Friday, December 30, 2005
By Jim Reece
Retired Col. Jim Cook, of Elk Grove, a 31-year U.S. Marine Corps veteran visited
with local groups last week, promising to fight for the rights of veterans, at
state and national levels, in his intent to run for the State Assembly in
District 10.
"Les, I'm a Democrat," Cook told American Legion Recruiter Les Raper, at the
Legion's Sutter Hill hall last Thursday, along with members of the Veterans of
Foreign Wars, based in Ione. "It doesn't matter if we're Democrat or Republican.
We're all veterans. I'm going to be speaking in support of my brothers and
sisters here.
"It's veterans," he said. "They all served our country and they all deserve to
be taken care of."
Raper recruited Cook to the local Legion branch and the VFW. He said he would
work to keep issues in the open, noting that House Veterans Affairs Committee
Chairman Steve Buyer "wants to remove veterans' right to testify in Congress."
The colonel vowed to work with U.S. senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein
and with Congressman Richard Pombo to get a federal Veterans Affairs health
office opened in French Camp and on options for state veterans' health care
homes.
Cook said that state funding on the health care homes depended on the order of
projects elsewhere in the state being started and completed, noting that none
were being built now. He said legislators would be watching what happens with
the homes, but they also say that all five homes will not be built.
Floyd Martin, Amador County veteran's services officer, said the American Legion
was a non-partisan group, politically, except when it came to veterans' rights.
Martin said the Amador County Board of Supervisors is on record supporting the
VA center at French Camp, which Cook said would keep the district's veteran's
from having to drive to the nearest VA center in Palo Alto.
Martin is also a member of the American Legion National Executive Committee,
which represents all veterans of California. He said the possibility of moving
the federal-level VA from Livermore to French Camp could be a key issue in the
District 10 race. Incumbent Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi, R-Lodi, since 2002.
"You've got Alan Nakanishi here and the colonel. They're going to go head to
head on it. I'm for the person who supports the veterans," Martin said. "My No.
1 priority is the veterans of Amador County. I don't want my veterans to go to
Palo Alto or down to Ceres.
"The VA system is the largest in the world and probably the greatest health care
system in the world," Martin said. "We don't want to knock it. We just want to
expand it."
He said if the VA were expanded to allow Medicare, more vets would use it.
"The administration has increased the budget, but not enough to take care of the
veterans," Martin said.
On Memorial Day, Cook said he plans to protest Buyer's move to reschedule
veterans' testimony.
"I'm going to protest with a sign saying, 'you're not going to be able to
rewrite what a veteran is,'" Cook said.
He said he would recruit "sweat equity" from laborers, bricklayers and the like
to get one or two homes started with donated work, because a greater Los Angeles
area home has to be completed before Fresno and Redding homes can start.
"My push is going to be in January with the new mayor of Los Angeles. He wants
to know what Los Angeles can do to help our veterans," Cook said, of Mayor
Antonio R. Villaraigosa, who took office July 1. "One thing about Antonio. He
will listen to us."
Cook said he would work to encourage labor in Los Angeles to donate work to get
a home started in the L.A. area, so that a home can also be started here.
He also plans a 30-mile walk to Bear Creek in February to raise campaign funds
and to "bring this to light. We can still fix it, but it's up to us."
"Every time I walk, I'll wear a sign on my back that says I am fighting for
veterans' rights and benefits," Cook said. He said the "flat line budget" would
also benefit from a million more veterans, who should re-register with the VA.
He said 40 percent of the VA budget goes to medical training.
"That's how we got the system in the first place," he said, noting that vets
should get to gubernatorial candidates and "make sure vets up and down the state
ask, 'what are you going to do for us today?'"
Come January, retired veterans will be looking for alternative care, Cook said,
noting that the VA programs are related primarily to non-retired care, including
injuries suffered in combat, on active duty and while training. He said in 1996,
Congress gave veterans the right to register with the VA no matter how much they
made. And when it got to be too much, they cut off two categories.
Cook said today, the disabled, many with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
returning from the Persian Gulf, are "deemed undeployable and put directly into
the VA system."
PTSD is more prevalent and widespread, among males and females, serving in all
capacities, due to the nature of the enemy's fighting tactics in the Gulf wars,
Cook said, noting that drivers and others witness deaths by the dozens and
hundreds, come under fire and suffer ambushes. And training dictates the initial
reaction.
"If you are ambushed, you drive over whatever's in front of you," Cook said,
including women and children. Sometimes the psychological scars mean "they can't
lead a normal life."
Cook said in a recent 18-month period, 85,000 people were deferred to the VA and
a major classification is PTSD among young Gulf War II veterans. In World War II
and the Vietnam War, the PTSD diagnosis and its treatment were not there.
"It was something we fought for and got," Cook said. He said suicide rates have
gone up, due to war experiences.
Suicide as a result of PTSD "is not counted as a battlefield statistic," he
said. "But is it a battlefield statistic, because they brought it home with
them."
Cook said District 10 local issues include the U.S. Forest Service coverage,
which has dropped from five to three regional stations. He said he would find
out what he could do as a state representative to augment and support the area,
especially communications.
He said he knows that casinos and water are local issues.
The Plymouth community does not want a casino, he said, noting that he would do
what he could to work to stop the casino there.
"If we can't stop it, then the next step is to see how we can get the casino to
be a good neighbor and do their parts," Cook said. That includes diminishing the
impact on Plymouth's "quality of life." He said he would take control of the
planning board and get involved and be a part of the process.
Cook retired from the Marines in 2002 after 31 years, including 24 in the reserves
and seven on active duty. He is a former physical education teacher and
wrestling coach for the Elk Grove School District. He is a 16-year employee and
works for the California Department of Corrections' parole division.