Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

Veterans!  Here’s your Top 10 News stories of the day compiled from the latest sources

We encourage you to browse our list so that you can take what you want and keep what you need…..

1. America’s last surviving WW1 veteran Frank Buckles dies aged 110 years old.  Daily Mail  As of spring 2007, only three were still alive, according to a tally by the Department of Veterans Affairs: Buckles, J. Russell Coffey of Ohio and Harry Richard Landis of Florida. The dwindling roster prompted a flurry of public interest,
2. ‘Greatest Generation’ recalls their fathers’ service as last WWI vet dies.  Palm Beach Post  For now, the numbers of WWII veterans is still high. In Florida, there are 187900, the largest number in the nation. Nearly 18000 of those live in Palm Beach County, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Kaiser, a WWII Navy man who fought 
3. Agent Orange probe widens to municipalities, farmers.  Toronto Star  The US military used it to strip the country’s triple-canopy jungles, exposing Viet Cong troops. Exposure has been associated with more than 50 medical conditions by the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The Ontario government said people affected by
4. Learning to live again.  The Register-Guard  Other visits followed and, the next year, the US Department of Veterans Affairs diagnosed McDowell with post-traumatic stress disorder, an anxiety disorder that can affect people who have been through traumatic events, including combat
5. Veterans court system expanding.  Newsworks.org (blog)  By Melanie Herschorn A joint effort between Pennsylvania and the US Department of Veterans Affairs provides veterans with access to a court system and health services when they get into legal trouble. Already operating in Philadelphia, the program is
6. Health care for veterans / Odd decision.  Press of Atlantic City  The US Department of Veterans Affairs has rejected a plan by Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point to provide cancer radiation treatments and dialysis to the region’s veterans. That means the sick veterans who need these services will have to
7. Military command in Kabul pushes back on Rolling Stone article.  The military command in Kabul is going on the offensive.
8. From Surviving to Thriving – Wounded Warriors are Changing the Face of America It can hardly be argued the inspirational face of wounded and disabled Americans, and the glimmering hope of ashes rising can be found  at places like Paralympic Games and by following the stories of amazing Americans in the workplace, like those assisted by the
9. Federal Agencies Learn Best Hiring Practices for Wounded Warriors.  Wounded warrior employment is the focus of a conference hosted by the Army’s Warrior Transition Command today and tommorow. Federal agencies will learn about programs that help them benefit from the leadership, discipline, teamwork and technical skills wounded warriors bring to their next career.
10. Soldier Impersonators Target Women In Web Scams. AP Con artists are targeting women on Facebook in what’s becoming an all-too-common ruse: They steal photos of soldiers to set up profiles, profess their love and devotion in sappy messages — and then ask their victims to cut a check.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Veterans at Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin, Ga. continue to serve their country in a very important way. They are raising puppies which will later be trained as explosive detector dogs for various agencies such as government, military, and law enforcement throughout the United States and abroad. This Detection Canine Development Program, part of Auburn University’s Canine Detection Research Institute, breeds, raises, and trains detection dogs for agencies worldwide in the fight against crime and terrorism. Four puppies, Gidget, Gabe, Grace, and Genni arrived in October 2010 and will be raised for 12 to 14 months in a carefully developed program that strengthens and hones traits and skills important to their future work. As the puppies grow and gain discipline, the Veterans improve their social skills, social awareness, and confidence. “I never would have dreamed an animal would help me succeed and give me a reason to look forward to another day,” explained one Veteran in the program, “I am more confident now than I have ever been in my whole life”.

IN OTHER NEWS

• Veterans Warned Of Service Fee Scams. Mason City (IA) Globe Gazette Urges veterans – particularly elderly veterans – to check with their local Veterans affairs offices before paying for a service someone offers.  Veterans are being taken for thousands of dollars for services that in some cases are unnecessary or offered free by veterans organizations,

• VA Offering National Caregiver Support Line. St. George (UT) Spectrum The Department of Veterans Affairs is “increasing its support to caregivers with a new, Toll Free telephone line for the caregivers” of veterans “of all eras. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric K. Shinseki said, ‘At VA, we consider them important partners in our efforts to care for and rehabilitate our'” nation’s “‘heroes.’ The National Caregiver Support Line — 1 (855) 260-3274 — will serve as the primary resource and referral center to assist caregivers, veterans and others seeking information.”

• VA Using Stimulus Funds To Help Vets. USNavySeals “This year marks the second anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the Department of Veterans is observing the anniversary by sharing the major role that the Recovery Act funds are playing in advancing infrastructure for the benefit of US Veterans, according to a feature on the VA website.”

• Utah VA To Pick Washington County Site For Nursing Home. St. George (UT) Spectrum “The Utah Department of Veterans Affairs announced it will pick between six potential sites in Washington County for a proposed veterans nursing home, and not consider a push from Iron County to place the home in Cedar City.” “Utah VA Director Terry Schow said…the facility will serve the entire southern portion of the state, but given Washington County’s large percentage of the population,” it “only makes sense to place this facility where the majority of the population resides.”

• New Britain, Conn., And Surrounding Areas. Connecticut VA Commissioner Urges Gulf War Remembrance. New Britain (CT) Herald Dr. Linda S. Schwartz, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Veterans’ Affairs,” is “urging all citizens to take a moment to remember the state’s veterans of the Persian Gulf War, also known as the First Gulf War. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the war.” “It is estimated that there are 40,800 Gulf War-era veterans currently living in Connecticut, which includes the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

• Army Hospital Using Video Games To Treat PTSD Sufferers. WFLX-TV Tripler Army Medical Center is “only one of a few military hospitals in the country using computer games to treat” post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Such an approach, allows PTSD sufferers “full ability to access” to stressful memories so that they can process them and deal with them “in current time. And so then they are not disturbed” by such memories “any longer.”

• Vet Honored For Work On Transition Home Project. Saratogian Veteran Judy Boyce was recently “honored…with the 2010 Veterans of Foreign Wars District 3 Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award.” Joyce is a member of the committee for the Guardian House project, a female veterans’ transition home that was “recently awarded a $212,000 grant from the Veterans Administration and is expected to be operational by the end of 2011.”

• Rio Grande Valley Vets: Harlingen Center Can Become A Hospital. McAllen (TX) Monitor “At the close of Friday’s dedication of a $40 million healthcare center in Harlingen, a group of a dozen Rio Grande Valley veterans briefly met with members of the Texas congressional delegation and a high-ranking Department of Veterans Affairs official. The veterans message was simple: We’re not done yet. Although the construction of the outpatient surgical center is a monumental achievement for Valley veterans,” they “contend that the outpatient center located in Harlingen’s medical corridor can eventually be expanded with inpatient beds and an emergency room to create the hospital they have long sought.”

• ‘Far from over’: Veterans groups say center a step toward hospital.  Monitor A push for greater enrollment from Valley veterans and Winter Texans will show the larger demand for a hospital. The local veterans groups also have the support of the state’s congressional delegation. While applauding the completion of the

• Ceremony Marks Construction Milestone On New VA Hospital. Orlando (FL) Sentinel “Veterans and elected officials marked the halfway point Sunday in the construction of the $665 million” Orlando Veterans Affairs Medical Center “with a ‘topping out’ ceremony. A 20-foot, 1,100-pound I-beam was lowered into place 140 feet above the ground, completing the steel framework” for the hospital, which will “shorten the trip for 90,000 veterans in Central Florida who now go to VA hospitals in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Gainesville.”

• VA Hospital To Display Vets’ Artwork. Denver Post “More than 100 pieces of art made by local veterans will be displayed” Monday “at the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center. First-place winners will go to the national level, competing with entries from VA facilities across the country.”

• During Shutdown, Vets Benefits Will Go Out, But New Claims Will Lag. ABC World News A shutdown of the Federal government would mean several things, including that “Social Security checks and veterans benefits still will go out, though new claims will lag.”

• VA CIO Stresses Importance Of Centralized IT Budgets. Federal Computer Week “Agencies need centralized budgets and operational authority over their IT systems to ward off attacks, said” Veterans Affair’s chief information officer Roger Baker, who pointed out that his is the only Federal agency with a consolidated IT appropriation, which has saved VA hundreds of millions of dollars.

• TRICARE Fees To Rise; Cosby Feted. Providence (RI) Journal “On Feb. 15, the Department of Defense released its proposed budget,” which contains an increase of “about $60 a year” for TRICARE fees, an increase which does not “apply to active-duty military families and members or retirees past age 65; only retirees enrolled in TRICARE Prime would be affected.” “Many military retirees oppose any increase in TRICARE fees, but others realize that the current rate is unsustainable and some increases are inevitable.”