The one regret is the loss of those who once cared and now are gone. Survivor’s guilt is a heavy crux, and the weight of exiting service can feel like pulling a dump truck.
Try breathing and taking deep breaths. Social isolation can seem devastating only to succumb to the realization all hope is lost. Breathing is a gift and with each breath, a new opportunity opens doors to receive the gift of hope.
Increasing Situational Awareness: The Grounding Technique
The grounding technique may be useful in addressing intrusive thoughts and flashbacks related to a prior traumatic event. The purpose of this technique is to help an agitated person to focus on the current situation with the police officer, rather than thinking about and responding to events in his or her own head.
While useful with Veterans experiencing PTSD symptoms, this technique can be used in many situations in which individuals would benefit from an increased attention to current circumstances. For example, you may use it to help an acutely suicidal person who is experiencing extreme hopelessness.
As with any technique, this one could also be counterproductive. At any sign that this grounding is further frustrating the person, stop and give something else a try.
Please take time to breathe and stay grounded in the moment. The rewards for level-headedness far outweigh losing self to making a hasty choice in a fit of rage. The benefits of grounding help relieve stress and find a new sense of hope by staying empowered and determined to succeed at all costs.
Overcome Impossibility. Be brave. Let rejection fuel resilience.
GONZO-19 PATENT LAUNCH: Fear and loathing and the lockdown self-examination scientific reporting method
By Bradley J. Burt-CEO Outpost 422
The story is an excerpt from the final scientific writing Gonzo-19 writing profile, which examines fear and loathing as a university reporter while developing a freelance reporting student entrepreneur entity in Las Vegas from August 2020 to the present. During the pandemic, researchers uncovered that gonzo journalism provided the unique sociological and psychological vantage point of Americans during the pandemic.
Each profile tells an individual story. One variable uncovered during the development of the writing style reflects on the social media scene about how colonization through CDC global leaders decided to shut down universities and “stop the spread.”
The fear of being unvaccinated riddled those who were gainfully employed, which later learned was unnecessary. Controversy plagues science. “Trust the science” campaigns are loaded with hyperbole, especially when Sociologist Karl Marx spent his life developing conflict theory, which is the antithesis of trusting science, or humans in general, on the premise of power.
Research is the argument of a group’s credentialed view, which is referenced as a professional opinion in the field of argumentation. The truth: the spread never stopped. The spread was “COVID-19.” The storytelling style being patented through the full-length profile is called “Gonzo-19.” The profile was created in the Madison College Documentary Storytelling course for a self-reflective gonzo examination, which then launched the Outpost 422 newspaper: The Jaded Patriot Press. The home of Gonzo-19.
Gonzo lives infamously through the research work of Hunter S. Thompson
Gonzo research was not unique to infamous fear and loathing reporter, Hunter S. Thompson, but through the perspective of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” a gonzo generation was born.
The first Gonzo-19 draft shares the origins of the scientific communication style. Recently, The New York Timeshas been cited as a reporting medium publishing gonzo journalism. At the Universities of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Professor Keith Zukas influences new journalists during lectures to embody the gonzo stereotype of Spider Jerusalem claiming, “Gonzo is for druggies.”
The professor denied gonzo in his Royal Purple press, which is where the weird began turning pro. The Gonzo-19 scientific communications profile collaborates frontstage and backstage news reporting totally drug free and tackles Zukas’ claims made during his lectures. The truth the professor lectures upon does not share with his learners that Thompson received an honorable dischargeand represents the veteran journalism community. The claims are the foundation of the research argument, which is the rebuttal to his claims. Not all professors share his belief.
On the other hand, UW-W Professor James Kates allowed gonzo to resurrect in both capstone and a convergent media independent study to delve into the current journalism field’s witnessing of a gonzo research revival. The writing reflection represents a consortium portfolio collaborating various final projects in Kates’ courses across multiple colleges and shares what university journalists uncovered in the classroom coming out of lockdown.
The Gonzo-19 unique perspective shares academic, business and creative non-fiction elements unique to a nontraditional student who attended three institutions simultaneously for filed research pandemic recovery. Gonzo shares the crucible of the journalist and what went on behind the scenes. Thompson solidified the style. Gonzo-19 is the sociological reintegration profile. For resilience storytelling purposes, an interpersonal journaling method delves into the mind of the writer who witnessed social isolation and lived to tell the tale.
In collaborating with Thompson’s self-appraisal, the Dept. of Veterans Affairs provides “Cognitive Processing Therapy,” who could greatly benefit from delving into the minds of its banged-up warriors. The Gonzo-19 research methodology takes the lived experience of the Outpost 422 Author Bradley J. Burt, who is currently being cited through a registered trademarked reporting platform, and utilizing cultural incongruity and social isolation as journaling variables to provide researchers with gonzo deliverables and has been since 2019. The fear and loathing elements represent administrative backlash for filing “hate/bias” complaints.
The upcoming final science communication project launches the storytelling style advocating for the future of journalism research by going behind the scenes, like Thompson, who reported under the name Raoul Duke, and creating a freelance business entity reporting under the name Bob Cobb, or Robert Cobert, on Trip Advisor, which share the evolution of Las Vegas tourism over a five-year span. Each Las Vegas trip analyzes many sociological aspects coming out of the pandemic, which is symbolically represented through a carrier pigeon avatar. All who contribute to the story are Bob Cobb.
THE SCIENCE
Trauma is the result of the unique perspective and the aftermath is the story of the lived experience. A sample of gonzo research shares the perception of dementia. Gonzo research explores areas of credibility from the self-examination journaling style seeking variables of self-perception, referred to by the Dept. of Veterans of Affairs as “intrusive thoughts,” which prevented Thompson from experiencing happiness as a writer who had a hard time transitioning into civilian life after his military service.
Gonzo-19, from a research methodology, seeks qualitative answers regarding the reflection of fear one-hour before America went into lockdown, and the loathing that manifests from the interference of social media slot machine programmed algorithms that have neurologically affected social media users. Is there a way out with reprogramming livestream by building cinematic journalism dialogue?
From the vantage point of a disabled veteran who began writing out about intrusive thoughts, a story manifested through the Feature Writing 303 and Investigative Journalism Courses at both the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Madison College. Ironically, both courses are considered the same in the Transferologysystem.
The fear and loathing aspect of being a nontraditional disabled student and person of age getting attacked during lectures led to writing journals about the reflections at the Outpost 422 reporting outlet where the Gonzo-19 reflections began. Outpost 422 is a call to action with veterans attending college to receive caveats on the transfer road ahead.
University of Nevada Las Vegas, the school of choice for being a graduate school candidate and launching Gonzo-19, reported through scholarly journal a gonzo journalism research guide that helps guide the research gathering process. Thompson discussed topics like “When the going gets weird,” which was a sociological variable about his observations with his contacts with society as an Air Force sports editing journalist.
THE NEED
The Gonzo-19 research convergent media writing style collaborates with social media users interactively during livestream, polls readers with surveys on WordPress where livestream integrated videos publish and develop a multilayered multimedia scientific reporting style. Convergence combines citizen journalism with blogger editing by multimedia journalists trained through the Gonzo-19 pandemic reporting style.
Ethics does not represent amateur publishers, who publish opinion blogs freely, which is diluting the journalism reporting field. Social media platforms condone restricted speech and tolerate gossip as an advertising medium. Social media is killing the press. The Gonzo-19 storytelling style collaborates through communications fusion to tell the story from a newsworthy vantage point taking the rights of the viewer into account first through Philosopher John Rawls’ stance on the original position through “the Doctrine of Double Effect.”
THE COLLABORATIVE OBERVATION WRITING STYLE
Sample: 10:18 a.m. Friday October 27, 2023—THE FEAR AND LOATHING NARRATIVE OF GONZO-19: There I was, 30 miles south of Deerfield, when the academic empowerment took hold. At that moment, the realization of philosophy lectures kicked in like a cold mother’s hand slapping a bare-naked brat’s ass. The lesson was rejection.
THE REJECTION REFLECTION
The GONZO-19 reflection shares resilience over rejection as the crucible of the pandemic rocked the journalism field to the core. Social distancing and closing Las Vegas stopped the progression of journalism development and steered the upcoming narrative about what went on with the Outpost 422 reporting about the occurrences happening with Wisconsin G.I. Bill funded college education to the American Legion.
The story accounts for the learning experience into lockdown and using Outpost 422 for relaying social media communications to troops adopted as the Clarion General Manager of Broadcast, who attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater chasing the carrot of practicum hoping to one day be an undergraduate reporter. Now, resilience tells the story from the summa cum laude vantage point from a disabled student surviving the pandemic with a permanent brain injury.
After graduation, the realization that journalists are broke became a reality. Most work freelance while business reports show nonprofit mediums are the new wave of media preservation. Poverty is a fight that only STEM can resolve.
By bringing gonzo into the STEM field, allowing the communications the credential to tell the research story, will develop the need for credentialed journalists. Gonzo-19 is a multiplatform multimedia convergent fusion method that uses a quantum storytelling style through the lens of gonzo journalism starting March 13, 2020, and then ending on Wednesday November 1, when the operations manual for convergent media research methods launches the next wave of pandemic research. The operations manual provides the examination insight.
Gonzo journalism is the micro view of the unique perspective sharing what it was like, where America is now and how academia needs help. Gonzo-19 tells the truth about professor furloughs and cutbacks while corporate citizens ask Americans to “round up” and fuel their tax-free luxury life. Big Data’s suffocation of small business has turned a once thriving free press into corporate community standards and branded narrative. The Outpost 422 qualitative research method examines bad business practices by the university and how spotlighting leads to rejection, or worse yet—attrition.
Rejection fuels resilience. Never say die. Be that guy. Stay in the academic fear and loathing fight. Graduate summa cum laude and patent the documentary pandemic writing style and do so in the name of Hunter S. Thompson PhD, the greatest gonzo research reporter in the history of human evolution. We are the weird turned pro. That dissertation cannot be argued. The purple-haired pajama wearers at Walmart are model exhibits of a weirdo society. Fear and loathing drive the weirdo to win. Rejection manifests chiseled excellence.
WRITING STYLES MANIFESTED
Currently, an interactive journalism research reporting model requires three elements: Convergent, interactive and multimedia fusion styles, as a proper use of the Gonzo-19 patent. The styles may collaborate with URL citations eliminating the need for “Works Cited” or “References” list. Instead of keywords, the reporter may elect to cite personal podcasts, news reels, blogs, etc. for building and delivering a dissertation argument. Lived experience is a credible source in the journalism field. The burden of proof is found in the content, which backs the recalling of events, shared through fear and loathing elements. For the final project, rejection is the lived experience being examined.
The Gonzo-19 style is based on the writer’s perception during times of rejection, which fuels intrusive thought. The research method examines the manifestation of ego, which is an early warning sign of deterioration of mental well-being, and the corrective action the Dept. of Veterans Affairs uses to align readers with challenging perceptions of low self-esteem. Rejection fuels low self-esteem. Resilience, which is the second variable, shares the overcoming of impossibility and the result of working the examination of intrusive thought into a grounding mechanism, which is the valedictory aspect paying forward the philanthropy of battling stigma.
THE MULTIMEDIA DEMO
Three Gonzo-19 documentary storytelling styles manifested during the pandemic starting Jan. 2020. The first video shares a profile of a friend who battled overcoming drug addiction and staying clean during lockdown. The video was the final project for Professor Brad Horn’s documentary storytelling course. The second launched during the UW-W journalism capstone phase. The video shares the caveats of entering the new journalism field and what to expect. And last, through the UW-W independent study and Madison College honors literature review collaboration, two videos manifested.
One explains the legal problems in Dane County with the State of Wisconsin v. Jesse Schwork case and Judge Chris Taylor’s denial of use of recording devices in her courtroom without a writ of gag order. Taylor allowed WKOW but not the Universities of Wisconsin the right to record. The other is the honors literature review presentation requirement, which backs Burt’s gonzo research narrative of what he faced as a nontraditional disabled veteran and his attempts to succeed in school. The demo provides research storytelling styles. More will manifest through the graduate school application process sharing the elements of rejection and resilience through the Autumn Landmine Productions Creative Commons research platform, which is currently seeking research funding.
CALL FOR FUNDING A UW LIBERAL ARTS STEM COMMUICATION GONZO LAB
The research writing style calls for legislative action through the privatization of public universities by allocating $.10 per contribution of every corporate citizen 501 c 4 tax deductible social responsibility donation currently assigned at cash registers across America. An operations manual, which provides building an “Ad Hoc Ad,” places the power in the hands of the researcher for seeking research funding, provides vouchers for mental health treatment free of charge and mandates all social responsibility campaigns must provide training funding to all universities who conduct mental health Gonzo-19 research.
THE ARGUMENT
Attrition is killing our universities. Attrition results from one major factor: Whether or not you agree with the thesis and backing feminism. Speaking out leads to getting attacked.
A qualitative audit of the learning experience is a must. Gonzo-19 provides the platform. In the event bullying or hazing manifests, an academic team of researchers must come to the aid of the individual having intrusive thoughts. Bullycide is an element of Machiavellianism, therefore universities who condone hazing and bullying for attrition purposes shall lose all federally granted funding when bully speak, which is the qualitative results-based conclusions based upon Gonzo-19 research, uncovers a micro aggression, gaslighting, intimidation in the form of a broken record response or socially isolating those who blow the whistle when coming forward.
The freedom of academic expression must be protected. Objectivity is the right to disregard another’s belief in the best interest of truth, which is the prudential value of journalism research.
THE TRAINING OPERATIONS MANUAL
The upcoming final paper builds the Gonzo-19 master’s thesis. The document is the proclamation of developing an academic patent that is a living dissertation based on Burt’s perceptions of failures of the institution regarding setting unrealistic training expectations through Linked in Learning for convergent media storytelling. The argument addresses the basic need for the next Internal Review Board’s approval of the qualitative, anecdotal and quantitative survey taking mixed method for interactive STEM communications research grant funding.
The method itself groups individual testimony into macro identities from pandemic social isolation seeking mental health and trauma informed results.
The master’s thesis reviews the capstone, independent study, honors literature review, operations manual and all related material published as class projects through the Autumn Landmine Productions entity, which is the sole intellectual property of the Outpost 422 qualitative research methodology and cornerstone documentation of the Gonzo-19 empirical multi, convergent and interactive media research writing style.
The operations manual and the scientific communications final projects outline campaigns for building training and recruitment advertorials through Bob Cobb Freelance Ink LLC and Autumn Landmine Productions for Creative Commons access to all students seeking communications training in the STEM field.
The following news copy is a sample for future students who attend the Madison College Scientific Communication course. Prof. Natasha Kassulke, course professor, helped develop Outpost 422 as the proctoring professor for the social media writing course, which was the final project.
The website is an online outreach and investigative service that works as a philanthropy paying forward to veterans lost in the classroom lending aid regarding how to write several forms of academic writing.
Please take full advantage of the website and reach out through the contact form located in the toolbar if you would like to sit down at the Truax campus and learn how to experience the joy of writing and researching.
Please reach out if you have questions about the Journalism Certificate program. The program can be applied to the UW Liberal Arts Transfer program electives prior to receiving an undergraduate degree.
Best,
Bradley J. Burt
CEO-Outpost 422
The Scientific Communication Feature Profile Story
Badgers bring hope to MIA families through the field of eDNA research
Archaeology identification methods used by the UW MIA repatriation project, specifically eDNA analysis, reduce time spent and money invested for repatriating and locating lost service members through DPAA’s oversight. The project has implemented eDNA analysis through anthropologically surveying airplane crash sites from World War II for positively identifying lost service members through multiple mixed method platforms. The project seeks opportunities to locate cold cases, with the help from DPAA regarding each MIA’s last known whereabouts, who studies abroad as a self-funded mission.
“It brings a lot to the table. You look at the project, it is a very wide spectrum,” Konsitzke explained during the interview at his strategic planning room at the Universities of Wisconsin Biotechnology Center. “We’re working on historical analysis with students, and we are working on field recovery with students when I talk about these academic backgrounds.”
The project processes human remains through the Center for Genomic Science Innovation. The challenge the team faces is the advanced decaying of the missing dating back to World War II and the likelihood of positive identification. Belcher’s applied research collaborates with Konsitzke’s eDNA analysis UW Biotech equipment, which also utilizes artificial intelligence for cross checking forensics databases to match human remains with a service member’s DPAA chart.
Belcher serves the team in the field of forensic anthropology as a researcher for the UW MIA repatriation project. Belcher did not respond to an interview request. For profiling Belcher’s work, an online investigation of Belcher’s Linked In profile revealed:
Belcher works as the team’s connect with DPAA, whose employment with the agency assists recovering missing service members as a research liaison.
Currently working as an associate professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Discusses recovering “America’s war dead” from the perspective of his caveats regarding applied anthropological research techniques.
Universities of Wisconsin-Madison Communications Specialist Leo Barolo Gargiulo’s, “eDNA brings soldiers home” reporting journal, explains how eDNA forensics identification happens over a three-step process, which uses an applied research methodology. Prior to analysis, the process investigates records and locates eyewitness accounts before considering a hypothesis. The cross-collaboration process sifts through clues first for saving time and money.
The eDNA process must be examined further for science communications storytelling purposes. The field of POW MIA recovery lacks press coverage and the team struggles to convey the importance of eDNA research and recovery methods. The recovery of MIAs faces a forensics research methods eDNA controversial issue, which includes:
The reference “eDNA” refers to environmental DNA analysis, which analyzes organisms located in the environment according to U.S. Geological Survey.gov.
For positive identification, DPAA selects specific researchers before providing confirmation of repatriation to the missing service members family.
eDNA analyses poses a potential threat to protecting previous research methods and that validating a “close enough” confirmation poses controversy to research ethics.
The UW MIA Recovery and Identification Project currently receives donations and uses crowdfunding for planning trips. The project seeks $360,000 from the State of Wisconsin for locating three Wisconsin specific MIA cases. Konsitzke has gone before senators three times and has backing by the Volk Airfield namesake’s niece, Jeri Volk-Barry, who speaks publicly about her family’s hope their missing uncle’s remains may return home.
“The other thing I do is they’re actually inspiring families,” Konsitzke explained. “They are getting some type of closure. So, it’s absolutely rewarding, but don’t get me wrong, everything is rewarding in an academic environment.”
Konsitzke’s research interview (condensed)
Several questions were asked regarding archaeology specific details and how Konsitzke identifies cold cases with the funding he receives. The project does not receive funding from any federal or state research or legislative agency but accepts donations. Konsitzke’s interview sought information regarding his passion and love for researching MIAs and how his project operates.
Konsitzke’s strategic planning center at the UW Biotechnology Center.
The interview
Hi. I am Charles Konsitzke. I am the associate director of the UW Biotechnology Center, and the associate director of the Center for Genetic Science and Innovation, as well as the director of the UW MIA Recovery and Identification Project.
Q: Let’s talk about it. How does the University of Wisconsin Missing-in-action Recovery and Identification Project work from funding all the way to studying abroad? Let’s talk about that.
At the moment, we do not have any funding. We’re a really grass roots group that’s been working on mostly Wisconsin cases. And as you know, a lot of these Wisconsin cases transition into other cases and losses nearby. All MIAs are important to us, but for the Wisconsin objective Wisconsinites are our primary focus.
Q: Give me a little bit of an idea for me, what would it look like if I were to come out with you and go overseas, what would it look like where you are at right now? Tell us a little bit about where you are and what it looks like out in the field.
So, currently we are near Bastogne, Belgium, I can’t give the exact location because we don’t want to give any false hopes to family members. It is a location that is on the top of a hill next to a tree farm. The site impact was at the top of a hill, which is about a foot into the sand until it turns to bedrock. So, the impact was substantial over a very large range of area as well as down the hill and on the tree farm. We were there in 2019, and we will be there finishing out this year. We sifted through over 305 cubic meters of soil.
Comment: So basically, what you do is what you see in an archaeological dig and it obviously being a cold case file, what’s happening is, you are studying abroad not even knowing where this person is and there when you get down with your group.
Q: Roughly, how many people usually deploy with you?
In 2019, we had roughly 22 people with us and that ranged from faculty members to staff and students. And we usually have support in the field as well like local excavators, surveyors, service providers, so it’s a very good group, a large group of individuals where we have a briefing every morning and we have objectives, and we get those out on a daily basis.
But I have to say, the interesting part is me telling the students “Hey, we have to leave the field” you know after recovery. If they had the opportunity, they would stay out there all day long. This summer, we will be taking a team of adult volunteers.
Q: And what you are providing us here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Biotech Center is a service for everybody. So, in closing, is there anything else you want to talk about? Is there anything you want to bring up?
Go to our website and you will learn a lot about our losses. You will be surprised that you have losses in your community. Learn about them. Understand who they are and how you can help. Maybe you can provide information and visit your local historical society, maybe have information that could help us help in recovering these individuals.
The MIA Specific Connect
According to the Wall Street Journal, DPAA funds eDNA research. Through the DPAA connect with Belcher, Konsitzke works with DPAA to improve the advancement of eDNA scientific research. The collaboration between forensic anthropology and the evolution of eDNA analysis, families of the missing begin a new era of hope after finding out eDNA can locate human DNA in water as discussed in the Wall Street Journal’s report.
As innovators in the field, Konsitzke and Belcher implement their vision as Badgers for bringing hope to MIA families and advancing the use of eDNA research methods. Collaboratively, the UW MIA Recovery and Identification Project incorporates a community of scholars and government employees into a global repatriation and recovery peace keeping mission.
Through science, the field of eDNA research reaches those lost at sea and captures their DNA, unheard of when the DPAA recovery mission first began during the Carter Administration, bringing the Universities of Wisconsin to the front of the line of a new era of bringing home soldiers deemed lost, who are now being found, thanks to the collaboration between Konsitzke and Belcher who started out in the Badger classroom.
On Tuesday Oct. 1o, roughly 11:57 a.m., the invitation to speak at the DAV fall conference was extended by DAV Wisconsin Office Manager Diedre Flynn and by Thursday Oct. 12, DAV State Adjutant Matt Kempainen, past state commander, through email, notified me the state commander shot down the invitation.
“Commander Hilliard appreciates your energy and look forward to seeing you at Fall Conference,” Kempainen said in an email responding to the speech presented. “Unfortunately [sic], Commander Hilliard has already a full list of speakers and training for Fall Conference. But he would love for you to meet with Sr Vice Commander Greg Palo about your membership ideas. Sr Vice Palo is our membership chair and is in charge of the membership program.”
Fortunately, the views represented by Outpost 422 do not reflect DAV’s mission but honors DAV for providing the groundwork to lay down the foundation for success in college and winning an appeal with the Dept. of Veterans Affairs.
The prepared speech
Good morning fellow DAV compatriots and our supporters-
My name is Bradley Jason Burt. I served with the 10th Mountain Division as an artilleryman between 1994-1997. One of my favorite memories of service was being direct support to a West Point professor named Maj. Malcom Wright, as his command driver, who was our battalion executive officer with the 3rd Battalion 6th Field Artillery. Our time spent together built who I am today.
My transition into civilian life presented several readjustment and reintegration barriers though. What I would dream about on guard duty turned into a nightmare real quick without the benefit of having DAV representation.
That was, until I met my advocate, National Service Officer Joseph Fuenger, who stuck up for my denial of my claims for Post Traumatic Stress-Disorder starting in 2015. We learned my county veteran service office made clerical mistakes, which complicated my claim. Fuenger rolled up his sleeves and got to work. Upon our first meeting, we talked about my battle with dealing with untreated PTSD that lasted from 1994-2017.
I recognized something was wrong when I returned home from my first deployment to Port au Prince, Haiti, during Operation Restore and Uphold Democracy. By 2008, the VA had me on their opioid pain management program that lapsed in 2010, when my blood pressure elevated to 220/190 and the VA pharmacist cut me off cold turkey without treatment.
I later learned, after my near-death experience, sobriety was the only way to survive with PTSD. By 2016, I had enough. The battle with PTSD led to utilizing the company’s Employee Assistance Program as an alternative to being rejected by the VA for receiving post-deployment treatment that lasted for over 20 years. The crucible of untreated PTSD is hell. That was until DAV opened the door to membership and received my service connection. Fuenger assured me everything would be OK.
Today, I want to share with you how having my appeal decision overturned, thanks to DAV, led to becoming a passionate advocate as a published writer researching the benefits of funding the UW MIA Recovery and Identification Project. The project was my central focus for public affairs news reporting and eventually developed into a capstone and independent study that helps veterans stuck in classroom social isolation find opportunities to connect and stay in the academic fight.
Between 2017 to the present, the Dept. of Veterans Affairs provided the tools for support during my times of social isolation referred to as VITAL, which is an acronym that stands for the Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership Program. I meet with a social worker on campus at Madison College to help discern the tricks and traps of rhetoric and communication with professors who did not serve in the military, which was the central focus of my Madison College honors literature review, analyzing the variables presenting barriers and facilitators for service members and veterans with their post-secondary success. Currently, I am prepping for my graduate school application for Media Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and want to share with you the gifts that college has provided along with the support of Fuenger and DAV.
I do not know how the hell I am going to pay for graduate school. Tuition costs $2,471.27 for one three-credit course. I am a disabled veteran fighting the war of sustainability with the VA’s Individual Unemployability identifier being rated 80 percent receiving 100 percent total and permanent disability.
DAV helps me and speak with Fuenger monthly, sometimes weekly who helps iron out the grey areas. My rent alone is $1,295 per month and Individual Unemployability, without a 100 percent scheduler, only allows the veteran making less than $4,000 per month an amount of less than $15,000 per year due to the VA’s restricted income guidelines. Tell that to my landlord who raised my rent $75 per month this lease. Or better yet, my insurance company who raised my rates $50 per month or Sun Prairie Utilities who just announced their rates are increasing.
You see, this is our fight. We cannot fight unless we educate ourselves and learn alternative ways to stay sustainable. As a lifetime member of DAV, I cannot imagine what life would look like without Fuenger by my side.
I want to close with this: Writing and researching, getting active reporting about the Senate Bills that have been brought forward and watching our current State Adjutant Matt Kempainen work for the UW MIA Recovery and Identification Project has been the beacon that takes me out of the element of the scraping by as a disabled veteran.
When Senate Bill 446 was introduced, the State of Wisconsin called upon DAV National Interim Legislative Committee Representative Al Labelle to discuss supporting the repatriation of the POW MIA through the UW MIA repatriation project. Labelle said, “It’s our duty to bring these families closure.”
For that reason, the obvious choice to continue covering the topic led to launching a registered trademark after being enrolled in a program that supports bringing veterans into entrepreneurship at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs at Fox Valley Technical College. The opportunity allowed a disabled veteran to attend three college institutions simultaneously and provide hope, which happened Spring of 2021 attending Madison College, UW Whitewater and Fox Valley Tech at the same time.
Disabled veterans are strong-willed, strong-minded and determined individuals. As a team, through DAV, we drive the wheels of advocacy. As supporters of the UW MIA Recovery and Identification Project, we support one of our own, who pursues his passion as a volunteer.
Our competitive advantage is the reality we use National Service Officers who fight with every ounce of courage to stand up to VA raters that deny our claims. Without Fuenger, I would be another Veterans Crisis Line statistic.
Our efforts supporting the UW MIA repatriation project bring hope to the Volk family who believe in the project’s return of their loved one, 1st Lt. Jerome A. Volk, who is Volk Airfield’s namesake. As veterans, we are all united through the POW MIA, but as members, we are all united under DAV as a collective bargain and family. Keep advocating for each other and continue using Kempainen’s volunteering as an icebreaker for recruitment.
As for the college classroom, we must publish the POW MIA issue to keep hope alive in the hearts of our POW MIA families and stress the point with college professors the POW MIA issue will never go away. We are on the frontline, and we are the advocates. May we never turn away a comrade and fight on the frontline of advocacy for those who may not know they have a service-connected injury by pointing them to the right people like Fuenger did for me in 2017.
God Bless.
My response to Kempainen
Thank you. The invite was extended by the woman I spoke to. I wasn’t seeking a speaking position and asked her to run it by you first. I look forward to collaborating with the senior vice commander about recruitment heading to UW Milwaukee.
Respectfully,
Bradley J. Burt
CEO-Outpost 422
(608) 852-1983
Referrals and next steps
Aside from the bureaucracy and rejection, the Outpost 422 search mission for veterans in distress charges forward with helping those seeking a solid advocate guiding through remand and appeal. DAV will give you the platform unlike other organizations like the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. If you would like to learn more about the benefits of DAV membership, please fill out the contact form.
Your awarded claim for PTSD is only a phone call away. DAV National, aside from DAV Wisconsin provides opportunities for disabled veterans to succeed and thrive while waiting for the VA to make a rating decision.
Respectfully Submitted,
Bradley Burt
CEO-Outpost 422
“Reporting about the issues the veterans organizations won’t”
THE CLARION FEATURE STORY: Wisconsin senators reintroduce UW MIA repatriation bill for third time
Bradley Burt, business director
Wisconsin senators on Aug. 8, introduced a bill, for the third time, that would help bring closure to Wisconsin POW MIA families.
The bill could provide the University of Wisconsin Missing-in-action Recovery and Identification Project funding, roughly $360,000, for locating Wisconsin-specific cases. One specific case, 1st Lt. Jerome A. Volk of the Wisconsin Air National Guard, has driven the project director’s advocacy as a close friend to the Volk family, who in return backs him locating their lost loved one through the passage of the bill. Passage of the bill means one step closer to bringing their loved one home, who has been lost abroad for over 70 years.
“Everybody wants to come home. Everybody has got a family to come back to,” Roger Roth (R-Appleton), author of previous bill, Senate Bill 602, said when he was serving as senator last session. “Moms, dads, when I deployed, I wasn’t married, but moms, dads, siblings, you know, husbands, wives, kids, and you want to come home and when you don’t, when a servicemember dies, killed-in-action, missing-in-action, there is kind of a hole that is left in the hearts of the family members.”
“Brad, this photo was taken on the day that the Air National Guard base was dedicated to Jerome A. Volk. My grandparents, Esther and Aloys Volk are accepting a memorial award on the day of the dedication in this photo.” Volk Family Advocate Jeri Volk Barry shared.
During the month of September, the federal government honors families of servicemembers still missing, whose remains from previous wars have not been returned home referred to as “POW MIA,” which stands for “prisoner-of-war” and “missing-in-action.” The federal observance is recognized on the third Friday of the month known as “POW MIA Recognition Day.”
“In each of America's past wars our prisoners of war have represented a special sacrifice. On them has fallen an added burden of loneliness, trauma, and hardship,” Pres. Jimmy Carter said during his 1979 Proclamation 4664—National P.O.W.-M.I.A. Recognition Day address. “Their burden becomes double when there is inhumane treatment by the enemy in violation of common human compassion, ethical standards, and international obligations.”
40 years later, during the 2019-2021 legislative session, senators introduced the first bill, Senate Bill 446, where members of the senate during the public comment session witnessed a University of Wisconsin-Madison alumna and Volk family representative, Jeri Volk Barry, speak up in favor of supporting the project, whose letter to senators seeks closure for Wisconsin MIA families through the UW MIA repatriation research project. Volk Barry’s letter shares her uncle’s devastating MIA story providing the anguish her family endures as each holiday passes. Her words drive the advocacy of the UW MIA repatriation project’s mission.
“As a Wisconsin resident, alumna of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and family member of an MIA, I have a personal connection to the bill,” Volk Barry said during the last two bill’s Wisconsin senate public hearings. “My family has not been able to find closure 70 years later. The fact that my uncle has never returned has taken a tremendous toll on our family. To think about the collective anguish felt by the 1,500 Wisconsin families with the missing dead is beyond my capacity to describe into words.”
The project utilizes interns, helps veterans with their college readjustment through a pilot program Konsitzke calls “Boot on the Ground,” fuels hope in the hearts of MIA families, who speaks passionately about the mission of recovering Wisconsin specific cases for academic research by going on location abroad and sifting through soil to locate remains and debris through various data gathering methods.
The repatriation project connected research investigators with the Volk family at Wisconsin Air National Guard where the director grew up not knowing the woman speaking was the niece of Volk Airfield’s namesake when the project launched.
The advocacy mission, through the Wisconsin Air National Guard family, which includes the project’s director, Volk family through their niece and previous senator, continues to appear before senators sharing the benefits of funding the program, which “dies in committee” due to “Failure to concur pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1.”
The Wisconsin Air National Guard in previous bills allowed for a senator and Truax Airfield public affairs veteran to advocate as an author.
The previous bill, Senate Bill 602, brought senate delegates together hoping the bill would pass, who represent the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s prestige and lineage. Wisconsin, unlike other states, can allocate funds for University of Wisconsin research that will help speed up the process of positively identifying and recovering human remains quicker than the federal government’s Department of POW MIA Accounting Agency’s outdated methods.
“If you are talking to your federal delegation, we have got to reform DPAA,” Roth shared regarding his advocacy position as a veteran when speaking with Congressional delegates POW MIA supporters can take. “This is a shame with all the funding that they get, that they have not been able to reform that to work quicker and to be more agile and quicker in responding.”
Roth also advocates as a past senator from Appleton and lieutenant governor candidate, who wears many hats as the glue between the state and university, Volk family advocate, Wisconsin Air National Guard combat veteran and friend of the UW MIA repatriation project’s director.
Roth loves sharing his passion for repatriation of Wisconsin servicemember’s remains, especially during the month of September, who is also passionate about seeing Konsitzke’s dream come to life with bringing Volk home.
“When I talk about these academic backgrounds, they are actually inspiring families,” Konsitzke said during an interview at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Biotechnology Center where the funds will be allocated. “They are giving some kind of closure for these individuals.”
Volk’s Last Flight
“You are not forgotten” are the four words and vow of the United States, which commits to honoring and carrying each family’s anguish by committing to flying the POW MIA flag and remembering them.
Repatriation, which requires a tireless effort to locate and return the remains of those who are left overseas, by investing in every effort possible, as the means to end each missing service member’s family’s void with their absence. On POW MIA Recognition Day 2023, supporting Wisconsin missing servicemembers means Konsitzke, Roth and the Volk family may have to wait another session and go through another round of politics before the planning can begin with bringing their Korean War Wisconsin Air National Guard hero home, whose F-80 Shooting Star crashed on Nov. 7, 1951, and face the reality the project may never see state funding due the Committee on Rules rejection before reaching the assembly once again.
“My dad and I attended many annual Department of Defense DPAA briefings in Washington, D.C.,” Volk Barry said during the interview at the UW MIA repatriation project’s planning center. She was visiting Konsitzke and dropping off more photos and archive documents from her father’s collection for his inspection. “The news was never good, and in all honesty, with so many years having passed, I had very little hope it would ever happen. That was until recently when I found out about the advances in repatriation technology that was once impossible are now made possible. Experts can positively identify DNA with much less than ever before.”
From the grand scheme of the POW MIA reality, DPAA reported over 41,000 are lost at sea. The grand total of those missing as of September totals over 81,000. As for the Volk family, news broke during the Trump Administration remains were returned by North Korea, during the 2018 Singapore Summit, totaling 55 boxes according to information released by the Dept. of Defense.
“The 1950-1953 Korean War was incredibly violent, with 36,940 Americans killed and another 92,134 wounded,” Dept. of Defense Correspondent Jim Garamone, of DOD News stated. “Some 7,699 American service members are listed as unaccounted-for from the conflict.”
Volk’s last flight during the month of November 1951, witnessed an impossible recovery after being shot down by enemy air defense artillery fire. The F-80 Shooting Star wing tips, which were gas tanks, fell off and his plane went into a spiral according to the Wisconsin Air National Guard 35 Fighter Bomber Squadron reports. The reports noted over 600 missions were flown during the month of October alone, then increased in November, which are accompanied by a press release from the United States Air Force that indicated:
Volk attempted to pull up to gain altitude for ejection.
An in-flight instrumental failure had already begun.
Two flight members reported the tail assembly fell off.
A massive engine failure occurred from enemy ground fire.
The turbine section disintegrated, which resulted in cutting the aircraft in half.
Volk’s memorial at Volk Airfield waits for the day when North Korea will allow the United States to negotiate opportunities for authorized agencies to revisit the site and have selected the UW MIA repatriation project for negotiating peace talks and plan recovery and research opportunities. The Volk family believes Konsitzke will bring their uncle home and continues to share their fondness of Konsitzke’s project as their family hangs onto hope 72 years later. Konsitzke and Volk-Barry, through the help of Roth and the Wisconsin Air National Guard share the story of three POW MIA advocates coming together who will never give up on their lost pilot who is listed as “dead but missing.”
The allocation of funds and their use
The project provides details regarding the legacy of all who are recovered by collecting archives for bringing the servicemember’s last moments and their life. Volk’s remains cannot be retrieved due to North Korea’s demilitarized zone federal policies that the UW MIA repatriation project can negotiate outside of DPAA’s jurisdiction. The folder and files regarding Volk’s last flight have grown exponentially since Volk Barry’s last visit to the project’s planning room at the University of Wisconsin Biotechnology Center where she shared boxes of letters and archive from her father’s shoeboxes.
“My father dedicated his entire life to bringing his brother home,” said Volk Barry. “Sadly, my father died in 2016. It is my hope that one day my uncle can return home and be laid to rest at Volk Field.”
During the interview, Konsitzke shared the back story of the bill. He met Volk Barry at Volk Airfield’s monument not knowing who she was. Konsitzke’s fondness of Volk recalled growing up with his father at Camp Douglas, never knowing the real story about the Volk family’s sacrifice while visiting his monument on his dirt bike.
“When I started the project around 2015, we started working on cases and a family member approached us. Her name was Jeri Volk Barry. She is an exceptional individual.” Konsitzke said. “It was kind of an ‘aha’ moment when she informed me that Jerome Volk was her uncle and missing. And that knowing him and being on that base in my childhood, knowing that it was named after a missing airman it was the ‘you’re on the right path’ moment.”
Volk Barry and Konsitzke met and connected prior to the presentation of the bill. In many ways, the bill has a family of its own, a voice, an anthem, a dedication to bringing closure to all families and a spark lit in the hearts of state commanders who raise funds waiting for the bill’s passage. The project’s voice gets louder each session, especially when the state refuses to pick up the bill without providing answers why.
“So, when the servicemembers are never found, and never brought home, the family is always out there waiting. It takes a while for anyone to know if they are MIA or KIA,” Roth said. “The families are always in the hallways. Through the process of introducing this legislation, I met with family members. You can see it on their face and met with some, who after an extensive period of time, they did find the remains.”
The Politics of the POW MIA Wisconsin Issue
Dept. of Revenue Secretary Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) noted the committee played politics during the past governor election, who did not bring the bill into the assembly last session. Barca advocated for the allocation of the POW MIA chair at the rotunda, who served as the small business administration secretary during the Clinton administration. Barca is also passionate about seeing the passage of the bill who shared his fondness and experience working with POW MIA advocacy veteran organizations.
“For the life of me, it’s difficult to understand because it’s such an important issue,” Barca said regarding why the previous bill did not pass. “It’s certainly not an issue of having enough financial resources we have over a $2 Billion surplus. Somebody is playing politics here.”
The governor is anxiously waiting to pass the bill and bring closure to his Wisconsin families, who believes Wisconsin has a vested interest in investing in the program. S.B. 602’s co-author, Sen. Melissa Agard (D-Madison), through her communications director, could not provide insight into why the assembly did not bring the bill forward. She believes investing in POW MIA families is a priority.
“When ‘fails to pass pursuant Senate Joint Resolution 1’ is written in the bill history, it is the legislative language used to indicate that the session concluded for the year,” Sen. Agard’s Communication Director Chandra Munroe said. “No further action can be taken on proposals previously introduced. There are no ‘minutes’ for SJR 1 and you will find it on the bill history for every proposal that did not become law by the end of a legislative session.”
The previous bills did not pass despite unanimous bipartisan support and co-authoring of bills. Despite politicizing through the committee on rules’ decision not to pick up the bill, members of the assembly and senate cannot understand why. The bill’s narrative shared by senators, the governor, dept. of revenue secretary, veteran organizations and POW MIA families sit and wait for a straight answer from Assembly Majority Leader Robin Vos (R-Burlington) why the previous bills have not been brought before the senate for a vote.
“All bills that are not passed are adversely disposed of pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1,” Wisconsin State Assembly Chief Clerk Ted Blazel explained. “ That is the procedural language for disposing of all bills at the end of the session. It does not denote a negative in the sense of a bill being ‘tossed’ aside. I hope this helps.”
The “toss” by Vos was discussed during the public comment address at the Capitol with S.B. 8. Senators unanimously agreed there is no excuse because the bill should not have passed already. Politics, the allegation made by Barca last session, was the reason the bill was introduced the third time.
“There are families across Wisconsin who are still grieving the loss of loved ones who never came home,” Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) asserted. “There is no reason this bill should be stalled in the legislative process. It’s time Republicans move this bill forward so we can help provide closure to families across our state.”
The MIA repatriation issue, and the frustration expressed by POW MIA advocates at all three public hearings regarding the death in committee, fills the rotunda’s silence this third Friday. Silence symbolically represents the voice of the POW MIA. The deafening silence and sentiments expressed by the committee on rules heard by Wisconsin families awaits the impending possibility the bill will not make it past the assembly for another session.
Several interview requests were sent out to Assembly Majority Leader Robin Vos, regarding the S.B. 602 death in committee. He has not responded.
I will be taking up the advocacy of my best friend, Kristine Kelpinski-Ehm, who helped me survive the veteran crisis of readjustment and reintegration during a time in my life when I needed a friend.
She is one of the few who came to my rescue when I was battling a lapse in VA opioid painkiller prescription and dealing with end-of-life concerns. She is being outcasted by self-identifying high school reunion leadership for asking they present their treasury and minute-taking reports.
The group organized a tax-exempt entity called “Appleton West Class of ’93 Inc.” without the consent of classmates.
Kelpinski-Ehm shared her concerns after uncovering legal issues with one of the business owners claiming he was in charge of our reunion planning. Self-identified planner, Neil Wynveen, has tax warrants pending.
Kelpinski-Ehm sought transparency and received retaliation.
As a veteran, I stepped up as her guardian at Outpost 422 where veterans, who are being bullied for seeking help from the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, come to check in and recieve a battle buddy. I am her battle buddy enduring the melee of the attacks perpetrated on the “Appleton West Class of ’93 Reunion page” we are banned from.
We are classmates speaking up and speaking out about her ordeal.
The upcoming appearance before the Appleton Area School District Board tells her story and what I witnessed with her attacker’s public humiliation for calling him out regarding his pending tax warrants as a reunion organizer.
The following rough draft provides the full-length detail of what I truly want to say but only have three minutes. Currently, Appleton public schools’ administrators have trouble with moderating online reunion behavior.
The task is too tough to tame. I am taking the business model of Outpost 422 from the time when I was attacked by Curtis Lemke at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, like what I am witnessing happening with my best friend.
Letter to the Appleton Public School Board
Good evening respected leaders of the Appleton Area School District-
My name is Bradley Burt. I am a 10th Mountain Division veteran who has been speaking up and speaking out about digital hostility and Machiavellianism through my honors research and am pursuing my graduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
I stand before as one of your reformed troublemakers who found value in making life changes starting with going back to school later in life and achieving high honors. My whole world changed the day I graduated as a summa cum laude journalism major and corporate communication minor.
That day reflects the pursuit and reward for Overcoming Impossibility. I crossed through the threshold into a new level of success and became an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater class of ’23.
This year, in celebration, I wanted to provide a timestamp feature profile regarding where we are as a class as an alumnus of Appleton West Class of’93. The profile reflected Heide Hall and Madison College as a convergent media portfolio piece for my grad school application.
The journey led to needing to contact Appleton Schools Superintendent Greg Hartjes, who graciously added me to the agenda and value our time. Thank you.
I have been in contact with the local press with press releases about the subject of reunion trolling and hiding of treasury reports by our self-appointed reunion committee, who was confronted by a classmate on our reunion page and now she and I have been outcasted for speaking up about their hate and bias towards her.
I am appearing before you today with concerning news.
Our class, Appleton West Class of ’93, has a reunion Facebook page that organized without the permission of the school or the membership and have uncovered the group has registered a tax-deferred entity titled “Appleton West Class of ’93 Inc.” organized and filed by classmate and past admin Cori Collins Marinan, controlled by page founder Jennifer Kohl, naming Jenna Kadlec as the president who recently stepped down.
When approached by classmate Kristine Kelpinski-Ehm, she was called out for not taking her medication, who was berated by classmates Carey Varga-Halverson, Charity Recla, and page founder Jennifer Kohl.
Kelpinski-Ehm was banned, and all of our comments were removed, which included the naming of Chad Van Daalwyk as our new reunion president and me as the secretary who was bringing our reunions into Robert’s Rules of Order for addressing treasury reports and minutes, which have not been brought before members.
I briefly discussed the concerns of our classmate with classmate Chad Van Daalwyk, noted in a phone call he was hanging onto the money from the past reunion. We began collaborating with building a newsletter that would provide minutes and treasury reports.
We were moving forward and bringing hope to our class. That was, until Wynveen’s named president, Jenna Kadlec, stepped down and handed her admin role over to him. Shortly after, my comments and polls as the newly named secretary were deleted and I was banned.
Rather than remove Wynveen, Kadlec stepped down and handed her admin role over to both him and Van Daalwyk, who are self-identifying as our current reunion leadership, after referring to myself and Kelpinski-Ehm, and I quote, as “Douchebag Debbie Downer Drama Starters.”
Classmates who attended the reunion are now referring to us as “drama” for our attempts to build an inclusive reunion welcome to all and remove Wynveen.
As of now, both Kelpinski-Ehm and I are speaking up and speaking out while the group profiles us in front of our peers with diatribes, passive aggressive cryptic groupspeak and has violated hate/bias policies the University of Wisconsin uses to regulate its campus activities.
Look, I understand this is the Appleton School system, however being someone who was attacked by hate/bias during my recent college experience, I must come forward and ask the group to be charged with trolling, ask the group’s Facebook representing the Terror brand be shut down and the school district order they cease and desist from operating as a quorum due to malice and negligence.
I am speaking up for Bullycide prevention as a Veterans Crisis Line survivor and advocate and have begun publishing a newsletter reporting about what is going on. I have also contacted the press after my class president and Appleton West associate principal who is also a part of the Class of ’93 did not intervene and left me on read.
I am in contact with Superintendent Hartjes reporting what is happening, unsure who to speak with to bring our class reunion to order and civility.
I am handing this over to the school board hoping we can organize a reunion trolling task force by building policies used by the university of Wisconsin for hate/bias reporting.
The Wynveen issue is not a laughing matter. Together, through the development of the “Words Kill” campaign, we as an academic honors society can stand up to digital hostility not only with reunions but as a cyberbullying task force on social media.
Through the use of community engagement flow codes, we can connect all in distress with direct access to a reporting link like my Outpost 422 registered trademark created for veterans in distress. Thank you.
Respectfully Submitted,
Bradley J. Burt
CEO-Outpost 422
Contact Outpost 422’s reunion newsletter and let’s share your story on the new websiteregarding trolling by your reunion social media.
On August 8, representatives of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Rolling Thunder Inc. and American Legion Wisconsin showed up to the Wisconsin State Capitol expressing their support for Senate Bill 8, which was introduced for public comment. The bill has a track record for hyper politicization.
As one of the registered speakers, I brought before senators the concerning issues raised from the capstone video feature. The following letter was prepared sharing the concerns witnessed during the development of the rejection of Senate Bill 602, which is a similar bill seeking the same appropriation of $180,000 per year per session included in Senate Bill 8.
Attn: State of Wisconsin Senators
Topic: Tabling Senate Bill 8 for investigative inquiry
On May 13, 2023, another veteran crossed the stage at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. That veteran is me. Upon graduating summa cum laude as a journalism major, I realized now is the time to get active publicizing the POW MIA issue.
My ongoing class project, Outpost 422, which is a trademarked reporting style, will cross the threshold into graduate school at UW Milwaukee next seeking help with launching of an eNewsletter raising awareness about what is going on at our State Capitol regarding the hyper politicizing of our Wisconsin POW MIA, which seeks help with launching the next phase of my community engagement campaign called “I Will NOT Forget.”
The campaign shares my story about what I endured advocating for the POW MIA in the college classroom, the benefits of the UW POW MIA Recovery and Identification Project, along with receiving backlash from professors who will not let veterans utilize the freedom of academic expression that stifled my brand’s opportunities to raise awareness.
For my journalism capstone, I was an investigative reporter developing an interactive media online investigative outreach informing classmates and viewers about what I had uncovered during the development of Senate Bill 602, which I believe is the bill preceding the introduction of Senate Bill 8, which is now being brought before the public for comment.
I support the funding of the UW MIA Recovery and Identification Project, however I do not support Rep. Robin Vos and Rep. Jim Steinke’s role with hyper politicizing the POW MIA issue, like what happened with Senate Bill 602. Upon interviewing Dept. of Finance Secretary Peter Barca during the last session, he mentioned “someone is playing politics here. We have over a $2 billion surplus. The bill has bipartisan support.”
Our Joint Committee on Finance should be admonished for withholding Senate Bill 602 from being brought before the senate.
As a POW MIA advocate, supporter of the UW MIA Recovery and Identification Project’s research and “Boot on the Ground” pilot, along with the collective efforts of the UW Madison Biotechnology Center, I ask our senators to assemble an ad hoc committee to address the development of Senate Bill 602, why the bill was not passed, and how we can hold the ranking members of the Joint Committee on Finance accountable this time ensuring that those of us who advocate for the families of the POW MIA can guarantee this won’t happen again. I will be following up with all of you in the future regarding this matter.
The future of EAP is here. Outpost 422 will help you locate a chaplain and a treatment center nearest you. Employee assistance is a safe alternative to working with the Veterans Administration.
The past bills, S.B. 446 and S.B. 602, had unanimous bipartisan support, yet were rejected. The hyper politicization stemmed from the bill potentially making Gov. Tony Evers look good during the governor election, which was rumored by POW MIA advocates and discussed with members of Evers’ cabinet upon discovery.
The public comment was listed as “information only” due to mixed feelings and trust the next bill will end up in Rep. Vos’ hands and will not see the light of day in the senate for another session.
Senators in attendance all agree the behavior demonstrated by the Joint Committee on Finance during the development of Senate Bill 602 should not be happening. A recommendation for setting up an ad hoc inquiry committee, which would audit the bill’s development, was offered.
Seeing the look of disappointment on the University of Wisconsin Missing-in-action Recovery and Identification Project’s director’s face as the capstone closed was disheartening.
The illustration of the memory was brought before the senators as a reminder why publishing the POW MIA issue is sacred, which should never have been left in the hands of the Joint Committee on Finance’s oversight, according to the hearing’s ranking member.
Senators will proceed by addressing concerns raised in the capstone and have received a letter by Sen. Melissa Agard regarding the matter.
Due to time constraints, I was unable to stay for the rest of the hearing. The hearing was broadcasted by Wisconsin Eye.
Around September 7, 2020, I was tasked by my brother, who is the executor of my father’s remains, to retrieve and coordinate with Highland Memorial Park Cemetery in Appleton, Wisconsin, the information needed to bury our father 21 years after his death.
My father’s story is the testament of what a service officer must go through when the executor won’t let go.
The tug-of-war experience between caretaker and family led to the dishonor of Legionnaire requests for Post Everlasting burial protocol.
Today we honor the dishonor of an Air Force veteran, who is our guest of honor at Post 38 American Legion of Appleton, Wisconsin, where my father entered service.
On the last month before the new millennium, Airman Davis E. Burt passed away at his home. His remains sit up North on the mantle with his oldest son arguing with his service officer brother playing games with Burt’s burial.
None the less, the service officer leads the mission seeking answers regarding protocols for burial. There was one item the cemetery left out that caused the feud. The cemetery caretaker stated he must receive and bury the remains to place a VA marker headstone.
The Outagamie County Service Officer stated, “As long as Highland will agree to place the marker, there is no need for burying the remains.”
Gerald Reger, cemetery director, made clear the VA won’t place the marker without the burial of the remains. Both parties used passive aggressive communication leaving unfinished business on the table.
Today, we are here to finish my last order of business as a past county service officer.
On Monday July 25, 2023, 24 years after Burt’s passing, the executor decided to pull up stakes and bury the Air Force veteran’s remains, who still needed a firing squad sendoff due to Burt’s funeral taking place in the beginning of January scheduled for a later date.
Today, we rejoice. We are sending a father and fellow veteran to the banquet hall at Post Everlasting and paying Burt’s respects. The service officer experience must be discussed so that we may learn from our guest of honor’s mishap.
From the beginning to the end of the three-year journey, I have witnessed many desperate attempts by Burt’s family to obstruct his rites of passage into Post Everlasting, so much that the executor and service officer have cut ties and want nothing to do with burying our guest with military honors.
Graciously, the American Legion will honor every new member into Post Everlasting and am thankful for those who put the event together. We are perpetuating and inculcating Americanism by standing up to those who believe our rites and practices are no longer of value.
The most important person is the person we honor at each Post Everlasting memorial salute. Today, Burt finally rests. Aside from the behavior of Burt’s executor, his two Legionnaire sons honor his right to finish his burial ceremony demonstrating how Legionnaires stay the course for veterans and their families they are tasked to serve.
Post Everlasting is a legacy provided to those who serve and receive an honorable discharge, which is a privilege to servicemembers and veterans who pass and respectfully deserve. Honor is the vow of the fourth commandment.
From the moment of being tasked to the phone call to arrange a firing squad, what I witnessed regarding Burt’s burial affairs was his executor’s family feud dishonor, along with understanding survivor’s guilt and his hostage taking of family members who withheld the deceased veteran’s remains from receiving Post Everlasting honors rites of passage.
Those who do not serve simply do not understand. We guide and stay the course.
We must learn from those who prejudice our traditions. Through their ineptness, we can assure all who serve have an advocate and will go to the furthest lengths under their watch.
The role of the service officer is managing grief. Passion is the tenacity to finish the job no matter what lengths or what obstacles may surface.
The service officer is the sentinel of the Post making sure those who are unsure are empowered by our knowledge.
MILWAUKEE, Wis.—Gray Colton, Chairperson for the Robert W. Baird & Co. Patriot Veteran Hiring Program, invited veterans of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to attend the Baird Patriot Veteran Career Forum.
The event took place on Friday, November 1, 2019. Colton is the Senior Vice President of Private Wealth and Management for the Robert W. Baird & Co.
Colton arranged to have the 101st Airborne Commander share his mission with members of the Patriot program and veterans. Colton was pleased to see so many veterans turned out to support the Patriot mission, who gave a cordial introduction to Maj. Gen. Brian Winski.
“We are honored to have Eagle Six with us today,” said Colton.
Colton introduced Winski, who is a Milwaukee native and graduate from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee referred to as “Eagle Six,” which is the 101st Airborne Commander’s call sign in the field and in combat.
Winski began his speech by addressing the need to hire veterans, who shared the value of having veterans in the workplace.
“Every man and woman who wears America’s uniform is a part of a long unbroken line of achievement and honor. No single military power in history has done greater good, shown greater courage, liberated more people or upheld higher standards of decency and valor than the Armed Forces of the United States of America,” said Winski.
Winski, Post Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, after delivering his Veteran’s Day speech, impressed upon all in attendance that Wisconsin holds an ironclad lineage with his division, which dates all the way back to the Civil War through the 8th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment.
Eagle Six shared the story of how the 101st models the efforts of those who served with the 8th in the Civil War and their mascot “Old Abe,” which is the icon for the 101st Airborne Screaming Eagle patch.
Winski closed his address by reiterating the level of dedication and commitment veterans provide to not only their country, but also their employers, which is their common core leadership attribute in the workplace that follows with them into their prospective careers and beyond.
Winski extended his appreciation to veterans and guests by offering an opportunity after his presentation to answer questions regarding his current deployments in Syria, Afghanistan and Africa.
Winski expressed his gratitude to all who serve and have served. The Robert W. Baird, the Baird Patriot Veteran Hiring Program and the message by Winski share one thing in common—all must appreciate the hard work and dedication of veterans and servicemembers on Veteran’s Day.
Welcome to Outpost 422, your academic distress support network. The website is here to serve as a beacon for those who are missing and feel lost on campus in the military and veteran community.
We are using G.I. Bill benefits to teach research strategies and use resilience and success as a navigation tool.
The registered trademark provides writing and research methodologies for profiling both public affairs and scientific research through the development of a virtual outreach and academic support group off campus.
For those who are visiting seeking information about the 1st Lt. Jerome A. Volk mobile coverage of his crash site, please be aware, we are handling a current crisis and have put the project on hold.
The future of EAP is here. Outpost 422 will help you locate a chaplain and a treatment center nearest you. Employee assistance is a safe alternative to working with the Veterans Administration.
We are still publishing the POW MIA issue here at Outpost 422 but have taken the necessary steps with incorporating the most recent Madison College honors literature review, which outlines barriers to success.
For us to relaunch the campaign, we need a team of investors and panel of investigators for project pilot support. The “I Will NOT Forget” campaign is developing into a convergent media form of academic reporting.
The goal for the campaign seeks placing the needs of those in academic distress first by offering an outlet with investigating the POW MIA issue for developing strategies with academic success. The campaign is an interactive ongoing publication keeping our community informed so that all who are still missing will not be forgotten.
Eventually, once the next phase of the Outpost 422 registered trademark enters the support group phase, we will have a monthly newsletter tracking Volk’s last known whereabouts and how we as scholars can provide hope to families of the missing by providing transparency through publication.
Infographic credit: Devynfuddman.wordpress.com.
Veterans and servicemembers overcome many obstacles outside of what traditional students experience. At Outpost 422, we are combining researching the POW MIA issue with academic research to create a pathway to success.
One thing learned from writing an honors literature review at Madison College was that resilience provides the map to success for student veterans and service members. Support groups are a dire need for our success.
Variables are the obstacles standing in our way. Examining variables and applying strategies build and develop perceptions with overcoming the impossibility of becoming another attrition statistic. The POW MIA drive our mission to succeed.
Outpost 422 seeks investors and those who served for building a support group on all college campuses. Through strategic planning, coordination and communication, we can overcome impossibility.
Please fill out the contact form if you are interested in sitting down, going over my honors literature review and need a strategy to map your way out of dropping out of college.
You worked hard for your G.I. benefits. We need you in the game.
