May 27,2003

To our viewers:

Reflecting on this past week’s progress on Restoration of Retired Pay for Disabled Veterans, I could see great response coming our way. In less than one short Month, SUPPORT THE VETS has had letters from many retired veterans expressing gratitude for our work on their behalf. I have posted some of these in our “letters from veterans and supporters “section for you to view. We as you may already know, are an all volunteer group of retired veterans and civilian supporters. The people that volunteered to become Region Coordinators during our early days have worked diligently and professionally to get the word out to the public. From the distant Pacific area to the State of Florida we have established Regions and continue to bring dedicated individuals onboard. I am personally grateful to these people one and all for stepping forward from the ranks to help in this effort.  This group had one mission and purpose in mind. Make the American public aware of the injustice of the offset to retired pay. In presenting this to our viewers and in our contact with other agencies we are constantly aware of the political implications and opinions that can come from frustrated expressions of concern. We are dedicated to keeping SUPPORT THE VETS apolitical. There is no room for personnel agendas and axe grinding in this group and we shall strive to maintain that image.

We are sincerely appreciative of the association we have established with the Uniformed Services Disabled Retirees (USDR) http://www.usdr.org  the officers of that organization promptly contacted us to provide support and any guidance we needed. Soon after we were organized. We will continue to work in mutual concert to correct the injustice of retired pay offset.

This week we are re-dedicating our efforts to follow the actions of our representatives as they proceed through the legislative process on HR 303. The urgent message and request for assistance on our redesigned first page has produced a gratifying number of written responses. I invite you to send a letter or call your legislator using this information we have placed on the front page.

Every call, every effort counts more than you may know. While researching some information on legislative processes, I ran across the following that I found inspiring;

In 1645 ONE VOTE gave Oliver Cromwell control of England

In 1876, ONE VOTE gave Rutherford B Hayes the presidency of the United States.

In 1941 ONE VOTE saved Selective Service just weeks before Pearl Harbor.

In 1993, ONE VOTE gave the United States the largest tax increase in the history of the world.

I respectfully ask you to make the call, write the letter and most of all, and discuss this program and our goal with your friends and neighbors.

We thank you for your continued support and concern.

Sincerely,

William A. Gast

Editor

Support the Vets.