Veterans are reporting that they are receiving calls from people claiming to be from the VA Pharmacy.  The callers are telling veterans that the billing procedure for prescriptions has changed, and that the veteran needs to provide his/her credit card number for prescription payment before Pharmacy will fill their medication requests.

Please alert your veterans that this is a scam!  All billing for any VA treatment and/or prescriptions is done through the MCCR Section of the VA.  If the veteran wishes to pay his/her account by credit card, the veteran must provide the credit card number to our Agent Cashier.  Our Agent Cashier is the only VA employee authorized to accept credit card payments.  Thank you.

 

The 2d Ranger Infantry Company (Airborne)                                                                                                                                      in the Korean War, 1950 – 1951                                                                                                                                                            by Master Sergeant (Ret) Edward L. Posey                                                                                                                            Independent, scholarly, and a bit old fashioned

The 2d Ranger Infantry Company (Airborne) was the first and only all-black Ranger unit in the history of the United States Army. Its ten-month lifespan included selection, training, and seven months of combat deployment in Korea, after which the unit was deactivated. Master Sergeant (Ret) Edward Posey’s is the first complete history of this elite, all-volunteer unit, whose members were drawn from the 3rd Battalion of the 505thAirborne Infantry Regiment and the 80^th AirborneAnti-Aircraft Battalion.

After experiencing the normal travails of boot camp at Fort Benning, which segregation and racism only made worse, the all-black Rangers set out to join the KoreanWar in late 1950. On January 7, 1951, the Rangers found themselves defending a critical railroad running through Tanyang Pass, which Communist guerillas tried to infiltrate. The nighttime action triggered the Rangers’ inaugural combat, which ended with the recommendation for a Bronze Star for gallantry for a Ranger sergeant.

Additional combats with the North Korean and Communist Chinese forces erupted near Majori-ri and Chechon. But the event that propelled the 2d Rangers into the record books was their airborne assault near Munsan-Ni on March 23, 1951—the first in Ranger history. Once on the ground, Posey and his comrades attacked and captured Hill 151. The fighting—often conducted at close quarters and occasionally with the bayonet—demonstrated the courage of these tough African American soldiers. Heavy fighting marked their months at the front, including a magnificent attack and defense of Hill 581 that May.

Throughout their deployment in Korea, the 2d Rangers served with honor and achieved a magnificent combat record. Posey’s long overdue history is based upon his own firsthand experiences, official records, interviews with survivors, and other archival material. Stitched together, this information offers a rich and worthy addition to the growing literature on the Korean War by explaining the obstacles these patriotic men faced, their sacrifices, and their courageous actions on the far side of the world. Nearly sixty years have passed since the KoreanWar slipped into the realm of history. Now, the world will finally learn the true story of the United StatesArmy’s first, last, and only all-black Ranger unit.

Shifty Powers was a  soft spoken man. He didn’t seem to be a man of many words. He didn’t need to be. Shifty Powers is probably known to most, if not all, of the people who read this blog for his heroic exploits as a member of Easy Company. 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division in World War II.  He was the soldier that every NCO longed to have in his squad and that every commander prayed for when he got a replacement. He was legend and at the same time as humble as a church mouse. He didn’t brag about jumping into Normandy on D-Day amidst a hail of murderous flak and gunfire. He didn’t have to. He didn’t often mention jumping into Holland during Operation Market Garden, although he was well within his rights to do so. He was just a regular guy with a past frought with heroism and exploits that would make the toughest men of today’s world cower. He was SSG Darrell “Shifty” Powers and he died on June 17, 2009. Cancer finally did what several thousand Nazis failed to accomplish.

Shifty didn’t get the fanfare that Michael Jackson got when he was interred because Shifty wasn’t a rock star. His passing didn’t get the attention that Farrah Fawcet’s got because he wasn’t a buxom blonde with aggressive nipple syndrome. He didn’t get video tribute after video tribute from broadcast journalists because he wore boots instead of licking them. Today we set that right. Today we, the military bloggers and military supporters of the internet, honor Shifty’s memory as we honored his life while he lived. He was a better man than most of his day… I’m certain that he’s still a better man dead today than most men living. Thank you for being that man that you were, SSG Powers. Thank you for risking all of your tomorrows so we could have our today. And thank you most of all for inspiring a generation of quiet, understated civilians to become a small, but formidable force of quiet, professional paratroopers that continue your work of keeping the world free.  Your gift to us is not your legend, but your legacy