Military transition and veterans affairs news of the day for 1/27/14

Good news story of the day

Veterans five months into trek from Milwaukee to Los Angeles  (Fox6Now.com)  For the past five months, two Milwaukee-area Iraq war veterans have been walking nearly every day.

Military transition

1,700+ Ga Vets Registered on Operation:Workforce  (CoosValleyNews.com)  Operation: Workforce, an online one-stop shop portal for all veteran employment issues in Georgia, is currently serving more than 1,700 veterans and 730 Georgia employers.

SEMO helping develop guide for schools to assist veterans  (The Daily Statesman)  Southeast Missouri State University has joined in a statewide effort that will create a guide to assist Missouri’s colleges and universities in becoming more “military friendly.”

AlliedBarton in Conshohocken helps keep veterans, retirees employed  (The Reporter)  Jerold Ramos chuckled when he recalled his first security job that paid $3.35 an hour back in the ’70s.

Transitioning to Civilian Life Through Higher Education  (The Flathead Beacon)  Barely a few years removed from serving as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, Robert Daniels was an alcoholic living in the streets.

Pro athletes share with military veterans how to get back in the game  (The Gazette)  Former NFL wide receiver Chris Sanders has never experienced combat.

100,000 Jobs Mission Reaches Goal Seven Years Early; Companies Hire 117,439 U.S. Military Veterans  (Market Watch) The 100,000 Jobs Mission announced today that its coalition members hired a total of 117,439 U.S. military veterans by the end of 2013 – surpassing the coalition’s original goal seven years early.

Veterans

Veterans Help People Sign Up for Insurance Plans Under ACA  (Philly.com)  U.S. military veterans are serving on a new mission at Cape Regional Medical Center.

Retired colonel homeless after 30 years in military  (Military Times)  Retired Air Force Col. Robert Freniere unintentionally became the public face for homeless veterans after a Philadelphia newspaper wrote about his struggle to find work.

Local nonprofit delivers quilts to wounded veterans  (The Oakland Press)  Miracle Quilts delivers quilts to wounded veterans at the American Legion Wilwin Lodge near Trout Lake and to veterans at the Michigan Veterans Foundation in Detroit.

Helping veterans overcome travails, Town of Lockport woman offers hope through SERV Niagara  (The Buffalo News)  Jennifer O. D’Andrea-Terreri spent most of her childhood on the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, N.C., so she knows all about the military mindset.

Veterans group recognizes those who help the military  (The New Hampshire Union Leader)  For those who served, both at home and abroad, it’s such a relief when someone can help fix a broken car or even a broken spirit through acts of generosity.

Records belie Pike County vet’s claims  (Pocono Record)  Newly obtained records tell a story profoundly different than the one supporters of Pike County Army veteran Timothy Flaherty have told about how he was injured in Afghanistan.

Veterans affairs

Therapy options grow for wounded veterans  (Orange County Register)  Sin’s department commissions a study every other year to identify the needs of female veterans.

Vietnam vet a symbol of overcoming VA delays  (Orlando Sentinel)  A Vietnam War veteran from Fort Lauderdale who suffered severe burns in combat and financial hardship back home will be watching from the House gallery Tuesday night when President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address.

Rising demand drives up cost of Scituate veterans programs  (Boston.com)  Scituate officials are grappling with high veterans’ costs for the fourth year in a row, but it’s a trend administrators don’t expect to last into the long-term.

Veterans’ service directors struggle to catch ‘double dippers’  (WCPO.com)  Some Ohio veterans are purposefully double dipping into pools of taxpayer cash set aside to support military families in crisis.

Louisiana’s Sen. Vitter touts work on ‘essential’ needs of veterans  (The Advertiser)  U.S. Sen. David Vitter wants to see local community clinics built, the national Veterans Affairs backlog reduced and retired military personnel protected in the budget.

Clinton County Veterans Affairs Office welcomes public with open house  (The Express)  The new Clinton County Veterans Affairs office is a real hit.

Veterans exposed to cadaver parts from contaminated lab  (The Chicago Tribune)  he Department of Veterans Affairs ordered $241 million of cadaver tissue and other material derived from human and animal bodies in the last three years, some of it from vendors warned by federal regulators about contamination in their supply chain.

House Veterans Committee adds latest VA cyber breach to ongoing investigations  (Federal News Radio)  The House Veterans Affairs Committee continues to press the Veterans Affairs Department over its struggle to secure its systems and the data of tens of millions of veterans.

Benefits

Iowa politicians line up to support veterans  (The Palm Beach Post)  Gov. Terry Branstad and state lawmakers are billing an effort to enhance services for veterans as a way to attract new residents to Iowa, but it’s tough to gauge if this push will really have an impact on the state population.

The last salute: Veterans can expect specific funeral protocol  (PNJ.com)  Retired Army. Col. Allan Ford of Pensacola is planning for his eventual funeral to include horses pulling his remains in a caisson to the grave site.

Vet Groups Vow to Fight Commissary Cuts  (Military.com)  Military family and benefits advocates said they plan to fight a new Pentagon proposal to gut the commissary program by slashing its funding.

Elder Law: Congress likely to change Veterans Affairs benefits this year  (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) While only a small percentage of the millions of veterans and their families use the Aid and Attendance benefit offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, it is clearly a vital program for those in need of medically related assistance with their daily activities.

In State of the Union, military often takes a back seat  (Stars and Stripes)  Military watchers are hoping the president’s State of the Union speech Tuesday will feature lengthy passages about the war in Afghanistan, the recent reductions in military retirement pay or the veterans claims backlog.

Veterans’ group cautiously optimistic about DOD’s new directive  (One News Now)  Last week the DOD announced changes in its regulations that relax its rules regarding religious items like turbans and beards and religion-based physical attributes for its military personnel.

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