Events of June 13, 2008

Sorry it took so long to get this up. Here is what went down Friday, June 13, at the National Conference:


DR. BRUCE H. BRUNSON
Commander, USN, retired
Director, OSD Office of Personal Finance & Transition, Military Community & Family
Policy

CAROLYN BAKER
Carolyn.baker@osd.mil

EMILY FARREN
Intern, Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Policy
Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Military Community and Family Policy

DAVE JULIAN
CDR, US Navy
Deputy Director, OSD Office of Personal Finance and Transition

The following (in italics) was submitted by the Office of Personal Finance and Transition:
The Office of Personal Finance and Transition (PF&T) is the newest directorate within
the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy(DUSD (MC&FP)). Combining oversight for both the Financial Readiness Program and the Transition Assistance Program (TAP), previously operating independently within separate OSD directorates, the office is responsible for a broad range of policies, educational programs, and resource services that address both the financial readiness and transition assistance needs of military members and their families.

This shift in infrastructure and program responsibility reflects the new philosophy that recognizes that financial readiness, military and veterans benefits, and transition assistance are closely linked to one another and must be addressed as a whole. The directorate provided OSD with subject matter experts in Personal Finance.

Through education, counseling, and an inventory of high-tech and interactive resources
and programs, PF&T is responsible for ensuring all military members and their families have
access to the tools necessary to attain economic security throughout their military careers and beyond and to make educated decisions regarding their next military career milestones and ultimate transitions to the civilian workforce. Ensuring military members and their families have an accurate and complete understanding of both military and veterans’ benefits, and how application of those benefits affects their individual transition and economic security plans, can also have significant retention implications which in turn can contribute to mission and force readiness.

Key resources which PF&T is currently responsible for are the “Money Matters” section
of Military One Source (www.militaryonesource.com), the Financial Readiness sections of
Military Home Front (www.militaryhomefront.dod.mil), and the Transition Assistance
Program’s TurboTAP (www.turboTAP.org).

Dr. Brunson said he failed 3rd grade and now he has a Ph.D. and two Masters degrees.

His mission is to change TAP to a lifelong transition program. As it stands right now, there are
too few provisions for education certification in the military. People don’t know what they’re
qualified to do when they get out into the civilian world. Service members need to know how
they’re qualified, what they’re certified for, and what they can get credits for.

Two other issues he’s dealing with are distance learning (AKA death by PowerPoint) and the
Thrift Savings Plan, which no one knows anything about.

Dr. Brunson opened up the floor to people who have personal experience with TAP. One student
veteran pointed out that the person who gave him the TAP briefing/presentation never went to a post-secondary school.

Another student veteran noted that the TAP program has no follow up mechanism—you get a
short briefing, and then you’re thrown into the world.

Luke Stalcup mentioned that TAP should be goal-specific and take into account the needs and
interests of those who aim to go to an elite school. As it is now, the program steers veterans
towards community colleges which offer military and MOS-specific Associates degrees.

Brendan Hart argued that TAP is broken. The program was never intended to work, he said,
because the prevailing attitude is that it runs against the military’s interests to help service
members get out of the military.

Another student veteran said SVA should get lists from the Department of Defense on who’s
getting out of the military and who’s returning from deployments (guards/reservists, etc.) so that SVA can help with the transition. Dr. Brunson said that as it stands right now, that is unrealistic.
Those lists are classified.

Anthony Allman noted that the new SVA website has a chapter locator, which would be a great
resource for returning/discharged veterans. Dr. Brunson agreed to put a link on his website to
our website.

Carolyn Baker mentioned that SVA should send representatives to ACME’s annual world wide
conference. Nine (9) states have a Council on Military Education. DANTES is the information
point of contact for those nine CMEs and the one national CME. See
http://www.dantes.doded.mil/dantes_web/organizations/acme/index-text.asp?Flag=True. SVA will be put on the agenda at the next ACME meeting.

Dr. Brunson announced that Emily Farren will be the new liaison between his office and SVA.
She is an intern from University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Brunson concluded with the thought that the next time SVA has an event, we should include
training on how to deal with veterans coming out of the military (train-the-trainer sessions).

VOTING RESULTS & INAUGURATION
The new Vice President of SVA is Kevin Blanchard.
The new Secretary of SVA is Russel Silver.

VOTE ON BYLAWS
Copies of the Bylaws were passed out on Thursday and Friday morning.
Luke Stalcup moved to adopt the Bylaws.

Jonathan Sanford from Portland State University took issue with the absence of an enumerated
responsibility for the Regional Director to assist in the creation of student veterans groups within
his respective region. Sanford raised the concern that some Regional Directors may be
temporarily out of contact or may just fail to respond in a timely manner to opportunities to help
create groups. After some debate, Sanford proposed a change to the first enumerated Regional
Director responsibility in Bylaws § 9.01.

Luke moved to vote on Sanford’s proposed change. All groups except one were voted in the
affirmative.

Luke moved to add to all first person singular masculine pronouns (“he,” “his,” and “him”) the
additional words “or” and the first person singular feminine pronoun (“or her,” etc.). All groups
except one voted in the affirmative.

Luke moved to vote on adoption of the Bylaws. All groups voted in the affirmative.

NEXT NATIONAL CONFERENCE
The next national conference will be on January 9, 10, and 11 of 2009.

VOTE ON NEW DIRECTORS
Derek Blumke moved to elect Anthony Allman and Luke Stalcup to the Board of Directors. All
Directors voted in the affirmative.
The Board of Directors now consists of:
• Derek Blumke, President
• Kevin Blanchard, Vice President
• Russel Silver, Secretary
• Luke Stalcup
• Anthony Allman

Our new website is up and running! http://www.studentveterans.org/

Royal Neighbors of America Scholarship Winners

The Royal Neighbors of America female veteran scholarship winners are:

Jennifer Washington, Chico State College
Lyndsey Anderson, University of Iowa
Gwynn Edwina, Tuoro University International
Bridgett Mayeaux, University of Texas

Congrats to the recipients, and keep your eyes open for another female veteran scholarship provided by Royal Neighbors of America next year!

Election Results

Due to a server outage at the Reserve Officer Association and a giant blackout in DC, we were unable to blog in real time--our apologies, like we said before this technology isn't perfect!!

Election Results:

Vice President: Kevin Blanchard, George Washington University

Secretary: Russell Silver, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis

Congratulations to the winners, they bring a great deal to the table and will be a great addition to the SVA leadership team.

Full recap of the conference events of Friday, June 11 to come.

Elections closed

Elections are now closed--thank you for voting, and winners will be announced later this morning!

Vice President Elections

All, we just had our elections for Vice-President, Secretary, and Regional Directors. 

Its now your turn to vote if you have your application submitted.

Vice President nominees:

Josh Karrasch, University of California Santa Cruz

Chris Lamb, Louisville

Shane Lee, South Dakota School of Mines

Kevin Blanchard, George Washington University

Matt Moser, Georgia Southern University

Secretary nominees:

Russel Silver, Indiana University

Wade Spann, George Washington University

Candidate description:

Josh: involved in veterans issues all across California; program coordinator of a veterans outreach program at his university.

Chris: Socio-political major who wants to go to law school.  Veterans organization at his school--got them money and support.  When asked how much of a time commitment he's willing to make, he said as much as it takes.

Shane: serves in a local campus group; successfully contested a Board of Regents candidate b/c not supportive of veterans; when asked what he thinks should be changed as Vice President, he responded that we should continue building; we're not in the change stage yet.

Kevin: has experience speaking in front of people and being in the public spotlight; lost a leg in Iraq and knows what it's like to be in the hospital for a year.

Matt: when asked how much of a commitment he's willing to give, he responded that he's 100% committed to the position if he gets it.  He's been to GI Bill rallies in DC (ACE, etc.) and worked for veterans benefits; lobbied for S.22, meeting with congressmen, etc.

Russel: associated with the VA (work study position); technology consultant for a university, and his MOS in the Army was 25U (computers); he's very computer and technology literate.

Wade: was in teh Marines; injured; now goes to GWU; will drop personal obligations for SVA; his location in DC is prime; he's worked with Marine veterans groups.

MOVING FORWARD

HI DAD,

WELL, WE'RE SITTING AROUND RIGHT NOW, LISTENING TO SOMEONE GIVE A SPEECH ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MODERN VETERAN AND THE CONTRIBUTION WE ARE MAKING AND WILL MAKE FOR OUR NATION.  IT'S SO ODD TO BE IN A ROOM WITH PEOPLE I'VE NEVER MET WHO HAVE THE SAME CONCERNS, JOKES, ATTITUDE AND HUMOR AS ME.  MY ENTIRE ADULT LIFE HAS BEEN DEDICATED TO THE MILITARY IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, AND SOMEDAY SOON, I INDEND TO SPEND THE REMAINDER OF IT TO MY COUNTRY BY HELPING PEOPLE LIKE ME LEAD A BETTER LIFE, AND REALIZE THAT THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO FEEL THE SAME WAY AND SHARE THE SAME DREAMS.  I WORRY OFTEN THAT THIS GENERATION WILL FALL UNDER THE WEIGHT OF HISTORY, THAT IN THE PROCESS OF TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH THE WEIGHTY TASK OF SECURING OUR LEGACY AND THE LEGACY OF LATER GENERATIONS, THAT WE WILL FAIL OURSELVES, EITHER THROUGH A LACK OF DRIVE OR MALFEASANCE.  IT SEEMS MOST DAUNTING THAT SUCH A SMALL COMMUNITY IS TRYING TO TURN THE TIDE OF TIME IN THE DIRECTION OF WHAT IS RIGHT INSTEAD OF WHAT IS EASY.  

AFTER COMING HERE AND MEETING ALL OF THESE WONDERFUL PEOPLE, I NO LONGER HAVE THIS CONCERN.  WE HAVE AMONGST US MEN, WOMEN, BLACK, WHITE, POISED, WORRIED, WHOLE, AND SCARRED HUMAN BEINGS WHO HAVE SEEN IN MANY PLACES THE WORST OF HUMANITY.  WE UNDERSTAND THAT IN THE FUTURE, WE WILL HAVE TO ADVANCE TOGETHER IN THE GREAT JOURNEY TOWARDS OUR COLLECTIVE DESTINY THAT WILL DEFINE OUR GENERATION.  THIS CONFERENCE IS THE FIRST STEP IN THIS ENDEAVOR, AND I CANNOT WAIT FOR US TO TAKE THIS FIRST STEP TOGETHER.

YOUR LOVING SON,

FELIX

Message to Incarnate Word-Great things going on here!

Hello to all-wish so much that you were here as this conference is putting out vital info not just for our organization, but for many who want the same things we want-CHANGE-

Senator Webb is soon to arrive as we have met the head of the VFW and a very great speech by the Vets 4 Vets organization who are probably the most interesting group here.

We are located a block away from the Capitol, next door to the Jefferson Library, and the weather is great. This is an awesome facility and the breakfast and lunch is top notch. Thanks to all who have helped me to see and honor this experience on what is happening here in D.C.

We should have a function for these guys and gals in San Antonio sometime!!!

from D.C.,

WILLY