July 18, 2012.  Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense, and Foreign Operations, will hold a hearing on the backlog of pending disability claims.  10:00 A.M., 2247 Rayburn House Office Building

 

July 18, 2012. HVAC, Disability and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, will hold a hearing entitled: “Invisible Wounds: Examining the Disability Compensation Benefits Process for Victims of Military Sexual Trauma.”  2:00 P.M; 334 Cannon House Office Building

 

July 25, 2012.  The House Committee on Veterans Affairs and the House Armed Services Committee will hold a joint hearing titled “Back from the Battlefield: DOD and VA Collaboration to Assist Service Members Returning to Civilian Life.”  10:00 AM; 2118 Rayburn HOB

 

August 2, 2012 (Tentative).  HVAC, Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations may hold a joint hearing to discuss the SDVOSB/VOSB certification process.

 

24.Today in History:

• 1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: British Royal Navy ships inflict heavy damage against Spanish and French ships in the Second Battle of Algeciras.
• 1804 – Former United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton dies a day after being shot in a duel.
• 1812 – War of 1812: the United States invade Canada at Windsor, Ontario.
• 1862 – The Medal of Honor is authorized by the United States Congress.
• 1879 – The National Guards Unit of Bulgaria is founded.
• 1913 – Second Balkan War: Serbian forces begin their siege of the Bulgarian city of Vidin; the siege is later called off when the war ends.
• 1917 – The Bisbee Deportation occurs as vigilantes kidnap and deport nearly 1,300 striking miners and others from Bisbee, Arizona.
• 1918 – The Japanese Imperial Navy battleship Kawachi blows up at Shunan, western Honshu, Japan, killing at least 621.
• 1943 – World War II: Battle of Prokhorovka – German and Soviet forces engage in the largest tank engagement of all time.
• 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion orders the explusion of Palestinians from the towns of Lod andRamla.
• 1960 – Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded.
• 1961 – Pune floods due to failure of the Khadakwasla and Panshet dams. Half of Pune is submerged, more than 100,000 families need to be relocated and the death tally exceeds 2,000.
• 1962 – The Rolling Stones perform their first ever concert, at the Marquee Club in London.
• 1967 – The Newark riots began in Newark, New Jersey.
• 1971 – The Australian Aboriginal flag is flown for the first time.
• 1973 – A fire destroys the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States.
• 1979 – The island nation of Kiribati becomes independent from Great Britain.
• 1979 – Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park Chicago, IL
• 2006 – The Hezbollah initiate Operation True Promise.
• 2007 – U.S. Army Apache helicopters perform airstrikes in Baghdad, Iraq; footage from the cockpit is later leaked to the Internet.

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SBA Launches Program to Help Transitioning Service Members and Veterans Become Entrepreneurs

 

Operation Boots to Business: From Service to Startup to Help Them Start Businesses and Create Jobs

 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has joined with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) to launch a training program for transitioning service members and veterans to help them become entrepreneurs and create jobs. Operation Boots to Business: From Service to Startup is a national initiative that will be piloted with the U.S. Marine Corps. The announcement was made today by U.S. Small Business Administrator Karen Mills and U.S. Marine Corps representatives at Quantico, VA.

 

“Our service men and women have made incalculable contributions and sacrifices for our country, and supporting them as they pursue their dreams to start or grow their own business is one of our highest priorities,” SBA Administrator Karen Mills said. “Through this partnership, we stand ready with support, entrepreneurial training, and resources that are critical tools to help them start businesses, drive economic growth and create jobs for themselves and their communities.”

 

Entrepreneurship and small business ownership are valuable opportunities for transitioning service members and veterans. Each year, more than 250,000 service members transition out of the military. Transitioning veterans are natural entrepreneurs who possess the skills, experience and leadership to start businesses and create jobs.

 

Veterans make up a large number of successful small business owners. Nine percent of small businesses are veteran-owned. These 2.45 million veteran-owned businesses employ more than 5 million individuals. In the private sector workforce, veterans are more likely than those with no active-duty military experience to be self-employed.

 

Operation Boots to Business: From Service to Startup will help support veterans as they grow businesses and create jobs by building on SBA’s role as a leader in entrepreneurship training.

SBA will help connect veterans with its resource partner network – Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs), Women’s Business Centers (WBCs), SCORE, and Veterans Business Opportunity Centers (VBOCs) – for support throughout the life-cycle of their new businesses.

Through its ongoing collaboration with Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), SBA also will provide comprehensive training materials specifically geared toward transitioning service members.

 

SBA partners will coordinate training and services at military bases around the country, delivering a face-to-face introductory entrepreneurship course. In addition, an intensive eight-week online business planning training will be provided by Syracuse University and its affiliated university partners for those service members who choose to continue to pursue entrepreneurship after the face-to-face introductory course. Following, service members and veterans will be referred to SBDCs, WBCs, SCORE chapters and VBOCs for counseling and training throughout the lifetime of their business.

The program will pilot in four locations: Quantico, Va., Cherry Point, N.C., Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif. It will be expanded across the nation during fiscal year 2013 with the goal of providing entrepreneurial training and awareness to transitioning service members from all branches of the military.

 

For more information on Boots to Business training program, and on how to take part as a transitioning service member, please visit http://www.sba.gov/bootstobusiness.

 

SBA currently engages veterans through its 68 local SBA district offices, 16 Veterans Business Outreach Centers nationwide, and its partnership with 1,000 Small Business Development Centers and some 12,000 SCORE – Counselors to America’s Small Businesses volunteers.

 

Each year SBA helps more than 200,000 veterans, service-disabled veterans and reservists.

To learn more about additional opportunities for veterans available through the SBA, please visit the website at www.sba.gov/vets.

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From: Joe Davis, VFW, Director of Public Affairs
Sent:  Thursday, July 12, 2012 7:15 AM

GOVERNOR ROMNEY TO ADDRESS VFW NATIONAL CONVENTION

WASHINGTON (July 12, 2012) – The presumptive Republican candidate for this fall’s presidential election has accepted an invitation to speak before the 113th National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., which begins July 21 at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nev. The event is closed to the public.

 

“We are most appreciative to Governor Mitt Romney for again taking time to address America’s oldest and largest major combat veterans’ organization,” said VFW National Commander Richard L. DeNoyer, a retired Marine and Vietnam combat veteran from Middleton, Mass. The governor spoke at the VFW's 112th National Convention in San Antonio last August.

 

Governor Romney is scheduled to speak on July 24, one day after President Obama, which continues a long standing VFW tradition to provide a platform for those seeking the nation’s highest office to address issues of importance directly to veterans, military service members and their families. DeNoyer said this is especially important during a time of war and instability abroad, and economic belt tightening at home.

 

“We hope to hear how both candidates will take the fight to our enemies and keep America safe through strong national defense and homeland security programs,” he said. “We also want to know how they will create, enhance and protect veteran and military healthcare programs and Quality of Life initiatives, to include educational benefits and military retirement programs, as well as how they will improve veterans’ job training and employment opportunities, and eliminate veterans' homelessness. We would also greatly appreciate hearing their commitment to returning our fallen from their battlefields.”

 

Up to 12,000 VFW and Ladies Auxiliary delegates are expected to represent the organization’s total membership of 2 million at the weeklong convention. Their mission is to approve new national priorities to guide the VFW as it lobbies Congress on issues important to the nation’s veterans, service members and their families. Convention delegates will also elect a new VFW national commander and recognize prominent individuals and organizations for their support of veterans, the military and the nation.

 

Awards to be presented are:

 

· VFW Gold Medal of Merit to the Montford Point Marine Association, accepted by Dr. James T. Averhart Jr., national president;

 

· VFW Aerospace Award to women’s aviation and space pioneer Wally Funk;

 

· VFW Americanism Award to correspondent and author Joe Galloway;

 

· VFW Armed Services Award to the Army’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, accepted by Col. Barbara R. Holcomb, commanding officer;

· VFW Citizenship Award to “Kids Thank a Veteran” director Cherie Reid;

 

· VFW Dwight D. Eisenhower Award to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno;

 

· and VFW Teacher of the Year awards to Debra Rose Howell (Monte Cristo Elementary School, Granite Falls, Wash.), and George “Bud” Zorman (Mountain Home High School, Ark.).

 

Also addressing the delegates will be:

 

· Deputy Minister Chin, Hsiao-hui, Veterans Affairs Commission, Republic of China on Taiwan;

 

· Spencer Fleming, 2012 Buddy Poppy Child for the VFW National Home for Children, Eaton Rapids, Mich.;

 

· Retired Army Maj. Gen. John P. Herrling, executive director, National Museum of the U.S. Army Campaign;

 

· Retired Army Lt. Gen. Claude M. “Mick” Kicklighter, executive director, 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War Commemoration;

 

· Yekaterina Priyezzheva, Russian co-chair of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs;

 

· Elizabeth Scannell, Goose Creek, S.C., the $30,000 scholarship winner of VFW’s annual Voice of Democracy program;

 

· Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs;

 

· Army Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Tom, commander of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command;

 

· and many others.

 

Although the 113th VFW National Convention is closed to the general public, a video link to the general session will stream live at www.vfw.org beginning at 8 a.m. PDT, July 23-25.

------------------------------------

From: Kevin Secor, VA VSO Liaison
Sent:  Thursday, July 12, 2012 4:07 AM

Subj: HAVE YOU HEARD?

 

VA and the Department of Defense’s Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Coach mobile application marked its first anniversary with receipt of an award for innovation in the advancement of telemedicine from the American Telemedicine Association. “The health and well-being of our brave men and women who have served this Nation is our highest priority,” said Secretary Eric K. Shinseki. “Using the popularity of mobile devices, we can provide important tools to Veterans wherever they are, whenever they need them, whether or not they receive care through VA or DoD.” PTSD Coach, collaboratively developed by VA’s National Centerfor PTSD and DoD’s National Center for Telehealth & Technology, provides education, symptoms-tracking tools, self-assessment and connections to support individuals with PTSD. Since its public release on April 11, 2011, the app has been downloaded more than 53,000 times in more than 60 countries. It is available for free download for both iPhone and Android devices. For more information visit:http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/PTSDCoach.asp.

-----------------------------------

Godspeed all......Wayne

 

Wayne M. Gatewood, Jr. USMC (Ret)

President/CEO

Quality Support, Inc.

A Service Disabled Veteran and Minority Owned-Small Business

8201 Corporate Drive, Suite 220

Landover, MD 20785

301-459-3777 EXT 101   -   Fax 301-459-6961

www.qualitysupport.com

 

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their Nation."  - George Washington