Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1.      Shinseki Agrees To Lend VA’s Expertise To Arlington National Cemetery. In continuing coverage, the second item in the “Veterans Journal” column for the Providence (RI) Journal (6/21, Reilly) notes, “The top two officials in charge of Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC, were disciplined after an Army investigation found the cemetery’s management to be ‘dysfunctional,’ Army Secretary John McHugh announced on June 10 at a Pentagon news conference.” However, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has “agreed to lend his department’s expertise in cemetery operations. Patrick K. Hallinan, director of the Office of Field Programs for the VA, will be temporarily reassigned as Arlington’s superintendent. Hallinan currently oversees 130 national cemeteries.”
     Headstones Found In Creek Bed At Arlington National Cemetery. Fox News’ Fox Report (6/18, 7:07 p.m. ET) broadcast that at Arlington National Cemetery, the “headstones of fallen heroes,” including a vet whose family “says he served in World War I, World War II, and Korea,” have “been found in a creek bed submerged or covered in overgrowth. The news comes about a week after a report that shows serious…mismanagement at that site.” Cemetery spokeswoman Kaitlin Horst was shown saying what happened to the headstones is “not in accordance with our…disposal policy,” and the “new management team has vowed to take corrective action.” Fox News Happening Now (6/18, 12:05 p.m. ET, 2.36M) broadcast a similar story. 

2.      Senators Press For DOD-VA Coordination On Traumatic Brain Injury. The Associated Press (6/18) reports that Veterans Affairs chairman Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) “is urging stronger coordination between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments over traumatic brain injury.” Akaka and other senators wrote the secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs on Thursday, saying TBI has become the signature wound over the past nine years of war.” The Senate letter called for prompt action to finalize and carry out a Defense Department draft policy mandating evaluation and rest periods for those with TBI, as well as the quick creation of DOD centers of excellence for military eye injuries, hearing loss and amputations.

3.      Wisconsin VA Secretary Defends Changes He Is Making To Agency. In continuing coverage, the AP (6/20, Foley) noted that on Friday, Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Ken Black “lashed out” at critics, “saying he was bringing change to a troubled agency and not systematically getting rid of ‘old white guys’ as a former employee alleges.” In a statement, Black, who is African-American, “angrily responded to a discrimination complaint that claims he has shown a pattern of firing, demoting and forcing out white men over the age of 50 since he was named secretary in November.”

4.      Alabama DVA Holds “Supermarket Of Veterans Benefits” Event. WKRG-TV Mobile (6/18, 1:08 p.m. EDT) reports that the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs is hosting a “supermarket of veterans benefits” to inform veterans about programs, health care benefits, job opportunities, claims, counseling, and other services. Medical professionals will also be on hand to provide free health screening.

5.      Guam Senate Sets Oversight Hearing Of Veterans Affairs Office Funding, Management. KUAM-TV Guam (6/19, Santos) reports that Guam veterans “say there’s a need for reform at the Veterans Affairs Office, and their concerns will be heard by senators this week.” The Senate’s June 23 oversight hearing will delve into financial issues, and veterans groups also want attention to be paid to what they say are poor maintenance at the Guam Veterans Cemetery.

6.      VA Research Cited In Article On Protecting Against Prostate Cancer. Food Consumer (6/21, Liu) said that Sunday was Father’s Day and while it “may be too late to send your dad a gift,” it is “never too late to send a message to him to remind him that a healthy lifiestyle…can help protect against prostate cancer.” The website goes on to note that “Dr. Stephen J. Freedland and a team of his colleagues of the Duke University Prostate Center” and the Veterans Affairs hospital “in Durham, North Carolina reported in the November 2009 issue of Journal of Urology that prostate cancer was less likely to be diagnosed in men who got exercise regularly than those who led a sedentary lifestyle.”

7.      Vet Using Computerized Databases To Identify MIAs. The AP (6/21, Dishneau) notes that veteran Ted Darcy, a “private researcher who has labored for years to identify the remains” of US service members declared missing in action (MIA) during World War II, “says he has matched seven MIAs with the remains of unknowns and he expects to match as many as 19 more within a week.” Darcy, who made his announcement last Tuesday, has “helped bring home three MIAs of the Second World War since 1991 from burial sites in the Philippines, Hawaii and Newport, R.I. Now he is accelerating his work using computerized databases filled with information he painstakingly entered from two sets of government documents: Those containing physical descriptions of MIAs and those containing autopsies of slain service members buried as unknowns.” 

8.      Two Iraq Vets Find Comfort With Their Children. The CBS Evening News (6/20, story 7, 3:05, Mitchell, 6.1M) broadcast, “Today is the 100th anniversary of Father’s Day, and all over the country, fathers are opening cards and trying on those brand new ties. But for some men,” like Iraq vets Ryan

Kuhls and Jim Milott, the “familiar rituals of fatherhood have a special meaning.” Kuhls, who was left “with just one arm and one leg” following an explosion in Iraq, “says when he’s with his two kids, he can let it all go,” while Milott, who “has severe memory loss and post-traumatic stress,” was shown saying his five-year-old daughter “has been” his “best counselor.”

9.      Army Fights Back With Anti-Suicide Campaign. The Associated Press (6/19, Elliott) reports that suicides last year “claimed the lives of 163 soldiers on active duty and 82 Guard and Reserve soldiers not on active duty. Congress ordered the Defense Department in 2008 to study ways to address the problem, and the Army started its own task force last year after an alarming spike in suicides in January and February.” Besides launching a campaign to teach soldiers how to spot warning signs and what to do about them, the military has worked to change its overall training culture, to remove any stigma for a service member seeking counseling help. Even so, statistics don’t yet show whether the changes are taking effect: Army suicides, up from 197 in 2008 to 245 in 2009, thus far this year are only three below the total for the same period in 2009.

10.    Military Leads In Treating PTSD With Acupuncture. The Austin American Statesman (6/19, Roser, 157K) reports, “Acupuncture is endorsed by many Western medicine practitioners as a treatment for physical pain, and now the therapy — along with other Eastern practices, including yoga, meditation and tai chi — is slowly making inroads in Western medicine as a treatment for mental pain. The military is leading the pack.” A psychologist at Ford Hood, where 250 soldiers have received acupuncture or other alternative treatment for PTSD since August 2008, says that 16 military programs underway or in planning will use acupuncture to treat PTSD, and Army chief of staff George Casey, after viewing a prototype program in 2008 at Fort Bliss, reportedly termed it “the most innovative program I’ve seen.” 

1.      Shinseki Agrees To Lend VA’s Expertise To Arlington National Cemetery. In continuing coverage, the second item in the “Veterans Journal” column for the Providence (RI) Journal (6/21, Reilly) notes, “The top two officials in charge of Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC, were disciplined after an Army investigation found the cemetery’s management to be ‘dysfunctional,’ Army Secretary John McHugh announced on June 10 at a Pentagon news conference.” However, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has “agreed to lend his department’s expertise in cemetery operations. Patrick K. Hallinan, director of the Office of Field Programs for the VA, will be temporarily reassigned as Arlington’s superintendent. Hallinan currently oversees 130 national cemeteries.”
     Headstones Found In Creek Bed At Arlington National Cemetery. Fox News’ Fox Report (6/18, 7:07 p.m. ET) broadcast that at Arlington National Cemetery, the “headstones of fallen heroes,” including a vet whose family “says he served in World War I, World War II, and Korea,” have “been found in a creek bed submerged or covered in overgrowth. The news comes about a week after a report that shows serious…mismanagement at that site.” Cemetery spokeswoman Kaitlin Horst was shown saying what happened to the headstones is “not in accordance with our…disposal policy,” and the “new management team has vowed to take corrective action.” Fox News Happening Now (6/18, 12:05 p.m. ET, 2.36M) broadcast a similar story.

2.      Senators Press For DOD-VA Coordination On Traumatic Brain Injury. The Associated Press (6/18) reports that Veterans Affairs chairman Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) “is urging stronger coordination between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments over traumatic brain injury.” Akaka and other senators wrote the secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs on Thursday, saying TBI has become the signature wound over the past nine years of war.” The Senate letter called for prompt action to finalize and carry out a Defense Department draft policy mandating evaluation and rest periods for those with TBI, as well as the quick creation of DOD centers of excellence for military eye injuries, hearing loss and amputations.

3.      Wisconsin VA Secretary Defends Changes He Is Making To Agency. In continuing coverage, the AP  (6/20, Foley) noted that on Friday, Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Ken Black “lashed out” at critics, “saying he was bringing change to a troubled agency and not systematically getting rid of ‘old white guys’ as a former employee alleges.” In a statement, Black, who is African-American, “angrily responded to a discrimination complaint that claims he has shown a pattern of firing, demoting and forcing out white men over the age of 50 since he was named secretary in November.”

4.      Alabama DVA Holds “Supermarket Of Veterans Benefits” Event. WKRG-TV Mobile (6/18, 1:08 p.m. EDT) reports that the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs is hosting a “supermarket of veterans benefits” to inform veterans about programs, health care benefits, job opportunities, claims, counseling, and other services. Medical professionals will also be on hand to provide free health screening.

5.      Guam Senate Sets Oversight Hearing Of Veterans Affairs Office Funding, Management. KUAM-TV Guam (6/19, Santos) reports that Guam veterans “say there’s a need for reform at the Veterans Affairs Office, and their concerns will be heard by senators this week.” The Senate’s June 23 oversight hearing will delve into financial issues, and veterans groups also want attention to be paid to what they say are poor maintenance at the Guam Veterans Cemetery.

6.      VA Research Cited In Article On Protecting Against Prostate Cancer.  Food Consumer  (6/21, Liu) said that Sunday was Father’s Day and while it “may be too late to send your dad a gift,” it is “never too late to send a message to him to remind him that a healthy lifiestyle…can help protect against prostate cancer.” The website goes on to note that “Dr. Stephen J. Freedland and a team of his colleagues of the Duke University Prostate Center” and the Veterans Affairs hospital “in Durham, North Carolina reported in the November 2009 issue of Journal of Urology that prostate cancer was less likely to be diagnosed in men who got exercise regularly than those who led a sedentary lifestyle.”

7.      Vet Using Computerized Databases To Identify MIAs. The AP  (6/21, Dishneau) notes that veteran Ted Darcy, a “private researcher who has labored for years to identify the remains” of US service members declared missing in action (MIA) during World War II, “says he has matched seven MIAs with the remains of unknowns and he expects to match as many as 19 more within a week.” Darcy, who made his announcement last Tuesday, has “helped bring home three MIAs of the Second World War since 1991 from burial sites in the Philippines, Hawaii and Newport, R.I. Now he is accelerating his work using computerized databases filled with information he painstakingly entered from two sets of government documents: Those containing physical descriptions of MIAs and those containing autopsies of slain service members buried as unknowns.”

8.      Two Iraq Vets Find Comfort With Their Children. The CBS Evening News  (6/20, story 7, 3:05, Mitchell, 6.1M) broadcast, “Today is the 100th anniversary of Father’s Day, and all over the country, fathers are opening cards and trying on those brand new ties. But for some men,” like Iraq vets Ryan

Kuhls and Jim Milott, the “familiar rituals of fatherhood have a special meaning.” Kuhls, who was left “with just one arm and one leg” following an explosion in Iraq, “says when he’s with his two kids, he can let it all go,” while Milott, who “has severe memory loss and post-traumatic stress,” was shown saying his five-year-old daughter “has been” his “best counselor.”

9.      Army Fights Back With Anti-Suicide Campaign. The Associated Press (6/19, Elliott) reports that suicides last year “claimed the lives of 163 soldiers on active duty and 82 Guard and Reserve soldiers not on active duty. Congress ordered the Defense Department in 2008 to study ways to address the problem, and the Army started its own task force last year after an alarming spike in suicides in January and February.” Besides launching a campaign to teach soldiers how to spot warning signs and what to do about them, the military has worked to change its overall training culture, to remove any stigma for a service member seeking counseling help. Even so, statistics don’t yet show whether the changes are taking effect: Army suicides, up from 197 in 2008 to 245 in 2009, thus far this year are only three below the total for the same period in 2009.

10.    Military Leads In Treating PTSD With Acupuncture. The Austin American Statesman (6/19, Roser, 157K) reports, “Acupuncture is endorsed by many Western medicine practitioners as a treatment for physical pain, and now the therapy — along with other Eastern practices, including yoga, meditation and tai chi — is slowly making inroads in Western medicine as a treatment for mental pain. The military is leading the pack.” A psychologist at Ford Hood, where 250 soldiers have received acupuncture or other alternative treatment for PTSD since August 2008, says that 16 military programs underway or in planning will use acupuncture to treat PTSD, and Army chief of staff George Casey, after viewing a prototype program in 2008 at Fort Bliss, reportedly termed it “the most innovative program I’ve seen.”