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To whom it may concern,

An official with the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs has brought to my attention that, beginning in January, the State of Oregon will join several other states in marking the drivers licenses of veterans with a large, red capital "V" to make it known that that person is a veteran. This is being masqueraded as an effort to ease potential conflicts between veterans and law enforcement officers, supposedly by allowing the officer to re-evaluate their appoach to the suspect, as if the veteran is a potential threat; however, it would seem that there could be a much more complex and nefarious purpose behind the big red "V". It is important to note that this official (who has not given permission to be named) recenly returned from a seminar, where he lectured many law enforcment leaders from the local area on identifying and negotiating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in suspects.


In April 2009, Homeland Security secretary Janet Nepalitano signed off on a report that was disseminated to the hundreds of sub-agencies that the DHS absorbed under the Patriot Act. The report explicity listed returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans as terrorist threats to the United States. The insinuations from this report were echoed in the infamous MIAC Report, as well as numerous publications from the newly federalized Southern Poverty Law Center. Also, many media outlets over the last two years have given some attention to the issue of veteran suicides. The reports commonly advocate for ristricting firearms access to veterans.

Case in point, this article that appeared in the Oregonian:

A case in Umatilla County shows that for veterans, suicide is a mortal enemy | OregonLive.com

"Veterans are not at greater risk of dying of natural causes or other violent death than any other civilian, according to research by Mark Kaplan, a suicide expert and professor at the Portland State University School of Community Health. But veterans of any age are more than twice as likely to commit suicide, Kaplan and his colleagues found.

"Firearms are the most common means -- about 34 percent higher than non-vets, the study found. Service members are so comfortable with and so likely to own guns that the researchers say prevention must address access. Almost everyone who attempts suicide with a gun dies, Kaplan says."



How this relates to firearms:

It is depressing to imagine the young men and women who come home from war having the very Constitutional Rights that they put their lives on the line for stripped from them by their own government. While it is said that the big red "V" will be optional, it's not hard to forsee the consequences for those who choose to 'opt-in'. It's no secret that the powers that be do not like our Right to bear arms, and it's becoming more clear that disarming veterans seems to be a priority. Does anyone remember House Bill HR 2640, the so-called Veterans Disarmament Act? Here's a link, in case you forgot:

Larry Pratt -- Veterans Disarmament Act to Bar Vets from Owning Guns


I, for one, will NOT have my license marked. It's not right that I should be perceived differently by Law Enforcement. What's so different? I get told all the time at VA, "Oh, you're not crazy, you're not different, blahblahblah..." , so why would it be necessary to train police officers to treat me different? Not to mention it's kinda.... Creepy. Think about it:

*Thick German accent, hint of Bavarian*

"Vhere are youwr ppaypehrs??"

Ya know what I mean? I know it is supposed to be a benevolent gesture to, ahem, "help veterans re-assimilate" or whatever, but isn't the road to **** paved with good intentions? What about the road to Fema Camps? What are they paved with?

Anyways, I just wanted to hear some other thoughts on this.

DeathRattle
c-co 2-12 CAV

PS. Much love to the boys in blue. I'm not hatin'. You just keep doing the best job you can.

Mods: wasn't sure if I should put this here, or the off topic area. I eniemenieminiemoe'd it, and... voila!
 
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This seriously undermines the pride we vets have and may have future consequences on enlistments, moral etc. This marking will identify us as a subculture that bears watching rather than a group that should be revered and praised.
 
Red V on Plates - I wouldn't do it. I already have the big "D" on my plates and I wonder about that for the same reasons. It's nice the state does that for us, however, with the DHS' recent attitude towards vets I'm not so sure now.

Veterans Disarmament Act - This is complete garbage. I am would be personally affected by this. If they take that away from me, then why did I even do it? In my mind, that's the first and foremost right that I served to protect. It gives the ability to protect all the others. I am infuriated. And scared.
 
This seriously undermines the pride we vets have and may have future consequences on enlistments, moral etc. This marking will identify us as a subculture that bears watching rather than a group that should be revered and praised.

Red V on Plates - I wouldn't do it. I already have the big "D" on my plates and I wonder about that for the same reasons. It's nice the state does that for us, however, with the DHS' recent attitude towards vets I'm not so sure now.

Veterans Disarmament Act - This is complete garbage. I am would be personally affected by this. If they take that away from me, then why did I even do it? In my mind, that's the first and foremost right that I served to protect. It gives the ability to protect all the others. I am infuriated. And scared.

This seems a good opportunity to thank you both for serving our country.
And in my opinion Armedredneck is right. Our 2nd amendment is the first right that you brave men fought to protect.
 
It is a sign of our socialist leaning times. Most of our young people are NEVER taught our own history accurately....they do not understand that they would have NOTHING in this country without the sacrifice of our veterans of previous and existing conflicts..........sad sad

Thanks to you veterans for a job we can never repay you for!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
So I can suppose it will not be long before the DD214 of every vet is examined for deployment history...and then we can be assigned a risk factor?? If I had a time machine maybe I could go back to 1968............and go to Canada. Is this the thanks we get??? If you are a vet start writing the letters now.
 
v_logo1.jpg
 
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So I can suppose it will not be long before the DD214 of every vet is examined for deployment history...and then we can be assigned a risk factor?? If I had a time machine maybe I could go back to 1968............and go to Canada. Is this the thanks we get??? If you are a vet start writing the letters now.


You'd be nominated for high office in the here and now if you had done just that. :s0155:
 
Hmmmmm.....

The "V" plate will probably become one of those state Vet Bennies that will be free or so cheap that it doesn't make sense to not get it. Most Vets I know have stickers on there truck identifing them and what they did, so it wouldn't matter if they had a "V" or not.

SF-
 
Maybe the state should mandate we Veterans have this proposed "V" sewn onto our clothing, maybe use it to mark our businesses and homes.

I wonder what going thru a TSA checkpoint would be like for someone presenting their boarding pass and identification with this "V" on it?
 
Maybe the state should mandate we Veterans have this proposed "V" sewn onto our clothing, maybe use it to mark our businesses and homes.

I wonder what going thru a TSA checkpoint would be like for someone presenting their boarding pass and identification with this "V" on it?

Plllllleeeeeeease...... Sewing V's on our clothing..... Pssssss.... That is so 1937 Ann Frank.... Get with the times..... Seriously there wouldn't need to be anything more easier than track cell phones of Veterans. We have to use our SSN's for the credit check. With the recent attempt of the Vehicle Born Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) in Portland, OR, the 'no contract' cell phones have a limited life span in the US. Just sayin'.

SF-
 
Our Veterans should indeed be revered and praised. I'm grateful for and humbled by the service of everyone who has served. I think that our freedom to choose is one thing our Vets have served so bravely to defend-- choose to own a gun or not, choose to protest government actions or not, choose to get special plates or not. I'm not clear now if the 'V' would be put on a persons' license itself, or on license plates? The OP DeathRattle states that it'd be on the personal license and not the plates. I'd certainly question the constitutionality of a mandatory identifier for a single, specific group of citizens. Though I suppose that might initially come down to assertion of individual states' rights, with implementation more likely to be delayed or blocked by citizen input. Certainly, many Vets suffer from PTSD-- because they're human beings who've experienced terrible, incomprehensible situations. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but not all Vets have PTSD, and not all people with PTSD are suicidal...

PTSD and Vet suicides are a terrible reality that we're not doing enough to combat; we have a lot to learn and we need to learn new interventional strategies and tactics quickly. But for Vets and civilians alike who are intent on suicide, there are innumerable ways of ending one's own life. If a truly suicidal person DOESN'T own a gun, they will still find a way to end their own life. If a person truly set on it does owns a gun, they might use it- BUT they might choose another method. PTSD is an increased-risk factor for suicide, but so is divorce; the loss of a job/child/other loved one; alcohol & drug abuse, and/or the easy availability of drugs and poisons, ranging from OTC sleeping pills to breathing car exhaust. I don't mean to be morbid, but I think the above examples help clarify my point.

I can speak from personal experience that PTSD counseling has been an incredible help. I know I'm not the only gun-owner who was dxd with PTSD who never considered suicide. And I doubt I'm the only person who has had a gun-owning friend commit suicide using a non-firearm related method.

We can't allow Vets to be stripped of ANY of the Constitutional rights they've served to defend. Sadly, more Vets will end their own lives, some with firearms. Sadly, more Vets will end up homeless, have alcohol or substance abuse problems, broken relationships and painful re-assimilations into daily life back home. Veering back to the original topic of this thread, I can't see how a mandatory (if it were to be mandatory) 'V' on a license or plate would alter any of those situations in a positive way. And disarming Veterans based on a very short evaluation by an overworked VA Doctor can't be the be-all, end-all of PTSD assistance...
 

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