Bouhammer's Military Blog

A blog about Military Issues, Afghanistan, and everything in between

Category Archives: Military Benefits

Financial Reform Bill Will Hurt Military Families, Curb Homeownership

I encourage you to head over to YouServed.com and check out this story HERE. It was put up by a veteran that works for VAMC about some new legislation that is being discussed right now on Capitol Hill.

The huge Financial Services bill currently in the Senate aims to boost consumer protection and bring more openness and accountability to the mortgage industry. But in its current form, after a last-minute amendment from Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), the bill will ultimately hurt military families and deal a serious blow to their access to home lending.

Why does it always seem to be the amendments that cause the problems? The last thing Veterans need is to make it harder or more expensive to buy a home. Especially since it was not Veterans that caused the housing problem in this country that has led to these changes.

These new layers would likely end up breaking a program that doesn’t need fixing. Piling on needless guidelines will likely trigger at least two major problems for military families:

  • Lending costs will rise because stricter underwriting will take up more time and resources. Veterans will pay more to exercise their VA entitlement, which was created to help make homeownership accessible to this deserving demographic.
  • Some veterans who would have normally been cleared for a VA loan may now wind up unable to get one.

So please go over there and read the whole story. Then if you feel led to do something about this, contact your representative ASAP and let them know how you feel.



VSW and HooahRadio helping the families at Ft. Hood

My good friends, Derek and Todd at Vision Strike Wear and Dom at Hooah Radio have teamed up to help the families of the fallen and wounded at Fort Hood. This a small business still trying to turn a profit and a non-profit who’s focus is on the troops. Regardless, they have teamed up to help out the best they can.

Vision-Strike-Wear.Com and Hooahradio.Com supports the families of the recently lost at Fort Hood by donating proceeds from sales on its website until Christmas Eve when the total funds will be sent to the Chaplain’s Fund at Fort Hood. This is a season for giving and no families are more deserving than these families are at this tragic time. Let us all provide the warmth of support and let them know we all care.

VSW and and Hooah Radio are donating $.50 from the sale of every single item sold on Vision Strike Wear from now until Christmas Eve to the Chaplain’s Fund at Ft. Hood Tx. It does not matter if it is a sticker, T-shirt, Hat, or whatever, they will put aside $.50 for every item sold and then on Christmas Eve send a check to the Chaplain’s Fund to help the families of the fallen and wounded.

In addition, any item sold on Vision Strike Wear can have FREE SHIPPING by using the coupon code “HooahRadio1″ at checkout. Yes, that is right, FREE SHIPPING on ANY ITEM for sale on Vision Strike Wear. So you can buy something from the normal Vision Strike Wear Collection or something from the items in the Bouhammer Gear Store or from anywhere on the site and have $.50 go to the Families Fund and even get FREE SHIPPING.

If there is anything on the site you like, to include the famous and ever popular Twitter-Bird Shirt, ETT Venom Shirt, 9/11 Tribute Shirt, or any of the other popular items in the Bouhammer Gear Store Collection.

So many things being offered for Veteran’s Day

I am sure all of you have heard that Applebees Restaurant is offering a free meal to soldiers and veterans. Of course Golden Corral is offering this and doing it again this year also. If you like the Outback steakhouse, they are offering a free bloomin’ onion appetizer and drink to all veterans. If you live in Western New York, Delta Sonic is offering free car washes to service-members and veterans on Wednesday also.

Here at Bouhammer’s Afghan and Military Blog, we have the Gullistan, Afghanistan ETT Team T-shirt still on pre-order through Wednesday and then it will start getting printed. You can learn more at www.bouhammer.com/2009/10/new-ett-team-t-shirt-design-available-for-pre-order/.

Also, the Valour-IT initiative is still on-going and we are trying to get Team Army in the Lead. The drive for Valour-IT is going strong, but we need more support to get laptops, Wiis, and GPSes into the possession of many wounded warriors who are suffering from their wounds and trying to recover. Don’t forget that I am willing to contribute all profits from any Bouhammer hat or embroidered shirts to Valour-IT, that are sold through Veteran’s Day. More details at www.bouhammer.com/2009/10/valour-it-kicks-off-today/.

Stay tuned as I have another big announcement coming soon that deals with helping the victim’s families in Fort Hood, TX.

Bouhammer Wants You!!

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Rick Calvert, the founder and head of Blog World and New Media Expo, has issued a challenge not just to me, but all milbloggers, and their readers.  It seems Rick is convinced we can get 200 people to the milblog track on 15 October, which is quite a good number of people.  So, he has challenged me to make it happen, and he has challenged you, my readers, to make it happen as well.  To help us make this happen, Rick is being very generous.  So, here’s the deal:

1.  If you are currently serving in the Armed Forces, or are a veteran of same (discharged or retired) and want to attend, drop my friend Blake a line at blake@blakepowers.net with BWE09 Free Registration in the subject line and a short note introducing yourself within, and you will get a code that gives you a free registration for the milblog track on 15 October, and access to the exhibit hall (and the Milblog Lounge) on the 16th & 17th.

2.  If you are a military spouse, spouse blogger, military supporter, or reader of the milblogs, the same applies.

3.  If you have a blog or other outlets of your own (Twitter, Facebook, newsgroups, e-mail groups, etc.), please spread the word.

4.  If you happen to have contacts in blogging or old media in California, Nevada, or Arizona, please reach out to them as well, as we would very much like to be sure that we reach all the different bases in those regions.

I will also note that if you are interested in attending, there are some excellent deals on rooms and such through the Blog World site once you are registered.

While the registration only covers the milblog track and exhibit hall, if you want to attend parties, other sessions, etc., you can contact BWE after you register and see about the costs of upgrades.

Keep an eye on the grid at Blog World, as we are updating as needed and are still working on trying to make a surprise or two happen.

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Guest Blogger; MRS Bouhammer wants Veterans to get their Flu Shots

Because Mrs. Bouhammer doesn’t want to see any of our veterans getting sick this flu season I want to share the following information with our readers. Mrs. Bouhammer is hopeful that Mr. Bouhammer and Bouhammer Jr. will pay attention and go get a flu shot! PS – Granddaddy Bouhammer should get one too!

Attention All Western NY Veterans: Free Flu Vaccines at the VA

The VA Western New York Healthcare System is offering a Walk-In Flu Vaccine Clinic. Veterans who are enrolled in the VA Health Care may obtain the flu vaccine at no charge to them during the following walk-in clinic dates. The clinics are scheduled from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM (for you military guys and gals 0800 to 1500) on the following dates:

Saturday, September 26

Sunday, September 27

Saturday, October 3

Monday, October 12

The walk-in clinic will be held at the VA Western New York Healthcare System, 3495 Bailey Avenue in Buffalo. The vaccines will be available at Desk 4 on the first floor. Again there is no charge for enrolled veterans and your eligibility will be verified prior to administration of the vaccine. If you have any questions about VA Healthcare eligibility, call 1-888-823-9656.

If you do not reside in the Western NY area but are enrolled in the VA Healthcare System, give you local VA a call and check to see when they are scheduling their Walk-In Flu Vaccine Clinics.

Many problems with new GI Bill

I have heard of many problems with the new GI Bill. It is just not working as fast as needed and is leaving many young men and women in a bind because the VA is not able to pay out fast enough for the University’s liking.

Rather than re-type everything here that goes along with some other postings, I urge you to check our Alex’s blog entry about it and his first hand experience at armyofdude.blogspot.com/2009/09/politics-of-purse-strings.html

 

Of course my buddy CJ had some comments on this too, over at the YouServed.com blog.

www.vamortgagecenter.com/blog/2009/09/01/post-911-gi-bill-falls-flat/

 

If you are a soldier or a family member of a soldier who is planning to use these benefits, I strongly encourage you to read those postings and do some research on the web about this. There are local news stories popping up all around the country highlighting these problems. You need to set your expectations as to how long it could take to get the money.

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