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.    In Afghanistan, Taliban seems divided at a key juncture.  Over the last three months, a series of highly damaging events has forced U.S. commanders and officials to adopt a posture of nonstop crisis management. Even so, the insurgents have not taken full advantage of the American setbacks, in part because the movement appears divided over its own strategy.
 
2.    Mali coup complicates U.S. antiterrorism efforts.  Regional leaders in Western Africa meet Tuesday amid efforts to pressure military leaders to step aside in Mali, where last week’s coup is threatening to derail U.S. counterterrorism efforts against al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
 
3.    Newest Japan-US alliance could get early test from North Korea.  Japan might not have to wait long to test its new Air Defense Command if neighboring North Korea goes ahead with plans to launch a satellite-toting rocket in the coming weeks.
 
4.    Japan to deploy destroyers, missile batteries ahead of North Korea’s planned rocket launch.  The Japanese plan to deploy three Aegis destroyers and move Patriot missile batteries to Okinawa to intercept a North Korean rocket next month should any piece of it approach Japanese territory or waters, according to Japanese media reports.
 
5.    Acupuncture study looking for more vets with Gulf War Syndrome.  Army officials have a six-month extension to the project, and the research chief says results thus far have been encouraging
 
6.    Veterans study: Thousands wrongfully discharged for personality disorders.  The Defense Department violated regulations by discharging thousands of servicemembers under the pretense of personality disorders during the past decade, according to a study by Vietnam Veterans of America and the Veterans Services Clinic at Yale Law School.

7.    Courts help veterans in Orange County and around the nation.  Los Angeles Times  The weekly sessions at Orange County’s Combat Veterans Court provide a one-stop service, bringing together representatives from the district attorney’s office and the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ Justice Outreach program, along with probation …

8.    Returning veterans face new battle finding jobs.  Muscatine Journal  That’s a reason Iowa’s jobless rate for members of the National Guard who have returned from Afghanistan in the last few months is 16.4 percent, compared to 5.6 percent for the state’s total workforce, said Don Enright, veterans affairs coordinator at …

9.    MWCC program helps veterans transition from military to civilian life.  Sentinel and Enterprise  Even more daunting can be transitioning into a postsecondary educational setting, according to veterans Jason Catalano and Brian Laprise, co-presidents of the Veterans Group, a local chapter of the national Student Veterans Association at Mount …

10.  W.Va., veterans battle over public pension credits.  Marietta Times  West Virginia’s last living Medal of Honor recipient to the former military chief of its National Guard, veterans are calling for a more fair and consistent process for boosting the pensions of state employees who have …

Have You Heard?

 

VA recently launched a contest to help the people, who help the homeless – Project REACH (Real-time Electronic Access for Caregivers and the Homeless). The contest was announced in collaboration with the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, and the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the lives of people facing economic challenges. “This contest taps the talent and compassion of the Nation’s developer community,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “We are asking them to make a free, easy-to-use Web and smartphone app that provides current information about housing, health clinics and food banks.” The ultimate goal of the contest is to create a national platform that enables health clinics, food kitchens, housing services and shelters to update availability of key services automatically on the Internet. The winning app will collect, map, and electronically distribute that information for communities across the nation. Finalists will be judged primarily on their ability to dynamically update information about housing and shelter as well as local VA services, employment support, crisis hotlines and local legal assistance resources. Contest performance criteria are described at www.challenge.gov.