Congress Limits Protest At Military Funerals

As part of "The Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012"
which passed Congress and is now headed to President Obama's desk, is a section to limit protests
at Military Funerals.

Demonstrators will now no longer be allowed to picket two hours before or 2 hours following a
military funeral service. The bill also says that protesters must remain at least 300 feet away
from grieving family members.

Thanks to Maine Republican Senator Olympia Snowe who introduced this part of the legislation
at the urging of a teenage constituent, in response to a Supreme Court case in 2011 that said
the protests were protected by the First Amendment.

This will severely limit actions by the Westboro Baptist Church in their protests at military
funerals. The Church's disruptive and insensitive actions  often suggest that U.S. Armed Forces
have been killed as part of God's vengeance for tolerance of gay and lesbian in our country.

As a response to the court ruling and the continued presence of the protesters many have held
counter-protest demonstrations in an effort to block to protesters, often forming a human
barrier to keep the Westboro Baptist Church members at a distance from the military funeral.

Our Armed Forces have fought long and hard to allow the freedom to protest, the members of
this Church should be thankful and respectful enough to allow the freedom of a peaceful and
dignified final laying to rest of those who have given their all to our country.

Respect for the families grieving the loss of their loved ones should never be allowed to be minimized,
or interfered with in any manner by any person or group.

---- Jerald Terwilliger Former Chairman American Cold War Veterans "We Remember" ---------------- "And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades." -- Robert M. Gates, 1996

Families of Deployed Military Carry Heavy Load

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/brain-and-behavior/articles/2011/01/21/families-of-deployed-military-carry-heavy-load

FRIDAY, Jan. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Families of U.S. military personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan face a number of challenges as relationships change and they have to take on more household responsibilities, new research shows.

The yearlong study of 1,127 military families found that children of deployed parents are more likely to experience emotional difficulties and anxiety than other children their age. The youngsters in the study said they felt misunderstood by community members, challenged by the increase in household chores, and found it hard to deal with the deployed parents' mood changes when they returned home.
Military spouses said they faced a number of major stressors when their partner was deployed overseas, including a heavier household workload, changes in marriage roles, and family communication challenges, according to researchers at the RAND Corp., a nonprofit research organization.

Caregivers with spouses in the National Guard or Reserves reported poorer emotional well-being and greater household challenges than those with spouses in the full-time military.

Good communication between parents and children -- which the study authors defined as a perception of empathy and understanding -- was associated with fewer household challenges.

"These findings underscore the experiences of children and spouses when a member of the military goes off to war," lead author and behavioral scientist Anita Chandra said in a RAND news release.

"While children and spouses are continuing to handle challenges well overall, it is how children and spouses handle the change in household and family relationships that affects how they cope during periods of deployment."
More information
The U.S. Department of Defense offers deployment advice for military personnel and their families.

Jerald Terwilliger
National Chairman
American Cold War Veterans
"We Remember"

---------------- "And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades." -- Robert M. Gates, 1996