Veterans! Here’s your Top 10 News stories of the day compiled from the latest sources

We encourage you to browse our list so that you can take what you want and keep what you need

1.      White House honors 11 for veterans efforts. With Memorial Day approaching, officials recognized the advocates for efforts with the troops not just from the current wars but also earlier conflicts.
 
2.      Why America scours the earth for its fallen servicemembers.  No nation has ever tried so hard to recover so many remains from battlefields so distant and so old. This is manifest each Memorial Day at new grave sites bearing remains discovered or identified over the past 12 months. Since Memorial Day 2011, the bodies of 79 servicemen from wars past have been accounted for, including 20 from World War II.
 
3.      Commemoration of Vietnam War (and its veterans) begins Monday.  The 13-year program will “honor and give thanks to a generation of proud Americans” who served in Vietnam.
 
4.      ‘Flags-In’ sets the stage for Memorial Day at Arlington.  Soldiers from the Army’s 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) fanned out across Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday afternoon, placing over 220,000 American flags at gravestones in a Memorial Day weekend tradition.

5.      Every day needs to be Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day.  Fox News  I recently met a Vietnam veteran on a local golf course. Somehow, the current state of US affairs was brought up. This led to a discussion of the current war in Afghanistan. Quickly, the two of us compared and contrasted the war I recently fought and …

6.      The thanks of a grateful nation should be loud and clear.  Muskegon Chronicle – MLive.com  But Eling — who is the director of the Muskegon County Department of Veteran Affairs — keeps the United States flag, once draped over Baltaisvilks’ coffin, in his office, a constant reminder of sacrifice and service. It is the perfect prayer this …

7.      State seeks nominees for Veterans Hall of Fame.  Ridgefield Press  Department of Veterans’ Affairs Commissioner Linda Schwartz has encouraged all citizens to consider nominating distinguished veterans who have made significant contributions to their communities after leaving military service to the Connecticut …

8.      Memorial Day And Beyond: Thunder In Skies, Rolling Thunder On DC Roads. Washington Post 
9.      Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Rally Remembers POWs. Washington Times 
10. “I Will Never Leave A Fallen Comrade.” USA Today

More Veteran News

•   Gary Sinise Honors Vets With Memorial Day Concert. WMAQ-TV

•  John Huston’s “Let There Be Light” Documentary Available Online Through August. Washington Post  “More than 60 years after it was suppressed by the Army, a powerful John Huston documentary has been restored by the National Archives and is now available on the Web.” According to the Post, “Let There Be Light” is a “controversial World War II documentary about soldiers suffering from combat stress.” The film “has been restored by the National Archives and put online to mark Memorial Day.”

•  Small-Biz Conference, Hiring Fair Set For Detroit. American Legion “The National Veterans Small Business Conference, the government’s premier event for veteran-owned small businesses, is coming to Detroit’s Cobo Center June 25-29. A ‘VA for Vets’ Hiring Fair will be conducted during the conference for veterans looking for careers in the public and private sectors.” The “Detroit Hiring Fair builds upon VA’s success Jan. 18 in Washington, at which a partnership of federal agencies and private industry attracted more than 4,100 veterans and resulted in more than 2,600 on-the-spot interviews and more than 500 tentative job offers.”

• White House Looking To Kick-Start 5 Projects. Federal News Radio  The “White House is trying to bring a start-up mentality to the government by recruiting coders, programmers and other experts to work on five projects for six to 12 months as part of the new Presidential Innovation Fellows program.” The goal of one of the projects is to “expand the portability of electronic health records from just Defense Department service members and veterans to all citizens.” That portability was established by Blue Button process. Park “said in the 18 months since DoD and the Veterans Affairs Department launched the process, more than 1 million service members and veterans downloaded their health data.”  Government Computer News “Blue Button for America will build on programs from HHS and the Veterans Affairs Department to let individuals securely download their own health information in a text file.” Currently, Blue Button is “available to military personnel, veterans and Medicare beneficiaries, and the project would expand it to all citizens.”

•   VA Boss: Benefits Access A Priority. Albuquerque Journal  “Increasing access to veterans’ benefits and services, eliminating a sizable backlog in disability claims and ending veteran homelessness are priorities for the VA, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said” during a news conference on Thursday, after taking part in a roundtable discussion with students from the Central New Mexico Community College and the University of New Mexico. In his news conference, Shinseki, who is “making a pre-Memorial Day swing through” New Mexico to hear from veterans, “touted a growing VA budget – pegged at $140 billion for fiscal year 2013 – and new programs to help veterans earn college degrees.”

• How Should The US Support Returning Veterans? New York Times  “Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are most concerned with getting a job, according to data released this spring.” After pointing out that finding mental and physical healthcare is also a concern of such vets, the Times says these vets can sometimes “find themselves dealing with disabilities on their own, fueling the epidemics of homelessness and suicide.” The Times asked two former service members, a military dad, and an advocate to write about the challenges faced by returning vets.

• Advocate Praises VA Employees Who Try To Help Homeless Vets. New York Times  Rosanne Haggerty, an advocate for the homeless. Haggerty urges communities to do more to assist homeless vets and says the country needs to “make federal housing assistance for homeless veterans easier to access and use.” Haggerty adds, “Congress recently increased funding for the most successful veterans housing assistance program, Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing.” Haggerty, who says the program relies on the “heroic efforts” of Veterans Affairs employees, adds, “Now, we must ensure that the program can be implemented quickly on the ground.”

• Woman Who Served In Afghanistan: Female Vets Need “Programs That Fit Their Needs.” New York Times  Afghanistan vet Rebekah Havrilla, who writes about the numerous challenges faced by women who have served in the military. Havrilla notes, “Survivors of sexual violence who attempt to obtain benefits for post-traumatic stress have only a 32 percent chance of approval by the Veterans Benefits Administration, versus a 53 percent approval rate for those who file for combat trauma post-traumatic stress.” Havrilla adds, “As more and more women enlist, deploy and return home, it is urgent that we remember to serve those who have served us – with comprehensive, appropriate programs that fit their needs.”

• US To Help Unemployed Veterans Get Training For High-Demand Jobs In Michigan. Crain’s Detroit Business  The Veteran Retraining Assistance Program “will cover the cost for unemployed veterans to get one year of job training in fields that are in high demand in Michigan.” Under the program, a “joint effort between the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the US Department of Labor,” veterans “ages 35-60 can receive an education stipend of $1,473 a month or $17,676 for the year.”

•  A Jobs Website Just For Colorado Vets. KUSA-TV  The “Department of Labor and Employment is launching a website that is devoted to assisting Colorado veterans in finding a job. The website, www.hireacoloradovet.gov gives veterans an opportunity to post their résumés, do a self-directed job search and even learn about new job postings before the general public.” KUSA adds, “Hire A Colorado Vet is part of an ongoing effort to increase employment and training services for Colorado’s veterans.”