The January 17 edition of Warrior Connection was a discussion on the still troubled VA Choice program and enduring medical care problems that elude fixing.Bradley Kieffer of Healthnet provided this comment in response to our requests for on air discussion:Media Statement Health Net Federal Services is proud to serve our nation’s veterans, and we are committed to providing timely access to medical care in the 37 states where we administer the Veterans Choice program. Veterans Choice was created in 2014 to better meet the health care needs or our nation’s veterans by allowing them to see community providers when the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is unable to see them timely or conveniently. By late 2014, Health Net was scheduling 34,000 medical appointments and fielding more than 230,000 phone calls monthly in support of the Veterans Choice program. We recently opened a service center in Tampa, Florida, to assist veterans in obtaining their needed care. Many of these associates are veterans themselves. To date, we have hired and are currently training over 200 associates. In the future we hope to hire up to 500 associates for this office. Developing a complex and consistent new program like Veterans Choice is a team effort, and Health Net is working closely with Congress, the Department of Veterans Affairs, health care providers and many others to provide veterans with the appropriate, coordinated and convenient care they have earned for their service to a grateful nation. - January 11, 2016.Veterans Choice ProgramAccess health care closer to homeWhat is the Choice Program?For ProvidersOutreach Partners ToolkitFAQsFor ProvidersProviders interested in participating must establish a contract with one of the contractors, Health Net Federal, or TriWest Healthcare Alliance. Providers do not need to join PC3 to participate in the Choice Program.Providers must:Accept Medicare rates.Meet all Medicare Conditions of Participation and Conditions for Coverage.Be in compliance with all applicable federal and state regulatory requirements.Have a full, current, and unrestricted license in the state where the service(s) are delivered.Have same or similar credentials as VA staff.Submit a copy of the medical records to the contractor for medical care and services provided to Veterans for inclusion in the VA electronic record.Providers listed on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) exclusionary list are prohibited from participating.How to participate:To determine which of the two contractors you should contact (Health Net or TriWest) based on your geographic location click here.All Patient – Centered Community Care (PC3) providers are automatically eligible to participate in the Choice Program.Contact the appropriate contractor using the information listed below.Contact Information for Health Net:o    Hours: 6:00am — 7:00pm EST Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidayso    Provider Customer Service Phone Number: 1-866-606-8198o    Email: [email protected]    Website: www.hnfs.comContact Information for TriWest:o    Hours: 8:00am — 10:00pm EST, Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidayso    Provider Services Contracting: 1-866-284-3743o    Email: [email protected]    Website: joinournetwork.triwest.com/Complete the process to establish a contract or provider agreement with the appropriate contractor, which will allow you to see Veterans seeking care through the choice program.Are you an Academic Affiliate Partner of the Department of Veterans Affairs? Click here for more specific information.To learn more about Military Culture Training for Community Providers click here.Veterans Choice ProgramAccess health care closer to homeWhat is the Choice Program?For ProvidersOutreach Partners ToolkitFAQsWhat is the Choice Program?If you are already enrolled in VA health care, the Choice Program allows you to receive health care within your community. Using this program does NOT impa

The January  10, 2016  edition of Warrior Connection was a discussion on gun safety / use and also crime control based onTHE CHRISTMAS GUNDoug Rokke, Ph.D.Major, US Army, retiredJanuary 2015   The Christmas tree lights shined brightly matching every color in the rainbow with beautiful ornaments hung from the trees branches and an Angel perched on high atop the tree. The bright red tree cloth around the base of the green tree contrasted with the multitude of Christmas gifts wrapped in glorious paper arrayed around the tree’s base. While clothes, tools, toys, and household items are always found, the magical almost mystical gift boys and girls from 7 to 97 look forward to each Christmas is the new Christmas gun either a rifle, shotgun, or handgun. The new gun may be a kit such as a black-powder Kentucky rifle or pistol that you need to assemble or it may be a fully assembled operational gun.  Today we might add a crossbow or other archery equipment to that so sought after list of cherished items. Although the excitement of hoping for the unknown magical gift that may or may not be beneath the tree because of recent legal requirements is history it does not diminish the excitement of opening that package to find a treasured gun. I believe that each of us can remember when our father or mother or grandpa or grandma gave us our first gun at Christmas and the thrill that had us beaming like the brightest star in the heavens. As we opened the box and ran our fingers over our gift the tingling spread from our fingers to our toes and we hoped for good weather to go try out of new gun. So what do I do next?  Each of us has asked that question with a gleam in our eye. Although, we might want to go outside immediately, load the gun, find at a tin can or other target, and shoot away there are prudent steps to take before we hear the loud report “music in our ears” of the new Christmas gun upon pulling the trigger.Step 1: Read the manual from cover to cover and make sure you understand all characteristics of your new gun. It is also a good idea to learn all about the ballistics of each type of ammunition for your new gun.  For more ballistics information and calculations please refer to the “ballistics calculator” at (www.winchester.com), ammo manufacturers publications, and of course the annual “GUN DIGEST”.Step 2:  Give your new gun a complete cleaning. That means learning how to and actually taking your gun apart and putting it back together at what is called in the military “field stripping” level. Some new guns are shipped with protective lubricants that must be removed.Step 3. Without any ammunition any place around you or in the gun practice operating the gun until it becomes ingrained second nature. This should include dry firing with appropriate aides such as a snap cap- plastic. We want to know how each gun functions and how each trigger reacts or functions.  Practice putting the safety on and off. Practice clearing or make sure you know how to clear malfunctions. Practice sight picture acquisition with your gun for different shooting positions.Step 4. Identify and obtain the correct ammunition for you new gun. Make sure it is good usable ammunition not old crusty junk left around in your stash. Collect and try on all necessary safety equipment for eye and hearing protection.Step 5. The moment has arrived. You are ready for music in your ears.  Find a safe range location to shoot and set up your target ensuring safety at all times. Now you need to make sure your sights are set for your needs. Basic settings can be made prior to actually firing your gun but sighting in requires time and careful effort.  While most guns are shipped at mechanical zero or approximately on target each person’s sighting needs vary.  I suggest that you get a large piece of cardboard and put an 8” x 11” piece of paper with a target- a large black marker spot - in the center of the piece of paper and then center that piece of paper on the cardboard. Some r

The January 3 warrior Connection was a discussion  between Dr. Doug Rokke and Bonnie Rokke Tinnes, RN,  about anemia and then we read some short stories about life in northern Minnesota at Christmas time.Vitamin B12 deficiency can be sneaky, harmfulPOSTED JANUARY 10, 2013, 10:03 AM , UPDATED SEPTEMBER 09, 2015, 3:13 PMPatrick J. Skerrett, Former Executive Editor, Harvard HealthWhat harm can having too little of a vitamin do? Consider this: Over the course of two months, a 62-year-old man developed numbness and a “pins and needles” sensation in his hands, had trouble walking, experienced severe joint pain, began turning yellow, and became progressively short of breath. The cause was lack of vitamin B12 in his bloodstream, according to a case report from Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital published in The New England Journal of Medicine. It could have been worse—a severe vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to deep depression, paranoia and delusions, memory loss, incontinence, loss of taste and smell, and more.The human body needs vitamin B12 to make red blood cells, nerves, DNA, and carry out other functions. The average adult should get 2.4 micrograms a day. Like most vitamins, B12 can’t be made by the body . Instead, it must be gotten from food or supplements.And therein lies the problem: Some people don’t consume enough vitamin B12 to meet their needs, while others can’t absorb enough, no matter how much they take in. As a result, vitamin B12 deficiency is relatively common, especially among older people. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey estimated that 3.2% of adults over age 50 have a seriously low B12level, and up to 20% may have a borderline deficiency.Are you at risk?There are many causes for vitamin B12 deficiency. Surprisingly, two of them are practices often undertaken to improve health: a vegetarian diet and weight-loss surgery.Plants don’t make vitamin B12. The only foods that deliver it are meat, eggs, poultry, dairy products, and other foods from animals. Strict vegetarians and vegans are at high risk for developing a B12 deficiency if they don’t eat grains that have been fortified with the vitamin or take a vitamin supplement. People who have stomach stapling or other form of weight-loss surgery are also more likely to be low in vitamin B12 because the operation interferes with the body’s ability to extract vitamin B12 from food.Conditions that interfere with food absorption, such celiac or Crohn’s disease, can cause B12trouble. So can the use of commonly prescribed heartburn drugs, which reduce acid production in the stomach (acid is needed to absorb vitamin B12). The condition is more likely to occur in older people due to the cutback in stomach acid production that often occurs with aging.Recognizing a B12 deficiencyVitamin B12 deficiency can be slow to develop, causing symptoms to appear gradually and intensify over time. It can also come on relatively quickly. Given the array of symptoms it can cause, the condition can be overlooked or confused with something else. Symptoms may include:strange sensations, numbness, or tingling in the hands, legs, or feetdifficulty walking (staggering, balance problems)anemiaa swollen, inflamed tongueyellowed skin (jaundice)difficulty thinking and reasoning (cognitive difficulties), or memory lossparanoia or hallucinationsweaknessfatigueWhile an experienced physician may be able to detect a vitamin B12 deficiency with a good interview and physical exam, a blood test is needed to confirm the condition.Early detection and treatment is important. “If left untreated, the deficiency can cause severe neurologic problems and blood diseases,” says Dr. Bruce Bistrian, chief of clinical nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.B proactiveIt’s a good idea to ask your doctor about having your B12 level checked if you:are over 50 years oldtake a proton-pump inhibitor (such as Nexium or Prevacid) or H2 blocker (such as Pepcid or Zan

The December 27 edition of Warrior Connection was a  discussion with author - investigative journalist Bob Koehler on PTSD and also peace- social justice issues based on his column for this week. LOVE SOUTH OF HEAVENBy Robert C. KoehlerWrite about love, as in love thy enemy, and the social recoil sounds like this:“There is no nexus at which we can speak with ISIS. Singing Kumbaya while being led to a beheading can’t work.”Or this:“Any thug who threatens a cop gets what he deserves. One bullet or ten — I could care less. If a thug will threaten a cop or a prison guard, he will kill or maim me or mine without hesitation for very little reason. You want to give these thugs ‘civil rights’ — I want to give them a funeral. My way insures me and mine do not get killed or maimed. Your way insures I probably will.”These are responses to recent columns, in which I have tried to address the American and global hell created by the belief that violence, rather than endlessly begetting itself and spewing consequences far beyond conventional perception, actually solves problems in something other than the shortest of short terms. This is tricky. “Love thy enemy,” or words to that effect, may be the foundation of Christianity and every other major religion, but they’re utterly misunderstood and belittled in the realm of popular culture and I doubt they’ve ever been taken seriously at the level of government.It’s what they do in heaven. Sing Kumbaya, play the harp, love the other dead people (who, of course, went through a vetting process to get in similar to what we impose on refugees from Syria or Iraq). Here on Earth . . . come on, get real. The cynics cry “Trump! Trump!” because he tells it like it is, the way a junior high bully would. It’s simple. It’s linear. A bullet for a thug and the thug is dead. Problem solved.Of course, a bigger problem is also created, but to relate this problem — ISIS, for instance — to one’s own actions, or the actions of one’s country, is way too complicated, so the cynics choose to stay simple.How do we counter this simplistic-mindedness?“The usual way to generate force is to create anger, desire and fear,” writes Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, teacher, peace activist. “But these are dangerous sources of energy because they are blind . . .”Let’s pause mid-quote and summon the memory of our own impulsive emotions, our own anger and fear and blindness. Now let’s arm those emotions. Whether or not we’re “justified” in what we do next, the person on the receiving end is certain to have lost his or her humanity, at least for a terrible instant.But what could happen next is so much worse: When these emotions become collective, the result is mob mentality. And when they become institutionalized — buried deep in the nation’s soul — the inevitable result is war . . . and war . . . and war. And it’s self-perpetuating. The dehumanized enemy strikes back, perhaps with horrendous actions, which of course justify what we do next. Eventually one side or the other “wins” and “peace” prevails for a moment or two, but it’s always a broken and temporary thing, requiring armed guards at the perimeter. This is peace with fear.And it’s a way of life, humanity’s normal: being perpetually armed, perpetually terrified, perpetually blind.But Hanh’s quote continues: “. . . whereas the force of love springs from awareness, and does not destroy its own aims. Out of love and the willingness to act, strategies and tactics will be created naturally from the circumstances of the struggle.”The force of love springs from awareness. What, oh God, does this mean? What, especially, does it mean beyond personal acts of big-hearted decency? Is love always distorted, often beyond recognition, when it is institutionalized?Consider, for instance, the idea of the “penitentiary.” With roots in the word “penitent,” it was conceived by early 19th century prison reformers to be a place of resurrection — spiritual rebirth — for wayward souls

The December 20 Warrior connection was a discussion on how to make the best of the Christmas - New Years holidays given the unique stressors military families encounter.Life After Trauma #22 - Effects of living in a war zoneVietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan are civil wars that are different from each other in many ways, but similar in others. They may be different in tactics, weaponry and terrain, but the traumatic scale they bring to our troops are the same. Everyone who has gone there has been effected in some way. Physically, emotionally and even morally through the trauma of warfare. In a civil war, there is no real way to tell the good guys from the bad. There  will be times when you get into a battle and find  the enemy you killed were people you thought were your friends. You realize you are living among an unseen enemy where you can never trust anyone other than those in your own unit. (P. 68,69 TNEW.) This kind of revelation causes unit cohesion, but it also causes you to become hyper-vigilant. You never know when or where the enemy will show up again as it tends to put you on high alert all of the time. It is hard to turn hyper-vigilance off once you’ve used it.Upon returning home, you will watch people more carefully, sit in Restaurants with your back to the wall whenever possible and even show caution when seeing a dead animal or a cardboard box on the side of the road, never knowing if it is an IED that‘s about to explode.The friendships you make in combat zones are good and necessary for troop cohesion, but they can work against close family relationships, if you’re not careful. You need to keep in touch with your loved ones back home who are supporting you. Remember…“They who stand and wait are also serving.” If it were not for my dad praying for me through my days of close calls and near misses in the “meat grinder” area of Vietnam, I would have never made it back home again. P. 177, 223-224 TNEW.Upon returning home, you may experience nightmares, keeping distance and mistrust of everyone, depression, hypertension, difficulty sleeping, a need for isolation and irritation over the smallest of matters. Divorce rate for Vietnam veterans is well over 90%. That’s not a good record to hold. A good marriage is not a 50% - 50% partnership. It is a 100% - 100% full participation if it is going to work and thrive. A good spouse is the best thing you’ve got working for you. I also take my family to church . It’s a great place to worship God, and a good place to hang around good, decent, honest people, for the most part!  I’ve found that who I hang around has a lot to do with my habits and lifestyle. All of these symptoms can cause a miserable life,  along with problems to your marriage, career and basic happiness.You are an American Patriot and you deserve better than that. Those I served with did not study the concepts of “no greater love than this…that a man would lay down his life for his friend, They lived it. Many continue to suffer today because they served their country yesterday. They can never escape their past, in the future and some things will be with us forever. We’ll just have to do the best we can, and vigorously fight an enemy we can’t see. (PTSD.)First admit you might have a problem and you might need to seek help. Involve your spouse in your recovery. They supported you while you were gone, they want to help and support you now. Inquire for help through  Vet Centers 910-703-0699, the local Veterans Administration Office and other caring Health Care Professionals. Most problems I have experienced since Vietnam are caused by my adrenalin disorder. When something “triggers” an adrenalin rush, I have a panic attack. Increased heart rate, nervousness, tunnel vision, ect.I have to use my “Coping Skills” (P.234 TNEW) I’ve developed over the years to help me calm back down. Some things like using a nasal inhaler will help neutralize the adrenalin effects. I have written about these Coping Skills in my book “The Neve

The December 13 edition of Warrior Connection was a discussion between co-hosts Ray Clark and Doug Rokke with John Boch of GSL Defense Training on self defense- family protection- awareness and then force- on-force training for civilians. www.GSLDefenseTraining.com. We discussed situational awareness and how to protect your family and yourself during various threat situations as you go about your daily life. Sadly if you dial 911 looking for help police response may be or  will be to late so this provides you some idea of how to protect your family within legal frameworks. Critical Threat ManagementComprehensive Force-on-Force training to overcome a violent attackCourse purposeGSL Defense Training’s Critical Threat Management course integrates multiple layers of practical, defensive tactics to help keep you and your loved ones safer.If you have the misfortune of being involved in a life threatening encounter with a criminal predator, you will need a different set of skills and experiences than are available from even the best concealed carry class, or any day at the range.Criminal attacks can take the form of attempted armed robbery, battery, home invasion, mugging, or even just a fine, upstanding young gang member given a promotional opportunity and you’re the lucky victim that represents prestige and a promotion for him (or her).Acting competently, lawfully and responsibly in dangerous and stressful situations is uncomfortable, emotional, challenging – and at times just plain scary. Force-on-Force training is not something that most people will want to do, but the skills we’ll teach you will help you avoid a bad situation and if it comes to you despite your efforts to avoid it, this training will help you prevail in a violent situation and keep your loved ones safe as well.  And this is just one of a tiny handful of training schools across the nation offering this training to civilians like you.Remember, you don’t chose to be a victim.  You wouldn’t knowingly invite bad people into your life.  Criminal attack is forced upon the innocent by lawless individuals or groups and you are the first responder that can help yourself or those you love.This class is designed to help you understand the behaviors of those wanting to do you harm and help you decipher the signals you are sending out to the predators – and teach you the signals you should be sending out.  We tell you the areas in your life where you will be more likely to be attacked and how to avoid victimization there.  We teach you how to look after your safety and those around you, as well as how to treat some of the injuries that can occur in these events. GSL Defense Training’s Force-on-Force class offers you exactly our name – defensive training – in context and in a way that everyone involved can be safe in class and safer in life.What does Force-on-Force training offer?  It allows safe moving and shooting in dealing with bad guy aggressors, scattered among innocents.  These are not stationary paper targets, but living, breathing, thinking targets that can “hurt” you, inflicting a pain penalty for failure in the form of airsoft pellet strikes.  This pain penalty helps students learn the value of situational awareness, good tactics, and good decision making to make the best of a bad situation.This cutting-edge, state of the art advanced training offers many benefits, which is why it is so popular with law-enforcement and the military.Stress inoculationFamiliarizes you with your body’s reaction to the experience to a degree as you experience fearExperience with the physiological and psychological changes: diminished coordination, tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, tachypsychia (altered perception of time), cognitive dissonance (remembering things out of order), selective memory loss, and other effects of stressMental preparationCreates mental “note cards” or experiences to draw onHow to handle stressful situations, witnesses, injured victims, law enforcement, media, an

Warrior connection was a discussion regarding ongoing problems and revelation that dod did not comply with it's own regulations to include toxic exposure information in medical records.http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/benefits/health-care/2015/11/01/deployment-environmental-reports-not-health-records/74377338/Deployment environmental reports not in military health recordsBy Patricia Kime, Staff writer 3:41 p.m. EST November 1, 2015A U.S. soldier walks through smoke and dust after bomb technicians destroyed an apparent al-Qaida hideout inside a cave in 2008.(Photo: Maya Alleruzzo/AP)21206 CONNECT 317 TWEET 109 LINKEDIN 19 COMMENTEMAILMOREFor more than three years, the military services have been allowed to ignore a Defense Department order requiring the inclusion of environmental assessments of combat environments in troops' medical records.The Pentagon in 2006 published an instruction requiring the services add occupational and environmental risk assessments generated for locations during a certain period into medical records of troops who served in the affected place and time.Some veterans have developed illnesses they believe may be related to exposure to pollutants released by open air burn pits, heavy metals found in fine dust, exposure to chemical weapons and parasites.Since at least 2012, however, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness waived that requirement, and a memo written in 2013 extended the waiver for another two years, with acting Undersecretary of Defense (PR) Jessica Wright saying the reports, known as Periodic Occupational and Environmental Monitoring Summaries — POEMS — are summaries of "population-level health risks," and not an indication of exposure to individual service members.According to Wright, including the information in medical records could sway troops to link any illnesses they may have to their deployment environment, which may lead to "biased assessments of exposure and health risk" and possibly provide "support for disability claims for chronic illnesses that may not be due to exposure."To troops and veterans sick with respiratory illnesses, cancers and unexplained diseases they think are related to pollution, chemicals or other environmental hazards in Iraq and Afghanistan, the memo, initially released online by the law firm Bergmann Moore, is an outrage, a concerted effort to squelch the truth about deployment environmental hazards, from burn-pit pollution to dust laden with heavy metals."This is a rationale for denying not only patients, but also their physicians, ready access that DoD — and any reasonable American — should consider relevant to diagnosis and treatment," said Peter Sullivan, father of a Marine who died of an unexplained illnesses in 2009 following a deployment to Iraq. He is also director of the Sgt. Sullivan Center, a nonprofit that advocates for research on military environmental exposures."It feels like a slap in the face," said a retired Air Force master sergeant who suffers a debilitating lung disease and requested anonymity because she works for the federal government and fears retribution for discussing the subject. "We put our lives on the line over there and these are the people trying to deny me disability."The original instruction required the services to file any applicable POEMS "in the medical records of each individual for which the exposure applies," or archive them so they are available to "health care providers and redeployed personnel."Pentagon spokesman Air Force Maj. Ben Sakrisson said the information is available upon request and also is being published online in the Military Exposure Surveillance Library, with plans to post more "upon completion and after clearance for public release."But the retired airman and others say few troops or medical personnel even know what a POEMS is, and even fewer know to ask for them."I never heard of them until I returned from Afghanistan the last time, and I was in the medica

The November 29 edition of Warrior Connection takes us back to separate time via the poetry and writings my own cousin: Bonnie.  Bonnie Rokke Tinnes is a teacher of English and Russian and a registered nurse with BS Degrees from Bemidji State University and the University of North Dakota.  She is author of the Growing up Margaret Series, Grandma’s Three Winks, Snow Presents and Other Poems, and Dancing Barefoot in the Wind, another collection of her poetry.  Now retired, she lives with her husband Gilmen in the Bemidji Minnesota area.  Bonnie's works are available on AMAZON.COMA Thanksgiving GiftBonnie Fay Tinnes1344 WordsJuvenile: grandma, family, giving, ThanksgivingSometimes I wondered how Fancy Grandma found her friends. She had a strangemixture of individuals that she called friend, and it did not matter howrich or poor, how popular or unpopular, or how old or young one was, or whatone had done or not done. It seemed like she knew everyone, and everyoneknew her. Grandma respected everyone and was especially a champion of theless fortunate, the needy, and the underdog. She always told me, "Pumpkin,don't judge anyone. You never know who God has sent to help you."Thanksgiving gave Fancy Grandma another chance to be generous. Every Fridaybefore the week of Thanksgiving, she met with other members of the communityto put together baskets for people in the community who could not afford tobuy the makings for a Thanksgiving dinner. The baskets included a largefrozen turkey, fresh potatoes, canned corn, canned cranberry sauce, stuffingmix, home-grown squash that Grandma donated, and a can of pumpkin pie mix.Before they met they knew exactly who would receive the gift, and when theywere done each of them delivered baskets until they were gone.Fancy Grandma always saved one Thanksgiving basket that she delivered thenext day, Saturday. This year she invited me to go with her when shedelivered it to the Jennewein family.Eva and Charles Jennewein lived in a log cabin in the woods, and there wasonly a trail to get there. Fancy Grandma worried that it would snow makingit difficult for us to bet back to the main road. When we woke up earlySaturday morning, we turned on the radio for the weather forecast, whichdetermined how long we stayed and if we stayed over night. The forecast wasfor a cold but sunny day, and we planned to spend the night with theJennewein family.At first when Fancy Grandma invited me to go with her to visit theJenneweins, I hesitated. Everyone knew they were poor. People laughed attheir large family saying they had too many children they could not supportthem. Classmates did not want to be with them in school, and as the childrenbecame older, they moved away from home often quitting school. Otherslaughed at the way they dressed and the way they smelled of wood smoke fromthe way they heated their house. I didn't want to go there, but I didn'twant to hurt Grandma's feelings.Briget Jennewein was the youngest child in the family and the only one stillliving at home. She was in my class at school, but I did not know herbecause she always stayed by herself in school. She always looked lonely.This fall I had not seen her at all and wondered what happened to her. Iwondered if she was at home today.The day was cold and windy so we dressed in warm clothes. There was a lightpowdering of snow on the frozen ground and only a few dried up leaves on thetrees that looked stripped against the sky with their verdant attire gone.Only the evergreens showed signs of life. Occasionally we saw a deerwondering through the woods looking for something to eat.Our car was full of groceries and gifts for the Jenneweins. Fancy Grandmathawed the turkey the night before, and it was ready for Eva Jennewein'soven. She also made a pumpkin pie and whipped cream topping to go with it.She packed the car full of groceries: milk, butter, apples, oranges,carrots, celery, squash, tomatoes, corn, and anything else she thought theywould need including a fresh b

The November 22 edition of Warrior Connection was a discussion between host Dr. Doug Rokke and exceptional educators Dr Sharon Weiss, Superintendent, Jerry Sanderson Associate Superintendent, and Bill Engelbrecht, Associate Superintendent of Schools for the Peoria Illinois Catholic Diocese ( www.cdop.org ) on what makes a good school for our children / families.  It was very clear from the conversation as data verify that solutions exist for the current public school crises. But more important it provides parents information on a choice to ensure their child receives an excellent education for the "whole" child. This choice is not limited at all to just Catholic children and families but is available for all. http://www.peoriamagazines.com/ibi/2015/aug/why-catholic-schools-do-well