Transitionnews for Thursday, December 19th 2013:

Good news story of the day

Man donates $10,000 to help cheated veterans  (KATU.com)  A man has stepped forward to donate $10,000 to veterans who said they were cheated out of their wages.

Volunteers renovate Springfield house for veterans  (WWLP.com)  Dozens of Western Massachusetts volunteers from Home Depot helped renovate a Springfield house for homeless veterans.

Transition

Marine Corps: Guaranteed careers for staff sergeants at risk  (Navy Times)  Staff sergeants may no longer be guaranteed a 20-year career and full retirement benefits, according to Manpower & Reserve Affairs officials.

Pennsylvania State Police Changing Cadet Eligibility Requirements  (PR Newswire)  In an effort to entice active-duty military members and veterans and those with full-time law enforcement experience, the Pennsylvania State Police announced today they are changing cadet admission eligibility requirements, effective immediately.

Labor Dept. grants funds to support JBLM transitions   (Business Examiner)  The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of a $5,586,385 National Emergency Grant to assist approximately 900 transitioning military personnel at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Chris Sorenson on Triple Canopy’s Intl Contracts and His Transition From the Military to Private Industry  (Executive Biz)  Chris Sorenson serves as COO of Reston, Va.-based mission support, security, training and advisory services company Triple Canopy.

Service members are assisted with transition  (Davis-Monthan Air Force  Base News)  So you’re getting out of the military and you’re trying to figure what’s next for your life. The initial thought that comes to most people’s mind is what am I going to do first.

AF announces additional force management programs to reduce force size  (Holloman Air Force Base News)  Air Force leaders announced force management programs Dec. 11 designed to reduce the force by thousands of Airmen over the next five years as a result of sequestration.

Veteran and Spouse Transition Workshop  (KIROTv.Com)  The Veteran Transition Workshop is available to our veterans and spouses whether they are currently going through their Transition Assistance Program (TAP) or have been out of the military for some time.

Veterans

Veterans Group Appeals In Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Fight After Court Orders Cross Removal  (The Sacramento Bee)  Liberty Institute, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP and the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association Fight to Preserve Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Cross and the Symbol of Selfless Sacrifice It Represents

Building free homes for wounded vets  (CNN)  Alexander Reyes’ boyhood dream of a military career ended when he was hit by an improvised explosive device during a patrol a few years ago in Baghdad.

Impart exhibition at Torpedo Factory: Ceramics offers hands-on healing for veterans  (The Washington Post)  From the sculpture at the Art League’s Impart ceramics exhibition, twisted, chunky plumes of dark clay emerge from the top of a man’s head. The face grimaces in torment; the shapes are swirling, grotesque.

College campuses help centralize veteran services  (Gazette.net)  Montgomery County is looking to its public colleges to link to military veteran services, on and off their campuses.

Whitman School Announces M.B.A. for Veterans Program  (Syracuse University News)  In the post-9/11 environment, many talented young people who entered military service find limited supports when re-entering the civilian community.

Veterans One-Stop Center shows success  (WIBV.com)  Many of the men and women or the U.S. Armed Forces come back to civilian life with unique struggles.

Veterans Affairs

VA decreases benefits backlog nationally; St. Paul office part of solution  (TwinCities.com)  Far fewer veterans are facing long waits for disability compensation after the Department of Veterans Affairs spent six months focusing on the backlog, including mandating case worker overtime and rolling out a new computer system.

Veterans Affairs director visits Veterans Home  (Quincy Journal)  Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs Director Erica Borggren visited the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy Wednesday morning.

Malone veterans’ clinic will close  (Press Republican)  Congressman Bill Owens says nothing can save the veterans outpatient clinic in Malone from closing in a few months.

VA says claims backlog down 36 percent since March  (Government Health IT)  Department of Veterans Affairs’ Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey says the Veterans Benefits Administration is putting a big dent in the backlog of Veterans’ disability compensation and pension claims.

Benefits

Budget pact survives military-retiree fight  (Market Watch)  It’s a quarrel that’ll be remembered as only a minor footnote to the passage of the new two-year budget compromise, which cleared the Senate today by a 64-36 vote.

Senators want to restore military benefits  (WAVY.com)  Sen. Mark Warner has proposed legislation to restore military retirement benefits that would be cut in the Bipartisan Budget Act.

Patty Murray: ‘Technical error’ that cuts disabled veterans benefits will be fixed  (Washington Examiner)  Sen. Patty Murray said a “technical error” in the bipartisan budget deal accidentally would cut pension benefits for retired disabled military veterans, but vowed the problem will be fixed immediately.

Average 2014 Housing Allowance Will Rise 5 Percent  (Military.com)  The Defense Department on Tuesday said housing benefits will increase by an average of 5 percent next year.

Social Security Disability, Veterans Benefits to Increase in January with COLA, Allsup Reports  (Insurance News Net)  Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program participants and other Social Security and veterans beneficiaries will see a slight increase of 1.5 percent in January when the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, takes effect, according to Allsup.

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Have a great day!