I wanted to reach out to you personally ASAP regarding the current controversy surrounding our statement on the Camp Liberty tragedy.
By now, I know you have seen some of the emails going around saying that I and/or IAVA are trying to disrespect Vietnam vets.
I hope you know that this is totally untrue. We have tremendous respect for all generations of vets–especially Vietnam vets–and would never want to diss any other veteran, generation of veterans or veterans group.
It was not our intent to offend anyone or disparage anyone. If we did, we sincerely apologize.
http://iava.org/press-room/press-releases/statement-tragic-shooting-incident-camp-liberty
We can only imagine what you guys went through coming home, and would never attack you–and anyone else who served in Vietnam. We view Vietnam vets as our brothers–and true mentors. And the Chairman of our Board is himself a Vietnam veteran.
Pat Campbell, Todd Bowers, me and our entire team at IAVA have always been honored to work alongside Bob Wallace, Eric Hilleman and the entire DC VFW team. We also work closely with the Vietnam vets at the Legion, VVA, DAV and all our other brothers and sisters in the larger VSO/MSO community.
These folks know us well. And know that we have nothing but respect for your service–and that of all those in your generation. We believe it, and we say it anytime we have the chance.
The GI Bill victory last year and our recent meetings with the President on the ridiculous third-party billing scheme showed what we can do if we all stick together. I hope we can keep that level of unity going forward–especially in the fight for Advanced Funding–which benefits us all.
I also hope that this week we can all focus on the larger issues surrounding the Camp Liberty tragedy, address the mental health urgency, and use this as a wake-up call to better serve our fellow vets. Any in-fighting between our groups will only distract from more important issues that confront our nation in this critical time.
I would be happy to talk to you, or anyone else at the VFW who is free today or later this week to discuss this further. If you have any other thoughts or suggestions about this issue, please send them my way. We would appreciate your guidance.
Again, we are very sorry.
And I hope we can all work together as our nation deals with this terrible tragedy at Camp Liberty.
Thank you very much.
Best,
Paul
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