Prayers and blessings for you and your loved ones and for our selfless and brave Troops and their loved ones everywhere. Our military folks are the best America has....this 1% of America that serves.
1. VA unveils new process to eliminate backlog; critics await results.
2. Afghan exit will cost US billions, Pentagon's No. 2 says.
3. Congress considers ban on U.S. military contracts for companies doing business in Cuba.
4. Vets need drivers for medical appointments.
5. VA Dept. provides no fertility series to spouses of vets.
6. Veteran homelessness can be solved through additional government funding.
7. Pentagon To Make Database To Track Medal Awardees.
8. Iraq Vet Among Those Affected By VA Claims Backlog.
9. Report Says people Who Process Claims Are Getting Better Training.
10. Golf Helps Military Vets, Dad Get Past Tough Times.
11. One Woman's Crusade On The Dangers Of PTSD Treatment.
12. Army Studies Suicides.
13. Nation Isn't Ready To Meet Elderly Patients' Mental Health Care Needs.
14. Hearing Loss An "Invisible," And Widely Uninsured, Problem.
15. Rail Industry Aims To Hire 5,000 Veterans This Year.
16. Hiring Plan Part Of White House's "Joining Forces" Campaign.
17. Mobile VA Center Coming To Columbus, Other Sites.
18. Homeless Rural Vets Find A Place To Call Home.
19. Legion Honored Taking Part In VA Campaign To End Veteran Homelessness.
20. Unclaimed Remains Of 7 Mont. Vets To Be Buried.
21. VA Sets Therapy Center Debut.
22. VA Adopts Innovative Project Nationwide.
23. VA / VSO-MSO Hearings as July 12, 2012:
24. Today in History:
1. VA unveils new process to eliminate backlog; critics await results. Express service is on the way for tens of thousands of pending veterans benefits claims.
2. Afghan exit will cost US billions, Pentagon's No. 2 says. Moving the mountain of U.S. military gear out of Afghanistan after more than a decade of war will cost billions of dollars and prove far more difficult than last year's withdrawal from Iraq, the Pentagon's No. 2 official said.
3. Congress considers ban on U.S. military contracts for companies doing business in Cuba. South Florida companies active in Cuba are worried about a measure in Congress that would ban them from U.S. Defense Department contracts if they keep up business with the island.
4. Vets need drivers for medical appointments. Pittsburgh Post Gazette Mr. Mitchell said it took nearly six months to get the physical, medical clearance, background check and training required by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs -- which owns the vehicles -- to become a driver. He anticipated more volunteers...
5. VA Dept. provides no fertility series to spouses of vets. msnbc.com For troops coming home from war, help from the Veteran Affairs Department is crucial but for those returning with wounds that make them incapable of conceiving, the V.A. leaves their hopes for a family unanswered.
6. Veteran homelessness can be solved through additional government funding. K-State Collegian Organizations such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States exist solely to try and meet the needs of veterans. Many of these soldiers require mental, psychological and physical therapy to recover from ...
7. Pentagon To Make Database To Track Medal Awardees. AP "The Pentagon plans to establish a searchable database of military valor awards and medals, hoping for a technological fix to the problem of people getting away with lying about earning military honors." The "move is in response to a June 28 Supreme Court ruling that invalidated a law making it a crime to lie about receiving the Medal of Honor and other military decorations." The "high court ruled that the 2006 Stolen Valor Act infringes upon speech protected by the First Amendment." Wall Street Journal Groups like Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) were pleased to hear about the plan for an awards database. Joe Davis, a VFW spokesman, said the cost of such a database is "minimal compared to the verifiable proof it provides to honorable service members, veterans and all their families."
8. Iraq Vet Among Those Affected By VA Claims Backlog. CBS Evening News Iraq veteran Aaron Helstrom is "one of half a million veterans whose" disability claims are caught in an "increasing...backlog" at the US Veterans Affairs Department. CBS spoke to Allison Hickey, VA's director of benefits, who "says the system has been swamped by a quarter million new claims from a change in regulations that allowed more Vietnam veterans to file disability claims from exposure to the pesticide Agent Orange. On top of that, Hickey says, veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan...are now filing claims at a record rate." Still Hickey admits that "way too many" veterans have to deal with the backlog. CBS pointed out that VA is planning to move its claims from a paper-based system to an electronic one by the end of 2015. CBS added that when it spoke to VA about Helstrom, the agency contacted the vet and his case may now be settled by Labor Day.
9. Report Says people Who Process Claims Are Getting Better Training. Military Times "An internal Veterans Affairs Department report says improvements in training the people who process veterans' benefits claims are yielding dramatic results, with new trainees showing marked increases in both productivity and accuracy. Previously, it took six months for trainees to work up to completing one case every other day, with a 60 percent chance of the claim being accurate, according to report jointly prepared by the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Office of Employee Development and Training." The Times adds, "If the success holds up on a larger scale, the new training process for claims workers may finally help VA put a dent in its mountain of pending claims."
10.Golf Helps Military Vets, Dad Get Past Tough Times. AP Iraq veteran Christopher Wallace is one of a "growing number of military veterans" who are "learning the business of golf in hopes the game becomes their next career." After noting that Christopher Wallace and his father are both enrolled at the Golf Academy of America, the AP says the Education Corporation of America (ECA) is the "parent company for...five golf academies located in San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas, Orlando, Fla., and on South Carolina's Grand Strand region." Mike Betz, the ECA's military student initiative general manager, "said academy inquiries from veterans have increased as they consider turning a hobby into a vocation."
11.One Woman's Crusade On The Dangers Of PTSD Treatment. WLOX-TV Alicia McElroy, the widow of Afghanistan veteran James McElroy, "says her husband died from multiple drug toxicity as a result of medications to treat" post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Alisha McElroy is "doing interviews throughout the United States and is slated to appear before Congress to tell her story. She feels like his death will not be in vain if she can warn others in the military about the dangers of multi-drugs in the treatment" of PTSD.
12.Army Studies Suicides. USA Today Scientists in the US military "say...finally, after years of congressional funding and the launch of randomized studies of a subject rarely researched, a few validated results are beginning to surface" about why servicemembers decide to commit suicide. Army Col. Carl Castro, "who is coordinating $50 million in research into suicide prevention and treatment," said the results "support the premise behind new therapies" that "first teach soldiers" how to quell emotional pain. David Rudd, co-founder of the National Center for Veterans' Studies, says a small number of Defense Department studies testing these therapies have shown a drop in suicide attempts.
13.Nation Isn't Ready To Meet Elderly Patients' Mental Health Care Needs. Kaiser Health News "The US is not prepared for the mental health needs of aging baby boomers, according an Institute of Medicine report released Tuesday." The US government, though, is "pushing to improve mental health staffing for military veterans, an especially vulnerable subset of the elderly population. In April, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it would add around 1,900 psychologists and other staff."
14.Hearing Loss An "Invisible," And Widely Uninsured, Problem. CNN "Most private medical insurance doesn't cover the cost of hearing aids. While the Department of Veterans Affairs often pays for them, in most cases Medicare, which covers many more people, does not." CNN adds, "Only 19 states require that health benefits plans in their states pay for hearing aids; most cover children only, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association."
15.Rail Industry Aims To Hire 5,000 Veterans This Year. CNN "Facing an aging rail industry workforce and an influx of returning military veterans, the US Department of Transportation announced Tuesday an initiative in which the growing rail sector will hire more than 5,000 veterans this year, matching the same number hired in 2011." The Association of American Railroads, an industry trade group, is "working with the Department of Veteran Affairs to make sure that 500 railroad companies -- including freight, inter-city passenger and commuter railroads -- are committed to offering military servicemen and women jobs." Last month, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki "announced a new portal on the VA website that will help veterans find jobs in the transportation industry."
16.Hiring Plan Part Of White House's "Joining Forces" Campaign. AP The "US railroad industry expects to hire at least 5,000 veterans this year. The American Association of Railroads announced the hiring prediction Tuesday as part of the White House's 'joining forces' campaign to foster support for military families." The "rail trade group's CEO Ed Hamberger says veterans' skills translate well to railroad jobs."
17.Mobile VA Center Coming To Columbus, Other Sites. WCBI-TV "The G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center is hosting free health fairs in July embarking on a state-wide effort to enroll Mississippi Veterans in VA healthcare. The Tell a Veteran/Bring a Veteran Mississippi Mobile Clinic tour will visit 7 cities in 10 days." WCBI adds, "In 2011, the Jackson VA was named one of the nation's top performers on key quality measures by the Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of healthcare organizations in America and was one of only 405 US hospitals out of over 3,000 surveyed earning this distinction."
18.Homeless Rural Vets Find A Place To Call Home. NPR "15 homeless veterans...will live" in a renovated American Legion Post in Jewett City, Connecticut. NPR adds, "Federal VA housing vouchers known as HUD-VASH will pay the rent for each veteran. Caseworkers and medical staff from the VA will also come to the men and women living in the building." Laurie Harkness of Veterans Affairs, which is trying to end veteran homelessness, said facilities like the one in Jewett City are needed because homelessness is a "problem in rural areas in southeast Connecticut as in many rural areas in America."
19.Legion Honored Taking Part In VA Campaign To End Veteran Homelessness. American Legion The "National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) recently honored The American Legion for its dedication to ending homelessness among veterans. Mark Walker, the Legion's Economic Division deputy director, accepted an award from the advocacy group 'in recognition of The American Legion's dedication to the campaign to end veteran homelessness in the United States.'" The award was presented "during NCHV's annual conference in Washington, DC, as the organization chronicled progress made in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) five-year plan to end veteran homelessness." The Legion's story points out that VA's plan was announced by Shinseki at the Legion's 2009 Annual National Convention.
20.Unclaimed Remains Of 7 Mont. Vets To Be Buried. AP "After sitting unclaimed for years in funeral homes in Billings, Kalispell and Whitefish, the cremated remains of seven military veterans from Montana will be buried" at the at the Montana State Veterans Cemetery on Friday. Missing in America Project "volunteers in the state recently identified the remains after visiting funeral homes, taking inventory of unclaimed remains and authenticating death certificates" with US Veterans Affairs Department records. John Dahl, "owner of Dahl Funeral Chapel, praised the Missing in America Project, saying it gives funeral directors another option when repeated attempts to locate family and friends of a deceased veteran fail."
21.VA Sets Therapy Center Debut. Amarillo (TX) Globe News
22.VA Adopts Innovative Project Nationwide. Oncology Practice Digital Network
23.VA / VSO-MSO Hearings as July 12, 2012:
July 11, 2012. House Veterans Affairs Committee will conduct a full committee mark up of pending legislation:
- H.R. 5948 - Veterans Fiduciary Reform Act of 2012
- H.R. 5747 - Military Family Home Protection Act
- H.R. 4057 - Improving Transparency of Education Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2012
9:30 A.M.; 334 Cannon
A welcoming home for our Troops.
