Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 11-15-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. Shinseki Praised As VA Chief Most "Impatient" With Status Quo. 
2. Citizens, Community Urged To Help VA Reintegrate Traumatized Soldiers.
3. Shinseki Co-Chairs New Council Spearheading Federal Jobs For Veterans. 
4. Serious Shortage Of Mental-Health Counselor Seen In Afghanistan. 
5. Duckworth Interviewed On Combat Veterans’ Mental Health Issues, Her Future Plans. 
6. Iraq, Afghan Vets’ Outreach Worker Profiled. 
7. Veterans’ Counselor Offers Story Of Iraq Returnee’s PTSD As Invisible Scar. 
8. Veteran’s Post-Separation Woes Said Due To PTSD. 
9. Erie, Pennsylvania Gets Stimulus Funds For Homeless Female Veterans. 
10.  VA Counseling Center In Marietta Opens Today.

1.      Shinseki Praised As VA Chief Most "Impatient" With Status Quo.  The Christian Science Monitor (11/14, Knickerbocker, 48K) writes that Veterans Day this year "was different, coming as it did in the middle of two lengthy wars, just days before it was announced that the alleged "mastermind" of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that launched those wars was to be tried in New York City, and just days after a murderous rampage at the Army’s Fort Hood in Texas where soldiers prepare for war. As a result, it seems, Veterans Day is becoming every day." It adds that President Obama, like most Americans "never served in the military. But he is surrounded by veterans — notably national security advisor James Jones and Veterans Affairs head Eric Shinseki, both retired generals decorated for their service as young officers in Vietnam. Shinseki is also a former Army Chief of Staff, so he knows soldiers as well as soldiering. And more than any other VA chief before him, he’s impatient with the current level of care and treatment for veterans. Along with members of Congress, he’s instituting new and quicker ways to help service personnel before and after they become vets. This includes expanded programs for education, medical care (including treatment of PTSD and traumatic brain injury), and civilian jobs within the federal government."  

2.      Citizens, Community Urged To Help VA Reintegrate Traumatized Soldiers.  The St. Mary’s (MD) Enterprise (11/13, Friess) covers a session on returning veterans’ mental health issues that drew speakers from the Navy, the VA and the Washington Post. Retired Navy captain and president of the local National Alliance on Mental Illness chapter Constance Walker "said that it is up to the community and state and local authorities to assist the VA in reintegrating soldiers who have suffered traumatic brain injuries and psychological scars." Noting that three area veterans had committed suicide, Walker "said that too many Southern Maryland veterans with psychological wounds are slipping through the cracks in the VA treatment programs." Dr. Joel Scholten, associate chief of staff for the VA’s rehabilitative services program, spoke of the symptoms of PTSD and traumatic brain injury, while a Washington Post reporter who had twice been embedded with a combat unit in Iraq, said "he feels that America is becoming disconnected from its all-volunteer military and the war." 

3.      Shinseki Co-Chairs New Council Spearheading Federal Jobs For Veterans.  FederalNewsRadio.com (11/13, Cacas) reports, "Earlier this week, President Obama signed an executive order launching a new government-wide effort to hire more of the nation’s military veterans for agency jobs." On Thursday, representatives "for the first agencies that will serve as the vanguard for a new ‘Interagency Council on Veterans Employment’ met at the Labor Department" and briefed reporters, Capitol Hill liaison and agency staff. The Interagency Council will be co-chaired by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki; the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), John Berry, will be vice chair and chief operating officer for
the body. According to Berry, as of last year, 480,000 veterans held federal agency jobs. Berry suggests that the council’s progress can be gauged by checking on next Labor Day when OPM issues its annual report on veterans’ federal employment.  

4.      Serious Shortage Of Mental-Health Counselor Seen In Afghanistan.  The Wall Street Journal (11/14, Dreazen, 2.08M) reports on its website that a recent survey shows that there is a serious shortage of mental-health workers in Afghanistan, where repeated war-zone deployments have created morale problems. The Army reportedly estimates that it needs to more than double the roughly 43 mental-health counselors it has in that country, even before the Obama administration decides whether to send additional troops there. 

5.      Duckworth Interviewed On Combat Veterans’ Mental Health Issues, Her Future Plans.  NPR’s Weekend Edition (11/14, Simon) continues its "Impact of War" series by interviewing VA Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth. She discussed mental health issues for service members returning from combat areas, including Post Traumatic Stress or traumatic brain injuries. Since family members may be faster to see a problem that the service member does not recognize, Duckworth said that the VA is "making sure that we educate not just the veterans — many of whom are in denial — but also the families, so that the families can try to get help to the veterans as well." Asked what effects remain from her own traumatic injuries, she replied, "I don’t watch a lot of movies on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan because what happens to me personally is if I watch, say, a two-hour movie on the war or I read an entire book, I will dream about the war. I will go to bed and close my eyes and I think I’m waking up but I’m actually dreaming, and I wake — in my dream I wake up and I’m back in Iraq. And I will live an entire day in Iraq flying my missions, doing everything," an experience that leaves her "absolutely exhausted and completely emotionally drained." Duckworth noted that the VA was engaged in research on why veterans react differently to similar experiences, and touted the $25 billion in additional funding over the next five years that the administration has promised the VA, "the largest increase in our budget in over 30 years." While not ruling out another run for elective office in the future, she added that, "There’s been no opportunity that have presented themselves to me that have seemed more important than the work that I’m doing right now." 

6.      Iraq, Afghan Vets’ Outreach Worker Profiled.  The Burlington (IA) Hawkeye (11/14, Crippes) profiles VA outreach worker Charles Lynch, once an Army nurse in Vietnam. "is still saving lives, albeit from behind a desk. As an Iowa City-based outreach worker for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Lynch ensures a new batch of veterans are getting the support services they need. ‘Sometimes I think what I did is small potatoes,’ Lynch said of his yearlong service in Vietnam as compared to the current National Guard and
Reserve soldiers." Speaking Thursday at Iowa Wesleyan College, Lynch noted that modern-day soldiers not only "have to deal with their own mental or physical problems, they also need to get used to being back in a domestic setting. And still they know they could be called back," which makes the transition coming home all the more difficult. He advises returning veterans to enroll in the VA system and to avail themselves of VA personal and family counseling services, as well as dental and physical exams. 

7.      Veterans’ Counselor Offers Story Of Iraq Returnee’s PTSD As Invisible Scar.  On NPR’s Weekend Edition (11/14) Dr. Natalie Mariano, from the Veterans Affairs Primary Care Center in Hyannis, Massachusetts, offers a vignette, entitled "Some Scars Only Doctors See," about a young female Army combat veteran, who she called Jade, who told her she planned to go back to school to study motorcycle mechanics, then reluctantly asked the doctor to certify her disabled parking sticker. Jade told the doctor that she hated using the disability sticker because on confrontations with some people who questioned her right to do so, to which she never replies. Dr. Mariano then asks her, "Why don’t you tell them the truth?" and "look them in the eye and say, ‘I’ve had to park in handicapped spaces since I got back from Iraq, because now I can’t walk past a row of cars without thinking that one of them is going to blow up in my face." Jade then said she was thinking of having tattoos of thick chains removed from her neck, even though that might leave scars, adding ""But that might be better. Maybe people need to see scars." 

8.      Veteran’s Post-Separation Woes Said Due To PTSD.  The Mansfield (OH) News Journal (11/14, Shilling, 25K) reports on the downward spiral of Andy Schuttera, an area veteran who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after a skull fracture from a fight with another soldier in Korea. Enlisted at age 23, and separated for marijuana use after the injury six years ago, Schuttera’s subsequent record includes "divorce, a few months of crack use, bouts of heavy drinking, nearly constant pot-smoking, days spent online playing spades and poker,’ plus jail time for not paying child support. The account notes that the VA estimates that 12.5 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have PTSD, and that many with the affliction "like Schuttera, are left staggered, dependent and with little ambition. Help for PTSD, ranging from support groups to medications to accessing VA psychiatrists, is available, of course, but convincing veterans to participate is often the hardest part."  

9.      Erie, Pennsylvania Gets Stimulus Funds For Homeless Female Veterans.  The Erie (PA) Times-News (11/13, Guerriero) reports, "Female veterans are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. But some don’t have a place to call home once they get here. A new program being funded with $188,000 from the federal stimulus program will provide temporary housing and other programs for regional veterans, some with emotional health issues, as they readjust to civilian life." At a Thursday news conference, PA3 Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (D) announced a "two-year grant for local nonprofit My Father’s House, which applied for the funding. ‘Never should our veterans be without a roof over their head or a safe place to rest," Dahlkemper said." 

10.    VA Counseling Center In Marietta Opens Today.  WABE-FM Atlanta (11/13, Burress) reports, "Starting Saturday, Atlanta veterans will have access to a new place to go if they need to talk about trauma they’ve experienced. Candace Hull is a spokesperson with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. She says returning from combat can be difficult for any soldier. ‘There are a lot of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan particularly those who have experienced combat and want to come back and talk to someone about what they’ve been though and just have someone who can listen.’ Hull says veterans’ family members are also welcome at the centers." VA Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs L. Tammy Duckworth will deliver the keynote address at the Center’s grand opening.