1.    Veterans recall glory days on USS Iowa.  Navy veterans Dick Blair and Bryan A. Moss may not have the same kinds of memories that slightly older crewmen of the legendary battleship USS Iowa possess. It's hard to imagine many sailors having happier ones, though.

 

2.    Fallen SEAL's story is Wounded Warrior Project award finalist.  Petty Officer First Class Chris Campbell’s final request was to focus attention on the nation’s injured servicemembers. To date, nearly 700 people have donated more than $67,000 to the Wounded Warrior Project in his name, and the numbers keep growing as Campbell’s family members carry out his final mission.

 

3.    VA's message: PTSD is 'very treatable'.  The most common misconception about post-traumatic stress disorder is that there is no effective treatment. Dr. Matthew Friedman, executive director of the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Center for PTSD, is working to get the word out that it's "very treatable."

 

4.    UnitedHealth's $20.5 billion Pentagon award upheld.  A U.S. government agency upheld the Pentagon's $20.5 billion contract award to UnitedHealth Group, dashing incumbent TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp.'s hopes of persuading the Defense Department to reconsider.

 

5.    Plenty of job openings for U.S. vets … in Canada.  Officials at VetJobs.com say the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation want American veterans to help fill a shortage of pipeline workers

 

6.    VA opens clinic for homeless vets.  Gazette Chicago  The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Jesse Brown VA Medical Center (VAMC) recently opened the Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team (H-PACT) primary and urgent care clinic. “This is a walk-in clinic where homeless veterans can see a doctor or nurse ...

 

7.    Hawaii to get $500K to help homeless veterans.  NECN  The United States Veterans Initiative in Kapolei will receive $200000 and the Mental Health Association of Hawaii will receive $300000. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says that according to a January 2011 count, there were more than 67000

8.    Joint VA/Labor Department program to retrain 99000 unemployed veterans.  Washington Post  The program is first-come, first-serve for qualifying veteransbetween the ages of 35 and 60 who are unemployed at the time of the application. Veterans who are currently receiving unemployment benefits or are enrolled in a federal or state job ...

 

9.    Unemployed Veterans Signing Up For Job Training Program By The Thousands.  Huffington Post  Unemployed veterans may be heading back to school by the thousands under a new federal program that pays for up to a year of education. Officials at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs say out-of-work veterans can get back in the job ...

 

10.                 Thousands of veterans sign up for job education.  The Associated Press  In fewer than seven weeks since the VA began accepting applications for theVeteran Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP), 27080 unemployed veterans have applied. That's more than half the maximum amount the VRAP program will allow in its first year, ...

 

11.                 Needs of Women Veterans.  San Diego Reader (blog)  “Understanding what these needs are and serving women veterans will become an increasingly important function of the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) and the federal Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).” Specifically, female veterans...

 

12.                 WRTA gets fed funds to help veterans.  Youngstown Vindicator  Youngstown local news, classifieds, jobs, homes, cars, discussions, contests Youngtown Warren Ohio. ... WRTA will use the funds to implement an outreach and education plan to work with county veteran service organizations, the VAOutpatient Clinic on ...

 

13.                 California women veterans survey results report released.  Lake County News  CalVet and CRB will distribute the report to lawmakers, veteran service organizations and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to help inform policymakers about California's women veterans. The report can be seen and downloaded below. It also is ...

14.                 Bill introduced to offer equal benefits to gay, lesbian service members.  LGBTQ Nation  The ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee has introduced a bill that would exempt the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs from the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 federal law that defines marriage as ...

 

15.                 Nursing schools seek to improve training on veteran care.  Chicago Tribune  The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, the National League of Nursing, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and other industry groups are calling on nursing schools to take a pledge to do more to educate students on handling veterans and ...

 

16.                 New Jackson County court is especially for veterans.  Kansas City Star  Jackson County's version is a collaborative effort between the circuit court, the prosecutor's office and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It follows a model that Jackson County pioneered for its drug court in 1993. Instead of putting offenders ...

 

17.                 Agency Confronts Hurdles In Helping Veterans Match Military Skills To Civilian Jobs.  New York Times  "As government and veterans groups work to bring down the high unemployment rate for recent veterans, they are finding a major problem in translating the work of war to peacetime jobs." So, Veterans Affairs "brought scores of job counselors to Detroit last week for its largest hiring fair of the year, where more than 8,000 veterans turned up looking for work. The department plans to hold at least nine more such fairs this year," and its leader, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, says that when it comes to finding jobs for vets, it is important that military skills get translated "into understandable business language."

 

18.                 VA Prepares For Third Survey Of Gulf War-Era Vets. Army Times  "The Veterans Affairs Department is launching its third survey of Gulf War-era veterans as part of an ongoing epidemiological study of personnel who served between 1990 and 1991." The "previous surveys resulted in numerous articles on environmental exposures and health concerns of those who served in theater versus those who served elsewhere during the same period." In a recent news release announcing the third survey, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said, "Our message to our Gulf War veterans is clear. We are not forgetting you, we are listening to you and we are acting."

 

19.                 "Burn-Pit" Registry Bill Heads To House Floor.  Military.com "House lawmakers will have a chance to vote on the creation of a registry for tracking the health of troops exposed to the polluted air from 'burn pits' in which waste was destroyed at bases in Iraq and Afghanistan." Legislation to create such a registry was "voted out of a subcommittee Friday with a recommendation for approval." The legislation "also requires that VA contract with an independent scientific research organization to assess the effectiveness of VA actions for collecting and maintaining information on the health effects of exposure to the open burn pits, recommend improvements to collecting the data and the best way to address the medical needs of exposed veterans."

 

20.                 Bipartisan Bill Combines Wide Array Of Veterans Programs. Army Times "Congressional negotiators have crammed two years' worth of pending veterans legislation into" the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act. The bipartisan measure, which is "expected to become law after a final vote is arranged in the House and Senate," is "drawing attention for a provision to provide health care for former residents of Camp Lejeune, N.C., who were exposed to contaminated well water between 1957 and 1987." But among other things, the bill also "further streamline the benefits claims process", take steps to "improve access to veterans services for those living in rural areas," and require all VA employees to be trained in preventing sexual assaults.

 

21.                 Bill Would Give Post-9/11 GI Bill To Surviving Spouses. Army Times (7/9, 101K) "The Spouse of Heroes Education Act, a measure that would provide Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to surviving spouse of active-duty service members who die in the line of duty, has support from the Veterans Affairs Department, but with a caveat: It would take at least a year to implement the program, rather than the 90 days proposed in the bill, S 1852. Attempting to launch the program faster could interfere with processing of other educational benefits, Curtis Coy, VA's deputy undersecretary for economic opportunity, said" on June 13th. According to the Times, the Military Officers Association of America is "supporting the bill."

 

22.                 Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act Brought To Senate For Fourth Time.  Outdoor Life Magazine  US Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Jim Webb (D-VA) have "again co-sponsored the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act, a bill that will allow veterans to legally designate another person to handle their finances without being barred from owning firearms." Currently, "if a veteran legally designates another person to handle his or her affairs -- a standard bureaucratic procedure done by many veterans for many reasons -- the Department of Veterans Affairs classifies the veteran as 'incapacitated' and notifies the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS," which "then uses...VA's 'incapacitated' classification to prohibit the veteran, and everyone else in his or her household, from owning firearms."

 

23.                 GI Bill Flap Almost Eliminates Soldier's Disability Pay. Army Times  Afghanistan veteran Jason Frantz has "had his disability retirement compensation, usually more than $800 a month, reduced to $4.71 a month since March" as Veterans Affairs is trying to get back the $3,000 emergency Post-9/11 GI Bill payment that Frantz received in 2009. Frantz' wife, however, claims that her family "never received any kind of notice" saying that the disability payments for her husband's post-traumatic stress disorder would be reduced if the $3,000 was not paid back. The situation, she said, has put the family in a "huge hardship," although she did add that organizations like the American legion are helping the family avoid becoming homeless. Congressional "staffers who have worked on repayment and overpayment issues involving GI Bill" benefits "suggested Franz apply for a waiver of indebtedness to have lost pay restored."

 

24.                 Report Says Many Vets Do Not Finish College. MSNBC  "Among the approximately 800,000 military veterans now attending US colleges, an estimated 88 percent drop out of school during their first year and only 3 percent graduate, according a report forwarded by the University of Colorado Denver, citing" an analysis by the US Senate Committee on Health, Education and Labor and Pensions. MSNBC adds, "A number of colleges...offer well-crafted services that truly help retired military folks thrive in the college classroom. But some schools falsely sell themselves as 'military friendly' simply to attract veterans on the G.I. Bill when, in reality, they don't have the adequate infrastructure or counselors to help former soldiers succeed...said" Iraq veteran Lucas Velasquez.

25.                 Psychologists Question Army Resilience Program. Military Times  A group of psychologists "says there's no proof" that Army Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, a $125 million psychological fitness program, or similar resilience-building efforts in the other branches of the military work. The Times adds, "Worse, say members of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology, these programs could undermine coping mechanisms developed by troops who already successfully handle stress." But in December, the Army "said it has scientific proof" that Army Comprehensive Soldier Fitness improves psychological health.

 

26.                 VAPAHCS Opens New Mental Health Center In California. World Interior Design Network   "The Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS) has opened its new Mental Health Center in Palo Alto, California designed by The Design Partnership." The facility, which was "built at the VA's Palo Alto campus," was "designed in a way to offer a modernized healing and therapeutic environment to the patients."

27.                 Maryland Prisons Launch Dog-Training Program. Washington Post  "Select inmates at prisons in Maryland will train service dogs for wounded and disabled veterans, Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services officials announced at their Hagerstown prison Monday morning. Two dozen inmates will train 12 dogs to turn lights on and off, retrieve objects and to learn basic obedience...said" officials, who "They anticipate the dogs will arrive in August. On Monday, America's VetDogs, a non-profit organization working with Maryland prisons to set up the training program, brought several guide dogs to the prison in conjunction with the program's announcement."

 

28.                 VA Adds To Mental Health Services.  Donna K. Jacobs, director of Veterans Affairs' hospital in Prescott, Arizona, said Prescott Daily Courier last "year, VA provided specialty mental health services to more than 1.3 million veterans -- a 35 percent increase since 2007 in the number of Veterans who received mental health services at VA. That's why we recently announced that the VA will add an additional 1,600 mental health staff professionals and an additional 300 support staff members nationwide." Jacobs added, "We ask that you urge veterans in your communities to reach out and connect with VA services."

 

29.                 Veterans And Nursing Schools: Nursing Schools Seek To Improve Training On Caring For Military Veterans. Chicago Tribune  "With nurses often at the front lines of medical care, there's a movement in the Chicago area and across the country to ensure that nursing students are better trained to tend to a new generation of patients who are military veterans." As part of Joining Forces, the US Veterans Affairs Department, the "National League of Nursing, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and other industry groups are calling on nursing schools to take a pledge to do more to educate students on handling veterans and their families."

 

30.                 DoD, VA Joint E-Health Record Ahead Of Schedule. Federal News Radio  "The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are ahead of schedule on the development and implementation of an integrated electronic health record system, said Barclay Butler, director of the Defense-VA interagency office." The website has audio of an interview in which Butler "said part of the reason for their early success is the lessons the two agencies have learned from pilot programs under the initiative, specifically the current test case in Chicago." The website adds, "DoD and VA are getting ready to kick off more pilots in Norfolk, Va., and San Antonio."

31.                 Blogger Concerned About Plan To Use Amazon Cloud Services For Project. NextGov  "The failure of the Amazon Web Services' Virginia data center after a severe storm Friday and the hours it took the company to restore service -- while Defense Information Systems Agency cloud services chugged along without interruption -- sure seem like good reasons to question putting any federal data in the commercial cloud." Brewin notes, "The joint Defense and Veterans Affairs Department Interagency Program Office specified Amazon cloud services in a technical blueprint for the integrated electronic health record released last month. I thought this idea was balmy at the time, and it looks even nuttier after the meltdown of Amazon's Virginia data center last week."

  

32.                 Weird Science: Kitty Litter Increases Risk Of Suicide? CNN  A "small subset of suicide attempts may be linked to an infection that starts in the litter box." A study published Monday in the Archives of General Psychiatry "suggests an association between Toxoplasma gondii and suicide attempts among women." The study's lead author, Dr. Teodor Postolache, a senior consultant on suicide prevention for the Veterans Affairs hospital in Baltimore, "tempers the finding by pointing out that the chances of having T. gondii infection and never attempting suicide is much higher than attempting it."

 

33.                 Howard Johnson Stirs Up Good Feelings, Helps Veterans. Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal  Before minor league baseball team the Hudson Valley Renegades played a home game at Dutchess Stadium on Sunday, former Major League Baseball player Howard Johnson signed autographs for fans attending the game. The "proceeds from Sunday's signing benefited a food bank at the Veterans Administration Hudson Valley-Castle Point campus." Before the signing, Johnson "traveled to Castle Point to meet with the veterans and sign autographs. Hudson Valley's management donated 28 tickets for veterans from Castle Point to attend Sunday's game." Johnson spoke about his Castle Point visit, saying it "sounds like a cliché," but the visit "puts things in perspective. You go there, and those guys served and did things that a lot of us could never do and don't want to do. They deserve to be recognized for that."

 

34.                 Arlington Uses GPS To Honor Fallen Soldiers. Government Technology  "Arlington National Cemetery will launch a new app this fall to help visitors navigate the more than 250,000 gravesites on the 624-acre property. According to USA Today, the app is part of a technology overhaul undertaken at Arlington following the 2010 discovery of widespread mismanagement of soldiers' remains." Government Technology adds, "The new record-keeping system was designed by Army staff."

 

35.                 Fake War Record Despicable, Legal. Scripps Howard News Service

 

36.                 Virtual Reality Vs. PTSD: Helping Combat Vets Heal.  CNET News

 

37.                 Navy, Marine Volunteers Serve Meals To Homeless At Pine Street Inn Shelter.  Boston Globe

 

38.                 Holocaust Tour Brings Together Students, Veterans And Survivors. Oklahoman

 

39.                 American Homecomings: Utah Veteran Not "Just A Student."  Salt Lake (UT) Tribune

 

40.                 Staffing Firm Launches Veteran Hiring Program. Dayton Business Journal