Troubling new data show there are an average of 950 suicide attempts each month by veterans who are receiving some type of treatment from the Veterans Affairs Department.

Seven percent of the attempts are successful, and 11 percent of those who don’t succeed on the first attempt try again within nine months.

The numbers, which come at a time when VA is strengthening its suicide prevention programs, show about 18 veteran suicides a day, about five by veterans who are receiving VA care.

Access to care appears to be a key factor, officials said, noting that once a veteran is inside the VA care program, screening programs are in place to identify those with problems, and special efforts are made to track those considered at high risk, such as monitoring whether they are keeping appointments.

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By Kimberly Hefling – The Associated Press–

WASHINGTON — Looking decades ahead, the Institute of Medicine is urging the Veterans Affairs Department to begin planning now for the long-term health care needs of the estimated 1.9 million veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Specifically, the institute says in a report released Wednesday, not enough is known about what works best in the long term to treat veterans with traumatic brain injuries, often caused by roadside bombs.

While a multitude of public and private programs is available to help the men and women who have served in the recent conflicts, there is little coordination and sparse information about which ones are effective, the report said.

A 16-member panel coordinated by the Institute of Medicine instigated the review of the readjustment needs of troops, veterans and their families at the request of Congress. The institute is part of the National Academies, an independent organization chartered by Congress to advise the government on scientific matters.

Dr. Victoria Cassano, the VA’s liaison to the institute, said many of the report’s recommendations are “right on.” Cassano said it covers important issues the VA is either already working on or will consider.

The report urged Congress to direct the VA to produce more detailed annual projections of the needs of veterans and their families, so more thorough planning can be done to prepare for an uptick in disability claims and health needs in the decades ahead as the veterans age.

Based on a review of disability claims from past wars, the report says the number of disability claims from recent veterans should peak around 2040.

“It’s going to get worse before it gets any better,” said Ryan Edwards, an economics professor from the City University of New York, who served on the panel. “We’re going to see a larger burden … and it will continue to expand.”

The report praised the VA’s work to establish rehabilitation services for those with traumatic brain injury, which is often called the signature wound of the Iraq war. But it said the VA should sponsor research into protocols for long-term care for those with traumatic brain injury because little research is available.

“It’s an evolving area, and it’s going to need to evolve more to keep up with the patient population,” said Dr. George Rutherford, the panel chairman, who is a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.

Overall, the report said, the VA and Defense Department should better coordinate services available to veterans. It held up as a successful model Military OneSource, a one-stop online and telephone information source for military personnel and their families.

The study said the Defense Department needs to better address troops’ reluctance to report mental health problems and should review how it handles confidentiality when a service member seeks help. It also encouraged the Defense Department and VA to hire more mental health professionals.

It could be helpful for service members returning home from war if there’s an interim place they can go following time in combat to rest and prepare for the adjustment back to the U.S., the report said.

Navy Capt. Edward Simmer said the Defense Department is already looking for ways to address some of the problems discussed in the report. “The things we need to work on, we’ll definitely get started with,” Simmer said.

Simmer is the senior executive for psychological health at the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury in Rosslyn, Va.

Next month, the panel starts a second, two-year examination of veterans’ health issues.

Hope you’re having a great afternoon. I wanted to get in touch today to remind you of the benefits of The Post-9/11 GI Bill, and invite you to help spread the word to your readers.

As a military veteran, it’s imperative that you play a proactive role to ensure the educational benefits you, your friends or family have earned are in fact received. The Post-9/11 GI Bill offers terrific benefits, but they are not automatic. The actions taken today will simplify the process and help the VA expedite benefit payments.
I’m contacting you today on behalf of The United States Department of Veterans Affairs to stress the importance of completing all of the necessary steps to ensure the benefits deserved will be paid in a timely fashion! Here’s what needs to be done:

Check your eligibility online at www.gibill.va.gov Submit your application VA Form 22-1990 or 22-1990E.
After you have enrolled in school, check with your School Certifying Official (SCO) to confirm that your VA enrollment certification has been sent to the VA on your behalf. This form certifies your actual enrollment period and triggers your payment. *Here’s a little hint:
the school’s designated SCO will be found in the Financial Aid Department, Admissions and Records Department, or Registrar’s
Office.)
And last but not least, enjoy the education benefits you earned!

If you or a loved one is planning to use the Post-9/11 GI Bill to attend school anytime this year, action must be taken today. Please let me know if you would be interested in working together to ensure your readers are securing the benefits they are eligible for. For more information please visit: http://www.gibill.va.gov or text GIBill to 99702. And thank you for your service to our country.

All the very best,
Diana

The latest flurry of attention toward gays in the military shows that the question of who gets to be a soldier, and why, is sometimes unavoidably moral. So let’s ask that question about another group of soldiers who haven’t attracted as much talk but should: mothers, many of them single, in combat boots — and combat zones.

By Mary Eberstadt–Washington Post–

The nation’s largest organization of combat veterans is demanding changes in the $15 billion jobs bill that passed the Senate on Wednesday because veterans were left out of a package of tax credits and highway projects aimed at increasing employment.

“Despite having more than 1.1 million unemployed veterans, the 60-page package failed to mention ‘veteran’ or ‘veterans’ even once,” said Justin Brown, a legislative associate with the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Brown was referring to HR 2847, the Hiring Incentive to Restore Employment Act, or HIRE Act, that passed the Senate on Wednesday by a 70-28 vote and is pending before the House.

Speaking before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s economic opportunity panel, which is considering legislation that would expand vocational training for veterans, Brown said the VFW “finds it unconscionable that American’s veterans, who have left their families, risked their lives and limbs and left civilian career pursuits behind to answer the nation’s call, do not have the attention of Congress for this important matter.”

The unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans is almost 15.8 percent, higher than the average 10.6 percent overall unemployment rate, as well as the 11.8 percent rate for foreign-born U.S. citizens — a sore point among veterans groups such as the VFW.

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Washington, DC – Congressman Glenn Nye (VA-02) is asking the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to ease the burden on local veterans.

Last week, the VA announced that it will ask veterans who received $3,000 emergency payments under the Post 9/11 GI Bill to begin repaying the money – at a rate of up to $750 per month. The emergency payments were issued last year to veterans whose tuition benefits from the Post 9/11 GI Bill were delayed due to processing backlogs at the VA.

On Monday, Nye sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, asking the VA to reduce the repayment rate from $750 per month to a rate of no more than 20% of each veteran’s monthly living stipend. For veterans receiving the lowest living stipend, this would mean a repayment amount of $132 per month.

“Asking our veterans to repay $750 a month is too much, too fast, especially when many veterans are struggling to get back on their feet after their benefit payments were delayed last fall,” said Congressman Glenn Nye. “The idea of this program is to help our veterans get ahead, not to bury them in debt and paperwork. The VA should implement a realistic repayment plan that eases the burden on our veterans so they can focus on getting a college education.”

When the Post 9/11 GI Bill program went into effect last fall, many veterans found that their tuition and living benefits were delayed for weeks or months due to extended processing backlogs. After students were forced to take out personal loans or run up credit card debt in order to pay bills while waiting for their benefit checks, the VA issued one-time, emergency payments of $3,000 to help veterans make ends meet.

These emergency payments were an advance against future benefits – not an additional bonus – and they must eventually be recouped by the VA. In mid-February, the VA announced on its web site that it would begin deducting $750 from veterans’ monthly benefit payments.

Download a Copy of Congressman Nye’s Letter to Secretary Shinseki

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (AP) – Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said he’s making it a top priority this year to tackle the backlog of disability claims that has veterans waiting months — even years — to get financial compensation for their injuries.

Among those waiting for relief are sick Vietnam and Gulf War veterans to whom the former Army commander feels an allegiance and who have long felt ignored.

“I’m a kid out of the Vietnam era, I just have enough firsthand knowledge of folks walking around with lots of issues. If there’s a generation of veterans that have had a tough row to hoe, it’s the Vietnam generation,” said Shinseki, 67, in an interview with The Associated Press as he traveled through snowcapped mountains in Ohio and West Virginia between meetings with veterans.

Shinseki, a former Army chief of staff who had part of a foot blown off when he was a young officer in Vietnam, was unapologetic about a decision he made in October to make it easier for potentially 200,000 sick Vietnam veterans who were exposed to the Agent Orange herbicide to receive service-connected compensation.

He said it was the right thing to do, even though the claims volume will grow and it will likely take about two years to get the average claim-processing wait time back to where it is today, about five months.

There’s a chance Shinseki could also extend similar benefits to veterans from the 1991 Gulf War. A task force he appointed to look at their health is expected to release a report this week, which could eventually lead to thousands of additional sick Gulf war veterans receiving health care and compensation.

Shinseki said he’s often questioned why 40 years after the Vietnam war and nearly two decades after the Gulf War his agency is still trying to resolve issues related to those veterans’ illnesses.

Vietnam veterans with B-cell leukemias, Parkinson’s diseases and ischemic heart disease no longer have to prove their illness are the result of their military service. Shinseki determined after reviewing a study by the Institute of Medicine that the illnesses should be presumed to have come from the veteran’s war service, making it easier for them to receive financial compensation. The VA currently presumes that twelve other illnesses are linked to Agent Orange are exposure.

Shinseki said he’s looking ahead to make sure Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries don’t have similar problems getting financial compensation.

“I’m also asking the question, how do we ensure that 20 years from now, that future secretary isn’t answering questions about PTSD or TBI, sort of the signature injuries of this war in the same way that I’m having to look back and try to address these issues,” he said.

In recent years, resources have been poured into clearing the backlog, but problems persist. Besides the time it takes to process a claim, there are frequent complaints about lost paperwork and inconsistency in how claims are processed.

To start looking for solutions, Shinseki’s agency instigated pilot projects in Pittsburgh; Little Rock, Ark.; Providence, R.I.; and Baltimore that he says he’s watching closely. His plan is to reduce the backlog by 2015, which means a veteran wouldn’t wait more than four months for a claim to be processed.

The VA and Pentagon are also working together to create a universal electronic system with the goal of solving many of the claims challenges. Some of the collaboration is expected to be rolled out in 2012, although it could take years before the system is fully in place.

Shinseki, who became the Army’s chief of staff in 1999, is no stranger to change. In that role he sought to modernize and better prepare the Army for urban combat. In his current position, he’s highlighted the challenges veterans face, such as unemployment, suicide and homelessness.

In small gatherings in Chillicothe and Charleston, W.Va., he listened to complaints about the red tape veterans face and explained the work he’s doing to fix the claims backlog.

“We’re going to fine-tune each of the pieces and then put that engine back together again and look for better processing by the end of the year,” Shinseki said during a morning meeting with employees at the VA hospital in Chillicothe.

The employees listened quietly, not touching the pastries and juice put out for them, as he told them matter-of-factly that he knew the Agent Orange decision was going to add new claims.

“This backlog I just told you I’m going to knock down, I added to it, I know that,” he said.

Later in the morning, he told veteran advocates he wants vets to see the VA as an ally.

“In time, I’m hopeful this relationship will create a culture of advocacy between VA and veterans so that there is that sense, that trust between veterans that VA is working to their benefit,” he said.

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran–Washington Post Foreign Service–

MARJA, AFGHANISTAN — They had slogged through knee-deep mud carrying 100 pounds of gear, fingers glued to the triggers of their M-4 carbines, all the while on the lookout for insurgents. Now, after five near-sleepless nights, trying to avoid hypothermia in freezing temperatures, the grunts of the 1st Battalion of the 6th Marine Regiment finally had a moment to relax.

As the sun set Thursday evening over the rubbled market where they set up camp, four of them sat around an overturned blue bucket and began playing cards. A few cracked open dog-eared paperbacks. Some heated their rations-in-a-bag, savoring their first warm dinner in days. Many doffed their helmets and armored vests.

Then — before the game was over, the chapters finished, the meals cooked — the war roared back at them.

The staccato crack of incoming rounds echoed across the market. In an instant, the Marines grabbed their vests and guns. The 50-caliber gunner on the roof thumped back return fire, as did several Marines with clattering, belt-fed machine guns. High-explosive mortar rounds, intended to suppress the insurgent fire, whooshed overhead.

And so went another night in the battle of Marja.

The fight to pacify this Taliban stronghold in Helmand province is grim and grueling. For all the talk of a modern war — of Predator drones and satellite-guided bombs and mine-resistant vehicles — most Marines in this operation have been fighting the old-fashioned way: on foot, with rifle.

They hump their kit on their backs, bed down under the stars in abandoned compounds and defecate in plastic bags.

“This isn’t all that different from the way our fathers and grandfathers fought,” said Cpl. Blake Burkhart, 22, of Oviedo, Fla.

The battlefield privation here is unlike much of the combat in Iraq, which often involved day trips from large, well-appointed forward operating bases. Even when Marines there had to rough it, during the first and second campaigns for Fallujah, they didn’t have to walk as far and they remained closer to logistics vehicles.

In Marja, U.S. military commanders figured, the best way to throw the insurgents off-balance and avoid the hundreds of homemade bombs buried in the roads was to airdrop almost 1,000 Marines and Afghan soldiers. That provided an element of surprise when the operation commenced, and it allowed the forces to punch into the heart of Marja. But it also meant they would have to tough it out.

Because they had to stuff their packs with food, water and ammunition, sleeping bags and tents were left behind. That seemed fine, because summer temperatures in southern Afghanistan often reach 140 degrees. But at this time of year, the mercury can dip — and it did during the first days of the mission, to freezing temperatures at night.

Huddled under thin plastic camouflage poncho liners, the Marines lucky enough to get a few hours of sleep in between shifts of guard duty huddled close together, sometimes spooning one another, to keep warm.  

It didn’t always work. In those first days, more Marines were evacuated for hypothermia than for gunshot wounds. One grunt in the battalion’s Alpha Company proudly displays the frostbitten tip of his middle finger as his battlefield injury.

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