Veterans' service groups see cuts

The Assoicated Press reported yesterday that several states are cutting back funding to various veteran groups that assist vets (with the VA).

The following states have either already seen cuts, or cuts are in the works:

• Michigan -- $1 million cut to 11 groups that help vets navagate through bureaucracy and paperwork to obtain pension and disability benefits from the VA.
• South Carolina -- The next budget plans to cut aid to Disabled American Veterans, the VFW and the American Legion.
• Ohio -- After cuts, 13 veterans' groups received 10 percent less than promised.

These veterans' groups, also called veterans' service organizations (VSOs), provide vets and widows of veterans with help filing for benefits. And many rely on these VSOs, particularly in states giving money to them instead of hiring their own employees to assist in filing claims.

As President Obama moves to withdraw troops from Iraq in 2010, many will return with physical and psychological problems. Older vets are also being laid off and losing their health insurance forcing them to seek help from the VA. These troops and veterans may need assistance with VA claims.

Military Related Headlines 5/19

• Family perseveres to get vet's name on Vietnam memorial [USA Today]
• Army plans to break up $160B modernization effort [Newsvine]
• Pentagon: Bible Quotes No Longer In Reports [Huff Po]
• Pentagon: No plans to end don't ask-don't tell [Newsvine]
• US Contractors In Afghanistan Violated Gun Policy, Says US Military [Huff Po]
• Restoring the Earth helps veterans heal [CNN]
• US audit faults security spending in Afghanistan [Newsvine]

-Dippold

Obama Promises Vets New Record System

President Obama promised a more efficient and effective record system for wounded veterans today, according to the AP.

To help deal with over 33,000 injured military personal from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an electronic system would be implemented to follow a single record for a service member from the military then later into the VA's medical system.

A current six month backlog in disability claims at the VA irks many veterans because of the bureaucratic red tape and long wait associated with transitioning into the VA system.

"It's time to change all that, it's time to give our veterans a 21st century VA," said Obama after hearing from hundreds of vets frustrated with unprovided, needed treatment.

He also said his new VA and military budget sets aside more money for diagnosing psychological disabilities and brain injuries.

The White House said that VA spending will rise by $25 billion within the next five years.

-Dippold

Military Related Headlines 3/27

• Army vet billed $3,000 for war wounds [CNN]
• VA Says 10 Colonoscopy Patients Have Hepatitis [NPR]
• Russian 'Arctic military' plan [BBC News]
• U.S. May Expand Anti-Militant Efforts To Baluchistan [NPR]
• Obama Sounds Cautious Note as He Sets Out Afghan Plan [NY Times]

-Dippold

Military Related Headlines 3/24 - 3/25

• Jet Fighter Crashes In Calif. [CBS News]
• Pentagon exploring robot killers that can fire on their own [McClatchy]
• US: North Korea loading rocket on launch pad [Newsvine]
• Possible contamination at VA facilities sparks call for inquiry [CNN]
• Vet groups: Definition of combat is outdated [Newsvine]
• Pilot 'screamed in horror' after seeing jet slam into house [CNN]
• Obama seeks military savings [Newsvine]
• Pick For NATO Military Leader Rode Navy Fast Track [NPR]

-Dippold

Military Related Headlines 3/19

• Army Investigating How and Why Troops Were Sent Into Alabama Town After Murder Spree [CNS News]
• Obama 'mulls Afghan army boost' [BBC News]
• King: Veterans' stories show cost of military service [CNN]
• Beginning Of The End For U.S. In Iraq? [CBS News]
• US commanders say US ready for any NKorean missile [Newsvine]
• Private colleges still have questions about new GI Bill [USA Today]

-Dippold

Dems and Vet groups oppose Obama's private insurance plan

Democrats and Veterans' groups both appear opposed to Obama's proposal to require vets to use private insurance to pay for combat and service related injuries.

I'm over simplifying it here, but Obama says the plan would provide $540 million for the Department of Veterans Affairs while opponents claim that the VA has a "moral obligation" to pay for these injuries.

John of OPFOR about the president's proposal:

Confusing. I'm not a doctor or a politician, but this just smacks of political inexperience. Politics favor perception over reality. Think the perception here is going to favor the President?

-Dippold

Military Related Headlines 3/18

• Taliban Commander Says U.S. Troops are Being Targeted [ABC News]
• Sources: Pentagon to stop forced tour extension [Newsvine]
• Official Slams Pentagon on Major Weapons Purchases [Wash Po]
• Pentagon to bring families to Dover if they choose [Newsvine]
• Veterans groups irate at Obama's private insurance proposal [CNN]
• Iraq combat deaths at 6-year low [USA Today]
• Reports of sexual assault in military rise in 2008 [CNN]
• Massive archive of US Army medical illustrations and photos free online [BoingBoing]
• Czechs halt US missile treaties [BBC News]

-Dippold

USA Together.org

CNN tells the story of Dave Mahler and his website USAtogether.org, a service that helps injured U.S. troops by showcasing individual soldiers' stories and needs. Anyone wanting to help can browse the site and decide whom they want to support and how much.

The CNN article explains a little more about how the site works:

Visitors to USAtogether.org can search for requests by ZIP code, branch of service or type of need. Requests can be filled quickly, so the organization is looking for more service members and their families to list their needs, Mahler said.

Military Related Headlines 1/2/09

• A Focus on Violence by Returning G.I.’s [NY Times]
• Army Recruiter Suicides Prompt Investigations [NPR]
• Pakistan Briefly Reopens U.S. Supply Line [NY Times]
• Obama Will Host Commander-In-Chief Inaugural Ball For Military Personnel [AP via Huff Po]
• Obama Moves to Counter China in Space With Pentagon-NASA Link [Bloomberg]
• Revenge of the Surge [Military.com]
• ‘Sanctuary’ for veterans wins bid for rezoning [Columbia Tribune]

- Dippold

Political Online Reputation

Military Related Headlines 12/23

• Non-US Foreign Troops Can Remain In Iraq In 2009 [Huff Po]
  

• Army to honor soldiers enslaved by Nazis [CNN]

• Army halts use of new first aid item to study more [AP via Newsvine]

• Nonprofits Help Disabled Vet Make Ends Meet [NPR]

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

Bid forcing speedier VA payments turned down by Judge

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton has struck down a lawsuit filed by Veterans of Modern Warfare and Vietnam Veterans of America requiring the VA to expedite the processing of its disability claims.

The veterans groups' lawsuit requested that Walton implement a deadline of 90 days to pay disability benefits. The groups were seeking interim payouts of about $350 monthly if the VA blew the deadline.

On Wednesday, in court, Walton expressed sympathy to disabled vets that must wait out six months or more. But he said speeding up benefit payments was not a role for the courts, rather one for the VA secretary and the courts.

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

Military Related Headlines 12/1

• Army Bases Brace For Surge In Stress-Related Disorders [Huff Po]

• U.S. Army Goes Green [GreenBiz.com]

• Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security [Wash Po]

• Some vindication for sick vets, but little relief [USA Today]

• Analysis: ‘They Will Not Leave’ [Baghdad Bureau from NY Times]

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

Military Related Headlines 11/13

• Convoy Attack Kills US Soldier, 8 Afghan Civilians [ABC News]

• Military seeks veterans for 'Wounded Warrior' aid [USA Today]

• US General Urges Obama to Keep Missile Defense [ABC News]

• Pentagon to brief Obama team on key decisions [AP via Newsvine]

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

Military Related Headlines 11/12

• Veterans’ Families Seek Aid for Caregiver Role [NY Times]
• FBI Investigating Hundreds Of Phony War Heroes [ABC News]
• Illinois Still Short On Beds For Veterans [Southtown Star]
• Obama taps Nunn to help with Pentagon handover [USA Today]
• Spokesman: Shooter in Iraqi uniform kills U.S. troops [CNN]
• Joy to the world: holiday cards for 'any soldier' [AP via Newsvine]
• U.S. Supply Convoy Hijacked In Pakistan [CBS News]
• US troops leave more security in hands of Iraqis [AP via Newsvine]
• Justices Rule for Navy in Sonar Case [NY Times]
  

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

Survivor Corps: Operation Survivor

Survivor Corps is an organization striving to help people around the world who have suffered from violence and war help rebuild their lives and reintegrate into the community.

I recently received an email from Survivor Corp notifying me of their special microsite put together for Veterans Day. Although I'm kind of a day late and a dollar short here, the organization has ask me to blog about their program Operation Survivor. Because I'm lazy and probably could not explain it any better, I will now quote from their site:

Survivor Corps launched Operation Survivor in 2008 to help American service members returning home from war. This program enables these brave men and women to overcome the debilitating effects of trauma and to reintegrate into their families and communities.

Operation Survivor currently includes three initiatives:

• Community-based Partnerships in Peer Support –We are training organizations to connect those affected by war so that they may better overcome trauma and injury, reconnect with their families, and contribute to their communities. This approach, known as peer support, is based on the understanding that the best help comes from someone who has been through a similar experience.
  

• SurvivorNet – We are building an online community of support that will connect service members to peers with a shared experience, using survivor hosted blogs, innovative social networking, and links to additional resources.

• Convene Government, Business, and Nonprofit Institutions– No single organization can fully address the homecoming of so many. A collaborative approach is needed. Survivor Corps is bringing together, for the first time, leaders from across sectors to work together on a better approach to the healthy reintegration of returning troops. Learn More.

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

Veterans Day 2008 Headline Round-up

• WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence: 'Let it be known' [CNN]
• Obama to mark Veterans Day with wreath-laying [AP via USA Today]
• Veterans' groups sue for faster disability rulings [CNN]
• Veterans Find a Voice on the Hill [Wash Po]
• For some military families, a long goodbye [USA Today]
• World recalls end of World War I [BBC News]
• Photographer races clock to honor last few World War I vets [CNN]
• Veterans Helped by Healing Paws [NY Times]
• Today's Veterans Seek Camaraderie Online [CBS News]
• Homeless veteran is a nomad no more [CNN]
  

Military Related Headlines 11/10

• Obama plans Guantanamo closure, US terror trials [AP via Newsvine]
• Triple Baghdad blasts kill dozens [BBC News]
• Intense Training For Military Surgeons [CBS News]
• Report: US conducted secret ops in Pakistan, Syria [AP via Newvine]
• U.S. troops kill 14 Afghans in disputed gunfight [USA Today]
• Bush: care for wounded troops inspiring [AP via Newsvine]
• Swimming with sharks helps veterans feel whole again [CNN]
• 79% Have High Regard for U.S. Military This Veterans Day [Yahoo News]

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

Veterans' claim program under Pentagon review

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio recently wrote Teresa McKay, director of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service expressing his concern over a veterans' claim program where millions of dollars in payment errors allegedly occurred, according to the Associated Press.

Tom LaRock, a spokesman for the Pentagon financing office said McKay "has expressed her commitment to ensure that the veterans receive the benefits they are due. If mistakes were made we will take appropriate steps to correct them."

Kucinich's office has calculated that close to 2,000 disabled vets were wrongly denied payments in a program extending benefits for retired vets whose disabilities were related to military service or combat.

He also mentioned overpayment and underpayment inaccuracies for an additional 2,500 vets receiving benefits in excess of $2,500.

Kucinich said the cost of the errors in the VA Retro program totaled around $12 million and requested McKay recalculate the claims in the program.

The article explains action currently being taken:

Kucinich blamed the errors on a weakening of quality control checks prompted by a rush to shrink a backlog of unprocessed claims.

LaRock said his office started a review of the program after the House Oversight subcommittee on domestic policy that Kucinich chairs held hearings on the issue last July. He said they have reprocessed about 10 percent of the 133,000 claims originally considered eligible for the program, and hoped to complete the review by early spring of next year.

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

Some Recent Military Headlines

• U.S. deserter ordered deported from Canada [CNN]

• US Navy Agrees To Limit Potentially Harmful Sonar Use [AP via HuffPo]

• Army major pleads guilty in $5.8M bribery deal [Newsvine]

• US Cyberspace Command Put On Hold, May Be Axed By Pentagon [AP via HuffPo]

• Military lays out $4.4 M to supersize network monitoring technology [Network World]

• Aspiring Congressman Fights for Wounded Vets [NPR]
  

A Few Vet Headlines

• Calls To Veterans' Suicide Hotline Double: New VA Phone Line, Created Last July, Now Taking 250 Calls Per Day [AP via CBS News]

• Back From the War and on MTV’s Radar [NYTimes]

• Injured vets tell pull Dick Cheney invitation over security demands [NY Daily News]
  

In the Headlines Today

• Military surge in Iraq ends; 150,000 troops remain [USA Today]

• VA to advertise its suicide hot line program [AP via Newsvine]
  

• US soldier who deserted over Iraq is deported [The Guardian]

• Pentagon: U.S. may cut Iraq troop levels this fall [USA Today]

• More US troops may go to Afghanistan this year [AP via Newsvine]

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

Veterans Possibly Shortchanged Say Democrats

The AP is reporting that according to a new congressional report at least 28,283 vets may not have been paid money owed to them by the government because the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) were working frantically to clear a backlog of claims resulting from changes in the law allowing vets to claim both military retirement and disability at the same time.

This evaluation was carried out by the House Oversight and Government Reform's domestic policy subcommittee, headed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.

From the AP article:

In mid-2006, DFAS had hired Lockheed to help it work through the long list of cases. The government identified some 133,000 veterans who were eligible for money through its "VA Retro" program. The list quickly grew by another 84,000 names because newly retired veterans or those with a changed disability status were being added.

Officials finally cleared the backlog last June, seven months after the original deadline.

According to the House investigation, officials reached their goal only after lowering their standards. . .

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

Vet Group will Air Ads Touting Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

According to a report by the Associated Press Saturday, veteran group Vets for Freedom is launching a national ad campaign this week touting the troop buildup in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Vets for Freedom is spending $1.5 million on the ads that will first run on cable television nationally starting out in five states: Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia.

The group also plans to send members to several swing states as part of a four-month education campaign that they plan on formally announcing Wednesday.

The article also mentions McCain and Obama. Vets for Freedom more or less seem to back McCain and criticize Obama for not visiting Iraq since 2006.

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

'Swift Boat' Vets Want to Reclaim Name

The term "Swift Boat" has become synonymous with nasty campaign smears. Today's New York Times has an article that basically states these Vietnam Veterans, who served on the type of boat pictured above (know as Patrol Craft Fast or Swift boats), want their good name back.

A little background from Wikipedia:

Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, formerly known as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), is a political group (527 group) of American Swift boat veterans and former prisoners of war of the Vietnam War, formed during the 2004 presidential election campaign for the purpose of opposing John Kerry's candidacy for the presidency.

Even some of the Vets who associated with the anti-Kerry group do not like what "Swift boat" has become (to mean.)

Swiftboats.org has a disclaimer on their site claiming no “express or implied” political ties.

Source: New York Times

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

A Few Vet/Military Related Headlines

• Officials Warned Against Using Snarling Dogs, Forced Nudity During Interrogations, Senate Investigation Finds [HuffPo], [USA Today version], [WashPo version]
  

• 'Disposable Heroes': Veterans Used To Test Suicide-Linked Drugs [ABC News], [Washington Times version]
  

• Official says Iraq contract dispute cost him job [AP], [New York Times version]

Disabled Vets' Costs to Surge while Number of Vets Decrease

The AP has obtained internal documents from the VA showing that despite the declining number of vets, the government expects to spend $59 billion a year in 25 years to compensate injured troops, up from today's $29 billion.

Today's total vets number nearly 24 million. The VA expects that number to drop to below 15 million by 2033.

Reasons for the spike in cash include:

• Inflation
• More vets are aware of their benefits and are quick to file
  
• Modern medicine returns troops with injuries that may have killed them in past wars
• Certain medical conditions may worse with age and require higher payments

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

Hearing on Vet Suicides

CBS News reports on a congressional hearing titled, "The truth about veteran suicides."

There is talk of a "cover up" within the VA over veteran suicide data. A congressional committee is looking into the matter.

Internal emails by Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's head of Mental Health, seem to have landed the VA in hot water. In a email to his top media adviser Katz says, "Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our medical facilities."

Katz's e-mail was written shortly after the VA provided public data showing there were only 790 attempted suicides in all 2007.

Katz later said, "There is no epidemic in suicide in VA."

Sarabeth of 1115.org has no sympathy for Katz:

Why address the problem, and try to reduce the number of actual suicide attempts, when it’s so much easier to just perform a radical numerectomy on the official statistics? Especially when you can achieve much more dramatic results by number-fudging than you ever could through providing adequate mental health services.

This guy is surely the perfect combination of criminal negligence and criminally stupidity? What kind of mental defective do you have to be to a) think you can get away with claiming that attempted suicides are 15 times lower than they actually are, and b) to openly put it all in writing in an email like that?

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation

VA Disability Disparity

According to the AP and Cleveland.com there is significant disparity between states in average annual disability payments to veterans.

For example, veterans in Ohio receiving disability payments rank second to last in the amount of money they get, $4,800 less than those in New Mexico.

Federal lawmakers are looking into the matter, questioning why certain states collect thousands of dollars more. Rep. Zack Space of Ohio, introduced the Veterans Disability Fairness Act last week, which calls for increased scrutiny of the VA's compensation program.

One of the reasons for the disparity is each state's veterans' system has its own standards for disability. A veteran in one state may be deemed only be partially disabled and eligible for a small payment while in a different state that same vet could be considered a more serious case resulting in a larger payment.

Terri from A Soldier's Mind feels this issue needs a remedy:

This is a problem that definitely need to be fixed. Our veterans, regardless of the state they reside in, should be compensated the same for their injuries. Each state should have the same rating system in place and follow the exact same guidelines. Training is a must, for those who are making those decisions. I look at it this way … our veterans have given a portion of their lives to serve our country and they should, each and every one of them, be shown the respect, by compensating them in the same manner. That’s the least they deserve.

-Dippold

Political Online Reputation