Military transition and veterans affairs news of the day for 2/7/14

Good news story of the day

Veterans attend school museum opening in Korea  (Army.mil)  Veterans from the California National Guard’s 40th Infantry Division returned to the school they helped to build here for the opening of a museum that chronicles the 62-year relationship between the school and the division.

Military transition

Alleged scheme targets military students’ free tuition assistance  (CBS News)  For those serving in the U.S. military, one benefit is free tuition assistance for college courses, but that money may have made them the target of scam artists.

Military Vets Bring Talent, Leadership To The Workforce  (Forbes)  More and more military veterans are re-entering the civilian workforce each year.

Helping Transitioning Servicemembers Find Jobs Before Becoming Veterans  (Huffington Post)  You’ve heard it said countless times: “It’s easier to get a job if you already have one.”

Military to College Transition Tips  (US News)  Attending college after being in the military can prove difficult. After engaging in hands-on work and combat, switching to completing homework assignments and taking tests is a hard change for many.

Spouse Career Services Expand as More Troops Exit  (Military.com)  After years of using the Defense Department’s military spouse employment program primarily as a troop retention tool, the Pentagon is now using it as an aid to help troops and their families transition out of the military.

MoH recipient Petry ponders future after retirement  (Army Times)  On May 26, 2008, Petry and his fellow Rangers from 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, flew by helicopter to capture a high-profile, high-value target in Paktia, Afghanistan.

Veterans

$9 million veterans’ housing development proposed for former site of World War II bomber plant village  (mLive.com)  At the peak of the Willow Run Bomber Plant’s production during World War II, the Willow Run Village temporarily housed a large portion of the 22,000 workers that assembled B-24 Liberators in the “Arsenal of Democracy.”

4 veterans to share affordable city home  (Poughkeepsie Journal)  Four female veterans facing homelessness will soon share a newly renovated home in the City of Poughkeepsie.

Veterans Conservation Corps members work to restore Dick Young Forest Preserve near Batavia  (Kane County Chronicle)  To U.S. Marine Corps veteran Ben Haberthur, a country worth protecting is a country worth preserving.

Soldiers visit veterans in Tuskegee  (Army.mil)  From sergeants major to young NCOs, a group of Fort Rucker Soldiers went the extra mile Jan. 31 to make sure a group of veterans had a little extra to get them through the weekend — by lending a helping hand and providing a listening ear.

VFW offers help for Veterans  (Fox43.com)  Last year Service Officers from the Department of Pennsylvania VFW helped file claims for 4,400 veterans.

Former Marine remembered by family  (The Daily News)  April Bay-McManus is still coming to terms with the death of her husband, a Marine battling cancer, PTSD and TBI who died unexpectedly in what she called “a tragic accident.”

Veterans affairs

Technology Helps VA Disability Claim Decisions, Official Says  (American Forces Press Service)  A new initiative between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments has produced technology to help VA expedite disability claim decisions, a Defense Health Agency senior official told a House panel yesterday.

VA launches online tool to calculate post-9/11 GI Bill benefits  (DCMilitary.com)  The Veterans Affairs Department today launched a new online tool to make it easier for veterans, service members and family members to calculate their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits and learn more about VA’s approved colleges, universities and other education and training programs across the country.

eBenefits PII glitch potentially affected about 1,300 says VA  (Fierce Government)  A software defect that caused a joint Veterans Affairs and Defense Department self-service benefits portal to display personally identifiable information to other users accessing the system affected no more than 1,362 individuals, a VA officials told a House panel.

VA official: Half of Nevada’s disability claims sent out of state  (Las Vegas Review-Journal)  The Veterans Affairs regional benefits office in Reno was so overwhelmed with disability claims last year that it sent half of them to out-of-state VA offices for decisions, according to a letter Rep. Dina Titus released Thursday from a top VA official.

Committee Advances 9th District Bill to Benefit Veterans’ Spouses  (TheSandpiper.net)  Legislation sponsored by Sen. Christopher J. Connors, Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf and Assemblywoman DiAnne C. Gove to require the $750 annual compensation to surviving spouses of certain blind or disabled veterans to be payable from the date of the veteran’s death was advanced today from the Senate Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

Ahead of Higher Ed: Veteran benefits just got easier to reap  (The Daily Cougar)  Veterans were given a new federal tool this week to reap their post-9/11 GI Bill benefits and find appropriate educational and training institutions.

Hot Springs woman named to SD veterans commission  (The Washington Times)  A southwest South Dakota woman and retired lieutenant colonel has been appointed to the state’s Veterans Commission.

After 19-year pursuit, World War II Marine gets disability benefits  (Army Times)  Millard Sells saw some of the fiercest combat of his life in 1945 on Iwo Jima, but for most of the past two decades he has been engaged in a different, more bureaucratic battle.

Old VA site named to historic registry  (The Washington Times)  The old Veteran Affairs property on U.S. Highway 90, now known as Centennial Plaza, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Groups call for increased VA spending in advance of Obama’s 2015 budget  (The Washington Post)  Four of the nation’s leading veterans organizations this week proposed a budget plan that calls for increased spending on veterans programs in 2015 and beyond.

Vancouver Veterans Affairs shooting: $1 million bail set for woman suspected of shooting ex-boss  (The Oregonian)  A judge has set bail at $1 million for a woman suspected of shooting her former supervisor at the Veteran Affairs campus in Vancouver.

Report notes more problems at Dorn VA Medical Center  (The State)  The management of the Dorn VA Medical Center did a lousy job of keeping its operating rooms staffed and reacting to infection problems, according to a report from the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General.

Benefits

Military phases out its service centers for Tri-Care clients  (Florida Today)  Military retirees and others with questions about Tri-Care enrollment or benefits will soon lose the option of meeting face-to-face with a service representative.

Boehner urges allies to consider linking military benefits to debt limit  (The Washington Post)  A new break in the GOP’s debt-ceiling strategy emerged at a private lunch on Wednesday, where House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) encouraged his allies to consider linking a restoration of recently cut military benefits with a one-year extension of the federal government’s borrowing authority.

Lawmaker seeks funds to expand Arizona’s veterans supportive campuses  (Cronkite News)  As soon as Ammon Rowley separated from the Navy, he wanted to start his education.

Senate Bill Seeks Honorable Discharges for Gay Veterans  (Business Week)   Since World War II, more than 100,000 gay members of the U.S. military were expelled with dishonorable or other less-than-honorable discharges, says Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii.

Benefits for Veterans Falling Behind Food Stamps, Welfare  (Fox Nation)   Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr. was on Fox and Friends this morning to take on President Obama’s comments about government assistance.

Adam Smith’s lonely military pension fight  (The Hill) The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee is in an increasingly lonely position in Congress fighting against repealing the $6 billion cut to military pensions.

Defense Spending After 2015: It’s Anyone’s Guess  (National Defense Magazine)  The powers-that-be must soon make a decision on how to cut military spending before sequestration returns in 2016.

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Have a great day!