Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1.      VA Pilot Aims To Speed Up Collection Of Health Records. In continuing coverage, the “Fedline” blog for the Federal Times (12/3, Johnson, 40K) says a “recently launched six-month pilot at the Veterans Affairs Department is intended to reduce the time it takes to collect veterans’ health records from private physicians. VA awarded Virginia-based DOMA Technologies, LLC a six-month, $384,000 contract to aid in collecting records needed to process veterans’ claims for disability benefits.” After noting that in a news release, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said his agency is “committed to harnessing the best technology and the brightest minds in the government and private sector to ensure veterans receive the benefits they have earned,” the Times points out that the DOMA project is “one of several initiatives…VA has launched to decide veterans’ claims within 125 days by 2015.” FierceEMR (12/2, Versel) also takes note of the project, though it refers to DOMA as an “unspecified private contractor.”

 2.      Vets Home To Be Constructed In Pell City, Alabama. In continuing coverage, the Pell City, Alabama-based St. Clair News-Aegis (12/2, Mee) said the Colonel Robert L. Howard Veterans’ Home “will…be erected in Pell City.” The facility, which “will cost $41 million,” is “expected to be completed by the spring of 2012.”

 3.      City In Oregon May Still Get Veterans Care Facility. The KDRV-TV Medford, OR (12/2) website said Klamath Falls, Oregon, “might still be in the running for a multimillion dollar long-term care home for military veterans. According to the Herald and News, legislation that would put two long-term care facilities up for bid could be introduced during the next Oregon legislative session, which starts January 11. Klamath Falls was one of five Oregon cities that submitted bids for a proposed 250-bed facility,” after which time, specifically in April, the “Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs announced…that it would instead build a 150-bed veterans home in Lebanon, and a similar facility in Roseburg. The Roseburg facility, however, has not received the necessary legislative approval.”

 4.      State Vets Cemeteries In Kentucky To Participate In Wreaths Across America. The Covington-based Kentucky Post (12/3) reports, “All four of Kentucky’s State Veterans Cemeteries will participate in the national Wreaths Across America ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 11.” Wreaths Across America is a “non-profit organization that began over 18 years ago when Worcester Wreath Company started placing wreaths on the headstones of fallen heroes at Arlington National Cemetery. Today, the tradition continues as the Civil Air Patrol, the Patriot Guard Riders and other civic organizations place wreaths during a special observance at each of the more than 230 State and National Cemeteries, and Veterans Monuments nationwide.”

 5.      Vets Groups, Military Retirees Preparing To Resist Tricare Spending Cuts. The Wall Street Journal (12/3, A5, Hodge, 2.09M) says veterans groups and US military retirees are getting ready to oppose possible spending cuts for Tricare, the military’s healthcare system, which is funded by the Department of Defense (DOD). After noting that the DOD and Veterans Affairs Department budgets are separate, the Journal points out that some advocates for veterans are concerned because newly elected lawmakers will join Congress with a mandate to get government spending under control.

 6.      Criminal Investigation Looking Into Misplaced Remains At Arlington National Cemetery. In a front page story, the Washington Post (12/3, A1, Davenport, 605K) says the US Army has “launched the first criminal investigation into the misplacement of remains at Arlington National Cemetery,” after “discovering eight cremated remains dumped in a single grave site there.” The investigation “comes after a series of revelations that…marred the reputation of the country’s most prestigious military burial ground and led to the ouster of its top two leaders.” A similar article appears on the front page of USA Today (12/3, Dorell, 1.83M).

 7.      Baker, GAO Differ On VA’s Ability To Use Agile Development. FierceGovernmentIT (12/2, Perera) reported, “The Veterans Affairs Department has tried agile development for the first time and pronounced it good despite what it might consider hissing” from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which in a new report “says the department could have done it better. Agile development is…a software development philosophy that emphasizes continuous and rapid incremental development and delivery of functionality along with close collaboration between programmers and users.” As part of VA’s “official response to the GAO’s findings, VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker charged the watchdog with presenting ‘incorrect assumptions as facts,’ likely because agile development is not widespread within the federal government, meaning that GAO auditors might not have encountered it before.”
     Blogger Highlights Spat Between Two Agencies. In his “What’s Brewin'” blog for NextGov (12/3), Bob Brewin notes that on Wednesday, the GAO released a negative report on VA’s Post-9/11 GI Bill claims processing system. Brewin points out that Baker and Valerie Melvin, GAO’s “director for information management and human capital issues,” have argued about the report, specifically GAO’s knowledge of a software process called agile development. Brewin says “maybe Melvin and Baker should form rugby teams and have it out on the fields near the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on 14th Street.”

 8.      Officials From VA, GAO Argue About Software Process. In his “What’s Brewin'” blog for NextGov (12/3), Bob Brewin notes that on Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a negative report on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Post-9/11 GI Bill claims processing system. Brewin points out that VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker and Valerie Melvin, GAO’s “director for information management and human capital issues,” have argued about GAO’s knowledge of a software process called agile development. After noting that GAO’s report “skewers Veterans Affairs for its lack of full adherence to…agile development, which deploys software and functionality in chunks on an iterative basis,” Brewin says “maybe Melvin and Baker should form rugby teams and have it out on the fields near the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on 14th Street.”

 9.      Former VA Employee Gets One Year In Jail For Faking Military Record. In an article run by at least 26 news sources, the AP (12/3) notes that on Wednesday, 57-year-old Nevada resident David M. Perelman was “sentenced to one year in federal prison for lying to obtain a Purple Heart and using the medal and phony paperwork to obtain $180,000 in veteran benefits.” Assistant Federal Public Defender Rene Valladares “lost a bid to convince” US. District Court Judge Kent Dawson to sentence Perelman, a former Veterans Affairs employee, to probation. Valladares “told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Perelman will challenge the constitutionality of the Stolen Valor Act.” KRNV-TV Reno, NV (12/2, 11:07 p.m. PT) also aired a report on this story.

 10.    Vietnam Vet Welcoming Soldiers Home From Iraq, Afghanistan. The CBS Evening News (12/2, story 8, 2:15, Couric, 6.1M) broadcast that 66-year-old Walt Peters, who “served three tours in Vietnam and…came home to scorn,” has “made it his mission to give” American service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq a “hero’s welcome home.” Since 2004, Peters, who conducts his mission at Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia, “estimates he has greeted or sent off 90,000 soldiers.”
     Dover Hosting More “Dignified Transfers” Of US Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan. The Washington Post (11/3, Whitlock, 605K) reports, “As the death toll climbs” for US “troops in Afghanistan,” the fallen arrive in cargo planes at Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base “with greater frequency.” After noting that public opinion surveys “show…most Americans now oppose the war,” the Post says the “military refers to the ritual of bringing the fallen back to Dover as a ‘dignified transfer.'”
     Ranks Of Fallen Include First Chaplain Killed In Combat Since Vietnam War. The Los Angeles Times (12/3, Zucchino, 681K) focuses on Capt. Dale Goetz, one of the US soldiers killed this year in Afghanistan. Goetz, who was 43 at the time of his death, was the “first chaplain killed in combat since the Vietnam War.”