Military Chaplains

11/11/2023

The Wallace Monument standing proud🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

The National Wallace Monument (generally known as the Wallace Monument) is a tower standing on the shoulder of the Abbey Craig, a hilltop overlooking Stirling in Scotland. It commemorates Sir William Wallace, a 13th-century Scottish hero.

You can climb the 246 step spiral staircase to the viewing gallery inside the monument's crown, which provides expansive views of the Ochil Hills and the Forth Valley.

📍Stirling, Scotland
📸instagram.com/charles.mcguigan

11/11/2023

Greetings Comrades:

As you know, the VFW has been a vocal opponent of predatory claim shark companies who charge veterans illegal fees for sub-par VA benefit claims assistance. Make no mistake, the proliferation of these illicit organizations is a threat not only to the VFW’s cornerstone Veterans Service program, but an even greater threat to the VA benefits system as we know it. Over the last few months, we have ratcheted up the pressure on these companies by passing legislation to crack down on their practices at the state level and working to help veterans bring litigation against them. We have trained your service officers to know how to handle claim sharks and continue to seek out veterans who need help getting out of these predatory contracts.

The Claim Sharks felt the pressure from the VFW and this week launched their latest salvo, trying to normalize and legitimize their financial exploitation of our nation’s disabled veterans – they even named VSOs like the VFW as their “threats.” While we should be flattered that they recognize the threat we pose, now is the time where we come together to decisively defeat this scourge. Like the VFW said last year before Congress, “any group that fails to adhere to VA’s well-established standards of accreditation and fee arrangements should be greeted at the door by Capitol Police, not offered a seat at the same table as VA-accredited representatives who are held to certain professional and ethical standards.”

Bottom line: Predatory claim shark companies are engaging in illegal activities. There is no gray area here, no matter how much money they want to throw at it. Their latest collusion is a desperate attempt to avoid accountability.

Your VFW has aggressively pursued this issue in all corners of government, solidifying the veterans’ community’s stance on this issue. You will see more from the VFW in the coming weeks, asking you to take action with your Congressional representatives, your state legislatures, and your communities. In the meantime, please read up on the facts and familiarize yourself with this issue, if you have not already. I have attached a branded VFW Fact Sheet on claim sharks for you to use and distribute widely to veterans. Please feel free to post the dark version on your social media and print off the light version for use in your community.

For more than a century, your VFW has been on the forefront of advocating for veterans and their earned benefits. In the last year alone, more than 550,000 veterans received more than $13 billion in benefits from VA through the diligence and professionalism of the VFW’s global network of VA-accredited service officers. Not a penny of this $13 billion went to line the pockets of the VFW. It all went to the veterans, as the law requires.

Comrades: This fight may get a little messy in the coming weeks, but we will uphold the principles of our charter “to assist worthy comrades…and to assist their surviving spouses and orphans.” The VFW will stop Claim Sharks and we are eager to serve alongside you in this fight.

Yours in Comradeship,

Duane Sarmiento

Commander-in-Chief

10/10/2023

Israel's History 101

The Middle East conflict is framed as one of the most complex problems in the world. But, in reality, it's very simple. Israelis want to live in peace and…

10/09/2023

UPDATE: MacKenzie has been located. A big thank you to everyone who shared this post. It truly takes a village and NPD appreciates their village!!!!

Has anyone seen MacKenzie????

10/09/2023

Edinburgh, Scotland 🍁🍂

📸instagram.com/pandeyrr

09/27/2023

The original St Conan's Kirk was built between 1881 and 1886, and comprised the nave and part of the choir of the later church that visitors see today. Walter Campbell had grander plans, however, and in 1907 he began work on a much more ambitious church. Walter worked on this until his death in 1914, and his sister Helen ran the project from 1918 until her death in 1927. The church was completed by their trustees.

All the stone used to build St Conan's came from boulders on nearby hillsides that were rolled to the site before being worked.The new St Conan's Kirk was first used for worship in 1930. It is magnificent, beautiful, remarkable, eccentric and just a little bizarre. Norman doorway, Saxon tower, Gothic flying buttresses, and Celtic crosses can all be found there, as well as a curious fragment of bone from the leg of Robert the Bruce.

Walter Campbell did not design the church to conform to any particular style. Rather he took ideas and designs from different places and periods and produced something that serves as a collection of the best or most interesting features drawn from many other churches.

📍St. Conan’s Kirk, Loch Awe, Argyll and Bute
📸instagram.com/bokehm0n

09/27/2023

Situated in tranquil Aberdeenshire countryside and hidden from view by over two hundred acres of beautiful landscaped parkland, Cluny Castle truly is the most majestic, secluded, and enchanting venue.

During the hundreds of years that have passed since Cluny was constructed as a Z-plan castle 1604 it has remained the much loved home of the family, the Gordons of Cluny. Over time the castle has been expanded upon and has changed shape quite dramatically since the 1500s while under the stewardship of the Clan; the final addition being the completion of the chapel in 1870 courtesy of John Gordon resulting in one of the largest privately owned castles in the whole of Scotland.

📍Cluny Castle, Aberdeenshire
📸instagram.com/a_ontheroad

09/27/2023

This seven-story castle with its pink-tinted facade, finely sculpted multiple turrets, ornate corbels and carved stonework is said to have been one of many inspirations for Walt Disney's Cinderella Castle.

Nestled on a picturesque hillside in the eastern foothills of the Cairngorm mountains, the elegant pink tower of Craigievar Castle is spellbindingly beautiful, sure to enchant children and adults alike (and even Queen Victoria, once upon a time!). This iconic tower house is among the best preserved and the most loved in Scotland.

Construction of this castle begun in the Scottish Baronial style around 1576 and its exterior remains virtually unchanged since William Forbes completed it around 1626. Craigievar was a family home until the 1960s, creating a quirky blend of cosy interiors and rare antiquities within the ancient walls.

In 1824, Sir John Smith inherited the castle when his older brother passed away. He had the roof replaced and the building reharled. Aberdeen architect, John Smith, suggested that they add pigments to the harling (an exterior building-surfacing technique which results in a weatherproof shield) so that it more closely resembled the pink granite colour of the stone detailing. This resulted in a distinctly pink colouration. Up until then, however, the castle was cream in colour.

📍Craigievar Castle
📸Instagram.com/a_ontheroad
📖History: Instagram.com/scottishcastles

09/14/2023

An archaeological site can be a unique location. Parting of the Ways is one of the most subtly dramatic sites remaining on the emigrant trails. In the middle of an open sagebrush plain, the trails diverge. Emigrants had to decide whether to stay on the main route, head southwest towards Fort Bridger, or veer right and cross the Little Colorado Desert on the Greenwood or Sublette Cutoff. The cutoff, which opened in 1844, saved about 46 miles but included some 50 waterless miles. Parting of the Ways marks a spot where many emigrants bid a tearful farewell to friends they would probably never see again.

04/13/2023

Come enjoy the sunset by the fire as the warmer days turn into cooler nights...