Veterans News for Monday, May 23, 2011.  Thanks to Kevin Secor at VA HQ!

 

 

1.    HBO's 'Treme' explained: 'Slip Away.  NOLA.com  Liguori appears to draw for Nelson the footprint of a planned medical complex to be shared by Louisiana State University and the US Department of Veterans Affairs -- its boundaries: Tulane to Canal, Claiborne to South Rocheblave. ...

 

2.    Community project gets dozens of Hollywood's homeless off the streets.  Los Angeles Times  A 20-member team, including members of homeless service groups, the county Department of Mental Health, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the police and business improvement district security, has been meeting every two weeks to get all 413 people ...

 

3.    Veteran Outreach Event | Cattaraugus County.  Veteran Outreach Event. News from Procurement Technical Assistance Center, ... colleges, universities and the Veterans Administration will present to help ... to be knowledgeable in federal, state and local laws pertaining to veterans. ...

 

4.    State justice praises Montco veterans court.  Montgomery County's fledgling veterans' treatment court ... services through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs while receiving ...

 

5.    Fighting never ends for soldiers.  Berkshire Eagle  In 2009 alone, the US Department of Veterans Affairs treated 143530 vets for the condition. "I couldn't turn the TV off in my head -- certain smells would trigger flashbacks of where I was, and I could not turn it off for a year or two," Jones said. ...

 

6.    Groups help heal vets' inner wounds.  Berkshire Eagle  The US Department of Veterans Affairs hosts Yellow Ribbon events in 30-day increments for three months after veterans come home. The events are designed to help vets understand their benefits and check in with the VA if they have any difficulties ...

 

7.    Returning Middle East soldiers cope with stress disorder.  Burlington Times News
The US Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that as many as 95 percent of veterans returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have some form of PTSD. The extent of their condition varies greatly undefined many show milder symptoms of lasting anxiety, ...

 

8.    $60 million in outside help: the cost of human suffering.  Park Rapids Enterprise  To a lesser degree the US Department of Veterans Affairs compensates vets for education, insurance and burial services. Additionally, the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs paid Hubbard County vets more than $26000 in state soldier assistance ...

 

9.    VA, state vets groups have new websites.  The Department of Veterans Affairs has launched its new Returning Veterans ... Information on services in local areas across Texas can also be accessed by ...

 

10.                       Town hall connects veterans to resources.  Representatives from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Health ... so the VA has partnered with many local governments and organizations to ... The department has developed partnerships with other state agencies and ...

 

11.                       Glimpse of Greencastle with Janice Wene.  Chambersburg Public Opinion  According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs: Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans -- the Grand Army of the Republic -- established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to ...

 

12.                       VA Chief To Attend Clinic Dedication.  Pacific (Guam) Daily News Secretary Shinseki "will attend the dedication of the new Agana Heights Community-Based Outpatient Clinic on Tuesday. The event begins at 10 a.m." The article also notes that the 6,000-square-foot facility nearly doubles the size of the previous clinic.

 

13.                       Congressman Presses Navy To Name Next Ship After Fallen Marine. FOX News  "A California congressman who blasted the Navy this week for naming a new cargo ship after labor activist Cesar Chavez is now preparing to file legislation that will direct the Navy to name the next available ship after a military war hero. Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, wants the next ship to be named after Marine Corps. Sgt. Rafael Peralta, who died in 2004 and was nominated for the Medal of Honor for his bravery in Iraq."

 

14.                       Vietnam Vet Graduates From Law School 35 Years Later. WCAU-TV Philadelphia (5/20, Shimell, 5:42 p.m. EDT) reports on the belated law school graduation of a disabled Vietnam veteran who says he withdrew from school due to the anti-war protests of the early 1970s. After running for Congress and advising presidents on veterans issues, David Christian eventually graduated from Rutgers Law School 35 years later.

 

15.                       New Veterans Caregiver Program.  WDTV-TV The Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center's new Caregiver Program "aims to keep veterans in their own homes, even if they need full time care," by compensating "family members to stay home and take care of post 9/11 veterans that need 24 hour care." Such "caregivers must undergo training with the VA."

 

16.                       Senate Proposal Requires Outgoing Service Members To Take Skills Training.  Northwest Florida Daily News Hiring Heroes Act of 2011, currently under consideration by the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee "would require job-skills training for all service members before they separate from the military." Currently the Transition Assistance Program is usually optional. The bill also "would allow service members to start the federal employment hiring process before they separate" and "the Department of Veterans Affairs would also be required to check on veterans periodically."

 

17.                        WSU Tri-Cities Pledges Veterans Support. Tri-City (WA) Herald "Washington State University Tri-Cities on Wednesday became one of 20 college campuses in the state to pledge to be a Veteran Supportive Campus." The pledges are "part of a statewide effort by the governor's office, veterans administration officials and higher-ed agencies" that seeks "to make university staff more aware of veterans' needs, to create veteran-specific orientations and to improve veterans' use of the G.I. Bill." WSU Tri-Cities Chancellor Vicky Carwein also announced that "a new university committee for veterans affairs is being formed."

 

18.                       Veterans Office Not Meeting Needs, Speakers Say.  Navajo Times At a town hall, attended by Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly, residents complained about the Department of Navajo Veterans Affairs. At the meeting, DNVA Manager David Nez "reported that his agency is continuing to develop a Navajo Nation veterans' cemetery," which "did not sit well with some in the audience," many of whom would prefer money to go towards creating a VA medical center. Have one "close to home would eliminate the need to travel to centers in Prescott, Phoenix and Albuquerque." However, Nez said "that money remains an issue for the department and there might be liability issues in renovating existing structures" into clinics "because they might be 'unstable.'" Nez "also defended the department's policy of limiting medical transportation assistance to once a year," as "helping with each appointment would be costly and would take away from assisting other veterans."

 

19.                       Caregiver, Veterans Services Available. Craig (CO) Daily Press Veterans service officer Ed Wilkinson notes that family caregivers and veterans "can apply for services authorized under a Veterans Affairs interim final rule that was published May 5. Eligible family caregivers of eligible post-9/11 veterans will receive comprehensive training developed by Easter Seals in collaboration with VA clinical experts. It is part of a package of new services that also include a monthly stipend, mental health services, and access to medical care under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the VA, if the primary family caregiver is not entitled to care of services under a health plan contract."

 

20.                       Lone Star College–CyFair Partners With The Texas Veterans Commission, Will Open New Veterans Affairs Center. In the fall Lone Star College–CyFair "will open a Veterans Affairs Center with both educational and counseling services in the new Center for Academic and Student Affairs building." It already offers "career and counseling services for student veterans with" the he Texas Veterans Commission. Claudia Greenhaw, certifying official and advisor to veterans throughout the LSC system, said, "Veteran students have different needs than regular students, and we have to make sure their needs are met appropriately." The school's "new partnership with TVC allows it to offer specialty career services to veterans this summer."

 

21.                       Kitzhaber And Military Funerals: Ted Kulongoski Is A Tough Act To Follow As Commander Of The Oregon Guard.  The Oregonian No Oregon governor "ever has given more of his time or showed more compassion and respect to servicemen and women, and their families" than former Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Marine veteran who "was a fixture at scores of military funerals, deployments and welcome home ceremonies." His successor, Gov. John Kitzhaber, "is facing criticism for failing to show up at either of the two military funerals that have taken place in Oregon since he took office in January." While noting that it is "unrealistic and unfair to demand that Kitzhaber match Kulongoski's extraordinary commitment," the editors still "urge Kitzhaber to do whatever he can, even given his myriad responsibilities, to attend them, or at least privately and personally extend his condolences to the families."

 

22.                       Louisiana Legislators Consider 20% Cut In State DVA Funds. KALB-TV Louisiana lawmakers "are voting to cut more than 20% of the Department of Veterans Affairs funding, which will directly affect more than 300,000 servicemen and women in the state." One member of the Disabled American Veterans says that his group is lobbying legislators, and state DVA Secretary Lane Carson says the proposed cut of more than $800,000 would force the closing of 22 veterans service offices and stop work on a new cemetery at Fort Polk. Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) had not requested the DVA funding cuts.

 

23.                       USFK Investigating Vets' Claims They Buried Agent Orange On Base In '70s.  Stars And Stripes "US Forces Korea is investigating whether Agent Orange is buried at Camp Carroll, following claims from veterans who say they buried the toxic herbicide while stationed there in the late 1970s, a military spokesman said Friday." Three former soldiers who were stationed there "recently told a Phoenix television station that they helped bury the chemical at Camp Carroll. According to a transcript of the report, Phoenix-area resident Steve House said he was ordered in 1978 to dig a ditch nearly a city block long that was used for burying 55-gallon drums, some with the words 'Province of Vietnam, Compound Orange' written on them."

 

24.                       Women On War Front More Likely To Get Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Than Men, Study Finds.  Los Angeles Times Researchers, led by the Department of Veterans Affairs-New Jersey Health Care System, reported at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association that "women deployed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are emerging as a group especially vulnerable to post-traumatic stress disorder," with 18.7% of women meeting the criteria for PTSD after returning home, compared with 8.7% of men. Researchers found that "the women were much less likely to feel well-prepared for combat before deployment and were more likely to report a lack of unit cohesion during deployment." The study's authors suggested that "training regimens may nevertheless fail to adequately address physiological differences between men and women, leaving women feeling less prepared for deployment to combat zones."

 

25.                       Troop Morale Down, Mental Problems Up In Afghanistan. AP "Grim statistics in a new Army report released Thursday dramatize the psychological cost" of the war in Afghanistan. About 20 percent of troops reported "they had suffered a psychological problem such as anxiety, severe stress or depression." Although "troops said they were receiving better training in suicide prevention and other coping strategies and that mental health treatment was easier to get at the warfront," about half the soldiers surveyed "said they believe getting professional help for their problems would make them appear weak."