Important Message from Ismael (Izzy) Quintana --
Clothing Drive October 2nd and October 9th for Afghanistan Allies and Refugees

The Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) Post 9015 of Upper Nyack which I am a member of and serve as Post Chaplain will be holding a clothing drive for our Afghanistan allies and refugees this Saturday October 2nd and next Saturday October 9th between 9 am and 12 pm at the post located at 250 Birchwood Ave., Upper Nyack, NY 10960. There are two attachments here. The first is the clothing drive information and the second is why we are doing it. It was written by Mike Tritt who is our Post Adjutant. I encourage you to read it to fully understand what his interpreter had to go through to get out of Afghanistan. This story is the same for others that were lucky to have escaped as well.  Ismael (Izzy) Quintana, Cell: (845) 587-6497

Please support this Clothing and Items Drive.  For further information call Commander Damien Shea on his cell phone:  757-803-4382 or email vfwpost9215unny@gmail.com or call Izzy at 845-587-6497 or email: iquintana@vettovetrc.org.

9/11 Remember Reflect Educate
Saturday, October 2nd, 2021 from 11:00 a.m. -- 8:00 p.m.
and Sunday, October 3rd, 11:00 a.m. -- 6:00 p.m.
Germonds Park
185 Germonds Road, West Nyack, New York

There is a suggested donation of $20 per family to attend the event. All proceeds from the event benefit the 9/11 Education Foundation.
The Foley Family of Rockland County, along with the 9/11 Education Foundation and the Town of Clarkstown, is hosting a two-day event to mark the 20th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, and to bring attention to the ongoing consequences felt by families who are still suffering from the effects. The event is aimed at honoring the heroes lost during and after that tragic day and promoting education, reflection, and remembrance around 9/11.

To purchase tickets:  https://cfosny.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list/event?event_date_id=2981

For further information:  https://www.911educationfoundation.org/events?fbclid=IwAR1ACHNj2wz4-_KH6oqu0R7B_BPWUIgeIkwIi2hlH5uEFSCnybHmJIOEidw

Attractions include:

• 9/11 Never Forget Mobile Museum
  
• Corn Hole & MiniGolf Tournaments
  
• Children’s Inflatables
  
• Food Trucks
  
• Wine & Beer Tents
  
• Face Painting
  
• Onsite Vendors
  
• Additional Family Activities
  
• Live Music, including:
  

• Irish-folk band Celtic Cross
  
• Cousins Moran
  
• Sheridan Ruitin
  
• Country Fresh
  
• Reflections

Troops ask court to block DoD’s vaccine requirement
By Leila Barghouty
September 30, 2021
Military Times Article

Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Troy E. Black receives the COVID-19 vaccine as part of Operation Warp Speed at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Maryland, Dec. 22, 2020. (Lance Cpl. Tyler W. Abbott/Marine Corps) (This photo has been altered for security purposes by blurring out medical documentation.)
Two service members have filed a complaint against federal government officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in hopes that a federal judge will step in and block the military’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Robert, and Marine Staff Sgt. Hollie Mulvihill, filed the complaint on Aug. 17 with Colorado’s U.S. district court, alleging that the Defense Department’s personnel vaccine rollout is illegal and unconstitutional. The lawsuit followed DoD’s August announcement that members of the military would be required to take the vaccine. The two troops believe they should be exempt from the vaccine mandate because they already had COVID-19, and they’re pushing to get the case certified as a class action lawsuit.

Court documents were filed just days before the Pfizer vaccine was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Aug. 23. The next day, the Pentagon released a memo confirming that mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 would only use drugs with full FDA licensure, though service members could voluntarily take any vaccine on the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization list and still be considered compliant with the mandate.
Largely basing their argument on the COVID-19 vaccines’ expedited Emergency Use Authorization status, the plaintiffs cited a federal law, 50 U.S.C. 1520, that prohibits DoD from using human subjects for testing of chemical or biological agents. However, the vaccines approved for use in the U.S. were not considered experimental, a claim debunked by Reuters.

The service members call the vaccine requirement “a naked attempt to leverage the Plaintiffs’ military status against them in order to move forward with an unnecessary public health mandate,” according to court documents.

To back up their claim, the two troops cite Army Regulation 40-562, which allows exemptions to vaccine requirements can be granted if there is “evidence of immunity based on serologic tests, documented infection, or similar circumstances.” These regulations were written before the COVID-19 pandemic, which presented unprecedented infection and hospitalization rates across the country.

To read further:  
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2021/09/30/troops-ask-court-to-block-dods-vaccine-requirement/

Marine lieutenant colonel who demanded ‘accountability’ in brig, not charged yet
By James R. Webb
The Military Times (www.militarytimes.com)
Sep 28, 2021

Lt. Col Stuart Scheller, shown here in an official Marine Corps photo, was relieved Aug. 27 for a viral video in which he demanded accountability of "senior leadership" following an attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which took the lives of 13 service members. (Marine Corps)

Lt. Col Stuart Scheller, who recently garnered considerable attention for social media posts and videos demanding “accountability” is now in military jail, the Marine Corps announced.
He is in pretrial confinement at the Regional Brig for Marine Corps Installations East at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, pending an Article 32 preliminary hearing, Capt. Sam Stephenson, a spokesman for Training and Education Command, said in a Tuesday statement to Marine Corps Times. The time, date and location for that hearing have yet to be determined.

However, although confined, Scheller currently faces no charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Stephenson said. However, multiple UCMJ charges are being considered.
“The general nature of the offenses being considered at the Art. 32 hearing are: Article 88 (contempt toward officials), Article 90 (willfully disobeying superior commissioned officer), Article 92 (failure to obey lawful general orders), Article 133 (conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman),” Stephenson told Marine Corps Times via email Tuesday.
To read further:  Marine Lieutenant Colonel Who Demanded Accountability Is In Brig

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Pipe Hitter Foundation is incredibly proud to assist Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller, a Marine who had the courage to demand accountability from his leadership in the wake of a disastrous exit from Afghanistan that lead to the death of 13 of his fellow service members.

LtCol Scheller is an infantry officer with an exemplary career of five deployments and multiple senior awards including a Bronze Star, Army Commendation with “V” for Valor, 3 Meritorious Service Medals, 3 Navy Commendations. With 17 years in the Corps, Stu was just a few years away from retirement with a pension and benefits awaiting him, but none of that mattered more than doing what is right – demanding accountability.  

Here is a link to the Pipe Hitter Foundation if anyone would like to make a donation or read further information about LtCol. Scheller or the Foundation:

https://pipehitterfoundation.org/who-we-support/lt-col-scheller/

The Pipe Hitter Foundation was founded by the Gallagher family who vowed to dedicate their lives fighting the injustices that were inflicted on them.

Military History Anniversaries 1 thru 31 Oct
To view entire month's events, use this link:
Veterans Resources: Military History Anniversaries - October

Events in History that had U.S. military involvement or impacted in some way on U.S military operations or American interests during the month of October.

• Oct 00 1943 – WW2: USS Dorado (SS–248) – Date of sinking unknown. Most likely either accidently bombed and sunk by friendly Guantanamo–based flying boat on 13 October or sunk by a German submarine mine in the West Indies. 77 killed
  
• Oct 01 1880 – John Philip Sousa becomes leader of the United States Marine Band.
  
• Oct 01 1942 – WW2: USS Grouper torpedoes Lisbon Maru not knowing she is carrying 1800 British POWs from Hong Kong. Over 800 died in the sinking.
  
• Oct 01 1942 – WW2: First flight of the first American jet fighter aircraft Bell XP–59 'Airacomet'. The USAF was not impressed by its performance and cancelled the contract when fewer than half of the aircraft ordered had been produced
  
• Oct 01 1943 – WW2: Naples falls to Allied soldiers.
  
• Oct 01 1947 – F-86 Sabre – The transonic jet fighter aircraft flies for the first time.
  
• Oct 01 1951 – 24th Infantry Regiment, last all–black military unit, deactivated.
  
• Oct 01 1957 – Cold War: B–52 bombers begin full–time flying alert in case of USSR attack.
  
• Oct 01 1979 – The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama Canal to Panama.
  
• Oct 01 1992 – U.S. aircraft carrier Saratoga cripples Turkish destroyer TCG Muavenet (DM–357) causing 27deaths and injuries by negligently launched missiles.
• Oct 02 1780 – American Revolution: John André, British Army officer of the American Revolutionary War, is hanged as a spy by American forces.
• Oct 02 1835 – The Texas Revolution: Battle of Gonzales – Begins when Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, Texas, and encounter stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia.
• Oct 02 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Saltville – 5,000 Union forces attack Saltville, Virginia, but are defeated by 300 Confederate troops. Combined casualties 458
• Oct 02 1912 – Nicaraguan Occupation Aug-Nov: U.S. forces defeat rebels under the command of Benjamín Zeledón at the Battle of Coyotepe Hill. Casualties and losses: US 14 - Rebels 32.
• Oct 02 1944 – WW2: Battle of Aachen Germany begins. Fighting for the city took place between 13–21 OCT.
  
• Oct 03 1940 – WW2: U.S. Army forms airborne (parachute) troops.
  
• Oct 03 1944 – WW2: USS Seawolf (SS-197) accidentally sunk by naval aircraft from USS Midway (CVE-63)and USS Richard M. Rowell (DE-403) off Morotai Island. 100 died

• Oct 03 1993 – Somalia Intervention: Battle of Bakhara Market, Mogadishu – In an attempt to capture officials of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid's organization in Mogadishu, Somalia, 18 US soldiers and about 1,000 Somalis are killed in heavy fighting.
  
• Oct 04 1777 – American Revolution: Battle of Germantown – Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe. Casualties and losses: US 1111 - GB 533.
  
• Oct 04 1918 – An explosion kills more than 100 and destroys the T.A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant in Sayreville, New Jersey. Fires and explosions continue for three days forcing massive evacuations and spreading ordnance over a wide area, pieces of which were still being found as of 2007. Residents of Morgan, NJ flee from the Morgan Depot explosions to Perth Amboy.
• Oct 04 1943 – World War II: U.S. captures Solomon Islands. Casualties and losses: Allies 10,600 KIA, 40+ Ships, & 800 aircraft - JP 80,000 KIA, 50+ ships & 1500 aircraft.
  
• Oct 05 1813 – War of 1812: Battle of the Thames – U.S. victory in Ontario broke Britain’s Indian allies with the death of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh and made the Detroit frontier safe. Casualties and losses: US 27 - GB/Indians 616.
  
• Oct 05 1914 – WWI: First aerial combat resulting in an intentional fatality.
  
• Oct 05 1943 – WW2: 98 American POW's executed by Japanese forces on Wake Island.
  
• Oct 05 1965 – Korea: U.S. forces in Saigon receive permission to use tear gas
  
• Oct 05 1966 – Vietnam: Hanoi insists the United States must end its bombings before peace talks can begin.
  
• Oct 05 2001 – Afghanistan: Operation Enduring Freedom begins (GWOT).
  
• Oct 06 1971 – Vietnam: Operation Jefferson Glenn – The last major operation in which US ground forces participated ends.
• Oct 07 1777 – American Revolution: Americans beat British in 2nd Battle of Saratoga aka. Battle of Bemis Heights. The British surrendered 10 days later. Casualties and losses of both battles: US 330 - GB 8,398.
  
• Oct 07 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Darbytown Road: Confederate forces' attempt to regain ground that had been lost around Richmond is thwarted. Casualties and losses: US 437 - CSA 513.
  
• Oct 07 1864 – Civil War: USS Wachusett – Captures the Confederate raider ship CSS Florida while in port in Bahia, Brazil.
• Oct 07 1940 – WW2: The McCollum memo proposes bringing the United States into the war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States.
• Oct 07 1943 – WW2: USS S–44 (SS–155) – Lost to Japanese escort destroyer Ishigaki, northeast Araito Island off Kamchatka. 56 killed
• Oct 07 2001 – GWOT: The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan starts with an air assault and covert operations on the ground.
• Oct 08 1862 – Civil War: Battle of Perryville - The Union is victorious at the largest Civil War combat to take place in Kentucky. Casualties and losses: US 4,276 - CSA 3,401.
• Oct 08 1918 – WWI: In the Argonne Forest in France, U.S. Corporal Alvin C. York leads an attack that kills 25 German soldiers and captures 132.
• For more Military History events, view this link:                                                                  Veterans Resources: Military History Events for October

VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA, CHAPTER #333 ROCKLAND COUNTY, NEW YORK
BOARD AND MEMBER MEETING 10/07/2021
Board Meeting Time 6:30 P.M.
Member Meeting Time 7:30 P.M.

Location: Kearsing & Edwards American Legion Post 1600
20 Station Road, Pomona NY 10970
Meeting will be held inside the Legion Hall

Meeting
Date/Time: October 7. 2021 07:30 PM Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5584033382?pwd=VmF4UGRkZitIMzlnVnFOaDNhbVJvZz09
Dial in: 1 646 558 8656
Meeting ID: 558 403 3382
Passcode: 506519

        +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 558 403 3382
Passcode: 506519