Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1. Many Recently Discharged Vets Don’t Get Good Information On Their Earned Benefits. The Frederick (MD) News-Post’s veterans’ issues column (7/16, Wentworth) reports that every veteran returning from Iraq or Afghanistan “is entitled to five years of healthcare from the Veterans Health Administration upon discharge from active duty,” but “for some reason the VA isn’t making sure that the word is getting out to all out processing active duty entering the civilian world.” It recounts the writer’s experience with a young returned veteran, who said that “On his out-process, the VA representative simply stood up in front of the group and said, ‘I’m with the VA, come see me to file a claim.'” Escorting the new vet to the Baltimore VA office, the writer saw that he got his VA card, “knows how to get to a VA medical center and understands the basics of his benefits that he earned while on active duty. All of which he didn’t while he was out processing,” along with “many recently discharged veterans who have no idea of their earned benefits.”

 2. Thirty-Two US Soldiers Committed Suicide In June. NBC Nightly News (7/16, story 6, 2:40, Williams, 8.37M) reported, “a grim new record for America. In the month of June, 32 suicides among US soldiers. It’s part of a significant uptick since the start of the year.” Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklazewski added, “In April, Army specialist Jesse Huff went to the Veterans’ Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, seeking help. Instead, the 27-year-old Iraq veteran, suffering from combat wounds and deep depression, shot and killed himself on the front steps.” The Washington Post (7/17, Jaffe, 684K) reports, “The boost in the number of suicides in June was likely driven by the ‘continued stresses on the force’ caused by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, said Col. Chris Philbrick, the director of the Army’s suicide prevention task force.”

 3. Federal Appeals Court Tells VA To Publish Agent Orange Rule By Monday. VAWatchdog.org (7/17, Scott) reports that, in a lawsuit filed by the Paralyzed Veterans of America over delays in the Department of Veterans Affairs issuing long-announced rules to add Parkinson’s, ischemic heart disease and hairy-cell leukemia to disease that it will presume to have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange, on July 15, “the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ordered VA Secretary Shinseki to publish the new AO presumptives rule by noon on Monday, July 19, 2010, or do some explaining.” The account included a link to that decision.

4. House Affairs Panel Holds Hearing On Agent Orange Impact On Vietnam. AFP (7/16, Zeitvogel) reports on the July 15 hearing called by Del. Eni Faleomavaega (D-Amer. Samoa), chairman of a House Foreign Affairs panel on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment, to examine damage to Vietnam and the Vietnamese from American use of Agent Orange as a defoliant during the Vietnam War. It notes that Tran Thi Hoan, a 23-year-old woman born without legs and one hand “read a three-page testimony in English to US lawmakers in a packed hearing room.” In addition, Vietnamese medical doctor Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong “told the hearing that studies she has conducted have found that up to 4.1 million Vietnamese were directly exposed to Agent Orange during the war and more than three million have suffered its effects.” Newsblaze.com (7/16) reprints State Department testimony at the hearing.
The Vietnamese daily Thahn Nien (7/16, Dillingham, Godfrey, An) adds that a group of three US Senators, headed by Tom Harkin (D-IA), “had visited Vietnam last week and toured Agent Orange treatment centers in and around Da Nang.”
The Australian (7/17, Montgomery, 136K) carries an account by the founder of a charity, Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange Trust, on its activities to distribute cows and provide wheelchairs to Vietnamese suffering the effects of Agent Orange.

5. Editorial, Hill Members Hail Changes In VA PTSD Procedures; Psychiatrist Dissents. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat (7/16, 71K) welcomes the recent changes in VA procedures for claiming disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder, saying that they will likely change the decades-long handling in which “the federal government has made life unnecessarily difficult for veterans suffering from flashbacks, anger and other common symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.” It notes that over 150,000 cases of PTSD have already been diagnosed in the veterans health system, adding that removing previous barriers “is a sign of respect for the men and women of the Armed Forces.”
More Members Of Congress Applaud PTSD Change. Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND-AL) has issued a BigNews press release (7/16) praising the new Department of Veterans Affairs rule that will make it easier for veterans to receive healthcare and disability benefits for PTSD. The Sebeka (MN) Review-Messenger (7/17, 4K) reports that MN7 Rep. Collin Peterson (D) called the new rule “an important step forward in ensuring that we do all we can to support our returning soldiers.”
Psychiatrist Views New Rule As Overbroad Departure. In the Wall Street Journal (7/17, Satel, 2.08M), a psychiatrist and American Enterprise Institute resident scholar takes issue with the breadth of the new VA rule, writing that “new regulations announced by Mr. Shinseki take the definition of PTSD further than any of his predecessors surely imagined.” By allowing veterans to receive disability benefits for merely anticipating hostile action, the rule lets veterans “file a benefits claim for being traumatized by events they did not actually experience., which says “is a radical departure from the clinical — and common-sense — understanding that disabling stress disorders are caused by traumatic events that actually do happen to people.” Reviewing the history of how post-traumatic mental states have been viewed, the article cites the observation of a sociologist and combat veteran that PTSD is in the DSM “because a core of psychiatrists and Vietnam veterans worked conscientiously and deliberately for years to put it there.” She also recommends requiring that treatment for PTSD precede applying for PTSD-based disability.

6. Stimulus Funds Will Restore DC War Memorial To World War I Veterans. MSNBC.com (7/16, Donnell) reports that restoration work will start in August on a 1931 memorial on the National Mall that commemorates Washington, D.C. residents who died in World War I, with $2.3 million of federal economic stimulus funds.

7. Hawaii Veterans Cemetery Will Receive $1.9 Million Grant From VA. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser (7/16) reports that the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe “is receiving more than $1.9 million in federal grant money to reimburse the state for completed projects,” in grants from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The account adds that the state “is expected to receive more than $500 million in total VA funding this fiscal year.”

8. Mississippi’s First State Veterans Cemetery May Miss Opening Target. WTOK-TV Meridian, MS (7/16, WIlliams) reports that “Groundwork started three months ago at the site of the Mississippi’s State Veterans Cemetery. However, project officials say because of circumstances beyond their control, the opening of the cemetery could be slightly delayed.” The Newton County is supposed to open on Memorial Day next year.

9. County Veterans Service Officers Group Names Feingold “Legislator Of The Year.” WisPolitics.com (7/16) reprints a release from the re-election campaign of Sen. Russ Feingold (D) announcing that the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers has named Feingold its “Legislator of the Year” for his dedication to veterans’ issues. It adds that, among other service towards veterans’ causes, Feingold “led the charge to establish new VA clinics in Sawyer and Barron Counties, and Vet Centers in La Crosse and Brown Counties to better serve Wisconsin veterans,” and has pushed to prohibit burning of toxic substances in burn pits.

10. VHA Chief Issues Letter On Medical Marijuana Policy. VAWatchdog.org (7/17, Scott) reports that VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. Robert Petzel “says veterans who legally use medical pot could continue to receive opioids for pain management at the VA.” In a July 6 letter to provide clarification on the agency policy, Dr. Petzel said that veterans who document they have been prescribed opiod treatment for use in accordance with state law on medical marijuana would not be precluded from receiving opiods for pain management even if they test positive for marijuana. Healthcare providers would base on clinical grounds and the veteran’s full disclosure of medical marijuana and other non-VA prescribed medications their decision on what to prescribe for pain management. The article also attached Dr. Petzel’s letter.