Winter, will the veterans be left out in the cold?

This has so far been a rough and tough winter; record breaking cold, snow, ice, and here in Maine it still has a long way to go.

Will our veterans, especially the Cold War Veterans be left out in the cold again? During the
primaries and general election the Cold War seemed to be mentioned almost daily. Both party's
brought it up in many campaign stops.

Now the new Congress is in session and soon President Obama will be inaugurated, will the memory carry over into action? Can congress be convinced that this is the year to finally remember and recognize our veterans for what they accomplished? We wait and hope, and
continue to contact our elected officials asking the question.

We ask that you all contact your officials in Washington and ask them "Will you introduce and/or support legislation to authorize and DIRECT DOD to issue a Cold War Victory/Service Medal.

Do not be fooled by DOD when they bring out the cost issue, their figures are overblown and
not reasonable. And, the other ploy they will try to use is "duplication of awards". That is also a fallacy, millions of our military served their tour of duty and did not receive any awards.

If you can contact your legislators at their state offices, find out the name of the staff member responsible for military/veterans/home security that would be much better. If we can convince
staff members of the importance of this medal, they would be more likely to press the senator or
representative to become more active; and be more favorable to our quest.

President Obama stated he is in favor of a Cold War Medal, remind him of this and ask if
he would use an executive order to bring about this medal.

We cannot do it alone, we need the help of you the public. You are the ones we were protecting
from Communism. We were there 24/7.

Do you remember fallout shelters, air raid drills? Our drills were different we were prepared
to do what what necessary to save freedom. From land, air, sea, under the sea armed with
nuclear weapons; praying we never had to use them, but always ready

Join us in our quest, demand that a Cold War Victory/Service Medal be issued this year. Also
bring all veterans back into the VA, change the section eight rules to allow these veterans to
get the treatment we were all promissed.

Let us not forget the homeless vets, the numbers of homeless is in the tens of thousands, and
growing. They need help also. Medical, mental, drug problems run very high among veterans
and they should be given the help they need to become self-sustaining citizens. Give them a
helping hand, not a handout.

And we must also remember the POW/MIS's, bring them home now. Demand that action be
taken to ensure all are accounted for. "Leave no man behind" just does not seen to be an
issue congress wants to take care of. There are still too many missing, and something must
be done to correc this issue.