Being Overweight or Obese Makes You More Likely to Get Covid-19

Posted on April 21, 2020 by admin

The millions of people with time on their hands can use that extra time to stay fit. We have noticed a big increase of runners and walkers in our neighborhood. We are fortunate to live in California, where the weather is usually good, whereas people living in areas with poor weather need to do their exercising indoors. Those who already disciplined to do exercises like Pilates or Yoga may not need any extra gear, but others need equipment such as stationary bicycles. People who are overweight or obese have a greater chance of getting ill from Covid-19.

U.S. Army Tells Soldiers to Shape Up or Ship Out

Posted on November 16, 2017 by admin

Serving in the military in an active combat zone puts young men in harm’s way.

So it makes sense to do everything possible to make our soldiers more fit in order to lower that death rate. The new Army test was designed to improve soldiers’ fitness … if it doesn’t injure them in the process. In particular, the dead lift is highly questionable because if not done correctly there is a good chance of injury. And the new standard may be so high that it will be hard to recruit soldiers. Even football stars fail to match the army guys. And it seems illogical to hold women to the same standards as men. MAYBE they could be for exercises relative to their size and weight, but not to ones like the dead lift or pulling a heavily-laden sled.

Veterans Day Reminds Us of Some Grassroots Programs to Help Vets

Posted on November 14, 2015 by admin

U.S. servicemen and servicewomen often face conditions when they return from their service that are worse in many respects than during their service. Even though they may have endured life-threatening combat and great discomforts, they were fed and clothed and sheltered (to some extent) by the military establishment. But when they leave the military they often are on their own, and often suffer from mental ilness, homelessness, alcohol/drug abuse, and other woes. Fortunately, there are a number of initiatives started, or supported, by well-meaning people that can help these veterans in their new civilian lives. One example is super-star country-western singer Tim McGraw, who is an ambassador for Operation Homefront, which has a long list of very basic current needs such as housing, utilities, food, and car. If things are so bad that they are barely surviving, it’s little wonder that a survey by the Disabled American Veterans charity released on November 10 found that just 44 percent of veterans report they have received the health, disability, financial and education benefits they were promised and only 18 percent believe disabled veterans have received the benefits they were promised. So they have to scramble to find jobs. But many veterans have found that the natures of the military environment and the commercial one are so different that many of them end up being entrepreneurs by necessity; according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, veterans are 45% more likely to be self-employed than people with no military service. One new nonprofit organization that is trying to help them become entrepreneurs is Patriot Boot Camp, a series of three-day workshops intended to give veterans some basic training to get started. And there are some notable exceptions among big organizations, e.g., Bank of America, which supports the U.S. military through contributions to military-focused charitable organizations, differentiated banking services for military servicemembers (especially through the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)), and a commitment to hiring military veterans.

Women in Combat: The Debate Continues

Posted on September 21, 2015 by admin

In recent weeks there has been a rash of news on the subject of women in combat, with a range of actions from several units of the U.S. military and a range of opinions from women. Not surprisingly, the units of the military were those whose fighters engaged in the most dangerous missions or had to pass the most challenging physical tests. The Navy SEALs agreed to admit women if they could pass the tough tests, though noting that very few women so far had passed those tests. Though two women had recently completed the daunting Army Ranger School, a former female captain and airborne soldier–someone who had actually served–identified a long list of obstacles to having women serve in the infantry. Although there was an overall requirement for all military units to accept women by January 1, 2016, there were provisions for exceptions on a unit-by-unit basis. Not surprisingly, given their history and ethos, the Marines have been the most outspoken objectors to this, though there have been complaints about the research they did to support their views. (It is amusing that the title of this article was a play on “A Few Good Men”, a movie whose cast included actress Demi Moore, who also starred in “G.I. Jane”, a movie specifically showing a woman going through the same grueling and demeaning tests that the elite males had to complete.)

Although there has been a recent spate of developments, and news about them, regarding women’s serving in particularly dangerous or difficult military combat roles, the issue has been around for a considerable time. In March 1999 a book authored by Rosemarie Skaine, “Women at War: Gender Issue of Americans in Combat”, dealt with many of them 15 years ago.

Need Alternate Routes to Becoming a Military Officer

Posted on August 24, 2015 by admin

As we noted in our June 15, 2015 post, the institution that has the highest confidence among Americans is the military. So it is logical that Americans would want both its fighting troops and their leaders to be as qualified as possible. As pointed out in a recent Wall Street Journal article a lot higher fraction of the enlisted personnel in the military have high school diplomas than does the American populace as a whole. And a lot higher fraction of the officers in the military have college bachelor’s degree than does the American populace as a whole, though this is because it has historically been a requirement for becoming an officer. However, there is growing evidence (including surveys such as the 2013 Gallup-Lumina Foundation Report) that the capabilities needed for a military officer might actually be better gained by actual experience—particularly (though not necessarily) in a specialized capacity or four years of actual military service as an enlisted person.

United Airlines Customers Donate MilagePlus Miles to Fisher House’s Hero Miles Program

Posted on July 27, 2015 by admin

Many wounded or ill military service members, and their relatives, don’t have the funds to travel the oft-times long distances between home and the medical facilities where they’re being treated. But some of them can get the welcome support thanks to at least one charity’s program and the generosity of some airline customers. During the last 10 years, United Airlines’ customers have donated more than 600,000,000 miles, which provided more than 11,400 tickets to our fighting men and women.

Americans’ Confidence in Their Military Remains High, Per Gallup Poll

Posted on June 15, 2015 by admin

Although Americans’ confidence in most major U.S. institutions remains below historical levels for most institutions, two institutions are notable for rating higher than their historical levels, the military at 72% and small business at 67% (as measured by the sum of respondents who said “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence), according to the June 2-7 Gallup Poll. The news today is full of reports about battles and wars in many parts of the world, and Americas troops are participating in many of them. The confidence levels presumably reflect Americans’ views of their soldiers, sailors, and flyers are they go off to do battle. However, Gallup is silent as to whether these levels would be high and rising regarding the quality of care we take of our wounded (both physically and mentally), but given the well-publicized snafu’s of the VA hospital network, we suspect that the ratings would be low (though perhaps better this year than the recent past).

As can be seen on the Gallup website, many other institutions’ confidence levels have slipped, some of them seriously. Government as a whole has taken a big hit, with each of the presidency, Supreme Court, and Congress off from their historical averages by huge (double-digit) percentages. Organized religion is also in bad shape. Also, the media, both newspapers and television, have slipped seriously. Curiously, Internet news (which one year ago was marginally better than television news) was not included in the ratings this year. Hmmm.

Choosing Which Veterans Charities to Donate To

Posted on May 22, 2015 by admin

We’ve all received heart-rending appeals for contributions to help our veterans deal with their their physical injuries or mental traumas. But if you’re on a lot of mailing lists, there are so many of these charities and non-profit organizations. Which ones deserve your money? If the charity is one of those classified as 501c3 by the IRS, you should be able to find it at CharityNavigator.com.

But it is not easy to get the IRS to hand out this classification, and there are lots more organizations sending out appeals. (Charity Navigator only lists approximately 50 who deal with veterans, but there are at least 300 total organizations.) Many of them are legitimate organizations, and deserve your considerations, but there are a bunch that should be avoided. Among those are ones that are outline scams, with most or all of the money going into the pockets of the scammers. (One frequent clue is the use of a large popular legimate one, with an extra suffix like “Foundation” or “Association”.) Those that are not complete scams may not be very desirable because too much of each donated dollar doesn’t go to benefit the veterans themselves, instead ending up in the pockets of the promoters or their sub-contractors. So what about the other 250-odd ones? WhyMenDieYoung is starting to build a database of them, and will announce its availability when it is complete enough to be useful. In the meantime, we will be posting useful news as we find it, along with our comments.

Volunteer Vets Help Law-Breaking Veterans

Posted on March 30, 2015 by admin

Santa Cruz County in California has set up a new program called <a href=”http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/general-news/20150316/volunteers-to-help-troubled-veterans-improve-their-lives-in-santa-cruz-county”>Veterans Treatment Court</a> to help veterans accused of nonviolent crimes. Similar programs have already been started on the East Coast and in other counties in California. The wisdom of the program is that it partners-up accused veterans with volunteers who are themselves veterans (and, accordingly, are both savvy with the court processes and other services and credible to the accused veterans).

New Video Reminds Us About Plight of Homeless Veterans

Posted on January 24, 2015 by admin

One of the reasons that military veterans don’t get more help is that they get forgotten. Many of them were low-profile before they entered military service, and even lower-profile after they came home, often with physical injuries or mental trauma. Not surprisingly, the ones with the worst problems are often homeless or otherwise at-risk. And unfortunately, these homeless and at-risk ones get little or no publicity about their plight. Fortunately, Bob Sitzwohl, a volunteer at the Midpen Media Center, has done something to publicize it, by creating a video called “East Bay Stand Down: Forgotten Faces” that is now live on YouTube and playing on PEG channels 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30. And he knows whereof he speaks, as he himself was homeless when he left the Navy in the mid-to-late 1970’s.
(According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Stand Downs are just one part of the efforts to provide services to homeless Veterans. Stand Downs are typically one to three day events providing services to homeless Veterans such as food, shelter, clothing, health screenings, VA and Social Security benefits counseling, and referrals to a variety of other necessary services, such as health care, housing, employment, and substance use treatment. Stand Downs are collaborative events, coordinated between local VAs, other government agencies, and community agencies serving the homeless.)