Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 10-30-08

1. Navy To Build GI Bill Claims Processing System.  
2. "Sgt. Shaft": Pulmonary Fibrosis Still Not Officially Linked To Agent Orange Exposure.  
3. SBA, VA Help Iraq, Afghanistan Vets Start Businesses.  
4. Army To Work With NIH On Suicide Study.  
5. Hearing Damage Reportedly A Problem For British Troops In Afghanistan.  
6. ALS Association Official Says New Registry Will Benefit US Vets.  
7. Tulane/Gravier Area Labeled "Preferred Site" For LSU/VA Hospital.  
8. Ribbon Cut On Transition Center For Veterans.  
9. Clinic In Wisconsin To Expand Operating Hours.  
10. VANJHCS To Host Veterans Forum.

HAVE YOU HEARD?
Hearing loss is the most common veterans’ disability with tinnitus – persistent ringing in the ear — ranking second. Nearly 850,000 veterans receive compensation for service-connected hearing disabilities. Tinnitus is the number one service-connected health condition for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, with nearly 70,000 diagnoses. Defective hearing ranks third, with almost 60,000 cases. One of VA’s 14 Centers of Excellence, the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research (NCRAR) at the Portland, Ore. VA Medical Center, conducts research to support hearing rehabilitation, education, professional training and technology development. NCRAR researchers are working on more than 30 hearing loss and tinnitus projects, including the connection between traumatic brain injuries and hearing loss. Researchers are also working with engineers to develop a portable ototoxicity measuring device. The hope is that this device will improve the ability to detect and monitor hearing loss among soldiers in the field and that resulting from treatment with some medications. In fiscal 2007, VA dispensed nearly 350,000 hearing aids to veterans.

Changes to Retiree ID Renewal Rules
Homeland Security Directive 12 now requires retirees and family members seeking to renew or replace a military identification card to provide two types of ID, one of which must include a photo. A list of acceptable documents can be found in PDF format on page No. 4 of the Form I-9. Before visiting a military ID card issuing facility, you may want to call first to determine what specific documents may be required, and to verify the process to renew or replace an ID card. For contact information and the location of the nearest ID card issuing facility, visit the RAPIDS Site Locator. On this website, you can search by city, state or ZIP code.

1.      Navy To Build GI Bill Claims Processing System.   In continuing coverage, NextGov (10/29, Brewin) reported, "The Veterans Affairs Department has asked the Navy to develop a computer system to process the complex claims for educational benefits that veterans will file under the new GI bill." In an Oct. 17 letter sent to the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees, and obtained by NextGov, VA Secretary James Peake "wrote that the agency has hired the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in Charleston, S.C., to build a system to process" the new benefits. Until that "system is up and running, Peake said benefit payments will require ‘significant manual processing," but Keith Wilson, director of the VA’s education service, "said that will not hold up processing" for vets enrolled in college under the new GI bill.

2.      "Sgt. Shaft": Pulmonary Fibrosis Still Not Officially Linked To Agent Orange Exposure.   In a letter to the syndicated "Sgt. Shaft" column, appearing in the Washington Times (10/30, Fales), the granddaughter of a Vietnam vet who died from pulmonary fibrosis expressed frustration that the Department of Veterans Affairs had denied his application for full disability. In his reply, "Sgt. Shaft" wrote that the "Agent Orange Act of 1991 established a procedure for adding diseases to the VA list of disabilities associated with herbicide exposure." This procedure "requires" the secretary of Veterans Affairs "to consider reports received from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and all other sound medical and scientific information and analysis." However, the "latest, 2006 NAS report concluded that…there is inadequate or insufficient evidence to establish an association between herbicide exposure and nonmalignant respiratory diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis." The "service connection for pulmonary fibrosis may be granted on a direct basis," though, "if sufficient medical evidence is available to establish that the disease is related" to an individual vet’s period of service.

3.      SBA, VA Help Iraq, Afghanistan Vets Start Businesses.   The Orlando Sentinel (10/29, Owens) reported, "Frustrated with job-hunting or hungry to be their own boss," Iraq and Afghanistan veterans "are deploying skills garnered through military service and giving business ownership a try in record numbers." These vets are receiving assistance from the US Small Business Administration, which "staffs each of its 68 district offices with a veteran business development officer." And last year, the SBA "rolled out the Patriot Express Pilot Loan, a low-interest, quick-decision loan for veterans, transitioning service members and spouses seeking to start and expand small businesses." Meanwhile, the Veterans Transition Franchise Initiative, a collaboration between several organizations, including the US Department of Veterans Affairs, "has corralled almost 300 businesses that slash up to 30 percent off franchising fees. So far, VetFran has helped more than 1,155 honorably discharged vets…become business owners."

4.      Army To Work With NIH On Suicide Study.   The New York Times (10/30, A18, Alvarez) reports, "Conceding it needed outside help in figuring out why the suicide rate among service members was rising, the Army announced plans on Wednesday to collaborate with the National Institute of Mental Health in an ambitious five-year project to identify the causes and risk factors of suicide." During the study, the Army "will provide access to its many databases" and "make thousands of soldiers," including some "who have just joined the service or are training for war and those who have returned from war," available to researchers for interviews. Secretary of the Army Pete Geren "described the…$50 million study as a ‘landmark undertaking’ modeled after" the "influential" Framingham Heart Study, which examined heart health over a long period of time.

5.      Hearing Damage Reportedly A Problem For British Troops In Afghanistan.   AFP (10/29) reported, "Hundreds of British soldiers who have served in Afghanistan have had their hearing permanently damaged because of the noise of intense combat, a newspaper reported Thursday. Requests by The Times under the Freedom of Information Act revealed" that in one British regiment, "nearly one in ten soldiers have hearing defects that could bar them from further frontline service and hamper their chances of a civilian job. The Royal British Legion veterans organisation said it had dealt with 1,195 hearing loss claims against the Ministry of Defence in the past three years." The Times "reports the Ministry of Defence as saying earplugs and ear defenders were issued to all troops," but "it says ear protection is not rigidly enforced."

6.      ALS Association Official Says New Registry Will Benefit US Vets.   The syndicated "Sgt. Shaft" column, appearing in the Washington Times (10/30, Fales), reports, "The ALS Association and people across the country living with Lou Gehrig’s disease," or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, "celebrated a tremendous victory as President Bush signed into law S. 1382, the ALS Registry Act, in the late afternoon on Oct. 8." The "first ever" ALS national patient registry act "will collect information about the cause, treatment and cure of the deadly neurological disease." Steve Gibson, "vice president of government relations and public affairs for the ALS Association," said the bill will benefit US veterans. He noted that "recent studies have shown that the disease strikes military veterans at approximately double the rate as the general population."

7.      Tulane/Gravier Area Labeled "Preferred Site" For LSU/VA Hospital.   The Baton Rouge (LA) Advocate (10/30, Johnson) reports, "Facing wary homeowners, preservationists, war veterans and activists, the lead author of a new government study late Wednesday night announced that the proposed LSU/Veterans Administration hospital complex is the ‘preferred site’ for replacing two health-care facilities in New Orleans, post-Katrina. ‘It is not the final selection,’ Roberta ‘Bobbie’ Hurley," project manager of a "federally mandated environmental impact study, said of a 27-block ‘Tulane/Gravier’ area near the LSU Health Sciences Center in downtown New Orleans. The study considered alternatives, including renovation of flood-damaged Charity Hospital sites," but "the LSU/VA site was ‘most effective’ at meeting criteria for space, access, proximity to other medical facilities and ‘minimal impacts,’ the study states." Hurley "told some 200 people gathered at a local high school" Wednesday about the report. 

8.      Ribbon Cut On Transition Center For Veterans.   The Xenia (OH) Gazette (10/29, Ursch) reported, "Veterans of all backgrounds…have a new resource in the fight to get well with Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting of the Dayton Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense Transition Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Medical Center. According to information provided by the Air Force," the new facility "is designed to streamline the process of transition for military members from active duty to veteran status, including: VA benefits counseling and education; physical assessments and examinations; and the process of applying and receiving health care and compensation benefits."

9.      Clinic In Wisconsin To Expand Operating Hours.   The Sawyer County (WI) Record (10/30) reports the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center "announced this week that they are expanding services to veterans at the Hayward VA Outreach Clinic to three days per week beginning Monday, Nov. 24." The clinic is "currently open Tuesdays and Thursdays." The WEAU-TV La Crosse, WI (10/29) website also covered this story.

10.    VANJHCS To Host Veterans Forum.   New Jersey’s News Transcript (10/29) reported, "The Marlboro Township Veterans & Volunteers Committee will sponsor a veterans outreach and information forum 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Marlboro Recreation Center, 1996 Recreation Way, Marlboro." The forum "will be sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System. Representatives from the Veterans Administration Community Outreach Program will host the forum during which veterans will learn what they need to know about their benefits."