The American Legion Department of Louisiana

This section is devoted to news, facts, and general information of interest to all veterans.

HELMETS TO HARDHATS
Matching today’s military with tomorrow’s construction industry

Helmets to Hardhats is a national program that connects National Guard, Reserve and transitioning active-duty military members with quality career training and employment opportunities within the building and construction industry. The program is designed to ease the difficult passage into civilian life for military families, providing the best career opportunities, pay, and benefits to those who have earned the nation’s support through their years of service.
The program collects career opportunities from the nationwide building and construction trades and works to provide former military personnel with that data. Candidates can access information about careers and apprenticeships via the Internet from anywhere in the world. To apply for work or membership, candidates complete a comprehensive profile that helps hiring managers determine what transferable skills they acquired during their military service.  Once a candidate finds and submits interest in a career opportunity, otherwise known as a digital handshake, they are contacted by a Helmets to Hardhats representative to ensure all application requirements are met.
Helmets to Hardhats is co-sponsored by all fifteen Building and Construction Trades organizations, as well as their employer associations, which together represent about 82,000 contractors. Labor leaders have embraced the program, eager to help military personnel transfer their experience into secure careers within the construction industry. Helmets to Hardhats currently has 157,019 candidates registered, and through the proactive support and registrations of the building and construction trade unions, quality employers and JATCs, 86,845 careers are currently listed on the H2H website and the program has had 38,966 candidates apply for positions. 
“Together, the military and the construction trades have built America over the past several hundred years with the same kind of sweat, equity, commitment and courage,” Lieutenant General H. Steven Blum, Chief of the National Guard Bureau said. “No other industry in the history of the United States has ever made a total commitment to support the armed forces by providing access to the best jobs in construction.”
Helmets to Hardhats is gaining significant attention across the nation not only as a program that works, but also a program that cares. Moving forward, one of the essential goals is to deploy a statewide direct entry program into every state.  With the implementation of a statewide direct entry program, Helmets to Hardhats candidates are able to get into quality construction careers soon after applying for them. Once the state proclamation is signed, it allows all JATCs and locals (at their discretion) to accept current and former military candidates and provide credit for military training and experience. 
Interested personnel are encouraged to visit www.helmetstohardhats.org or call 866-741-6210 for more information.

BUGLES ACROSS AMERICA
At www.buglesacrossamerica.org can be found the Bugles Across America organization.  This is a non-profit network of 4,494 buglers from across the country who volunteer their time to play "Taps" at veterans' funerals.  They also play at other military events, including Veterans Day and Memorial Day observances.
If the need arises, you can complete an online Bugler Request Form at their website above listed to locate a volunteer to play Taps in the area you wish.  You will be required to indicate on what date a bugler is needed, the state, city, and funeral home location one is needed at, plus your contact information.
Louisiana has 56 buglers listed across the state ready to help you.  You can contact the State Director of Bugles Across America at the following information:
Chas Dickson, State Director, 318-747-6675, email:  Chasd@earthlink.net

VA GRAVESITE LOCATOR UPDATE
The burial locations of more than 5 million veterans for whom the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has provided grave markers are now available on the Internet, as well as the information inscribed on the markers.  Online since April 2004, the nationwide gravesite locator at http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov helps veterans families, former comrades-in-arms and others find the graves of veterans.  VA recently added 1.9 million records for veterans buried primarily in private cemeteries to its database.  The gravesite locator previously carried records on 3 million veterans buried in VA national cemeteries since the Civil War, and in state veterans cemeteries and Arlington National Cemetery since 1999.  The new records date from January 1997, the earliest time for which electronic records exist.  The information comes from applications made for these veterans' headstones or markers.
Beyond the 5 million records now available, VA continues to add approximately 1,000 new records to the database each day.  Last year, VA furnished nearly 369,000 inscribed headstones and markers for veterans' graves worldwide.  Internet users only need to provide the last name of the deceased veteran or dependent.  Typically, the information available includes name, birth and date dates, rank, branch of service, and the address with phone number of the cemetery.  Veterans whose discharges are other than dishonorable, their spouses, and dependent children may be buried in a national cemetery, regardless of where they live.  No advance reservations are made.  VA provides perpetual care, as well as a headstone or marker, a burial flag and a memorial certificate to survivors. 
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from a VA Web site at www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices at 1-800-827-1000.
(Source:  VA News Release 12/22/05)

A NOTE ABOUT VA CEMETERIES
In a speech given by Secretary Nicholson at the National Press Club on March 27, 2006, he noted that in 2007 "Taps" will sound for more than 107,000 veterans or approximately 300 a day.  This is a sharp increase from just two years ago.  In response to this growing need, VA is conducting one of the most ambitious expansions of national cemeteries since the Civil War.  Three new cemeteries will soon be added to the 122 existing cemeteries and six more are in the planning stages.  By 2009 the capacity will have nearly doubled.  Burial benefits for veterans include a gravesite in any of our 122 national cemeteries with available space, opening and closing of the grave, perpetual care, a Government headstone or marker, a burial flag, and a Presidential Memorial Certificate, at no cost to the family.  Some veterans may also be eligible for Burial Allowances.  Cremated remains are buried or inurned in national cemeteries in the same manner and with the same honors as casketed remains.  Burial Benefits available for spouses and dependents buried in a national cemetery include burial with the veteran, perpetual care, and the spouse or dependent's name and date of birth and death will be inscribed on the veteran's headstone at no cost to the family.
(Source: American Forces Press Service, March 29, 2006)

The American Veterans Disabled For Life Memorial
Washington, D.C.
Veterans who have been wounded face many challenges - learning to live without sight or use limbs, retiring from the only career they've ever known, and dealing with emotional scars.  A new memorial planned in Washington, D.C. will honor the dedication and bravery of those permanently disabled veterans and express the nation's gratitude for their sacrifice.
The American Veterans Disabled For Life Memorial will occupy a 2-acre site adjacent to the National Mall, within full view of the U.S. Capitol.  The Memorial's powerful, meditative design was conceived by Michael Vergason Landscape Architects, Ltd.  The design concept was approved in 2004 by the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission.
Through the juxtaposition of marble and glass, the Memorial will convey an interplay of strength and vulnerability, loss and renewal.  At this sacred spot, all of us will learn the value of courage, sacrifice, tenacity, loyalty and honor by bearing witness to the experiences of our disabled heroes.  The focal point of the Memorial will be a star-shaped reflecting pool, its surface broken only by a single eternal flame.  A grove of trees will stand sentry beside the pool, signifying the persistence of hope.  Dedicated to both the living and the deceased - a setting of unity or solitude - the Memorial will hold a special place in the hearts of all Americans and will serve as a never-ending reminder to all of the cost of human conflict.
For more information on the Disabled Veterans Memorial or to make a donation, visit www.avdlm.com  or write the Disabled Veterans Life Memorial Foundation, Inc., 2300 Clarendon Boulevard, Suite 302, Arlington, VA 22201-3367 or send an email to info@dvlmf.org
The following pictures are watercolor illustrations of the proposed Memorial done by Michael McCann, (c)DVLMF, all rights reserved. Please click on each to view a larger version.