Veterans' Needs, Charitable Dangers

Military personnel are committing suicide at a rate greater than they are dying in battle. In 2011, there were 283 confirmed Army, Reserve, and National Guard suicides, according to the Defense Department. Last year, it appears, the tolling bells rang an even sadder result. In the first 11 months of 2012, there were 303 "potential" suicides among the same group, with 210 so far confirmed by investigators. In contrast, the Stars and Stripes military newspaper reports that, as of Dec. 7, 212 soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan last year.

So here's my call as we start 2013: Please dig deep into your pockets for the men and women in our armed forces. Giving fatigue at this time of year is real, but let's be blunt -- it's not as real or deadly as battle fatigue. The needs of our warrior class are great.

Consider Air Force pilot Layne Hill, who had a catastrophic reaction to the anthrax vaccine. Unable to walk anymore, this man with a devoted wife and three children spends a lot of his life shuttling from doctors' appointments to medical tests. When the Hill kids do an activity, their wheelchair-bound father usually stays at home; mom takes them.

Last summer, however,A wide range of polished tiles for your tile flooring and walls. the Wounded Warrior Project sent the Hills to the National Ability Center in Park City, Utah, a camp rigged with specialized equipment and services. Hill suddenly found himself riding a specially engineered bike, alongside his young son. The nonprofit camp helps veterans' families focus on themselves and a little play, rather than on the warrior's disability and its daily grind. "Having that recreation just kind of helps you recharge your batteries and reset your clock, so you can engage in the challenges still before you," says Hill.

The Utah camp, excluding transportation, costs $100 to $175 per person per day; the participating charities pick up all the costs, providing veterans and their families with a crucial morale boost. The center's executive director, Gail Loveland, says she wants to serve more of the growing disabled vet population,One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. but it's hard, from her location, to get word out nationally that families and charitable partners are welcome.

Here's something else you should know: Nonprofits devoted to assisting war veterans are also a big attraction to crooks.Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. CharityWatch is a nonprofit watchdog and information service. In its December report, CharityWatch's president, Daniel Borochoff, ran down the latest scams ensnaring those wanting to help veterans, including crowd funding pitches on Craigslist and Indiegogo for maimed warriors who don't actually exist, and skuzzy look-alike charities that divert funds away from the real thing.The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry,

Last April, U.S. marshals arrested John Donald Cody, a former military intelligence officer who had been on the FBI's wanted list for decades. After stealing another man's identity, Cody ran a sham charity for eight years called the U.S. Navy Veterans Association. Cody allegedly used this to bilk the public of nearly $100 million.

And some veterans' charities, while not fraudulent, are badly run, aided by the squishy nature of nonprofit accounting. Fund-raising pitches with a bit of "advice" embedded can, for example, be booked as "educational program" expenses. One charity that Borochoff reviewed disguised its fund-raising costs by including a few tips on "proper wheelchair etiquette" in its solicitations.

Don't rely solely on the Charity Navigator or Guidestar databases to make a gift, but perform your own due diligence. CharityWatch analyzes charities that are heavily into soliciting. There are 10 large veterans' charities out of 45 that CharityWatch rates as excellent, including the A-plus-scored Fisher House Foundation and the Semper Fi/Injured Marine Semper Fi funds. Conversely, the Wounded Warrior Project that so helped the Hill family earned a D from CharityWatch, after picking up three out of four stars at Charity Navigator. Borochoff says he focuses on how wisely cash is spent. Not surprisingly, Steven Nardizzi, a WWP founder, argues that Borochoff makes his financial calls behind closed doors. WWP follows the Better Business Bureau rating system, which, Nardizzi says, assesses the outcomes of programs.

Last month the Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to approve an important proposal to begin building the nation’s spectrum superhighways. These new rules would unlock 100 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band for commercial use. In response to a directive from President Obama, this spectrum was identified by the Commerce Department as ripe for sharing because it is only sporadically used by shipborne military radars, mostly located along the East and West Coasts.

This new spectrum management model builds upon the FCC’s pioneering experience allowing database-driven access to vacant channels (so-called “white spaces”) in the TV bands. Over time, this new model should be extended into other frequency bands as well. Building on the farsighted and ongoing work of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Department of Defense, and other federal agencies, the PCAST report calls for the eventual sharing of up to 1,000 megahertz of federal spectrum with the commercial sector.

It is great progress that the FCC’s proposal is moving forward, and both the FCC and NTIA deserve our praise. However, it is important to note that any real value to the economy and consumers will start to accrue only when the review process has concluded, new rules put in place, and infrastructure is deployed. Reaching that goal quickly should remain our focus.

The European Commission recently introduced the outline for a proposal for spectrum sharing in the European Union, reminding us that we are in a world-wide innovation race. By adopting a new approach to spectrum management first, the U.S. can lead in both the amount of spectrum available and in continuing to advance the technologies required for the future.

PCAST’s report calls for a new spectrum architecture that uses an automated “spectrum access system” that will enable new and inexpensive technologies to coexist with legacy federal systems. The combination of smaller radio cells and a spectrum access system could make underutilized spectrum, much of which is currently assigned to the federal government, available to commercial users in just a few years, rather than a decade or more.

As dynamic sharing evolves and spectrum is reused in smaller and smaller cells, capacity can be improved thousands of times. Likewise, capacity effectiveness can be improved thousands of times, thereby enabling less expensive mobile broadband access using technologies like LTE.Find detailed product information for Low price howo tipper truck and other products. Just as we have seen with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, innovation in wide area mobile communications, sensor networks – even whole new industries and products that we cannot yet foresee – will emerge.