veterans

Information on Pensions, Disability & Annuities

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One of the tools any recruit, officer candidate, enlistee or veteran should develop is financial planning. Married or single, at age 19 or 39, we all need solid finances. Whether the military is only for a few years, a career, or the member has been injured and receives a disability pension, becoming educated and then disciplined about finances will help individuals and families plan for and respond to changing economic conditions. An organization, annuity.org, based in Florida reached out to us last month to include the linked newsletter article in that theme of planning your career and post-military years to remain fiscally strong.

VA Retirement Benefits: Pensions, Disability & Annuities

Editor’s note: This information is provided for self-education only. Truth, Half-Truths and Sea Stories has received no compensation from annuity.org for hosting them.

Ask the Chief: an entrepreneur never ceases learning new things

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Becoming self-employed is not as difficult as keeping your enterprise healthy (and hopefully profitable) a few years later. A few decades ago, my venture into self-employment did not account for the market changing, making my side gig unprofitable almost at the start (consumer electronics and small appliances became cheaper to replace than repair). Fortunately, during the ’90s my Active Navy service provided a decent living for a single man. In 2001, I married shortly after I became a Reservist. That Navy Reserve income plus my civilian job kept a roof over our head, children fed and contributed to our retirement savings. However, when I turned sixty, my wife and I decided to start a business. It was a niche opportunity that she and I both were suited to fill. Before “burning our boats” and committing to self-employment fully, my wife continued to hold a jobs for several months.

keys to a successful enterprise

The first advice we had learned years before, was to not stop working for someone else until we had continuing income from our new project. Additionally, receiving a small pension from the Navy beginning that year allowed us to keep the dream going. With most of our income servicing businesses in a segment of the healthcare industry, And then, the global pandemic caused businesses to falter and many to fail. But the fact that nursing care and supplying new nursing workers was “essential”, kept our business services fully engaged. And now, after four years as an entrepreneur, the small business my wife and I started has regional and national clients.

a business mentor

While together we had years of expertise in various aspects of our services, developing a business plan, obtaining financing, organizing, then streamlining the infrastructure, cutting costs and determining how to be more efficient in operation took shape over a few years. While experience is a great teacher, and failure often breeds a “never quit” in those whom are destined to be successful, it is easier for entrepreneurs follow other successful entrepreneurs, including having a mentor or coach who is trusted to give constructive criticism as well as advice. We took advantage of resources available to get our business started by getting needed guidance from the Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA funds advisers to help entrepreneurs, at no cost (the local offices are funded by the government) in many communities throughout the US. Other resources exist including a national organization of business professionals who volunteer through SCORE, conducting seminars and mentoring small businesses. And businesses can find assistance through networking in local Chambers of Commerce and Rotary Club.

formal and Non-Traditional Education

Formal education may be an option though challenging for the self-employed. Several sailors when I was on Active Duty, attended classes which were paid for by Tuition Assistance. Reservists and veterans used the GI Bill, and veterans with certain VA disability ratings were able to complete baccalaureates or post-graduate programs tuition-free. For most who intend to be self-employed, it comes down to what is required by a particular industry, and what the market dictates is required to be successful. In a technology sector, a self-employed engineer often must have a certain education level and industry-recognized certification to be a contractor. A welder who demonstrates the requisite skills, may be fully employed without a college degree. Continual education, through reading, attending seminars, participating in industry conferences and sitting on corporate boards, never ends for a business leader, or those who are working toward self-employment. Many universities offer continuing education programs, for executives, managers, and entrepreneurs, online, off-campus, and in evening and weekend formats. (Peers at my former employer gained various Program Management Institute credentials through such training and passing a certification exam.)

Informally, I know several who became successful through intensive preparation by reading textbooks, trade publications, study guides, and practicing in home workshops and computer labs. They passed certification exams easily, found employment, and with additional skills, became employed at higher levels of responsibility until becoming entrepreneurs.

education for the self-motivated at low or no-cost

For the last twenty years, a cooperative project between universities and the government has made thousands of college course available online tuition-free. Recently, I accessed MIT’s Open CourseWare (OCW) for a graduate course, Managing and Volunteering in the Nonprofit Sector. These have lecture notes, assignments and readings. With a little research, articles and books which are in the reading list, can be found through libraries, read online or purchased used from online retailers. (A personal favorite has become alibris.com).

reading is fun-damental

I have purchased books on several different topics, from language, biblical resources, gardening, and business from several sources:

  • alibris.com
  • thriftbooks.com
  • amazon.com
  • Goodwill
  • libraries

Having completed the first book I obtained in the above mentioned course, Managing the Non-Profit Organization, by Peter Drucker (1990), I am becoming acquainted with the principles and practices that not only apply to my for-profit company, but also with a non-profit organization, a church, I wish to aid. Other books in the university course focus on leadership, vision, communication, marketing, and employee (volunteer) performance. Access to books in any number of subjects is available in libraries, through stores selling used books, and through Internet access which is generally available throughout the world. Books can overcome the is one of the oldest avenues to learning that does not require large investment, nor computer access. For those who have computer and access to the Internet, a course syllabus from a free course (OCW) is easy to find.

As someone once said, “if you aren’t learning, you’re dying” (William S. Burroughs, paraphrased). There is always someone who takes advantage of tools and materials to advance his or her goals. If you still want to wing it, remember a young man in Sierra Leone, in Africa who taught himself engineering and is helping change his world.

Ask the Chief: barter economy

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Ask any Navy veteran about the barter economy, and most of us have engaged in it. We knew it as “comshaw”, which was anything we obtained outside of official channels, generally by bartering items we may have more abundantly, or obtained as something we might use to trade with another division, department, station or military branch for an item we needed. I experienced this firsthand when I was authorized by my department to shop at the DOD/ GSA store at the shipyard for items we needed before deploying. A fellow Petty Officer on a ship across the pier needed an item we were authorized to purchase, but his shopping manifest did not authorize it. We managed to do a little third party transfers with other shoppers to trade up to what he needed. And it came with a guarantee to provide me with something when needed in return. Sometimes, a supply Petty Officer must use forward thinking to anticipate what is a good trade and whom to count on to return a favor.

What brings this to mind many years later is the current state of our economy. It seems that just about everything that homeowners and entrepreneurs may find necessary (or effective) is either prohibited by the State, too costly, or comes with excessive taxes, permits or other fees. A solvent for a barbecue grill, legal in many states, was returned to the shipper, and my purchase rescinded (Amazon). Or another example, a preservative that is effective for concrete in extreme environments is not legal here; however, a less-effective preservative with many of the same “aerosols”, is legal, but requires double or triple applications during the same multi-year effectiveness of the former single application. Sometimes it is just a little difficult to obtain something – the toilet paper or meat and egg supply issues in recent years come to mind- while others may have a sufficiency. Perhaps they might be willing to trade these for another item or service of value? It was not all that long ago that I read about a champion of barter, who had started with an older but valuable item (I think it was a musical instrument) and successively traded up to obtain real estate.

Many years ago, our accommodations in the seaside Mexican town where my buddies and I went scuba diving were paid for with equipment and other goods from the United States that then were difficult to obtain in Mexico. Today, as the cost of maintenance and repair for household or mechanical items escalate, and the government continues to find additional ways to collect sales and income taxes from the middle class, I wonder whether a barter system that circumvents cash and credit transactions will become more popular.

Comshaw may be the way of the future.

Ask the Chief: an entrepreneur’s approach to social media

Eric Saretsky2 Comments

As my wife and ISIC (Immediate Superior In Command), reminds me, opining, responding to, or worse, instigating a diatribe via social media is bad for business. In the last century, word of mouth, newspaper, radio and television advertising, storefronts and mail order were means to get products and services to consumers. Developing repeat business from clients was more easily obtained and was often a local market. It is almost exclusively through social media or websites that consumers are aware of an entrepreneur’s product or service today. Social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter, Meta (Google), Tik-Tok or distributors such as Amazon are the primary means to advertise an entrepreneur’s wares. Inciting negative publicity can diminish a product or service’s availability on these platforms. (These companies also depend on consumers to regularly return to their platforms for profitability.)

As a result, when an inflammatory post, or even something innocuous that may appeal to an entrepreneur’s morals and personal beliefs, social media can quickly become a murky pool in which the original intent or comment is lost. As we have seen frequently, companies such as Facebook or Twitter can limit exposure for certain content. It might be a battle of wills with one claiming censorship and the other inflammatory rhetoric, but small businesses cannot afford loss of market share. This is the unfortunate reality today that we be friendly toward all.

Legal tender has no morals.

A veteran and an entrepreneur

Eric SaretskyLeave a comment

A beautiful afternoon in San Diego seemed like a nice opportunity to enjoy a cigar and watch birds from my front patio. These are some of the perks of being self- employed.

A young guy – anyone appearing under 45 is looking young – approached me with a flyer advertising his real estate business. We got to talking about cigars, work, dogs, and the benefits of being self-employed. He, too, is a Navy veteran who worked in electronics engineering, deciding there was a better way to earn a living in San Diego. He started buying and fixing up houses and then went the additional step of becoming a realtor.

As a video interview via Facebook, with actor Morgan Freeman, also a veteran, affirmed, we limit ourselves and make excuses. He absolutely confirmed the American Dream is possible if one is willing to put in the work.

on safari liberty

Eric SaretskyLeave a comment

It does not take much to get old Salts, or two military veterans chatting like old friends. As a perk of his new job at the San DIego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, our son and his co-workers invited parents to go on a “safari” with them yesterday. Seeing giraffes, buffalo, zebras and gazelles in a more natural environment of several hundred acres, from the inside, was awesome.

In the course of getting to know our fellow travelers, I met Dave whom I instantly recognized shared a Navy connection with me. Though a submariner, a “bubblehead”, his quip “I could tell you what I did but I’d have to kill you,” is humorous code for those of us who performed duties that are still governed by national security regulations. As “spooks”, intelligence and cryptologist specialties, we just shared some laughs about those times over lunch after the tour.

Spread the word on a Ballcap

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New item

For more than 25 years, I wore a command ballcap as a working uniform item with dungarees and BDUs. And kept the caps as mementos long after retiring. I hardly go anywhere without wearing one. And they always start a conversation with another veteran.

Do you have a favorite that you wear still? A company in the Carolinas makes embroidered shirts for my employees, and last month, I contracted them to create these to spread the word about my blog dedicated to veterans and families of vets.

Veteran stories: a soldiers service to God and humanity

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The Nuremberg trials concluded 75 years ago, obtaining convictions for Nazi officials, commanders and death camp overseers, those who orchestrated and committed genocide in World War II. World War II veteran Ben Ferencz prosecuted 22 Nazi death squad leaders for their role in murdering a million Jews. During his life he helped create the International Criminal Court in the Hague, and secure compensation for the survivors and families of Holocaust victims. At nearly 103, he is still dedicated to making the world better. Read his fascinating story, published by NBCNews January 15, 2023, here.

Putting your heart where your crow used to be

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Anybody who wears their feelings on their sleeve and has a harder, crusty shell – like I do – is definitely protecting an inner sensitivity.

Fred Durst, rapper, actor, musician (Limp Bizkit)

It has been more than twenty years since I was a crewman aboard a Navy ship putting to sea. With nearly eight and half years of sea time, all but several months of which was continually away from homeport, I relished having that connection to loved ones that the mail might bring. Where an actual package might take a month to be delivered, letters normally took half that time. And when email became possible, it seemed like those were almost instantaneous messages and response. Even during a busy OPTEMPO, Sailors need that connection to be reminded that what they are doing is important and that people back home have them in mind. We used to call articles shipped from home CARE packages. Moms or wives, or girlfriends (and now husbands, boyfriends and family) sent letters, cookies, magazines, and other mementos to their loved one afloat halfway around the world.

As former shipmates know, deployments and remote duty assignments can negatively influence marriages, relationships and personal conduct. Home life as a single parent is difficult without preplanning and a support network; many young marriages are tested by months of separation, and relocation every few years to different states or even countries. Sometimes poor decisions at home, or while on deployment causes emotional and financial distress. Away from one’s family or church, personal accountability is challenged. Working and living 24 hours a day among those who may believe playing “hard” is as important as working “hard”, personal accountability is tested (“poured into” one’s rack after drinking all day with your Liberty buddies, is overlooked once or twice by your leadership, but can be career-limiting as well as unhealthy). It is for that reason that connection with one of those families or young servicemembers, having walked myself in those boondockers, is so important to me.

The idea to continuing to serve our active duty men and women while they are away from home is not new. Legion and VFW halls, and USOs have done that for a century. But what eats at me is what am I doing to help encourage others? It is fairly easy to be someone who says they support such n such. And if someone says they are a supporter, do they provide some form of material support? A donor to a cause is needed, but asks little of that person. Putting additional “skin in the game”, is the one who participates in some activity, whether writing a letter, making a phone call, or taking a CARE package to the post office and mailing it. And then there is the one who is spurred to coordinate these efforts, obtaining the names of those service members your group or organization wants to help. Like the Chief, a job needs doing, and it is the Chief who sees it through. Sometimes your sweat, tears, and time makes it seem little is being accomplished. And yet there are those who will remember how there were people who helped make the separation – deployment – bearable. Being a Chief looking after the well-being of ‘your’ people never changes whether on Active Duty or retired for more than a decade. For the last couple decades, it is the members of my church family, neighbors, friends and former co-workers I have kept in my heart. Wearing my heart on my sleeve, though I no longer have khakis or dress uniform is still to help those serving today.

Ask the Chief: honoring the Flag

Eric SaretskyLeave a comment

Everywhere I go, I meet a veteran with a story that teaches me something about us as Americans. Some I meet are veterans of WWII and Korea, and some are quite a bit younger as veterans of combat tours in Afghanistan or Iraq. Others recall some detestable conduct they experienced from fellow Americans – incidents of racism, bigotry, or suspicion- but joined the military because of the promise that America meant to them. Some gave up promising careers to go defend America after September 11th. And quite a few I meet are immigrants who were willing to give up everything including their lives, to join the military, fight for the United States and earn citizenship.

Do you know the meaning of each fold of a properly folded American flag?

-George x, veteran and filmmaker

In a little motel office not far outside Yosemite National Park, my wife and I met the “staff”, George, who today was the snow shoveler, registration clerk and information concierge. We chatted this evening when we went looking for hot water to make cocoa, and he was very proud to share with us a story and a video about the American Flag. As a foreign-born American soldier, he earned citizenship through his wartime service. As a film student not long after his enlistment ended, a conversation with a Vietnam veteran sparked the momentum to make a documentary on the meaning of the Flag. With the participation of several notable Hollywood actors and military veterans, he produced the film directed by John Duffy. George gave us a DVD copy of “The Flag” which he promised “gives something to watch when the TV reception here is not good”.

Even as a retired Navy Senior Chief, I couldn’t immediately recall what the 13 individual folds of the flag I lowered and folded 3 decades ago meant, when it was my duty to execute with precision at Evening Colors. But the United States ensign has meant a great deal to me and my family for generations. Like one of the scenes in the film recreated what spurred a Vietnam vet’s interest in getting this film made. The idea that Americans would think it appropriate to burn an American flag, for whatever protest they have with our Government’s bureaucrats and elected officials, still wells up the same response from veterans. Like me, it might be fury at the disrespect shown veterans who have defended the principles, people, and homeland of the United States; and disappointment that people, never having suffered what most of the world has endured, trash symbols that give them more freedoms and choices than most.

  • First Fold: A Symbol of Life
  • Second Fold: Symbol of our belief in eternal life
  • Third: made in honor and remembrance of the veteran departing our ranks, and who gave a portion of his or her life for the defense of our country to attain peace throughout the world
  • Fourth: represents our weaker nature; as American citizens trusting in God, it is Him we turn to in times of peace, as well as in times of war, for His divine guidance
  • Fifth:  tribute to our country. In the words of Stephen Decatur, “Our country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right, but it is still our country, right or wrong.”
  • Sixth: is for where our hearts lie. It is with our heart that we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
  • Seventh: is a tribute to our Armed Forces for it is through the armed forces that we protect our country and our flag against all enemies, whether they be found within or without the boundaries of our republic.
  • Eighth: is a tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day, and to honor our mother, for whom it flies on Mother’s Day.
  • Ninth:  a tribute to womanhood. It has been through their faith, love, loyalty and devotion that has molded the character of the men and women who have made this country great.
  • Tenth: a tribute to father, who has also given his sons and daughters for the defense of our country since he or she was first born.
  • Eleventh: represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon and glorifies God of Abraham (honored by Jew or Muslim)
  • Twelfth: represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost.
  • Thirteenth: when the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost, reminding us of our national motto, “In God We Trust.”

Ed: This list is explained in the documentary, and this same description is given on military.com; some websites, including government sites, incorrectly attribute the folds to represent the original 13 colonies.

Ask the Chief: toxic exposure

Eric Saretsky1 Comment

Veterans and their families must take the initiative to obtain healthcare we are due as a result of military service. Veterans must recognize that any large bureaucracy moves slowly as a result of myriad policies, procedures, and claimants seeking redress. But recognition of one’s “adversary” does not mean avoiding redress of wrongs. As history taught, determined veterans and others exposed to ionizing radiation associated with nuclear weapons used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the Nevada desert and Pacific atoll ranges, were determined to obtain treatment from the Government. Similarly, civilians, shipyard workers and veterans’ exposure to asbestos insulation dust caused lung damage and incidents of cancer; public pressure resulted in nationwide asbestos removal and medical treatment for the afflicted. Certain cleaning solvents (e.g., trichloroethylene up through the 1970s) and repeated exposure for decades to PCBs – Polychlorinated biphenyl – used as insulating and coolant agents, sickened people and forced cleanup and care for those affected. Toxics leached into drinking water within military installations, exemplified by the Camp Lejeune Marine Base and elsewhere originating decades ago have become legal issues. Recently, the Government was forced to assume responsibility for troops exposed to toxics from Burn pits, disposal of trash and sewage with ignited diesel fuel – at camps during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among veterans who were deployed to the Mid-East since the Gulf War in 1991, a number have maladies that resist determining a cause. Since the 1990s, medical professionals have identified about a third of Gulf War veterans suffering problems grouped as Gulf War Syndrome.

Recent data studied by the U.S. Census Bureau (2018) indicates that living veterans number about 7 percent of the U.S. population. While servicemembers might risk injury and death from combat, many faced hazards from the conditions they worked within while working and living with toxic substances. These substances may contribute or aggravate, even decades later, health conditions. While it seems logical that these should be diagnosed and treated as the responsibility of the Government, it is an unfortunate necessity to apply political pressure and bring public scrutiny when an illness is as a result of military service. In the modern era, many voices clamor for Government services. Veterans who do not clamor louder that other constituents may not get heard.