SENATOR DEBBIE STABENOW SAYS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN “COULD DISRUPT” VETERANS’ BENEFITS
With apossible government shutdown looming, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., is backing legislation that would make sure the paychecks for members of Congress stop along with everything else. Although similar measures have been proposed, so far congressional paychecks are still intact.
We addressed this proposal more generally in a separate item. But for this item, we were more interested in checking one of the arguments Stabenow made as she argued for the bill’s passage. READ MORE »
REPORT: SHUTDOWN WOULD HURT MILITARY FAMILIES
The pay freeze that would come with an extended government shutdown would severely hurt military families and require the military to organize financial help for those who don’t have savings to cover bills, a nonpartisan arm of Congress is warning lawmakers.
A shutdown could come as early as midnight Friday. As a months-long dispute over federal spending continues, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget warned Wednesday morning that military members would be expected to report to work without pay. The READ MORE »
GOAL: LOWER VETS UNEMPLOYMENT BY VETERANS DAY
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are meeting with members of Congress and the Obama administration to urge that everyone commit — amid increasingly partisan rancor — to reducing veterans unemployment.
Their goal is to reduce the veterans unemployment rate to at least match the national unemployment rate by Veterans Day.
The Labor Department reports that in 2010, the unemployment rate for all Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans was 11.5 percent while the unemployment rate for nonveterans was 9.7 percent. READ MORE »
RETREAT FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS
Retreat For Service Providers
• learn to recognize the signs of compassion fatigue
• grow your capacity for well being
• renew your mind, body, and spirit in a supportive setting
HALF THE AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ VETERANS TREATED BY VA RECEIVE MENTAL HEALTH CARE
Slightly more than half of all Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans treated by the Veterans Affairs Department received care for mental health problems, roughly four times the rate of the general population, according to statisticscompiled by the advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense based on data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The data show that among the 625,834 Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans enrolled in the VA health care system as of December 2010, 313,670 were treated for mental health conditions. READ MORE »
SUICIDE RATE TRIPLES FOR FEMALE SOLDIERS AT WAR
The suicide rate for female soldiers triples when they go to war, according to the first round of preliminary data from an Army study.
The findings, released to USA Today this week, show that the suicide rate rises from five per 100,000 to 15 per 100,000 among female soldiers at war. Scientists are not sure why but say they will look into whether women feel isolated in a male-dominated war zone or suffer greater anxieties about leaving behind children and other loved ones.
Even so, the suicide risk for female soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan is still lower than for men serving next to them, the $50 million study says. READ MORE »
PENTAGON FALLS SHORT IN TACKLING SEXUAL ASSAULT
Former Marine corporal Sarah Albertson made a startling admission last month about serving in Iraq’s war-torn Fallujah: ” I actually felt much safer there than I did back at our command” in Southern California, she told NBC’s Today.
Albertson says she was raped in 2006 by a superior, a fellow Marine, at Camp Pendleton. After reporting the incident to her command, she was threatened with a charge of “inappropriate barracks conduct” because she admitted to drinking heavily before the assault. She says she was ostracized and told to “suck it up” while being forced to work with READ MORE »
VA SCOPES OUT MEDICAL NEEDS OF FEMALE VETERANS
Alyce Knaflich says she has been mistaken for someone’s wife when she walks in the front door of the Charles George VA Medical Center.
Instead of visiting a sick husband, the 53-year-old is at the Veterans Affairs hospital for her own health, including a form of post-traumatic stress disorder from nearly 20 years as a staff sergeant in the Army.
“There is an attitude that women didn’t serve their country,” says Knaflich, who proudly READ MORE »
“SECRET SHOPPER” PROGRAM FOR VA CENTERS IN MO.
ST. LOUIS — A new program seeks to improve the care and customer service at VA health care facilities in Missouri.
Sen. Claire McCaskill announced details Tuesday of the Veteran Healthcare Experience Program. The Democrat says the program addresses frustrations of veterans and seeks to better assess the quality of care at centers in Missouri.
The program allows veterans to be so-called “secret shoppers” at Veterans Affairs health READ MORE »
FOR SOME TROOPS, POWERFUL DRUG COCKTAILS HAVE DEADLY RESULTS
In his last months alive, Senior Airman Anthony Mena rarely left home without a backpack filled with medications.
He returned from his second deployment to Iraq complaining of back pain, insomnia, anxiety and nightmares. Doctors diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder and prescribed powerful cocktails of psychiatric drugs and narcotics.
Yet his pain only deepened, as did his depression. “I have almost given up hope,” he told a doctor in 2008, medical records show. “I should have died in Iraq.” READ MORE »
