Fifth Anniversary of the Veterans Revolution

by Robert L. Rosebrock

LOS ANGELES – Sunday will be the Fifth Anniversary and 260^th consecutive Sunday Rally of the Veterans Revolution to “Save Our Veterans Land” and to “Bring Our Homeless Veterans HOME.”

On March 9, 2008, the peaceful and non-violent “Veterans Revolution” was established to bring an end to the rampant mismanagement, malfeasance and misappropriation of Veterans property at the Los Angeles National Veterans Home, aka the VA Greater West Los Angeles Healthcare System, and to stop the abuse and maltreatment of our fellow Veterans who are disabled, disadvantaged and homeless.

The Veterans Revolution commenced shortly after Veterans Park Conservancy (VPC) obtained an unprecedented arrangement with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to build a public park on a billion-dollar parcel of Veterans property, rent-free, “for the enjoyment of the entire community,” instead of the VA building shelter for homeless Veterans.

Moreover, VPC is not a Veterans organization. To the contrary, it is an affluent and influential non-profit homeowner corporation in neighboring Brentwood, and Susan C. “Sue” Young, who is not a Veteran, is their executive director and a past president of the Brentwood Homeowners Association.

Because the VA has opted for a public neighborhood park and other misuse of this sacred land instead of building Veteran housing in accordance with the Deed of 1888, there are 20,000 disabled and disadvantaged Veterans living homeless and hungry on the dangerous streets of Los Angeles.

And since Veterans land was getting smaller and the homeless Veteran population was growing bigger, it was necessary to step forward and defend this sacred property and to stand up for America’s Military Veterans who are disabled and disadvantaged.

This orderly Revolution is made up of fellow Veterans and Friends of Veterans (Citizen Soldiers) and is led by the Old Veterans Guard, a volunteer group of elderly Veterans in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, representative of World War II, Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the Cold War.

The Veterans Revolution was founded upon the steadfast conviction that the Deed of 1888 is the “Law of the Land” and not the wealth and power of non-Veteran special-interest groups and political cronyism. Following are the guiding principles of the Veterans Revolution:

• Our Motto is “In the Deed We Trust.”

• Our Mission is to “Save Our Veterans’ Land” and to “Bring Our Homeless Veterans HOME,” and to construct a new and modern Veterans “Grand Home and Gardens.”

• Our Duty is to Protect the Property Rights of the National Veterans Home and to Defend the Human Rights of America’s Disabled and Disadvantaged Veterans.

• Our Promise is that ““Never again will disabled and disadvantaged Veterans be denied proper shelter and care at the National Veterans Home.”

• Our Policy is “To comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.”

• Our Code is “It’s better to do right and have enemies than to do wrong and have friends.”

• Our Anthem is seven words: “God Bless America and the Veterans Revolution!”

The Old Veterans Guard of the Veterans Revolution

The Old Veterans Guard is a loyal alliance that does not surrender to political pressure or succumb to manipulative propositions or coercion that would be counterproductive to our noble cause.

We believe that our Military Oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, is an open-end pledge and that the domestic enemy can be as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than the foreign enemy, and we must therefore guard against unwarranted influence, whether solicited or unsolicited, by the special-interest complex

We answer to an anonymous Board of Directors and there are more than 20,000 of them, all disabled, destitute and disadvantaged Veterans who live homeless and hungry in back-alley squalor or on Skid Row.

That’s who we serve, that’s who we are sanctioned by, and that’s where we get our authority.

Everything we do is voluntary, self-supported and self-maintained toward advancing our humanitarian-principled Mission of saving the Los Angeles National Veterans Home for our fellow Veterans who are disabled, disadvantaged and homeless.

In sum, we answer to the Truth and say what we mean, and mean what we say.

For five years of consecutive Sunday afternoons, dedicated members of the Old Veterans Guard have gathered outside the chained and padlocked front gates to the largest VA in the nation at one of the busiest intersections in Los Angeles.

There, we openly protest the VA’s endemic malfeasance and misappropriation of Veterans property that takes land specifically deeded for disabled and disadvantaged Veterans and shamefully misappropriates it.

We staunchly protest the VA’s maltreatment of 20,000 Veterans (8,000 are chronically homeless) who have been exiled and dispossessed from their legal Home and are forced to live homeless, hungry and destitute.

By the VA’s own admission, nearly half or 47% of all homeless Veterans today are from the Vietnam War era.

The Old Veterans Guard will not abandon our duty to protect, preserve and defend this sacred Veterans Home on their behalf, and we stand ready to defend our Brothers and Sisters who are disabled, disadvantaged and defenseless.

While the years may have weakened our bodies, they have also strengthened our spirit and resolve. We will not retreat nor will we surrender. Nor will we desert our fellow Veterans who need help.

It’s very clear that the lives of our disabled and disadvantaged homeless Veterans and their sacred property are in extreme danger and we seek justice against those who have perpetrated this terrible injustice.

We believe the Veterans “Declaration of Ownership” and “Notice to Vacate” appropriately establish Veterans property rights and legitimately authorizes the eviction of those who unlawfully occupy our hallowed ground.

We believe the “Declaration of Enforcement” is a responsible guideline to permanently maintain the Veterans Home in accordance with the Deed of 1888, as it mandates uncompromising oversight to ensure that Veterans exclusive land will never again be misused or misappropriated, and our fellow Veterans will never again be abused or mistreated.

We believe the Veterans “Grand Plan” is the best solution to end LA’s shameful reign as the homeless Veteran capital of the nation. The Grand Plan is dedicated with great gratitude to the “Grand Army of the Republic,” which was America’s first Military Veterans Organization after the Civil War and was instrumental in the influence and creation of the National Soldiers’ Homes of the mid and late 19th century, including the Los Angeles Home.

We believe the Grand Plan honors the Deed of 1888 by replacing the archaic and asylum-looking buildings with the construction of a new “Grand Home and Gardens,” featuring modern Resident Halls, beautifully landscaped gardens and other rehabilitative accommodations for our disabled Veterans to peacefully heal from their war injuries, and to provide interim housing for disadvantaged and homeless Veterans.

Because we’ve assumed this responsible duty that is contrary to the illegitimate policies and actions of VA bureaucrats and manipulative entities, we have been harassed, intimidated, and discriminated against, lied to and lied about, stalked and spied upon, threatened and falsely arrested by an out-of-control federal bureaucracy with the support of complicit politicians who answer to powerful special-interest groups that do not have the best interests of Veterans in mind.

Let the record reflect that the Old Veterans Guard has always been a non-violent protest group and we will continue with our civilized Veterans Revolution modeled after Mahatmas Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King’s peaceful and civil revolutions for change.

We choose civility over aggression and pursue Justice on behalf of our disabled homeless Veterans by seeking an immediate and uncompromised settlement for our disabled and homeless Veterans.

We believe that it is the President / Commander-in-Chief’s duty to execute a Presidential Executive Order to evict all non-Veteran and unlawful occupants on Veterans property and to allocate full mandatory funding to construct and permanently maintain a new and modern National Home for disabled and disadvantaged Veterans.

We believe that taking care of our disabled and disadvantaged Veterans is neither a Republican nor a Democratic issue, but an American responsibility.

We believe that all public officials who are entrusted as fiduciary stewards to oversee and protect this sacred land must be held accountable without impunity.

We call upon the President of the United States and members of Congress to approve and implement the National Veterans Home Treaty to transform the Los Angeles VA into a new and modern Veterans Home for the sole benefit of disabled and homeless Veterans.

National Veterans Home Treaty

• The President of the United States and members of Congress agree to unconditionally accept the moral and legal responsibility of enforcing the Congressional Act of 1887 and legal Deed of 1888, and to permanently maintain the Los Angeles National Home for disabled, disadvantaged and homeless Veterans.

• The President of the United States and members of Congress shall declare Los Angeles a State-of-Emergency for homeless Veterans and re-appropriate the $20 million designated for remodeling Building 209 and re-designate the funds for the immediate establishment of a Homeless Veteran Humanitarian Relief Project.

https://www.veteranstoday.com/downloads/humanitarian.relief.project.pdf

• The President of the United States and members of Congress shall direct the Department of Veterans Affairs to immediately cease construction on Building 209 and immediately construct provisional housing and provide all measures of humanitarian relief and reinforcement for tens-of-thousands of disabled and disadvantaged homeless Veterans in Los Angeles.

• The President of the United States and members of Congress shall direct the Department of Veterans Affairs to take full control of the State Cal-Vet Home on federal property that has over 300 vacant rooms and make them immediately available for disabled and disadvantaged homeless Veterans.

• The President of the United States and members of Congress agree to immediately evict all occupants in violation of the Congressional Act of 1887 and the legal Deed of 1888, including those in violation of government’s Administrative Procedure Act, and to follow through with uncompromised investigations and prosecutions against all who engaged in the misappropriation of this sacred land that led to the subsequent abuse of tens-of-thousands of disabled and disadvantaged homeless Veterans in Los Angeles.

• The President of the United States and members of Congress agree to fully rescind any authority whatsoever granted to the Department of Interior on these sacred grounds, including the oil well and historic buildings.

• The President of the United States and members of Congress agree to mandate a minimum of $2.5 billion to restore these sacred grounds that have become a national disgrace and transform this into a place of honor, dignity and respect for our war injured and needy Veterans and begin the immediate construction of a new and modern National Home that shall be permanently maintained for America’s disabled and disadvantaged homeless Veterans.

• The President of the United States and members of Congress agree to accept and implement the Veterans “Declaration of Enforcement” as the guiding Document to permanently maintain these sacred grounds as a National Home for disabled and disadvantaged homeless Veterans.

Submitted on behalf of all disabled, disadvantaged and homeless Veterans

• Old Veterans Guard – November 11, 2012
• National Veterans Coalition – November 11, 2012

God Bless America and the Veterans Revolution!

Robert Rosebrock

U.S. Army, 1965-67, Schofield Barracks, Hqs., U.S Army, Hawaii. Director, The Veterans Revolution, Captain, the Old Veterans Guard, and Director, We the Veterans.