Veteran military dog not allowed at Heroes Hall at VA Hospital
KRQE
by: Jeannie Nguyen
Feb 21, 2020
Singh says as part of the contract she signed with the Department of Defense to adopt Puma, she’s not allowed to turn him into a service dog.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A former bomb-sniffing Army canine belonging to a veteran isn’t allowed at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Albuquerque, even though the dog is a veteran too.
Puma was an explosive detection canine that served two deployments in Afghanistan.
“Puma served seven years in Fort Leavenworth and that’s where he retired from,” says Lani Singh.
Now he’s living the retired life with his handler, Lani Singh, an Army veteran herself, who’s going through chemo-treatments at Heroes Hall for breast cancer.
Originally from Northern New Mexico, Singh rented an Albuquerque apartment to avoid the long commute. Now, Singh is struggling with the rules of the hospital when it comes to bringing her fellow vet to her appointments.
“He is a veteran, but because he’s a dog veteran and not a human veteran, he’s not allowed at Heroes Hall,” she says.
Mother files $8.2 million claim against VA after veteran son’s suicide
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Jeremy Redmon
February 20, 2020
The mother of a U.S. Navy Reservist who killed himself outside the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin last year has filed an $8.2 million wrongful death claim against the Veterans Affairs Department.
Rhonda Wilson said a VA doctor abruptly stopped refilling an opioid painkiller prescription for her 28-year-old son, Gary Pressley, causing him to go into a painful withdrawal.
Pressley shot himself to death in the hospital parking lot on April 5, one of three veterans who, over a five-day span, committed suicide outside of VA facilities. One died outside the main entrance of the Atlanta VA Medical Center in Decatur the next day. Three days later, a veteran killed himself in front of hundreds of people in a waiting room at a VA clinic in Austin, Texas. read it here Original Report
More than 500 bikers escort Vietnam Memorial replica through Florida
Herald Tribune
By Omar RodrÃguez Ortiz, Marco Eagle
Posted Feb 19, 2020
Marco Island is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall’s first stop of its 25th season, and the only stop it will make in Florida.
Over 500 bikers escorted a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall from Fort Myers to Marco Island on Tuesday.
The Wall That Heals honors more than 3 million Americans who served in the U.S. Armed forces in the Vietnam War and it bears the names of the 58,276 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Marco Island is the wall’s first stop of its 25th season and the only stop it will make in Florida.
Roger Spies, a Vietnam War veteran, was one of the first bikers to arrive at the Interstate 75 rest stop by exit 131 to escort the wall on his Harley Davidson Road King. read it here
ARE YOU OK WITH THIS? THEN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! FORCE THE SENATE TO DO THEIR JOBS OR REMEMBER WHAT THEY REFUSED TO DO WHEN YOU DECIDE TO VOTE!
Pentagon Awarded $876M in Contracts Meant for Disabled Vets to Ineligible Companies: IG
Military.com
By Richard Sisk
20 Feb 2020
The report also cited the case of "Contractor B," who had received three SDVOSB contracts worth $209.6 million. "However, we determined that evidence did not exist to support that a service-disabled veteran was the majority owner and highest ranking officer or in control of the company," the IG's report said.
This March 27, 2008, file photo, shows the Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Small businesses owned or run by disabled veterans may have been cheated out of hundreds of millions of dollars in Defense Department contracts by unscrupulous firms who were ineligible for the awards, the Pentagon's Inspector General reported Thursday.
The IG's audit found that the DoD "awarded $876.8 million in contracts to ineligible contractors and did not implement procedures to ensure compliance with the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) subcontracting requirements after the contracts were awarded."
At least 16 of the 29 contractors reviewed in the report who received business from the DoD on the basis that they met the disabled veteran requirements were found to be ineligible, the IG's office said.
Unless the DoD conducts better oversight, "service-disabled veterans may be in jeopardy of not receiving contract awards intended for them, and the DoD will be at risk of misreporting the amounts for SDVOSB participation," the 29-page report states. read it here
The recent news about the Department of Veterans Affairs joining forces with faith based groups is something wonderful, yet troubling at the same time.
While more and more groups have been popping up all over the country for over a decade, we have been wondering if any of them noticed what others had already begun long before these new leaders heard the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Wondering what else did they miss?
It is obvious they missed a group dedicated to delivering the awesome power of healing through peer support based on someone else who knew what it was like to be willing to sacrifice His life for the sake of others...Jesus.
If even the Son of God asked for help, there should be no stigma associated with needing your peers to help you. After all, none of you looked down on those you were sent to help. If you were willing to die for their sake, as well as the sake of those you served with, turning to them for your own sake makes sense.
So why is it that the stigma lives on, as strong as ever, while you were brave enough to serve, are afraid to communicate with those you served with?
Leaders in Point Man have been working with the Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals all over the country for years because it works. Yet, much like the 72 Jesus sent to care for others, no one knows their names.
Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
Luke 10:1-2 New International Version (NIV)
They did not want to glorify themselves, they just wanted to freely share what they had been given by Jesus. It did not matter that no one knew their names, but it was they joy they received in doing the work they were sent to do that mattered the most.
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
We live with that joy everyday! There is nothing to compare to what we receive in return for our time than to see a veteran's life change from hopelessness to healing! To see you go from feeling abandoned by God, to knowing you are loved!
New Veterans Affairs rule helps religious organizations provide quality services
Washington Times
By Mike Berry
February 19, 2020
Illustration on veterans and suicide by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times
America faces a crisis of epidemic proportions. The number of Americans who take their own lives by suicide each day is staggering and sobering. Even one suicide is heartbreaking; a recent study estimated that 135 surviving people are affected by each suicide.
The latest data show that 17 veterans tragically take their own lives each day, and the rate shows no sign of slowing. Veterans comprise only 7.9 percent of the U.S. population, yet account for 13.5 percent of all suicides.
Americans know something has to be done to help the men and women who have selflessly served our nation, often resulting in terrible, unseen wounds. Thankfully, some Americans have answered the call to help those “who have borne the battle.” read it here
These military clinics will stop taking 200,000 non-active duty patients. Here’s the list.
Military Times
20 minutes ago
The plan includes a reduction of roughly 18,000 uniformed medical personnel, with those retained focusing on the medical readiness and treatment of active duty personnel.
In this file photo, a Navy corpsman assigned to Naval Health Clinic Corpus Christ, administers an influenza vaccine to a patient. The facility is among those slated for changes under a new Pentagon plan to shift the mission of some military health facilities to caring for only active duty personnel (U.S. Navy photo by Bill W. Love/Released)
More than 200,000 Tricare beneficiaries, including 80,000 active-duty family members, will no longer be seen at 37 military health clinics across the country in the coming years, according to a Department of Defense report sent to Congress Wednesday.
The Pentagon is planning major changes to 50 military health facilities that will force many beneficiaries to find civilian doctors in their communities over the course of two to four years.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Thomas McCaffery said Wednesday that the realignment supports the department’s effort to support the military health system’s return to focusing on troop health and military readiness.
According to the report Restructuring and Realignment of Military Medical Treatment Facilities, the clinics include Air Force, Army and Navy facilities. Two additional facilities will close and several others have already started transferring non-active duty beneficiaries to Tricare providers in surrounding communities.
read it here
