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.Women Serving in Combat? It’s Been True For Years.  Hartford Courant To which Tammy Duckworth, of the federal Department of Veteran Affairs, replied she not only could hang tough, but has. Duckworth lost both legs in 2004 in Iraq when the helicopter she was piloting was shot from beneath her.

2.Australia pledges $3.3M to Vietnam Veterans Memorial education center project.

A new education center at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., moved closer to reality Monday, thanks to the people of Australia.

3.Survivors of Frankfurt airport shooting return to RAF Lakenheath. The 12 uninjured survivors of a shooting aboard an Air Force bus at Frankfurt airport last week returned to their home unit at RAF Lakenheath on Monday.

4.Gates in Kabul to assess progress before July drawdown decisions.  Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Kabul early Monday for a two-day visit to Afghanistan to gauge the success of the U.S. troop surge and NATO’s efforts to build up Afghan security forces, in hopes of determining which U.S. forces could be the first to pull out when the planned withdrawal begins in July.

5. Gates: U.S. in position to begin July drawdown.  BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — After a winter of steadily increasing offensives, the U.S. is now “well positioned” to begin a July drawdown of troops in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Kabul on Monday evening.

6.State program to help veterans stop smoking.  Berkshire Eagle  By Amanda Korman, Berkshire Eagle Staff PITTSFIELD — Dick McCarthy knows as well as anyone that veterans have a lot on their plate when they return from overseas. The 64-year-old Vietnam vet, who served as North Adams’ veteran affairs director until

7.Schumer seeks decision on veterans cemetery in region.  Rochester Democrat and Chronicle  “We know the total number of western New York veterans is large. Given that most of our New York state veteran cemeteries are filled, we desperately need a new national veterans cemetery for the men and women who served our country.

8.DLA Distribution supports veterans through work experience program. Through his a local Department of Veterans Affairs office in Harrisburg, Pa. , … and allows veterans to enter temporary positions in federal, state or local … “The Veteran’s Non-Paid Work Experience Program is a great program for all … Times are tough, and we all need a helping hand.”

9.Longmont company lands $13M VA contract.  Longmont Daily Times-Call  Longmont-based R/X Automation Solutions Inc. has been awarded a contract worth nearly $13 million from the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Acquisition Center in Tucson, Ariz., for the delivery of special machinery used to dispense medicine

10.Campaign Aims To Open Doors For The Homeless.  NPR  Just about everyone in San Diego who has anything to do with homelessness is at the table — the police, the housing commission, area hospitals, lawmakers, nonprofits, businesses, even the US Department of Veterans Affairs. “We’re not operating in

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It Takes The Strength of a Warrior To Ask for Help

The journey after military service can be a difficult one. If you are Veteran in crisis or know of one who is, please call our 24/7 Suicide Prevention Line at 1–800–273–TALK (8255) to speak with our trained counselors, or find a Crisis Center near you.

IN OTHER NEWS

• Opinion: Grassroots Help for New Jersey’s Homeless Veterans.  NJ Spotlight  There’s an alphabet soup of government agencies at the national and state level committed to helping returning vets — starting with the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the NJ Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (a cabinet-level office).

• Texas Bill To Provide Targeted Property Tax Relief. Texas Insider In Texas there is legislation that will grant total property tax relief to the surviving spouse of a disabled military serviceman.” A bill in the Texas House of Representatives …

• Examining The Senate Democratic Spending Bill. The Hill On Tuesday, a test vote on “Senate Amendment 149, a Senate Democratic amendment that would restore most House cuts and shave just $6.5 billion from current spending levels.” Democrats have “criticized Republicans for not cutting security spending, and their amendment seeks to correct this by cutting $2.13 billion more in defense spending.” The amendment, however, “also adds back…$460 million for veterans’ disability claims.”

• Average Time To Hire New Federal Workers Improves. Washington Post “The Obama administration is hoping to cut the average time it takes to hire new federal workers down to about 2 ½ months, but the latest government statistics suggest …

• Hampton VA Working To Cut Backlog Of Exams. Newport News (VA) Daily Press “Last summer, the Department of Veterans Affairs noticed a sudden rise in the number of veterans in the mid-Atlantic region seeking entry into the system. The veterans were waiting for compensation and pension exams – C&P exams, in VA shorthand – which are health-care evaluations used to determine the degree of disability and compensation from medical conditions connected with military service.” VA has now,” settled on an attack strategy …

• Female GIs Struggle With Higher Rate Of Divorce. AP Marriages for women in the US military are “more than twice as likely to end in divorce as those of their male comrades – and up to three times as likely for enlisted women. And military women get divorced at higher rates than …

• Doctors Connect With Patients Through Social Media. Palo Alto (CA) Weekly “As technology has evolved, health-care organizations and doctors have been using” online methods “more frequently to connect with patients.” For example, “after a suspicious letter forced the evacuation of an office building” at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, VA officials “wrote on their Facebook wall to let people know” that there “no contamination of any kind found.” A few people “used the opportunity to give…VA positive feedback via Facebook, including one man who commented, ‘The VAPAHC is the best health care facility this 87 year old WWII Purple Heart veteran has ever been privileged to use.'”

• VA, Lawmakers At Odds Over Caregiver Benefits. Army Times “A battle between Congress and the Veterans Affairs Department over proposed restrictions on new caregiver benefits” has led to complaints from lawmakers.

• Film About Camp Lejeune’s Toxic Water To Debut At N.Y. Festival. McClatchy “A documentary about the historic water contamination at the Marines’ Camp Lejeune, N.C., will have its world premiere this spring at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

• High-Tech Limbs. Philadelphia Inquirer 63-year-old Vietnam vet Lou Namm is “one of more than 30 amputees worldwide to get” a “new kind of motorized prosthetic knee” that “senses when he wants to take a step and then, using internal motors, lifts the heel and extends the leg forward.

• Telstra BigPond News And Weather. BigPond News “Australia and the United States will launch a joint research project on the mental and physical health of veterans of recent conflicts.” Australia’s Veterans Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon, in the US “for the launch of the Vietnam War education centre” in Washington, “said he wanted to ensure that Australia was providing the best possible support for veterans.”

• Australia Pledges Millions To Vietnam Veterans Memorial Education Center.Stars And Stripes On Monday, a “new education center at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall moved closer” to reality, “thanks to the people of Australia.

• After 38 Years, Bracelet Worn In Honor Of Missing Vietnam Vet To Be Removed. CBS Evening News While the Vietnam War was still going on, “bracelets sold by the millions” in the US, “each bearing the name of a soldier who was either still a prisoner in Vietnam or missing in action.” The name of James Moreland, a “Green Beret who went missing” in Vietnam in 1968, has been on the wrist of 50-year-old Kathy Strong “every day, without exception, for the past 38 years.” Because Moreland’s remains have now “been found and identified,” Strong will “remove the bracelet and have it buried with him.”

• Doctor To Receive Salem Award For Study Of PTSD In Vietnam Vets. Salem (MA) Gazette “The 19th annual Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice will be presented Saturday, May 7, to Dr. Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D. Shay is being recognized ‘for his work studying and understanding the nature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans of the Vietnam War, and for …

• Home Veterans Counseling Available Locally. Sweetwater (TX) Reporter “The Taylor County Vet Center is branching out and offering counseling services to veterans in the Sweetwater community. Since December” of last year, a “counselor has been making weekly visits to Sweetwater each Thursday to serve veterans in a local capacity.” The Vet Center “hopes to continually promote their services through involvement in the community and by attending various local functions.”

• Sen. Tim Johnson Receives VFW Congressional Award. “The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the US presented their 2011 Congressional Award” to US Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) “for his outstanding service to the nation’s military and defense. The presentation took place …

• Should Outside Expert Review VA’s IT System? Army Times The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) is “pleased that the Veterans Affairs Department is trying to use information technology to process veterans claims,” however they are “concerned that VA may be in too much of a rush.” Recently, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki “said…the system has been used in a pilot project since November and is expected to be deployed nationwide in 2012.”

• Vets’ Job Fair March 22 In Lincoln. Lincoln (NE) Journal Star “The Nebraska Department of Labor is sponsoring a veterans’ job fair March 22 in partnership” with the US Department of Veterans Affairs, “The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, The Vet Center, and Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.

• Injured Veterans Could Move In To Scotland Campus Retrain, Reacclimate. Chambersburg (PA) Public Opinion “A residential program to help veterans adjust to civilian life makes sense, according to people in the nonprofit business of helping veterans. Scotland Landing Foundation is proposing to convert …

• Detachment Provides Honors At Texas Cemetery. AP An unpaid detachment of “75 former servicemen” has “done more than 24,000” burial services at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. The detachment began performing the services in 1991.