Official: Soldiers, families affected by budget cuts
Family programs, maintenance will see reductions
March 1, 2013
By Rose L. Thayer
Killeen Daily Herald
Now that the sequester has kicked in, Fort Hood and Central Texas may not see changes immediately, but if no action is taken, there will be changes, said local and Army officials.
“Bottom line, up front, sequestration will affect soldiers, families and our civilian workforce and the community businesses around installations,” said Brig. Gen. Curt Rauhut, director of resource management for Installation Management Command, during a discussion panel Wednesday.
Sequestration — which includes $12 billion in automatic cuts to the Army over the next seven months — combined with a continuing resolution and the emerging shortfall in war funding have created “a devastating environment to operate in,” said Maj. Gen. Karen E. Dyson, director for Army Budget.
Aside from the negative impact to soldiers’ readiness and training schedules, officials also foresee reductions to family programs and an inability for installations to modernize facilities and sustain routine maintenance.
All family programs are being looked at now, Rauhut said. No decisions have been made as to what will be cut, but a reduction in hours at child development centers and other youth programs, such as sports or recreation, are on the table.
read more here
Friday, March 1, 2013
Thousands of soldiers coming home to US from Europe
Thousands of soldiers to leave Europe
Staff report
Posted : Friday Mar 1, 2013
Ten thousand soldiers now stationed in Europe will be returned to the United States under new re-alignment plans announced by the Defense Department.
The realignment of the Europe-based 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team will begin later this year, including the transfer of some forces from Germany to Italy.
The moves are part of an ongoing strategy to reduce U.S. Army Europe from a force of 40,000 soldiers and one corps headquarters and four brigade combat teams to 30,000 soldiers and two brigade combat teams.
read more here
Staff report
Posted : Friday Mar 1, 2013
Ten thousand soldiers now stationed in Europe will be returned to the United States under new re-alignment plans announced by the Defense Department.
The realignment of the Europe-based 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team will begin later this year, including the transfer of some forces from Germany to Italy.
The moves are part of an ongoing strategy to reduce U.S. Army Europe from a force of 40,000 soldiers and one corps headquarters and four brigade combat teams to 30,000 soldiers and two brigade combat teams.
read more here
Dale Robertson, soldier-turned-onscreen cowboy, dies at 89
Dale Robertson, soldier-turned-onscreen cowboy, dies at 89
By Randee Dawn
TODAY contributor
Dale Robertson, who used his Okie background and love of the American range to craft a long career in TV and film westerns, died at 89 on Wednesday near his home in San Diego, Calif. according to the New York Times.
He died of complications from lung cancer and pneumonia, his wife told the newspaper.
Robertson's career spanned the decades following WWII; he appeared in early television series including "The Iron Horse" and "Death Valley Days," and by the 1980s he had regular recurring roles on later shows like "Dallas" and Dynasty." He created and starred in the "Wells Fargo" series and served as the titular star in the 1987-88 series "J.J. Starbuck." Over the years, he racked up credits in over 60 films and 430 TV episodes.
read more here
By Randee Dawn
TODAY contributor
Dale Robertson, who used his Okie background and love of the American range to craft a long career in TV and film westerns, died at 89 on Wednesday near his home in San Diego, Calif. according to the New York Times.
He died of complications from lung cancer and pneumonia, his wife told the newspaper.
Robertson's career spanned the decades following WWII; he appeared in early television series including "The Iron Horse" and "Death Valley Days," and by the 1980s he had regular recurring roles on later shows like "Dallas" and Dynasty." He created and starred in the "Wells Fargo" series and served as the titular star in the 1987-88 series "J.J. Starbuck." Over the years, he racked up credits in over 60 films and 430 TV episodes.
read more here
Trauma Sets Female Veterans Adrift Back Home
Trauma Sets Female Veterans Adrift Back Home
New York Times
By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
Published: February 27, 2013
LOS ANGELES — In the caverns of her memory, Tiffany Jackson recalls the job she held, fleetingly, after leaving the military, when she still wore stylish flats and blouses with butterfly collars and worked in a high-rise with a million-dollar view.
Two years later, she had descended into anger and alcohol and left her job. She started hanging out with people who were using cocaine and became an addict herself, huddling against the wind on Skid Row here.
“You feel helpless to stop it,” she said of the cascade of events in which she went from having her own apartment to sleeping in seedy hotels and then, for a year, in the streets, where she joined the growing ranks of homeless female veterans.
Even as the Pentagon lifts the ban on women in combat roles, returning servicewomen are facing a battlefield of a different kind: they are now the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, an often-invisible group bouncing between sofa and air mattress, overnighting in public storage lockers, living in cars and learning to park inconspicuously on the outskirts of shopping centers to avoid the violence of the streets.
read more here Linked from Stars and Stripes
New York Times
By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
Published: February 27, 2013
LOS ANGELES — In the caverns of her memory, Tiffany Jackson recalls the job she held, fleetingly, after leaving the military, when she still wore stylish flats and blouses with butterfly collars and worked in a high-rise with a million-dollar view.
Two years later, she had descended into anger and alcohol and left her job. She started hanging out with people who were using cocaine and became an addict herself, huddling against the wind on Skid Row here.
“You feel helpless to stop it,” she said of the cascade of events in which she went from having her own apartment to sleeping in seedy hotels and then, for a year, in the streets, where she joined the growing ranks of homeless female veterans.
Even as the Pentagon lifts the ban on women in combat roles, returning servicewomen are facing a battlefield of a different kind: they are now the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, an often-invisible group bouncing between sofa and air mattress, overnighting in public storage lockers, living in cars and learning to park inconspicuously on the outskirts of shopping centers to avoid the violence of the streets.
read more here Linked from Stars and Stripes
You'd think North Carolina would treat veterans better
Why that title? Because while political sites love to point fingers, the truth is all states are not equal when it comes to taking care of their veterans. Ever wonder why one state does better than others? This is why.
North Carolina veterans waiting longer on Veterans Affairs claims
By John Ramsey
Staff writer
Mar 01, 2013
More than 7,000 veterans have been waiting at least a year for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs regional office in Winston-Salem to rule on their disability claims, according to a recent memo from the office to veterans service organizations.
For more than 700 veterans, the wait has dragged on at least two years.
The delays have worsened for veterans in North Carolina, who are waiting longer for claims decisions than they were six months ago even as the VA works to eliminate its growing backlog by 2015.
It takes an average of 341 days to process claims at the Veterans Benefits Administration's claims office in Winston-Salem, up from 329 days in September. The office, which handles most North Carolina cases including Fayetteville and the Cape Fear region, has the second-longest wait time in the agency's southeastern region behind Roanoke, Va.
In the past six months, the number of pending claims in Winston-Salem grew by about 570 veterans a month, from 33,606 to 37,051.
read more here
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)