Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 11-08-08

1. Peake Responds To Protests Over Hefner VA Changes.
2. Local VA Director Looks To Include Young Vets In Veterans Day Events.  
3. Local VA Administrator Sees Holiday As Opportunity To Educate.  
4. Families, Friends Encouraged To "Listen" To Veterans.  
5. Veterans Say Public "Ignores" Veterans Day.  
6. Joint Veterans Committee Chairman Takes Part In Veterans Day Events.  
7. New Kansas Lottery Tickets To Benefits Veterans.  
8. Veterans Days Program To Include Tuskegee Airmen.  
9. WWII Vet To Serve As Veterans Day Grand Marshall.  
10. General Takes Public Role To Veterans’ Mental Health.

1.     Peake Responds To Protests Over Hefner VA Changes.   WSOC-TV Charlotte, NC (11/8) reports, "Employees and veterans’ groups gathered Friday to protest the elimination of some health care services at the Hefner VA Medical Center." Critics said "eliminating services at the hospital will force vets to pay for care previously received for free at the hospital." According to WSOC, "Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake has heard the criticism of the plan and is having his staff review it. Peake has given his staff members a Dec. 5 deadline to report back to him on their review of the plan."

2.     Local VA Director Looks To Include Young Vets In Veterans Day Events.   The York (PA) Dispatch (11/8, Mcmillan) reports that Philip Palandro, director of the York County Department of Veterans Affairs, "[doesn’t] want to miss" young veterans in this year’s Veterans Day celebrations. He added, "There is war going on right now in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I don’t want Veterans Day to just focus on World War II, Vietnam and the Korean war."

3.     Local VA Administrator Sees Holiday As Opportunity To Educate.   The Council Bluffs (IA) Daily Nonpareil (11/8, Kesten) reports that "when veterans walk into the Pottawattamie County Veterans Affairs Office, they often say, ‘I didn’t know you guys were even here.’ Darlene McMartin, administrator for the local VA office, hopes that will change this year. She was tapped to be 2008’s Celebration of Veterans Parade grand marshal," and "said she is looking forward to getting the word out about the VA office to a new generation of veterans as well as garnering donations for its hard-struck emergency food pantry."

4.     Families, Friends Encouraged To "Listen" To Veterans.   A Durham News (11/8, Schwade) op-ed encourages readers to "honor" veterans during Veterans Day by "listening" to those who’ve recently returned from combat. The op-ed offers advice from "Dr. Harold Kudler, a psychiatrist at the Durham Veterans’ Administration Medical Center best known for his contribution to the understanding, treatment and prevention of post-traumatic stress disorder."

5.     Veterans Say Public "Ignores" Veterans Day.   An El Defensor (NM) Chieftain (11/8, Last) op-ed argues that "veterans and Veterans Day are disregarded and even ignored by a large portion of the population. ‘The community looks at Veterans Day as a day off, or a day to go shopping for sales,’" one veteran says. "Veterans Day isn’t celebrated and honored the way it’s meant to be," he added

.6.     Joint Veterans Committee Chairman Takes Part In Veterans Day Events.   The South Coast (MA) Today (11/8) reports, "The annual Veterans Day ceremony will at the Massachusetts National Cemetery will be held on Sunday." The master of ceremonies will be Virginia Ledoux, secretary of the Joint Veterans Committee."

7.     New Kansas Lottery Tickets To Benefits Veterans.   The AP (11/8) reports that new Kansas lottery tickets "will benefit Kansas veterans programs and help with construction of additional space at the Museum of the Kansas National Guard. New lottery games are heading to retailers this week in advance of Veterans Day."
      The Navy Times (11/8, Jowers) also reports on the new games.

8.     Veterans Days Program To Include Tuskegee Airmen.   The Woodland (CA) Daily Democrat (11/8) notes that "members of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen will be honored in this American Legion Yolo Post 77-sponsored" Veterans Day program

.9.     WWII Vet To Serve As Veterans Day Grand Marshall.   The Muskogee (OK) Phoenix (11/8, Purtell) reports that Norman ‘Red’ James, a World War II veteran, will be "serving as the grand marshal in the Veterans Day Parade."

10.   General Takes Public Role To Veterans’ Mental Health.   The AP (11/8) reports that Army Maj. Gen. David Blackledge "got psychiatric counseling to deal with wartime trauma, and now is defying the military’s culture of silence on the subject of mental health problems and treatment." According to Blackledge, "It’s part of our profession. … We need to be able to talk about it." The AP adds that "despite efforts to reduce the stigma of getting treatment, officials say they fear generals and other senior leaders remain unwilling to go for help, much less talk about it, partly because they fear it will hurt chances for promotion."
      Stigma Cited As Preventing Veterans From Seeking Care.   The West Seattle Herald (11/8, Johnson) reports that "a 2004 study of 6000 military men and women involved in ground combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan found that of those whose responses indicated a mental health problem, only 23 to 40 percent sought psychiatric help. Many who did not seek treatment cited fear of being stigmatized as a reason." And while the Veterans Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008 "directs the Veterans Administration (VA) to contract with community-based healthcare organizations to provide mental health services in rural areas in which access to VA services is inadequate," the Herald notes that "we should not expect mental health professionals to go it alone. Everyone has a role to play to help veterans overcome the stigma of mental illness."