Patrick W. Dunne, VA Under Secretary for Benefits, to Step Down
WASHINGTON (Nov. 20, 2009) - Patrick W. Dunne, the Under Secretary for
Benefits for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), today announced
his resignation for early next year. Dunne, who attained the rank of
rear admiral while in the U.S. Navy, has been with VA since 2006.
As Under Secretary for Benefits since October 2008, Admiral Dunne has
directed the administration of VA's disability compensation, pension,
education, home loan guaranty, vocational rehabilitation and employment,
and life insurance programs through a nationwide network of 57 regional
offices, other special processing centers, and Veterans Benefits
Administration headquarters.
"I've appreciated the wonderful opportunity VA has given me to serve our
nation's Veterans and their families," said Dunne. "We have an
obligation to care for our heroes and their dependents, and I will fully
support the transition of my successor to meet that moral
responsibility."
"Pat Dunne has guided the Veterans Benefits Administration through a
number of challenges during his tenure as Under Secretary. I applaud
his service and loyalty to our team and thank him for his unfailing
commitment to our nation's Veterans," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Eric K. Shinseki.
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Troy, N.Y., Dunne earned his
undergraduate degree in mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy at
Annapolis and earned a master's in mathematics from the Naval
Postgraduate School and is a graduate of the Navy's nuclear power
training program.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Secretary Shinseki Announces Study of Vietnam-Era Women Veterans
Secretary Shinseki Announces Study of Vietnam-Era Women Veterans
Comprehensive Study Will Help VA Provide High-Quality Care
WASHINGTON (Nov. 19, 2009) -Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki announced the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is launching
a comprehensive study of women Veterans who served in the military
during the Vietnam War to explore the effects of their military service
upon their mental and physical health.
"One of my top priorities is to meet the needs of women Veterans," said
Secretary Shinseki. "Our Veterans have earned the very best care. VA
realizes that women Veterans require specialized programs, and this
study will help VA provide high-quality care for women Veterans of the
Vietnam era."
The study, which begins in November and lasts more than four years, will
contact approximately 10,000 women in a mailed survey, telephone
interview and a review of their medical records.
As women Vietnam Veterans approach their mid-sixties, it is important to
understand the impact of wartime deployment on health and mental
outcomes nearly 40 years later. The study will assess the prevalence of
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental and physical
health conditions for women Vietnam Veterans, and explore the
relationship between PTSD and other conditions.
VA will study women Vietnam Veterans who may have had direct exposure to
traumatic events, and for the first time, study those who served in
facilities near Vietnam. These women may have had similar, but less
direct exposures. Both women Veterans who receive their health care
from VA and those who receive health care from other providers will be
contacted to determine the prevalence of a variety of health conditions.
About 250,000 women Veterans served in the military during the Vietnam
War and about 7,000 were in or near Vietnam. Those who were in Vietnam,
those who served elsewhere in Southeast Asia and those who served in the
United States are potential study participants.
The study represents to date the most comprehensive examination of a
group of women Vietnam Veterans, and will be used to shape future
research on women Veterans in future wars. Such an understanding will
lay the groundwork for planning and providing appropriate services for
women Veterans, as well as for the aging Veteran population today.
Women Veterans are one of the fastest growing segments of the Veteran
population. There are approximately 1.8 million women Veterans among
the nation's total of 23 million living Veterans. Women comprise 7.8
percent of the total Veteran population and nearly 5.5 percent of all
Veterans who use VA health care services. VA estimates women Veterans
will constitute 10.5 percent of the Veteran population by 2020 and 9.5
percent of all VA patients.
In recent years, VA has undertaken a number of initiatives to create or
enhance services for women Veterans, including the implementation of
comprehensive primary care throughout the nation, staffing every VA
medical center with a women Veterans program manager, supporting a
multifaceted research program on women's health, improving communication
and outreach to women Veterans, and continuing the operation of
organizations like the Center for Women Veterans and the Women Veterans
Health Strategic Healthcare Group.
The study, to be managed by VA's Cooperative Studies Program, is
projected to cost $5.6 million.
Comprehensive Study Will Help VA Provide High-Quality Care
WASHINGTON (Nov. 19, 2009) -Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki announced the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is launching
a comprehensive study of women Veterans who served in the military
during the Vietnam War to explore the effects of their military service
upon their mental and physical health.
"One of my top priorities is to meet the needs of women Veterans," said
Secretary Shinseki. "Our Veterans have earned the very best care. VA
realizes that women Veterans require specialized programs, and this
study will help VA provide high-quality care for women Veterans of the
Vietnam era."
The study, which begins in November and lasts more than four years, will
contact approximately 10,000 women in a mailed survey, telephone
interview and a review of their medical records.
As women Vietnam Veterans approach their mid-sixties, it is important to
understand the impact of wartime deployment on health and mental
outcomes nearly 40 years later. The study will assess the prevalence of
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental and physical
health conditions for women Vietnam Veterans, and explore the
relationship between PTSD and other conditions.
VA will study women Vietnam Veterans who may have had direct exposure to
traumatic events, and for the first time, study those who served in
facilities near Vietnam. These women may have had similar, but less
direct exposures. Both women Veterans who receive their health care
from VA and those who receive health care from other providers will be
contacted to determine the prevalence of a variety of health conditions.
About 250,000 women Veterans served in the military during the Vietnam
War and about 7,000 were in or near Vietnam. Those who were in Vietnam,
those who served elsewhere in Southeast Asia and those who served in the
United States are potential study participants.
The study represents to date the most comprehensive examination of a
group of women Vietnam Veterans, and will be used to shape future
research on women Veterans in future wars. Such an understanding will
lay the groundwork for planning and providing appropriate services for
women Veterans, as well as for the aging Veteran population today.
Women Veterans are one of the fastest growing segments of the Veteran
population. There are approximately 1.8 million women Veterans among
the nation's total of 23 million living Veterans. Women comprise 7.8
percent of the total Veteran population and nearly 5.5 percent of all
Veterans who use VA health care services. VA estimates women Veterans
will constitute 10.5 percent of the Veteran population by 2020 and 9.5
percent of all VA patients.
In recent years, VA has undertaken a number of initiatives to create or
enhance services for women Veterans, including the implementation of
comprehensive primary care throughout the nation, staffing every VA
medical center with a women Veterans program manager, supporting a
multifaceted research program on women's health, improving communication
and outreach to women Veterans, and continuing the operation of
organizations like the Center for Women Veterans and the Women Veterans
Health Strategic Healthcare Group.
The study, to be managed by VA's Cooperative Studies Program, is
projected to cost $5.6 million.
Veterans find help and hope
When a veteran, especially a Marine, hears the words, Traumatic Brain Injury, it seems a lot easier to deal with, cope with and heal, but when they hear Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, they assume they are being told there is something mentally wrong with them, they are somehow "soft" in the head, just not tough enough, not prepared and it is their fault. Yes, they are still getting this message from others. Why?
TBI comes from an outside force. The force of a bomb blast or head injury, just as the term states clearly. It is an injury so it is easier for the veteran to make peace with it, talk about it and do what they can to help themselves return to "normal" as closely as possible.
PTSD which actually means "after wound" and in other words, injury, yet they assume that it's their fault they have it. Why?
It is still the same part of the body that is injured. It is injured and not "defective" but they think of it that way. It is because they have been told it is their fault with the training they have received as the military tells them they can prevent it by becoming "resilient" and toughen their minds.
While they stand in uniform with weapons, face danger, risk their lives, go through the gates of hell in combat, they have the idea they are trained to be tough. They assume they should be able to take anything and still stay the same. They assume they are also trained to stop being human. They think all the compassion they had inside of themselves all their lives is suddenly gone but it isn't. The military tries to freeze it out of them but it is still there and that's perhaps the biggest problem of all.
Had the military taught them how to understand every part of them can go into making them a better soldier or Marine, or sailor or airman or National Guardsman, then they would put it all into use without considering even a fraction of who they are inside as an enemy. They would be able to make peace with what they see as weakness while using the other "parts" of themselves to support what is not as strong, what is wounded, what is injured.
So much the military could be doing if they finally came to terms with what makes the men and women in their command as valuable as they are.
TBI comes from an outside force. The force of a bomb blast or head injury, just as the term states clearly. It is an injury so it is easier for the veteran to make peace with it, talk about it and do what they can to help themselves return to "normal" as closely as possible.
PTSD which actually means "after wound" and in other words, injury, yet they assume that it's their fault they have it. Why?
It is still the same part of the body that is injured. It is injured and not "defective" but they think of it that way. It is because they have been told it is their fault with the training they have received as the military tells them they can prevent it by becoming "resilient" and toughen their minds.
While they stand in uniform with weapons, face danger, risk their lives, go through the gates of hell in combat, they have the idea they are trained to be tough. They assume they should be able to take anything and still stay the same. They assume they are also trained to stop being human. They think all the compassion they had inside of themselves all their lives is suddenly gone but it isn't. The military tries to freeze it out of them but it is still there and that's perhaps the biggest problem of all.
Had the military taught them how to understand every part of them can go into making them a better soldier or Marine, or sailor or airman or National Guardsman, then they would put it all into use without considering even a fraction of who they are inside as an enemy. They would be able to make peace with what they see as weakness while using the other "parts" of themselves to support what is not as strong, what is wounded, what is injured.
So much the military could be doing if they finally came to terms with what makes the men and women in their command as valuable as they are.
Veterans find help and hope
By Pamela Dozois/Lifestyle Editor pdozois@syvnews.com
John Stephens, a Marine serving near Fallujah, Iraq, was exercising in camp when a mortar landed about 125 feet from him. The blast threw him to the ground but he immediately got back up, thinking he was fine.
But he wasn’t.
He remained on active duty for two more years, even though he began to notice symptoms of fatigue, memory and concentration problems and other emotional and psychological changes just a few weeks after the mortar blast.
Eventually he was told he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, was given counseling and some anti-depressants, and was told to “get over it.”
But he didn’t.
He returned home a changed man; someone who had been social and active in his church was now someone who isolated himself, spoke very little and flew into fits of uncontrollable rage.
read more here
Veterans find help and hope
Vietnam Vet killed while trying to deposit money for WWII veterans
Two generations of veterans have just been attacked by this. This Vietnam veteran was part of a bigger picture. Most service organizations are now headed by Vietnam veterans because of the aging WWII and Korean War veterans. They took on taking care of the older veterans and the money to be deposited was for WWII veterans. The robber has no conscience.
If you know who did this, contact the police and turn them in. This was about a brotherhood of veterans trying to do some good and trying to take care of each other. They put the needs of everyone in this nation ahead of their own and now one is dead because someone decided to take what was not their's.
If you know who did this, contact the police and turn them in. This was about a brotherhood of veterans trying to do some good and trying to take care of each other. They put the needs of everyone in this nation ahead of their own and now one is dead because someone decided to take what was not their's.
Vietnam veteran robbed, killed on his way to deposit VFW money
William Burtner had helped raise money for WWII vets' trip to Washington
Tribune staff report
November 20, 2009
Army veteran William Burtner survived Vietnam and dedicated his life to helping other veterans.
On Monday, Burtner was about to enter a bank in Midlothian to deposit money that the south suburb's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2580 had raised during a benefit.
He never made it inside.
read more here
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-vietnam-veteran-dies-20-nov20,0,391111.story
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Woman wounded at Fort Hood thought shooting was a drill
Monona woman wounded at Fort Hood thought shooting was a drill
Steven Verburg 608-252-6118
sverburg@madison.com
Posted: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 8:45 pm
A Monona woman who was among the wounded in the Fort Hood massacre told a fellow officer Wednesday that while the shooting was happening she thought it was a drill.
Army Reserves Capt. Dorothy Carskadon and two other wounded members of the Madison-based 467th Medical Detachment have been medically cleared and should be coming home soon, said Capt. Robert LaFountain.
They were among the 15 members of the 467th who were being processed for deployment to Afghanistan on Nov. 5 when an Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, allegedly opened fire and killed 13 soldiers, including three from the 467th.
She was sitting in an office cubicle in the processing center when the shooting started.
"Almost through the whole ordeal she thought it was a training exercise," LaFountain said.
She remembered being hit by what she thought was a paint ball round, and the unit commander Maj. Laura Suttinger pulling her to a safe area and propped her up with another soldier, LaFountain said.
read more here
Woman wounded at Fort Hood thought shooting was a drill
Steven Verburg 608-252-6118
sverburg@madison.com
Posted: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 8:45 pm
A Monona woman who was among the wounded in the Fort Hood massacre told a fellow officer Wednesday that while the shooting was happening she thought it was a drill.
Army Reserves Capt. Dorothy Carskadon and two other wounded members of the Madison-based 467th Medical Detachment have been medically cleared and should be coming home soon, said Capt. Robert LaFountain.
They were among the 15 members of the 467th who were being processed for deployment to Afghanistan on Nov. 5 when an Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, allegedly opened fire and killed 13 soldiers, including three from the 467th.
She was sitting in an office cubicle in the processing center when the shooting started.
"Almost through the whole ordeal she thought it was a training exercise," LaFountain said.
She remembered being hit by what she thought was a paint ball round, and the unit commander Maj. Laura Suttinger pulling her to a safe area and propped her up with another soldier, LaFountain said.
read more here
Woman wounded at Fort Hood thought shooting was a drill
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