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The I-70 Scout & Eastern Colorado News

Tag: Navy

  • Mail Call for Overseas Military, Diplomatic Service Members

    Mail Call for Overseas Military, Diplomatic Service Members

    HOLIDAY SEASON SHIPPING DEADLINES ARE APPROACHING

     Thousands of men and women in the nation’s military and diplomatic corps are serving abroad during the holidays. The mail is a great way to stay connected with them by sending cards, letters, presents and care packages for the festive season.

    To send packages to loved ones serving in the military abroad, the Postal Service offers a discount on its Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box. The $18.45 price includes a $1.50 per box discount for mail sent to APO / FPO / DPO destinations worldwide. Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes are available at no cost at local Post Offices, or can be ordered online at usps.com/freeboxes.

    To help with timely delivery of holiday wishes by Dec. 25, cards and packages to military addresses overseas should be sent no later than:

    OVERSEAS MILITARY DEADLINES  

    Dec. 11 – Cards, Letters, and Priority Mail Packages

    Dec. 18 – Priority Mail Express

    FREE MILITARY BOXES AND SUPPLIES

    The Postal Service has created a free Military Care Kit based on the items most frequently requested by military families. The kit contains address labels, tape, boxes, and customs forms.

    To order the kit, call 800-610-8734 or go to: store.usps.com/store/product/shipping-supplies/military-care-kit-P_MILITARYKIT. Guidelines for packing, addressing and shipping items to U.S. troops can be also found at: https://www.usps.com/ship/apo-fpo-dpo.htm.

    Postage, labels, and customs forms can be printed online anytime using Click-N-Ship at usps.com/ship. While you are at usps.com, you can also print your shipping labels, pay for postage, and call for your letter carrier to pick up your Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express items at your home or business for free (where available).

    MAIL PREPARATION TIPS:

    • Use good strong boxes and good strong packing tape. No duct tape or masking tape. No string or wire. No shoeboxes.
    • Don’t use boxes from a liquor store. Boxes that indicate there is alcohol inside cannot be mailed.
    • Don’t ship anything with a lithium battery.
    • Always include a return address on the parcel, and include destination/return address on a card inside the parcel (in case the address on the parcel is rendered unreadable).
    • Never use holiday wrapping paper around your parcel. Wrapping paper is very thin and isn’t suitable in the high speed sorting machines.

    ADDRESSING THE PACKAGE

    • Write the service member’s full name
    • Include the unit and APO/FPO/DPO address with the 9-digit ZIP Code (if one is assigned). For example:

    Army/Air Post Office (APO)

    PFC JANE DOE

    PSC 3 BOX 4120

    APO AE 09021          

    Fleet Post Office (FPO)

    SEAMAN JOSEPH SMITH

    UNIT 100100 BOX 4120

    FPO AP 96691

    Diplomatic Post Office (DPO)

    MELANIE ADAMS

    UNIT 8400 BOX 0000

    DPO AE 09498-0048

    ·       Do not write the country name where the service member is stationed in the address

    ·       Include a return address

    ·       Inside the box, include the service member’s name and address as well as the sender’s name and address on an index card in case the shipping label gets damaged in transit

     Additional news and information, including all domestic, international and military mailing and shipping deadlines, can be found at the Postal Service Holiday Newsroom at usps.com/holidaynews

     The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

    		    

     

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  • Bennet, Casey Urge Administration to Stop Obstructing Efforts to Deliver Benefits to Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange

    Bennet, Casey Urge Administration to Stop Obstructing Efforts to Deliver Benefits to Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange

    Denver – Today, U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) sent a letter to Trump Administration officials urging them to stop obstructing access to health benefits and disability compensation for approximately 83,000 veterans, some from Colorado and Pennsylvania.

    Following a federally-mandated National Academies of Medicine (NAM) study on the health effects of exposure to Agent Orange, Office of Management and Budget Director (OMB) Mick Mulvaney declined to include illnesses determined by the NAM study to be linked to exposure to Agent Orange and other chemicals used during the Vietnam War as presumptive conditions.

    “By refusing to include these illnesses on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) list of Agent Orange presumptive benefits, OMB is acting in direct opposition to the NAM’s analysis of peer-reviewed reports that suggest otherwise,” wrote Bennet and Casey in their letter to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert Wilkie and OMB Director Mulvaney. “We encourage you to acknowledge the scientific based evidence and the recommendation of the previous VA Secretary David Shulkin, and designate these conditions to the presumptive list for Agent Orange exposure.”

    The senators also expressed concern over the delay in implementation of new legislation to expand Agent Orange benefits to Navy Vietnam veterans, demanding the administration prioritize and process their claims as soon as possible.

    “These veterans and their families have waited long enough for access to the benefits for which they are eligible and desperately need,” wrote the senators. “Our nation must live up to the promises it has made to the men and women who have sacrificed much by serving in uniform.”

    The text of the letter is available HERE and below.

    Dear Director Mulvaney and Secretary Wilkie:

     We write to express our serious concern regarding delays for veterans who are suffering from illnesses related to their exposure to Agent Orange. The Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) decision to exclude bladder cancer, hypertension, Parkinsonism, and hypothyroidism as diseases linked to Agent Orange is frustrating and unfair. This delay denies approximately 83,000 veterans, many from Colorado and Pennsylvania, faster access to disability compensation and health benefits.

     As you know, Congress has mandated that the National Academies of Medicine (NAM) publish updated reports that comprehensively evaluate scientific and medical information about the health effects of exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used during the Vietnam War. The 2016 NAM report Veterans and Agent Orange Update 2014 states, “sufficient evidence of an association between exposure to at least one of the chemicals of interest and hypertension.” This report also determined there is “limited and suggestive evidence” that offers a link between Agent Orange exposure and bladder cancer and hypothyroidism. By refusing to include these illnesses on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) list of Agent Orange presumptive benefits, OMB is acting in direct opposition to the NAM’s analysis of peer-reviewed reports that suggest otherwise. We encourage you to acknowledge the scientific based evidence and the recommendation of the previous VA Secretary David Shulkin, and designate these conditions to the presumptive list for Agent Orange exposure. 

     We are also concerned by the delay in the implementation of the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act, signed into law on June 25, which expands Agent Orange benefits to veterans who served aboard ships offshore and in the harbors of Vietnam. These veterans and their families have waited long enough for access to the benefits for which they are eligible and desperately need. The administration should prioritize and process these claims as soon as possible.

     Our nation must live up to the promises it has made to the men and women who have sacrificed much by serving in uniform. Thank you and we look forward to your response.

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