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. VA plans online career fair for Thursday.  You’ve only got a few hours left to get ready for the latest veterans job fair, but the good news is you won’t need your suit or extra printed copies of your resume.
2. BBB offers 11 ways to assist veterans on 11-11-11.  Seattle Post Intelligencer (blog)
Volunteer: According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the VA’s Voluntary Service is the largest volunteer program in the federal government. 1. Student Volunteer Program allows students to provide care and medical treatment to veterans. 2. …
3. Veterans Day | Honoring Military History and Heroes.  The BQB (blog)  Beginning with 2 minutes of silence, Veterans Day remembers those we have lost, those that have fought and even those who are fighting. The United States Department of Veteran Affairs has a schedule on their website as to how the Veterans Day ceremony …
4. Navy releases online transition assistance handbook.  The Navy released an online transition assistance handbook to aid sailors who are leaving the service.
5. Report: Vets stay homeless longer than civilians.  Homeless veterans spend more time on the street than their civilian counterparts and are more likely to develop serious mental health illnesses or physical problems as a result, according to new research.
6. 90 Seconds: Marine Corps Sgt. A.J. Pfeffer.  U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. A.J. Pfeffer talks about his “very unique” squad, operating in Gereshk, Afghanistan. “This ain’t Chicago!”
7. Train Vets to Treat Vets – Program Becomes Law in MA.  PR Newswire  In 2009, MSPP applied for and was approved as an Institution of Higher Learning under the Yellow Ribbon Program of the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Through this program, MSPP has begun to attract former service personnel and reservists interested …
8. Microsoft to help San Diego veterans find jobs.  SignOnSanDiego.com  San Diego has the largest population of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, estimated at 28000 people, according to the US Veterans Affairs Department. One of the chief problems reported by young veterans is difficulty finding jobs in a poor economy. …
9. Homeless Phila. veterans the focus of VA Project HOME grant.  Philadelphia Business Journal  Project HOME has received a $1 million grant from the US Department of Veterans Affairs to fund an organization it formed with two other Philadelphia nonprofits to address homelessness among veterans. The money will go to The Philadelphia Alliance for …
10.  Local veterans teach patriotism by example.  San Antonio Express  As the first woman to serve as state junior vice commander of the Texas Veterans of Foreign Affairs, retired Col. Sylvia Corona Sanchez is proud of her accomplishments. She served as a nurse in Operation Desert Storm, and served in the …

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More Veteran News

•  Finding a purpose: Wounded vet tells LSUA students.  Alexandria Town Talk  Iraq war veteran and Wounded Warrior Fellow Sgt. Chris Sullivan was the featured speaker Tuesday at a Veterans Day event at Louisiana State University at Alexandria. / Leandro Huebner/ lhuebner@thetowntalk.com Iraq war veteran Tyler Green of Alexandria …

• Delaware State University to honor fallen troops with roll call.   Dover Post.coordinator of DSU’s Office of Veterans Affairs. All 50 states and the District of Columbia will be represented in the roll call, Henry said. The Remembrance Day National Roll Call is sponsored by the Veterans Knowledge Community, a unit within…

•  Navy veteran Illinois’ ‘Veteran of the Month’.  KWQC 6  A northern Illinois resident who served in World War II has been selected as November’s “Veteran of the Month.” The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs has bestowed the honor on US Navy veteran Bob Gibson of Woodstock. …

•  State Bonus Available to Pennsylvania Persian Gulf Conflict Veterans.  Sacramento Bee  An estimated 20000 Pennsylvania military veterans have not yet applied for a state-run bonus program recognizing their service in the Persian Gulf in 1990-91, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs said …

• Planning vets’ care for the 21st century.  OCRegister  Balancing cost and commitments may be as difficult and rancorous as balancing the state budget. Robin Umberg of Garden Grove is already in the middle of that debate as undersecretary in the California Department of Veterans Affairs, with responsibility …

•   Veterans Day at Bay Pines.  Patch.com  The keynote speaker is Mike Prendergast, Executive Director for the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs. The retired Army colonel, a Tampa native, served 31 years of active duty as a military police officer, according to the VA. …

•  VA To Launch Own Job Site.  ExecutiveGov  Veterans Affairs is “preparing to debut its own version of USAJobs to launch Nov. 11 that will display job opportunities in the department, ‘VA for Vets.'” An “online job search board” is part of the website, which “was introduced by VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.” In his introduction, he said, “As part of the VA’s commitment to hiring and retaining veteran employees-and in support of the president’s pledge to bring more veterans into civil service-I am pleased to introduce our new career support program: VA for Vets.”

•   Hire A Vet To Honor Veterans Day, Officials Say.  American Forces Press Service “One of the best ways Americans can honor the nation’s veterans this Veterans Day is by giving them a job, three senior government officials told reporters” on Tuesday. During a joint conference call, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, and US Small Business Administrator Karen Mills “praised initiatives under way to support returning combat veterans, including those President Barack Obama announced” at the start of the week. Solis “joined Shinseki and Mills in encouraging Congress to pass legislation to provide more opportunities for veterans.” The AFPS quotes Shinseki, who said, “The American economy needs veterans. They make exceptional employees.”

•   Health Tech A Highlight In VA Contest.  Modern Healthcare  A “range of health information technology providers were among the recently announced winners” of the US Veterans Affairs Department’s Industry Innovation Competition. Contest “officials worked with the winners to develop pilot projects designed to test new technologies’ potential to improve veterans’ lives. The 13 winning projects included an online medication information and adverse drug-interaction notification system being developed by Pharmacy OneSource, based in Seattle.” In a news release announcing the winners, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said, “These projects enable us to work with industry to integrate new solutions into the services that we provide and that veterans have earned.”

•  Senators Want GAO Probe Of Veteran-Owned Business Program. Federal Computer Week  “As the Obama administration recently has emphasized the need to help America’s veterans find work, several senators are questioning whether Veterans Affairs Department officials are doing their part to make sure veterans are getting federal contracts. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairwoman, Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) together sent a letter Nov. 3” to Government Accountability Office (GAO) Comptroller Gene Dodaro “about the critical need to ensure the Veterans Affairs Department’s Center for Veterans Enterprise works effectively and efficiently.” According to Federal Computer Week, VA is supposed to make sure procedures are “in place to verify the ownership and status” of companies wanting to participate in the Veterans First contracting program.

•  Obama, SBA And Senate Take Aim At Veteran Unemployment.  The Washington Post (11/8, Harrison, 572K) “On Small Business” blog reports, “A day after the president and US lawmakers took steps to help military veterans find work, federal officials presented a plan to help them create their own jobs – and perhaps some for their fellow Americans, too. On Tuesday, the Small Business Administration released the first report from Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development, a coalition organized by the president last April comprised of seven federal agencies and four veteran advocacy groups.” In its report, the coalition “suggests 18 initiatives,” including the establishment of a Veteran Entrepreneur Training, that the “government should take in order to increase the number of businesses owned by service men and women and increase the number of people those businesses employ.

•   Joint Office Gets Boost In Efforts To Integrate DoD, VA Health Care Records.  Federal Times  “Leaders of the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments have injected more authority into a joint program office struggling to bridge the divide between the two departments’ health care systems. The program office was created three years ago and charged with overseeing the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) program – an administration initiative to provide service members and veterans with seamless health care and access to their health records throughout their lifetime.” The Times adds, “Lawmakers and officials from both departments have said the latest steps should help turn around the troubled office.”

•   Monterey VA Clinic Prepared To Help Returning Vets. KSBW-TV  “President Obama’s troop withdrawal plans for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan mean tens of thousands of US soldiers will be returning home by the end” of this year. Local Veterans Affairs organizations, including the VA clinic in Monterey, “say they are prepared to help the young veterans transition back to civilian life.” After noting that the Monterey VA clinic has a team of employees that is “solely devoted” to helping vets with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), KSBW said “just last year, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki streamlined” the “process for veterans to get help and benefits for PTSD.”

•   Vets Say They Didn’t Receive Government Help They Needed.  USA Today  “More than half of all veterans who describe themselves as ‘seriously’ hurt or wounded from combat or peacetime service say the government did not give them ‘all the help … it should,’ according to a Pew Research Center survey released” on Wednesday. USA today adds, “Two-thirds or more of seriously hurt post-9/11 veterans report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and struggling to return to civilian life and say the Department of Veterans Affairs does only a fair to poor job of helping them. Seven of 10 badly hurt veterans who left the service before 9/11 rate their military medical care as positive compared with 55% of their post 9/11 peers, the survey says.”

•   War Veteran Amputee Perseveres.  WNYW-TV   Alfredo de los Santos while serving for the US Army in Afghanistan, staff at the Veterans Affairs hospital in “New York helped him not only make it through but thrive.” Current, a “team of experts makes sure Alfredo’s state-of-the art computerized keeps pace with his active life.” WNYW quoted VA prosthetist Neil Carbone, who said, “All the employees here at the VA, we’re kind of motivators also — therapists, doctors. We’re here to lift up their spirits and let them know it’s going to be OK. We’re here to help.”

• Michigan Man Sentenced To 18 Months In Prison Over Veterans Benefits.  Bangor (ME) Daily News  A “Michigan man was sentenced Monday in US District Court to 18 months in prison for illegally receiving veterans benefits while he worked at the Togus Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta.” The 44-year-old Mark Stephen Palmquist “also was sentenced to three years of supervised release.” Palmquist “pleaded guilty in May to one count of making a false claim for veterans benefits and one count of theft of government property.”

•  VA, Seniors Foundation Announce Plans For Veterans Affairs Campus. Lincoln (NE) Journal Star   “Plans for a new VA clinic, small retail stores, office space, private medical offices and housing on the Veterans Affairs campus in east Lincoln were unveiled at a public meeting Tuesday evening. The plans call for keeping the old — maintaining the spacious front lawn, keeping the brick buildings that were once staff housing and the large building that was once a VA hospital.” The Journal Star says a “nonprofit group plans to develop the campus under an extended lease agreement with the US Department of Veterans Affairs.”

•   Salvation Army’s New Shelter Offered To Homeless Veterans.  Tuscaloosa (AL) News  The “local Salvation Army is now offering shelter to the homeless for the first time since its previous shelter and office on Greensboro Avenue were destroyed in the April 27 tornado. But unlike the previous shelter, its new 8-bed unit at the Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center” is “being offered only to homeless veterans as part of a VA transitional program.” The News added, “Having the beds available through the Salvation Army is another way the VA is trying to reduce homelessness among veterans…said” David Gay, the Tuscaloosa VA’s homeless coordinator, who stressed the value of “partnering with the community to address the needs of the homeless.”

•   Finding A New Mission For Soldiers Returning From War. Wall Street Journal  The Bob Woodruff Foundation is trying to help soldiers transition back home from war. The foundation, which began in 2007, has thus far awarded $9.5 million worth of grant money to, among other things, veterans charities.

•   Scottsdale Community College To Honor Veterans. Arizona Republic  “Veterans, their families and community members are invited to join Scottsdale Community College’s faculty, staff and students for its Veterans Day program –- ‘Honoring All Who Served Defending Liberty and Freedom’ from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Thursday.” James L. Robbins “from the Veterans Administration Health Care System will speak about ‘Defending Liberty and Freedom.'”

•   Dept. Of Veteran Affairs Mobile Unit To Be At Museum.  Salisbury (NC) Post  The US Department of Veterans Affairs “will have its mobile unit and personnel on site Saturday as part of the ‘Veterans Day and Pearl Harbor Memories’ gathering at the Price of Freedom Museum, located at the old Patterson School, 2470 Weaver Road.” The event, to be held “from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., will have many military vehicles and equipment on display, military and firearms demonstrations, vendors and the museum itself – filled with all types of uniforms and memorabilia.” Bobby Mault, co-founder of the museum, “stressed the importance of having the VA mobile unit on site to answer veterans’ questions and concerns.”

• Acknowledging The Veterans On Their Day In The Limelight.  New York Times “Many of the new” Madison Avenue “campaigns for Veterans Day, which will be observed on Friday, have cause-marketing components, helping to raise money for organizations like the USO and the Wounded Warrior Project. In other instances, companies are pledging to add jobless veterans to their payrolls. Among the blue-chip brands marking Veterans Day are American Airlines, Applebee’s restaurants, Cheerios cereal, Heinz ketchup, Papa John’s pizza, Pringles chips and the Sam’s Club division of Wal-Mart Stores.”

•  Vets Participating In Adaptive Rowing Program. CNN Newsroom A story on two veterans who are part of the Washington, DC-based Capital Adaptive Rowing Program. One vet is named Andre Wells, who was shown saying “I tell anyone that is in the military and has a disability to not give up. Don’t feel sorry for yourself. I look forward to just getting out there on the water,” because “I love the sport.”

•    More Veterans, Disabled Or Not, Finding Jobs In US Agencies. Washington Post “The government is doing better that it ever has done” in hiring veterans, Joseph Kennedy, the Office of Personnel Management’s deputy associate director for employee services, said Tuesday. But while David Autry, deputy national communications director for the Disabled American Veterans, “praised the administration’s efforts, he noted that some agencies don’t perform as well as others.” Davidson says the “information released at Tuesday…did not identify the lagging agencies, but an annual OPM report indicates the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Science Foundation and the US Agency for International Development were at the bottom of the heap, with vets making up about 6 percent of their employees.”