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Veterans Identification Card
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides eligible Veterans a Veterans Identification Card (VIC) for use at VA Medical Facilities. The VIC Card protects the privacy of Veterans' sensitive information, as it no longer displays the Social Security Number or Date of Birth on the front of the card. The VIC Card will only display the Veteran's name, picture, and special eligibility indicators - Service Connected, Purple Heart and Former POW, if applicable, on the front of the card. Only Veterans who are eligible for VA medical benefits will receive the card.
How To Receive A VIC
Once the Veteran has their picture taken for the VIC Card at the VA Medical Facility, the card will be mailed to the Veteran within 7-10 days after the Veteran's eligibility has been verified. To ensure the VIC Card is received at the appropriate address, it is important that the Veteran's address is verified and the correct address is entered in the VistA computer system. If the U.S. Postal Service cannot deliver the card, it will be returned to the facility where the Veteran requested the card.
Purpose Of VIC
The card is only for the purpose of identification and check-in for VA appointments. The VIC Card cannot be used as a credit card or an insurance card, and it does not authorize or pay for care at non-VA facilities. Veterans should safeguard their VIC Card similar to other identification cards that contain personal information.
What To Do If The Card Is Lost Or Stolen
Veterans should contact the VA Medical Facility where they took their picture to request a new card be re-issued. Since the photo is retained, there is no need for the Veteran to go to the VA to retake a picture for the card. Identifying information such as name and other information will be asked to assure proper identification of the caller.
Replacement Of The Old VIC
The new VIC Cared was introduced in 2004 to reduce Veteran vulnerability to identity theft and to demonstrate the VA's commitment to securing the confidential personal information of enrolled Veterans. Veterans with the old and outdated version of the VIC Card (which displays the Social Security Number and the Date of Birth), must replace the card with the new card. Veterans with the old card should report to their local VA Medical Facility to have a new card issued.
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"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." --Hermann Goering
"I also believe our country made a promise to veterans and their families.
Veterans have kept their end of the bargain, and now, the VA is looking to pull out the rug." ?Ellen Tauscher
"Political speeches are like steer horns. A point here, a point there, and a lot of bull in between." ?Alfred E. Neuman
"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore." ?Yogi Berra
"Marine Corps integrity is doing that thing which is right, when no one is looking"
?Col. Colin Lampard, USMC
The US Air Force Chief-of-Staff would never be called -- Airman
The Chief-of-Naval Operations would never be called -- Sailor
The Commanding General of The US Army would never be called -- Soldier
BUT the Commandant of the Marine Corps would be proud to be called a -- United States Marine
"I have not yet begun to fight!"
Captain John Paul Jones said this during the famous battle between Bonhomme Richard and Serapis on 23 September 1779. It seems that some of Jones's men cried for surrender, but not John Paul Jones! Captain Richard Pearson of Serapis asked Jones if he had surrendered. Jones uttered the immortal words: "I have not yet begun to fight!" So, at least, Lt. Richard Dale later recalled.
"Don't give up the ship!"
Tradition has it that Captain James Lawrence said these heroic words after being mortally wounded in the engagement between his ship, the U.S. frigate Chesapeake, and HMS Shannon on 1 June 1813. As the wounded Lawrence was carried below, he ordered "Tell the men to fire faster! Don't give up the ship!"
Although Chesapeake was forced to surrender, Captain Lawrence's words lived on as a rallying cry during the war. Oliver Hazard Perry honored his dead friend Lawrence when he had the motto sewn onto the private battle flag flown during the Battle of Lake Erie, 10 September 1813.
"I wish to have no Connection with any Ship that does not Sail fast for I intend to go in harm's way."
Captain John Paul Jones, 16 November 1778, in a letter to le Ray de Chaumont.
"Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!"
Admiral David Glasgow Farragut (1801-1870). Aboard Hartford, Farragut entered Mobile Bay, Alabama, 5 August 1864, in two columns, with armored monitors leading and a fleet of wooden ships following. When the lead monitor Tecumseh was demolished by a mine, the wooden ship Brooklyn stopped, and the line drifted in confusion toward Fort Morgan. As disaster seemed imminent, Farragut gave the orders embodied by these famous words. He swung his own ship clear and headed across the mines, which failed to explode. The fleet followed and anchored above the forts, which, now isolated, surrendered one by one. The torpedoes to which Farragut and his contemporaries referred would today be described as tethered mines.
"The battle of Iwo Island [Jima] has been won. The United States Marines, by their individual and collective courage, have conquered a base which is as necessary to us in our continuing forward movement toward final victory as it was vital to the enemy in staving off ultimate defeat.... Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue."
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, 17 March 1945.
"Take her down!"
Commander Howard Walter Gilmore, desperately wounded and unable to climb back into his submarine, USS Growler (SS-215), in the face of an approaching Japanese gunboat 7 February 1943.
"Sighted Sub, Sank Same."
Message sent by an enlisted pilot, AMM 1/c Donald Francis Mason, on 28 January 1942. Mason believed that he had sunk a German U-boat off Argentia, Newfoundland.
"We have women in the military, but they don't put us in the front lines. They don't know if we can fight, if we can kill. I think we can. All the general has to do is walk over to the women and say, 'You see the enemy over there? They say you look fat in those uniforms.'"
-- Elayne Boosler
"Military justice is to justice what military music is to music."
-- Groucho Marx
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