What's New
| VA Secretary Pressed by Senator on High Percentage of Wrongly Denied Benefit Claims |
March 16, 2010, Washington, DC (CQ Politics) - A leading Republican senator on Tuesday asked Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to explain why so many veterans’ benefit claims are wrongly denied, resulting in a high rate of reversal on appeal. |
| Read more... |
| Profile of New Veterans' Courts in New York Times |
Defendants Fresh From War Find Service Counts in Court - VCS Supports Veterans' Courts March 15, 2010, Charleston, West Virginia (New York Times) — When Judge Robert C. Chambers handed down Timothy Oldani’s federal sentence for selling stolen military equipment on eBay, he gave the former Marine a break. |
| Read more... |
| Presdent Obama Donated $250,000 of Nobel Prize Money to Fisher House |
March 11, 2010, Washington, DC (New York Times) - President Obama made good on his promise to give his $1.4 million Nobel Prize money to charity, releasing the names on Thursday of the organizations that will benefit. |
| Read more... |
| Philanthropist Bobby Willis to Build New $3.3 Billion Hospital for VA in Farmington, NM for Rural and Native American Veterans |
Proposed state-of-the-art Kirtland veterans clinic could provide as many as 8,000 jobs March 14, 2010, Farmington, New Mexico (Farmington Daily Times) — A proposed veterans complex in Kirtland centered around a new hospital, backed by a wealthy entrepreneur and costing an estimated $3.3 billion promises to bring state-of-the-art medicine and other benefits to veterans, as well as 8,000 jobs to the local economy. |
| Read more... |
| Dr. Haley at UTSW Presents Compelling Brain Images Showing Gulf War Illness |
VCS Asks VA: Since UTSW Research Remains Vital to Understanding Gulf War Illness, Then Why Did a Handful of VA Staff in Washington Impede UTSW Contract and Then End Funding for UTSW? March 9, 2010, Salt Lake City, Utah (Science News) - Nearly two decades after vets began returning from the Middle East complaining of Gulf War Syndrome, the federal government has yet to formally accept that their vague jumble of symptoms constitutes a legitimate illness. Here, at the Society of Toxicology annual meeting, yesterday, researchers rolled out a host of brain images – various types of magnetic-resonance scans and brain-wave measurements – that they say graphically and unambiguously depict Gulf War Syndrome. |
| Read more... |
|
Army on Track to Surpass 2008 Suicide Numbers
Written by Michelle Tan
Friday, 14 August 2009 09:36
|
|
|
|
|
August 14, 2009 - As many as 12 soldiers killed themselves in July, the Army announced today, and the service remains on course to setting a record for suicides in a single year.
Of the 12 deaths, eight were active-duty soldiers and four were National Guard or Army Reserve soldiers who were not on active duty at the time of their deaths. All 12 deaths are possible suicides and remain under investigation. Typically, about 90 percent of these investigations are ruled suicides, Army officials have said. In June, there were 13 confirmed or possible suicides; nine were active-duty soldiers and four were soldiers who were not on active duty. As of Aug. 13, four of those 13 deaths had been confirmed as suicides. Between Jan. 1 and July 31, there have been 96 reported active-duty suicides. Of those, 62 have been confirmed as suicides and 34 are still under investigation. There were 79 suicides among active-duty soldiers for the same period in 2008. Among soldiers who were not on active duty, there have been 17 confirmed and 28 possible suicides so far this year. During the same period last year, there were 32 suicides among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty. The Army reported 140 suicides in 2008 and is on track to surpass that number this year. To reverse the increase in soldier suicides, the Army has implemented a number of programs and put Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli in charge of the service's suicide prevention efforts. Among those efforts, which included a service-wide stand down and a series of chain-teaching sessions, is a $50 million, five-year study on suicide conducted in conjunction with the National Institute of Mental Health. In addition, the Army's Suicide Prevention Task Force has put in place a number of improvements to the army's health promotion, risk reduction and suicide prevention programs. They include major revisions to the Army's health promotion policy and augmenting behavioral health staff at many installations to enhance access to counseling services for soldiers and families. Read more in next week's issue of Army Times.
|