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

Good news story of the day

Veterans Conservation Crew Restore Trails at National Monument  (Street Insider)  This week, an all-veterans conservation crew began a four-week project to improve popular hiking trails in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument near Palm Springs, CA.

Military Transition

1,499 first lieutenants, captains face July force shaping board  (Air Force Times)  The Air Force is planning to cut 520 overmanned first lieutenants and captains in the biomedical sciences corps, dental corps, medical services corps and nurse corps categories this year through force shaping boards.

Veterans Make Great Interns: 6 Ways To Recruit  (Yahoo Small Business)  Finding great students and recent graduates for your internship program is no easy feat.

Department of Revenue holds job fair for veterans (Courier-Herald)  Veterans have many valuable skills to offer a future employer, and the Washington State Department of Revenue (DOR) wants to meet with those interested in joining the ranks of state employees.

Branstad, Reynolds announce removal of barriers for veterans, military spouses who want to teach in Iowa  (Oskaloosa News)  Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today announced a new effort to eliminate licensing barriers for qualified veterans and military spouses who want to teach in Iowa.

Tenney throws support behind NY Jobs for Veterans  (The Telegram)  Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney on Tuesday announced her support for the NY Jobs for Veterans program, the same day Gov. Andrew Cuomo lent his support to the initiative.

UMSL conference brings together vets, academics, employers, agencies  (UMSL Daily)  The civilians came to talk about veterans sourcing – finding veterans, recruiting them, hiring them and retaining them.

Veterans

Veterans Home Battle Hits Legislature  (Nebraska TV)  The contention over the Veterans Home move from Grand Island to Kearney hits the Capitol City.

Military veterans invited to NBA All-Star event Friday  (The Times-Picayune)  Military veterans will be admitted free Friday to a practice event leading up to the NBA Rising Stars Challenge game.

Attorney General to investigate Sandbox Veterans  (WANE.com)  After watching a 15 Finds Out investigation and hearing complaints from members of the community, the Indiana Attorney General’s Office has launched its own investigation into the Sandbox Veterans.

Attack on US veterans website may have been aimed at military members  (PC World)  A cyberattack against the Veteran of Foreign Wars website, believed to have been initiated in China, may have sought to spy on U.S. military members, security company FireEye said Thursday.

Roadside bomb blasts’ effects on brain still a mystery  (USA Today)  Too little is known about how or whether bomb blasts cause long-term damage to the human brain and body, according to a scientific panel focusing on wounds caused by roadside bombs, the most common enemy weapon used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Senate bill would provide clean service records for discharged gay, lesbian troops  (Stars and Stripes)  A bill that would upgrade the service records of gay, lesbian and bisexual troops discharged due to sexual orientation and open the door to veterans’ benefits has been introduced in the Senate and referred to the Armed Services Committee for review, officials said.

Veterans Affairs

Veterans Affairs urged to set up database to measure long-term health effects of bomb blasts  (Star Tribune) Roadside bombs have killed nearly 3,600 military service members and wounded 34,000 more in Iraq and Afghanistan, but many of the long-term health effects are unknown for those who seemingly walked away without serious injury.

Neb. VA head defends decision to move vets’ home  (Dayton Daily News)  The director of the Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs on Thursday defended a decision to build a new state veterans’ facility in Kearney instead of in the current building’s longtime home, Grand Island.

Veterans Taking Claims Against Memphis VA Medical Center To Next Level  (WREG.com)   “I went to serve my country and now this is what I get,” one veteran said.

Two VA employees face drug charges  (Wisconsin State Journal)  Two employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs face felony charges of buying and selling narcotics at a Middleton VA office.

Broad veterans’ bill faces uncertain fate in Senate  (Army Times)  The repeal of planned reductions in military retirement pay by Congress has left the Senate’s wide-ranging veterans’ legislative package in limbo.

VA medical training facility to be built next to hospital at Lake Nona  (WFTV.com)  Channel 9 was there Thursday as Sen. Bill Nelson got a look at plans for a new Veterans Affairs medical training facility that will be built next to the VA hospital project at Lake Nona.

How VA is driving telemedicine  (FCW.com)  There’s a quiet revolution going on in health care that has big implications for the future of medicine.

Federal agencies partner with VA to protect GI Bill education benefits  (Char-Koosta News)  The Departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Education and Justice, along with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission recently announced the launch of a new online complaint system designed to collect feedback from veterans, service members and their families who are experiencing problems with educational institutions receiving funding from Federal military and veterans educational benefits programs, including benefits programs provided by the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Department of Defense Military Tuition Assistance Program.

Black History Month panel sponsored by Ohio Dept. of Veterans Services  (Examiner.com)  The unique experiences of African-American veterans will be discussed by veterans of different eras in a panel discussion sponsored by the Ohio Department of Veterans Services in honor of Black History Month.

Benefits

Veterans’ cost of living benefit that was cut, restored  (WVEC.com)  Members of Congress have moved swiftly to restore an important benefit for military veterans.

Veterans Alliance will get paratransit bus  (The Press Enterprise)  A chance meeting between a nonprofit veterans’ group leader and a Hemet City Councilwoman at a cold-weather shelter has led to the group’s selection as a recipient of a surplus transit bus to take veterans to medical appointments.

Complicated Vote Sends Simple Message from Congress: Don’t Mess With Vets  (Defense One)  By a 95-3 vote, the Senate on Wednesday approved a House-passed that would unwind $6 billion in cuts to veterans’ benefits from last year’s budget deal that proved to be a political fiasco for all involved.

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Have a great Valentine’s day!