Wayne’s Daily Veteran Update–

Greetings good folks.  

Hoping you and your loved ones are well.  Lets keep up with those Prayers and Blessings for our Troops and their loved ones everywhere. 

Best………………….Wayne

VA News for Tuesday, February 23, 2010

1.      Shinseki “Fighting To Reduce” Red Tape For Vets Seeking Benefits. In continuing coverage, KITV-TV Honolulu, HI (2/22, 10:31 p.m. HT) broadcast, “Kauai-born” Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki “is fighting to reduce the red tape…veterans” encounter when seeking benefits. Shinseki “has already made it easier for veterans exposed to Agent Orange in the Vietnam War to get benefits” for numerous diseases “associated with the toxic chemical.”
     Shinseki Urged To Take On Bureaucracy While Attempting To Reduce Claims Backlog. In a related editorial, the Wheeling (WV) Intelligencer (2/23, 19K) notes Shinseki recently “told the Associated Press he will make it a priority this year to reduce backlogs in processing veterans’ disability claims.” The Intelligencer urges Shinseki not to “shirk from the bureaucratic battles he will have to wage to keep that promise. Our veterans are worth it.”

2.      Lawmakers Urge VA Support For New Fisher House In Colorado. The Aurora (CO) Sentinel (2/23, Goldstein, 8K) reports, “Congressional representatives are seeking federal support for a $10-million, 20-bed residential center that would serve patients at the new, $800-million standalone veterans hospital” in Aurora. In a letter sent to Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, “Aurora Reps. Mike Coffman and Ed Perlmutter, and Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall,” along “with other members of the Colorado congressional” delegation, “urged support for a new Fischer House facility to be built next to the new VA hospital.” The Sentinel notes that according to Leslie Oliver, a spokeswoman for Perlmutter’s office, the VA needs to give its approval if the Fischer House is to be completed by the time the VA hospital opens its doors in 2013.

3.      White House Calls For Health IT “Task Force.” Government Health IT (2/23, Mosquera) reports, “The White House Friday called for a government-wide health IT ‘task force’ to strengthen coordination of health IT among federal agencies that hold key roles in carrying out the administration’s plans for a digital healthcare system. The plan, issued in a memo” from Office of Management & Budget Director Peter Orzsag and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, “sets up a way for agencies with heavy healthcare agendas to participate formally in planning health IT adoption projects set in motion by passage of the HITECH Act last year.” The memo, which was addressed to several Cabinet secretaries, including Veterans Affairs’ Eric Shinseki, “asked the secretaries to choose a senior leader from their agencies to represent them on the task force and to send HHS their choices within five days.”

4.      Homeless Vets Facility In Texas Could Soon Begin Accepting Residents. The Fort Worth (TX) Business Press (2/22, Dillard) reported, “The finishing touches are all in place at Liberty House: the walls are painted, the carpet is in, the beds are turned down and the staff is ready to welcome home the first residents in a new transitional housing program for homeless veterans in Tarrant County. Liberty House, a partnership between Mental Health Mental Retardation of Tarrant County (MHMRTC)” and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, “could begin accepting residents by March 1, once final approval is received from the government.” The Business Press added, “Construction on the two-story, 7,500-square-foot veterans’ facility began in August 2009 after MHMRTC’s Addiction Services Division received” a $600,000 VA grant.

5.      Stimulus Funds To Pay For Upgrades At Several VA Facilities. The Newport News (VA) Daly Press (2/23) reports, “The Hampton VA Medical Center will receive funds to replace fire alarm and nurse call systems through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the US Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday. The $1.5 million project to upgrade the two systems was awarded to Adira Construction Inc., a small, veteran-owned business” in Chesapeake, Virginia. After noting that the hospital will also “complete an electrical upgrade project estimated at $6.2 million,” the Daily Press adds, “Rep. Robert C. ‘Bobby’ Scott, D- Newport News, said the stimulus-funded work ‘will go a long way toward enhancing and improving the benefits our veterans have earned.’” The Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot (2/23) also covers this story, as does the “Hampton Road Recon”, a blog for the Newport News (VA) Daily Press (2/23, Lessig, 76K), and the AP (2/23).
     A separate AP (2/23) story reports, “Federal stimulus funding will pay for $5.4 million in construction upgrades at the Department of Veterans Affairs Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System. A White House news release says the upgrades include replacement elevators and dumbwaiters, a replacement roof and an updated exterior finish to several buildings at the…facility,” which is located in Biloxi, Mississippi. Thomas Wisniesk, the facility’s director, “says the improved infrastructure will benefit the veterans who rely on the center’s services.” The Biloxi (MS) Sun Herald (2/23, Newsom) publishes a similar story.
     The KTVN-TV Reno, NV (2/22) website reported, “Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid says more than $5 million in economic recovery dollars are headed” to Reno’s VA medical center. According to KTVN, the “money will help renovate the community living center and urgent care center,” as well as “help upgrade elevators and refurbish heating and air conditioning units and the hospital floors. Reid says not only is this money important for our vets, but it will help put Nevadans back to work as well.”

     The Salisbury (NC) Post (2/23, 21K) notes that on Monday, US Sen. Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) “announced that the Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury has received $5.7 million” in stimulus funds for building renovations. After pointing out that Hagan called the funds a “crucial investment”, the Post notes Carolyn Adams, the hospital’s director, said the money “allows the facility to complete many energy saving initiatives.”

6.      Turnaround At VHA Praised. While being interviewed on CNN’s No Bias, No Bull (2/22, 8:35 p.m. ET), David Osborne, co-author of a book called “Reinventing Government”, praised the turnaround at the Veterans Health Administration, which, according to Osborne, ended up having the “best electronic medical records system in the world, and by any measure they had better performance in terms of healthcare outcomes, quality, and customer satisfaction than the private sector in healthcare.”

7.      Following Efforts At VA, USDA, Army Explores Telemedicine At Some Europe Bases. After noting that the US Army is “testing telemedicine as a way to give patients at remote posts in Europe better access to American specialists,” Stars And Stripes (2/23, Robson) says telemedicine “has already gained a foothold” in the US healthcare system, at the US Department of Agriculture, which recently “announced $34.9 million in grants for 35 states to increase health care services in rural areas.” Stars And Stripes adds, “Additionally, the Veterans Affairs Department is already a step ahead of the rest of the federal government in promoting telemedicine, according to a Feb. 17 article in Federal Computer Week.”

8.      Ad Campaign Part Of VA Plan To Attract “Best And Brightest.” In its “Federal Eye” blog, the Washington Post (2/23, O’Keefe, 684K) says, “If you’ve watched the Olympics or other big events on television in recent weeks, then you’ve likely seen ads with doctors and nurses talking about careers with the Department of Veterans Affairs,” which “plans to hire a mix of medical professionals and clerical staffers to fill roughly 105,000 positions by the end of 2011.” During “an interview on Monday,” VA Deputy Secretary W. Scott Gould said, “It’s a big number and a great opportunity for us to try to attract our fair share of the best and brightest.” The Post adds, “Virtually unanimous political support for the department’s planned growth should calm the nerves of weary applicants, Gould said.” The Washington Post (2/23, 684K) also publishes some of Gould’s interview responses.

9.      Veterans Affairs Secretary Pledges No Cuts In Services. A letter from Louisiana Veterans Affairs Secretary Lane Carson to the editor of the Shreveport (LA) Times (2/23).

10.    Home For Mentally Ill Vets Opens In Alabama. In a front page story, the Tuscaloosa (AL) News (2/20, A1, Avant) noted that last week, the Moundville City Council “approved opening a group home for mentally ill veterans, most of them senior citizens,” in a vacant assisted-living facility. After pointing out that back in 2006, “some residents in the city of Moundville and the City Council protested a group home for the mentally ill that had been planned” at the same facility, the News said that according to Rebecca Meyer, associate chief nurse for mental health at the Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the new home is one of 144 private group homes in West Alabama that partner with Meyer’s hospital. The News noted positive feedback from residents of the new home, and then said there is a need for such facilities “because of an increasing population of aging veterans.”

11.    New Orleans Commission To Consider VA Hospital Construction Road Closures. The New Orleans Times-Picayune (2/23, Barrow, 169K) reports, “The New Orleans City Planning Commission is scheduled Tuesday to consider street closures within the Mid-City footprint of the planned” US Department of Veterans Affairs teaching hospital, which is “slated for ground-breaking this fall. Any vote would mark the first regulatory action the body has taken in a public meeting on either the federal hospital or the state teaching hospital proposed next door. Neighborhood residents, along with dozens of planning groups, historical preservationists and other advocacy groups, are poised to use the meeting as a platform to criticize the two projects.”

12.    Some Massachusetts Vets Concerned About Defoliant Exposure At Canadian Base. The Dedham (MA) Daily News Transcript (2/23, Studley) reports, “Some sick Massachusetts veterans are wondering if their medical conditions are linked to time spent at a training camp in New Brunswick, after reading a Daily News report last week about toxic defoliants used at the Canadian base” from 1956 to 1984. George Cameron, department service officer for the Massachusetts American Legion, “said in the past week…he has received about 15 phone calls from Massachusetts National Guard and Army Reserve veterans who served in Gagetown in the 1980s. He said some were sick and others voiced concern they may have been exposed to the herbicides.”

13.    Tuscaloosa VAMC Attempting To Help Homeless Women Vets. On its website, WIAT-TV Birmingham, AL (2/22, Wyatt) noted that the Department of Veterans Affairs “says there are thousands of homeless women vets, and the number is on the rise.” But as “more and more women return home from war, the VA says they try to expand their programs to help them better transition into civilian life.” After stating that the “near future will…see more help for homeless vets in the region” from the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center, which is looking to help set up transitional housing for homeless vets, WIAT said “female vets will…have a new place to find improved medical care, as the Tuscaloosa VA unveils their new women’s health clinic next month.”

14.    Former VA Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty To Unlawfully Prescribing Controlled Substances. The AP (2/23) reports, “A former psychiatrist at the Veterans Administration hospital in Topeka has pleaded guilty to unlawfully prescribing controlled substances” while working at the hospital in 2006. US Attorney Lanny Welch “says 58-year-old Ethan Bickelhaupt entered the plea” on Monday. KSNW-TV Wichita, KS (2/22, 11:20 p.m. CT) broadcast a similar story.

15.    Memorial Honors Japanese-American Internees, Veterans. The AP (2/23) reports, “A new memorial now stands” in California’s “Merced County to remember the thousands of Japanese-Americans who were forced to relocate there during World War II. More than 150 former internees and their families gathered over the weekend to dedicate the plaza with the statue of a little girl sitting atop a pile of suitcases.” The AP adds, “Saturday’s ceremony also honored Japanese-American veterans who had enlisted as a way to prove their patriotism even as their families lived behind barbed wire.”
     The Merced (CA) Sun-Star (2/23, Gaines, 16K) reports, “During Saturday’s ceremony, Japanese-American veterans who served in the military intelligence service as Japanese interpreters and the Asian American 442nd Combat Infantry Regiment were honored. ‘While their families were behind barbed wire, more than 33,000 young Japanese-American men enlisted or were drafted in the US military. They joined the military effort to demonstrate their loyalty and service to the United States,’” the ceremony’s emcee “told the crowd.”

16.    Flag-Raising To Commemorate Battle Of Iwo Jima Anniversary. The Marine Corps Times (2/23, 32K) reports, “A flag-raising ceremony to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima will take place 9:45 a.m. Tuesday at the Marine Corps War memorial, located north of Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.” The ceremony “will honor all Marines who fought during the pivotal World War II battle, as well as all the Marines killed in all wars, to whom the memorial is dedicated. Veterans of Iwo Jima will be on hand for the event.”

17.    WWII Female Pilots To Be Honored. The Air Force Times (2/23, Spoth) reports, “As World War II raged,” the Army Air Forces allowed hundreds of women “to take domestic military flying jobs that freed up male pilots to serve overseas, but their service was unappreciated and was kept secret for decades. Now, after years of lobbying, the Women Airforce Service Pilots will be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on March 10.” The Times adds, “Nearly 300 of the original 1,102 woman pilots are still alive, and about 130 are expected to attend the March 10 medal ceremony, according to Marilla Cushman of the women’s memorial foundation.”

18.    “Most Heavily Decorated” Vietnam Vet Buried At Arlington. NBC Nightly News (2/23, story 9, 1:00, Williams, 8.37M) broadcast that on Monday, Medal of Honor recipient Robert Howard “was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.” Howard was the “most heavily decorated veteran of the Vietnam War.” The San Antonio Express-News (2/23, Martin, 210K) says the 70-year-old Howard, “an Army veteran from San Antonio,” died “of pancreatic cancer on Dec. 23 in a Waco hospice.”

19.    Wounded Warrior Program Advocate Added To Lebanon VAMC Staff. The second item in “Local Briefs” for the Lebanon (PA) Daily News (2/23, 19K) reports the Lebanon Veterans Affairs Medical Center “has welcomed Wounded Warrior Program Advocate John Boylan IV to its staff. Advocates for AW2, as the program is known, are located throughout the country where there are large concentrations of AW2 soldiers, veterans at VA facilities, military treatment facilities and most military installations, according to a news release.” The Daily News adds, “The medical center’s Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom team has been in place since 2003 and is composed of a program manager, social-work case manager, two nurse case managers and one program support assistant.”

20.    Couple Hopes To Improve Care For Returning Vets. On its website, KGTV-TV San Diego, CA (2/22) reported, “A Rancho Bernardo couple has begun a campaign for federal legislation regarding health care for military veterans. While they have no complaints about the care and treatment afforded” by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Iraq veteran Aaron Dial, who is suffering from acute lymphocytic leukemia, and his fiancée Heidi Christ think there should be more screenings and warnings” from exposure to depleted uranium in ammunition. The couple is “working to get ‘Aaron’s Law’ passed by Congress, extending the health care window for returning veterans from two to five years and more proactively alerting them to the risk of carcinogens.”

21.    Hefner VAMC To Host Creative Arts Festival Next Month. The Salisbury (NC) Post (2/23, 21K) reports the Hefner Veterans Affairs Medical Center “will host a March Creative Arts Festival for veterans.” The festival, scheduled to “be held March 13 in the social room” of building No. 6, “will allow participants to qualify for competition at the regional level for the national festival.”

22.    Why Did Sgt. Thomas Die? The Lexington (NE) Clipper-Herald (2/22) published a story that originally appeared in the Omaha (NE) World-Herald (2/22, Hansen).

23.    DAV Chapter Distributes Christmas Bags To VA Hospital. In a reader-submitted story, the Clarksville (TN) Leaf Chronicle (2/22, 19K) reported, “Local Chapter of the Disabled American Veterans, Hardy-Shelby Chapter 45, Clarksville,” Tennessee, “distributed Christmas bags to disabled veterans” at a Veterans Affairs hospital on December 15, 2009.

24.    Cuellar Talks About Van For Local Veterans. The Seguin (TX) Gazette-Enterprise (2/22, Maloney, 5K).

25.    Author Helps First Black Female POW Tell Tale. The AP (2/23, Fox) reports, “In helping” Iraq vet Shoshana Johnson write “I’m Still Standing”, her autobiography, “Fort Meade Media Relations Chief Mary L. Doyle not only exposed the world to the plight of the country’s first black female prisoner of war,” she “furthered her own budding literary career.” Doyle “said she hopes eventually to be able to write books and novels full time.”

26.    When Johnny (Or Jane) Marches Home. The Albany (NY) Times Union (2/23, Fitzgerald).

27.    Joseph Stack’s Daughter Calls Him A Hero, Then Retracts Statement. In continuing coverage, the KXXV-TV Waco, TX (2/22) website reported, “There is controversy brewing over the two people who died from the suicide flight that slammed into an Austin IRS office building on Thursday, February 18th.” The two men who died were Vietnam vet Vernon Hunter and the flight’s pilot, Joseph Stack, whose “daughter, Samantha Bell, told ABC News Monday morning” that her father was a hero. Bell later “called ABC News and retracted that comment, saying the only hero in the attack was Hunter, and we should all mourn his death.”

28.    Half-Scale Replica Of Vietnam Veterans Memorial Coming To Tuscaloosa. The Columbus (MS) Commercial Dispatch (2/22, 13K).

29.    Brothers Asked To Guard Tombs. In continuing coverage, the KRIV-TV Houston, TX (2/22, Keith) website reported, “A couple of brothers from the Houston area” have “achieved a military first. Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan Brisiel, 27, is tomb guard number 560,” and on Friday, his little brother was named “tomb guard number 578.” This is the “first time ever two brothers have been selected to serve on this elite squad.”

30.    On the Hill for February 23, 2010:

The House votes on a number of commemorative resolutions as well as a bill to allow Native Hawaiian government reorganization.

The Senate continues to consider a package of infrastructure funding and tax breaks intended to create jobs.

Hearings continue in both chambers on the fiscal 2011 budget and appropriations.

House:  Convenes at noon for legislative business.

            Under suspension of the rules:

H Res 1066 , H Res 1059 , H Res 1048 — Haiti earthquake responders

H Res 1074 — Miep Gies

H Res 944 — Religious minorities in Iraq

HR 3695 — Missing persons database

H Con Res 227 — Urban crimes awareness

H Res 274 — National Nutrition Month

Draft — African-American contributions

            Subject to a rule:

HR 2314 — Native Hawaiian government reorganization

            Postponed suspensions:

H Res 1039 — American Heart Month

H Res 1046 — Black History Month

Senate:  Convenes 10 a.m.

Weekly caucus lunches: 12:30-2:15 p.m.

            Roll call votes possible.

HR 2847 — Job creation package

            Markup

House Rules considers rules for floor debate of a draft bill to repeal the antitrust exemption for health insurance companies. 3 p.m., H-313 Capitol

            Hearing Highlights

Senate Armed Services hearing on the fiscal 2011 budget for the Army, with Army Secretary John M. McHugh . 9:30 a.m., G-50 Dirksen

House Armed Services hearing on the fiscal 2011 budget for the Air Force. 10 a.m., 2118 Rayburn

Senate Budget hearing on war costs and the proposed Pentagon budget. 10 a.m., 608 Dirksen

Senate Environment and Public Works hearing on the proposed fiscal 2011 budget for the EPA, with EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson . 10 a.m., 406 Dirksen

House Transportation and Infrastructure hearing on stimulus spending projects. 10 a.m., 2167 Rayburn

Joint Economic hearing on job creation and economic growth, with Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas W. Elmendorf. 11:30 a.m., 2325 Rayburn

House Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on proposed fiscal 2011 spending, with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan . 1 p.m., 2359 Rayburn

31.    Today in History:  

• 1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.



• 1739 – Richard Palmer is identified at York Castle by his former schoolteacher, as the outlaw Dick Turpin.



• 1778 – American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.  



• 1820 – Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.



• 1836 – The Battle of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.



• 1847 – Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista – In Mexico, American troops under General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.



• 1854 – The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.



• 1861 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.



• 1870 – In the United States, post-Civil War military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.



• 1883 – Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.



• 1900 – In South Africa, the Boers and British troops fight in the Battle of Hart’s Hill.



• 1903 – Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States “in perpetuity”.



• 1905 – Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world’s first service club.



• 1917 – First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution.



• 1918 – First victory of Red Army over the Kaiser’s German troops near Narva and Pskov. In honor of this victory, the date is celebrated from 1923 onward as “Red Army Day”; it is renamed Defender of the Fatherland Day after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and is colloquially known as “Men’s Day”.



• 1919 – Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.



• 1927 – The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.



• 1941 – Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.



• 1944 – The Soviet Union begins forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.



• 1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines and a commonly forgotten U.S. Navy Corpsman, reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo would later win a Pulitzer Prize and become the model for the national USMC War Memorial.



• 1945 – World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, freed the captives of the Los Baños internment camp.



• 1945 – World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.



• 1945 – World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.



• 1945 – World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is completely destroyed by a raid of 379 British bombers.  



• 1945 – World War II: The Verona Philharmonic Theatre is bombed by Allied forces. It would later be re-opened in 1975.



• 1947 – The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.



• 1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.



• 1955 – First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).



• 1958 – Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.



• 1966 – In Syria, Baath party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin Hafiz, also a Baathist.



• 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.



• 1980 – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran’s parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.



• 1981 – In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d’état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.



• 1983 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.



• 1987 – Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.



• 1991 – Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus starting the ground phase of the war.



• 1991 – In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d’état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.



• 1992 – The Socialist Labour Party is founded in the nation of Georgia.



• 1997 – A small fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.



• 1998 – Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and “Crusaders“; the latter term is commonly interpreted to refer to the people of Europe and the United States.



• 1999 – Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.



• 1999 – An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.



• 2005 – In Slovakia, a two-day meeting dubbed “Slovakia Summit 2005” takes place between U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This occasion marks the first visit of a sitting American President to the Slovak Republic since its establishment in 1993.



• 2005 – The controversial French law on colonialism is passed, requiring teachers to teach the “positive values of colonialism”. After public outcry, it is repealed at the beginning of 2006.



• 2006 – Dubai Ports World agrees to postpone its plans to take over management of six U.S. ports after the proposal ignited harsh bipartisan criticism.



• 2008 – A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit crashes on Guam. It is the first operational loss of a B-2.

Popularity: 60% [?]

The Fallen Heroes Project by the Michael G. Reagan Portrait Foundation makes its debut at Arlington National Cemetery’s Visitors Center on Tuesday, Jan. 19th at 3 p.m.

All are welcome to attend! For more information about the project, please visit http://www.fallenheroesproject.org. The project will be on display at the Visitors Center for several months.

Popularity: 8% [?]

A congressional watchdog agency reported Thursday that the Defense Department
cannot locate post-deployment health questionnaires for more than 72,000
people — about 23 percent of service members who have returned from combat
since Jan. 1, 2007, when the detailed assessments were supposed to be kept for
anyone deployed for 30 days or longer.
Missing questionnaires might be the result of returning service members deciding
not to complete the form, which is supposed to detail any post-deployment health
problems or concerns. But it is also possible that completed forms were lost, the
Government Accountability Office says in a report to Congress.
Whatever the cause, the absence of such a large percentage of records is
significant because one purpose for collecting the information was to look for
trends in health issues and to be able to track people with similar reports of minor
problems to see if they become something larger.
Defense officials acknowledge this is a serious issue. In a written response to the
report, Ellen Embrey, the acting assistant defense secretary for health affairs, said,
“We must be more aggressive.”
Every service has problems, according to the report, but the Army and Air Force
seem to be doing a better job than the Navy and Marine Corps in getting
completed questionnaires to a central repository, the report says.
The Army has 36,510 missing reports, the largest number of all of the services. But
this represents just 19.6 percent of the people who have returned from Iraq and
Afghanistan, the report says.
The Air Force has 8,162 missing reports, 15.8 percent of those who had returned
from the combat theaters.
The Navy has the lowest number of missing reports, 5,938, but it has the highest
percentage gap, at 44.3 percent, because it has deployed far fewer people than the
other services.
The Marine Corps is missing 21,751 questionnaires, which represents 32.1 percent
of the returning Marines.
The Defense Department started using a post-deployment health assessment in
2005, with a goal of having everyone complete the form within 90 to 180 days of
their return from Iraq or Afghanistan.
Some of the current form is voluntary and some is mandatory. Service members
must complete the demographic data identifying who they are, where they
deployed and other information. The self-assessment about their health, including
mental health, is voluntary. The form is electronic, and it is supposed to be
submitted to a central repository when completed and a copy added to the service
members’ medical records.
The report notes that only about 1 percent of returning service members refuse to
complete the health portion of the report, with the refusal rate being the greatest
in the Air Force, where up to 5 percent don’t complete the health questions.
Every form is supposed to be reviewed by a health professional, and service
members who report problems are supposed to be given a chance to discuss them,
the report says.
Because everyone is supposed to fill out the form, the absence of so many
questionnaires shows policy is not being followed, the report to Congress says.

By Rick Maze – Staff writer

Popularity: 13% [?]

The Virginia Veteran would like to be the first to announce that the United States Court of Federal Claims, the DOD, and the Sabo Class Action attorney’s agreed on the language of a class action lawsuit notice. This month the United States Court of Federal Claims is expected to order that a legal notice be sent to veterans of the U.S. Armed Services who may be eligible to join the lawsuit known as Sabo, et al. v. United States.

The Sabo lawsuit was brought by seven veterans from the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. The seven veterans were discharged from military service as a result of a finding by a Physical Evaluation Board (“PEB”) that they were unfit for continued active duty service due, at least in part, to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”), and were assigned a disability rating for PTSD of less than 50%. You received the Court-approved legal notice because government records indicate that you — like the seven veterans who filed the Sabo lawsuit –were discharged from the Armed Services between December 17, 2002 and October 14, 2008, were found unfit for continued active service due, at least in part, to PTSD, but were assigned a disability rating for PTSD of less than 50%.

The seven veterans in the Sabo lawsuit claim that the PEBs violated their legal rights, as well as, thousands of other veterans, by assigning a disability rating for PTSD below 50%. The seven veterans have asked the Court to order the military services to give them – and to give other veterans if they join the lawsuit – all of the military retirement benefits to which a veteran with at least a 50% PTSD rating would be entitled. The military services deny that they have done anything wrong, and the Court has not yet decided that issue. For those who “opt-in” to the class, the military services agreed to prioritize applications to the records corrections boards requesting an increase of their PTSD ratings.

Under the Rules of United States Court of Federal Claims, the Court has allowed the lawsuit to be a class action on behalf of the following individuals: All individuals who (a) served on active duty in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Air Force, (b) were found by a Physical Evaluation Board to be unfit for continued service due, at least in part, to the individual’s PTSD, (c) were assigned a disability rating for PTSD of less than 50%, and, as a result, (d) were released, separated, retired, or discharged from active duty after December 17, 2002, and prior to October 14, 2008 (regardless whether such release, separation, retirement, or discharge resulted in the individual’s placement on the Temporary Disability Retirement.

If you fit this definition, you may choose to join (or “opt-in” to) this lawsuit as a Class Member. Even though you may have a right to join this lawsuit, there is no obligation to join and you do not lose any legal rights by declining to join. If you join this lawsuit, neither the Court nor a military board can reduce the PTSD rating(s) that the PEB assigned to you absent fraud or unusual circumstances. The lawyers who represent the veterans in the Sabo lawsuit are not charging the veterans a fee for their services. These lawyers have agreed not to charge you or other class members a fee if you choose to join the lawsuit.

More information to come….

Popularity: 74% [?]

We all depend on everyday, universal boundaries and agreements to stay safe. When we violate those boundaries, tragedies unfold. I learned this basic social agreement as a child, automatically followed it as a man, taught it and subscribed to it in service to my country, including two tours of duty in Iraq. After 17 years of honorable military service, I put aside my Purple Heart, Bronze Stars and service medals, sought treatment for my combat wounds and embraced my new life as a former Army Captain. Coping with post-traumatic stress reaction challenges me daily to embrace what is possible and to take risks, hoping that most people will follow the basic social agreements that keep us all safe.

I now walk into the world each day with a gentle, well-trained golden retriever named Tuesday, who wears his bright red, clearly-marked service cape as he accompanies me when I attend class at Columbia, travel on a train, ride the subway, enter an elevator or dine at restaurants of every category imaginable. Generally, we are greeted with the same respect and access that most would expect to be granted to a person who depends on a dog to help him or her see, or help negotiate the world from a wheelchair. Even if people do not approve or understand, most afford the access I deserve according to the spirit or at least the letter of laws regarding civil rights, human rights and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Most. But unfortunately, not all.

Luis Carlos Montalván and his service dog, Tuesday.

Following a particularly disturbing incident in December 2008, when Tuesday and I were hassled by McDonald’s employees at a Brooklyn restaurant, who claimed service dogs were not allowed in the establishment, I wrote a letter to McDonald’s president Ralph Alvarez. That letter resulted in the regional manager, Ms. Claudia Alvarez, phoning me to discuss the incident. I made it clear that McDonald’s needed to train its staff on the ADA and suggested that stickers be placed on their establishment’s front doors indicating, “No pets; Assistance Animals welcome.”

In January 2009, Ms. Alvarez, called me again and informed me that her employees were trained and that she had placed the suggested stickers on the McDonald’s in her region.

I felt good about the outcome and thought that McDonald’s had indeed demonstrated corporate social responsibility.

On January 28, 2009, Tuesday and I returned to McDonald’s to eat. I ordered and we sat down. That’s when Manager Carlos Salas approached the table and asked me leave.

“I’m sorry, but no dogs are allowed,” said Salas.

I felt the onset of a migraine headache and replied, “Have you read the sticker on your front doors?”

“Yes. It says, ‘No dogs allowed,’” said Salas.

“Why don’t you go downstairs and re-read the sign and then we’ll talk about it,” I replied.

Upset that yet another incident was happening, I got up and left. I could no longer stomach food and my migraine was getting worse.

Two days later, Tuesday and I returned to the McDonald’s to take photos of the stickers on their storefront to include in another letter to Alvarez. The McDonald’s was closed due to health code violations, but I was able to take photos of the stickers.

That’s when members of the staff began hurling insults in English and Spanish, and throwing plastic garbage can tops in our direction. Two employees punched me while on the sidewalk outside of McDonald’s. In disbelief, I kept taking photos of them. As they stopped, I called the NYPD, who quickly arrived on the scene.

I was embarrassed and angry by the unnecessary incident, which triggered a cascade of emotional and psychological symptoms that no one could see but which undermined my capacity to function that day and for a number of weeks thereafter, leaving me wary of how we might be received in even the most ordinary places.

Children and adults with often invisible or less immediately identifiable disabilities, such as chronic pain, post-traumatic stress, seizure disorders, allergies and autism, just to name a few, can become independent and self-reliant with the assistance of a dog. We are all a slip of a chair or a terrifying moment away from an entirely different life, requiring assistance from resources that could include the blessing and boundaries of a service dog. As I speak out on behalf of people with disabilities, I hope we all come to understand that it may not be “if” but “when” we will need assistance as a result of an illness or an injury. Even out of overriding self-interest, if not out of compassion and empathy, we all benefit when we embrace the letter and spirit of ADA.

written by Luis Carlos Montalván
on November 19, 2009

Luis and Tuesday

Popularity: 45% [?]

The Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that beginning in January 2010, the Disability Evaluation System (DES) pilot will expand to an additional six installations across the country.

The new locations will include: Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Lewis, Wash.; Fort Riley, Kan.; and Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, Va. This expansion brings the total number of military facilities using the pilot to 27.

“The decision to expand the pilot was based upon favorable reviews focusing on the program’s ability to meet timeliness, effectiveness, transparency, and customer and stakeholder satisfaction,” said Noel Koch, deputy under secretary of defense, Office of Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy.

In November 2007, the DoD and VA implemented the pilot test for disability cases originating at the three major military treatment facilities in the national capital region. The pilot is a test of a new process design eliminating the duplicative, time-consuming, and often confusing elements of the two current disability processes of the departments. Key features of the DES pilot include one medical examination and a single-sourced disability rating. To date, more than 5,431 service members have participated in the pilot since November 2007.

“Streamlining our disability claims system and working closely with DoD to care for today’s generation of heroes are among VA’s top priorities,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “We will never lose sight of the fact that veterans and military personnel have earned their benefits from VA and DoD by virtue of their service to the nation.”

In October 2008, DoD and VA approved expansion of the DES pilot to 18 sites beyond the three initial national capital region sites. This process was successfully completed on May 31, 2009. The estimated completion date for the new six site expansion is scheduled for March 31, 2010.

“This expansion encompasses an additional 20 percent of total service member population enrolled in the program to achieve 47 percent overall enrollments, which will allow us to gather and evaluate data from a diverse geographic area, prior to determining worldwide implementation,” said Koch.

The pilot was authorized by the Defense Authorization Act of 2008 and stems from the recommendations from the reports of the Task Force on Returning Global War on Terrorism Heroes, the Independent Review Group, the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors (the Dole/Shalala Commission), and the Commission on Veterans’ Disability Benefits.

Popularity: 10% [?]

My fellow friends and veterans. I would like to take the time to apologize if the Virginia Veteran has seemed somewhat off-step from our norm. We are going through some changes topped with the fact that I have been gone for two funerals and a convention. So in the end have no worries. We remain ever vigilant and apologize for any inconsistencies if you have had to travel to less credible mediums for your information fix. Just know we remain ever committed to being the best and providing you with the best. If you have any questions please fire away. If you have any criticisms–take them to the legion please.

-Justin

Popularity: 17% [?]