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. General: Military taking precautions to protect troops from radiation. The U.S. military constantly is monitoring radiation levels in Sendai to ensure its troops are not receiving dangerous doses of radiation from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the commander of the American military effort said.

2. Government Report Calls for Improved Support and Outreach for Recipients. AACRAO Transcript  According to a report released by the Government Accountability Office, the US Department of Veterans Affairs needs to improve its outreach and support efforts for veterans who receive federal education benefits. The GAO examined the VA’s process for …

3. Veterans in prison: The US experience.  Defence Management  As part of their inquiry, The Howard League sent five inquiry members to the United States to see how veterans are dealt with by the American justice system. The week-long visit took members to the US Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), …

4. Free help with benefits Is available to veterans.  Republican & Herald  The state veterans affairs office encourages veterans to use local service offices like the one located on the first floor of the Schuylkill County Courthouse. According to Brenda L. Zechman, county veterans affairs director, the county office provides …

5. Need to reach out to veterans acknowledged.  So Md News  The Leonardtown resident and retired Navy captain has been an advocate for veterans in Southern Maryland for the last half-decade, particularly those with mental health issues. She has lobbied local, state and federal officials incessantly for adequate …

6. Iberia vets get Honor Medals.  The Daily Advertiser  Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Lane Carson and Louisiana National Guard Adjtant General Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau in presenting the state’s veterans with a special medal in honor of their service in the Armed Forces. …

7. City OKs utilities for possible VA clinic site.  Stockton Record  … Stockton has agreed to provide its coveted sewer and water utilities to a site in French Camp should it be selected for a future veterans medical facility, according to a letter sent Thursday to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. …

8. New home for homeless veterans.  The Morning Journal  To me this is just going to be a fabulous thing to help veterans.” The money comes as part of federal grants announced last year by US Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. More than $41.9 million will go to 40 states for community groups to …

9. VA Works To Break Disability Claims Backlog. American Forces Press Service “Former Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Tyrone Allen,” who “understands firsthand the frustrations many veterans feel as they wait” for the US Department of Veterans Affairs to “adjudicate their disability benefits claims,” is “part of a growing legion within” VA “striving to make good on VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki’s pledge to ‘break the back of the claims backlog.'” Allen, who suffered a traumatic brain injury during his time in the military, is “among a legion of more than 3,500 new employees VA has hired to expedite claims processing as it introduces other systemic improvements,” including automation of the claims system. AFPS heard about such changes from Deputy VA Secretary W. Scott Gould, who, …

10. Pentagon Focused On Suicide Prevention. Fox News’ Special Report The death of Iraq veteran Daniel O’Brien and other suicides in the US military is a “huge problem that the Pentagon has made a top priority to combat. Just recently, representatives from all branches of the military attended a conference in Boston to come up with ways to address the problem.” While suicide rates in the Army, Navy, and Marines dropped from 2009-2010.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Foreclosure Avoidance Guide

Although the default rate for VA–backed mortgages is well below the national rate for prime loans, Vets might find themselves behind in payments. VA has prepared a quick reference guide to avoid foreclosure and guide Vets to available resources. Learn more

IN OTHER NEWS

• Fishing Program For Vets With PTSD Holds Meeting At VA Hospital. AP “For military veterans like Nathan Hansen, the opportunity to tie flies and catch fish” in Wyoming’s “Bighorn Mountains is a form of therapy that helps take their minds off their wartime experiences. In a conference room” at the Sheridan Veterans Affairs Medical Center “on Monday night, nine veterans,” some of whom served in Iraq or Afghanistan, listened as “longtime guide and fly-tier” Gordon Rose “patiently explained the steps involved” in fly tying. The lessons …

• Delaware Organization Urging Troubled Vets To Seek Help. Wilmington (DE) News Journal A “2008 Rand Corp. study reported that one in five vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan had symptoms of PTSD or major depression.” To “raise awareness about what is increasingly talked about as a hidden cost of war,” former military chaplain John Groth and Trini Yeager, whose Iraq vet son killed himself in 2010, are “lending their stories to publicize” MarkInc, an “offshoot of Glasgow Reformed Presbyterian Church” that “wants to educate veterans and families about the need to get psychological and spiritual help.”

• Focus Turns To Mental Health Of Quake-Tsunami Survivors. USA Today “Japanese citizens who experienced traumatic stressful events such as the death of loved ones or the destruction of their towns are likely to experience long-term mental health consequences if they don’t receive psychological first aid, researchers say.” One “tool mental health workers in Japan could use is the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s Psychological First Aid: Field Operations Guide, which has been translated into Japanese and is available online.

• Rates Of Diabetes-Related Amputation Falling. Reuters A new study of patients treated by Veterans Affairs clinics found that the rates of foot and leg amputations in people who have diabetes may have decreased in recent years. Dr. James Wrobel, who works part-time for VA, told Reuters that the department has improved with regard to foot problem screening of diabetes patients.

• Bill Would Trim List Of Senate-Confirmed Jobs. Washington Post “Hundreds of assistant secretaries and senior officials responsible for budgetary or technological issues,” including several at Veterans Affairs, “may soon be exempt from the usually lengthy, arduous Senate confirmation process.” On Wednesday, a “bipartisan group of senators announced legislation…cutting the number of government positions requiring Senate confirmation by about a third, removing 200 executive branch nominees and 3,000 noncontroversial officer positions from the roles. The bill…is in response to a push earlier this year by less-senior senators eager to revamp the Senate’s rules and procedures.”

• Living Life To The Fullest. Snowmass (CO) Village Sun “Now in its 25th year,” the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic “brings in disabled veterans from all over the United States for a week of fun, rehabilitation, good food, good times, good friends and enough camaraderie to last a couple of lifetimes. The clinic is organized by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Disabled American Veterans.”

• Desert Storm Vet Helped By VA-Funded Music Therapy. KXRM-TV   William Rist, a “Desert Storm veteran in Colorado who suffers from a traumatic brain injury” and post-traumatic stress disorder, “says music is…helping him find his life.” The US Department of Veterans Affairs is “paying for…music therapy sessions for Bill in his home. He’s hoping the VA in Colorado will add music therapy at their facilities so more vets can benefit from them.”

• Job Seekers Converge On Expo Center. Lebanon (PA) Daily News On Wednesday, “hundreds of…job seekers converged on the Lebanon Valley Expo Center” to “learn about 450 positions that will be filled later this year” at the North East Consolidated Patient Account Center, which will be located at the Lebanon Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

• US Army May Never Straighten Out Arlington National Cemetery Grave Mix-Ups. CNN Newsroom  Last summer, a “national disgrace” was uncovered at Arlington National Cemetery, when it was found that hundreds, “maybe even thousands, of remains buried” at the “country’s most famous military resting ground” had “been misplaced…or misidentified.” The US Army “promised to…fix the problems, but now,” Arlington’s superintendent is “admitting the Army may never be able to straighten out this massive case of mistaken identity.” CNN discussed the admission with Mark Benjamin, who wrote about it for Time magazine, in a story that hits newsstands later this week.