Tuesday, July 30, 2013

VA News

Recent VA News Releases****

 ****

To view and download VA news release, please visit the following Internet
address:****

http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel****

* *

*Post-9/11 GI Bill Celebrates Fourth Anniversary*

*Nearly 1 Million **Veterans, Servicemembers and Families Benefit*

** **

WASHINGTON* *– Thursday, August 1, marks the fourth anniversary of the
Post-9/11 GI Bill.  VA has issued approximately $30 billion in Post 9/11
GI-Bill benefit payments since its inception in August 2009 and helped
nearly 1 million Servicemembers, Veterans, and their families pursue their
education.  ****

** **

“The Post-9/11 GI Bill has helped many of our Nation’s Veterans pursue
their education and successfully transition to civilian life,” said
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “We’re proud that the
Department of Veterans Affairs can administer this important benefit that
makes such a big difference in the lives of nearly a million Veterans and
their families.”****

** **

The Post-9/11 GI Bill is the most extensive educational assistance program
since the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944, more commonly known as the
GI Bill, was signed into law.  ****

** **

The Post-9/11 GI Bill provides comprehensive educational support through
tuition, books and housing allowance to people with at least 90 days of
total service after September 10, 2001, or people discharged with a
service-connected disability after 30 days.  ****

** **

Approved training under the Post-9/11 GI Bill includes graduate and
undergraduate degrees<http://www.gibill.va.gov/resources/education_resources/programs/ihl.html>,
vocational and technical
training<http://www.gibill.va.gov/resources/education_resources/programs/ncd.html>,

Monday, July 29, 2013

military report

Military Report - The Military's Largest Benefits Update
29 JULY 2013
DoD Warns of Looming Promotion FreezesDefense Secretary Chuck Hagel informed the Senate Armed Services Committee that if Congress fails to end budget sequestration, DoD could be forced to freeze military promotions.Read More
 
New Rules for Transferring GI BillInitiated in 2009, the post 9-11 GI Bill education transfer program enabled Airmen nearing retirement to accept a 1, 2, or 3-year graduated service commitment. Read More
VA Reevaluates Sleep Apnea RatingsThe Department of Veterans Affairs is studying changes to disability ratings for obstructive sleep apnea. Read More
SGLI Isn't Enough -- Get $50k Coverage from $2.50 a MonthProtect your family's future with affordable life insurance coverage. Read More
 
Home Loan FAQ: What are Points?Some of the most common questions asked by people when shopping for a home loan involve points. Read More
 
Verizon Wireless Hiring VeteransVerizon Wireless is continuing its push to hire veterans into its offices nationwide through its special military hiring website. Read More
Are You Eligible for a VA Home Loan?Your VA Loan is worth $417,000 and doesn't require a full 20% down to buy. You can also use it to refinance. Read More
Congress Wants Your Feedback on VAThe House Committee on Veterans' Affairs is inviting veterans to complete its new Facebook poll. Read More
Operation Black Hills CabinOperation Black Hills Cabin was founded in 2011 and located in the beautiful Black Hills community of Custer, South Dakota. Read More
Tyco Committed to Hiring VeteransStart your civilian career with a company that can provide endless opportunity. Read More
Marathon to Benefit Vet Health ResearchAlways Brothers invites members of the running community to take part in 100 Miles for One Mind, an ultramarathon. Read More
The Coast Guard Turns 223The Coast Guard is celebrating its 223rd year this August 4th. Read More
TRICARE Dental Payment Methods ChangeEffective October 1, 2013, all TRICARE Retiree Dental Program (TRDP) beneficiaries will be required to pay their monthly premiums by an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) or through military retired pay allotment. Read More
We Value Your Opinion: Take a Short SurveyWe'd like to learn more about your VA home loan experience and opinions on behalf of Quicken Loans. Read More
Military Skills Translator: Civilian Jobs You Qualify ForTranslate your military skills, experience and training to find career opportunities that best align with your capabilities. Read More
Help for Homeowners in BirminghamThe U.S. Department of the Treasury is hosting the Birmingham Help for Homeowners event on Wednesday, July 31, 2013 in Birmingham, AL. Read More
Free Gift Cards for DC Metro VetsAll-Faith Consortium (AFC) is offering "FREE" ExxonMobile Gas Gift Cards, Giant Food Cards, and Metro Fare Cards to Washington area veterans with new employment. Read More
State Veteran's BenefitsMany states offer veterans benefits. Visit Military.com to see a list of links to the websites for each of the individual states that offer veterans benefits. Read More
AF Service Commitment WaiversAir Force will implement several officer and enlisted force management programs for fiscal 2014. Read More
AF Officers Offered Early RetirementAll Air Force officers eligible for a selective early retirement board (SERB) are retirement-eligible. Read More
Tips for Acing Phone InterviewsEmployers added 195,000 jobs in June, bringing the average number of jobs added per month for the first half of 2013 to more than 200,000. Read More
NCIS Looking to Hire 50 InvestigatorsThe U.S. Navy has approved nearly $10 million to shorten investigation times for sexual assaults. Read More
National Cemeteries: A Sacred TrustIn a partnership of shared mission, several organizations ensure those who fought for this country are guaranteed a proper burial. Read More
Navy Emissions Control MemorandumA Fleet Emission Control (EMCON) Operations tactical memorandum (TACMEMO) developed by Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC) is now available through the Navy Doctrine Library System (NDLS). Read More
Sr. Sailors Sought for CSS DutyThe Navy's Center for Service Support (CSS) has announced that it is actively looking for high-quality senior Sailors for its team. Read More
Program to Enhance Autism CareA program set to launch July 25 will enhance an existing Defense Department program that provides care and treatment for military children with autism. Read More
Social Media Safety Tips for AirmenSafe use of social-media outlets is simple -- use common sense. If you are not within regulations, do not post it. Read More
View Navy Court Martial Results OnlineThe Navy now has an online resource for reviewing the results of every Special and General Court-Martial convened within the United States Navy from January through June 2013. Read More
New 'MyAirForceLife' AppThe Air Force HAS launched a free mobile app geared toward informing Airmen and families about force support squadron morale, welfare and recreation events happening on their base.Read More
AF Reserve Joint Credit DeadlineThe deadline for Air Force Reserve officers to apply for joint credit is Sept. 30, 2013. Read More
AF Sets Early Retirement Board DateThe Air Force will convene a selective early retirement board (SERB) Dec. 9 to consider eligible lieutenant colonels and colonels for retirement. Read More
AAFES 'Color Me' Cutest Kiddo ContestThrough Aug. 9, Army and Air Force Exchange Service patrons worldwide may enter their children in the first-ever "'Color Me' Cutest Kiddo" contest.. Read More
Navy Educational Center Reduces HoursNavy Virtual Education Center (VEC) and all Navy College Offices (NCOs) will be closed each Friday during the Defense Department furlough of civilian employees this fiscal year. Read More
Navy Exchanges Change Alcohol SalesNavy Exchanges are making changes in their alcohol sales procedures. Read More
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Friday, July 26, 2013

FW: Your July 26 Washington Weekly



Thank You
Robert Serge
VVA 17 Member
Blog Master



Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 16:17:31 -0500
From: friendsoffreedom@vfw.org
To: rserge1@outlook.com
Subject: Your July 26 Washington Weekly

The Veterans of Foreign Wars
Having difficulty seeing the images in this message? View it online.
VFW Home VFW
Washington Weekly
Arrow July 26, 2013
VFW Elects New Leadership
William A. "Bill" Thien of Indiana was elected VFW Commander-in-Chief on Wednesday at the VFW's 114th National Convention in Louisville, Ky. The new "Chief" is a Vietnam veteran who served in the Navy and later, the Army National Guard. Also elected was new Senior Vice Commander-in-Chief John Stroud of Nevada, and new Junior Vice Commander-in-Chief John Biedrzycki of Pennsylvania. Appointed as the new VFW Adjutant General is former national commander John Hamilton, who succeeds former national commander "Gunner" Kent, who faithfully served in the position for eight years. Bob Greene was reelected as VFW Quartermaster General. Read more or watch video of the entire convention.
Saluting Korean War VetsPresident Obama will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice in ceremonies tomorrow at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington. Representing the VFW will be five former national commanders who are Korean War veterans: John Carney from Florida; Walter Hogan from Wisconsin; Clifford Olson from Massachusetts; John Staum from Minnesota; and Dr. John Wasylik from Ohio. Many VFW Posts across the country will be joining in the commemoration by hosting "Pancakes for Patriots" breakfasts to honor and educate local communities about the service and sacrifices made by so many of our VFW members and their families. The 10 a.m. (Eastern) ceremony will be carried live in part or full on all the national networks, with pre-ceremony events beginning at 7 a.m. on C-SPAN3's American History TV and on the Pentagon Channel, which will also stream live video. More information about the 60th anniversary is on the commemoration committee's website. Satellite dish coordinates are: Saturday, July 27, Sat. Window 0600-1200x30, Sat. Space AMC 9/K3A, Bandwidth 18MHz, U/L: 14051V, D/L: 11751H, SR: 13, FEC: 3/4, Data Rate: 17.9705, MPEG2/DVBS, 4:2:0. 
Senate Clears VFW-Supported BillsThis week, the Senate Veterans Affairs' Committee cleared several VFW-supported bills. S. 944, Veterans Educational Transition Act of 2013, contained provisions from several other bills including requiring public universities participating in VA's education program to only charge veterans the in-state tuition rate regardless of their state of residence and asking VA to report publicly on its progress in reducing the backlog of pending disability benefits claims. The VFW has minor concerns about the specific in-state tuition language included in S. 944, but applauds Chairman Bernie Sanders and Ranking Member Richard Burr for their attention to the issue. Other bills cleared include:

S. 6, Veterans Retraining Assistance Program, which offers up to 12 months of job retraining for unemployed veterans. The bill also extends through Dec. 31, 2016, VA's authority to provide the same vocational and rehabilitation programs to severely injured or ill members of the armed forces that are provided to veterans and asks VA to develop a single Web-based employment portal for veterans to access information on employment opportunities, training and unemployment benefits.

S. 131, Women Veterans and Other Health Care Improvements Act, would allow for fertility treatment and counseling, reproductive treatment and care for the spouses and surrogates of veterans as part of medical services. The bill also provides adoption assistance to veterans who have an infertility condition incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.

S. 893, Cost of Living Adjustment Act of 2013, which will provide an increase in veterans' disability payments at the same rate as Social Security benefits.

S. 851, Caregivers Expansion and Improvement Act, which expands eligibility for the caregiver program to all service members with serious service-related injuries. Under current law, only veterans with injuries that occurred since Sept. 11, 2001 are eligible to participate in the program.
S. 572, Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act, which would require a judge's ruling on a veteran's mental competency to bar the veteran from buying firearms. Under current law, a determination of mental incompetency by VA is enough to put a veteran's name on the prohibited list of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
For a complete listing of all the bills, visit the SVAC website.
For VFW testimony on many of the bills, click here.
House VA Subcommittees Clear Veterans' BillsOn Tuesday, the House VA Subcommittee on Health cleared several bills that would enhance healthcare for veterans. They included: H.R. 1443, the Tinnitus Research and Treatment Act of 2013, which would prioritize the study of tinnitus by VA; H.R. 1612, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to convey a parcel of land in Tuskegee, Alabama, to Tuskegee University; and H.R. 2065, the Safe Housing for Homeless Veterans Act, which would require that veterans' transitional housing facilities meet local building codes. These bills were cleared for full committee consideration and all three are supported by the VFW. H.R. 2726, the Long-Term Care Veterans Choice Act, was withdrawn from the agenda by unanimous consent.
Late last week, the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity cleared a host of bills that would improve education and job programs for veterans. The VFW provided testimony earlier in the year on several of the bills including H.R. 2210 which extends Post-9/11 education benefits to children of service members who die from combat-related injuries after a medical discharge and H.R. 2011 which reauthorizes the Veterans' Advisory Committee on Education for two years and includes Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Other bills passed included H.R. 1357, which allows veterans in a part-time educational program to receive retraining assistance if they are enrolled for 16 credit hours and H.R. 2150, which will extend homeless veterans programs for five years. For complete coverage of all subcommittee activity, visit the House VA website.
Senate Hosts Hearing on Veterans' EducationThe Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hosted a hearing this week on veterans' education and specifically the 90/10 policy for school funding. Your VFW was on hand to hear testimony about the issue. The VFW has been a leading voice on improving veterans' access to information prior to enrolling in college and views the discussion on 90/10 as a distraction to ongoing work to improve educational outcomes for veterans. While on the surface 90/10 may look like a reasonable policy, the VFW believes that it does not focus on academic quality or student outcomes in education. Your VFW will continue to work with all stakeholders in DOD, VA, the veterans' community, and higher education to ensure student-veterans are academically and financially prepared to make responsible academic decisions. To learn more about the hearing, click here.
Four MIAs IdentifiedThe Defense POW/MIA Office recently announced the identification of remains belonging to three soldiers and one airman from World War II and the Korean War. Identified are:
  • Army Air Force Sgt. Jerome E. Kiger, of Mannington, W.Va. On July 21, 1944, a B-24H Liberator aircraft with nine crewmembers was shot down by enemy fire and crashed while on a bombing raid to Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. Six were able to parachute to safety and a seventh crewman's remains were recovered near Hadorf. Kiger and another crewman were not recovered.
  • Army Cpl. Glyndon E. Moyer, 18, of Luray, Va. In late November 1950, Moyer and elements of the 31st Regimental Combat Team were deployed along the east side of the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. On Dec. 1, 1950, remnants of the 31st RCT, known historically as Task Force Faith, began a fighting withdrawal to a more defensible position south of the reservoir when he was reported missing on Dec. 2, 1950.
  • Army Sgt. Clement Thibodeaux, Jr., 18, of Baton Rouge, La. In late Nov. 1950, elements of the 25th Infantry Division and 35th Infantry Regiment were fighting with units of the Chinese army north of the Ch'ongch'on River in North Korea. In 1953, returning American POWs said Thibodeaux had been captured but died in January 1951 of malnutrition and pneumonia.
  • Army Sgt. Bernard J. Fisher, 21, of Wilkes Barre, Pa. In January 1951, Fisher and elements of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, were deployed northeast of Seoul, South Korea, when attacked. Fisher would be reported missing as his unit moved towards a more defensible position.  
Read more
Thanks to John Spahr and the Department of Texas and Bruce Sorensen, Department of Wisconsin, for sending in a large amount of new advocates to join our team! Great job and keep up the good work!
As always, we want to share your advocacy stories on the VFW Capitol Hill blog. To share your stories, fill out our online form or simply email photos and stories directly to vfwac@vfw.org.
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Veterans Unemployment Falls Below Civilian

Veterans Unemployment Rate Falls Below Civilian www.veteranjournal.com
One could easily argue that military veterans, especially those who enlisted voluntarily during wartime, answered their country’s call. Whether it was a call-to-arms or simply the call to defend the homeland, they answered it and did not expect much in return. Expectations aside, the benefits offered to veterans are well-known: help with home loans, healthcare, education, and all that sweet camouflage.

For Post-9/11 veterans, there was the added benefit of a genuinely thankful population. Despite the anti-war clamor on Capitol Hill and the political stumps across America, never did that ire bleed over into the veteran population. Civilians bought us dinner or let us have a seat in first class.


Yet, this new generation of veterans came with a new generation of problems. Suicide rates skyrocketed to record-breaking levels. Veterans across the country were finding themselves on the wrong side of the law, typically abusing substances and sometimes facing decades-long prison sentences. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is still backlogged, the bureaucracy choking on the number of veterans in need and helping only a fraction of those.


The most glaring slight, was that US companies were seemingly doing all they could to avoid hiring veterans. Part of the problem was that soldiers were often ill-equipped to best advertise their worth to the civilian world. Rather than tout their service, they chose to remain humble. In many cases, their work in the military didn’t seem to translate to the world of widgets and TPS reports. However over the past few years, hundreds of organizations have come forward to help veterans transition from the military to the civilian world. These groups often match-up veterans and hiring managers, typically from companies that recognized the 2.8-million-strong Post-9/11 veteran demographic as an untapped resource.


In 2011, the number of unemployed veterans was 12.1 percent, almost four points higher than the average for non-veterans. By July of 2012, thanks to job initiatives by both the government and the private sector, that number had fallen to under ten percent for the fourth month in a row.

June 2013 numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show unemployed veterans at just 6.3 percent compared to 7.5 percent for non-veterans. Even post 9/11 veterans unemployment rate fell slightly below the civilian unemployment rate to 7.2 percent, down from 9.5 percent a year earlier. The 2012 unemployment rate for non-veterans was 8.1 percent.

It seems that when it came to hiring unemployed veterans, it was America’s turn to answer the call. Female veterans, however, still lag their male counterparts with a 7.6 percent unemployment rate for all female veterans, but a striking 8.9 percent unemployment rate for post 9/11 female veterans, many of whom are also single mothers struggling to raise their families alone.

With the continued — very public — push to hire veterans, young, male veterans have been hired at a faster rate than any other group. If this trend continues, the number of unemployed veterans could continue below the national average. While this isn’t yet a victory in the “war on veteran unemployment,” it certainly shows movement in the right direction.

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VA Benefits Disparity and Geographic Location by VA Home Loans on January 28th, 2013
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Red Cross Support for Military Families by Angela Caban on January 18th, 2012
With the end of a war and as more troops are returning home, family members are still in need of additional support and re-integration skills at home.
Child Care During Deployment by Angela Caban on February 24th, 2011
Written by Angela Caban,What happens when you are called to duty and there is no one left to care for your child? Does your spouse work a full time job? Are the child care costs too much for your budget? When a parent deploys or is activated, there is most likely a need for childcare and there is also an increase in their out-of-pocket expenses that may leave many in a financial burden.
Our Identities as Military Spouses by Angela Caban on September 17th, 2012
.
How You Can Help Military Families by Angela Caban on September 1st, 2010
Written by Angela CabanMilitary families have been living unique lifestyles along side their service member for years.
- See more at: http://www.veteranjournal.com/veterans-unemployment-falls-below-civilian/#sthash.swi1GEVt.dpuf