Military transition and veterans affairs news of the day for 2/6/14

Good news story of the day

Nashua firm helps get veterans back in the workforce  (New Hampshire Union Leader)  Ed O’Neill was having breakfast at Nancy’s Diner Monday morning with two guys in the crew of Veterans Mowing and Plowing when a light snow started blowing.

Military transition

Medical Technology Veterans Program is renamed the MedTech and BioTech Veterans Program (MVP) and Expands Nationwide  (The Wall Street Journal)  The Medical Technology Veterans Program, renamed the MedTech and BioTech Veterans Program (MVP), has expanded nationwide and to industries across the life sciences.

‘Hiring Our Heroes’ job fair coming to Kauai for Hawaii veterans and spouses  (Pacific Business News)  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation has partnered with several national and local partners to bring its national Hiring Our Heroes job fair to the Garden Isle on Thursday, Feb. 20 at the Kauai Veterans Center.

Free conference to help vets find lasting employment  (The Eagle)  Student veterans from around the nation will travel to College Station this week to take part in an innovative networking and career fair for servicemen and servicewomen.

Veterans learn organic farming at Pa. program  (The Altoona Mirror)  With his burly physique and woolly beard, Brandon Barnhart looks every inch the laid-back country kid from tiny West College Corner, Ind.

Still Serving Veterans Seeks Businesses To Join Job Fair Feb. 19-21  (WHNT.com)  Our veterans stepped forward to preserve our American way of life by putting their lives on the line with their military service.

Veterans

Veterans advocate Michael Charter dies at 69  (UT San Diego)  Instead of maintaining a comfortable distance from the homeless people he encountered, Michael Charter chatted them up and recruited them for beach cleanups and other community events he supported while on the Ocean Beach Town Council board.

Veterans art therapy featured in exhibition at Tri-C gallery  (Cleveland.com) You or a loved one went through the wringer of war and got hung out to dry.

Veterans group seeks new members  (The News Herald)  Although Burke County is home to a large number of military veterans, the population of those who served in World War II, the Korean conflict and Vietnam dwindles every day.

Masco Gives More Than $1 Million In Support of Military Veterans; 11 Michigan Organizations Among Recipients  (The Wall Street Journal)  Masco Corporation, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of home improvement and building products, and its Foundation have partnered — through a combination of products and cash grants — to award over $1 million in support of its veteran initiative: “America’s Heroes: A Million Thanks”.

Kendall veterans group gets new vehicle  (The Beacon-News)  The Kendall County Veterans Assistance Commission will get a sorely needed new vehicle.

Wounded Warrior Project Actively Transitioning Returning Veterans Foremost Into All Areas of Transport & Logistics Sector  (Yahoo Finance)  Last month marked a milestone for Wounded Warrior Project and the cold chain logistics industry.

Veterans affairs

WIP veteran benefits late, backlogged  (Times-Georgian)  I put this paragraph into the column I wrote on Aug. 8, 2013, using information directly from one of the VA websites, but how has it actually worked out for us?

House passes bill to give veterans in-state tuition, halt VA executive bonuses  (The Washington Post)  The House this week unanimously passed a bill that would expand veterans’ educational benefits and end bonuses for the senior executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs for five years.

House hearing to review veterans claims processing  (Stars and Stripes)  A hearing to review new technologies aimed at updating federal claims processing and erasing the massive Veterans Affairs disability claim backlog has been scheduled for Wednesday by the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, according to a statement from chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla.

WWII vet granted benefits after long battle with VA  (USA Today)  Millard Sells saw fierce combat in 1945 on Iwo Jima, but for most of the past two decades he has been engaged in a different, more bureaucratic battle.

Veterans Affairs employee indicted for gambling, buying gun, drinking on the  clock  (KOCO.com)  Judge Ray Elliott unsealed a grand jury indictment Wednesday against Johnny  Lloyd Surles for two criminal counts: false, fictitious, or fraudulent claim  against the state and obtaining property by false pretense.

Not enough parking is provided for patients and employees at Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center  (TheDenverChannel.com)  “The worst is, there are no spots, first off,” said 15-year Army veteran Lynn Stuart, who recently had knee replacement surgery at the VA Medical Center.

Police investigate shooting at Veterans Affairs campus in Vancouver  (Oregon Live)  Sheriff’s officials in southwest Washington were saying little as they try to determine why a Veterans Affairs  worker was gunned down and wounded inside a public health building in  the second workplace shooting in Vancouver in as many days.

VA still fighting paper war  (Politico)  On the battlefield, Washington is racing to equip its soldiers on the front  lines with the most high-tech weapons and warplanes.

Benefits

Commissaries won’t close, but prices may increase  (Military Times)  Pentagon proposals to reportedly slice $1 billion from the annual commissary budget may not hinge on closing stores, but on raising prices for patrons, sources said.

CBO: Military pension growth to fall 5 percent by 2023 with cut  (The Washington Post)  A controversial new pension cut for younger military retirees will help reduce projected growth for the retirement payments by about 5 percent by 2023, according to congressional number crunchers.

MacDill glitch exposes transfer woes for gay military couples  (The Tampa Tribune)  Monday afternoon, Air Force Staff Sgt. Ashley Carney had just wrapped up a meeting at MacDill Air Force Base to go over the final details of her move to Turkey, where she and her wife would become one of the first gay married military couples transferred to a Muslim country.

Boehner proposes linking debt-limit hike to a restoration of recent cuts to military benefits  (The Washington Post)  House Speaker John A. Boehner scrambled to sell a new debt-ceiling solution to his Republican colleagues on Wednesday, encouraging them to demand a restoration of recently cut military benefits in exchange for a one-year extension of the federal government’s borrowing authority.

Castricone Proposes a NY Veterans Payroll Tax Exemption to Promote Veteran Employment  (Rockland County Times)  NY Assembly Candidate Dan Castricone this week released his plan to encourage employers to hire military veterans.

Bill would require Tricare to cover breast-feeding expenses  (Military Times)  Tricare would cover the cost of breast-feeding equipment, support and counseling for new moms who want to nurse their babies under a bill introduced by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

Defense Cuts Remain Off Table in Debt-Ceiling Talks – For Now  (Defense News)  House Republicans have yet to settle on a plan to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, but it appears using defense cuts as a bargaining chip is not an option.

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