welcome back the headlines for you now here in r.t. nato looms over syria's alliance member turkey claims the downing of its military jet by the mask this was an attack on the entire block syria says it acted in self-defense by shooting down a plane which violated its airspace on friday. pushes for middle east peace for when the president putin's talks in israel focusing on iran's nuclear ambitions and the ongoing conflict in syria russian leader now heads to palestine to promote dialogue between the middle class now and. here is in crisis

claims its fifth victim is cyprus asked for a multi billion euro bailout to rescue its evil banking sector and finance its debts follows in the footsteps of spain which saw twenty eight of its banks downgraded of the majority asked for financial aid. coming up we talked to the head of the largest military veteran organization the united states and other problems facing former soldiers. good lumber taurine to mccurry was able to build a new system. which fortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tim's mission to teach music creation why it should care about humans and world this is why you should care only.

again then the welcome to. the show. and today my guest on the show richard norton a veteran say. last. thousands of soldiers america sent overseas are still missing but hope. and families are. still waiting for their beloved to return home in america the veterans of foreign wars organization deal with problems all the servicemen including assistance with searches of the missing how was it going on and we sharing experience let's ask the commander in chief how the americans veterans of foreign wars are richard. both russia and the u.s.

to caught in a number of conflicts across the world world war two the vietnam war and various military operations in all parts of the globe cost both countries thousands of missing soldiers after the iron curtain fell he joins russia u.s. commission on the prisoners of war and missing in action was created its primary objective is to clarify the fate of both russian and american servicemen missing military conflicts in the past and the press. this is their welcome to the show thank you and thanks very much for being with us thank you al so great to be here thank you very much great to how you all first of all i would like to ask you about the veterans of foreign wars association your association playing in what you call the fool accounting mission it's aimed at recovering the traces of more than eighty thousand american servicemen those still missing is that true that is true well i've got to before i answer your question i

would like to thank the russian government very much for appointing a co-chair recently to the u.s. russian commission for p.o.w.'s. we work together jointly and we appreciate their commitment by by appointing this co-chair to answer your question yes we are advocates for the recovery and it done if occasion of p.o.w. m.i.a.'s we actually travel to many countries russia being one of them and we are part of a joint as i said the joint commission we have a joint commission with russia on that and we visit recovery sites recently i was in cambodia i went to a recovery site where the four young american soldiers went down in during vietnam and they were working to recover those remains we also visit china to try to get assistance from the chinese government as well so we are very very active in this issue we take it very very seriously and of course the purpose is to get closure to

many families who have lost loved ones of world war two to the present so so you do really would collect on the ground really is the country do we do every country they have to visit with well we we visit taiwan we visit china we visit russia and primarily those countries and of course we also visit southeast asia where the actual many of the vietnam. remains still there and but of course we're also interested in world war two and korea as well we'd like to get into north korea possibly your government might be able to help us do that then i outgrew that the russian the russian official rest of the fish was they they volunteered to be a sort of a middleman to try to talk the koreans correcting you into the country absolutely never there remains of the absolutely how successful of the russian well we're not there yet but i've heard rumors that things are getting better we're hoping in the

near future that we may be able to we were in there in the ninety's for a short period of time and we then we were asked to leave. well we know that it's good to come back to north korea this would be a breakthrough i mean i know it's a little of this will be what we call a grassroots like getting the country to get that absolutely we still have a thousand. missing in action that have not been accounted for and we're very concerned about finding out. whether what happened when we talk a thousand tens of thousands of american soldiers still missing from world war two this definitely isn't europe it should be most mostly the pacific because in europe i think i think i think most of the most of the people killed and you have been recovering and he's a trial i don't know the statistics exact statistics but i would i would say that you're probably correct on that we have recently just found some world war two remains in the pacific theater there's approx seventy odd thousand still unaccounted for and i would like to add to that it was the vietnam veterans who

started the movement for the recovery of p.o.w.'s my way which of course we went back and also it advocated for recovery of the world war two as well so it was my generation and the war that i was involved in that actually was responsible for starting this movement you started this interview by mentioning by thanking the russians. my point for appointing this lady you could sit in that pretty home. and i didn't mention her name because i think i know if i would probably why doesn't. you folks a bit. except communicating with them with koreans what else do russians are russians ready to do to help you in and if you feel your mission well i know that the russians have a great deal of concerns in recovering some of their m.i.a.'s in afghanistan and obviously they are hoping that we can help them doing that on the other hand it's

a reciprocal thing basically this commission one hand helps the other. i understand i just found out today myself i met with the federation and they mentioned to me that we actually saw some russians went to our laboratory in hawaii and we assisted them and gave them some d.n.a. kits and show them some of the ways that we had done a five remains and so forth so my answer would be that it's a reciprocal thing there's ways that they can help us with the north korea issue in this way that we can help them maybe in afghanistan and other places as well i would be i would be frank with you i know that the joint russia u.s. commission on p.o.w. m.i.a.'s was was founded back in one nine hundred ninety two mistaken but but today is the first time that i hear that you're really in the news so why is that why is it has it they kept such low profile i mean you knew news ones i'm not really sure

i don't know whether it which government possibly didn't have as much commitment to that issue but we're certainly not worried about that now because. certainly russia has come through and committed themselves by appointing a co-chair and in our government is going to be funding the they are part they are part of the commission so i think we're on the right road now. i can't really say too much about what happened at the pats but ok you mentioned the russians that may like to to find them missing soldiers soldiers missing in afghanistan do you think the americans will be ready to really assists russian groups and russian delegation on entering again this time on their land and digging in for looking for as we have well it's of course being in a veterans organization i'm not a politician and i was a professional marine professional soldier. professional soldiers are not

politicians and so i can't speak for my government but i would say that i would like to think yes. because there's much to be gained by working together and so i'm hopeful that both governments will take this commitment seriously yes what is the the w. doing good sit main room. in the supporting the the families of the m.i.a.'s. there is m.i.a. groups in our country and to basically we support them by keeping them abreast of what the efforts that we. are doing at the current time we also. advocate for them with the defense p.o.w. m.i.a. office d.p.m. all and by doing so i think that gives them hope that things will be done i think we give them hope but i am glad i said that i think we do give them hope they know

that we're advocating for them we won't let this issue die i think that if there were it was an advocacy time does make people forget and we don't want to forget we want to make sure that everyone is accounted for their you said the soldiers are not public goods you have to you you have to get engaged in politics to how the yes we do about what i want i guess what i'm saying is we don't take sides and we don't but we do have to lobby. you know. probably certainly you have two years to be political yourselves i mean to in to a certain degree do you do raising money for those people who are where it all comes from the funds that that government well. the. i would say the am i missing the missing in action groups in america probably get their own donations and so forth that well as we do. we get our own fund from ray a funding from fundraisers membership.

dues. corporate donations and so forth all of that goes with our form of finance and so forth and most of those m.i.a. groups have the same type of benefactors and all of the government what extent does the government in gauged in helping you in giving money to the people to the families that need help the government funds the d.p.m. all office yes is that which is part of the department of defense and all of the activities of the office in hawaii feel cruiser go while fun recovery missions and so forth that's all funded by the government and course we lobby to make sure that they continue to fund that and that's our role i should say and do you do you have a lot of people a lot of families that approach you with with specific questions specific requests . i don't know just how many families do contact us i'm sure there's many to do

what is going on or what is being done where are we now in this endeavor i'm sure that our washington office gets calls and that i don't know how many i haven't got a count on that but yes and if they did we would certainly try to find the information for the may answer. so richard there neuer commander in chief of the american veterans of foreign wars organization spotlight will be back shortly will take a break right now and then please join us again here on russia today spotlight will continue to stay with.

there hasn't been anything good on t.v. . it is to get the maximum political impact. before source material is what helps keep journalism honest we want. we want to present. something else. to the. point is the magic of transforming airplanes into jet trains dirty diesels into green rail dreams double down on profits by building up instead of outs and

insurance will you please east for the some technology update here on r.g.p. you don't listen church. welcome back to spotlight i'm al green knob and just a reminder that my guest on the show today is richard dinora commander in chief of the american veterans of foreign wars organization. richard we were talking about veterans being nonpolitical and this is true i mean i mean i agree and i am a veteran myself but watching the current news coming from the united states the process the occupy the wall street movement you know long before we see a lot of war veterans engaged taking part in these protests well it doesn't

make them automatically political but it shows us that they are politically active and what i want to ask is is are the veterans really important for the u.s. government do you think that the government will certainly take into account what the veterans have to say is a demonstration becoming more serious more more. important when the official see out of the vets there i'm going to treat well to answer your question i would say yes and i would say we are currently involved in a war in afghanistan and we were just recently getting out of iraq and we have a great large percentage of veterans that are homeless and we have a large percentage of veterans that are unemployed and so it's an economical thing

a centrally and their protest on shore the ones that you're referring to is an economic protest they want work they want homes they want to get off the street they want to go on with their lives and i would say they want to be productive citizens. nearly half well at least more than a third of the americans the poor afghan war and all. so in the war in iraq believe that these wars weren't worth the money spent on the war so do you think that the opinion of those veterans are pretty young people would somehow influence the whole withdrawal strategy. i don't i can't speak for our government as far as their they come up with with this strategy. but of course every person whether they serve in the military and i was entitled to their opinion and is entitled to their political philosophy all i can say is we don't endorse candidates we don't support the

candidates we stay away from that and their view on the war whether it was worthwhile or whether it wasn't or whether it was too costly and not is is theirs and they they are entitled to have it. they knew veterans the young veterans people coming back from the afghan war in iraq war are on the facing the same problems that your generation with facing i mean guys that were thirty from vietnam all of these new wars are have something in particular i think that they're facing the same problems that the vietnam veteran faced with exception. more people are separating the war from the warrior and they're appreciating the service that these young people have given their country yeah this was different in the oh absolutely no question about it it was a nice change. i think i think so when i went when i was saying when i say yes propaganda i think the news media distorted

a lot of the war and and people seem to. group the war and the warrior together and they blamed the warrior when he was doing what his country asked him to do this is this is understandable because what we remember about the vietnam war is the deer hunter the epic. movies like that but hollywood contributed to the total to now you know you want to put to an end you think you know about the war right why why do we see films movies. this accountable to do it better than you were going to war is different well i think that people understand. maybe there's been better communication better pull bliss city but i think they seem to understand that there is a war on terrorism. there were two buildings in new york that went down and nearly three thousand people along with the pentagon died on that particular day and i

think they see the necessity of having some kind of a common front against terrorism. but they don't obviously the cost is something to consider out which you elaborated to earlier but in vietnam i guess they did not see the necessity of it i can't speak for the people who are again against it i fought in vietnam i'm a proud of you know veteran i'm not going to you know i'm not going to say that i'm ashamed of anything that i did i answered my country's call and most vietnam veterans if not all feel that way we're proud of what what we did i think society today feels differently and now i get many people saying it's many years later but thank you for your service society has changed their outlook somewhat. many veterans suffer through this who called the swiss does it would those the v.f.w. the help them overcome overcome this this kind of the disease and help them

adapt to to to to normal we do we direct them to the. the help that they need we have the v.f.w. has service officers or our veterans advocates just about every federal get building in every major city in the country and those veterans who have problems need medical care need assistance with disability compensation we are prepared to help them absolutely returning from war for many soldiers means having to cope with post-traumatic stress of life even in the media has more impact. the post traumatic stress disorder. p.t.s.d. was born after good war in viet nam u.s. veterans found it difficult to read just their civilian life after they've gone through in russia the show started to be talked about afterwards military campaigns in the ghana stand and later. rim on who still remembers how he was sent to change

in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine good when i was boy the city that was our first battles where of course we were scheduled to size militants were shelling us and it's also terrible to see your friends some dead others injured and crying for help now a veteran of many missions remonde says he's first but was a nightmare that will stay with him for the rest of his life likewise many veterans of the u.s. led war in iraq and afghanistan have faced significant physical emotional and in all these ruptures after they'd come back home or when their backs or or nightmares there really isn't any control over try to but there really isn't. so here they're still shaking here your heart racing your mind is going you know i mean miles minute. you know complete loss of control

scientists have recently discovered it proved to you that could lead to the development of a drug that helps you raise traumatic memories but working on these kind of you might take these for even decades meanwhile the trends often have to cool a little not all of them are ready to share the bitter memories who ask for help. developing drugs that would a raise bits of memories this of course something on the future but if we talk about today if we talk about specific ways of helping those guys yes settled in the in the peaceful world what's what do you think personally is the best way the best rehab program group therapy group there it seems. after i left the marine corps i spent twenty two years in the marine corps i spent twenty years in veterans advocacy and many of the veterans who came into me with p.t.s.d. or psychological problems the v.a.

has these group therapy they call them vet centers their group therapy centers and they just sit around and talk and they have a clinical psychologist or a clinical social worker that kind of leads the group and most of them that i've ever talked to that have participated in that i found that very rewarding so so so these sort of help each other and this psychology sort of like a like a talk show host like you know get out of the community like you well is that true yeah yeah we're a little good but isn't well it's strange that it's easier for them to be in a group of people who are. whole or like human and it's not better for them to be in a group of just ordinary people have to be know they need to be in a group with those that have a similar circumstance a similar and the condition of the birth to do exactly that how do you tell that to normal life well i think it possibly i quite i can't speak for. one of them but i would say that they probably find that hey this guy's got the same problem i have

and he's making it he's he's dealing with it i can do that too and i think it's something on that on that vein if you are i'm a veteran myself and you won and i do remember my so feeling any post-traumatic stress disorder did you well i was very fortunate first of all i didn't serve in the infantry i served in combat support i spent thirteen months in vietnam i was not out in the bush as as they say therefore i did not kill anyone and i didn't see anybody get killed and i was very fortunate i was very very very fortunate so you think it depends on and actually when you use the exact way do you know because i was in the air force i mean right i also didn't see anybody die and i would have been saying. you know if some people say well a marine you must have been and you are bad you must've seen people die and some do some don't and it depends on what your role is and your job mine was to make sure that the infantry got the ammunition and that they needed in order to fight their

war and i was very fortunate that i didn't have to have some of the experiences that some of those who is painful isn't it for people like you when you return back . because you get used to it so quickly i mean you get these couple of views you get used to that this is you don't know and when you come back to normal life there is certainly in a just it doesn't seem normal that he will yeah i spent twenty two years in the marine corps and i was thirty nine when i retired and there was certainly an adjustment and the adjustment is difficult because military life is best what it is it's a way of life and there is an adjustment but for the not anywhere near the type of adjustment someone that was in the infantry was unnaturally was in hard combat you know thank you thank you very much sir nice to be with us and just a reminder that my guest on the show today was richard for doing laundry in chief of the american veterans are for. and wars against each other and that's it for now for wall street spotlights will be back with until then stay on r.t.

and take care thank you.