Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Happy 235th birthday United States Army! The United States Congress created the U.S. Army on June 14, 1775 to defend our Nation, and the millions of men and women who have served in the Army since then have done just that and done it well. From the Revolutionary War to operations in Afghanistan and Iraq , the caissons keep rolling along and our soldiers remain committed more than ever to America ‘s core values and beliefs. VA wishes a happy birthday and continued success to all of America ’s Army – soldiers, families, civilians and the Army Veterans we serve. Army Strong keeps America strong and free.

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1. Arlington’s “Antiquated” Record-Keeping System A Possible Cause Of Problems. In continuing coverage, USA Today (6/14, Madhani, Brook, 2.11M) says following a recent announcement by the US Army about mishandled remains at Arlington National Cemetery, aggrieved “family members, veterans groups and members of Congress are all asking the same question: How could officials at Arlington…let this happen? The Veterans of Foreign Wars believes one explanation could be an antiquated record-keeping system that is used to keep track of the 330,000 servicemembers buried at the sprawling cemetery.” USA Today adds, “By comparison, the Department of Veterans Affairs has automated records for its 131 cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico.”

Report Findings Lead To Negative Reaction From Some Cemetery Visitors. A separate USA Today (6/12, Jagoda, 2.11M) story notes, “Visitors to Arlington National Cemetery on Friday said they were disappointed by revelations in an Army report that the remains of more than 200 troops were misidentified or improperly buried at the military’s premier resting place.” Cemetery officials, meanwhile, “said they received a steady stream of phone calls from families worried that the remains of their loved ones may have been misidentified or misplaced. Spokeswoman Kaitlin Horst says that 100 people phoned in the first two hours Friday after the historic burial ground opened a special call center for families of the military veterans, war casualties and other dignitaries buried there.”

Paper Says Arlington Troubles Part Of “Terrible Pattern Of Neglect” By Federal Government. In an editorial, the Fresno (CA) Bee (6/13) said the problems at Arlington are “part of a terrible pattern of neglect” of “war dead and returning veterans” by the Federal Government. The Bee added, “Let’s not forget the problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center,” which “were reported in 2007 by The Washington Post,” and the “bureaucratic hoops” soldiers “coming home with war injuries must maneuver through…to get” VA care.
In another editorial, the Somerset County (PA) Daily American (6/14, 13K) says, “Army Secretary John McHugh and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki announced that National Cemetery Administration staffers will work with Arlington National Cemetery staff to sort out the mess” at Arlington, the “most sacred place in the nation. This should not have happened and must be corrected as soon as humanly possible.”

2. Secretary Shinseki Welcomes Troops Home In Maryland. AP (6/12) reports that Secretary Shinseki “is welcoming home more than 1,000 veterans returning from combat this weekend in Bowie. The welcome ceremony begins at 8:00 a.m. Saturday for veterans and their families at the Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie.” The event, which lasts until 3:00 p.m., will include a barbecue, skydiving demonstrations and performances by the West Point Alumni Glee Club and the 257th Army Band. The article also notes that the “Veterans Affairs Department and Department of Defense will have health and benefit teams on site to provide information to attendees to help with their transition back home.”

3. Maryland DVA Chief Will Speak At Korean War Remembrance. The Hagerstown (MD) Herald Mail (6/13, 17K) reports, Antietam Chapter of the Korean War Veterans Association “will sponsor a commemorative event on June 26 to remember the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.” Edward J. Chow, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, State of Maryland and a defense attaché from the Korean embassy will be featured speakers; the free event will also include music, a video presentation, a tae kwon do demonstration and a special remembrance of KIA/MIAs from Washington County.

4. Illinois Governor Signs Veterans-Related Bills. The AP (6/13) noted that Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn recently “signed three bills into law,” including the “Veterans and Servicemembers Court Treatment Act. Quinn’s office says the law will let Illinois counties create judicial courts for veterans with mental health or substance abuse disorders.” Quinn also “signed a bill that will give Illinois health care providers easier access to patient bathrooms in hospitals. The governor’s office says the legislation is called Seth’s Law, named after a 22-year-old Iraq War veteran who died when hospital workers couldn’t gain access to his bathroom.”

5. VA To Release Solicitation For $12 Billion T4 Program. The Washington Post (6/14, Censer, 684K) reports, “The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to soon release a solicitation” for Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology, “its $12 billion, five-year technology and telecommunications program, meant to span a broad range of work from supporting facilities to cybersecurity. According to the draft solicitation released in late May, the program, known as…T4, will select companies to be chosen for future awards. The government plans to award up to 15 prime contracts for the program,” which Kevin M. Plexico, “senior vice president of research and analysis services for Input, a company that analyzes the government market, said…is attracting huge interest from industry.”

6. Vet Hopes To Win Grant For Greenhouse That Would Help Those Suffering From PTSD. The New Haven (CT) Register (6/13, Pinto) said veteran John Passander, a “member of Giant Steps,” a Veterans Affairs “program that offers support like art therapy – which includes gardening – to people with mental health challenges, has teamed up with a Brookfield nonprofit agency, Trinity Productions, and applied for a $250,000 grant through the Pepsi Refresh Project,” which “gives out several monthly grants for community projects that win the most votes online.” In “order for Passander to secure the $250,000 he needs to build” a greenhouse for “veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments,” the “project must rank first or second in its category. On Friday, it ranked 163rd.”

7. VA Paper Checks Among Those To Be Eliminated By Administration. The Washington Post (6/14, O’Keefe, 684K) reports, “The Treasury Department will announce on Monday that most government benefits payments will be made by direct deposit by 2013, the latest in a series of cost-cutting moves” by the Obama Administration. The change, which “will eliminate about 136 million paper checks sent by the Social Security Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, Railroad Retirement Board” and Office of Personnel Management, “caps years of efforts to cut back on paper and postage costs. The move should cut about $48 million in government postage costs and save taxpayers approximately $303 million in the first five years after the switch, Treasury said.”

8. Wireless Communications Device Wins VA Innovation Award. The Martinsburg (WV) Journal (6/12, 17K, McVey, 17K) reports on the innovation award won by the VA Capitol Health Care Network’s associate chief information officer Jason A. Barnard, noting that VA’s medical caregivers “had requested for years some kind of wireless, hands-free communications system that would allow them to talk with nurses, doctors and others while continuing to serve their patients.” It adds that the award means that Bernard’s innovation “will receive funding and support for prototype development and implementation.”

9. Australia Concludes Largest Environmental Remediation By Ending Agent Orange Traces. The Sydney Morning Herald (6/13, Cubby) reports that “The last traces of Vietnam War-era Agent Orange have been removed from Sydney’s Rhodes Peninsula, marking the end of the largest environmental clean-up in Australia’s history. The land was laced with dioxins — compounds linked to cancer and birth defects — from a Union Carbide factory that made the chemical herbicide. Tests showed the peninsula on the southern side of the Parramatta River was one of the world’s most polluted former industrial sites.” Due to the lingering presence of dioxin in the sediment on the bay’s floor, a ban on eating fish caught in the river and in Sydney Harbor remains in place, however.

10. VA Among Those Studying Tele-Mental Healthcare. The Army Times (6/14, Gould, 104K) notes that a “senior Army leader said he would like the Army to explore and expand use” of tele-mental health technology, and “he is not alone: The Veterans Affairs Department and the Defense Department’s National Center for Tele-health and Technology are studying how tele-mental health care might work. Proponents see it as a means to address rising numbers of soldiers” with post-traumatic stress disorder, “ease the stigma attached to mental health issues and bridge gaps between troops at rural posts and doctors in urban facilities.”