{"id":301293,"date":"2019-06-11T06:06:40","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T20:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=301293"},"modified":"2019-06-11T06:06:40","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T20:06:40","slug":"pacific-veterans-gather-on-saipan-for-annual-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/pacific-veterans-gather-on-saipan-for-annual-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacific veterans gather on Saipan for annual convention"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
At the opening ceremony of the\u00a053rd\u00a0Department of Pacific Areas Convention and the 50th\u00a0Grand Pacific or Military Order of the Cooties Convention at the Hibiscus Hall of the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan in Garapan. From left, senior\u00a0vice commander Rick Farris,\u00a0Military Order of the Cooties commander Bill Bradford, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, junior vice commander-in-chief Hal Roesch II, Department of Pacific Areas commander Michael Verville, Lt. Gov. Arnold Palacios, general secretary MD Ret. Yang Jia-Ren, junior vice commander Ken Stein, and Department of Pacific Areas chaplain Ron Davis.
(BEA CABRERA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

U.S. military veterans who were stationed in different parts of the Pacific, including the CNMI, while in active service are currently on Saipan to attend the Veterans of Foreign Wars\u2019 53rd Department of Pacific Areas Convention and the 50th Grand Pacific or Military Order of the Cooties Convention.<\/p>\n

Both conventions started yesterday and will run until Thursday at the Hibiscus Hall of the Fiesta Resort & Spa in Garapan.<\/p>\n

This is the second time both conventions were held on Saipan; the last one was in 2004.<\/p>\n

Michael \u201cMike\u201d Verville, commander of the Department of Pacific Areas, said the conventions are held annually to tend to the different businesses and activities that the VFA does every year. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur primary mission is to help veterans and also to help the community such as support events and help upgrade schools,\u201d he said. \u201cWe annually move to a different location in our area (Pacific). \u2026Whenever there is a need, we get involved and it is always on a grant basis and not on a loan basis because it never has to be paid back\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n

Retired U.S. Air Force and DPA adjutant Jerry Chaplin said the five-day convention has a full agenda. That includes electing and installing a new set of DPA officers and talking about the budget for the following year, such as how much money is coming in and how much was spent.<\/p>\n

According to outgoing grand commander of the Grand Pacific or Cooties William \u201cBill\u201d Bradford, the Military Order of the Cootie is recognized as a subordinate and auxiliary order to the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur biggest motto is \u2018keep them smiling in beds of white\u2019 as we do hospital business. Whenever we hear veterans are in the hospital, we visit them. \u2026They might not see any visitors at all and that\u2019s what we do\u2014we come in to keep them smiling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The group tries to do it every month in Guam, the CNMI, and possibly Palau.<\/p>\n

The DPA is active in different countries or territories such as South Korea, Japan, Saipan, Guam, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Australia. Membership is at 12,028 right now.<\/p>\n

Verville said they also pushed issues on toxic agents that affected Blue Water Navy composed of Vietnamese, Thai, and Korean veterans that served during Vietnam era. One of that was called \u201cAgent Orange,\u201d a chemical used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026They were never \u2018boots on the ground\u2019 and as a result, they were not given benefits. \u2026In 1991, the Office of General Council of Veterans Affairs put a stipulation and a technical term \u2018boots on the ground\u2019 where one must have been in and touched the ground in Vietnam to receive any of the benefits\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Jan. 29 this year, the federal court overturned that decision of over 10 years. \u2026The decision has become a part of the law of the land,\u201d he added<\/p>\n

Verville said that there are about a 100,000 veterans in the Pacific who will benefit from that case. \u201cMany did tours in Vietnam on ships. Now they can start filing claims and be considered for that. I am one of those Blue Water Navy vets. I have diabetes, I can\u2019t see on my left eye die to glaucoma and those are all sub-diseases as a result of \u2018Agent Orange.\u2019 Now I am glad I can go in and get treatment 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening of the Saipan conventions were attended by Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang.<\/p>\n

Verville said that more than $30,000 was donated to the CNMI to help the veterans in this community after Super Typhoon Yutu. \u201cDonations came from the department level, districts and many veterans from our posts donated individually,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Brad Ruszala, Public affairs specialist for the CNMI Joint Region Marianas Coordination Office, and Department of Pacific Areas commander Michael Verville at the opening ceremony of the\u00a053rd\u00a0Department of Pacific Areas Convention and the 50th\u00a0Grand Pacific or Military Order of the Cooties Convention at the Hibiscus Hall of the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan in Garapan.
(BEA CABRERA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. military veterans who were stationed in different parts of the Pacific, including the CNMI,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":301294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-301293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}