Happy Friday all.  Hoping you and yours are enjoying Summer and are in the best of health.  Hotter than all get out here in the DC area.  We finally got our power back on late Wednesday afternoon. 

 

For Today:  “Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing, that we see too late the one that

                       is open.”   Alexander Graham Bell

American Express OPEN Forum Government Contracting.  As a 25-year holder of AmEx cards and small business account...I highly recommend you look into all of the services offered by OPEN.  They walk the walk folks! http://www.openforum.com/governmentcontracting?cid=vanity_ofcom_govcontracts

 

July 24, 2012, Vetworking Networking Breakfast at Tysons Corner.  Come on out all you Veterans in business to network with fellow business owners, Vets just starting their businesses or looking to start a business, and other folks from the business community.  Go to the following link to sign up:   http://jul24vetworking.eventbrite.com/   See you all there! (by the way, in addition to the extraordinary camaraderie, the chow is great and plentiful)  :-)

 

Glaxo Fine: What Will Stop Big Pharma Malfeasance?

By JUDITH WARNER

Even $3 billion is likely not enough to stop another drug scandal from happening again

 

VA Exceeds Government-Wide Goal for Veteran-Owned Business Procurement.  http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2351

 

Vets Line Up for Retraining Assistance. Unemployed Vets between 35-60 with no remaining GI Bill benefits may qualify to receive assistance to train for a high-demand job under the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program. Learn more 

 

The American Legion On-Line Update for July 5, 2012. http://editor.legionemail.com/vo/?FileID=7ff75bea-acee-4a13-affa-4669d68fb8c6&m=28738c49-f478-4180-8f30-4abe2408a79c&MailID=24493440

 

Reserve Officers Association (ROA) SmartBrief for July 6, 2012. http://www.smartbrief.com/servlet/wireless?issueid=DAB8845F-778E-4A00-B8E9-7C7B2018737C&sid=22cbe9eb%2d3ef0%2d4eca%2d8105%2def9f466dc32d

 

Reserve Officers Association (ROA) SmartBrief for July 5, 2012. http://www.smartbrief.com/servlet/wireless?issueid=04752199-FE3D-4C59-BDB6-AC74092A40BF&sid=22cbe9eb%2d3ef0%2d4eca%2d8105%2def9f466dc32d

 

Association of the United States Navy (ausn) E-News for July 5, 2012. http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=4f7cdeba96d116bf638ba67b2&id=67ad7c8de4&e=9b27824cad

 

CNN News Article - IRS Forms Show Charity's Money Isn't Going to Disabled Vets.  This story addresses once again, the "Disabled Veterans National Foundation." http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/07/us/veterans-charity-fraud/index.html   Thanks to Veteran reader Frank Mancini for sending this to us!

 

Finding My Mission.  http://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/7414/finding-my-mission/

 

Virginia Governor's 2012 Military & Veterans Bill Signing Ceremony – Please See attached flyer and read below.  Governor McDonnell will be signing Military and Veterans Legislation  passed during the 2012 General Assembly Session at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Friday, July 27th from 2:00pm to 2:45pm. Please notify Wendy Hoffman no later than 4:00pm on Friday, July 20th if you will be 
attending. The official invitation from Secretary of Veterans Affairs & Homeland Security Terrie Suit is attached as well as a windshield pass to help ease your access upon arriving at the main gate. The ceremony will be held at the “The Clubs at Quantico” which is located on base. The Clubs at Quantico: 3017 Russell Rd., Quantico VA.  If you have any questions, please call Wendy Hoffman at (804) 692-2595.

 

Prayers and blessings for your and your loved ones and for our selfless, amazing, and faithful Troops and their families everywhere.  They are the BEST of America!

 

Sincerely........Wayne

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On July 12, 2012, at 9:00 a.m., the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments will host a press briefing to release its latest study Rebalancing Military Compensation: An Evidence-Based Approach.

 

The event will take place at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW Washington, DC 20045, and is open to the public.

 

This groundbreaking study presents a new approach for changing the mix of pay and benefits to optimize the military compensation system. Rather than focusing exclusively on reducing costs, the approach used in this study focuses on how to get better value from the compensation system by shifting funds from undervalued forms of compensation to more highly valued forms of compensation. The study draws on the results of a survey of more than 2,600 military personnel and dependents to develop a quantitative understanding of the types of compensation most important to service members and the possible tradeoffs between different forms of compensation.

 

The author of the study, CSBA Senior Fellow Todd Harrison will present the key findings of the study and recommendations for rebalancing the military compensation system.

 

The briefing will be followed by a Q&A session.

 

Space limited, RSVP required rsvp@csbaonline.org Priority seating will be given to members of the media, congressional staff, uniformed military, and DoD civilians.

 

Highlights from the Study:

 

● The all-volunteer force, in its current form, is unsustainable. Over the past decade, the cost per person in the active duty force increased by 46 percent, excluding war funding and adjusting for inflation. If personnel costs continue growing at that rate and the overall defense budget remains flat with inflation, military personnel costs will consume the entire defense budget by 2039.

 

● Service members of all ranks place a high value on basic pay, especially those at the lower end of the pay scale. The study reveals that a dollar spent increasing basic pay for junior enlisted has more than six times the impact than a dollar spent increasing basic pay for senior officers.

 

● Service members at all stages of their career do not value free TRICARE for Life commensurate with what it costs DoD to provide.

 

● Service members of all ranks, ages, and years of service prefer maintaining the 20 years of service requirement to earn a retirement rather than lowering it to 15 years.

 

● More than 80 percent of service members in each age group would be willing to have the retirement collection age raised to 50 in exchange for a 1 percent increase in basic pay.

 

● The military exchanges are valued as much or more than they cost to provide by a majority of service members at all ranks.

 

● Of all the additional services and in-kind benefits examined in the study, service members of all ranks place the highest value on being able to choose their duty station and length of tour. Moreover, officers and senior enlisted with dependents tend to value this benefit more than their peers without dependents.

 

● Keeping faith with the troops should not preclude changes to the compensation system. This study demonstrates that DoD can improve the value of its compensation system by making changes the troops prefer while also reducing costs. The military can do better, and the troops deserve better.