POVA will soon begin planning for our 2021 Biennial Reunion to be held 9-12 June 2021 in Fayetteville, NC. Some work had already begun for the 2020 reunion, but our current COVID crisis forced a postponement.

A key issue before us will be electing new leadership for POVA. While we have successfully recruited members of the post-Viet-Nam Psywarrior membership into leadership positions, there are still a few too many old Viet-Nam graybeards who want to move on to greener pastures. Simply stated, we need the next generation of leaders to step forward.

I'm one of POVA's surviving founders, have been President on three occasions (a total of 10 years now), and have held this great office for the past 5 years. Both Rich Hosier and I are slowing down; issues affecting us from our Viet-Nam War combat-PSYOP experiences are taking their toll, and we need to "hand off" this excellent organization to other Psywarriors to take it forward.

I believe we will hand off a larger, better organized and focused POVA than our original founders had ever envisioned. It has been a labor of love, but we do need younger leaders to take command and make it even bigger, better, and more effective.

I hope you'll consider taking on a role leading our POVA. We are the largest, most active, and influential organization supporting our PSYOP Regiment and all its members. We communicate, we organize, we hold reunions, we raise funds to support Veteran causes, and we work hard with both the active and reserve components to benefit our total Psywarrior community.

Give it a thought, please!

Please remember all our fellow Americans deployed around the world. Most of us know what that is like.

New POVA Life Members

Earlier in July, POVA announced a campaign to raise funds (yes, in these difficult economic times) to allow purchase of a commemorative plaque for POVA to be placed in the Museum's new Veterans' Hall. While our goal was $2,500, the generosity of 16 of our members helped us quickly exceed our goal, and we actually raised $6,075.00.

Many thanks to those members who "came through" to help put POVA's name as representative of our PSYOP community in the new Veterans' Hall. POVA will be commemorated with a special "Silver" level plaque and a large engraved paving brick that will be installed on one of the pavilions on the Museum grounds. This is a picture of the paver brick we have commissioned. The brick measures 8"x8".

Thanks again for the awesome support so many of you gave to this important POVA initiative.

The battle goes on! Our Nation still averages approximately 22 soldier and veteran suicides every day! Many in POVA have lost battle buddies to suicide over the past many years, and each suicide tears at our souls!

While there are efforts underway to help end this tragedy, one Missouri-based company is helping by selling a very high quality beef jerky product, from which a portion of profits is donated to veteran suicide prevention. In addition to being an excellent cause, the product itself is outstanding. If you've ever heard of "wagyu" beef, you know it is the "top shelf" of beef products.

Wayne and Michelle Johnson operate the Dove Creek Wagyu Cattle Company in Missouri. They raise and process this outstanding beef (higher quality than USDA Prime grade),and also manufacture their own beef jerky. They have formed a tax exempt 501c3 organization known as Tango3 to raise funds to help the battle against veteran suicides.

A strong supporter of this initiative is POVA member SFC Jerald Alcorn, a member of the 321st Tactical PSYOP Co located near Grand Rapids, MI. Jerry has worked hard to help promote the growth of this product into retail spaces so its sales can generate funds for this critical purpose.....saving soldier and veteran lives.

Here is the contact information to the Dove Creek Cattle Company website:

Remember, a portion of the profits for each sale will help fund efforts to eliminate veteran and soldier suicides. Please participate.

Life Member Hammond Salley has been a stalwart for POVA for over 25 years, providing advice, leadership, guidance, and friendship to our officers and members. For the past several years, Ham has served as a POVA Trustee, but has become intimately involved in key aspects of the business operation of our Association.

Among his key contributions are helping focus on internal financial reporting and account management, and leading development of an excellent Policy & Procedure Manual for POVA to establish and maintain good business practices. He has also been a strong supporter of our Constitution, helping us to amend as needed, and interpret to keep us all "on track.

Effective immediately, Ham is POVA's Parliamentarian & Sergeant at Arms, and will continue his strong leadership on our leadership team. Details of his duties are being developed, but his discipline, communication, and leadership skills will be of immense value to POVA and our members.

History is replete with stories about the hordes of the Russian army, attacking from the east, helping to crush WWII's German army against the onrushing Allied forces attacking from the west through France. A mental image of torrents of onrushing Red-starred Russian warriors comes to many peoples' minds.

There were other reasons for Russian successes during WWII, but one of the less well known is the efforts by Josef Stalin to organize, build, and maintain domestic support for the war effort. His best used tool? Psychological Operations!

Stalin's goal was to create unity, cohesion, national pride and morale among the populace and with friendly allies. To do this, he literally had to "back off" some of the regime's hardest core beliefs, particularly about religion and the role of ancient Russian nationalist (without saying the word "Tsar"). Taken from POVA Archivist Ed Rouse's excellent website, www.psywarrior.com, this is an excellent article on Stalin's use of PSYOP during WWII:

Thus we see how even Josef Stalin, one of the most hard-headed dictators of the 20^th Century, realized that his conventional military weapons alone, were not enough to meet the challenge of the German armies. In retrospect, we can see that his choice of utilizing psychological operations to augment his conventional military forces, would prove to play a major role in maintaining the survival of his communist regime for so many years.

Just out of curiosity, is anybody out there thinking that the Russians are not great Psywarriors in their own right?

As part of implementing the VA MISSION Act of 2018, VA offers an urgent care benefit that provides eligible Veterans with greater choice and access to timely, high-quality care. This urgent care benefit is consistent with President Trump’s commitment to provide Veterans with more choices and greater access to healthcare they’ve earned through their service to our country.

With urgent care, Veterans have a new option for care for the treatment of minor injuries and illnesses, such as colds, sore throats, and minor skin infections. The benefit is offered in addition to the opportunity to receive care from a VA provider, as VA also offers same-day services.

Here are some fact sheets to help further:

Eligible Veterans will be able to receive urgent care from an urgent care provider that is part of VA’s contracted network of community providers without prior authorization from VA. VA can pay for an urgent care claim only if:

This benefit became available on June 6, 2019. For more information such as eligibility, availability of benefits, and a roster of Urgent Care providers, visit

https://www.va.gov/COMMUNITYCARE/programs/veterans/Urgent_Care.asp

As a reminder, POVA used the proceeds from our eStore to support our charitable donations efforts. These included programs and activities directly beneficial to our fellow veterans and their families. I believe that the few thousand dollars we earned were donated to the right places for the benefit of our fellow Psywarriors.

Your thoughts and ideas are very important to POVA and our members. Please take a few minutes and tell us what you think, what you might want in the near future.

With only two exceptions, POVA has held a reunion for our members, families, and friends every two years. Most have been well attended, in part because the locations selected offered many opportunities for recreation, sight-seeing, and quality time with friends and family.

That hasn't changed, except that COVID terminated our 2019 reunion in Fayetteville. Undaunted, we are now planning for a reunion in Fayetteville from 9-12 June 2021. More to follow.

Our 2002 Reunion was no exception to the quality time spent with friends and families. One activity in particular struck a very special note for those in attendance......the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of Unknowns in Arlington, VA.

With the leadership and support of former 4th POG Commanding Officer and POVA Life Member COL-Ret. Jim Treadwell, three of POVA's Presidents walked the stairway to the Tomb plaza and placed a wreath in commemoration of our fellow Americans who are known but to God. It is both a special and somber place and event, one that even today resonates with the two past-Presidents still living.

In the picture (left to right) are our late Past President Jack O'Neil, current President Chad Spawr, and then-current President Rick Hofmann. All are Life Members of POVA.

It was a great honor to visit the Tomb of the Unknowns and to place a wreath on that special plaza.

While searching online for information on Viet-Nam aerial PSYOP history, your intrepid editor came across this interesting article published in the journal of the Viet-Nam Helicopter Association (VHPA) in January 1969. The article details operations of 6th Battalion PSYOP aerial crews being diverted to combat situations in which injured Americans needed rescue from their serious injuries. Here is the article from VHPA detailing accounts of the 195th Assault Helicopter Company, an aviation that flew hundreds of PSYOP missions:

"We need a rope to get this pilot out of here," heard helicopter pilots working on a PSYOP mission. The radio call continued, "The way the plane crashed the wings have the pilot pinned inside. He's slumped over and we've got to get him out of there soon!" The message was sent by a rescue team working at the crash site of a O-1 Birddog, forward observer plane in Phuoc Long Province. Monitoring the radio traffic was a UH-1D helicopter crew of the 195th AHC conducting aerial PSYOP missions with a 6th PSYOP Bn field team.

 **POVA CONTACT INFORMATION ** 

Please contact Chad Spawr with information on any errors that may be included above.