Military and veterans health care should not be part of any national health care bill, says The American Legion
WASHINGTON (July 22, 2009) – The national commander of the nation’s largest veterans service organization has reacted to tonight’s urgent call by President Barack Obama for national health care reform.
“While The American Legion appreciates the complexity of the healthcare reform challenge facing the President and Congress,” said David K. Rehbein, “on behalf of our nation's 26-million veterans and the nearly two million personnel now on active duty in more than 130 countries, we urge Congress to ensure that veterans’ and military health care not be part of any national health care bill. They should be exempt in the legislation.”
Rehbein added, “Our nation must maintain its long standing tradition that veterans’ and military health care systems will remain independent and focused on our most deserving citizens.
“The American Legion has a proud tradition of securing and preserving the earned benefits of America’s veterans,” Rehbein said. “Ensuring timely access to quality healthcare for today’s military and veterans is of paramount concern. These are the citizens who have borne our battles in previous wars as they still are in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have earned our care the hard way. We, as a nation, have an obligation to ensure that their healthcare is not compromised,” he concluded.
With a current membership of 2.5 million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and the mentoring of youth. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.
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Media contacts: Craig Roberts, (202) 263-2982, Cell (202) 406-0887 or Joe March, (317) 630-1253; Cell (317) 748-1926. A high resolution photo of Nat. Cmdr. Rehbein is available at www.legion.org.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Historic Increases in Support of our Military and Veterans:
With passage of this bill, Congress has provided a 58 percent increase in funding for veterans health care and benefits since January 2007. This funding has resulted in a total increase of 8,300 claims processors, 145 community-based outpatient clinics, 70 Vet Centers, and more than 47,000 additional Veterans Health Administration employees. These additional resources will provide our veterans with their benefits more quickly and improve access to health care and other services. Congress has also funded several initiatives to improve the quality of life for our military and their families to include: $2.8 billion for new military hospitals, $1 billion for new child care centers to serve 20,000 military children, and $570 million in additional funding for barracks.
News from Congressman
Chet Edwards
Chairman, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
Room H-143 The Capitol Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-3047
17th District, Texas • 2369 Rayburn Building, Washington, D.C. 20515 (202) 225-6105
Homepage: www.house.gov/edwards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Josh Taylor
July 10, 2009 202-225-6105
Edwards: Historic Veterans, Military Construction Bill Passes House
Respects Service of Troops, Veterans, Includes Advanced Appropriations for First Time, & Builds on Historic Funding Increases Since 2007
(Washington, DC)— U.S. Representative Chet Edwards announced that the House passed vital funding for troops veterans, and their families under the fiscal year 2010 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill. The bill builds on the $17.7 billion in historic increases for veterans passed into law by Congress since January 2007. The bill passed by a bipartisan vote of 415 to 3.
Edwards, Chairman of the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee said, “This bill sends a clear message to America’s servicemen and women, their families, and our veterans that we deeply respect their service and sacrifice. With passage of this bill, Congress has provided a 58 percent increase in funding for veterans health care and benefits since January 2007. In addition we have a new 21st Century GI Education bill that now also transfers this important benefit to the children of those service members who have died while serving our country. This is an unprecedented increase in Congress’ commitment to veterans, and in my book, our veterans have earned every dime of this funding.
“This funding has resulted in a total increase of 8,300 claims processors, 145 community-based outpatient clinics, 70 Vet Centers, and more than 47,000 additional Veterans Health Administration employees. These additional resources will provide our veterans with their benefits more quickly and improve access to health care and other services. Congress has also funded several initiatives to improve the quality of life for our military and their families to include: $2.8 billion for new military hospitals, $1 billion for new child care centers to serve 20,000 military children, and $570 million in additional funding for barracks.”
The bill is strongly supported by major veterans service organizations such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, AMVETS, and many others.
Glen M. Gardner Jr., a Vietnam veteran from Round Rock, Texas, who is the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars said, “This is a huge step forward for disabled veterans, and the historic funding increases the House provides will dramatically improve the healthcare programs our nation delivers to her defenders. We have to thank House leadership from both sides of the aisle for making this happen, especially Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Chet Edwards (D-Texas) for spearheading the legislation.”
Overall, the bill provides $77.9 billion in discretionary spending, $53 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs, $24.6 billion for Military Construction, Family Housing and BRAC, and $266.8 million for related agencies. It is $239 million more than the President’s request and $5 billion more than fiscal year 2009 level. For the first time ever, $48.2 billion is provided in advance appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for three medical accounts: medical services, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities.
Bill Total
2009 Enacted: $72.9 billion
President’s Request: $77.7 billion
House Passage: $77.9 billion
KEY INVESTMENTS
Historic Increases in Support of our Military and Veterans: With passage of this bill, Congress has provided a 58 percent increase in funding for veterans health care and benefits since January 2007. This funding has resulted in a total increase of 8,300 claims processors, 145 community-based outpatient clinics, 70 Vet Centers, and more than 47,000 additional Veterans Health Administration employees. These additional resources will provide our veterans with their benefits more quickly and improve access to health care and other services. Congress has also funded several initiatives to improve the quality of life for our military and their families to include: $2.8 billion for new military hospitals, $1 billion for new child care centers to serve 20,000 military children, and $570 million in additional funding for barracks.
Overview of the Fiscal Year 2010 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act:
DEPARMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: $108.9 billion, the same as the President’s Request and $14.5 billion above 2009, for veterans medical care, claims processors, and facility improvements. In addition, for the first time ever, $48.2 billion is provided in advance appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for three medical accounts: medical services, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities.
Veterans Health Administration (VHA): $45.1 billion, the same as the President’s Request and $4.4 billion above 2009 after adjusting for transfers approved by the Committee on January 6, 2009, for veterans medical care to include:
• Medical Services: $34.7 billion, the same as the President’s Request and $4.0 billion above 2009 after adjusting for approved transfers, to improve access to medical services for all veterans.
• Mental Health: $4.6 billion, the same as the President’s Request and $800 million above 2009, for mental health care.
• Assistance for Homeless Vets: $3.2 billion, the same as the President’s Request and $949 million above 2009, includes $26 million for a Presidential Initiative to combat homelessness, $150 million for the homeless grants and per diem program, $20 million for supportive services for low income veterans and families, in addition to $21 million to hire additional personnel for the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program.
• Rural Health: The Department estimates that $440 million will be spent in fiscal year 2010 on innovative practices to improve access to care for veterans in rural areas. More than 3.2 million (41%) of enrolled veterans live in rural or highly rural areas.
• Medical and Prosthetic Research: $580 million, the same as the President’s Request and $70 million above 2009, to include a $48 million increase for research to address the critical needs of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans.
Major and Minor Construction: $1.9 billion, $123 million above the President’s Request and $252 million above 2009.
General Operating Expenses: $2.1 billion, $132 million below the President’s Request and $290 million above 2009, to enable the Department to hire roughly 1,200 additional claims processors to continue to work down the backlog of benefits claims and to reduce the time to process new claims. The most recent VA quarterly status report estimates that nearly 397,000 claims are pending. Additionally, the bill funds the Paralympics Program at the fully authorized amount of $10 million.
Inspector General: $106 million to include increased funding to provide additional oversight personnel including initiatives regarding financial audit and information technology program reviews.
MILITARY CONSTRUCTION: $23.2 billion, $1.8 billion below 2009 is provided for the base programs. The decrease from 2009 is attributable to the expected decline in BRAC construction requirements and the success of the family housing privatization program. In addition, $1.4 billion is provided for Overseas Contingency Operations, for a total funding level in the bill of $24.6 billion, $226 million above the President’s Request and $472 million below 2009.
• Trainee Troop Housing Initiative: $450 million to accelerate the Army’s program to modernize troop housing facilities for trainees. The Army has a need for $2.2 billion to bring all 115,413 trainee barracks spaces up to standard and the program currently is not scheduled to finish until 2017.
• Guard and Reserve Initiative: $200 million in additional funding is provided for Army National Guard, Air National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy and Marine Corps Reserve, and Air Force Reserve construction to address critical unfunded requirements, in recognition of the tremendous contributions made by Guard and Reserve personnel to emergency assistance, homeland security, and national defense.
• BRAC 1990 Environmental Cleanup: $537 million, $140 million above the President’s Request and $78 million above 2009, to address the large unfunded backlog of environmental cleanup for bases that were closed during the four previous BRAC rounds.
• 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) and Re-stationing: $7.5 billion, same as the President’s request, to implement base closures and realignments, and support the re-stationing of troops and their families from overseas to the United States.
• Military Housing: $2 billion, same as the President’s Request, to further eliminate inadequate military housing.
• Overseas Contingency Operations: $1.4 billion to support additional military construction requirements to support operations and troop increases in Afghanistan.
RELATED AGENCIES
American Battle Monuments Commission: $61.8 million, $1.5 million above the President’s Request and $2.3 million above 2009. This funding provides for the care and operation of our military monuments and cemeteries around the world.
United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims: $28.1 million, including $2.8 million for the Pro Bono Program to provide assistance to low income veterans.
Cemeterial Expenses: $42.5 million, $5.3 million above the President’s Request and $5.8 million above 2009, for Arlington cemetery. The additional funding will enable relocation of power and telephone line to make ground available for over 8,000 gravesites.
Armed Forces Retirement Home: $134 million, the same as the President’s Request and $71 million above 2009, for the Armed Forces Retirement Home, including $72 million for capital expenditures.
- 3 0 -
Joshua P. Taylor
Communications Director
Office of U.S. Representative Chet Edwards
2369 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
202/225-6105
News from Congressman
Chet Edwards
Chairman, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
Room H-143 The Capitol Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-3047
17th District, Texas • 2369 Rayburn Building, Washington, D.C. 20515 (202) 225-6105
Homepage: www.house.gov/edwards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Josh Taylor
July 10, 2009 202-225-6105
Edwards: Historic Veterans, Military Construction Bill Passes House
Respects Service of Troops, Veterans, Includes Advanced Appropriations for First Time, & Builds on Historic Funding Increases Since 2007
(Washington, DC)— U.S. Representative Chet Edwards announced that the House passed vital funding for troops veterans, and their families under the fiscal year 2010 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill. The bill builds on the $17.7 billion in historic increases for veterans passed into law by Congress since January 2007. The bill passed by a bipartisan vote of 415 to 3.
Edwards, Chairman of the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee said, “This bill sends a clear message to America’s servicemen and women, their families, and our veterans that we deeply respect their service and sacrifice. With passage of this bill, Congress has provided a 58 percent increase in funding for veterans health care and benefits since January 2007. In addition we have a new 21st Century GI Education bill that now also transfers this important benefit to the children of those service members who have died while serving our country. This is an unprecedented increase in Congress’ commitment to veterans, and in my book, our veterans have earned every dime of this funding.
“This funding has resulted in a total increase of 8,300 claims processors, 145 community-based outpatient clinics, 70 Vet Centers, and more than 47,000 additional Veterans Health Administration employees. These additional resources will provide our veterans with their benefits more quickly and improve access to health care and other services. Congress has also funded several initiatives to improve the quality of life for our military and their families to include: $2.8 billion for new military hospitals, $1 billion for new child care centers to serve 20,000 military children, and $570 million in additional funding for barracks.”
The bill is strongly supported by major veterans service organizations such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, AMVETS, and many others.
Glen M. Gardner Jr., a Vietnam veteran from Round Rock, Texas, who is the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars said, “This is a huge step forward for disabled veterans, and the historic funding increases the House provides will dramatically improve the healthcare programs our nation delivers to her defenders. We have to thank House leadership from both sides of the aisle for making this happen, especially Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Chet Edwards (D-Texas) for spearheading the legislation.”
Overall, the bill provides $77.9 billion in discretionary spending, $53 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs, $24.6 billion for Military Construction, Family Housing and BRAC, and $266.8 million for related agencies. It is $239 million more than the President’s request and $5 billion more than fiscal year 2009 level. For the first time ever, $48.2 billion is provided in advance appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for three medical accounts: medical services, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities.
Bill Total
2009 Enacted: $72.9 billion
President’s Request: $77.7 billion
House Passage: $77.9 billion
KEY INVESTMENTS
Historic Increases in Support of our Military and Veterans: With passage of this bill, Congress has provided a 58 percent increase in funding for veterans health care and benefits since January 2007. This funding has resulted in a total increase of 8,300 claims processors, 145 community-based outpatient clinics, 70 Vet Centers, and more than 47,000 additional Veterans Health Administration employees. These additional resources will provide our veterans with their benefits more quickly and improve access to health care and other services. Congress has also funded several initiatives to improve the quality of life for our military and their families to include: $2.8 billion for new military hospitals, $1 billion for new child care centers to serve 20,000 military children, and $570 million in additional funding for barracks.
Overview of the Fiscal Year 2010 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act:
DEPARMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: $108.9 billion, the same as the President’s Request and $14.5 billion above 2009, for veterans medical care, claims processors, and facility improvements. In addition, for the first time ever, $48.2 billion is provided in advance appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for three medical accounts: medical services, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities.
Veterans Health Administration (VHA): $45.1 billion, the same as the President’s Request and $4.4 billion above 2009 after adjusting for transfers approved by the Committee on January 6, 2009, for veterans medical care to include:
• Medical Services: $34.7 billion, the same as the President’s Request and $4.0 billion above 2009 after adjusting for approved transfers, to improve access to medical services for all veterans.
• Mental Health: $4.6 billion, the same as the President’s Request and $800 million above 2009, for mental health care.
• Assistance for Homeless Vets: $3.2 billion, the same as the President’s Request and $949 million above 2009, includes $26 million for a Presidential Initiative to combat homelessness, $150 million for the homeless grants and per diem program, $20 million for supportive services for low income veterans and families, in addition to $21 million to hire additional personnel for the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program.
• Rural Health: The Department estimates that $440 million will be spent in fiscal year 2010 on innovative practices to improve access to care for veterans in rural areas. More than 3.2 million (41%) of enrolled veterans live in rural or highly rural areas.
• Medical and Prosthetic Research: $580 million, the same as the President’s Request and $70 million above 2009, to include a $48 million increase for research to address the critical needs of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans.
Major and Minor Construction: $1.9 billion, $123 million above the President’s Request and $252 million above 2009.
General Operating Expenses: $2.1 billion, $132 million below the President’s Request and $290 million above 2009, to enable the Department to hire roughly 1,200 additional claims processors to continue to work down the backlog of benefits claims and to reduce the time to process new claims. The most recent VA quarterly status report estimates that nearly 397,000 claims are pending. Additionally, the bill funds the Paralympics Program at the fully authorized amount of $10 million.
Inspector General: $106 million to include increased funding to provide additional oversight personnel including initiatives regarding financial audit and information technology program reviews.
MILITARY CONSTRUCTION: $23.2 billion, $1.8 billion below 2009 is provided for the base programs. The decrease from 2009 is attributable to the expected decline in BRAC construction requirements and the success of the family housing privatization program. In addition, $1.4 billion is provided for Overseas Contingency Operations, for a total funding level in the bill of $24.6 billion, $226 million above the President’s Request and $472 million below 2009.
• Trainee Troop Housing Initiative: $450 million to accelerate the Army’s program to modernize troop housing facilities for trainees. The Army has a need for $2.2 billion to bring all 115,413 trainee barracks spaces up to standard and the program currently is not scheduled to finish until 2017.
• Guard and Reserve Initiative: $200 million in additional funding is provided for Army National Guard, Air National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy and Marine Corps Reserve, and Air Force Reserve construction to address critical unfunded requirements, in recognition of the tremendous contributions made by Guard and Reserve personnel to emergency assistance, homeland security, and national defense.
• BRAC 1990 Environmental Cleanup: $537 million, $140 million above the President’s Request and $78 million above 2009, to address the large unfunded backlog of environmental cleanup for bases that were closed during the four previous BRAC rounds.
• 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) and Re-stationing: $7.5 billion, same as the President’s request, to implement base closures and realignments, and support the re-stationing of troops and their families from overseas to the United States.
• Military Housing: $2 billion, same as the President’s Request, to further eliminate inadequate military housing.
• Overseas Contingency Operations: $1.4 billion to support additional military construction requirements to support operations and troop increases in Afghanistan.
RELATED AGENCIES
American Battle Monuments Commission: $61.8 million, $1.5 million above the President’s Request and $2.3 million above 2009. This funding provides for the care and operation of our military monuments and cemeteries around the world.
United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims: $28.1 million, including $2.8 million for the Pro Bono Program to provide assistance to low income veterans.
Cemeterial Expenses: $42.5 million, $5.3 million above the President’s Request and $5.8 million above 2009, for Arlington cemetery. The additional funding will enable relocation of power and telephone line to make ground available for over 8,000 gravesites.
Armed Forces Retirement Home: $134 million, the same as the President’s Request and $71 million above 2009, for the Armed Forces Retirement Home, including $72 million for capital expenditures.
- 3 0 -
Joshua P. Taylor
Communications Director
Office of U.S. Representative Chet Edwards
2369 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
202/225-6105
Monday, June 8, 2009
I received quite a bit of responses from my original message regarding “another Veterans Corps”…
Thank you all for caring.
From many of the responses, there are valid arguments made for and against this new “Veterans Corps”.
On the one hand, this new initiative, if properly supported by existing VSOs, can help launch an awareness program to returning veterans and introduce them to the traditions of “veterans serving veterans”. This will help increase awareness for VSOs like The American Legion amongst younger veterans and get them involved. And with some mentoring from older veterans, we can expect these young veterans who get involved in the “Veterans Corps” eventually volunteer their time with the VSOs and continue to make an impact. As one legionnaire wrote “If the new Veterans Corps is to strengthen and enable organizations to build capacity for their own missions to assist fellow veterans, then there is a chance this new initiative will actually accomplish something.”
On the other hand, if improperly executed, this program risks wasting taxpayer money and further disenfranchise veterans who are already doing everything they can.
Your collective wisdom has enlightened me in the fact that given this initiative, we can either be counter-productive and argue who can provide the best assistance to our veterans, or we can see this opportunity and work together to help mentor a generation of returning veterans the importance of peer-support and volunteer services to strengthen their communities.
And keeping true to the grassroots, I urge you to find out more about this Veterans Corps and ask your American Legion representatives, and your congressional representatives, to ensure VSOs critical role in developing the “Veterans Corps”.
Thank you all for caring.
From many of the responses, there are valid arguments made for and against this new “Veterans Corps”.
On the one hand, this new initiative, if properly supported by existing VSOs, can help launch an awareness program to returning veterans and introduce them to the traditions of “veterans serving veterans”. This will help increase awareness for VSOs like The American Legion amongst younger veterans and get them involved. And with some mentoring from older veterans, we can expect these young veterans who get involved in the “Veterans Corps” eventually volunteer their time with the VSOs and continue to make an impact. As one legionnaire wrote “If the new Veterans Corps is to strengthen and enable organizations to build capacity for their own missions to assist fellow veterans, then there is a chance this new initiative will actually accomplish something.”
On the other hand, if improperly executed, this program risks wasting taxpayer money and further disenfranchise veterans who are already doing everything they can.
Your collective wisdom has enlightened me in the fact that given this initiative, we can either be counter-productive and argue who can provide the best assistance to our veterans, or we can see this opportunity and work together to help mentor a generation of returning veterans the importance of peer-support and volunteer services to strengthen their communities.
And keeping true to the grassroots, I urge you to find out more about this Veterans Corps and ask your American Legion representatives, and your congressional representatives, to ensure VSOs critical role in developing the “Veterans Corps”.
another Veterans Corps???
Congress is trying to establish a new “Veterans Corps” under the established programs of AmeriCorps. (http://hamptonroads.com/2009/03/worthy-AmeriCorps-program-benefit-veterans) The provisions introduced to both the House and Senate asked that the taxpayers to put more money into a bureaucracy and establish a program from the ground up to do the job that so many Veterans Service Organizations are already doing. From what I can tell, this new initiative will give AmeriCorps the funding it needs to establish transition assistance volunteers to help veterans.
Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve always thought the point of VSOs, like The American Legion, are chartered by Congress to organize volunteer efforts, manage donations, and bypassing the government bureaucracy, and putting the efforts and initiatives at the hands of veterans who understand how to help another veteran. Maintaining true grassroots and empowering fellow veterans to serve their peers not only ensure the quality but also the bond that ties a veteran to his/her community. Why do we want to waste more taxpayer’s money to build something that is already there???
So why is the Obama administration looking in another direction on helping our veterans??? Can it be simply that Obama, or Congress, didn’t really think this through? Are they just jumping into the bandwagon to simply do something for the sake of doing something???
If it were up to me, I’d say instead of building another veterans’ service organization under AmeriCorps, Congress and Obama should look at what all of the VSOs are doing, and help build partnership across the board and help facilitate peer support to reduce the redundancy and maximize support to those returning veterans that need the help…
I think this is a case where politics and the appearance of doing something needs to take a backseat. Acting with reason and operating with the best interests of our veterans and servicemembers should be our first responsibility. Congress can really make a difference by coming to the VSOs and ask for an alliance or some sort to establish this “Veterans Corps”… but that’s just my opinion…
Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve always thought the point of VSOs, like The American Legion, are chartered by Congress to organize volunteer efforts, manage donations, and bypassing the government bureaucracy, and putting the efforts and initiatives at the hands of veterans who understand how to help another veteran. Maintaining true grassroots and empowering fellow veterans to serve their peers not only ensure the quality but also the bond that ties a veteran to his/her community. Why do we want to waste more taxpayer’s money to build something that is already there???
So why is the Obama administration looking in another direction on helping our veterans??? Can it be simply that Obama, or Congress, didn’t really think this through? Are they just jumping into the bandwagon to simply do something for the sake of doing something???
If it were up to me, I’d say instead of building another veterans’ service organization under AmeriCorps, Congress and Obama should look at what all of the VSOs are doing, and help build partnership across the board and help facilitate peer support to reduce the redundancy and maximize support to those returning veterans that need the help…
I think this is a case where politics and the appearance of doing something needs to take a backseat. Acting with reason and operating with the best interests of our veterans and servicemembers should be our first responsibility. Congress can really make a difference by coming to the VSOs and ask for an alliance or some sort to establish this “Veterans Corps”… but that’s just my opinion…
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
How to start a good social network for veterans:
I hear a lot of ambitious people wanting to start a social network these days to “provide transitional service and connect the veteran community”. While I admire their initiative and desire to help, often they lack the knowledge of what social networking really is and don’t know how to really tap the potential of social networking and employ the power of social media and new media.
One example:
I recently received a call from CPT “Socialnetwork Champion” to discuss his social network for the Marines. I asked a few questions about his desires, and this is the facts I collected:
• They have a brief market analysis and have determined that their targeted audience should be Marines and Veterans age between 18 and 35.
• They want to provide transitional services to these veterans.
• They have lined up one headhunting company to provide this employment service.
• They want to provide a matching feature to connect Marines with potential mentors and employers.
• They want to provide a vehicle of communication for active duty Marines and veterans.
I think what they have so far is great, but here are some problems:
• Their market research is incomplete and failed to capture the growing market share in Baby Boomer generation that encompasses the Vietnam generation veterans.
• If they do not target the older generation then how are they to provide the matching service for young veterans? Just peer-peer will not get them the experience and institutional knowledge our older veterans have with regards to the VA and other processes necessary to ensure a successful transition.
• Their identified goal of providing transitional services is too general. There are just too many issues for any one person to tackle. Transition means anything from PTSD support, to financial services, to family life mentoring, to job placement, to social reintegration. If a social network does not identify and target a function to provide a service, users may be distracted and do not recognize the things that makes your social network unique. The point here is that social networking is like any other competitive market, where you have to offer something new and useful in the product you are trying to deliver to ensure users return. Social networks are nothing if you don’t have users and no one is coming back for a unique service and/or function.
If you are thinking about using a social network to connect and provide a service to our veterans, here are some of the things to think about to ensure your success:
• You need to identify your targeted audience. Be as precise as you can and cast your net as wide as you can. What you may need to do is to segment your audience types and by demographic. Once you have that, then do your market analysis to determine just what the needs are in each segmented section and determine the services and function you can provide to that section.
• Then you have to carefully determine the risk and return on your investment on each of the sections of your segmented audience group. If you are providing a peer-peer support service to women veterans, then you need to determine what competitive edge you have, is there a existing social network providing the exact thing? Also keep in mind that the functions you decide must meet a need and has to depend on your Voice of Customer analysis. So you may want to do a small online survey to see just how many people may be interested in getting online peer support for VA home loan process (or whatever else you have identified). What you don’t want to end up with is a high price function, connecting Marines with golf courses that provide discount to veterans, that only serves a small population and is not demanded by users on the social network environment.
• Also you need to design a functional process that your social network will adopt and practice. You must always identify key input variables and output variables of that functional process so you can improve on this process int eh future depending on user input.
• You must identify all open-sourced social networks and see if any of them can provide what you wish to accomplish before you decide to spend a few million dollars on tech cost. A lot of times software companies will sell you on things that they know won’t work because they know the exact same function is being performed by Facebook or Boomj. But they will sell you the software solution anyhow just to make money off you. So do as much as you can open-source, and host only critical information on paid technology. I recommend that database functionalities are a must pay service since that allows you to collect user data for your own segmentation and targeted marketing.
• And lastly, know your users and keep up on your users. Drive your users to your site. Your social network is nothing without users so don’t focus too much on the technology and forget your users…
One example:
I recently received a call from CPT “Socialnetwork Champion” to discuss his social network for the Marines. I asked a few questions about his desires, and this is the facts I collected:
• They have a brief market analysis and have determined that their targeted audience should be Marines and Veterans age between 18 and 35.
• They want to provide transitional services to these veterans.
• They have lined up one headhunting company to provide this employment service.
• They want to provide a matching feature to connect Marines with potential mentors and employers.
• They want to provide a vehicle of communication for active duty Marines and veterans.
I think what they have so far is great, but here are some problems:
• Their market research is incomplete and failed to capture the growing market share in Baby Boomer generation that encompasses the Vietnam generation veterans.
• If they do not target the older generation then how are they to provide the matching service for young veterans? Just peer-peer will not get them the experience and institutional knowledge our older veterans have with regards to the VA and other processes necessary to ensure a successful transition.
• Their identified goal of providing transitional services is too general. There are just too many issues for any one person to tackle. Transition means anything from PTSD support, to financial services, to family life mentoring, to job placement, to social reintegration. If a social network does not identify and target a function to provide a service, users may be distracted and do not recognize the things that makes your social network unique. The point here is that social networking is like any other competitive market, where you have to offer something new and useful in the product you are trying to deliver to ensure users return. Social networks are nothing if you don’t have users and no one is coming back for a unique service and/or function.
If you are thinking about using a social network to connect and provide a service to our veterans, here are some of the things to think about to ensure your success:
• You need to identify your targeted audience. Be as precise as you can and cast your net as wide as you can. What you may need to do is to segment your audience types and by demographic. Once you have that, then do your market analysis to determine just what the needs are in each segmented section and determine the services and function you can provide to that section.
• Then you have to carefully determine the risk and return on your investment on each of the sections of your segmented audience group. If you are providing a peer-peer support service to women veterans, then you need to determine what competitive edge you have, is there a existing social network providing the exact thing? Also keep in mind that the functions you decide must meet a need and has to depend on your Voice of Customer analysis. So you may want to do a small online survey to see just how many people may be interested in getting online peer support for VA home loan process (or whatever else you have identified). What you don’t want to end up with is a high price function, connecting Marines with golf courses that provide discount to veterans, that only serves a small population and is not demanded by users on the social network environment.
• Also you need to design a functional process that your social network will adopt and practice. You must always identify key input variables and output variables of that functional process so you can improve on this process int eh future depending on user input.
• You must identify all open-sourced social networks and see if any of them can provide what you wish to accomplish before you decide to spend a few million dollars on tech cost. A lot of times software companies will sell you on things that they know won’t work because they know the exact same function is being performed by Facebook or Boomj. But they will sell you the software solution anyhow just to make money off you. So do as much as you can open-source, and host only critical information on paid technology. I recommend that database functionalities are a must pay service since that allows you to collect user data for your own segmentation and targeted marketing.
• And lastly, know your users and keep up on your users. Drive your users to your site. Your social network is nothing without users so don’t focus too much on the technology and forget your users…
Friday, February 6, 2009
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