What's New
| Congressman Mitchell: Pausing to Consider People Who REALLY Matter |
Chairman Harry Mitchell is a Hero to Veterans Nationwide August 20, 2010 (Arizona Republic) - It's been a month since I spoke to Rep. Harry Mitchell about suicides among military veterans and I'm just getting around to writing something. |
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| What Obama Won't Say Tonight About US Withdrawal from Iraq |
| August 31, 2010 (ConsortiumNews) - President Barack Obama’s aides say his speech this evening marking the end of "combat operations" in Iraq will avoid the vainglorious aspects of President George W. Bush’s infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech in 2003. We’ll see. |
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| Lawsuit Update: Prudential's Half-Billion in Dirty Secret Profits |
Families of Dead Soldiers Sue Insurer Over Its Handling of Survivors’ Benefits August 29, 2010 (New York Times) - Vickie Castro’s only child was killed six years ago just before Christmas, when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside an Army mess tent in Mosul, Iraq, killing more than 20 people. |
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| Op-Ed: Cost of War Must Also Include Caring for Our Veterans |
Overlooked Cost of Iraq / Afghanistan Wars: Our Veterans' Healthcare and Benefits August 15, 2010 (San Francisco Chronicle) - Two years after an Army specialist saw half his platoon torn apart in Iraq, he hanged himself in a California backyard. |
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| VA Secretary Shinseki's Open Message to Gulf War Veterans |
| August 11, 2010, Washington, DC (VA Press Release) - August 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the Gulf War, launched with Operation Desert Shield and followed by Operation Desert Storm. VA honors this milestone with a renewed commitment to improving our responsiveness to the challenges facing Gulf War Veterans. |
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VA Kicks Off Innovation Competition, Seeks Ideas to Resolve Claim Backlog Nighmare
Written by Bob Brewin
Friday, 11 September 2009 10:03
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September 10, 2009 - Last month, President Obama suggested the Veterans Affairs Department tap its employees for ideas on how to cut the claims backlog at the Veterans Benefit Administration. Today, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki kicked off the "Innovation Competition," open to VA employees on an internal Web site. Shinseki said "The men and women of VA know that many Veterans are often asked to wait too long for the critical services they have earned while defending our Nation." He added that VA "employees who grapple with the claims process every day have the first hand knowledge and experience necessary to help us understand inefficiencies and improve the system. We are confident that our team will come forward with many creative and original ways to accelerate processes and better deliver services for our nation's Veterans." Meanwhile, for anyone who likes to count, the number of education claims pending as of this Monday - two weeks into the fall semester - has hit 276,704. Last week's total was 254,657 and a year ago, when the VA did not have to deal with claims under the new GI Bill, the total was only 66,261.
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