Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 12-14-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. Dunne To Resign As VA Undersecretary For Benefits. 
2. VA Assisting Vet With Loan Modification Dispute. 
3. Changes Being Planed By VA To Assist Women Vets. 
4. National Survey Of Veterans Noted.
5. VA Studying Health Of Female Vietnam Vets. 
6. Suicide An "Insidious Threat" For US Military.
7. VA Covered In Omnibus Spending Bill Passed By Senate. 
8. Wreath-Laying Events Draw Substantial Attention.
9. New Jersey Veterans Complain About Backlog, Red Tape.
10. Illinois DVA Director Reassures On Future Of Quincy Veterans Home.

1.      Dunne To Resign As VA Undersecretary For Benefits.  CQ‘s (12/12, Dumain, Kim) "Patrick W. Dunne will resign as undersecretary for benefits" at the Department of Veterans Affairs, "effective in early 2010. He has served in the position since October 2008. Before that," Dunne was the VA’s "assistant secretary…for Policy and Planning." 

2.      VA Assisting Vet With Loan Modification Dispute.  WATE-TV Knoxville, TN (12/13, Dare) reports that when veteran Sandi Dill and her husband "couldn’t meet their" home mortgage payments, "they asked Wells Fargo to help modify the loan," but Sandi said the company "refused to refinance because" it is a Veterans Affairs loan. In "March, Wells Fargo put the Dills’ house on the auction block, but Sandi took action ‘I called the White House. A nice lady my age contacted the VA and my service officer. He contacted Wells Fargo. They got it stopped."  

3.      Changes Being Planed By VA To Assist Women Vets.  AP (12/14, Hefling) "More than 230,000 American women have fought" in the country’s "recent wars," and for "some, it’s a lonely transition as they struggle to find their place." The Department of Veterans Affairs leadership has recognizes it needs to do more to improve care for these veterans, and as part of changes in the works, female coordinators are in place at all VA medical centers to give women an advocate. The agency is also reviewing comments on a proposal to make it easier for those who served in non-infantry roles including women to qualify for disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder.

4.      National Survey Of Veterans Noted. In continuing coverage, the Greenwich (CT) Post (12/13, Zimmer) reports that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki "has launched a national survey of veterans, active duty service members, activated National Guard and reserve members, and family members and survivors to learn if they are aware of VA services." The study marks the sixth National Survey of Veterans since 1978; its results will help the agency design and carry out outreach efforts to veterans, and provide a better picture of the veterans population to aid evaluation of existing programs. 

5.      VA Studying Health Of Female Vietnam Vets.  Providence (RI) Journal‘s (12/14, Reilly) "Veterans Journal" column notes that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has "announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs is launching a comprehensive study of women veterans who served in the military during the Vietnam War to explore the effects of their military service upon their mental and physical health. The study, which began last month and will last more than four years, will contact approximately 10,000 women in a mailed survey and telephone interview and review their medical records." 
 

6.      Suicide An "Insidious Threat" For US Military. CQ Weekly (12/14, Donnelly) reports, "Added to the stress of eight years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, of chasing guerrillas through the streets and dodging makeshift bombs," US armed forces "are now grappling with an even more insidious threat: suicide in the ranks. So far this year, at least 349 men and women on active duty and reservists have taken their own lives – more than have been killed by enemy action in Afghanistan (259) and Iraq (76) combined, according to the records of the individual services as of last week." The Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, has "said an average of about 50 people who had been discharged after fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide each year between 2002 and 2006     Time (12/14, Thompson, 3.37M), which notes that the Army "is rolling out all sorts of artillery to deal with suicide in its ranks," including a "five-year, $50 million study" on "possible suicide indicators," says, "Military suicides have even raised a question for the White House." President Barack Obama’s "staff is reviewing a long-standing but unwritten policy that bars him from sending condolence letters to the families of military personnel who have killed themselves. Some families of suicide victims have pushed for an end to the policy, but there is concern that suicidal soldiers could feel less restraint knowing their families would get condolence letters from the President."

7.      VA Covered In Omnibus Spending Bill Passed By Senate.  AP (12/14) reports, "The Senate on Sunday passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill with increased budgets for vast areas" of the Federal "government, including…veterans’ programs. The package…passed 57-35 and now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature." The AP notes that under the bill, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) "budget goes from $41 billion to $45.1 billion," 

8.      Wreath-Laying Events Draw Substantial Attention. The Washington Post (12/12, Alcindor, 684K) reports that more than 6,000 volunteers, including Marines who travelled seven hours by bus from Camp Johnson, North Carolina, "gathered Saturday morning to place wreaths on the graves" at Arlington National Cemetery. Also traveling to Arlington, as they have every year since 1992, were Morrill and Karen Worcester, the owners of Worcester Wreath in Harrington, Maine and the founders of Wreaths Across America, a non-profit "which has spread the wreath-laying to other states." The Post adds, "In Section 60, where veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried, the mood was somber. The United Service Organizations donated 1,000 wreaths to decorate the section, which drew people who wept, prayed and tried to console each other." This year, over 16,000 wreaths were placed on graves in Arlington and Arkansas’ Fayetteville National Cemetery, at the Pentagon, at New York’s Battery Park and at the Shanksville, Pennsylvania memorial site for United Airlines Flight 93; for the second consecutive year, the Wal-Mart Foundation "donated more than $150,000 to pay for and transport the
 wreaths."   

9.      New Jersey Veterans Complain About Backlog, Red Tape. The Asbury Park Press (12/12, Larsen, 131K) reports veterans’ complaints with VA claims backlogs in Ocean County, New Jersey, which it says is home to "more veterans.. than any other county" in the state and the most over-65 veterans of any county in the nation.   Vietnam veteran Anthony Orlando, whose health problems brought him limited disability payments since June 2005. Although the agency decided in 2007 that he should receive full disability payments, "VA officials did not inform Orlando until May of this year, in a letter. When Orlando and his wife attempted to find out when his benefits would be adjusted to reflect his corrected status, and whether he had coming a retroactive windfall in back disability payments, a VA representative at a call-in center could find no record such a letter had ever been sent, the couple said. So they contacted their congressman. ‘(With the VA) You don’t talk, you listen… Every time I called, I got a different answer,’ Anthony Orlando said." The director of the Ocean County Veterans Service Bureau, himself with a VA disability claim that has been pending for seven years, says that in October he "traveled to Washington to meet with Emily Smith, deputy assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs at the VA to discuss the backlog in veterans’ claims. While there is desire to improve the VA and do better for the veterans, he said he did not leave the nation’s capital feeling overly optimistic," adding that after 30 years of experience, "I don’t see any great movement to reduce the backlog. It is getting worse." A regional VA spokesman "said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki takes very seriously the obligation of the agency to veterans and their families. ‘VA is diligently working on new and innovative ways to improve the process to ensure that claims are decided in an expeditious, accurate and timely manner,’ he stated. 

10.    Illinois DVA Director Reassures On Future Of Quincy Veterans Home. The Quincy (IL) Herald-Whig (12/13, Wilson, 20K) reports, "Quincy’s Illinois Veterans Home has a secure future according to Dan Grant, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. Grant will visit the Quincy facility this week at the request of local legislators seeking first-hand assurances. Concerns about the Quincy home’s future arose soon after Gov. Pat Quinn announced Nov. 10 that a 200-bed veterans home facility will be built in the Chicago area in the next year."