As thousands of people decend on Denver for the Democratic National Convention,  Andy Roberts of Suffern will be there to add his voice.

But he’s not there to root for any candidate; Roberts is part of a Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, or IAVA, which is there to meet with delegates and convention guests. The aim is to raise awareness about critical issues facing the 1.7 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and highlight the fight for the new GI bill.

The group is planning a major community service event for delegates as well as Denver residents that includes preparing care packages for troops serving overseas.  A delegation of IAVA veterans will also travel to the upcoming republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul to press their case.

Roberts, a West Point graduate, is a former Army officer who served in the field artillery brancj from 1997 to 2004. In 2004 he deployed to Iraq with the 4th Infantry Division. He currently lives in New York City.

Maybe this will finally come to an end.

Fort Bragg says tomorrow will start the last phase off pretrial motions in the murder trial of Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez of Troy who is accused in the 2005 killings of Capt. Phillip Esposito of Suffern and 1st. Lt. Louis Allen of Milford, Penn.  Their deaths are considered the first fragging incident since the U.S. invaded Iraq. Pretrials  motions started in Oct 2005, four months after their deaths, and they continue three years later.

But the Aug. 20 to Aug. 22 motions, a whopping 49 in all, will be the last phase, Thomas McCollum, a spokesman for Fort Bragg assured me. The actual court-martial is set for Oct. 6 to Dec. 31, and this time JAG will hold to the date, he said. A couple of court-martial dates have been thrown around before, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

The families of Esposito and Allen have already left for Fort Bragg, keeping to their 2005 promise of attending every hearing that is held, whether it is in the Middle East or stateside.  So far the widows of the two men and their families have made more than 10 trips to the military base. If the military keeps to its word, the next time the families go, it will be for the court-martial. Perhaps that will bring some closure to their pain.

I’ll be on vacation until Sept. 2, so loyal At Ease! readers will have to carry on without me until then.

Coincidentally, Sept. 2 is the anniversary of the formal surrender ceremony of Japanese forces, marking the official end of World War II.

Even more coincidentally, today is the anniversary of the actual Japanese surrender, known as VJ Day.

Anyone with memories of either day, whether you were in the service at the time or remember what was going on around these parts when the news was announced, I’d love to read about it here when I get back.

Westchester County plans to offer free admision to county parks and swimming pools as well as free rides at Playland for the families of service members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Families with a parent serving in either war zone can receive a one-year pass from date of issue entitling them to free admission to pools and beaches as well as discounts on golf, parking and summer camps (next season). Family members can also get Fun Bands for six hours of rides at Playland.
“We’re well aware of the sacrifice these families are making and we want to continue our efforts to show we support and understand what they’re going through,” County Executive Andy Spano said in announcing the new intiative.

To qualify for the county passes, families need to bring a copy of the orders showing their family member is stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan and their Military Dependent ID Card to the Veterans Service Agency.  Families also need to bring proof of Westchester County residency in the form of a driver’s license or utility bill.

To launch the new program, special sign-up days will be conducted at the Westchester County Center on Monday, August 18 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.,  and Wednesday, August 20 from noon until 4 p.m.  After that, families can stop by the Veterans Service Agency at 112 East Post Road, White Plains to pick up their letter and then go to the County Center or County Parks Main Office Building in Mount. Kisco to get their special Park Pass.  For additional information call the Veterans Service Agency at: (914) 995-2145.
To receive the freebies, families must contact the county Veterans Service Agency .

Veterans for Common Sense, a non-profit group of war veterans who speak out on issues affecting service members, claims that wounded soldiers in Veterans Administration hospitals and homeless vets living in VA shelters are being prevented from voting in this year’s presidential election because the VA won’t allow voter registration drives in its facilities.

“This needs to be shoved in the face of every single elected official in the country,’’ said Paul Sullivan, the group’s president. “We can fix this in a second.  We are talking about two or three sentences in legislation. We are talking about the integrity of our democracy.”

You can read the entire story on the group’s website here.

If what they’re saying is true, I hope the situation is resolved quickly. No veteran should be denied the opportunity to register and vote because of  a technicality or arcane regulations.

Westchester Chapter 49 of the Vietnam Veterans of America has started an online petition demanding that the Veterans Administration adopt the “Veterans Village’’ concept for the VA property surrounding the veterans hospital at Montrose.

The move comes after a raucous public hearing last month on VA plans to offer a 75-year lease of the valuable Hudson River property to a public or private developer.  Veterans and local officials have insisted that the property be used only for veterans.

The online petition can be found by clicking here.

Bronxville resident J. Robert Lunney, a Navy veteran of World War II who served in the Merchant Marines during the Korean War, is heading to South Korea next week to celebrate National Liberation Day and the 60th anniversary of the Republic of Korea, at the invitation of the government in Seoul.

Lunney served as executive officer aboard the SS Meredith Victory, which braved water mines and artillery blasts to evacuate 14,000 refugees  from Hungnam harbor in December, 1950, as it was being overrun by Chinese and North Korean troops in what is considered the largest rescues in maritime history.

A retired lawyer, Lunney was the guest of the South Korean government in May 2005, when he was honored during the dedication of a $1.6 million monument commemorating the rescue.

WVOX radio will host a call-in from sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln tomorrow during its “Veterans Radio Segment” at 8:35 a.m. Two local sailors will be on air to thank Girl Scouts for boxes of cookies received by each of the 5,000 crew members on the Abraham Lincoln, which is currently deployed in the Arabian Sea.

The veterans segment is a regular Friday feature of Bob Marrone’s “Good Morning Westchester Show,’’ which airs weekdays from 6 to 9 a.m. on the New Rochelle-based station. The segment is organized by Kenneth G. Kraetzer of the Sons of the American Legion Post 50 in Pelham.

To hear the program, make sure your radio is tuned to 1460 AM. Recordings of past veterans segments are available by visiting Post 50’s website.

I’ve interviewed World War II and Korean veterans who still have combat nightmares, and I know that my dad never slept through the night again after he came home from Vietnam.

I remember being on guard duty in Germany once when we were having bridge training, and our first sergeant, who’d been in Vietnam, woke up in the middle of the night screaming from a nightmare. It scared the you-know-what out of me.

This Los Angeles Times report says that 36 percent of Army veterans back from Iraq for a year report feeling tired all the time or have difficulty sleeping.  Some hate their dreams so much that they chug energy drinks to try and avoid sleep. Others crave sleep so much that they take sleeping pills or drink themselves into a stupor.

“I gave up my tranquility, as many of the other warriors did, so the rest of America can have theirs,” one veteran is quoted as saying.

The report notes that there is no easy cure for the problem, which has affected combat veterans for decades.