A Variety of Veterans News from Variety of Sources
See You At The 2017 National Women Veterans Summit: The female Veteran population accounts for 10 percent of U.S. Veterans, and that number is expected to grow to 15 percent by 2030. This Veteran population — which is younger and more ethnically diverse than their male peers, experiences unique challenges such as access to gynecologic care during active duty, sexual harassment and a greater likelihood for homelessness and unemployment than male Veterans. In response, VA will discuss these issues at the 2017 National Women Veterans Summit. This event, will promote forward-thinking dialogue and …
Military.com: Top VSO Gets First Female Commander. One hundred years after the first women were permitted to officially join the U.S. military, a woman has been elected to head a top U.S. veterans' service organization. Retired Army Reserve First Sgt. Delphine Metcalf-Foster was elected Aug. 1 as national commander of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) at the organization's annual convention in New Orleans.
Defense News Defining the Military Agenda. Join us Sept. 6, 2017, at the Ritz-Carlton in Pentagon City. The theme of this year’s conference is "Defining the Military Agenda." Registration is currently open. Reserve your seat today.
Associated Press Military scrambles for transgender policy after Trump tweets. President Donald Trump’s tweets declaring transgender people unwelcome in the armed forces have plunged the Pentagon into a legal and moral quagmire, sparking a flurry of meetings to devise a new policy that could lead to hundreds of service members being discharged.
UPI Marine Corps to field new pack frames in 2018. The Marine Corps will begin fielding a reinforced pack frame for their standard rucksacks as early as 2018 after reports of the current issue FILBE frames becoming brittle and snapping in cold weather.
Task & Purpose 15 Reasons The Coast Guard Is Completely Underrated. On August 4, 1790, President George Washington okayed the creation of a Revenue Cutter Service to collect tariffs from U.S.-bound ships. Two-hundred and twenty-seven years later — after absorbing the Lifesaving Service and the Lighthouse Service — the U.S. Coast Guard is alive and well, charged with preserving life and property on the water… along with drug interdiction, counterterror, ice operations, these Huggies, and whatever cash you got.
Austin American-Statesman: Commentary: Military is about combat readiness, not social justice. The authors claim that “the Pentagon spends five times as much on Viagra as providing health care to transgender troops.” While likely true, it should be noted that over 90 percent of the erectile dysfunction meds prescribed are for aging military retirees and aging veterans accessing VA health care.
Politico: Trump and VA unveil telehealth initiative. In an event at the Roosevelt Room Thursday, President Trump and VA Secretary David Shulkin promoted several new telehealth initiatives in the department: — Big new reg: The most surprising for longtime readers is a new regulation allowing doctors to treat patients anywhere in the VA through telemedicine, regardless of location or state licensing laws. Shulkin called it "Anywhere to Anywhere VA Health Care."
Health Data Management: VA to expand telehealth services for Veterans Nationwide. The Department of Veterans Affairs is dramatically expanding its current telehealth capabilities to meet the growing needs of its patient population, particularly in the area of mental health services as well as rural and underserved parts of the United States.
ABC News (AP): VA announces new spending, leadership for Manchester center. The nation's top veterans affairs official promised Friday to bring fresh leadership and additional funding to the embattled Manchester Veterans Administration Medical Center so sick and wounded service members can get the care they deserve.
The Boston Globe: VA Secretary ousts third admin at troubles NH Veterans’ hospital. Hours after arriving at New Hampshire’s only hospital for veterans for his first visit, Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin on Friday announced that he was removing the head of nursing services, the third leader of the troubled Manchester VA Medical Center he has ousted in three weeks.
New Hampshire Public Radio: VA Sec Shulkin Removes Another Official, Promises Funds for Manchester VA. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin has removed a third top official from the Manchester VA. Secretary Shulkin has removed Carol Williams, the medical center's director of nursing and patient care services. It's a move doctors who blew the whistle on problems with the Manchester VA had been calling for.
WMUR (ABC-9, Video): Local Veterans react to visit by VA Secretary to Manchester, Pledged $30 million investment in facility. On a tour of the V.A. Medical Center in Manchester Friday, V.A. Secretary David Shulkin promised millions of dollars to help revamp the facility and improve care. Local veterans said they're hopeful the promised reforms are for real. After whistleblowers highlighted problems at the V.A. Medical Center in Manchester they've received the full attention of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Billings Gazette: Grateful for VA health care. In response to the negative concerns of the VA health care system, consider this: I am a navy veteran of the Vietnam War ending 43 years ago. My health conditions are not service-connected, and I am low-income. Ten years ago, unable to walk without pain, the VA’s vascular surgeon in Ft. Harrison performed a femoral bypass, along with follow-up care and a redirection, done locally at St. V, all at no cost to me.
Stars and Stripes: VA whistleblower gets job in Trump’s new accountability office. Two years ago, Brandon Coleman was placed on paid leave from his job with the Department of Veterans Affairs as an addiction therapist after he reported poor care for mental-health patients at the Phoenix VA hospital — the epicenter of the agency’s wait-time scandal.
The Arizona Republic: Phoenix VA whistleblower assigned to new national accountability office. A Department of Veterans Affairs employee who helped expose a breakdown in veterans' care in Phoenix says he's been assigned to the agency's new Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection. "I don't have a job title yet," said Brandon Coleman, a Marine Corps veteran and former addiction therapist.
The Boston Globe: After family outcry, sick Vet gets room at VA hospital. A sick Navy veteran in desperate need of specialized care in Boston spent days in limbo in a hospital in Bangor, his family says, after the US Department of Veteran Affairs said it would only cover treatment at the medical center in West Roxbury — but that he could not go there, because no bed was available.
Military.com (McClatchy): Court Deals Major Blow to Veterans Suing Over Burn Pits. A federal judge has dismissed a major lawsuit against a defense contractor by veterans and their family members, over burn pit operations in Iraq and Afghanistan that plaintiffs said caused them chronic and sometimes deadly respiratory diseases and cancer.
The News-Review: Home-like residential facility opens doors to Veterans with PSD, substance abuse disorders. No one knows better than Vietnam veteran Jim Gilbert of Roseburg just how important the new residential treatment facility for post-traumatic stress and substance abuse disorders at the Roseburg Veterans Affairs Medical Center will be to his fellow veterans. "It's a fantastic facility," he said. "The services they are making available to veterans today are giving people hope for life."
The Huffington Post: Support for Women Veterans: How Long Has This Been Going On? Back in the Way Back When, as we were setting up the Vet Center program, we put together focus groups to help address issues specific to various groups of vets: women, African American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, physically disabled, etc. That was in 1980, when this photo of the National Advisory Women Veteran Committee was taken.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin gets reprieve, won’t have funding cut for homeless Veterans program. Wisconsin officials were warned that they could lose funding for their homeless veterans programs if they didn’t restructure them. But they continued to operate them as they had been — only to see their support cut. The state learned this summer that it would lose nearly $1 million in annual federal funding used to run the program.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The GI Bill’s wisdom: Congress’ unanimous support reflects the nation. This summer, the Rethink Vets program launched by The Heinz Endowments has been encouraging employers to consider hiring more veterans. The advertising campaign — “Don’t just call veterans heroes. Call them for an interview” and other similar messages — also worked to influence the public perception of veterans and underscore their readiness to join the workforce.
Newsday: Veterans groups, educators on hail expansion of GI Bill. An expansion of the GI Bill approved by Congress last week is being hailed by veterans and college administrators alike as boon to the fortunes of ex-military personnel hoping to reshape their lives with academic degrees.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Wells Fargo pays $108 million on fraud claim by Atlanta whistleblowers. Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $108 million to the federal government to settle two metro Atlanta whistleblowers’ allegations that the bank charged fraudulent fees on veterans’ home refinancing loans. The settlement award, disclosed Friday by an Atlanta firm representing the whistleblowers, is the largest so far to result from the 11-year-old lawsuit.
Reuters: Wells Fargo to pay US $108 million over Veteran’ loans. Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) will pay the U.S. government $108 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit claiming it charged military veterans hidden fees to refinance their mortgages, and concealed the fees when applying for federal loan guarantees.
The Washington Times (AP): VA Medical Center plans for future national history center. A Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Ohio is moving forward with a plan to renovate a warehouse for a future history center. The Dayton Daily News reports (
http://bit.ly/2uoBFam ) the Dayton VA Medical Center will use the warehouse to store more items and create space for a future National VA History Center.
The Washington Times (AP): Georgia law school starting legal clinic for Veterans. A Georgia university’s law school is creating a legal clinic focused on military veterans. Officials at the University of Georgia School of Law say the clinic is funded by a donation from alumnus James Butler. According to a school statement, Butler wanted to honor his father, who was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy.
Task and Purpose This Marine Corps Comic Strip Artist From the 1920s Might Be the Original Terminal Lance. Some things never change, and in the Marine Corps, an institution where upholding tradition is the order of the day, this is doubly true. I’m not talking about eagles, globes, and anchors, immaculate uniforms, or having a high-and-tight, no, I mean the real traditions: the never-ending grunts versus pogs dispute, service rivalries, drunken shenanigans on leave or in the barracks. These staples of the Corps aren’t new, and they’ve provided ample material to enlisted Marines-turned-biting-
satirists for nearly a century.
