 689-1477 or  Randy Tolliver at (573) 924-2382 / post6660@movfw.org no later than Friday, 4  December.

Our Christmas raffle is ongoing and tickets will be on sale until 19 December, and the drawing will be held on 21 December.  You do not have to be present to win, and we will contact the winners.  We will be selling tickets at various locations in the county.  For more information, call Randy Tolliver or Jay parks.

A little known but very important program sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars is our National Home for Children.   Located in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, the Home provides children and families of members of the VFW, its Auxiliary and active-duty military opportunities for growth and development in a nurturing community.  It was founded in 1925 as a place where the families left behind by war — mothers and children, brothers and sisters — could remain together, keeping the family circle intact even when their serviceman didn’t come home. Since its founding, the Home has grown from an old frame farmhouse to a sprawling campus with playgrounds, park areas, and multiple buildings, including single-family homes, a community center and gymnasium, child care facility, guest lodge, chapel and administrative offices. Today’s families face different challenges — reintegration, post-traumatic stress, high unemployment and rehabilitation from battlefield injuries, among others — and the National Home has evolved over our decades-long history to meet those changing needs. For more information please visit  https://www.vfwnationalhome.org/ .

Some good news for Veterans receiving government benefits! Your 1.3% cost of living increase will take effect on 1 December, and will be included in your 31 December payment. This is equal to the increase granted for Social Security benefits, which will be for 2021. The increase will be for wartime disability compensation, compensation for dependents, clothing allowance, and dependency and indemnity compensation to surviving spouses and children.

Recently the U.S. Army reached a nationwide settlement in a case brought by veterans who received other-than-honorable discharges. As part of the settlement, the Army agreed to review decisions of the Army Discharge Review Board (ADRB) issued on or after Oct. 7, 2001, for certain veterans with mental health conditions, including PTSD and TBI. The Army will automatically reconsider all eligible ADRB decisions issued on or after April 17, 2011. Veterans who received a decision issued by the ADRB between 7 October 2001 and 16 April 201 can file for reconsideration. For more information on how to apply for a discharge upgrade https://www.va.gov/discharge-upgrade-instructions.

For those with family stationed overseas, a quick reminder of the holiday overseas mail deadlines. In order to ensure overseas packages are delivered before Dec. 25, USPS has provided the following guidance: Dec. 9 for Air/Army Post Office, Fleet Post Office and Diplomatic Post Office addresses in the 093 ZIP Code using Priority Mail and First-Class Mail; Dec. 11 for all other APO/FPO/DPO ZIP Codes, send by Dec. 11 using Priority Mail and First-Class Mail; and Dec. 18 for APO/FPO/DPO addresses other than the 093 Zip Code using USPS Priority Mail Express. The Postal Service has also created a “military care kit,” which consists of the items most often requested by military families and it is free.

Now a few reminders.

Starting 1 January 2021 retirees will begin paying monthly premiums for TRICARE Select. You should receive a letter from Health Net Federal Services LLC enrollment department, and for more info go to https://tricare.mil/Plans/Enroll/Select/EnrollmentFees. Beneficiaries must set up an allotment with their regional contractors during TRICARE Open Season, which runs from 9 November to 14 December.  These allotments for the enrollment fee must begin on 1 January, 2021.

For the status of our local VA medical facilities in Poplar Bluff, and Farmington, please contact call 1-573-686-4151 or see https://www.poplarbluff.va.gov/services/index.asp

If you need to obtain military service documents such as a DD 214/ Separation Document or Official Military Personnel File (OMPF), please contact the National Archives, National Personnel Records Center at https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records or call 1 (866) 272-6272.

For more information, call Elmer Winingar at (573) 637-2585, Jay Parks at (573) 689-1477 or  Randy Tolliver at (573) 924-2382 / post6660@movfw.org.  For more information concerning the VFW at the national level please go to www.vfw.org and at the state level, http://movfw.us.

“Here to Serve”