National Veterans Foundation

Same Old Problem

... This truncated history begins with an old Photostatted pre-computer-age document, dated December 27, 1978, back when the GAO's fore-runner congressional watchdog entity, the General Accounting Office, was investigating the Department of Veterans' Affairs' pre-cabinet forerunner. "The Veterans Administration Can Reduce the Time Required to Process Veterans' and Survivors' Initial Claims for Benefits," was the optimistic yet yawn-evoking title. The 40-page report noted that the average delay for processing disability claims was147 days; delays for death pension claims were 80 days.

Repeatedly through the 1980s, 1990s, and into the new century, the VA's delays, backlogs and wastefully redundant appeals process was documented and decried. There was one good news blip the GAO delivered to Congress -- a 1986 report of "timely delivery" of military service records. How did the GAO analysts know the progress was so good? The VA told them so; and nobody checked to verify.

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Outward Bound, an international non-profit outdoor education program, is offering fully funded outdoor adventure excursions to all OEF/OIF veterans. It doesn't matter what your current military status is (active, inactive, discharged, retired) - you're eligible to attend as long as you deployed in support of OEF/OIF combat operations while in the military.

These five-day excursions offer adventure activities such as backpacking, rock climbing, canyoneering, canoeing, and dog sledding in beautiful wilderness areas in Maine, Texas, Colorado, California, and Minnesota. Scheduled courses from Sep 08-Feb 09 are listed below, and future courses will be scheduled soon. All expedition costs for lodging, equipment, food, and instruction are completely funded by a multi-million dollar Sierra Club grant, including the participants' round-trip transportation between home and the wilderness site. The excursion is offered at no cost to the participant.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Email: jgoyjer@jgapr.com

Ashley Gibbons (310) 333-1900

Email: Ashley.gibbons@wholefoods.com

WHOLE FOODS COLLECTING E-WASTE TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE NVF

Funds to go Toward a Toll-free Hotline and Outreach Services for Veterans

El Segundo, Calif., July 15, 2008 – Whole Foods Market in El Segundo will be accepting electronics items for recycling from the community in its parking lot from 9 am to 4 pm on Saturday August 2 to help raise much needed funds for the National Veterans Foundation.

The money raised from the e-waste will go toward the nation’s only toll-free helpline for all veterans and their families and toward outreach services that provide veterans and families in need with food, clothing, transportation, employment, and other essential resources.

The New York Times article, "Losing Private Dwyer", by Lawrence Downes is the story of an American hero. Pfc. Joseph Dwyer, once a symbol of the strength and courage of our soldiers in Iraq, is now a symbol of the same soldiers who are coming home struggling with PTSD and addiction. Last month Dwyer lost hope and took his own life.

"One thing that did seem to help, Ms. Knapp and Ms. Minor said, was peer counseling from a fellow veteran, a man who had been ambushed in Iraq and knew about fear and death. But that was too little, too late, and both women say they are frustrated with the military for letting Mr. Dwyer slip away."

Here at the NVF, we have trained veterans from Vietnam to Iraq ready to answer calls from people like Pfc. Dwyer. Currently, we are only open from 9AM to 9PM 7 days a week. With the help of people like you, we hope to expand our Lifeline call center to 24/7 - which could make the difference of a life.

Click here to read the full article.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEWS FROM…
CHAIRMAN BOB FILNER
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS
MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 10, 2008
Contact Kristal DeKleer at (202) 225-9756
http://veterans.house.gov or Jennifer Smith at (310) 667.4070 Understanding the Journey of War Veterans:
Screening of Documentary “All the Way Home”
Injured Veterans Focus of Inspirational Documentary

Washington, D.C. – Bob Filner, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, will hold a screening of the documentary “All the Way Home” on Wednesday, July 23 at 10 a.m. in Cannon 334. The documentary follows a Montana fishing outfitter and his team of volunteers while they take severely injured Iraq and Afghanistan veterans from Walter Reed down an isolated river.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: ShellyLiebowitz at SRI Jazz (818) 299-6297

Cat Rotunno at the NVF (888) 777-4443

Email: cat@nvf.org

 

 

Los Angeles, June 24, 2008; Way back in 1964 legendary, singer/songwriter, Mose Allison wrote a unique anti-war song called “Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy”. Allison recorded the song for one of his early albums and over the years a few other artists have also recorded it in much the same vein as Allison. Now in 2008, with all the unrest in the world, it seems fitting for this song to have new life once again.

By Tony Dokoupil
NEWSWEEK
Jun 16, 2008 Issue

As an internist at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Stephanie Santos is used to finding odd things in people's stomachs. So last spring when a young man, identifying himself as an Iraq-bound soldier, said he had accidentally swallowed a pen at the bus station, she believed him. That is, until she found a second pen. It read 1-800-GREYHOUND. Last summer, according to published reports, a 20-year-old Bronx soldier paid a hit man $500 to shoot him in the knee on the day he was scheduled to return to Iraq. The year before that, a 24-year-old specialist from Washington state escaped a second tour of duty, according to his sister, by strapping on a backpack full of tools and leaping off the roof of his house, injuring his spine.

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Time
by Mark Thompson

For the first time in history, a sizable and growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The medicines are intended not only to help troops keep their cool but also to enable the already strapped Army to preserve its most precious resource: soldiers on the front lines. Data contained in the Army's fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report indicate that, according to an anonymous survey of U.S. troops taken last fall, about 12% of combat troops in Iraq and 17% of those in Afghanistan are taking prescription antidepressants or sleeping pills to help them cope. Escalating violence in Afghanistan and the more isolated mission have driven troops to rely more on medication there than in Iraq, military officials say.

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May 28, 2008
PR Newswire

The Buffalo Veterans' Treatment Court in Buffalo, N.Y. was recently established to address the increasing number of veterans entering the criminal justice system -- more than 300 veterans in 2007 alone. The goal is to reduce the percentage of veterans who suffer from co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders by considering the experience of war before sentencing, and by helping former soldiers find treatment. Over the past two years, several courts, including the Rochester Drug Treatment Court in Rochester, N.Y., began serving veterans through their existing drug court programs. Buffalo established the nation's first court dedicated to the treatment of veterans.

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GAO faults training for VA claims processors

AirForce Times By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday May 28, 2008 11:39:20 EDT

Although the Veterans Affairs Department has added thousands of staff to help process disability claims, a new study finds those new employees face no consequences if they don’t attend mandatory training.

And because the caseload is so heavy, instructors aren’t always available to provide on-the-job training for new employees.

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