Lawmakers, Veterans Groups Discuss Benefits Backlog
Friday 29 January 2010
by: Mary Susan Littlepage, t r u t h o u t Report
Last week, Democratic and Republican members of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs met with Chairman Bob Filner to talk with 40 veterans' service organizations to discuss priorities for Congress' second session.
The roundtable marked the second time during the 111th Congress that the committee has met with veterans' advocates to discuss issues facing the nation's veterans and plan how to best solve veterans' problems.
Filner said, "The purpose of today's meeting is to build upon the successes of the first session and collaborate on how we can better serve our veterans and wounded warriors going forward."
Chairman Filner detailed the committee's priorities, which include ensuring adequate VA budgets for the next two years. Following the passage of advance funding legislation, Congress will approve a budget for Fiscal Year 2011 and 2012.
Veterans for Common Sense presented its legislative and policy goals for 2010 for veterans and families.
"Our comments were received well, and several of the representatives spoke with me later; Chairman Filner said they would be reviewing all our concerns and he hoped to take action," said Paul Sullivan, VCS spokesperson. The group called for streamlining how the VA processes post-traumatic stress disorder disability claims.
read more here
http://www.truthout.org/lawmakers-veterans-groups-discuss-benefits-backlog56524
Saturday, January 30, 2010
VFW head: Health care for veterans improving
VFW head: Health care for veterans improving
By Karina Donica • kdonica@thetowntalk.com • January 30, 2010
Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander-in-Chief Thomas J. Tradewell Sr. said Friday that the quality of health care for veterans is improving, but still more needs to be done.
Tradewell, a Vietnam War veteran who was elected in August, was in Alexandria on Friday for the Mid-Winter Louisiana VFW and Ladies Auxiliary conference being held this week at the Best Western.
Tradewell said he is pleased with the variety of programs that Veterans Affairs has in place to help veterans.
Currently, Tradewell said, the VA has hired additional staff and has established "benefits-due-at-discharge" sites in response to the influx of current servicemen and women being discharged from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tradewell also said he is pleased with the support of President Obama's administration.
During the State of the Union address, Obama said his administration has provided the largest investment for veterans in decades. Tradewell agreed.
read more here
Health care for veterans improving
By Karina Donica • kdonica@thetowntalk.com • January 30, 2010
Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander-in-Chief Thomas J. Tradewell Sr. said Friday that the quality of health care for veterans is improving, but still more needs to be done.
Tradewell, a Vietnam War veteran who was elected in August, was in Alexandria on Friday for the Mid-Winter Louisiana VFW and Ladies Auxiliary conference being held this week at the Best Western.
Tradewell said he is pleased with the variety of programs that Veterans Affairs has in place to help veterans.
Currently, Tradewell said, the VA has hired additional staff and has established "benefits-due-at-discharge" sites in response to the influx of current servicemen and women being discharged from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tradewell also said he is pleased with the support of President Obama's administration.
During the State of the Union address, Obama said his administration has provided the largest investment for veterans in decades. Tradewell agreed.
read more here
Health care for veterans improving
Episcopal chaplains address healing from trauma
The people in the best position to help heal the warriors, are wounded warriors themselves. They get it. They suffered from it. They understand the needs because they had the same needs. Above all, they stand as an example that PTSD does not have to be the end of anything. It very well can be a new beginning.
Most veterans will say, "I just want to go back to the way I was." Families wish the same thing. The truth is this is impossible. No one is ever the same because every event in a human's life goes into "who" they are the next day. We all change. For veterans of combat, it is not just one traumatic event but many of them feeding off others. While they can never return to the same understanding, beliefs, reactions, hold the same hopes and dreams or have the same level of faith, they can grow from their experiences and be better than they were before.
Chaplain Packard is the kind of example the veterans need as well as anyone else trying to heal from traumatic events. A struggle with faith does not mean there is no faith at all. A struggle to recover from the traumas of war can mean a better person because of the steps taken to heal.
Most veterans will say, "I just want to go back to the way I was." Families wish the same thing. The truth is this is impossible. No one is ever the same because every event in a human's life goes into "who" they are the next day. We all change. For veterans of combat, it is not just one traumatic event but many of them feeding off others. While they can never return to the same understanding, beliefs, reactions, hold the same hopes and dreams or have the same level of faith, they can grow from their experiences and be better than they were before.
Chaplain Packard is the kind of example the veterans need as well as anyone else trying to heal from traumatic events. A struggle with faith does not mean there is no faith at all. A struggle to recover from the traumas of war can mean a better person because of the steps taken to heal.
Episcopal chaplains address healing from trauma, honor Bishop George Packard
By Val Hymes, January 29, 2010
[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal chaplains gathered in Washington, D.C. Jan. 19-23 for a Federal Ministries Conference to explore "Healing from Trauma, a Journey into the Holy," hearing from theologians, victims of tragedy, disaster experts, a chaplain on the ground in Afghanistan and two chaplain families dealing with the pain of war.
The also met to honor their boss, Bishop Suffragan of Federal Ministries George E. Packard, as he prepares to retire in May.
The chaplains shared their stories of how they have tried to heal the wounded in spirit from 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and those fighting and injured in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They told of how their own lives were damaged, how they coped and worked to heal, where God was, and where they are now.
The conference included an afternoon and evening at Washington National Cathedral for the 70 chaplains and their spouses. There they examined their spiritual journeys in relation to God and the tragedies of the decade, visited the War Memorial Chapel and celebrated Eucharist at the high altar.
Packard has served as head of military, federal hospital and prison chaplains since 2000. No stranger to trauma, he served in Vietnam as an infantry officer, earning medals and coming home with post-traumatic stress disorder. He stayed in the reserves while attending seminary. After his ordination in 1974, he became an Army Reserves chaplain and served in Egypt and during the Gulf War at the Pentagon. As bishop, he has traveled to Iraq and Kuwait to counsel and pray with his chaplains on the ground.
read more here
http://www.episcopal-life.org/81799_118996_ENG_HTM.htm
Afghan Interpreter Kills 2 U.S. Troops
Afghan Interpreter Kills 2 U.S. Troops
NATO Official Says Assailant in Wardak Province Attack Killed U.S. Service Members Before Killing Self
(AP) A NATO official says an Afghan interpreter killed two U.S. service members before he was killed himself at a combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan.
The new details emerged Saturday, a day after the deaths were announced in a brief statement.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, says the attack occurred in Wardak province.
read more here
Afghan Interpreter Kills 2 U.S. Troops
linked from
http://www.icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx
also from BBC
NATO Official Says Assailant in Wardak Province Attack Killed U.S. Service Members Before Killing Self
(AP) A NATO official says an Afghan interpreter killed two U.S. service members before he was killed himself at a combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan.
The new details emerged Saturday, a day after the deaths were announced in a brief statement.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, says the attack occurred in Wardak province.
read more here
Afghan Interpreter Kills 2 U.S. Troops
linked from
http://www.icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx
also from BBC
An Afghan provincial official told Reuters the interpreter had argued with the soldiers over pay and treatment, before opening fire.
MIA Army Spc. Lawrence L. Aldrich's remains home from Vietnam
Soldier's remains recently returned from Vietnam
© 2010 The Associated Press
Jan. 29, 2010, 5:26PM
FORT WORTH, Texas — The remains of a Texas soldier killed in Vietnam have been returned to his family after more than four decades.
Army Spc. Lawrence L. Aldrich disappeared in 1968 when he and two fellow soldiers were battling enemy forces in South Vietnam.
go here for more
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6842636.html
© 2010 The Associated Press
Jan. 29, 2010, 5:26PM
FORT WORTH, Texas — The remains of a Texas soldier killed in Vietnam have been returned to his family after more than four decades.
Army Spc. Lawrence L. Aldrich disappeared in 1968 when he and two fellow soldiers were battling enemy forces in South Vietnam.
go here for more
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6842636.html
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