Swords to Plowshares

Veterans advocate Jim Strickland has another excellent article up at VAWatchdog.org, this time explaining what effect unnecessary delays have on disabled veterans who have earned their benefits yet are forced to fight a bureaucracy intent on making every effort to deny them those benefits in full.

VA Watchdog: The VA Claims Backlog Explained
By Jim Strickland

The Veterans Benefits Administration (BVA) is notoriously slow to adjudicate claims made by veterans seeking disability compensation benefits.

Just how slow is a matter of ongoing debate. The BVA would like us to believe improvements are being made and Veterans Service Organizations variously agree or disagree, depending on the prevailing winds.

Veterans know how long it takes. Too long. Most veterans would tell you that 3 to 6 months is about what they could live with and not complain.

It’s headlined that there’s backlog of cases pending. Some say the backlog is at one million now…and growing.

The question asked and never answered is, “Why the backlog?”

Veterans understand that the process can be complex. We know that some of us would game the system and VBA has to operate with checks and balances. We get all that.

We don’t get it when our application for a benefit has disappeared down the gaping maw of the VBA and languishes there for 12 months or longer. Continue Reading…

Washington Post: Groups Urge VA to Reform Disability Claim Procedures

Citing a fast-growing backlog of unresolved disability claims, veterans groups and members of Congress are calling for an overhaul of Department of Veterans Affairs procedures for handling cases.

The number of unprocessed disability claims has grown by nearly 100,000 since the beginning of the year and totaled 916,625 as of Saturday, a rise driven in part by increasing numbers of veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Rep. John Hall (D-N.Y.), who last week chaired a House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee meeting titled “Can VA Manage One Million Claims?,” said the department needs “a cultural and management sea change.”

Veterans “are waiting to have their claims and appeals processed,” Hall said at the hearing last Thursday. “They are waiting for compensation. They are waiting for medical assistance and rehabilitation.”

The American Legion, the nation’s largest veterans service organization, says immediate reform is needed. “As the backlog of claims approaches 1 million, and the needs of deserving veterans go unmet, VA can wait no longer to institute new and workable policies and procedures,” said David K. Rehbein, the national commander.

But the VA contends that the 1 million figure is misleading and that, in any event, it is incorrect to refer to it as backlog.

About 234,000 of the unresolved cases involve claims that are awaiting adjustment. An additional 195,000 are on appeal, and about 79,000 are considered miscellaneous. The remaining 410,000 cases are original or reopened claims for disability compensation and represent the “core” of the VA claims inventory, said Michael Walcoff, deputy undersecretary for benefits.

“While we currently have approximately 400,000 claims in our inventory, the majority of these claims are not ‘backlogged,’ ” Walcoff told the subcommittee in prepared testimony. “The inventory is dynamic rather than static. It includes all claims received, whether pending for just a few hours or as long as six months.”

Critics accuse the VA of resorting to semantics. “It seems like they’re looking at ways to minimize the significance of it,” said Steve Smithson, deputy director of veterans affairs and rehabilitation at the American Legion.

“At the end of the day, these are still individual veterans waiting for benefits they were promised,” said Meaghan Smith, a spokeswoman for Hall. “If you asked the veteran waiting, he or she would call it a backlog.”

For Army veteran David Bohan, who fought with the 1st Infantry Division during the Persian Gulf War, the bottom line is that it takes veterans too long to navigate the system. “This is very frustrating and very time-consuming,” Bohan told the subcommittee. “I understand why so many people just give up.” Read on…

House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs: House Passes Historic Bill to Secure Timely Funding for Veterans’ Health Care

Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, June 23, 2009, the House of Representatives approved H.R. 1016, landmark legislation to secure timely funding for veterans’ health care delivered through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Bob Filner (D-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, announced passage of the bill that would authorize the ‘advance appropriations’ process. The bill provides Congress greater ability to develop appropriation bills that provide sufficient funding to meet the best estimate of anticipated demand for VA health care services in future years by allowing funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical accounts one year in advance.

Bob Filner (D-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said, “Today, this House of Representatives took action to respond to years of chronic underfunding of VA medical care. Over the last 22 years, 19 VA budgets have been passed late – and our veterans pay the price with fewer doctors, longer waiting times, and more restricted access for the 6 million veterans using VA health care. Members of the Committee have worked closely with veteran service organizations to pass this landmark bill and guarantee that our veterans have access to comprehensive, quality health care.”

H.R. 1016 would authorize Congress to approve Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical care appropriations one year in advance of the start of each fiscal year. An advance appropriation would provide VA with up to one year in which to plan how to deliver the most efficient and effective care to an increasing number of veterans with increasingly complex medical conditions. Unlike proposals to convert VA health care to a mandatory funding program, an advance appropriation does not create PAYGO concerns since VA health care funding would remain discretionary. Congress employs a PAYGO rule which demands that new proposals must either be budget neutral or offset with savings derived from existing funds.

Additionally, VA will be required to detail estimates in the budget documents it submits annually to Congress. Each July, the VA will be required to report to Congress if it has the resources it needs for the upcoming fiscal year in order for Congress to address any funding imbalances. This will help to safeguard against the VA facing budget shortfalls such as it faced just a few years ago.

Reform of the method in which the VA health care system is funded continues to be a top legislative priority for many veteran service organizations. In a letter sent by eleven veteran service organizations to Members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, a vote for H.R. 1016 “will be among the most important for veterans and their families that the Committee will take this year.” Representatives of these groups offered testimony in support of advance appropriations at a recent Committee hearing which focused on funding the VA of the future. (Testimony available here: HVAC Hearing Information)

Disabled American Veterans National Commander Raymond E. Dempsey said, “Today’s House approval of Chairman Filner’s advance appropriations legislation is a major step towards finally fixing the VA health care funding system, and ensuring that veterans receive the medical services they need and deserve. DAV is grateful to Chairman Filner for working with the Partnership for Veterans Health Care Budget Reform in developing H.R. 1016 and for successfully moving it through the Committee and onto the House floor.”

Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, introduced a companion bill in the Senate, S. 423.

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U.S. Department of Defense: DoD Announces Transferability Options For “Post 9/11 Gi Bill”

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 444-09
June 23, 2009

DoD Announces Transferability Options For “Post 9/11 Gi Bill”
The Defense Department announced today its policy for transferring educational benefits to the spouses and children of service members under the “Post 9/11 GI Bill,” which takes effect Aug. 1, 2009.

“This is as it should be in a volunteer force where families also serve,” said Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy Bill Carr. “Transferability of GI Bill benefits is the most requested initiative we receive from our service members, and we believe it will assist us in retaining highly qualified military personnel.”

Career service members on active duty or in the selected reserve on Aug. 1, 2009, and who are eligible for the “Post 9/11 GI Bill,” may be entitled to transfer all or a portion of their education entitlement to one or more family members. To be eligible, service members must have served in the Armed Forces for at least six years, and agree to serve four additional years, from the date of election to transfer.

Service members with at least 10 years of service, who by DoD or service policy are prevented from committing to four additional years, may transfer their benefits provided they commit for the maximum amount of time allowed by such policy or statute.

Additionally, to maintain proper force structure and promotion opportunities, temporary rules have been developed for service members eligible to retire between Aug. 1, 2009 and Aug. 1, 2012. Depending on their retirement eligibility date, these service members will commit to one to three additional years, from the date of election to transfer.

The services will provide further implementation guidance. Beginning June 29, 2009, eligible service members may make transfer designations by visiting this Web site: https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/. The full transferability policy is available here.

Service members may be eligible for the “Post 9/11 GI Bill” if they served at least 90 aggregate days on active duty on or after Sept. 11, 2001, and were honorably discharged. Based on the length of active duty service, members are entitled to a percentage of the cost of tuition and fees, not to exceed the most expensive in-state undergraduate tuition at a public institution of higher learning. Members not on active duty may also receive a monthly living stipend equal to the basic allowance for housing payable to a military E-5 with dependents, and to an annual $1,000 stipend for books and supplies.

The Department of Veterans Affairs administers the “Post 9/11 GI Bill,” and determines eligibility for education benefits. Further information on eligibility, benefit levels, and application procedures can be found at their Web site, http://www.gibill.va.gov.

Click here for a PDF of the official policy on transferring your Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits.

Associated Press: Number of VA claims poised to hit 1 million

WASHINGTON (AP) — This isn’t the same as getting a free duffel bag for being the millionth person to go through the turnstiles: The Veterans Affairs Department appears poised to have hit the 1 million milestone on claims it still hasn’t processed.

This unwelcome marker approaches as the agency scrambles to hire and train new claims processors, which can take two years. VA officials are working with the Pentagon under orders from President Barack Obama to create by 2012 a system that will allow the two agencies to electronically exchange records, a process now done manually on paper.

Meanwhile, veterans, some of whom were severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, continue to endure financial hardship while their claims are processed. They wait more than four months on average for a claim to be processed, and appealing a claim takes a year and a half on average.

Adding to the backlog are factors ranging from the complexity of processing mental health-related claims of Iraq veterans, to a change that made it easier for Vietnam veterans exposed to the Agent Orange herbicide to qualify for disability payments. The VA says it’s receiving about 13 percent more claims today than it did a year ago.

The VA’s Web site shows the department has more than 722,000 claims and more than 172,000 appeals it currently is processing, for a total of about 900,000. That is up from about 800,000 total claims in January, according to the site. Read on…

Associated Press: VA officials grilled over botched colonoscopies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers sharply criticized the Veterans Affairs Department on Tuesday about why a national scare over botched colonoscopies earlier this year didn’t prompt stronger safeguards at the agency’s medical centers.

Agency officials apologized for the continued weaknesses and told a House subcommittee they would do better. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said he would be disciplining staffers.

The strong reaction came as the agency’s inspector general reported that fewer than half of VA facilities selected for surprise inspections last month had proper training and guidelines in place. That was months after the VA launched a nationwide safety campaign over the discovery of errors at facilities in Miami, Augusta, Ga., and Murfreesboro, Tenn., that could have exposed veterans to HIV and other infections.

John Daigh, VA’s assistant inspector general who led the review, said the findings “troubled me greatly.”

“We think there are systemic issues,” Daigh said.

Providing new details on the mistakes found at Miami’s center, for example, the report said workers there didn’t know for almost five years that they should have been sterilizing an irrigation part on an endoscope used for routine colonoscopies. They also weren’t cleaning a water tube between each procedure as recommended by the manufacturer and were mistakenly attaching the water system to the scope during the colonoscopy instead of before, possibly allowing contamination of sterile components.

The errors — all discovered after the hospital reported in January that it was using its equipment properly — illustrate the potential reach of the problem, not just at VA but in the private sector. Hospitals across the country are using different equipment, training and guidelines. Even as equipment changes, many staffers have continued using the same cleaning practices, James Bagian, VA’s chief patient safety officer, said after the hearing.

“You don’t know you’re wrong until you know you’re wrong,” Bagian said when asked if the agency is confident that mistakes were limited to the three states that have reported problems.

In February, the VA began warning about 10,000 former patients in Georgia, Tennessee and Florida — some who had procedures as far back as 2003 — that they may have been exposed to infections. Although the VA says the chance of infection was remote, the patients were advised to get blood tests for HIV and hepatitis. Read On…

The Los Angeles Times: California vets’ plans thwarted by semantic glitch

Lowe will graduate from USC with an accounting degree later this year, and was hoping to seek an MBA at the university financed by the new Post- 9/11 GI Bill, which promises free or reduced college tuition for veterans who have served since the terrorist attacks.

But in what some officials call an anomaly and critics describe as a classic bureaucratic snafu, the Department of Veterans Affairs has designated the bill’s tuition benefit in California as $0.

The amount veterans are eligible for under the bill, which takes effect Aug. 1, is tied to the highest undergraduate tuition charged by the public institutions in each state. But because California’s public colleges have long described as “fees” what other states call tuition, veterans at private colleges in the state will be ineligible for thousands of dollars in benefits that those elsewhere will receive.

Passed in 2008, the Post-9/11 GI Bill was designed to be flexible, allowing veterans to attend any college, private or public, undergraduate or graduate, and emerge debt-free. In addition to tuition aid, the bill includes book stipends and housing payments, tied to the actual costs in the school’s ZIP Code.

Under the bill’s provisions, veterans who attend California public colleges and universities, or such rare fee-based private schools as the Monterey Institute of International Studies, have their school bills paid in full. And tuition-based private colleges can still give veterans a free ride under a separate provision of the bill called the Yellow Ribbon Program, in which the private schools split some or all tuition costs with the VA.

But college officials and veterans’ advocates say many private universities are balking at joining the Yellow Ribbon Program because of the $0 baseline tuition benefit in California.

“California is one of the lowest-participating states in the program so far,” Rep. Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista) said last month. Read On…

Star-Telegram: VA raising maximum income for nondisabled veterans’ benefits

For the first time in more than six years, a crack has opened in the VA that will allow more middle-income veterans with no disabilities access to primary doctors, hospitals and pharmacies.

Admittedly, it’s a small number of vets who will now qualify for VA benefits, but advocacy groups hope more will follow.

“We’re ecstatic,” said Terry Bigley, commander of the American Legion district in Tarrant County. “There are still quite a few veterans out there who don’t have the finances to go to a doctor, but they make too much to go to the VA.“

Beginning Monday, the VA will increase its income threshold by 10 percent, opening up VA care to an estimated 266,000 more veterans nationwide.

“This gives the veterans a little bit more flexibility in the amount of income they can have,” said Chris Sandles, assistant chief of medical administrative services with the VA’s North Texas system.

For example, in the Fort Worth area, including Johnson and Parker counties, an unmarried veteran can now earn up to $39,820 a year and get medical care from the VA.

In Dallas and Denton counties, that same unmarried veteran can now earn up to $40,975 a year. In Hood County, the amount is $38,610. The income threshold goes up as the number of dependents rises. Read On…

If you believe that you may qualify for health care benefits under this increased income threshold please contact your local Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center to determine eligibility.

CBS News: Army Reports Suicide Spike In May

Potential Army suicides more than doubled in May compared to the previous month and are up significantly for 2009, according the U.S. Defense Department.

The Army reported one confirmed suicide and 16 potential cases among active-duty soldiers last month. In April, there were a total of eight cases - three confirmed and five still under investigation, according to the Pentagon.

In all, there have been 82 reported suicides in 2009 - 45 confirmed, 37 pending review. During the same period in 2008, there were 51 cases among soldiers. Read On…

Sacramento Bee: 15 months after bloodbath in Iraq, young veteran takes his life

On March 7, 2007, Army Spc. Trevor Hogue was inside his barracks in Baghdad, describing his morning on the battlefield.

“I saw things today that I think will mess me up for life,” Hogue typed to his mother, Donna, as she sat at her computer thousands of miles away from Iraq, in Granite Bay.

That day the young soldier, whose assignment included driving a Humvee through perhaps the most dangerous ZIP code on the globe, saw his sergeant blown to pieces. He saw the bodies of half of the men in his platoon torn apart. Heads were cut off and limbs severed. It happened 30 yards in front of him, and he had never been so afraid, he told his mom.

“My arms are around you,” Donna Hogue wrote. “You’ll be alright.”

But Hogue never really recovered. Last week, he committed suicide by hanging himself in the backyard of his childhood home. He was 24 years old.

According to the Army, soldiers are killing themselves at the highest rate in nearly three decades, surpassing the civilian suicide rate for the first time since the Vietnam War.

At least 128 U.S. soldiers killed themselves last year, a number that has risen four years in a row. The death toll could be even higher this year. Through April, 91 soldiers had committed suicide. Read On…

Note: All emphases and links in this post have been added on. For a cited PDF version of this document click here.

Solving Homelessness Among Veterans: Paradigm Shift Required

Achieving Secretary Shinseki’s stated goal of eliminating homelessness among veterans over the next five years requires a paradigm shift in thinking.

The need for new thinking is reflected in the June 3, 2009 testimony before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, where advocates and officials speak only of existing VA and DOL programs. With 150,000 or more homeless veterans appearing on any given night in this country, including 34,500 to 60,000 chronically homeless veterans*, it must be acknowledged that existing VA and DOL programs, even if brought to scale, will not solve this problem, will not achieve the Secretary’s goal.

*The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that there are between 150,000 and 200,000 chronically homeless individuals in this country . Veterans are estimated to be 23% to 40% of the homeless adult population.

Existing programs such as the Grant & Per Diem (GPD) program should be brought to sufficient scale to address the treatment and housing placement needs of those many homeless veterans that are able to succeed in this setting. But there needs to be a sufficient stock of affordable housing created for these men and women to transition into. Veterans who do well in such an expanded program will also be able to take advantage of programs such as the Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program, finding employment and paths to self-sufficiency. But for many, without the creation of adequate affordable housing for them to transition into, they will complete GPD transitional housing programs only to become marginally housed, living in settings such as seedy SRO hotels, where rampant alcohol and drug use, and generally unsavory conditions lead many to relapse and return to homelessness. HUD VASH is a good start on providing that affordable housing, and can meet the needs of many such veterans and should be expanded to truly meet their needs.

To break the cycle of homelessness, the chronically homeless veteran population needs Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH). The current HUD-VASH model does not meet their needs. These men and women have disabling conditions that generally interfere with their ability to do well in the highly structured residential treatment milieu that effective GPD programs engender. If placed in housing, even a subsidized HUD VASH apartment with ties to a VA Social Worker, many will not be able to succeed. We need to create approximately 30,000 PSH units nationwide, dedicated to housing chronically homeless veterans, utilizing the lessons learned from providers who have been successfully housing chronically homeless individuals for many years. As multiple studies clearly indicate, for chronic homelessness, PSH is the intervention that works.

Concerted efforts need to be taken in order to create this housing, and multiple models should be utilized. These models include scattered sites (as in HUD-VASH housing choice vouchers), master leased facilities, the creation of PSH projects dedicated to serving homeless veterans, and mixed use affordable housing facilities that include a portion of PSH tenants.

At Swords to Plowshares, we have found that many formerly homeless veterans with disabling conditions prefer to live in veteran-specific housing, living among their peers, and although veterans have not been studied in this specific regard, research does support population-specific programs for certain populations who feel more comfortable there . For veterans with PTSD and or depression, isolation is a distinct problem, even when housed. Veteran-specific communities help break down that isolation, and studies have shown that individuals in project-based PSH experience lessened feelings of isolation than do those in scattered site housing.

We have seen in over twenty years of operating veteran-specific supportive housing programs, including nearly ten years operating The Veterans Academy, a 102-unit PSH project for disabled, formerly homeless veterans, that many veterans do better in these settings than in non-veteran programs and facilities. In veteran-specific programs, veterans are able to draw upon the therapeutic aspects of their shared history, hearkening back to a time when they were an integral part of a functioning unit, providing an esprit that does not exist in mixed population programs. They are also more able to open up about their military experiences, in a group of peers who understand PTSD, TBI, and other military-associated conditions, which many are reluctant to do with civilian populations.

Models exist. The City of San Francisco embarked upon a program to create 15,000 units of permanent supportive housing, utilizing the multi-model approached mentioned above. To date, and in faltering local and state economies, approximately 9,000 units have been created. Through this targeted intervention of creating supportive housing over a three year period, San Francisco reduced homelessness by 28 percent, reduced street homelessness by 40 percent, and reduced the number of people who died while living on the streets by 40 percent from the prior year. This type of intervention can be brought to scale nation-wide to meet the needs of homeless veterans.

In summation, neither the VA nor Congress needs to recreate the wheel. What is needed is to think beyond existing VA and DOL programs designed to serve homeless veterans. New programs need to be created, or existing programs adapted, to include the distinct needs of chronically homeless veterans. The 20,000 authorized HUD-VASH vouchers will meet a portion of this need, although the VA has acknowledged that most of the existing vouchers are not going to chronically homeless veterans. To achieve stable, permanent housing, chronically homeless individuals require low-barrier entry into that housing. Understandably, with a limited number of vouchers, the VA is issuing HUD-VASH vouchers to “treatment compliant” veterans . Our own experience illustrates that this approach excludes most chronically homeless veterans, who require on-site supportive services and the utilization of techniques such as assertive case management, harm reduction, and motivational interviewing in order to succeed in maintaining housing once obtained. Low-demand programs, with assertive on-site services are directly associated with improved outcomes.

If we are to house this population successfully, what will be needed are 30,000 or more new Permanent Supportive Housing units nationwide. If San Francisco can achieve the aforementioned reductions in homelessness in three years, the federal government, with significant reliance upon effective community-based partners experienced in creating and operating supportive housing, can achieve Secretary Shinseki’s goal by 2016.

Teams should be brought to the table in every major metropolitan area, which would include federal partners, local governments, non-profit housing developers, community-based veteran service agencies, and the local Housing Authority, in order to develop specific plans in each locality, to effectively create the number of PSH units necessary to eliminate chronic homelessness among veterans in each locality. Per Diem programs should be expanded to meet the anticipated needs of episodically homeless veterans over the coming years, and affordable housing, where needed, must be built in order to house those veterans once they have stabilized.

In this way President Obama’s stated Zero Tolerance for homelessness among veterans, and Secretary Shinseki’s goal of eliminating veteran homelessness within five years can be realized.

Leon Winston,
June 10, 2009

Leon Winston is the Chief Operating Officer of Swords to Plowshares, San Francisco, CA, where he has worked on the housing, treatment, and income-support issues of homeless veterans since 1995. He is past co-chair of the San Francisco Homeless Coordinating Board, past president of the Treasure Island Homeless Development Initiative, and is a formerly homeless veteran. He has presented on Veterans Permanent Supportive Housing nationwide, and holds Master of Nonprofit Administration and Bachelor of Public Administration degrees from the University of San Francisco.

What is The Yellow Ribbon Program?

The Post-9/11 GI Bill pays up to the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition and fees. You may have tuition and fees that exceed that amount if you are attending a private institution, graduate school or attending in an out-of-state status. If you are enrolled at a Yellow Ribbon participating institution and the tuition and fees exceed the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition or fees, additional funds may be available for your education program without an additional charge to your entitlement.

Institutions that voluntarily enter into a Yellow Ribbon Agreement with VA choose the amount of tuition and fees that will be contributed. VA will match that amount and issue payment directly to the institution.

Participating schools include such prestigious institutions as Harvard (Including Harvard Law School), Pomona College, Dartmouth, George Washington University, and many others.

The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities has put together an informal list of participating schools with some additional information about the program.

You can also do a by state search of participating schools here: http://www.gibill.va.gov/GI_Bill_Info/CH33/YRP/YRP_List.htm

Military Times’ Kelly Kennedy examines the role communities can play in addressing the needs of those suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Read the full story here.

American Forces Press Service: VA Emphasizes Education Before Post-9/11 GI Bill Switch

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2009 – As the Department of Veterans Affairs begins accepting sign-ups tomorrow for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, officials are encouraging anyone considering enrolling in the program to get educated about it first to ensure it’s right for them.

“Starting tomorrow, people can start applying for the new benefit,” said Keith Wilson, director of education service for the Veterans Benefits Administration. “We’re excited.”

The Post-9/11 Bill that takes effect Aug. 1 has generated a lot of buzz. In addition to broader educational benefits, it includes a popular provision that will enable enrollees to transfer their benefits to immediate family members.

But before electing to shift to the new program from the Montgomery GI Bill or another VA-sponsored education program — an irrevocable decision — Wilson recommends that they get the facts to make sure it’s the best move for them.

“It’s a great program, and it’s going to be beneficial for a lot of veterans,” he said of the Post-9/11 benefit. But jumping too quickly to sign up without fully evaluating it ultimately could shortchange some people, he said.

So as VA works to get word out about the Post-9/11 GI Bill, it has also geared up a big education campaign about what it does and doesn’t deliver.

“The important thing to remember is that this is one of several programs we administer, all of which have different eligibility criteria,” Wilson said. “The program that is best for the individual veteran is not always going to be the Post-9/11 GI Bill.”

Among questions Wilson encourages people to consider when making the decision are:

– Which benefit will pay more? This needs to factor in, not just what VA pays, but also the impact on any other educational assistance the person receives. For example, if the student attends school in one of the many states that offers veterans free tuition or receives another form of state or campus aid, will switching to the Post-9/11 benefit change that?

– What tier of benefit are they eligible for under the Post-9/11 GI Bill? The program includes three payments: tuition and fees, a living allowance, and a book and supply stipend. But current active-duty members can’t receive the living allowance.

– What type of training do they want to pursue? Not all training covered by the Montgomery GI Bill, for example, is covered by the Post-9/11 bill. The new benefit, for example, doesn’t cover technical school training.

– How long do you expect to take to use the benefit? The Post-9/11 GI Bill pays out benefits for 15 years, five years longer than the Montgomery GI Bill benefit.

– Do you plan to attend school less than full-time? It will affect whether you receive the housing allowance under the Post-9/11 benefit.

– Do you plan to transfer your unused benefits to an immediate family member? Only the Post-9/11 benefit offers that option.

“There are a series of things, both monetary and nonmonetary, that individuals need to consider,” Wilson said.

Wilson encourages anyone eyeing the new Post-9/11 program to read up about it on the VA Web site. Those who need additional assistance can click on a link on the site to e-mail VA officials with a question, or can talk with a VA benefits counselor by calling 1-888-GI-BILL-1 toll-free, he said.

“We’re emphasizing education so people understand the full range of our educational programs,” Wilson said. “We really want to be sure we tailor the best program to the individual.”

Meanwhile, a disabled Iraqi war veteran now serving as a top VA official is going to some unprecedented lengths to ensure servicemembers and veterans alike understand the opportunities available to them through the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Tammy Duckworth, who was confirmed last week as VA’s assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs, taped a YouTube video earlier this week to encourage those who qualify for the benefit to check it out.

Although the new benefit doesn’t take effect until Aug. 1, Duckworth said, it’s time to get busy now so people can make decisions about enrolling in the program in time to use it to cover educational costs during the upcoming fall semester.

“Right now is when students are getting their acceptance letters from universities and trying to decide what school they are going to,” she said.

Similarly, she said, current servicemembers may be making decisions about whether they will re-enlist in the military, and whether they can afford college.

Defense Department officials emphasize that applicants must be on active duty or in the Selected Reserve on Aug. 1 to qualify for transferability provisions under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Duckworth is busy tapping into just about any communications vehicle available – from the VA Web site to newsletters to veterans service groups and community outreach – to help get word out about the new benefit.

She’s also hoping the YouTube video will help. “It’s to put a face of another [Operation Iraqi Freedom] veteran out there telling other OIF vets, ‘You have earned these benefits, this is going to start in August,’ and encouraging them to get more information so they can decide if this is right for them,” she said.

Duckworth understands her audience well. A member of the Illinois Army National Guard, she was deployed to Iraq in November 2004 when militants attacked the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting. The rocket-propelled grenade cost Duckworth both legs and severely damaged her right arm.

Now, as she reaches out to fellow veterans of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, Duckworth emphasized that she’s not “selling” the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

“There are three different GI bills that they can choose from,” she said, echoing Wilson. “Just because this is the newest doesn’t mean this is the most appropriate for the veteran. They have to get good information so they can make the best decision as to whether or not the Post-9/11 GI Bill is the right one for them.”

The Augusta Chronicle: Veteran’s death suit is settled

The federal government has decided to settle a lawsuit filed by the widow of a veteran who hanged himself about 12 hours after being admitted to a mental health ward.

The $390,000 settlement paid to Ingrid Keller ends all possible claims against the government in connection with the Oct. 29, 2006, death of Maynard E. Keller Jr. Tuesday’s settlement specifically states there is no admission of liability.

Mr. Keller, 55, retired from the Army after 24 years. He worked as a truck driver until his death.

The lawsuit filed last year in U.S. District Court alleged the Uptown Division of the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center was negligent in ensuring a safe environment.

Mr. Keller was able to use the privacy curtain around his bed to fashion a noose. The curtain should have been designed to break away when pressure was applied, said the Kellers’ attorney Andrew Tisdale…

Mr. Keller was admitted to the center’s locked mental health ward. About 12 hours later he was found dead.

The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems and the Veterans Health Administration all have guidelines on suicide prevention strategies for hospitals. Included is the requirement to eliminate or mitigate environmental risk factors.

The Inspector General’s report noted the VA Medical Center should have had the required low-weight breakaway hardware on the mental health ward.

After Mr. Keller’s death the center’s staff immediately modified its mental health wards to remove private curtains and towel bars, which also posed a possible danger for suicidal patients.

Earlier this year the government settled another case involving the VA and a veteran’s suicide.

The Public Record: U.S. Settles Lawsuit With Parents of Iraq War Vet Who Committed Suicide

The federal government has settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the family of an Iraq war veteran who hung himself in his parents’ basement in June 2005 after being turned away by doctors at a Veterans Administration hospital in Massachusetts where he sought help for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Kevin and Joyce Lucey sued the U.S. government in federal court in Springfield, Mass in July 2007. It was the first wrongful death lawsuit filed against the U.S. government for failing to properly treat and diagnose veterans’ who suffered from mental health problems associated with the Iraq war.

Two weeks ago, the Department of Justice sent Luceys’ attorney, Cristobal Bonifaz, a letter acknowledging that the Veterans Administration provided Lucey with substandard care. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen L. Goodwin said the government is not responsible for the suicide of Marine Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey.

“Jeffrey’s suicide while under VA care was a tragedy for the VA and the individual care providers,” the DOJ’s Jan. 6, letter says. The DOJ proposed to pay $350,000 to settle the matter. The Luceys accepted the offer.

It should be added that according to VA “Our [VA] suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our medical facilities.” And, there are 18 completed veteran suicides per day among all US veterans.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/21/cbsnews_investigates/main4032921.shtml

Amy Times Reports that as many as 13 soldiers are believed to have killed themselves in March, bringing the number of reported soldier suicides this year to 56, officials announced April 10.

Read the full story here

During President Barack Obama’s online town hall meeting the President took a question dealing with America’s veterans. Below is the transcript of the question and the President’s answer.

The White House Blog: Wrapping Up Open for Questions

DR. BERNSTEIN: Thank you for clearing that up. (Laughter.) This next question comes from Columbia, South Carolina: “The unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is higher than the national unemployment rate. Our veterans are a national treasure. How can you, the VA, and I ensure our veterans are successfully transitioning into civilian life?”

THE PRESIDENT: That’s a great question. You know, I had just an extraordinary honor — yesterday was Medal of Honor Day. And I went to Arlington National Cemetery, and we had a ceremony in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with a collection of Medal of Honor winners from all our various wars.

And a special place of honor was a guy named John Finn, who had been present the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. He was on one of the ships, was shot by — was strafed by the fire from the planes coming in, and yet still had the presence of mind to shoot down a plane, and won the Medal of Honor — or was awarded the Medal of Honor for that.

And it just reminds you that we wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t been for the sacrifices of earlier veterans. We would not — (applause) — we would not enjoy the same safety and security and liberty that we do.

So when our veterans come home from Iraq and Afghanistan — and they have performed brilliantly, they have done everything that’s been asked of them, regardless of what your views are on these wars — they have earned these benefits that all too often we fail to give them.

And that’s why in my budget we are increasing veterans funding by more than any time in the last 30 years. We’re going to make sure that we deal with the — (applause) — we’re going to make sure that deal with the backlog that too many veterans experience in terms of getting benefits. We’re going to make sure that homeless veterans are receiving housing and services.

The homeless rate for veterans is multiple times higher than it is for non-veterans. That’s inexcusable. It means that we’re going to provide services for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, that we’re going to provide services for Traumatic Brain Injury that are the signature injuries of these recent wars. So we are going to significantly increase veterans spending.

Now, just as is true generally, government alone can’t do it. So all of us individually are going to have roles. If you’re a business owner, hiring a veteran, not discriminating against somebody who’s a veteran is going to be absolutely critical. In your communities, in your churches, in your neighborhoods, making sure that there’s outreach and celebration of veterans when they come home, that’s going to be critical.

I think we’ve done a much better job during these wars than we did during Vietnam, where in many cases our treatment of veterans was inexcusable. But we can always do more. Government is going to do its role, and then we’ve got to make sure that our communities do their role, as well.

Click here for full video or here for full transcript of the President’s online town hall meeting.

With the general increase in homelessness there can be no doubt that the number of homeless veterans is also increasing, especially in the state of California.

New York Times: Cities Deal With a Surge in Shantytowns

FRESNO, Calif. — As the operations manager of an outreach center for the homeless here, Paul Stack is used to seeing people down on their luck. What he had never seen before was people living in tents and lean-tos on the railroad lot across from the center.

“They just popped up about 18 months ago,” Mr. Stack said. “One day it was empty. The next day, there were people living there.”

Like a dozen or so other cities across the nation, Fresno is dealing with an unhappy déjà vu: the arrival of modern-day Hoovervilles, illegal encampments of homeless people that are reminiscent, on a far smaller scale, of Depression-era shantytowns. At his news conference on Tuesday night, President Obama was asked directly about the tent cities and responded by saying that it was “not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours.”

While encampments and street living have always been a part of the landscape in big cities like Los Angeles and New York, these new tent cities have taken root — or grown from smaller enclaves of the homeless as more people lose jobs and housing — in such disparate places as Nashville, Olympia, Wash., and St. Petersburg, Fla.

In Seattle, homeless residents in the city’s 100-person encampment call it Nickelsville, an unflattering reference to the mayor, Greg Nickels. A tent city in Sacramento prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to announce a plan Wednesday to shift the entire 125-person encampment to a nearby fairground.

During the day, the camp can seem peaceful. American flags fly over some shanties, and neighbors greet one another. Some feed pets, while others build fires and chat.

Daniel Kent, a clean-shaven 27-year-old from Oregon, has been living in Taco Flats for three months after running out of money on a planned hitchhiking trip to Florida. He did manage to earn $35 a day holding up a going-out-of-business sign for Mervyn’s until the department store actually went of out business.

Mr. Kent planned to attend a job fair soon, but said he did not completely mind living outdoors.

“We got veterans out here; we got people with heart, proud to be who they are,” Mr. Kent said. “Regardless of living situations, it doesn’t change the heart. There’s some good people out here, really good people.” Read On…

This bill seeks to end the inequity “non-combat” veterans deployed to war zones must deal with when it comes to a disability claim for PTSD. The COMBAT PTSD Act, introduced by Rep. John Hall, would clarify the phrase “combat with the enemy,” for purposes of proof of service-connection for veterans’ disability compensation, by including in this definition, deployment “in a theater of combat operations during a period of war; or in combat against a hostile force during a period of hostilities.”

Ian C. De Planque, Assistant Director of the American Legion’s Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Commission, explains:

Combat veterans have a huge advantage when attempting to establish service-connection for PTSD or other medical conditions incurred or aggravated in combat. Claims for service-connection of a combat-related condition receive special treatment under law and regulation administered by Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). They receive favorable treatment because war is, and has always been, a chaotic endeavor. It can be difficult to record every detail of operations in the heat of battle. There are so many unrecorded nuances to the activity of military forces that Congress has specifically directed that the special circumstance of combat merit special circumstances in the establishment of incidents during military service in the conditions of war. Therefore, if a combat veteran states that he or she suffered a disease, injury, or stressor event during combat, VA must generally accept that statement as fact. This is true even if there are no service records that support the statement.

Servicemembers, who received a combat-related badge or award for valor, trigger the combat-related presumptions of Section 1154(b), but a clerk riding in a Humvee, who witnessed the carnage of an IED attack on a convoy, and later develops PTSD, does not automatically trigger such a presumption. Proving that the incident happened or that clerk was involved in the incident, in order to benefit from the presumption afforded under Section 1154(b), can be extremely time consuming and difficult. In some instances, it may even be impossible to submit official documentation or records of the incident because such records do not exist. A good example of this is a soldier stationed in the Green Zone in Iraq who falls and injures his or her knee while running for cover during a mortar attack and later develops a chronic knee condition, but never received treatment after the initial injury. Since the soldier didn’t think he or she was hurt that bad and never sought treatment for the knee, the only proof the soldier has to offer that he or she injured his or her knee during an enemy attack on his or her base is his or her word. Since the soldier was stationed in a “safe” area and did not receive a combat decoration or award or participate in any combat operations, establishing that he or she “engaged in combat with the enemy” in order to satisfy the current narrow interpretation of the phrase just to trigger the provisions of Section 1154(b) will be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Adding to this already difficult burden is the VA General Counsel decision ruling that “the absence from a veteran’s service records of any ordinary indicators of combat service may, in appropriate cases, support a reasonable inference that the veteran did not engage in combat.” This means that, according to the General Counsel, records supporting such an inference may be considered as negative evidence even though they do not affirmatively show that the veteran did not engage in combat. Read On…

Opening Statement of Hon. John J. Hall, Chairman, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs

The current Rating Schedule for PTSD has been described as vague and subjective. Furthermore, the adjudication process does not solely accept, as the law prescribes, lay evidence as sufficient proof as long as it is consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hardships of such service, notwithstanding that there is no official record. This law should seem self-evident as to the intent of Congress! So why isn’t it? The controversy seems to exist because of numerous interpretations of Congressional intent. Leading decision makers at VA General Counsel have issued opinions and Court decisions concluded that if it were the intent of Congress to specify a combat zone or a theater of combat operations, Congress would have done so as it has in other provisions of the law under title 38, but omitted in Section 1154.

My intention today is to re-open this dialogue. The nature of wartime service has changed as many can agree. Warfare encompasses acts of terrorism, insurgency, and guerilla tactics. No place is safe and the enemy may not be readily identifiable.

Psychiatry has changed too. PTSD is a relatively new diagnosis; first having appeared in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in 1980 – five years after the end of the Vietnam War. An array of mental health research has been conducted and assessment techniques have been developed. Since the world is not the same place it was in 1941, I have introduced HR 952, the Combat PTSD Act to redefine section 1154 to include a theater of combat operations during a period of war or in combat against a hostile force.

There should be a better way for VA to assist veterans suffering from PTSD adjudicate those claims without it being burdensome, stressful and adversarial. Veterans still face issues with stigma, gender and racial disparities in rating decisions, poorly conducted disability exams, and inadequate military histories. So, I am eager to hear from the witnesses today about their experiences with denials, inequities, and variances. In the last few years, the IOM comprehensively reviewed the research on PTSD diagnosis, assessment, and compensation. In 2008, the RAND Report on the Invisible Wounds of War gave us a new perspective on the costs of war when soldiers are left without treatment or support and I look forward to hearing more of its witness’ analysis. Finally, DoD and VA will share their insights into how they determine combat vs. noncombat and how they have chosen to evaluate PTSD disability. Read On…

For all testimonies and full video of the hearing follow this link.

Carolyn Schapper - Representative for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America testified before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.

The nature of modern warfare and the history of this conflict force us to constantly reassess the conventional wisdom surrounding what we perceive to be the “front lines”. No longer is there a single line in the sand where the military operates according to a rigid force structure that defines the rolls of combat, combat support and combat service support soldiers. To determine whether one’s Post Traumatic Stress is combat related based on an outdated perception of combat operations hurts veterans and is an active impediment to the recovery and reintegration process…

H.R. 952, introduced by the chairman, corrects this hole in the evaluation process by changing title 38 to presume service connection for PTSD based solely on a soldier’s presence in a combat zone. This is a common sense solution to a complex problem that continues to change as the nature of warfare evolves. Read On…

Paul Sullivan, Executive Director of Veterans for Common Sense commented:

The scientific evidence is overwhelming: engaging in combat with the enemy can and does cause PTSD among some veterans. In addition, the scientific evidence concludes that deployment itself, without combat, is also linked to PTSD and suicide. Due to VA’s cumbersome, complex, and adversarial rules for veterans diagnosed with PTSD to prove the existence of a combat stressor incident, VA takes longer than six months to process PTSD claims. As a result, VA’s claim system becomes further mired in a growing backlog of benefit requests.

VCS believes a fair and reasonable way to resolve this situation, keeping with VA’s stated objective of putting veterans first, would be to define combat under the law (38 USC § 1154) as deployment to any nation or body of water declared a war zone by the Department of Defense. Deployment itself, not combat with the enemy, should be considered the stressor for PTSD claims, as the IOM study concluded.

In an effort to resolve VA’s claim crisis, VCS urges Congress to pass HR 952 as soon as possible because of VA’s continued adversarial policies against veterans and because VA has utterly failed to address the PTSD claim disaster. VA’s crisis is expected to worsen significantly as the two current wars continue and multiple deployments increase. Based on VA’s healthcare use reports indicating 10,000 new, first-time Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans flooding into VA each month, VCS estimates VA may diagnose and treat total of 450,000 mental health patients by the end of 2013, including as many as 250,000 diagnosed with PTSD.

Now is the time to fix the problem of unreasonable claim delays for veterans with PTSD so they can receive the disability benefits needed and earned in a timely manner. With a new law, VA should be able to quickly approve tens of thousands of PTSD claims filed by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans that remain mired in VA red tape. Veterans of other conflicts may also find justice with the passage of HR 952.

VA should and could be putting disability benefits into the hands of deserving veterans during the current economic crisis when their need is most acute. A timely and proper adjudication of claims may make the difference between staying in a home or living on the streets for veterans, especially veterans deployed to a war zone with PTSD.

Although enactment of HR 952 may cost billions of dollars in the short-term, these are entitlement payments VA will eventually pay to veterans and survivors. This is true because VA confirms fraudulent claims are nearly non-existent. VA may actually realize a cost savings and improved efficiency when VA employees now working on complex and time-consuming PTSD claims are freed up to process other disability compensation claims of equally deserving veterans. Read On…

Filner Reintroduces Bill to Help Vietnam Veterans Suffering from Parkinson’s Disease

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 23, 2009

Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Bob Filner reintroduced a bill that would grant service connection for Parkinson’s disease for Vietnam veterans. H.R. 1428 would establish a presumption of service-connection for Parkinson’s disease due to exposure to Agent Orange for Vietnam veterans afflicted with this degenerative and incurable condition. Approximately 20 million gallons of herbicides were used in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to remove unwanted defoliation and vegetation that provided cover for enemy forces during the Vietnam War. Shortly following their military service in Vietnam, some veterans reported a variety of health problems and concerns due to exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides and pesticides.

“Strong evidence has existed for decades to make the association link between exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides and Parkinson’s disease,” stated Chairman Filner. “I believe we need to examine the disconnect between modern medicine and the current provisions which only allow service-connection for chronic conditions that manifest within one-year of service. Modern science clearly establishes that the symptoms of these many degenerative diseases can take decades to onset. Time is running out for many of our Vietnam veterans suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Many have already lost the battle and those who remain, along with their families, are fighting for their lives everyday, uncompensated for their sacrifice.”

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

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Salina.com: ‘Atomic veterans’ slowly gain recognition

The check stub and a notification letter rest in a file stuffed with Salinan James Trepoy’s military paperwork.

The sum — a whopping $75,000 — initially made Trepoy afraid to cash the check. Then he kept all the money in the bank for a time, fearing someone had a mistake and he would get a call to send it back.

The letter accompanying the check looked official enough, bearing letterhead from the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, in Washington, D.C.

“This is to inform you that your claim for compensation under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program has been approved,” the letter read.

Trepoy, 88, is among an estimated group of more than 200,000 former soldiers who were witnesses to above-ground and undersea atomic tests conducted between 1945 and 1963.

Nicknamed “atomic veterans,” the soldiers were part of the testing because various governments wanted to see if troops could operate on battlefields contaminated by radiation from nuclear bombs.

Retired veterans Larry Halloran, of Mulvane, and Gary Thornton, of Leon, have made it a mission to track down atomic veterans in Kansas, particularly older vets such as Trepoy, to make them aware of their eligibility for financial compensation from the government under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program Act.

“If it hadn’t have been for him (Halloran), I’d have never known,” Trepoy said.

Today, the largest group of atomic veteran survivors is the National Association of Atomic Veterans, and Gary Thornton is a member and former commander of the state chapter.

Thornton witnessed eight nuclear detonations in 1962 off of Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean. Thornton says thousands of atomic veterans have died while they begged for medical help, as the government was reluctant to acknowledge the health problems created by atomic tests.

The 225,000 military personnel involved with testing between 1945 and 1963 weren’t even authorized to speak about their experiences, as the information about their service remained classified until 1996, he said. Read On…

CBS Evening News: Sexual Assault Permeates U.S. Armed Forces

One in three female soldiers will experience sexual assault while serving in the military, compared to one in six women in the civilian world. The Pentagon released a disturbing report Tuesday on sexual abuse in the military, saying that more than 2,900 sexual assaults were reported last year, up nearly 9 percent from the year before. Nearly two-thirds of the cases involved rape or aggravated assault.

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, introduced major bi-partisan legislation to prepare the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the influx of women veterans who will access care there in the coming years. Senator Murray’s bill, the Women Veterans Health Improvement Act of 2009, will address many of the unique needs of female veterans, particularly those women who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) is the lead co-sponsor of the legislation and has also played a vocal role in ensuring the VA meets the unique needs of female veterans.

“Women have stepped up to serve at unprecedented levels,” said Senator Murray. “Which means the VA is now faced with unprecedented challenges in caring for them as they return home. This bill addresses the unique challenges women face by providing specialized care for the visible and invisible wounds of war. As more women begin to transition home, and step back into lives as mothers, wives, and citizens, the VA must be there for them.”

“Women serving in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and performing dangerous missions throughout the world make up an important and growing segment of our veteran population. The number of women veterans receiving care through the VA is expected to double in less than five years,” said Senator Hutchison. “Our bill will help improve access to quality health care services for women who have bravely served in our armed forces.”

“Generations of women have served honorably in all of this country’s major conflicts. These women have earned the right to expect the same high quality health care services and benefits as their male counterparts,” said Dave Gorman, Executive Director of Disabled American Veterans (DAV). “While significant progress has been made in recent years to remove institutional barriers that often discourage women veterans from seeking assistance at VA facilities, more needs to be done. The Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act will help ensure these women have equal access to VA benefits and services. DAV is proud to have worked on this legislation with Senator Murray, who has proven herself time and again to be a steadfast and effective champion for all of America’s veterans.”

Senators Murray and Hutchison’s bill was co-sponsored by Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Susan Collins (R-ME), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Lisa Murkowski (D-AK), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

“The brave women of our military have been fighting side-by-side in Iraq and Afghanistan with our men in uniform so that we may live in freedom – they deserve the same support from the government when they return home,” Senator Mikulski said. “There is currently an unprecedented number of women defending their country at war. We owe them a debt of gratitude, and that means making sure they have a VA health care system that meets their needs.”

“More women are serving in the military today than at any time and this number is only growing. They face unique challenges and the VA must be prepared to meet their needs,” said Senator Boxer.

“With over 10,000 women veterans in Maine, and almost two million across the nation, each are patriots that have answered their nation’s call, and it is essential the nation be there for them when they return to the homefront and their families,” Senator Snowe said. “I am honored to join with my colleagues to introduce this bill today that rightfully recognizes and addresses issues with which many of these veterans and their families are managing today.”

“Our women vets have served courageously and selflessly alongside their fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. The time has come that we recognize the unique needs of these veterans by respecting their differences and addressing the inequities that may exist in the system,” said Senator Johnson, Chairman of the Senate Military Construction / VA Appropriations Subcommittee.

“This legislation will help ensure that our women in the military return home to a high quality health care system that they certainly deserve and have earned. I am proud to recognize the invaluable service that our service members have made, and I will continue to assist those who do so much to protect our nation,” said Senator Lincoln.

“For far too long, the VA has operated with a “one size – fits all” culture,” said Senator Murkowski. “Those days are gone. The physical, mental and reproductive health challenges that face women veterans may require a different menu of services, delivered in a different way than the VA has grown accustomed. This legislation sends a powerful wake-up call that America’s 1.7 million women veterans earned their benefits too and it is time for the VA to step up and meet its needs.”

“American service women need to know that their commitment to this country is both recognized and honored,” said Senator Brown. “We must meet the obligations of every veteran in a way that reflects their bravery and sacrifice. This bill would expand the VA’s resources to address gaps in services and provide women with access to benefits they have earned.”

Among other things, the legislation introduced today will:

• Require the VA to implement a program to train, educate, and certify VA mental health professionals to care for women with sexual trauma
• Require the VA Secretary to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the barriers women are facing in accessing care at the VA.
• Authorize a report to Congress on the effects the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had on the physical, mental, and reproductive health of women who have served there.
• Require the VA to begin a pilot program that provides child care to women veterans that seek mental health care services at the VA.
• Require the VA to begin a pilot program that provides readjustment counseling to women veterans in group retreat settings.

Senators Murray and Hutchison introduced similar legislation last year in the 110th Congress which passed the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee before the Senate session ended.

See more detailed Information on the Women Veterans Health Improvement Act of 2009.

Military Times: Unopened claims letters hidden at VA offices

A new report about Veterans Affairs Department employees squirreling away tens of thousands of unopened letters related to benefits claims is sparking fresh concerns that veterans and their survivors are being cheated out of money.

VA officials further credibility problems based on a new report of a previously undisclosed 2007 incident in which workers at a Detroit regional office turned in 16,000 pieces of unprocessed mail and 717 documents turned up in New York in December during amnesty periods in which workers were promised no one would be penalized.

“Veterans have lost trust in VA,” Michael Walcoff, VA’s under secretary for benefits, said at a hearing Tuesday. “That loss of trust is understandable, and winning back that trust will not be easy.”

Unprocessed and unopened mail was just one problem in VA claims processing mentioned by Belinda Finn, VA’s assistant inspector general for auditing, in testimony before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

Auditors also found that the dates recorded for receiving claims, which in many cases determine the effective date for benefits payments, are wrong in many cases because of intentional and unintentional errors, Finn said.

The worst case uncovered by auditors involved the New York regional office, where employees testified that managers told staff to put later dates on claims to make it appear claims were being processed faster. A review found that 56 percent of claims had incorrect dates, although no evidence was found of incorrect or delayed benefits payments. Finn said workers reported that this practice had been used for years.

“A large section of the veterans community and representatives of the community have long felt that the Veterans Benefits Administration operates in such a way that stalls the claims process until frustrated claimants either give up or die,” Baker said.

He said that although he doesn’t believe that is true, something must be done.

“Denying earned benefits by illegally destroying records should serve as the proverbial wake-up call that signals the urgency of this overdue transformation,” he said. Read On…

Click here to read testimony or watch the hearing in its entirety.

Be sure to read or watch the testimony of Ronald B. Abrams Joint Executive Director, National Veterans Legal Services Program.

NVLSP believes that long-standing VA policies were the major cause of this employee misconduct. The method that the VA uses to grant work credit and assess the performance of VA officials is the main culprit. The performance of VA employees/managers is judged (in part) by the number of benefits claims completed during a given time period, usually a calendar or fiscal year. Completion of a large number of claims is essentially considered the equivalent of good work performance.

In the experience of NVLSP, (over ten years of quality reviews, in conjunction with The American Legion of approximately 40 different VAROs combined with extensive NVLSP representation before the CAVC and the BVA), most of the most egregious VA errors and misconduct involve an attempt to prematurely issue a decision on a claim before the evidence the VA is required to obtain to help the veteran substantiate his or her claim is associated with the VA claims file. This rush to judgment is caused by pressure to quickly complete adjudications. Many VA managers emphasize quantity over quality. VA employees have formally complained that the culture in the VA regional offices emphasizes quantity to the detriment of quality.

The major cause of VA employee misconduct is a VA work credit system that prevents the fair adjudication of many claims for VA benefits generating extra work for the VA and major problems for claimants. Also, the inadequate quality of many VA adjudications and the inadequate number of trained adjudicators contribute to the size of the backlog which pressures VA employees to take unlawful shortcuts in adjudicating claims. Read on…

Stars and Stripes: Review board may disappoint disabled vets

By Tom Philpott, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, February 28, 2009

Complaints from veterans and from a high-profile commission that the services routinely were “low-balling” disability ratings for military members spurred Congress to take action last year.

Among other things it ordered the Department of Defense to create a special board to review disability ratings of 20 percent or less given to members who separated since Sept. 11, 2001. Thousands of veterans had higher ratings and additional benefits at stake from any fresh review.

But the new Physical Disability Board of Review (PDBR), which began accepting applications last month, isn’t going to do what some in Congress and many veterans hoped that it would. It will not be reassessing ratings for mental and physical conditions from applicants based solely on the more liberal criteria used by raters at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Veterans Administration Schedule for Ratings Disabilities, or VASRD, will only be used to its full effect in reviewing lower disability ratings awarded on or after Jan. 28, 2008.

In reviewing earlier disability ratings, back through 9/11, the PDBR will determine if the service branch had followed its own guidelines for rating disabilities at the time of a veteran’s separation.

The problem with that, say critics, is that, for some health conditions, service guidelines had watered down or ignored the VASRD, creating inequities across services and lower ratings for many members, including those with post-traumatic stress disorder, migraine headaches and other conditions. Still, the board’s legal staff says that is all that the law requires.

“In adjudicating cases, the PDBR will assume service-specific policies to be authorized interpretations of the VASRD,” explained Victor R. Donovan, legal advisor to the Air Force Review Boards Agency, which is tasked to run the PDBR from its headquarters at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Michael Parker, an expert on disability ratings and an advocate for disabled veterans, elicited that agency position with a lengthy letter and detailed questions seeking “absolute clarity” on the criteria the board will be using on thousands of veterans’ applications.

Parker said he is stunned by the position being taken by Department of Defense lawyers. In effect, he said, it will neutralize what Congress has tried to accomplish for veterans now queuing up for rating reconsideration.

Mike Hayden, a veterans’ benefits expert with the Military Officers Association of America, also is frustrated at the PDBR’s approach.

“We thought the intent of this board was to look at these low-balled ratings to see if they need to be elevated,” said Hayden.

PDBR officials declined comment on short notice referring to the board’s website for details: http://www.health.mil/Pages/Page.aspx?ID=19.

The Gazette: Treatment, not jail, for vets?

…convicted service members stand to lose security clearances or the right to carry a firearm, which often leads to their being discharged. The military loses good people, and the veterans don’t get the help they need.

That’s why Alvarez and other local officials are working to set up a veterans court in Colorado Springs, a concept that’s gaining steam as communities search for alternative legal avenues for war-veteran offenders.

Such courts have been set up in Buffalo, N.Y.; Tulsa, Okla.; and Orange County, Calif., according to The National Law Journal.

Locals have been kicking around the veterans court concept for months, but the idea recently got traction when the state received a $2 million grant to be used for veterans issues. The local group made a pitch for part of it and was approved, Alvarez said, but doesn’t know how much it will get.

The money would be used to set up a five-year pilot project that could lead to permanent funding, Alvarez said.

Veterans court is just what it implies: a place where veterans suffering from brain injuries, PTSD or some other issue arising from duty in a war zone can get help and avoid the traditional court system and prison.

A coordinator would assemble medical records to document a veteran suffers problems stemming from war service. An oversight committee would review the case. If found eligible and if the District Attorney’s Office agrees, the veteran would be paired with a mentor and submit to a treatment program. If the soldier successfully completed the program, he might have his record wiped clean or get a lighter sentence.

…the program, which he hopes to have up and running by August, isn’t a “get-out-of-jail free pass.”

“They’ve got to earn their exemption,” he said, adding, “These kids volunteered to serve their country, and now we owe them.” Read On…

Military Times: Vets group challenges Shinseki to beef up budget, staff

A new report from Veterans for Common Sense comes as a reminder of what the Veterans Affairs Department needs to fix: backlogged disability cases, too many suicide attempts and patients waiting weeks to see mental health providers.

But it’s also a predictor of what’s ahead: In a bad economy, fewer veterans will have good civilian health care plans.

A variety of factors will add to the pressure on VA’s patient load. Congress just awarded veterans who deploy five years of free health care after they leave service; more people are seeking mental health help; VA is catching more problems by screening veterans for brain injuries and mental health issues; and President Barack Obama just announced a troop surge in Afghanistan.

VA’s 2010 budget proposal is due out in April, and new VA Secretary Eric Shinseki will have to break his department’s habit of budgeting low and claiming it can make do with what it has if he wants to impress the veterans groups that have been pushing for more funding since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began.

“He will have to streamline processes,” said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense. “He needs to hire more staff. He needs to ask for more money. He needs to remove top leaders who are bogging down the claims process.” Read On…

Veterans for Common Sense: Feb 25, VCS Report - ‘Looking Forward - The Status and Future of VA’

Washington, DC - The number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans receiving treatment at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities skyrocketed from 13,000 to over 400,000 in the last four years, according to VA data obtained exclusively by Veterans for Common Sense (VCS).

Of the Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans treated by VA, nearly 178,000 were diagnosed with a mental health condition, including 105,000 diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The percentage of recent war veterans returning home with a mental health condition continues to climb steeply, from 14 percent in 2004 to 45 percent in 2008.

Despite the enormous growth in healthcare demand, VCS found little evidence that VA is correctly forecasting future demand among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. This could mean VA may be ill-equipped to handle a sharply increasing patient and disability claim load. An analysis by VCS indicates the number of veterans of these two wars receiving care from VA could soar to between 700,000 and one million within 10 years. Read On…

Click here for direct PDF link to full report.

Sacramento Bee: Veterans get little from fundraising operation

A hodgepodge of homeless folk and retirees looking for food and cigarette money man the phones, telling Californians that their purchase of flags, first aid kits or garbage bags will help war veterans.

What the telemarketers often leave out is that vets will see only pennies on the dollar from the purchases.

The charity is called Veterans Ensured Through Service, a small entity based just outside Redding. On official documents, the telemarketing operation, Zagar and Associates, is run by Carl Lee Zagar of West Sacramento.

Zagar has one client: V.E.T.S., according to records it filed with the state attorney general’s office. V.E.T.S.’ treasurer is Candace Filek, a records supervisor at the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office.

Although Zagar is not listed in V.E.T.S.’ nonprofit filings, Filek said the two of them launched the nonprofit years ago after growing tired of watching large national veterans’ charities raising money and failing to deliver results.

“It doesn’t go where it’s supposed to go: directly to the veterans,” Filek said.

Last year V.E.T.S. reported to the state that it raised $332,435 but paid $301,000 of that to Zagar’s commercial fundraising operation. Only $19,482 – 5.9 percent – went to veterans’ causes, including five $500 college scholarships for veterans’ children, the documents show.

In 2006, Zagar reported to California that he sold $244,870 in goods for V.E.T.S. – goods that he reported cost him $16,190.

Expenses included $94,606 in “fees or commissions,” which Zagar said paid for Nielson’s telemarketing operation. That operation, he said, employs homeless and retired people – some in Sacramento, some in San Diego – who work phones part time to earn commissions “for food and cigarettes.”

Another $38,072 was reported as salary, including for Zagar and Associates’ “self-employed owner.” In addition, $17,988 went for accounting and car expenses, $16,676 for bank charges, interest and office expenses, and $9,096 for a “facilities charge.”

Questioned about those expenses, Zagar initially said he would have to ask the bookkeeper for details. Then he grew angry. “We’re small potatoes. You’re on a witch hunt!” he said, and hung up. Read On

Please note that Swords to Plowshares is very happy to report that 96 cents of every dollar goes toward helping veterans and only 4 cents of that dollar goes toward fundraising. For more information, please contact Swords to Plowshares development department at development@stp-sf.org or (415)252-4788 x343.

Click Here for a link to our 2007 Annual Report.

Associated Press: AP IMPACT - Army charity hoards millions

FORT BLISS, Texas (AP) — As soldiers stream home from Iraq and Afghanistan, the biggest charity inside the U.S. military has been stockpiling tens of millions of dollars meant to help put returning fighters back on their feet, an Associated Press investigation shows.

Between 2003 and 2007 — as many military families dealt with long war deployments and increased numbers of home foreclosures — Army Emergency Relief grew into a $345 million behemoth. During those years, the charity packed away $117 million into its own reserves while spending just $64 million on direct aid, according to an AP analysis of its tax records.

Tax-exempt and legally separate from the military, AER projects a facade of independence but really operates under close Army control. The massive nonprofit — funded predominantly by troops — allows superiors to squeeze soldiers for contributions; forces struggling soldiers to repay loans — sometimes delaying transfers and promotions; and too often violates its own rules by rewarding donors, such as giving free passes from physical training, the AP found.

AER was founded in 1942 to soften the personal financial hardships on soldiers and their families as the country ramped up its fight in World War II.

Today, AER’s mission is to ease cash emergencies of active-duty soldiers and retirees, and to provide college scholarships for their families. Its emergency aid covers mortgage payments and food, car repairs, medical bills, travel to family funerals, and the like.

Instead of giving money away, though, the Army charity lent out 91 percent of its emergency aid during the period 2003-2007. For accounting purposes, the loans, dispensed interest-free, are counted as expenses only when they are not paid back.

During that same five-year period, the smaller Navy and Air Force charities both put far more of their own resources into aid than reserves. The Air Force charity kept $24 million in reserves while dispensing $56 million in total aid, which includes grants, scholarships and loans not repaid. The Navy charity put $32 million into reserves and gave out $49 million in total aid.

AER executives defend their operation, insisting they need to keep sizable reserves to be ready for future catastrophes. Read On…

Stars and Strips: Coming Home - An outsider in your own life

In the beginning, it’s easy.

“Beer, sex and pizza — that’s the first order of business,” when troops return home from combat, said social worker Susan Watkins.

“The first week or so is like the honeymoon. That’s a normal part of coming home. But then you start noticing … so many things,” said Watkins, who works with returning Afghanistan and Iraq veterans at the Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education & Clinical Center, or MIRECC, at the Durham, N.C., Veterans’ Affair Medical Center. “That picture you had — it’s just not the same.

“Everyone has some difficulty with adjustment. Coming home is harder than going.”

For soldiers of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division who spent 14 months in Iraq, life does not magically pick up where it left off when they return home, experts say. Instead, there are changes to deal with — physical, psychological, relational — in the family and in the soldier. There is often grief, loss, survivors’ guilt, changes in the family dynamic and idealized family images shattered by reality. Read On…

American Public Media: Job search a struggle for veterans

Imagine facing today’s economy after getting back from a long tour in Iraq or Afghanistan. The unemployment rate among active duty veterans coming home from those wars is 2 percent higher than for civilians.

New Yorker Stephen Kraft worked at MTV before joining the Army after 9/11. He left the military four years ago and says he’s been looking for a steady job pretty much ever since.

Click play below to listen to this story.

San Francisco Chronicle: Swords to Plowshares helps new vets find jobs

It’s hard for anyone to find a job these days, especially young people without much work experience.

It can be even harder for such young people who are returning veterans dealing with the after-effects of serving in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.

And because a large number of these vets recently have been showing up in the East Bay, the veterans service group Swords to Plowshares of San Francisco has expanded its operations to Oakland, with a new branch office to provide job-training and assistance.

“We’re finding that larger numbers of these vets are coming back not so much to San Francisco proper,” said Dave Lopez, director of the organization’s jobs program. “I would say the majority are coming back to the East Bay, at least the ones we’re seeing in the employment and training unit.”

The year ending last September saw an average of 23 vets a month seeking job help from the group, up from nine vets a month before that. In the last month, there were 39, Lopez said.

“Most of the ones we’re seeing are also younger aged,” Lopez said. The bulk of them are between 21 and 26, he said, and have limited job skills because they enlisted soon after leaving school.

The new Swords to Plowshares center opened earlier this month at 1433 Webster St. in downtown Oakland. The two staffers, Gulf War vet Ken Crawford and Vietnam War vet Eric Nichols, occupy a space amid a suite of offices housing other nonprofit organizations that can be partners, Lopez said.

Swords to Ploughshares [sic] joins with other organizations to provide services. One typical approach is to pay for training classes. Funding comes from state and federal grant money as well as private foundations, Lopez said.

The program tries to match vets with what excites them.

Iraq war vet Sean McKeen had a dirt bike and grew up around well-tuned cars and motorcycles in Spokane, Wash., and when a representative from Wyotech technical-training schools showed up at his high school, he knew what he wanted to do.

“I’ve always liked mechanics,” said McKeen, 21, who served 18 months in the Army in Iraq, including the perilous duty of clearing roadside bombs and other dangers in Ramadi and Fallujah.

McKeen came to San Francisco in September, but when the buddy he was supposed to meet didn’t show up, he ended up in a homeless shelter. There someone told him about Swords to Plowshares.

Thanks to the vets group, he’s enrolled in an 18-month training program in European motorcycles at the Wyotech campus in Fremont. Swords to Ploughshares [sic] also helped him get discount rent and subsidized meals in housing on Treasure Island, he said.

The veterans organization also provides help with housing, legal problems and medical and mental health care. Founded in San Francisco is 1974 by vets to help Vietnam veterans, Swords to Plowshares has become one of the leading organizations in Northern California helping all veterans in need. Read On…

Pittsburgh Business Times: Robert Morris University to offer free tuition for veterans

Robert Morris University announced Thursday it will offer veterans of the armed services free tuition for graduate and undergraduate degrees.

With its newly created RMU Military Service Award, the Moon Township-based private university will cover the difference between its full-time tuition and a federal tuition subsidy offered to veterans under the Post- 9/11 GI Bill. The offer is open to all veterans, not just Pennsylvania residents. The federal subsidy is equivalent to the highest tuition of any public institution in the state in which the veteran chooses to attend college.

The school also announced it is opening a Veterans Education and Training Center to help veterans and their families with transition services, and assist with enrollment. Services offered will include academic advising, flexible course scheduling, and counseling. RMU is seeking space near the airport-area military bases to house this new facility. Read On…

Click Here to Visit Robert Morris University Veterans Webpage

The Mercury News: Santa Clara County program aims to get veterans from jail to mainstream

The guys in Barracks 3 troop in from noon chow for a little R&R, eager to grab some shut-eye, duel over Scrabble or scribble a letter to the folks, wives and kids back home.

Though all the men once served in the armed forces and are deeply proud of it, this harmonious unit isn’t part of the military.

It’s one of the nation’s few jail units solely for incarcerated veterans, founded in the belief that these men need and deserve special treatment.

Since July, the county has given veterans at Santa Clara County’s Elmwood jail the option of living in these quarters and enrolling in specialized classes to tackle their substance abuse and anger management problems. About 117 veterans so far have participated in what the jail terms the VETS program, or Veterans Educated to Succeed.

The goal is for them to exit with a plan that involves more than getting high and living on the streets. Read On…

Video Report by ABC World News: Suicide Rate Reflects Toll of Army Life

Boston Globe: Army reports alarming spike in suicides last month

WASHINGTON—The Army is investigating an unexplained and stunning spike in suicides in January. The count is likely to surpass the number of combat deaths reported last month by all branches of the armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the fight against terrorism.

“In January, we lost more soldiers to suicide than to al-Qaida,” said Paul Rieckhoff, director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. He urged “bold and immediate action” by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

According to figures obtained by The Associated Press, there were seven confirmed suicides last month, compared with five a year earlier. An additional 17 cases from January are under investigation.

There was no detailed breakdown available for January, such as the percentage of suicides that occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan or information about the dead. But just one base — Fort Campbell in Kentucky — reported that four soldiers killed themselves near the installation, where 14,000 soldiers from the two war have returned from duty since October. Read On…

The following article relates to California Penal Code section 1170.9, a little known law which allows for alternative sentencing for certain veterans.

California Lawyer: Coming Home - Vets can benefit from a little-known sentencing law

Sean Nesmith could have found himself in jail for as long as five years after he robbed an Ocean Beach bank in 2006 using nothing more than a note demanding money.

Instead, a judge sent the 23-year-old ex-Marine to treatment for a severe case of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The order resulted from a little-noticed state law, penal code section 1170.9. It lets judges, under certain circumstances, sentence combat veterans suffering from PTSD to psychiatric help instead of jail time for their crimes.

As service members return from duty in the Middle East, many expect the law to be used more frequently in the future. “We’re seeing the sprinklings of a big storm ahead,” says James E. Faulder, a deputy public defender in San Diego. “And we’re trying to brace for it and get our avenues set up [to defend veterans]. And 1170.9 is going to be one of them.”

In addition to combat vets with PTSD, the law applies to those suffering from substance abuse or unspecified psychological ailments. If service people afflicted with those conditions have been convicted of a criminal offense that generally would lead to a stint in county jail or state prison–and they are eligible for probation–judges have the option of sending them to a treatment facility instead of prison. Outpatient programs also are a possibility.

It is unclear how often the law has been used since it took effect in January 2007. Spokespeople for the San Francisco and Los Angeles county public defenders offices say few attorneys appear to know about the statute. Read On…

Memphis Commercial Appeal: Troubled veteran’s call leads to firing

Hours before dawn, Iraq war veteran Jared Rhine dressed in his desert uniform, ready to fight. The Army specialist wanted a one-way ticket to Baghdad to kill Iraqis.

Combat fire and smoke seemingly flooded his bedroom in the small town of West Plains, Mo. His only company: the smiling faces of his daughters tattooed on his forearms — and two guns, a .22-caliber small-game rifle and a high-powered 7mm rifle near his bed.

As he sat alone, feet propped in a chair, it was as if someone turned a slide projector on overdrive behind his eyes. Flashbacks — images of dead bodies and the fireball from a roadside bomb — came in rapid fire.

In the early morning hours of April 2, 2007, Jared Rhine had a choice: Pick up a gun and end it all, or pick up a phone. He chose the phone.

Rhine dialed the number for the Memphis Veterans Medical Center and demanded to speak to clinical psychologist Sidney Ornduff, who was at home, asleep. He refused to talk to a crisis intervention counselor.

After some argument, a medical administrative assistant patched Rhine through to Ornduff. The patient and psychologist talked for more than two hours. Rhine cried, yelled, swore. But he finally agreed not to hurt himself and to go to bed and keep his appointment with another psychologist the next day.

“She was tellin’ me it ain’t my fault, that I wasn’t goin’ back; I already done my job,” Rhine said. “She always got through to me.”

All was not well, however.

A tangle of questions and conflicting stories about the early morning events surrounding that phone call would, over the next year and a half, alter Rhine’s life and wreak havoc on Ornduff’s career. It would leave veterans wondering what happened to the popular doctor removed without explanation.

And it would spur one congressman to take the case all the way to Washington.

After agreeing to go to bed, Rhine hung up the phone, took off his uniform and fell asleep. The next thing he knew, police officers were in his bedroom.

“I was looking down the barrel of nine guns and had two Taser marks in my back,” Rhine said.

At Ornduff’s home, the phone rang again. The administrative assistant who’d patched Rhine through was on the line, Ornduff recalled. The West Plains police wanted to speak to her.

“She told me she had listened in the entire time, and not only that, but that she had also patched in members of the police department in the small community in which this veteran resided,” Ornduff said. Read On…

This is a letter sent by Veterans for Common Sense to Secretary Shinseki urging him to use his rule-making authority to promulgate a regulation establishing a presumption of service connection for Gulf War, Iraq War, and Afghanistan war veterans diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) based on the recent Institute of Medicine report linking PTSD with deployment to a war zone.

January 26, 2009

The Honorable Eric K. Shinseki
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Department of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20420

Dear Secretary Shinseki:

On behalf of our 14,400 members, Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) congratulates you for becoming our new Secretary of Veterans Affairs. VCS strongly supports your goal of transforming and improving the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

As of September 30, 2008, more than 105,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans were diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by VA. However, as of August 31, 2008, only 42,000 were granted service-connected disability for PTSD by VA. We believe this discrepancy is an outrage that can be addressed with a new regulation.

VCS has long promoted the use of your rule-making authority to promulgate a regulation establishing a presumption of service connection for PTSD. A new PTSD regulation deserves your urgent attention because it will significantly reduce the disability claim backlog crisis now facing VA. The backlog crisis will only worsen as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars continue.

In 2008, VA made progress on this issue by accepting the recommendation of Senator Daniel Akaka, Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, to accept military diagnoses of PTSD for claims purposes. If an Iraq or Afghanistan war service member being discharged has a diagnosis of PTSD from the military, then VA shall grant a 50 percent disability rating.

VCS believes the “Persian Gulf Veterans Act of 1998” and new scientific research should prompt regulations for conditions associated with deployment to Southwest Asia.

A scientific literature review conducted by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) titled “Gulf War and Health (2008)” concluded, “The epidemiologic literature on deployed vs nondeployed veterans yielded sufficient evidence of an association between deployment to a war zone and psychiatric disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), other anxiety disorders, and depression; alcohol abuse; accidental death and suicide in the first few years after return from deployment; and marital and family conflict, including interpersonal violence.”

The definition of the Gulf War dates under 38 USC 101(33) and the definition of the Gulf War locations under 38 CFR 3.317 provide you with broad authority to provide disability compensation to veterans deployed to the Southwest Asia Theater of Operations on or after August 2, 1990.

In order to clarify the population covered by a new regulation, VA may want to revise 38 CFR 3.317 to include all of the nations and bodies of water ever identified by the Department of Defense (DoD) for the Gulf War, Iraq War, and Afghanistan War.

Preparing a new regulation for PTSD begins the process of transforming VA by reversing the prior Administration’s pattern and practice of opposing PTSD benefits. During 2005, VA took four improper steps to block and otherwise hinder access to healthcare and disability compensation for veterans diagnosed with PTSD.

First, VA attempted to re-examine more than 70,000 veterans’ previously granted PTSD disability compensation. After reviewing more than 1,000 claims, VA investigators found no fraud cases. Congress blocked VA’s review after a distraught veteran in New Mexico completed suicide after hearing news of VA’s new policy.

Second, VA issued a Fast Letter that required two signatures to grant a disability compensation claim for PTSD – denials and other conditions were excluded. After a public outcry, VA suspended (but did not rescind) the Fast Letter.

Third, VA issued another Fast Letter that mandated a review by VA Central Office for all large retroactive disability compensation awards. VCS viewed the new VA policy as another attempt to block PTSD awards since PTSD claims take, on average, longer than six months to process, and several more years to resolve under an appeal, often resulting in large retroactive awards. VCS asks you to rescind both Fast Letters.

Fourth, VA also entered into two contracts with IOM to review the legitimacy of the PTSD diagnosis and the adequacy of disability compensation for PTSD. The IOM validated the diagnosis of PTSD and called for greater disability compensation for veterans diagnosed with PTSD.

Again, we offer our sincere congratulations on your confirmation as America’s top veterans’ advocate. We look forward to working with you to transform VA and put our veterans first.

Sincerely,
Paul Sullivan
Executive Director

111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. CON. RES. 28

Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding sexual assaults and rape in the military.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 27, 2009

Ms. HARMAN (for herself and Mr. TURNER) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding sexual assaults and rape in the military.

Whereas since 2002, 66,342 female veterans reported being raped, sexually assaulted, or experiencing another form of military sexual trauma, constituting 20 percent of the women seen at VA facilities nationwide, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ figures;

Whereas 41 percent of female veterans treated at the West Los Angeles VA Health Center reported being sexually assaulted while in the military, and 29 percent reported being raped during their military service;

Whereas reported sexual assaults and rapes rose 73 percent from 2004 to 2006, according to Department of Defense figures;

Whereas 2,688 reports of sexual assaults were made in fiscal year 2007, including 1,259 reports of rape, according to the Department of Defense;

Whereas the chain of command took no action in almost half of the cases investigated claiming insufficient evidence and the majority of the remainder were dealt with through nonjudicial punishment or administrative action, which in most cases amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist;

Whereas only 181 of the 2,212–or 8 percent–subjects investigated during fiscal year 2007 were referred to courts martial;

Whereas civilian law enforcement authorities prosecute 40 percent of those arrested for rape, according to the United States Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics;

Whereas the absence of aggressive prosecutions by the military perpetuates a hostile environment and hinders a victim’s willingness to report a sexual assault or rape;

Whereas the military’s response was to create the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) in 2005, which serves as the single point of accountability and oversight for the Department of Defense sexual assault policy;

Whereas SAPRO has improved reporting of sexual assault and rape, but still does not track investigations or prosecutions of reported cases; and

Whereas sexual assault and rape are a threat to our national security: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that the Secretary of Defense should develop a comprehensive strategy to increase and encourage investigation and prosecution of sexual assault and rape cases in the military that includes the following elements:

• (1) Require commanders to be held accountable for sexual assaults and rapes that occur in their units and provide justification for disposing of cases through non-judicial punishment and other administrative actions.

  
  

• (2) Develop and enhance existing prevention and response programs by using proven best-practice methods to create a culture that prevents sexual assault and rape in the military and encourages more reporting by victims.

  
  

• (3) Conduct more aggressive oversight of existing prevention and response programs, analyze trends, and establish performance metrics to ensure that such programs are effective.

  
  

• (4) Require the Secretary to review current training methods for all military investigations and Judge Advocate staff, and implement any improvements that are necessary.

  
  

• (5) Encourage communication and data sharing between SAPRO and other military branches to enhance coordination and oversight of sexual assault and rape cases as they move through the legal process.

  
  

• (6) Review the capacity of the legal infrastructure in the military to investigate and prosecute effectively sexual assault cases in the military.

  
  

• (7) Examine any additional barriers (such as staff availability and adequate resources) on military bases and facilities in the United States, abroad, and in theater to conduct effective investigation of sexual assault and rape cases.

  
  

• (8) Review command disposition of cases and identify whether further oversight is required to ensure that cases reaching non-judicial ends are justified.

  
  

• (9) Classify a military protection order as a standing military order to assure an investigation has occurred and command has completely adjudicated allegations before the order can be overturned.

  
  

• (10) Establish a policy that mandates the notification of any military protective order issued on base to local civilian law enforcement to provide the continuity of protection of victims.

  
  

• (11) Ensure that once a servicemember has notified her or his command that she or he has been sexually assaulted or raped, the command affords the alleged victim an opportunity for a base transfer should a military protection order be issued.

AP: Officials: Army suicides at 3-decade high

WASHINGTON (AP) — Suicides among Army troops soared again last year and are at a nearly three-decade high, senior defense officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.

At least 128 soldiers killed themselves in 2008, said two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the data has not been formally released.

The final count likely will be considerably higher because more than a dozen other suspicious deaths are still being investigated and could also turn out to be self-inflicted.

The new figure of more than 128 compares to 115 in 2007 and 102 in 2006 — and is the highest since record keeping began in 1980.

It also calculates to a rate of 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers — which is higher than the adjusted civilian rate for the first time since the Vietnam War, officials said.

The Army plans to announce the figures at a news conference later Thursday.

Officials have said repeatedly that troops are under tremendous and unprecedented stress because of repeated and long tours of duty due to the simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read On…

1. Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, Inc. v. Peake, et al.

Class action lawsuit on behalf of returning veterans charging that VA violates the civil rights of veterans by taking too long to provide mental health care and disability benefits for PTSD, and in some instances by working to deny benefits altogether (e.g. personality disorder discharges).

Where / Actions: A bench trial (a trial heard by the judge but no jury) was held in Federal District Court, Northern District of CA in April 2008; judgment was in the VA’s favor. Judge Conti said the court didn’t have authority to make changes that should be made by Congress and the VA – but an 80-page decision detailed many gaps and failures of the VA health care and benefits systems.

Status: Appeal is pending at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and briefs have been filed..

Plaintiffs represented by: Morrison & Foerster LLP, and Disability Rights Advocates.
Swords to Plowshares and VVA filed amicus briefs at the trial level and on appeal. Swords and VVA are represented by Judith Z. Gold (at trial and on appeal) and Thomas Loran (appeal only).

Web site: www.veteransptsdclassaction.org

2. Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans of Modern Warfare v. Peake

Class action lawsuit similar to the VCS lawsuit (above), re delays in VA health care and benefits as a violation of veterans’ rights. — but this case is filed in a different court.

Where: Federal District Court, Washington, DC; complaint filed January 2009.

Plaintiffs represented by: Dorsey & Whitney LLP.

Web site: www.modernveterans.com

3. Michael Sabo, et al. v. USA

Class action lawsuit charging that the Army has shortchanged soldiers who returned from service in Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD. (They are entitled by law to a 50 percent disability rating when discharged for reason of PTSD.) The lawsuit asks the court to enjoin the Army from disregarding the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities, and demands the money benefits due to plaintiffs.

Where: US Court of Federal Claims, Washington, DC

Plaintiffs represented by: National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

Web site: www.lawyersservingwarriors.com

4. VVA, et al. v. CIA, DOD, et al. (Edgewood)

Class action lawsuit on behalf of veterans who were exposed to toxins, biological and nerve agents, and mind-altering drugs during military experiments that began in the 1950s. The veterans “volunteered” for human experimentation programs but weren’t informed of the nature of the experiments, weren’t given the awards they were promised, and weren’t properly cared for afterward. They want details of the experiments, the awards and follow-up health care they deserve; and for the government to supply details to the VA to support claims for their service-connected disabilities.

Where: Federal District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco)

Plaintiffs represented by: Morrison & Foerster LLP.

More info: http://www.mofo.com/news/pressreleases/15100.html

TheAdvertiser.com: Veterans urged to get tested - Illnesses caused by Agent Orange raise concerns

That’s what veterans advocate Link Savoie has been saying for years to Vietnam veterans, like himself. For years he spoke to them about getting tested for possible damage caused by use of the defoliant Agent Orange.

If you don’t get tested, Savoie reasoned, you risk not knowing whether you could have symptoms of any one of 11 diseases and ailments linked to Agent Orange. And, the earlier a disease is detected, the better chances are of dealing with it.

“When you get out of the service, many are 24, 25 or 26, and you feel fine,” said Savoie, who served in the Army for 22 years including tours of duty in Korea and Vietnam. “Then when they become of age, they start to notice that this hurts, and that hurts.

“They start getting things like colon cancer and other maladies in their system. Then, they start dying on us.”

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, approximately 20 million gallons of herbicides were used in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to remove unwanted plant life and leaves which otherwise provided cover for enemy forces during the Vietnam War.

Shortly following their military service in Vietnam, some veterans reported a variety of health problems and concerns which some of them attributed to exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides.

VA offers compensation and benefits for Vietnam veterans suffering from the following 11 diseases: chloracne; Hodgkin’s disease; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; multiple myeloma; porphyria cutanea tarda; respiratory cancers (lung, bronchus, larynx and trachea); soft-tissue sarcoma; acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy; prostate cancer; diabetes mellitus (Type 2 diabetes); and cronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Testing is offered at VA hospitals in both Alexandria and Shreveport, and it takes roughly a half a day to complete blood work, EKG and X-rays and announce results. Read on…

It took an average of 9 years post deployment for Vietnam and prior era veterans to fall into homelessness. Today, Swords to Plowshares and our homeless veteran service colleagues throughout the nation are seeing an alarming influx of homeless OIF/OEF veterans, sometimes just months after separating from the military. We prepared the following paper for the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans to help decipher why this new generation are becoming homeless so quickly in the hope that, by understanding the issues, we may prevent or at least mitigate the kind of long suffering our older clients have endured. The paper looks at bureaucratic, social, economic, and physical and mental health issues impacting our new veterans. It is up to us, as providers, as neighbors, and as citizens to prevent homelessness and truly support our military and veterans with the services and support they have earned.

The presentation is intended to be an accompaniment to be training performed by the Iraq Veteran Project staff and will be updated regularly. For more information, contact IVP Senior Policy Associate Mai-Ling Garcia 415-252-2787 ext. 350, or mgarcia@stp-sf.org.

Get your own - Open publication

Combat to Community: Needs & Resources for Post-911 Veterans and their Families by Sword to Plowshares is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

***For a downloadable PDF version of this presentation click here.

This episode of Al Jezeera’s People & Power follows British veterans facing a similar failure of government to uphold their duty to provide adequate care for wounded veterans.

Click Here for Part Two

Al Jezeera’s PEOPLE & POWER: Broken Covenant

In the UK there exists a ‘duty of care’. A duty which Britain acknowledges it owes to its armed forces.

Known as the military covenant, it is an unspoken pact between society and the military that dates back to the reign of Henry VIII, and which was formally codified as a ‘covenant’ in 2000.

The ‘duty of care’ to troops includes paying towards physical and mental healthcare, access to accommodation and also the provision of support for bereaved families.

Yet out of the 25,000 men and women that were discharged from the military services in 2007, it is estimated that 10 per cent will live on the poverty line and face homelessness. To date there is over 230 veteran aid charities operating in the UK.

In February 2006, plans for a ‘Veterans day’ were announced by Gordon Brown, the then finance minister and current prime minister, who said the aim was to ensure that the contribution of veterans was never forgotten.

In November 2007, Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Tootal resigned from the British army over “the governments appalling treatment of the troops”.

Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the British army, said his troops felt “devalued, angry and were suffering from Iraq fatigue”. He went on to say “the military covenant is clearly out of kilter”.

Veterans day was introduced three years ago and is now incorporated into armed forces day, a new national day announced by Kevan Jones, the veterans minister, to be celebrated this year on June 27.

People & Power follows Stuart Griffiths, a veteran who became homeless after leaving the armed forces and who now works as a photographer raising awareness for veterans who feel that the military covenant and the government’s duty of care is not being upheld.

NextGov.com: Reps rip VA over glitch in medical record system

The chairman of the House committee overseeing the Veterans Affairs Department sharply criticized the agency on Thursday for not publicly disclosing it found a software bug in a computer system in August that resulted in not discontinuing drug administration to nine patients.

Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, wrote that he was “disappointed to learn of troubling new revelations from the Department of Veterans Affairs regarding operating problems with the most recent upgrade to the electronic medical records system.”

A glitch in a drug administration system for infusion pumps, which deliver intravenous drugs to patients, resulted in placing a doctor’s order to discontinue a patient’s intravenous drugs at the bottom of a list instead of at the top, where nurses typically look for it, said Gail Graham, deputy chief information management officer at VA.

Filner noted, “VA continues to discover problems and attempts to fix them quietly and internally, and then downplays them as inconsequential and nonthreatening. After numerous offers, VA bureaucrats still refuse to alert Congress to the issues and problems that affect our constituents — our veterans — in a timely and proactive way.” Filner said he would continue to look into this incident.

Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., ranking member of the committee, said he was “deeply concerned about the consequences on patient care that could have resulted from this ’software glitch,’ and that mistakes were not disclosed to patients who were directly affected.” Buyer said VA should conduct determine if any veterans were harmed by the glitch.

Paul Sullivan, executive director of the Veterans for Common Sense, said, “We remain alarmed at VA’s cavalier approach to handling this latest computer malfunction. VA should be more transparent, and VA should have notified and apologized to our veteran patients.” Read On…

House VA Committee: Filner Appalled by Lack of Accountability, Leadership at VA

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) released this statement regarding recent operating problems with the electronic medical records system at the Department of Veterans Affairs:

“I am disappointed to learn of troubling new revelations from the Department of Veterans Affairs regarding operating problems with the most recent upgrade to the electronic medical records system. At this time, there is no evidence that any patient was harmed. Oversight of this incident will continue.

“Veterans deserve leaders at the VA who are accountable for the actions of the agency. VA continues to discover problems and attempts to fix them quietly and internally, and then downplays them as inconsequential and non-threatening. After numerous offers, VA bureaucrats still refuse to alert Congress to the issues and problems that affect our constituents – our veterans – in a timely and proactive way. I look to President-elect Obama to improve care for our veterans and to provide accountability during this rebuilding process.

“The VA has been plagued by poor leadership and management. It is troubling to learn that the Under Secretary of Health did not approve the field release of the new upgrade. No one expects new software to operate perfectly, but confidence must be inherent in any electronic medical records system. VA bureaucrats consistently refuse to provide necessary information regarding the serious problems that affect veterans and this pattern of secrecy is disconcerting and does enormous harm to all stakeholders. I expect an attitude of leadership and transparency with the Obama Administration.

“There is a dangerous lack of accountability within VA bureaucracy and a troubling scarcity of leadership that damages the relationship between the VA and the veteran. This unfortunate pattern has continued for too long. I am hopeful for the changes on the horizon for our veterans and their families. It is time to restore integrity, service and accountability to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Our veterans deserve strong leadership and I believe Veterans Affairs Secretary Nominee Eric Shinseki will be an exceptional leader.”

Micheal Blecker’s, Swords to Plowshares’ Executive Director, letter to President-elect Obama.

InsideBayArea.com: Michael Blecker - Dear Mr. President-elect: This is what veterans need

Dear Mr. President-elect,

Our nation’s military and veterans call on you to welcome them home in deed as well as word. More than 1.8 million U.S. forces have been deployed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A stunning 35 percent of returning combat veterans struggle with post traumatic stress, mental health issues and traumatic brain injury and they need the true welcome home of our country: support and services.

We ask that you join us in supporting reforms in military and veterans’ services to assist in their transition from combat to community. As a veteran advocate, I look forward to seeing the changes retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki plans to make and applaud you for nominating a fellow veteran advocate as the Veterans Affairs secretary.

Housing: VA estimates some 200,000 veterans are homeless each year. The Department of Veterans Affairs homeless services are a wonderful resource for these veterans but the VA funds only 10,000 beds nationwide. California alone has 50,000 homeless veterans and just 2,000 VA funded beds. Further, the per diem payment for supportive transitional housing is a maximum of 34 dollars per night.

We ask the new administration to increase the number of supportive housing beds and change the payment to a cost-based formula which reflects the actual cost of providing beds, meals, counseling and support.

Employment: Our returning veterans face unique obstacles to employment especially in this difficult job market. Repeated deployments have interrupted Guard and Reserve careers and the cracks in the job protection law do not adequately protect returning forces.

We ask the new administration to enforce job protections for Guard and Reserve, provide protections for self-employed Guard and Reserve, and enforce veteran preferences in federal contracts.

Mental health: There is an epidemic of suicide occurring within our armed forces and veterans — 1,000 each year. Unfortunately as veteran advocates, we sometimes learn of multiple suicides where veterans suffering with crushing Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), grief, loss, and survivor guilt take their life.

We ask the new administration to ensure that all combat veterans receive a face-to-face debriefing with professional mental health staff and that those who seek mental health services from their local VA receive an appointment immediately if they are in crisis.

Discharge status: Service members suffering with PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) often receive bad-conduct discharges based on behavior sparked by their injuries. These veterans are then denied access to benefits. Further, the military pressures veterans into accepting “personality disorder” discharges in order to keep PTSD numbers low, classifying their case as a pre-existing condition.

We ask the new administration to require an outside psychological and TBI screening for all service members facing early discharge based on conduct or diminished performance or alleged “personality disorder.”

Traumatic Brain Injury: TBI is a prominent injury in the war on terror due to roadside bombs and mortar attacks. Mild to moderate TBI can go undiagnosed and result in diminished capacity, irritability, depression, and erratic behavior putting these veterans at heightened risk of homelessness, substance abuse and contact with the criminal justice system.

We ask the new administration to screen all veterans of all eras for TBI as a routine part of VA health care, create a registry of TBI for long-term surveillance and study, and establish a presumption of eligibility for VA benefits and ongoing supportive services.

In these ways we can end the cycle of poverty, mental illness, substance abuse, homelessness and suicide among our veterans. It is the least we owe to them.

Sincerely,
Michael Blecker

Congressional Quarterly: Expanding Veterans’ Care Will Challenge Shinseki

Senators pressed Veterans Affairs Secretary-designate Eric K. Shinseki on Wednesday to explain how he plans to restore care to millions of veterans without service-related disabilities, foreshadowing political wrangling over the issue.

Questions also were raised at the retired Army general’s confirmation hearing about the process by which the department would make funding requests.

Sen. Roger Wicker , R-Miss., a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, asked Shinseki how he intends to enroll “priority 8” veterans — generally those who earn more than about $30,000 a year and lack service-related injuries — for benefits, when doing so would more than double the number of veterans in the system.

“To move twice as many people into the system is going to be more demanding on the taxpayers than I think some people realize,” Wicker said.

The fiscal 2009 spending bill (PL 110-329) included $375 million for 265,000 such veterans, who were barred in January 2003 from enrolling for benefits.

Shinseki said he would need time to familiarize himself with the number of potentially eligible veterans and take a hard look at the budget before he could comment further.

While supporters say all veterans deserve benefits, others argue that including hundreds of thousands of less-urgent cases jeopardizes quality of care and detracts from the treatment of higher-priority veterans.

Another potential flare up on the horizon stems from how the department will be funded in the future Read On…

Click hear to watch Gen. Shinseki’s confirmation hearing in full.

Hartford Courant: Soldier Suicides In Afghanistan Rose Sharply Last Year

Soldiers in Afghanistan committed suicide in record numbers in 2008, in step with a dramatic spike in combat deaths in the country, new military figures show.

Seven Army soldiers committed suicide in Afghanistan last year, compared with 15 suicides in total during the previous 75 months of Operation Enduring Freedom, according to figures from the Defense Manpower Data Center.

Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a top Army psychiatrist, said military officials during the past several years have tracked an increase in mental health problems among soldiers serving in Afghanistan. In 2004, she said, anxiety and depression were far less common among soldiers in Afghanistan, compared with those in Iraq. But by 2007 and early 2008, soldiers in Afghanistan were suffering depression and anxiety at the same rates as their counterparts in Iraq, she said.

The number of Army suicides in Iraq, meanwhile, fell for the first time in four years, Pentagon figures show. The military reported that at least 26 soldiers committed suicide in Iraq in 2008, with the cause of three more deaths still under investigation. In 2007, 32 soldiers took their lives in Iraq. The number of soldiers serving in Iraq declined in 2008, however, and the suicide rate last year may end up close to 2007’s record levels, an analysis of the numbers shows.

Overall, at least 200 service members have committed suicide in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait since the wars began. Although Pentagon officials acknowledge that repeated deployments have increased stress on combat troops, they have consistently asserted that financial, legal and relationship problems — not exposure to combat — were the driving factors in military suicides Read On…

Army.mil/News: Suicide prevention conference addresses mental illness stigma

SAN ANTONIO, (Army News Service, Jan. 12, 2009) - A staff sergeant who had lost Soldiers in the war zone was called a coward, a wimp and a wuss from a leader when he mentioned he might need psychological help.

It is this type of stigma from toxic leadership that can kill and that is being examined here by scientists, clinicians and specialists in an attempt to eliminate it, said Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Loree K. Sutton, who is the Army’s highest ranking psychiatrist.

Sutton described the staff sergeant’s real experience during her opening remarks of the 2009 DoD/VA Annual Suicide Prevention Conference being held here through Thursday. More than 750 people - specialists from the active-duty ranks, Department of Veterans Affairs and private enterprise, including social workers, chaplains, researchers, and family members affected by suicide - are gathered here with a common goal of finding ways to reduce suicide, which has been called a needless tragedy.

“The secretary of Defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs have both emphasized, ‘Seeking help is a sign of profound courage and strength. Truly, psychological and spiritual health are just as important for readiness as one’s physical health,’” said Sutton, who is the special assistant to the assistant secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) and Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury director.

Sutton said a Soldier’s ethos of never leaving a fallen comrade behind applies to those with wounds you can’t see. She encourages others to be kinder than necessary, because everyone is battling some kind of problem, and to reach out and intervene early. Read on…

USA Today: Army suicides rise as time spent in combat increases

FORT LEWIS, Wash. — Josh Barber, former combat soldier, parked outside the Army hospital here one morning last August armed for war.

A cook at the dining facility, Barber sat in his truck wearing battle fatigues, earplugs and a camouflage hood on his head. He had an arsenal: seven loaded guns, nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition, knives in his pockets. On the front seat, an AK-47 had a bullet in the chamber.

The “smell of death” he experienced in Iraq continued to haunt him, his wife says. He was embittered about the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that crippled him, the Army’s failure to treat it, and the strains the disorder put on his marriage.

Despite the firepower he brought with him, Barber, 31, took only one life that day. He killed himself with a shot to the head.

“He went to Fort Lewis to kill himself to prove a point,” Kelly Barber says. ” ‘Here I am. I was a soldier. You guys didn’t help me.’ “

For two days, a surveillance camera recorded the truck sitting in the Madigan Army Medical Center parking lot. Inside the truck, the body lay undisturbed.

If Josh Barber wanted his suicide to make a statement, no one seemed to notice.

Barber’s suicide is part of a larger story — the record number of soldiers, Marines and combat veterans who have killed themselves in recent years, at a time when the Pentagon has stretched deployments for combat troops to meet President Bush’s security plans in Iraq. The Marine Corps reported 41 actual or suspected suicides in 2008, a 20% increase over 33 in 2007. In 2007, the Army counted 115 suicides, the most since tracking began in 1980. By October 2008, that record had been surpassed with 117 soldier suicides. Final numbers for 2008 have not been released.

Suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans doubled from 52 in 2004 to 110 in 2006, the latest statistics available, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

And the suicide rate among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is outpacing the rate among civilians, a disturbing trend because the military screens troops for mental health issues and servicemembers typically are healthier than civilians, says Han Kang, a VA epidemiologist.

“Cases like Sgt. Barber’s are heartbreaking and my thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time,” says Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who has focused on military suicides as an issue and whose staff assisted Kelly Barber through her ordeal.

She says a cultural shift is needed in mental health care to expand outreach and de-stigmatize treatment for servicemembers and veterans.

“These problems can’t be solved overnight,” Murray says. “There is much more that needs to be done.”

Josh Barber’s wife shared his medical records with USA TODAY to provide a cautionary story about a soldier forced out of the service despite psychological illnesses caused by war.

“My husband fell through the cracks,” Kelly Barber says, adding that she also is haunted by the idea that she could have done more to save him. “My husband’s death shouldn’t go in vain.”

Read On..

1) Introduction

This memo provides basic information about California’s alternative sentencing law for combat veterans whose offenses are the result of their service-related psychological injuries such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or substance abuse.

If you are a veteran who served in combat and you are facing criminal charges, or you have been convicted and are awaiting sentencing, there is a California law that may help you obtain treatment instead of serving time in jail or prison.

2) FOR VETERANS: IMPORTANT - Communicate with your lawyer

The alternative sentencing law, California Penal Code section 1170.9 isn’t widely known or used. And, your lawyer may not know you are a veteran or that you served in combat. BE SURE TO TELL YOUR LAWYER ABOUT YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND GIVE HIM OR HER A COPY OF THIS LAW. (You can download a PDF copy of this memo at the bottom of this page) The text of California Penal Code section 1170.9 appears at the end of this memo. Your lawyer will be able to determine whether this law can help you.

3) FOR LAWYERS: The law is not automatically applied

To trigger the court’s obligation to consider a defendant’s veteran status and assess the individual for PTSD or other psychological problems, the defendant must “[allege] that he or she committed the offense as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, or psychological problems stemming from service in a combat theatre in the United States military…” (CPC sec. 1170.9(a).

To date, there is no case law on what defines service in a “combat theatre.” You may be able to argue it is not limited to service in Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq. For example, the VA’s definition of “combat veteran eligibility” for VA health care may include service in Bosnia, Sudan, Haiti, and many other locations during certain time periods.
~#~

California Penal Code section 1170.9:

(a) In the case of any person convicted of a criminal offense who would otherwise be sentenced to county jail or state prison and who alleges that he or she committed the offense as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, or psychological problems stemming from service in a combat theater in the United States military, the court shall, prior to sentencing, hold a hearing to determine whether the defendant was a member of the military forces of the United States who served in combat and shall assess whether the defendant suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, or psychological problems as a result of that service.

(b) If the court concludes that a defendant convicted of a criminal offense is a person described in subdivision (a), and if the defendant is otherwise eligible for probation and the court places the defendant on probation, the court may order the defendant into a local, state, federal, or private nonprofit treatment program for a period not to exceed that which the defendant would have served in state prison or county jail, provided the defendant agrees to participate in the program and the court determines that an appropriate treatment program exists.

(c) If a referral is made to the county mental health authority, the county shall be obligated to provide mental health treatment services only to the extent that resources are available for that purpose, as described in paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section 5600.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. If mental health treatment services are ordered by the court, the county mental health agency shall coordinate appropriate referral of the defendant to the county veterans service officer, as described in paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section 5600.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. The county mental health agency shall not be responsible for providing services outside its traditional scope of services. An order shall be made referring a defendant to a county mental health agency only if that agency has agreed to accept responsibility for the treatment of the defendant.

(d) When determining the “needs of the defendant,” for purposes of Section 1202.7, the court shall consider the fact that the defendant is a person described in subdivision (a) in assessing whether the defendant should be placed on probation and whether the defendant would be best served while on probation by being ordered into a private nonprofit treatment service program with a demonstrated history of specializing in the treatment of military service-related issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, or psychological problems.

(e) A defendant granted probation under this section and committed to a residential treatment program shall earn sentence credits for the actual time the defendant served in residential treatment.

(f) The court, in making an order under this section to commit a defendant to an established treatment program, shall give preference to a treatment program that has a history of successfully treating combat veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, or psychological problems as a result of that service.

Disclaimer: This memo is intended as general information only. No specific legal advice regarding any individual situation is intended or implied and no legal relationship is created by this memo. The information here is not intended to substitute for legal or professional advice. Nothing in this memo is intended to disparage any individual, official, or agency in any way whatsoever.

Please click here for a PDF copy of this Memo.

Watch CBS Videos Online


CBS News: Did Contractor Expose Troops To Toxin?

(CBS) The military contractor Kellogg Brown and Root, known as KBR, has won more than $28 billion in U.S. military contracts since the beginning of the Iraq war. KBR may be facing a new scandal. First, accusations its then-parent company Halliburton was given the lucrative contract. And later, allegations of shoddy construction oversight that resulted in Americans getting electrocuted. Now, some other American soldiers say the company knowingly put their lives at risk, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian and investigative producer Laura Strickler exclusively report.

Read the report on the internal Army investigation. [PDF Link]
Read an Indiana court complaint against KBR, including evidence and images. [PDF Link]

Please take a minute to sign the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America’s (IAVA) petition, to tell KBR to come clean.

In a clear bypass of restrictions placed on improperly discharging combat veterans with a ‘personality disorder discharge’, the military is discharging combat veterans for misconduct.

Army Times: PTSD victim booted for ‘misconduct’

After serving two tours in Iraq — tours filled with killing enemy combatants and watching close friends die — Sgt. Adam Boyle, 27, returned home expecting the Army to take care of him.

Instead, service member advocates and Boyle’s mother say his chain of command in the 3rd Psychological Operations Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C., worked to end his military career at the first sign of weakness.

In October, a medical evaluation board physician at Bragg recommended that Boyle go through the military disability retirement process for chronic post-traumatic stress disorder — which is supposed to automatically earn him at least a 50 percent disability retirement rating — as well as for chronic headaches. The doctor also diagnosed Boyle with alcohol abuse and said he was probably missing formations due to the medications doctors put him on to treat his PTSD.

But in December, Lt. Gen. John Mulholland, commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, signed an order forcing Boyle out on an administrative discharge for a “pattern of misconduct,” and ordering that the soldier pay back his re-enlistment bonus.

Last year, after a number of troops diagnosed with PTSD were administratively forced out for “personality disorders” following combat deployments, the Defense Department changed its rules: The pertinent service surgeon general now must sign off on any personality-disorder discharge if a service member has been diagnosed with PTSD.

“Not even a year later, they’re pushing them out administratively for ‘pattern of misconduct,’ ” said Carissa Picard, an attorney and founder of Military Spouses for Change, a group created in response to the personality-disorder cases. “I’m so angry. We’re seeing it all the time. And it’s for petty stuff.”

Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, said the Army should have provided Boyle with legal representation; that Boyle should remain in military therapy until VA processes his claim; that he should get an honorable discharge and go through the disability retirement process; and that the military needs to apply the same rules to “pattern of misconduct” as it does to personality disorders.

“The military should be concerned about the welfare of the soldier,” Sullivan said. Read On…

Associated Press: Injured vets wait for disability appeal process

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — Wounded troops are still waiting to file new appeals of disability ratings that determine what kind of medical care and benefits they get after federal officials missed their goal for beginning the process.

The Department of Defense was already months behind on starting the work of a three-member board that will hear the appeals. The December 2007 act of Congress that created the board mandated it start hearing appeals within 90 days. Though defense officials missed that deadline, they said they planned to start by the end of 2008. That didn’t happen either.

“Thousands of wounded troops have gotten inexplicably low disability ratings. An incorrect rating can cost a disabled veteran hundreds of dollars a month,” said Vanessa Williamson, the policy director at New York-based Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “Especially in this economy, this is an enormous burden.”

“Making sure that our veterans get the benefits they have earned should be a top Defense Department priority,” Williamson said. “Instead, veterans are getting more delays and more excuses.”

Spokeswoman Loren Dealy said the House Armed Services Committee is keeping tabs on the board’s progress.

Congress created the board after several investigations found inconsistencies in how the military assigns the disability ratings. Before Congress ordered the streamlined review process, veterans could only seek a lengthy review from a military panel that rarely changed them. Read On…

Associated Press: Shinseki pledges to fix gaps in veterans’ care

WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki pledged to move quickly to fix gaps in health care if confirmed as Veterans Affairs secretary, saying he will reopen benefits to hundreds of thousands of middle-income veterans denied during the Bush administration.

In a 54-page disclosure obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to head the government’s second largest agency also urged Congress to set VA funding a year in advance to minimize political pressures. And the former Army chief of staff said he will step down from the corporate boards of defense contractors to alleviate potential conflicts of interest.

“If confirmed, I would focus on these issues and the development of a credible and adequate 2010 budget request during my first 90 days in office,” Shinseki wrote to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, noting that VA funding in the past created “significant management difficulties” that delayed medical care.

Shinseki, who was once vilified by the Bush administration for questioning its Iraq war strategy, said a top goal will be to fulfill Obama’s campaign promise to expand care to veterans who were denied access due to cost-cutting. Such “Priority 8″ veterans, whose income exceeded roughly $30,000 annually, were blocked from enrollment in the VA system in January 2003.

In his questionnaire, Shinseki also:
_Pledged to cut down six-month waits for disability benefits in part by switching from paper applications to “an integrated, all electronic claims processing system.” Shinseki said his starting point will be achieving VA’s strategic goal of roughly 145 days, a benchmark that has eluded the agency despite years of promises by current VA Secretary James Peake and his predecessor, Jim Nicholson.

_Initiate an “independent, thorough” review to ensure that the VA will not delay rollout of millions of dollars in new GI benefits in August. The VA initially suggested it might not be able to meet the deadline, but after criticism insisted it could handle the needed improvements to its information technology systems. At least 520,000 veterans are expected to take advantage come this fall, up from about 250,000 currently.

_Work more closely with the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Labor and the Small Business Administration to increase economic opportunities for veterans and reduce homelessness.

Obama last month announced the selection of Shinseki, the native of Hawaii who is the first Army four-star general of Japanese-American ancestry. If confirmed, he will be the first Asian-American to hold the post of Veterans Affairs secretary.

Read the Entire Article Here

SeaCoastOnline.com: Vets fight for benefits

Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Ian LeJeune and others wounded in Iraq say they now are fighting a battle at home for veterans benefits.

The system penalizes veterans who are working and is overwhelmed by the large number of returning wounded, according to LeJeune, 30, of Brentwood.

If he had served in World War II or Korea and been wounded as severely as he was in Iraq, he said, he’d probably be dead. He would have at least undergone an amputation.

“World War I, World War II, Korea, if you got hurt, you got an amputation and that’s it,” LeJeune said. “Today an amputee gets a prosthetic limb and can be out running a marathon.”

The system gives additional benefits to veterans who have lost a limb.

Getting benefits for post-traumatic stress, for losing flexibility, for being in the kind of shape in which you want to work but can’t do what you once did — these are the kinds of injuries backlogging the system.

“We’re combating an archaic VA system,” said LeJeune, who has been in contact with the state’s congressional delegation about his concerns.

Congress introduced a bill signed into law in December 2007 that increased veterans’ funding to help reduce the 400,0000 backlogged claims and 177-day average wait, according to information from U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter’s office.

“It has become an adversarial system,” said Shea-Porter. “It certainly isn’t supposed to be that way. The frustration we’re hearing is accurate. Congress is aware of it. Part of the problem is, we didn’t have resources; we were forced to make these terrible unfair decisions.” Read On…

This article by Donna Kimura appears in the January 2009 issue of Affordable Housing Finance. In it Kimura highlights the housing issues veteran of all generations face after exiting the military. Kimura interviews veterans and veterans organization set-up to provide housing for homeless veterans, including Swords to Plowshares. Below are a few excepts from this excellent article, and we encourage everyone to read it in its entirety.

Affordable Housing Finance: An Army of Homeless

Jonathan Parker served in the Air Force for four years, working in aircraft maintenance and holding the rank of sergeant. He recently lost his apartment and had run out of options. After being diagnosed as bipolar, the 47-year-old is getting treatment and putting his life back together at a new development for veterans in Bedford, Mass.

Count them among the nation’s army of recently homeless men and women, a population overrepresented by vets. There’s about a one-in-four chance that the homeless man you pass on the street served in the military. Those are striking odds considering that vets make up only about 11 percent of the adult civilian population.

The number of veterans on the streets is already high, but there are growing fears it will increase as soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We’re seeing more of them,” says Michael Blecker, a Vietnam veteran and executive director of Swords to Plowshares in San Francisco, one of the nation’s premier organizations providing housing and social services to veterans. The group houses approximately 200 people at a given time in its transitional and permanent housing units, including a handful of formerly homeless Iraq and Afghanistan vets.

It often takes time for issues to surface because when vets return home they are still young and have connections to their communities. According to reports, it took an average of nine years postdeployment for Vietnam vets to fall into homelessness. There’s concern that it’s happening much sooner for the recent vets, says Blecker

There are several reasons why veterans are overrepresented among the homeless. For many, there are health issues, including posttraumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, or substanceabuse problems, says Cheryl Beversdorf, a former Army nurse and president and CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

There are also economic issues. A study prepared for the VA [PDF link] found that 18 percent of “recently separated servicemembers” are unemployed. In comparison, the national jobless rate was 6.5 percent in October 2008. A quarter of the vets that did find work weren’t earning enough to live on, making less than $21,840 a year

There’s also the overall lack of affordable housing. There’s a shortfall of about 6 million affordable units in the country, meaning there are only 38 affordable and available units for every 100 extremely low-income households.

On the street, the need feels as great as ever. “There’s no decline in demand,” Blecker says. “I think demand is ratcheting up from people barely hanging on.”

In response, Swords to Plowshares has begun plans to develop about 90 more units of housing for vets in San Francisco in cooperation with Chinatown Community Development Center, a local nonprofit organization.

Another issue of growing concern for Swords to Plowshares and other organizations is the number of female veterans in need of assistance. The number of those who are homeless is estimated to be about 7,000.

“Women are being deployed at much higher rates than ever before,” says Blecker. Read On…

The following news release was provided by the Internal Revenue Service on Dec. 12, 2007:

Certain Payments to Disabled Veterans Ruled Tax-Free; Some May Be Due Refunds

Portsmouth…Payments under the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) program are no longer taxable and disabled veterans who paid tax on these benefits in the past three years can now claim refunds, the Internal Revenue Service said today.

Recipients of CWT payments will no longer receive a Form 1099 from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Disabled veterans who paid tax on these benefits in tax-years 2004, 2005 or 2006 can claim a refund by filing an amended return using IRS Form 1040X. According to the VA, more than 19,000 veterans received CWT in Fiscal Year 2007.

The IRS agreed with a U.S. Tax Court decision issued earlier this year, which held that CWT payments are tax-free veterans’ benefits. In so doing, the agency reversed a 1965 ruling which held that these payments were taxable and required the VA to issue 1099 forms to payment recipients.

According to the VA, the CWT program provides assistance to veterans unable to work and support themselves. Under the program, the VA contracts with private industry and the public sector for work by veterans, who learn new job skills, re-learn successful work habits and regain a sense of self-esteem and self-worth.

Some questions/answers for disabled veterans:
Q: I receive payments for my participation in compensated therapeutic and rehabilitative work therapy (CWT) programs operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Are these payments subject to federal income tax?

A: No. Payments by the VA for participation in CWT programs are exempt from federal income tax as ‘veterans’ benefits’.

Q: In past years I received a Form 1099 from the VA reporting my receipts as taxable compensation and I included these payments in my gross income. What’s changed?

A: For many years, the IRS treated payments made by the VA from the Special Therapeutic and Rehabilitation Activities Fund for work performed under CWT programs as includible in the recipient’s gross income as compensation for services, even though intended for therapeutic or rehabilitative purposes.

In 2007, the Tax Court ruled that CWT program payments made by the VA are exempt from federal income tax as ‘veterans’ benefits.’ The IRS now agrees with the decision of the Tax Court, and has acquiesced in that decision. Accordingly, payments made by the VA from the Special Therapeutic and Rehabilitation Activities Fund for work performed under CWT programs are not includible in a recipient’s gross income for federal tax purposes.

Q: Will I be sent a Form 1099 from the VA for payments I receive from the Special Therapeutic and Rehabilitation Activities Fund for work performed under CWT programs?

A: No. Because these payments are exempt from federal income tax, they will no longer be reported to you or the IRS by the VA on Forms 1099.

Q: Can I get a refund of federal income taxes that I’ve paid as a result of including these amounts in my gross income in prior years?

A: Yes. If you reported CWT program payments in your federal gross income in prior years, you can file amended income tax returns from which you exclude these receipts. Use Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, for this purpose. See the Instructions for Form 1040X, and Pub. 556, Examination of Returns, Appeal Rights, and Claims for Refund, for more details.

Q: Am I required to amend my prior tax returns?

A: No.

Q: How far back can I amend my returns?

A: In general, you may amend any income tax return within 3 years after the date you filed the original return, or within 2 years after the date you paid the tax, whichever is later. This time is extended for certain people who are physically or mentally unable to manage their financial affairs (See Pub. 556, above).

Q: Will excluding these amounts from my gross income have any other effect on my overall federal tax liability?

A: Possibly. Before amending any federal income tax return, you should consider the effect of excluding these amounts on your overall tax liability. Excluding CWT program payments from gross income may adversely affect other tax items that depend on taxable compensation.

Associated Press: 4 recruiter suicides lead to Army probe

HENDERSON, Texas – Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Henderson, a strapping Iraq combat veteran, spent the last, miserable months of his life as an Army recruiter, cold-calling dozens of people a day from his strip-mall office and sitting in strangers’ living rooms, trying to sign up their sons and daughters for an unpopular war.

He put in 13-hour days, six days a week, often encountering abuse from young people or their parents. When he and other recruiters would gripe about the pressure to meet their quotas, their superiors would snarl that they ought to be grateful they were not in Iraq, according to his widow.

Less than a year into the job, Henderson — afflicted by flashbacks and sleeplessness after his tour of battle in Iraq — went into his backyard shed, slid the chain lock in place, and hanged himself with a dog chain.

He became, at age 35, the fourth member of the Army’s Houston Recruiting Battalion to commit suicide in the past three years — something Henderson’s widow and others blame on the psychological scars of combat, combined with the pressure-cooker job of trying to sell the war.

“Over there in Iraq, you’re doing this high-intensive job you are recognized for. Then, you come back here, and one month you’re a hero, one month you’re a loser because you didn’t put anyone in,” said Staff Sgt. Amanda Henderson, herself an Iraq veteran and a former recruiter in the battalion. Read On…

Las Vegas Review-Journal: The War Back Home - Combat’s ‘Invisible Wounds’

More than 30 surgeries have helped fix what a roadside bomb in Iraq did to Senior Airman Brandon Byers’ body, but nothing can erase the anger, paranoia and flashbacks that sometimes haunt his mind.

His physical recovery from the near-death experience in October 2006 has been difficult.

So has his fight to heal his mental wounds from the battlefield.

“There have been times since I’ve been back that I didn’t want to walk down the street because I was afraid somebody was going to get me,” said Byers, who lives with his wife and two children on Nellis Air Force Base. “But I’m not the only one having a hard time, a bad day, or every now and then, a mental breakdown.”

Other Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans interviewed by the Review-Journal tell similar accounts of the realities of post-traumatic stress disorder, the psychological offshoot of a life-threatening or traumatic event.

The VA will get about $4 billion in the coming year for mental health and substance abuse services. Though funding is up significantly from previous years, it is roughly the same amount the government spends in two weeks on the Iraq war, according to a congressional analysis.

That concerns veterans’ advocates.

“We need to start thinking of the VA as a cost of war,” said Elliott Anderson, a Marine Corps veteran from Las Vegas who served in Afghanistan. “People don’t think of it that way. They’ll put money into the war, but not into the VA.”

On top of the skyrocketing cases of PTSD, hundreds of thousands more veterans are coming home with traumatic brain injuries that cause some of the same symptoms as PTSD, according to the Rand study and the Brain Injury Association of America.

The Rand report said that, if untreated, the disorders increase the sufferers’ likelihood of unemployment, domestic violence, substance abuse, homelessness and suicide. Read On…

Veterans For America: The American Veterans and Servicemembers Survival Guide

Veterans for America is proud to release The American Veterans and Servicemembers Survival Guide. It is free and available for download here.

The new Survival Guide is a follow-up to the 1985 national bestseller, The Viet Vet Survival Guide. Just as the earlier book was a must-read for Vietnam veterans, the new book will prove an invaluable resource for the 1.7 million servicemembers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the 24 million veterans of past conflicts, and the families of all our troops and veterans. Unlike the earlier guide, the new Survival Guide is free.

The new book is as much a roadmap as a reference manual, detailing the benefits, assistance and resources available as well as the step-by-step directions for navigating the bureaucracies that serve our troops and veterans. The new Survival Guide contains 28 chapters, including 17 for veterans and their families and 11 for active-duty servicemembers, National Guard members and reservists, and their families. From legal to health services, job assistance to women’s issues, the new Survival Guide is designed to meet everyone’s needs

NVLSP SUES ARMY FOR DENYING LIFETIME BENEFITS & HEALTHCARE TO THOUSANDS OF VETS WITH PTSD

Advocates say veterans from Iraq & Afghanistan were shortchanged the support they are entitled to

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 18, 2008

WASHINGTON – In a class action lawsuit filed on December 17, 2008 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) charged that for many years, the U.S. Army shortchanged an entire class of soldiers who returned from service in Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from the benefits to which they are entitled.

“I experienced firsthand the horrors of war” said Juan Perez, an Iraq veteran and one of five plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “My expectation was that the military would be there for me, and my country would be there for me. Instead, the way I was treated felt more like a slap to the face.”
The five veterans of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan filing suit in the case seek to represent the large number of soldiers the Army found to be unfit for continued military service because of their PTSD, but who then were illegally deprived of the disability benefits and free health care to which they were entitled under federal law.

“I don’t think we can do enough for the veterans who put themselves in harm’s way to fight the war on terrorism,” said James J. Kelley, a partner with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP, which is representing the plaintiffs on a pro-bono basis with counsel from NVLSP. “Sometimes the intervention of the court is required to ensure that the right thing is done.”

For many years, the law has required the Army to assign a disability rating of at least 50% to all those it discharged for PTSD. A rating at 30% or more entitles a soldier to monthly disability benefits for the rest of the soldier’s life, to free health care for the soldier and his or her spouse for the rest of their lives, and to free health care for their children while they remain dependents.

Instead of following the law, the Army rated the PTSD suffered by these soldiers as less than 50% disabling in a transparent effort to avoid its responsibility to care for its wounded soldiers. In most cases these soldiers were rated well below the 30% rating level needed to qualify for monthly disability benefits and free health care.

On October 14, 2008, the Department of Defense called a halt to the Army’s illegal conduct by ordering the Army to assign at least a 50% rating to those soldiers discharged due to PTSD in the future. The lawsuit filed by NVLSP seeks to hold the Army accountable for its failure to take any steps to rectify its failure to follow the law for those discharged in the last six years with a less than 50% rating, prior to the Department of Defense’s order in October 2008.

One in five veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffers from PTSD or major depression, according to a study by the RAND Corporation announced in April 2008.

“Every American should be outraged that our veterans are being tossed aside when they can no longer serve and without the benefits they are entitled to,” said Bart Stichman, co-executive director of NVLSP. “The denial of benefits hurts these veterans and their families in countless ways. They deserve better, and this lawsuit could potentially help thousands.”

Stichman said that because of public outrage following investigative reporting into poor treatment of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2007, his office was swamped with calls from law firms wanting to provide free help to these veterans. Because of this outpouring of concern, NVLSP launched the Lawyers Serving Warriors™ project, which offers free legal help to active duty personnel who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom and are facing administrative separation, or going through a medical or physical evaluation board. They also help Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have received an inappropriate discharge or disability rating, or are having difficulty with a claim with the VA for disability compensation, or a claim for Traumatic Servicemembers Group Life Insurance benefits.

Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans seeking help from Lawyers Serving Warriors™ are urged to visit the website at www.lawyersservingwarriors.org and submit information through the “Request Free Legal Help” button on the left side of the screen.

More information and the legal complaint for the lawsuit are available at www.LawyersServingWarriors.org.

ABOUT NVLSP
The National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) is an independent, nonprofit veterans service organization that has been serving active duty personnel and veterans since 1980. NVLSP strives to ensure that our nation honors its commitment to our 25 million veterans and active duty personnel by providing them the federal benefits they have earned through their service to our country. NVSLP offers training for attorneys and other advocates, connects veterans and active duty personnel with pro bono legal help, publishes the nation’s definitive guide on veterans benefits, and represents and litigates for veterans and their families before the VA, military discharge review agencies, and federal courts. For more information go to www.nvlsp.org.

ABOUT MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP
Morgan Lewis is an international law firm with more than 1,500 lawyers in 22 offices located in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Harrisburg, Houston, Irvine, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Palo Alto, Paris, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Princeton, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information about Morgan Lewis, please visit www.morganlewis.com.

CONTACT FOR NEWS MEDIA/PRESS INTERVIEWS: Ami Neiberger-Miller, Public Affairs, cellular 703.887.4877, ami@steppingstonellc.com

AP: Judge rejects bid to force quicker VA payments

WASHINGTON—A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a bid by veterans groups to force the Veterans Affairs Department to speed up handling of its disability claims, saying it was not the court’s role to impose quicker deadlines.

Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans of Modern Warfare, which represent roughly 60,000 military veterans, had filed the lawsuit asking the VA process initial disability claims within 90 days and resolve appeals within 180 days. If the VA failed to do so, the two groups were seeking interim payments of roughly $350 a month.

At a court hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said he was sympathetic to the plight of disabled veterans, many of whom he acknowledged might face unemployment and homelessness in a tightening economy. But Walton said that setting a blanket rule of 90 days for processing claims was a role for Congress and the VA secretary to decide.

Currently, thousands of veterans endure six-month waits for disability benefits and appeals that take years, despite promises by current VA Secretary James Peake and his predecessor, Jim Nicholson, to reduce delays. More recently, Congress passed legislation that sets up a VA pilot program aimed at speeding the processing of disability claims.

“It has to be appreciated that courts play a limited role,” Walton told a courtroom filled with about two dozen veterans and their family members. “I am being asked here in a sense to run the VA and set in place a timeline that Congress has not.”

“As much as I as an individual would like to see claims expeditiously concluded, …I just don’t see how I could provide the relief,” he added. “If I did, I would be reversed in a heartbeat.” Read on…

For more on the lawsuit click here.

PRESS CONTACT:
Robin Crawford
T: 202.974.5025 / C: 202.378.8385
crawfordr@ruderfinn.com
www.veteransnewsroom.com

MEDIA ALERT

DEC 17 U.S. DISTRICT COURT HOUSE RALLY VETERANS GATHER TO FIGHT FOR FASTER DISABILITY BENEFITS DECISIONS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

WHAT: Hundreds of thousands of America’s heroes are facing irreparable financial and personal hardship because the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is taking a year, and in many cases more than four years, to provide decisions on their disability claims. Veterans from across the country will gather at the U.S. District Courthouse to show support for a lawsuit filed by the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) and Veterans of Modern Warfare (VMW) against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The Court is holding a hearing on December 17 to hear arguments from the VVA and VMW and the VA.

The lawsuit filed by the VVA and VMW on behalf of thousands of American veterans seeks 90-day decisions on initial claims for disability benefits, and a 180-day period to resolve appeals of those decisions. If the VA cannot meet these standards, the VVA and VMW are asking for equitable relief in the form of monetary payments, which will provide veterans with a lifeline of support when it is most needed.

WHO: Julie Mock, President, Veterans of Modern Warfare
Rick Weidman, Executive Director, Policy & Government Affairs, Vietnam Veterans of America
Donald Overton, Executive Director, Veterans of Modern Warfare
Christopher Karagheuzoff, Partner, Dorsey & Whitney LLP
Veterans sharing stories of their arduous battles with the VA to receive the benefits to which they are entitled and representing the hundreds of thousands of veterans who are still waiting for resolution on their claims

WHEN: 10 AM, Wednesday, December 17, 2008
WHERE: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
333 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001

MORE:

• The VA takes a year or more to deliver initial benefits decisions, and on average, appeals take more than 4 years.

• The VA has a backlog of more than 600,000 benefit claims. This number will increase as the 1.6 million troops that served in Iraq and Afghanistan become eligible for benefits.

• A soldier’s transition to civilian life is challenging. Delayed disability benefit awards create an additional and, in many cases, unmanageable stress for an already suffering population. According to the VA, the suicide rate among individuals in the VA’s care may be as high as 7.5 times the national average, and every night more than 150,000 American veterans are homeless.
• Delays of benefits result in lost homes, lost jobs, broken families and destroyed lives.

RSVP: Robin Crawford / T: 202.974.5025 / C: 202.378.8385 / crawfordr@ruderfinn.com
www.veteransnewsroom.com

AP via StarTribune.com: VA to repay up to millions in wrongfully denied benefits to surviving spouses of war veterans

WASHINGTON - Surviving spouses of war veterans have been wrongfully denied up to millions of dollars in government benefits over the past 12 years due to computer glitches that often resulted in money being seized from the elderly survivors’ bank accounts.

The Veterans Affairs Department said Saturday it wasn’t fully aware of the problem. It pledged to work quickly to give back the pension and disability checks — ranging from $100 to more than $2,500 — that hundreds of thousands of widows or widowers should have received during the month of their spouse’s death.

The department indicated in an “action plan” provided to The Associated Press that up to millions of dollars in back payments could be given to the surviving spouses sometime after next February, once it can identify them.

To expedite matters, the VA said those who believe they were wrongfully denied payments can call its help line at 1-800-827-1000. Read On…

CQ Politics: VA Slammed for Recovering Benefits From Widows

Sen. Daniel K. Akaka , D-Hawaii, the chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, confronted the department last week about the problem, which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of senior citizens losing pension and disability money received during the month of their spouse’s death.

“This flawed practice has caused serious hardship for many widows,” Akaka said. “I suspect that the improper procedures have harmed thousands of widows and widowers over the last 12 years.”

Congress granted veterans’ spouses the right to keep their partner’s final month of benefits when it passed the Veterans’ Benefits Improvements Act of 1996. The law instructed the department to treat disability and pension checks issued during the month of a veteran’s death “as being payable to a surviving spouse.”

But the department never adjusted its systems to follow the law. As a result, the department has routinely either refused to send checks or taken active measures to retrieve money already sent, including collection actions. Read on…

Baltimore Sun: Veterans in need return to a nation in the red

In Baltimore and across the nation, officials are bracing for new waves of war veterans to return home - amid worries that federal and state budget cuts will threaten programs that offer a lifeline for those facing health and career problems.

Demand for jobs and mental health services among veterans is swelling as public and nonprofit organizations struggle to build and maintain a support network to address issues that might not emerge for months or even years.

More than 1.8 million Americans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, creating a need for veterans’ services not seen since the World War II generation came home six decades ago.

There are 480,000 veterans in Maryland, and their ranks are growing as troops return from the two battlegrounds.

Yet after several boom years for veterans, there are just barely enough services to care for their needs. And trouble is brewing.

“I anticipate we are going to have difficult times,” said James A. Adkins, Maryland’s secretary of veterans affairs.

At first caught unprepared, federal and state veterans departments have responded in recent years with a smorgasbord of new and expanded programs for tuition assistance and financial aid, employment counseling, and physical and mental health programs.

The demand for mental health services is especially troublesome, and officials are warily awaiting what might be a tidal wave of new claims. Read On…

McClatchy Washington Bureau: Shinseki’s back and VA’s got him
Commentary by acclaimed Vietnam war correspondent and author Joe Galloway.

President-elect Barack Obama’s choice of retired Army Gen. Eric K. Shinseki to head the Department of Veterans Affairs is the smartest and best appointment he’s made so far.

It sends a signal to millions of our veterans, and to the active duty military, as well, that the serious business of caring for those who’ve borne the burdens of fighting our wars will now be in the right hands — the hands of a fine soldier who bears the scars of war himself.

That Obama chose Eric Shinseki to reform the stumbling, bumbling, expensive bureaucracy that is the VA is an unmistakable signal that business is going to be anything but usual in the future.

Shinseki, a West Point graduate who as a young lieutenant lost part of his foot to a landmine in Vietnam, is a soldier’s soldier, and everyone who wears a uniform knows that.

In choosing Shinseki to repair and run the VA, Obama has made it clear to the military and the veterans’ community that things are going to change in civil-military relations; that although he’s a Democrat who opposed the Iraq war and has never worn the uniform himself, he really gets it.

It will be a pleasure to watch as Shinseki takes on the biggest and most important challenge of his life: fixing the broken agency that’s supposed to care for those who’ve suffered the most in defending and protecting our nation. Read on…

The Mesothelioma Victims Center Will Cut Through The VA Red Tape For U.S. Navy Or U.S. Armed Forces Veterans With Mesothelioma Cancer

Americas Watchdog created the Mesothelioma Victims Center after a close family member was diagnosed with this lethal form of asbestos exposure related cancer. According to the Mesothelioma Victims Center, “the VA is a nightmare for US Navy or US Armed Forces Veterans. Three quarters of the mesothelioma Internet sites, are lawyers, advertising for mesothelioma lung cancer lawsuits, who then want to sell the case to a real mesothelioma law firm, and we think is a disgrace. To our knowledge, not one group will actually work with the mesothelioma cancer victim or their family with such a full range of free services. There is nothing close to us in the world, if you are a US Navy Veteran, or a victim suffering from asbestos related mesothelioma cancer.” Mesothelioma cancer victims or their families can call the Mesothelioma Victims Center anytime at 866-714-6466 or visit their web site at Http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

(PRWEB) December 8, 2008 — Americas Watchdog created the Mesothelioma Victims Center after a close family member was diagnosed with this lethal form of asbestos exposure related cancer. The Mesothelioma Victims Center has a mission of cutting through red tape, and giving mesothelioma cancer victim, or their family the names of the very best mesothelioma law firms in the nation, help & assistance with the VA or Social Security, as well a comprehensive report for the mesothelioma cancer victim as far as the best health care options in their area, all at no cost.

According to the Mesothelioma Victims Center, “the VA is a nightmare for US Navy or US Armed Forces Veterans. Three quarters of the mesothelioma Internet sites, are lawyers, advertising for mesothelioma lung cancer lawsuits, who then want to sell the case to a real mesothelioma law firm, which we think is a disgrace. To our knowledge, not one group will actually work with the mesothelioma cancer victim or their family with such a full range of free services. There is nothing close to us in the world, if you are a US Navy Veteran, or a victim suffering from asbestos related mesothelioma cancer.” Mesothelioma cancer victims or their families can call the Mesothelioma Victims Center anytime at 866-714-6466 or visit their web site at Http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

The Mesothelioma Victims Center was created after a family member was diagnosed with a lethal form of lung cancer related to asbestos exposure, called mesotheioma. Americas Watchdog soon found out there was no honest safety net for victims, or the family members of victims of mesothelioma cancer. As a result, Americas Watchdog has created a free service for all mesothelioma cancer victims, that is a combination of free mesothelioma helpful resources, free personalized assistance, and an advocate for a mesothelioma victim, or their family. According to the Mesothelioma Victims Center, “if you are a victim of mesothelioma cancer, or the family member of mesothelioma victim, you should call us first after a diagnosis.” A mesothelioma cancer victim can call the Mesothelioma Victims Center 24-7 at 866-714-6466 or visit their web site at Http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

Some Important facts from the Mesothelioma Victims Center

• The US Veterans Administration delivers a very poor quality product, when it comes to diagnosing a victim with mesothlioma cancer. According to the Mesothelioma Victims Center, ” our relative & the reason we started the victims center was because of poor at best care on the part of the VA. He was exposed to asbestos while serving in the US Navy. If a mesothelioma cancer victim is having problems with the VA, you call us anytime at 866-714-6466 and we will try to get it fixed for you immediately.”
• “If a mesothelioma cancer victim is looking to find a legitimate law firm, the Mesothelioma Victims Center will go out of their way to make sure you know who they are. These are extremely specialized firms, that you will not typically find in the yellow pages. If a mesothelioma victim is looking for the best mesothelioma lawyers in the country, we will tell you who they are, & we will give you their contact information.”
• If a mesothelioma victim or their loved ones are looking for the best health care options in their area after a mesothelioma cancer diagnosis, the Mesothelioma Victims Center will help in every way possible. This includes a personalized report, as to health care professionals & facilities that may provide the best treatment options.
• Many mesothelioma victims either get misdiagnosed, or they die, without the family ever knowing there may have been a legal option for the victim. If mesothelioma was the cause of death of a loved one, the Mesothelioma Victims Center will put the family in contact with national mesothelioma legal experts, who can provide analysis of legal options. If this happened to a loved one, please call the Mesothelioma Victims Center anytime at 866-714-6466.

The founding group of the Mesothelioma Victims Center is Americas Watchdog. Americas Watchdog is a nationally renowned consumer group that has been featured in Newsweek Magazine, Money Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Good Housekeeping Magazine, CBS Market Watch, and on CNN & NPR. According to the groups president, “if you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, we want you to call us first. No one in the US will be more honest or offer more complete information than our group.” Mesothelioma cancer victims can call the Mesothelioma Victims Center anytime at 866-714-6466 or visit their web site at Http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

Note: Healthcare professionals, physicians & nurses. Please tell your mesothelioma patients about the Mesothelioma Victims Center

Americas Watchdog & its Mesothelioma Victims Center are all about being there for asbestos related cancer victims in a time of great need for honest advice and help.

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Statement of SWORDS TO PLOWSHARES, VETERANS SERVICE AGENCY

To The

Presidential Transition Team’s Agency Review Team

For The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Founded in 1974, Swords to Plowshares is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that provides transitional and permanent supportive housing, employment and training services, health and social services, mental health and case management services, and legal VA claims and military discharge review legal representation. In addition, Swords to Plowshares launched the Iraq Veteran Project in 2005 in order to prevent or mitigate homelessness and poverty among a new generation of combat veterans.

Background on VA Homeless Services

As a pioneer provider of veteran specific transitional and permanent supportive housing and a long time partner of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Grant Homeless Programs, we have a unique insight into the strengths and shortfalls in the current VA delivery system.

On any given night there are between 200,000 and 400,000 homeless veterans on our nation’s streets. Yet the VA funds only 8,500 Grant per Diem (GPD) transitional supportive housing beds and just 10,000 HUD/VASH vouchers for homeless veterans to secure housing in the rental market. Even as we struggle to house our Vietnam, Cold War, and Gulf War clients, our agency is seeing new post-911 veterans in need of housing and supportive services. We expect the wave of homeless OIF/OEF veterans to steadily increase in the coming years as they have been exposed to every risk factor for homelessness identified by the VA’s studies; exposure to trauma, high rates of PTSD and TBI, repeated deployments, and lack of unit cohesion. At the same time we are responding to new challenges in housing aging veterans with premature chronic health issues. We anticipate that the new administration will work to correct the shortfalls in the current VA homeless services and make substantial investments in prevention of chronic homelessness for our newer veterans.

The Grant Per Diem Program

Swords to Plowshares provides transitional supportive housing through our program on Treasure Island in San Francisco. The current per diem rate tops out at $34.50 per night and this rate is offset if an agency is able to garner funding from alternate sources. This acts as a disincentive for agencies to leverage their VA partnership in order to provide more effective transitional programs. It is impossible, especially in our more expensive urban centers, to deliver quality services and clean, safe, dignified housing solely through the current GPD reimbursement rates, and agencies are punished for leveraging their bonafides as a VA contractor for raising additional funds. At the current rate, Swords to Plowshares is only able to provide shelter, meals, counseling, educational opportunities, and support staff through a patchwork of funding sources, and, because we are fortunate enough to have free housing on decommissioned military land. Many GPD Programs continue to be held up in disputes over offset levels, leaving them with significantly lower GPDs than the current top rate.

The GPD Program is inadequate because:

• Only 8,500 beds are supported. This does not begin to address the numbers of homeless veterans.
• The GPD reimbursement does not support consistent case management and care. For example, if, on a given night, two beds go unused in a GPD Program, our total costs for overhead and staffing cannot be reduced by that percentage.
• The GPD reimbursement offsets fundraising to cover the real cost of care.

Recommendations

1. Change the Grant Per Diem Program to a cost-based grant system in which agencies are granted a realistic budget for services rendered and are audited periodically to show that they do indeed provide these services.
2. Waive all current VA audit grievances concerning offset monies.
3. Increase the number of VA transitional housing beds supported.

HUD/VASH Voucher Program

The VA currently issues 10,000 vouchers for homeless veterans. This program enables homeless veterans to seek and secure housing in the rental market with a guarantee of federally supported rent. This program fails on several levels. Swords permanent Housing Program in San Francisco’s Presidio provides formerly homeless disabled veterans with safe, secure housing, as well as supportive services and staff. Project-based HUD/VASH vouchers would enable community-based supportive housing agencies to invest in consistent professional care. When and if, a veteran moves on to independent housing, vouchers would remain with the program and another veteran would be able to enter a mature professional program. Instead, the voucher simply goes to the next homeless veteran who must secure housing, which may be sub-standard, in dangerous areas, and in isolation from his peers and veteran services.

HUD/VASH Program is inadequate because:

• The program model cannot meet the needs of chronically homeless veterans. Veterans are suffering with years of chronic homelessness; mental health needs and co-occurring substance use are not able to secure housing in the market. Landlords are loath to rent to such tenants, even with the promise of federally funded rent.
• The VA is woefully delinquent on its 2008 year-end performance goal of 5,000 homeless veterans housed through HUD/VASH vouchers. As of fall, 2008, they had issued 900 vouchers and just 300 veterans had actually secured voucher funded housing.
• The VA has failed to hire enough case managers to assist homeless veterans in securing rental housing. The plan calls for a 33 to 1 ratio of caseworkers to veterans, they have failed to meet that goal.

Recommendations

1. Increase the number of HUD-VASH vouchers.
2. Create two distinct voucher categories: project based and individual based vouchers.
3. Designate the majority of vouchers as “project-based” in order to deliver safe, veteran specific permanent supportive housing programs.
4. Designate some vouchers as “Individual-Based” set aside for higher functioning homeless veterans who can secure housing.

The Aging Homeless Veteran Population

The need for age appropriate housing and services is increasingly apparent as our Vietnam-era clients’ age. Veterans, particularly those who have struggled with chronic homelessness are presenting with chronic illnesses associated with much older individuals. Swords to Plowshares Transitional Program is currently partnered with the VA in a Frail and Elderly Special Needs Program. This provides for attendants to see to these veterans personal care. As the Vietnam-era veterans age, there will be an increased need for aid and attendance on-site at community-based transitional and permanent veteran housing.

Recommendation:

1. The VA should study the needs of aging chronically homeless veterans and fund supportive housing accordingly.

Prevention of Homelessness Among the Post 911 Veteran Community

As community-based housing providers we know that our services will be in great demand in the coming years. However, we also know that we have an opportunity to intervene quickly and prevent the neglect which has led to our older clients’ crisis level chronic homelessness. Inability to access earned VA benefits, obstacles, mental and physical health care, and inadequate transitional assistance contributed to the crisis we see now. We hope that the new administration will take a proactive approach in order to stabilize veterans at risk for homelessness and lead them to independent living.

Priorities include:

• Reducing the lengthy wait for VA appointments and disability claim compensation.
  • Presumptive eligibility for veterans with service-connected Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
  • Fast-tracking character of service claims for veterans who are suffering from service-connected disabilities but whose discharge status may prohibit access to care.
  • Review of all personality discharges, and all conduct discharges for any veteran with a diagnosis of PTSD or other mental health needs and/or TBI.
  • Consistent training of VA healthcare gatekeepers, clerks, intake personal who routinely deny care inappropriately to veterans misunderstanding of actual eligibility requirements.

Thank you for considering our comments. Swords to Plowshares is an active member of the California Association of Veteran Services Agencies (CAVSA), and a founding member of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV). Our agency has extensive experience in providing a plethora of services to veterans and are eager to join with the transitional team to assist in any way we can to improve the system of care for our veterans.

War causes wounds and suffering that last beyond the battlefield. Swords to Plowshares’ mission is to heal the wounds, to restore dignity, hope, and self-sufficiency to all veterans in need, and to significantly reduce homelessness and poverty among veterans.

Washington Post: Obama Picks Shinseki to Lead Veterans Affairs

President-elect Barack introduced retired Army Gen. Eric K. Shinseki as his nominee to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, bringing to his Cabinet a career military officer best known for running afoul of the Bush administration by questioning the Pentagon’s Iraq war strategy.

Shinseki, a four-star general and 38-year veteran who retired shortly after the fall of Baghdad in 2003, appeared with Obama in Chicago at a news conference today commemorating the 67th anniversary of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor. Obama said Shinseki agreed to join the incoming administration because “both he and I share a reverence for those who serve.”

“When I reflect on the sacrifices that have been made by our veterans and I think about how so many veterans around the country are struggling even more than those who have not served — higher unemployment rates, higher homeless rates, higher substance-abuse rates, medical care that is inadequate — it breaks my heart, and I think that General Shinseki is exactly the right person who is going to be able to make sure that we honor our troops when they come home,” Obama told NBC News’ Tom Brokaw in a interview taped for broadcast today on “Meet the Press.”

Military leaders and veterans advocates hailed Obama’s selection of Shinseki, describing the nominee as a soft-spoken, dynamic leader who is widely respected by rank-and-file service members past and present.

Retired Army Gen. Colin L. Powell, who was President Bush’s secretary of state at the time of the Iraq invasion, called Shinseki “a superb choice. . . . He is a wounded hero who survived and worked his way to the top. He knows soldiers and knows what it takes to keep faith with the men and women who went forth to serve the nation. He also knows how to run large and complex bureaucratic institutions. His is an inspired selection.” Powell, also a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, supported Obama’s election.

Shinseki, 66, was twice awarded a Purple Heart for injuries sustained in Vietnam.

Kori Schake, a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution who served on Bush’s National Security Council during the run-up to the war, said Shinseki is “a great choice. . . . Shinseki will be a terrific advocate for and leader of our Veterans Administration. He distinguished himself in caring for wounded warriors while chief of staff, and I’m certain he will serve veterans and the country well.” Read on…

Salt Lake Weekly: Diary of a Suicide - For two years Jason Ermer fought to make it home from Iraq. Last New Year’s Eve, he gave up.
By Stephen Dark

It was just after midnight on Dec. 31, 2007, and bitterly cold outside, when two Ogden police officers knocked on the door of Jason Ermer’s home.

Earlier that night, Danny Murchie, an addictions counselor at the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) Salt Lake City office, had called Ogden police and asked for a courtesy check on Ermer, his 28-year-old client, a recent Iraq war veteran. Murchie had talked with Ermer and feared he might harm himself.

When no one answered at the Ermer home, police followed footprints in the snow a few blocks into the Ogden Canyon foothills. Near a large boulder, a man’s body lay in the snow, blood pooling near his head. His breathing was slow and gargly.

Ermer was dressed in a black leather jacket and a baseball hat with the logo “Airborne.” When paramedics moved Ermer, barely breathing, to a stretcher, they found his black Ruger .45 pistol beneath him. Hours later, Ermer died at McKay-Dee Hospital Center.

A native of Roy, Utah, Jason Ermer served his country for a year in the northern Iraq city of Mosul in 2003. He was a soldier in the 37th Engineering Battalion of the 82nd Airborne division, later of the 101st Airborne. He was redeployed to Fort Bragg, N.C., in March 2005 and discharged from the Army seven months later. On Nov. 11, 2005, he returned to Utah with his wife Brandi and their newborn daughter Marley.

But Jason was scarcely the same man who had enlisted three and a half years earlier. He brought back to Utah constant pain from a parachuting injury to his neck and lower back, a growing addiction to painkillers and Iraq-fueled nightmares that wouldn’t let him sleep at night. One particularly graphic flashback plagued him—the last terrified look of an Iraqi child, who fell beneath the wheels of a Humvee Jason was driving near Mosul. Read On…

Los Angeles Times: Veterans’ long-term problems linked to traumatic brain injuries

Traumatic brain injuries, one of the signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, can be linked to such long-term problems as seizures, aggression and dementia reminiscent of Alzheimer’s disease, according to an Institute of Medicine report released Thursday.

Even mild brain injuries, the report found, appear associated with some long-term problems.

The report is a wake-up call, said Dr. Michael Yochelson, who specializes in traumatic brain injury at National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington and used to work at the National Naval Medical Center.

“We need to be prepared to take care of these people, and we need to be observant,” said Yochelson, who was not involved in the institute’s report.

A recent Rand Corp. report on which Yochelson worked estimated that 300,000 troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan — 19% — had suffered traumatic brain injuries. Such injuries have cost the nation $554 million in treatment and lost productivity, that report estimated. Read On…

Atlantic Free Press: ‘Culture of Dishonesty’ At Department of Veterans Affairs
by Jason Leopold

The economic meltdown that has dominated media coverage over the past several months has overshadowed a crisis at the Department of Veterans Affairs, an agency in dire need of new leadership, veterans groups and Democratic lawmakers say.

VA is now treating more than 350,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and with the war in Iraq guaranteed to continue for at least another three years, and with the possibility of more troops being sent to fight in Afghanistan, tens of thousands of those veterans will likely seek medical care and benefits from the VA for combat related injuries.

But the VA is still unprepared to meet these challenges.

In recent months, as benefits claims have piled up at the VA, some of the agency’s 250,000 employees have apparently become so overwhelmed with their work load that they were prepared to shred hundreds of benefits claims in order to avoid processing the forms, thereby denying veterans the benefits they have come to depend upon to survive.

Last month, internal watchdogs discovered 500 benefits claims in shredding bins at the 41 of the 57 regional VA offices around the country.

The incident resulted in hastily arranged roundtable discussion last week led by House Veterans Affairs Chairman Bob Filner who excoriated the VA for creating a “culture of dishonesty” that he said has become so pervasive over the years that it has completely shattered the confidence of war veterans who feel they can no longer depend on the agency for help when they return from combat.

“This episode has further strengthened my belief that VA desperately needs new leadership, and it needs new leadership today,” Filner, D-CA, said. “These incidents and “mistakes,” all occurring to the detriment of our veterans and never to their benefit, remind me more of the Keystone Cops rather than a supportive organization dedicated to taking care of our veterans.

“First, I am not convinced that only 500 documents were saved from the shredding bin. This is merely a snapshot in time. The VA was unable to convince me that more documents have not been shredded in the past and I honestly do not know how many records have been destroyed and how many files lost over the past decades.” Read on…

ArmyTimes: Suit claims Halliburton, KBR sickened base

A Georgia man has filed a lawsuit against KBR and Halliburton and is seeking to make it a class-action case, saying the contractors exposed everyone at Joint Base Balad in Iraq to unsafe water, food and hazardous fumes from the burn pit there.

Joshua Eller, who worked as a civilian computer-aided drafting technician with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, said military personnel, contractors and third-country nationals may have been sickened by contamination at the largest U.S. installation in Iraq, home to more than 30,000 service members, Defense Department civilians and contractor personnel.

“Defendants promised the United States government that they would supply safe water for hygienic and recreational uses, safe food supplies and properly operate base incinerators to dispose of medical waste safely,” according to the lawsuit, filed Nov. 26 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. “Defendants utterly failed to perform their promised duties.”

Eller filed his claim after he deployed in February 2006 for 10 months. The lawsuit claims he developed skin lesions that subsequently spread, filled with fluid and burst. He said they went away, then reappeared, followed by blisters on his feet that made it painful for him to walk. He said they healed, but continue to return every three to four months.

Then, Eller said he experienced vomiting, cramping and diarrhea, and continues to suffer severe abdominal pain.

“Plaintiff witnessed the open air burn pit in operation at Balad Air Force Base,” the lawsuit states. “On one occasion, he witnessed a wild dog running around base with a human arm in its mouth. The human arm had been dumped on the open air burn pit by KBR.”

The lawsuit also accuses KBR of shipping ice in mortuary trucks that “still had traces of body fluids and putrefied remains in them when they were loaded with ice. This ice was served to U.S. forces.” Read On…

TulsaWorld.com: Helping veterans goal of substance abuse court - The new program will focus on people accused of nonviolent felony offenses.

A new therapeutic court program being developed in Tulsa to address the needs of military veterans is an opportunity to “give back to the people who have stood for us,” Tulsa County Special District Judge Sarah Smith said.

“I feel like it is an honor to be able to offer some assistance to veterans who need help to get back on their feet,” she said.

Under the umbrella of the well-established Tulsa County Drug Court, a Veterans Treatment Court will focus on people with military backgrounds and alcohol or drug addiction.

The court will deal with people who are accused of nonviolent felony offenses and who have substance-abuse issues. A defendant’s underlying charge doesn’t have to be a drug or alcohol charge but could include such charges as larceny of merchandise from a retailer, concealing stolen property and burglary.

Some aspects of the court are similar to the established drug and DUI courts here, which are designed as alternatives to incarceration.

Drug Court participants undergo a treatment regimen that includes counseling sessions, drug testing, probation supervision and regular status hearings in court.

The new court will convene once a week at the county courthouse, with Smith as the judge. The start-up session is scheduled for Dec. 8. Read on…

Related article:
Oklahoma Veterans Court

Send holiday cards before December 10th! The American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes Inc. are teaming up to send holiday cards to servicemen and women in the United States and around the world. Send to: Holiday Mail For Heroes, P.O. Box 5456, Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456. For more information, visit http://www.redcross.org/email/saf/

LoHud.com (The Journal News): Hastings man wins 5-year fight for benefits

Five decades after Army veteran Joe Cohen took part in atomic bomb tests in Nevada, and five years after the Department of Veterans Affairs stopped the disability checks he had been receiving as compensation for the cancer those tests caused, the retired transportation executive has been informed that, at long last, his appeal has been approved.

“They say I’ll get the check next week, but I won’t believe it until I’m holding it in my hand,” said the 74-year-old Hastings resident, who was informed by the VA on Tuesday that he will receive about $200,000 for benefits he should have been paid all along. His monthly VA disability check will resume in January.

Cohen was a private in an ordnance company in 1955 when his unit was tapped to participate in Operation Teapot, a series of atomic tests at Camp Desert Rock in Nevada. Twice that year he and his buddies huddled in trenches while atomic devices were detonated. The soldiers wore no special equipment other than the goggles each man was handed on the way to their foxholes.

In 1996 Cohen, like many of his fellow “atomic veterans,” was diagnosed with hairy-cell leukemia caused by radiation exposure. He filed a claim with the VA and began receiving 30 percent disability checks. The checks stopped in 2003, when the VA informed him that because his cancer was in remission, he was no longer entitled to the benefit.

Cohen appealed, and the long wait began.

“They never took any action,” he said. “I’m sure they just hoped that I would give up and go away. Unfortunately, it seems like that’s how the VA handles things. But it’s not in my personality to quit when I’m right. Our government has an obligation to veterans and their families, and I wasn’t going to let the VA shirk their responsibility.”

Cohen started writing to the VA on a regular basis, building a file of more than 200 documents that he said “show how they were just giving me the runaround.”

“I don’t feel elated, I feel exhausted,” he said. “It’s like after five years a weight has been lifted from me. But I’m just one guy; There are thousands of veterans out there who are suffering while the VA drags its feet. I think that if it wasn’t for pressure from the elected officials and the publicity from the story in The Journal News, I’d still be waiting. It shouldn’t have to come to that.” Read on…

San Francisco Examiner: With help, Iraq vets get lives back on track

All three were shattered, in different ways. Eddie Silva lost his sight. For June Moss, the wounds were emotional. Shrapnel from an explosion tore into Angel Gomez’s head.

They are three among of tens of thousands of U.S. service members to return from the war in Iraq needing intensive, expert help to get their lives back on track. Each has made progress - after arduous regimens of therapy or counseling at the VA health center in Palo Alto, Calif. - and each knows more challenges lie ahead.

Silva, a Marine sergeant, was blinded by roadside bomb in August 2007 while on a foot patrol outside Fallujah during his fifth overseas tour. After a year of physical and occupational therapy, he savors his return toward self-sufficiency.

Moss served in the Army for 12 years, rising to staff sergeant, and was deployed to Iraq in 2003. Only on her first leave after returning to the United States did problems arise.

“The crying fits started, I couldn’t sleep. I knew something was wrong,” Moss said.

Eventually diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, Moss, 37, has been undergoing weekly counseling sessions for five years.

Now a civilian, she assists needy and homeless veterans as an employee of the chaplains’ office at the Palo Alto VA.

“It’s humbling,” she said of her work. “It makes you think about your own self. Why are you moaning, when these people are coming in who’ve been living under overpasses?” Read on…

In Iraq the military disposes trash by burning it in what are often massive “burn pits.” These burn pits emit various toxins which are breathed in by soldiers who live in close proximity to these pits. These soldiers are becoming sick and the following stories show the cost to our service members health.

Army Times: Army report shows chemicals at burn pit site

A soldier concerned about his tour at Forward Operating Base Hammer near Balad, Iraq, this year sent Military Times a report showing high levels of particulate matter and low levels of manganese, possibly due to materials destroyed in a burn pit.

“The high risk estimate is due to the average (particulate matter) level being at a concentration the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers ‘hazardous,’ and is likely to affect the health of all troops,” wrote Jeffrey Kirkpatrick, director of health risk assessment for the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. “Manganese was also detected above its one-year military exposure guidelines.”

“I just returned from a 15-month deployment from Iraq with 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division to FOB Hammer, and some of us found a document saying that the level of a certain type of metal in the air was above military standards and to expect soldiers to become ill.” Read On…

For those unfamiliar with “burn pits” one veteran explains:

In theater, the military gets rid of garbage by dumping everything into a gigantic pit and lighting it on fire. Seriously–everything. Plastic, refrigerators, chemicals, paints, metals, upholstery, etc. Imagine how much garbage a small city creates–it was our own version of the Springfield tire fire. The burn pit at my FOB was on the north end of the camp about a kilometer from our compound, so whenever the wind blew from that direction, we breathed the smoke from the fires. Sometimes we would have north winds for days on end, and nobody thought that was very good for us, but nobody would do anything about it either. The smoke smelled terrible, and a lot of people complained of throat and eye irritation. I mostly complained because it stunk like a gigantic pit of burning hazardous waste.

Previous Army Times stories:

• Burn pit at Balad raises concerns

• Senator wants answers on dangers of burn pits

• Burn pit fallout

In what is an outrageous bureaucratic failure, pentagon officials are deliberately manipulating the definition of “combat-related” disabilities as a cost saving measure which denies wounded veterans the benefits they deserve and have earned.

Los Angeles Times: Injured veterans engaged in new combat

Marine Cpl. James Dixon was wounded twice in Iraq — by a roadside bomb and a land mine. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, a concussion, a dislocated hip and hearing loss. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Army Sgt. Lori Meshell shattered a hip and crushed her back and knees while diving for cover during a mortar attack in Iraq. She has undergone a hip replacement and knee reconstruction and needs at least three more surgeries.

In each case, the Pentagon ruled that their disabilities were not combat-related.

In a little-noticed regulation change in March, the military’s definition of combat-related disabilities was narrowed, costing some injured veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits — and triggering outrage from veterans’ advocacy groups.

The Pentagon said the change was consistent with Congress’ intent when it passed a “wounded warrior” law in January. Narrowing the combat-related definition was necessary to preserve the “special distinction for those who incur disabilities while participating in the risk of combat, in contrast with those injured otherwise,” William J. Carr, deputy undersecretary of Defense, wrote in a letter to the 1.3-million-member Disabled American Veterans.

The group, which has called the policy revision a “shocking level of disrespect for those who stood in harm’s way,” is lobbying to have the change rescinded.

“I was blown up twice in Iraq, and my injuries weren’t combat-related?” Dixon said. “It’s the most imbecile thing I’ve ever seen.”

Meshell said the military disability system was so complex that few veterans were equipped to navigate it.

“I’m a college graduate. I’m not a dumb person. But honestly, I can’t begin to explain some of this stuff,” she said. Read On…

USA Today: General’s story puts focus on stress stemming from combat

Gen. Carter Ham was among the best of the best — tough, smart and strong — an elite soldier in a battle-hardened Army. At the Pentagon, his star was rising.

In Iraq, he was in command in the north during the early part of the war, when the insurgency became more aggressive. Shortly before he was to return home, on Dec. 21, 2004, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mess hall at a U.S. military base near Mosul and killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. troops. Ham arrived at the scene 20 minutes later to find the devastation.

When Ham returned from Mosul to Fort Lewis, Wash., in February 2005, something in the affable officer was missing. Loud noises startled him. Sleep didn’t come easily.

The willingness of Ham, one of the military’s top officers, to speak candidly with USA TODAY for the first time about post-traumatic stress represents a tectonic shift for a military system in which seeking such help has long been seen as a sign of weakness.

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, doesn’t want troops to come home without the mental health care they need after months killing insurgents, dodging bullets and bombs, and watching comrades die or get maimed.

“This isn’t just a debt of gratitude,” he says. “This is a debt that must be repaid because they’ve sacrificed so much. They’ve done exactly what this country has asked. They’ve fought and suffered, and their lives have been affected forever.”

Mullen calls Ham’s decision to speak publicly about stress “huge” and says it could help reduce the stigma many servicemembers feel about seeking help for mental health issues.

Ham is “a very senior guy,” Mullen says. “I know him well; he worked here. He understands it. He’s obviously a leader at the most senior level we have in the military. That example is one that would stand out for every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine of any pay grade, officer and enlisted who have been through combat.” Read on…

Vietnam Veterans of America Press Release

Contact:
Mokie Porter
301-585-4000, Ext. 146
301-996-0901

(WASHINGTON) – Today, two groups representing thousands of American veterans, Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) and Veterans of Modern Warfare (VMW), announced that they have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to end the unconscionable delays experienced by veterans when applying for disability benefits. VVA and VMW seek immediate action to prevent further irreparable harm to our nation’s veterans.

The lawsuit demands that the VA provide an initial decision on every veteran’s claim for disability benefits within 90 days and resolve appeals within 180 days. Additionally, the veterans groups ask that the Court grant further relief in the form of interim benefits awards in the event that the VA exceeds these minimum standards of constitutionally-guaranteed due process. These interim benefits will provide veterans with a lifeline of support when it is most needed to facilitate reintegration into their lives back home.

“The failure to expedite veterans’ compensation claims creates, at best, the impression that the nation does not respect its veterans,” said John Rowan, National President, Vietnam Veterans of America. “America’s veterans deserve more, and the VA’s failure to fulfill its responsibilities brings dishonor to our nation and can only make the call of military service more challenging.”

The VA acknowledges that it takes an average of at least six months to reach an initial decision on an average benefits claim; the actual delay is closer to a year. Appeals of these initial decisions, which are reversed more than 50 percent of the time, take, on average, more than four years, with some stretching 10 years or more. In contrast, private healthcare plans – which process more than 30 billion claims a year – process claims and related appeals in less than three months.

“As a matter of both policy and practice, the VA subjects veterans to long delays before receiving any of the benefits to which they are entitled,” said Donald Overton, Executive Director, Veterans of Modern Warfare. “Our hope is that this lawsuit will compel the VA to process veterans’ benefits claims more quickly and honor our nation’s commitment to those that have defended and served.”

“All veterans will benefit significantly from the legal action of VVA and VMW,” said Robert Cattanach, Partner, Dorsey & Whitney. “The intervention of VVA and VMW is necessary because under federal law individual veterans are not allowed to access the judicial system. Dorsey & Whitney is committed to helping America’s veterans quickly secure the benefits they have earned from the VA.”

There are approximately 25 million veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces alive today. More than 7 million of those veterans are enrolled in the VA’s healthcare system, and approximately 3.4 million veterans receive benefits. More than 600,000 VA benefits claims are backlogged – this number will only increase as the 1.7 million troops that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to return home.

“A soldier’s transition to civilian life is challenging. The VA’s failure to diagnose PTSD promptly and accurately, and the corresponding delay in the award of benefits, plainly results in veterans being denied this critical lifeline,” said Dr. Charles R. Figley, PTSD expert and author, of Tulane University. “VVA and VMW’s lawsuit will help to reduce this additional and, in many cases, unmanageable stress for veterans.”

According to the VA, the suicide rate among individuals in the VA’s care may be as high as 7.5 times the national average. Delays in awarding benefits to America’s veterans increases the suffering of individuals already struggling with an inability to cope, as the seemingly endless wait for the VA to make a final decision on a claim magnifies the alienation and anxiety that they experience. For example, the inability to provide basic subsistence support significantly impacts a veteran’s ability to maintain economic stability, seek and gain employment, provide and sustain a home, or care for a family. As a consequence, there is a substantial increase in the number of broken families, cases of homelessness and depression caused by the failure to provide disability benefits on a timely basis.

###

Vietnam Veterans of America
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) is the nation’s only congressionally chartered veterans service organization dedicated to the needs of Vietnam-era veterans families, as well as to the needs of other veterans and their families. VVA’s founding principle is “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.” Visit the VVA online at http://www.vva.org/.

Veterans of Modern Warfare
Veterans of Modern Warfare (VMW) is a veterans service organization dedicated to serving our nation’s most recent war veterans. Our purpose is to support veterans and their families by providing education and information about the benefits America’s veterans have earned, assistance in obtaining benefits, advocacy in issues important to our generation, and camaraderie through locally based, national chapters. Visit the VMW online at http://vmwusa.org.

Dorsey & Whitney LLP
Clients have relied on Dorsey & Whitney (www.dorsey.com) since 1912 to protect their interests. With 650 lawyers in 18 locations in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, Dorsey provides a comprehensive approach to its clients’ legal and business needs. Dorsey represents a number of the world’s most successful Fortune 500 companies.

Dorsey and its individual lawyers have a long history of public service. The firm dedicates substantial resources, on a pro bono basis, to serve the unmet legal needs of disadvantaged individuals and of organizations who cannot afford to pay for legal services.

Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) is the nation’s only congressionally chartered veterans service organization dedicated to the needs of Vietnam-era veterans and their families. VVA’s founding principle is “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”

Army Times: VA document-shredding no shock to vets

Doubts were raised Wednesday about whether the Bush administration can do anything to restore confidence in the Veterans Affairs Department following the discovery last month of almost 500 key benefits claims documents in shredding bins at regional offices.

But the problem, initially discovered by teams of auditors from the VA inspector general’s office, didn’t exactly shock the veterans’ community. Veterans have complained for decades about VA losing or destroying claims documents, making an already complicated process even more difficult to deal with.

Veterans’ advocates attending a roundtable discussion arranged by the House Veterans Affairs Committee said VA’s admission of mishandling documents is a sign of the fundamental problems that veterans have seen for years.

Rick Weidman, executive director for government affairs of Vietnam Veterans of America, said the only real news is that VA now acknowledged the problem.

“Shredding is not the issue,” he said, calling instead for focus on “the integrity of the process.” Read On…

Click here to watch the full round table discussion before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

ABC7: Program helps unemployed veterans find jobs
Click here for direct link to video.

There is new hope for a number of homeless and unemployed veterans. They’re getting a brand new start in life, thanks to a program run by veterans. Swords to Plowshares is a program that has been around for 34 years.

“I’m going to die either drunk, addicted, in the street right? And today it’s a whole different ball game,” said Larry Bisakowitz.

Hilo Halo also joined the program about two years ago and today, he attends San Francisco City College. Still, Halo says recovery has been tough.

“I was out of a job, didn’t have a place to stay and place to live. Lost it all,” said Halo.

EarthTimes.org: Formerly Homeless Veterans to Graduate November 20th

Michael Blecker, Swords to Plowshares Executive Director, will be joined by staff, friends and family of graduates to honor the accomplishments of these veterans. “I am pleased to see another group of veterans graduate from the program with the dignity and confidence they need to finally break the cycle of homelessness,” Blecker said.

The graduates of the program, all formerly homeless or chronically homeless veterans, have spent an average of sixteen months overcoming addictions, mental health issues and other serious obstacles. The Transitional Housing Program graduates have acquired the skills and resources needed to secure housing, seek employment and improve the quality of their lives. Of the graduates, five are pursuing higher education, four are working full-time and one graduate has already completed his Certified Nursing Assistant degree. Swords to Plowshares is also helping all graduates transition into permanent or privatized housing.

New York Times: New Veterans Hit Hard by Economic Crisis
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

After a mortar sent Andrew Spurlock hurtling off a roof in Iraq, ending his Army career in 2006, the seasoned infantryman set aside bitterness over his back injury and began to chart his life in storybook fashion: a new house, a job as a police officer and more children.

“We had a budget and a plan,” said Mr. Spurlock, 29, a father of three, who with his wife, Michelle, hoped to avoid the pitfalls of his transition from Ramadi, Iraq, to Apopka, Fla.

But the move proved treacherous, as it often does for veterans. The job with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office fell through after officials there told Mr. Spurlock that he needed to “decompress” after two combat tours, a judgment that took him by surprise. Scrambling, he settled for a job delivering pizzas.

Mr. Spurlock’s disability claim for his back injury took 18 months to process, a year longer than expected. With little choice, the couple began putting mortgage payments on credit cards. The family debt climbed to $60,000, a chunk of it for medical bills, including for his wife and child. Foreclosure seemed certain.

While few Americans are sheltered from the jolt of the recent economic crisis, the nation’s newest veterans, particularly the wounded, are being hit especially hard. The triple-whammy of injury, unemployment and waiting for disability claims to be processed has forced many veterans into foreclosure, or sent them teetering on its edge, according to veterans’ organizations.

Recently discharged veterans, though, fared worst of all. A 2007 survey for the Veterans Affairs Department of 1,941 combat veterans who left the military mostly in 2005 showed nearly 18 percent were unemployed as of last year. The average national jobless rate in October was 6.5 percent.

A quarter of those who found jobs failed to make a living wage, earning less than $21,840 a year. Read On…

CNN: Gulf War illness is real, new federal report says

An extensive federal report released Monday concludes that roughly one in four of the 697,000 U.S. veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War suffer from Gulf War illness.

That illness is a condition now identified as the likely consequence of exposure to toxic chemicals, including pesticides and a drug administered to protect troops against nerve gas.

The 452-page report states that “scientific evidence leaves no question that Gulf War illness is a real condition with real causes and serious consequences for affected veterans.”

Click here for full article.

UC Berkeley profiles the welcoming environment and variety of supportive services veterans encounter attending one of the best schools in the nation.

UC Berkeley News: UC Berkeley steps up to welcome and support its student veterans

From Public Affairs 7 November 2008

BERKELEY — As the nation and the campus observe Veterans’ Day on Tuesday, Nov. 11, UC Berkeley’s student veterans, many of whom are back from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, are getting a well-deserved day off from their studies. More than 150 veterans are attending UC Berkeley this fall majoring in everything from engineering and languages to philosophy and peace and conflict studies.

“The number of veterans at UC Berkeley increased this year, and we’re likely to see that number grow,” said Ron Williams, campus coordinator of Re-entry Student and Veterans Programs and Services. The campus offers veterans customized outreach and orientation programs, guidance with financial aid, and a new class that addresses their unique concerns.

“Veterans bring leadership, maturity and life skills that make for highly successful students,” said Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau, who has supported federal legislation to expand educational benefits for returning veterans. “We honor their service by helping them to build a better future for themselves as well as for our nation.”

Click here for video.

Click here for more information on UC Berkeley’s Veterans Services.

ABC News: From a War Zone to Stateside Nightmare, Recruiters Describe Brutal Working Conditions They Say Led to Soldier Suicides
By SARAH NETTER

Staff Sgt. Nils Aron Andersson was a newlywed of just a few hours and had completed his first counseling session when he shot himself atop a parking garage.

Staff Sgt. Patrick Henderson had made plans with his wife and stepson to go fishing the night he hanged himself in his shed.

Now their friends and family members are speaking out against the job they say led the men to kill themselves — recruiting for the Army.

The families have said high-pressure, sometimes abusive tactics used on recruiters combined with lingering combat-related mental health problems drove the soldiers to suicide. There have been four suicides in the Houston Recruiting Battalion alone, including three in the past 18 months.

The allegations have led one senator to call for an investigation into whether the military is covering up a “toxic” work environment.

The Army has launched an internal investigation into the Houston allegations, but spokesmen for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command and the Army itself did not respond to the specific charges raised by the friends and relatives of the recruiters who committed suicide, saying the investigation is a response in itself.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, sent letters in September and October to Army Secretary Pete Geren after reading about three Houston-area suicides in less than two years — Andersson, Henderson and Staff Sgt. Larry Flores Jr. — in a series of articles in the Houston Chronicle.

After news broke of his first letter, Cornyn said his office started getting calls from anonymous recruiters and their family members telling him about the intense, sometimes unbearable pressures placed on recruiters.

“Some have alleged that the senior leaders in the battalion, including members of the chain of command, are interfering with official investigations and also working to cover up serious problems that evidence a toxic command climate and poor unit morale,” Cornyn wrote to Geren in his second letter, dated Oct. 9.

Cornyn went on to reference alleged improper recruiting practices, including “mass punishment” and organizing hazing sessions for recruiters who fail to meet their monthly quotas for new recruits; confrontational “counseling sessions” for these same recruiters, at which they have been personally insulted and threatened with separation from the Army if their performance does not improve.Read on…

Crosscurrents: Homeless Veterans

[On Veterans' Day] we honor the men and women who have served the nation in the military. And there are more veterans every day each month more than 2000 soldiers return to California from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many are finding it difficult to adjust to civilian life. Reporter Anna Sussman reports now on a disturbing trend of homelessness among these new veterans.

Please follow this link for audio.

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. a good place to look at the plight of vets

All across the country this morning there will be Veterans Day parades, fluttering flags and heartfelt speeches. We will tell our servicemen and women how much we appreciate their sacrifice, remind everyone that service to our country is the hallmark of democracy and lament the passing of those who sacrificed their lives.

Someone will play taps.

And James Holmes, who served in the 82nd Airborne from 1975 to 1978, will be waking up in an armchair at a shelter for homeless people.

“I spent the last four nights in a chair, one night on the ground in Golden Gate Park and two nights in a (shelter) bed,” he said.

“I loved her,” Holmes said. “Still do. I was at work when her sister called and said there had been a car wreck. She said she was gone. Dead. I didn’t handle it that well.”

Many vets find that a jolt in their everyday life sends them spinning. Holmes can remember bits of the funeral and odd images from the next few weeks. He also remembers the drinking and the deep depression. He fell back on a familiar coping mechanism.

“I think what the Army did was teach me to survive, alone, with just a little pack on my back,” he said. “Over and over, I just put my stuff on my back and walked away.”

If you’d like to pick a spot to highlight the problem, San Francisco would be an excellent choice. Bobby Rosenthal, a coordinator for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said there are an estimated 2,000 homeless veterans living in the city. And according to Wanda Heffernon of the local group Swords to Plowshares, that represents between a quarter and a third of the city’s total homeless population. Read On...

San Francisco Chronicle: Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans join the homeless

Ethan Kreutzer joined the Army at the age of 17 and fought with the 19th Airborne in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. When he returned home, he had no money, no education and no civilian job experience. He soon became homeless. He slept in an alley off Haight Street, behind two trash cans.

June Moss drove from Kuwait to Iraq as an Army engineer in a truck convoy. When she returned to the United States, she lost her home, and drove her two young children from hotel to hotel across Northern California.

Sean McKeen, a hardy, broad-shouldered 21-year-old with a wide smile, went to Iraq to clear land mines, and to get money for college. When he returned home, he became homeless in less than a week. He found himself sleeping in a cot in a crowded homeless shelter in San Francisco.

Kreutzer said he’s met several veterans of the war in Iraq on the streets of San Francisco, or sleeping in Golden Gate Park. He also said he met several veterans of the war in Afghanistan, like himself, who were in similar situations.

Kreutzer now lives in a temporary housing facility for veterans on Treasure Island, run by the group Swords to Plowshares. He attends PTSD counseling with other war on terrorism veterans so that he can learn to maintain a job and house. “I was haunted by a lot of issues, a lot of things that I saw over there that were not good things. There are some times when I can wake up in a room and think I’m still there. I still remember what it tastes like, the air over there. I see all the rocks, I see the people,” said Kreutzer.

One of the symptoms of PTSD is isolation and withdrawal, according to Amy Fairweather, director of the Iraq Veterans project at Swords to Plowshares. “So that interferes with your ability to get a job. People sit in the dark by themselves,” she said.

Fairweather is seeing large numbers of homeless war on terrorism veterans come through her doors.

“Homelessness can happen very quickly, if they don’t get the help they need. Their mental health will get worse, they will become more depressed,” she said. “We are seeing Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, who are homeless, coming in very quickly. After Vietnam, it generally took about five to 10 years to end up on the streets. We’re seeing people on the streets three months after they come home.” Read on…

This Veterans’ Day In Their Boots aired special webcasts of inspiring stories of veterans including a piece on a recent retreat for women veterans organized, in part, by Tia Christopher, Swords to Plowshares’ Women Veteran Coordinator.

Click here for more stories from In Their Boots

KQED’s Forum w/ Micheal Krasny: Female Soldiers
Tue, Nov 11, 2008 — 9:00 AM
Female Soldiers

Officially, the Pentagon bars female soldiers from direct combat duty. But in Iraq, women have found themselves in the line of fire more than ever before. On Veterans Day, we talk with some female soldiers about their experiences.
Host: Michael Krasny
Guests:
• Linsay A. Rousseau Burnett, former sergeant in the U.S. Army
• Meg McLagan, filmmaker behind “Lioness,” a film about the experiences of female soldiers in Iraq
• Ranie Ruthig, former staff sergeant in the U.S. Army
• Tia Christopher, women’s veteran coordinator for Swords to Plowshares

*Click here for direct link to audio.

NY Times: Battleground: Female Soldiers in the Line of Fire
By FELICIA R. LEE

After Shannon Morgan returned from serving in Iraq, the memories of killing and carnage continued to haunt her, memories that some told her were unexpected for a female soldier.

Department of Defense policy bars female soldiers from direct ground combat, but for Ms. Morgan, like the four other female soldiers profiled in the documentary “Lioness,” that regulation meant little in the heat of battle. Attached to all-male combat units in the Army and the Marines as part of the Lioness program, the female troops were used to search Muslim women as needed and to defuse the cultural tensions caused by strange men interacting with Iraqi women. But when fighting broke out, the female soldiers fought back.

“We’d been downtown searching houses, and fighting would break out,” Staff Sgt. Ranie Ruthig, a former mechanic with a Lioness team, said in a recent interview. “We’ve had grenades thrown at us, shooting at us with AK-47’s. It’s a fight-or-flight thing. When someone is shooting at you, you don’t say, ‘Stop the war, I’m a girl.’ ”

As Ms. Morgan says toward the end of “Lioness,” which has its broadcast premiere on Wednesday night at 9:30 on Channel 13 in New York, “This is a new thing for people to realize that their daughters are over doing the exact same thing that males are doing now.”

The documentary makes the point that the nature of the Iraq war — fuzzy front lines and guerrilla tactics — has thrust more female soldiers (who represent 14 percent of active-duty enlisted personnel) into enemy fire than ever before. And, like the men, the women sometimes find the return to civilian life difficult, suffering the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and the depression and sleeplessness that come with it. Read on…

Click here for the official website of the “Lioness” documentary.

Article on what it’s like to travel home from Iraq.

Stars and Stripes: After 15 months in Iraq, servicemembers face an arduous process of returning to ‘normal’

ALI AL SALEM AIR BASE, Kuwait — It was midnight and home was within grasp, but after 15 months of grueling battle and fleeting sleep, the soldiers of 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment now faced the airport screening from hell.

After carefully packing their bulging bags with clothes, body armor and trinkets picked up in Iraq, 305 soldiers had to empty everything for security officials who picked through shirts, underwear and socks looking for contraband. The check came between two X-ray scans and two metal detectors, a process that took about three hours.

The soldiers began their trip home at Forward Operating Base Normandy, the dusty outpost in Diyala province where many 2nd Stryker soldiers spent the last months of their tour.

There, they waited for hours next to a darkened airfield, as first sandstorms, then lightning and torrential rain forced flight after flight to be canceled. In an area gripped by a disastrous drought, the timing of the downpour was uncanny.

After two days waiting out the weather outdoors in a leaky tent, the soldiers finally got out on a pre-dawn helicopter ride to Balad, Iraq, where they stayed overnight before hopping onto a quick C-17 flight to Kuwait. Between nerves and constant movement, some soldiers hadn’t slept for two days by the time they arrived at Ali Al Salem Air Base in the wee hours of the morning. Read on…

If you have a problem getting your job back after military service Assistant Secretary of Defense Thomas Hall invites you to call him personally at 703-697-6631 to correct the matter.

CBS 60 Minutes: Reservists’ Rocky Return To Job Market

(CBS) With the Pentagon relying so heavily on the National Guard and Reserve to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan - 650,000 have been called for active duty since 9/11 - the least you’d expect is that after they serve, they get their old civilian jobs back.

There’s a law, called USERRA (Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act), that says their employers have to take them back at the same pay.

But what 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl found is that despite the law, thousands of guards and reservists come home to find themselves demoted or penalized, or out of a job completely.

Watch CBS Videos Online

NY Times: Army and Agency Will Study Rising Suicide Rate Among Soldiers

Conceding it needed outside help in figuring out why the suicide rate among service members was rising, the Army announced plans on Wednesday to collaborate with the National Institute of Mental Health in an ambitious five-year project to identify the causes and risk factors of suicide.

The Army will make thousands of soldiers available to researchers for interviews and will provide access to its many databases, including those with medical, personnel, criminal and deployment histories. Researchers will draw from a cross section of the Army and will include soldiers who have just joined the service or are training for war and those who have returned from war.

Suicides in the Army have been climbing since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2007, 115 soldiers killed themselves, a rate of 18.1 per 100,000 people, or 1 percent lower than the civilian rate.

The pace of suicides by soldiers in 2008 could eclipse last year’s. As of August, the number stood at 62 confirmed cases in the Army. An additional 31 deaths appear to be suicides and are under investigation. Read on…

The British government has recently acknowledged that thousands more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are in the criminal justice system then previously believed. Similar to the United States the British government also has an inadequate screening process for PTSD and other mental heath conditions which often go untreated as a result.

Telegraph.co.uk: Thousands more ex-frontline soldiers in the criminal justice system than previously believed

Elfyn Llwyd told fellow MPs that an estimated 4,000 ex-servicemen were serving community punishments for drug dealing, robbery and sexual offences.

This is in addition to the estimated 8,500 prisoners - one in 10 of the jail population in England and Wales - who probation officers say are in jail after serving the country in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Mr Llwyd said it was a “massive problem”: “At a time when serving soldiers have to make do with inferior kit, failure to act on this problem - and to do so positively and urgently - will be seen as further evidence that this Government has breached the covenant with the armed services in the most obvious and serious way.

“With proper support and counselling I believe that several thousands currently in custody would not be there.“

He said: “The problem is becoming worse and more acute given that servicemen and women now have to spend far longer in conflict zones in Iraq and Afghanistan than previously.

“Times between each deployment are now far shorter and consequently the pressures on them are considerably increased.”

The “majority of ex-soldiers” in a series of cases examined by the National Association of Probation Officers were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders.

Yet, Mr Llwyd claimed, psychiatric care offered by the Ministry of Defence was limited to three days “rest and relaxation” on a beach in Cyprus, and general questions about whether soldiers had “any problems”. Read on…

Los Angeles Times: Sexual abuse rates of deployed female soldiers detailed in study

One in seven female soldiers who were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and later sought healthcare for any reason reported being sexually harassed or assaulted during their military service, according to a study by Veterans Affairs researchers.

Women who reported harassment or assault were 2.3 times as likely to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder as those who did not, and were also more likely to suffer from depression or engage in substance abuse. Men who reported harassment or assault were 1.5 times more likely to suffer PTSD or other disorders.

Similar data have been found in other studies of the military, “but these are the first data specifically coming from veterans deployed in those operations, which makes them novel,” said clinical psychologist Amy Street of the National Center for PTSD at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System.

[In a previous] study of all VA healthcare users in 2003, not just those deployed, the researchers found that 21.5% of females and 1% of males had reported suffering sexual assault or harassment.

American Public Health Association: Substantial Proportion of Female Veterans Report Military Sexual Trauma; Military Sexual Trauma Is Associated with Higher Rates of Mental Health Problem

San Diego, October 28, 2008 – According to preliminary research results from the Department of Veterans Affairs, approximately 15 percent of recently returned female veterans utilizing the VA health care system report experiencing sexual trauma during military service.

The cross-sectional study, presented at the American Public Health Association’s 136th Annual Meeting & Exposition in San Diego, examined health care screening data of over 100,000 veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) who utilized medical care at any Veterans Health Administration facility during a six-year period.

Along with the more than one in seven women, 0.7 percent of males also reported having experienced military sexual trauma (MST). Both males and females reporting MST were more likely to be diagnosed with a mental health condition than patients who did not report MST.

BBC’s exposé on America’s homeless veterans.

BBC World Service: The lost veterans

Click here for direct link to podacst of the the program.

Sergeant Phil Northcutt has been living with his girlfriend Jennifer and their one-year-old son, Kai, in a single room, raised up on stilts over the back yard of a house in Long Beach, California.

It’s little more than a crash pad which belongs to a friend of his.

For the moment though, it’s the nearest thing that Phil has had to a place of his own in three years.

Phil was lucky - he came back from serving with the Marine Corps in Iraq in one piece. His experiences of serving with the US military changed him so much that he couldn’t go back to his old life.

Advocacy groups estimate that Phil is one of at least 1,500 veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan who sleep rough in America’s cities every night. It’s a problem that the authorities seem reluctant to admit to.

Official figures show that 150,000 veterans of various military conflicts are living in shelters or on the streets, although many charities working with the homeless say the true number is double that.

The current conflicts are already swelling this vagrant population - as more soldiers reach their point of discharge from the army.

When the process of eventual withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan begins, it’s likely to put further strain on an overburdened system.

Almost half of these ‘lost veterans’ have drug abuse problems and over a third have serious psychiatric disorders. Many have been to prison.

In 2006, Phil Northcutt was sent to jail for growing marijuana. The only drug which stopped the recurring nightmares of his time in Iraq. He was imprisoned for 11 months.

When the Marine Corps offered him an ‘other than honourable’ discharge, meaning the loss of benefits, he took it.

Andrew Purcell spoke to many of those, like Phil, trying to get back on track. He finds out more about their struggles reintegrating into civilian society, and why they feel abandoned by the US military.

First broadcast Wednesday 29th October 2008