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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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ZombieLand Suicide Update: Parents Warn of Soldiers' Stress from Afghanistan and Iraq Wars
Written by AP
Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:08
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October 14, 2009, Muncie, Indiana (AP / The Republic / Star Press) - The father of an Indiana National Guardsman who fatally shot himself inside a movie theater said Tuesday that the families of service members returning home from war need to closely watch them for signs of stress. Army Specialist Jacob Sexton, 21, showed no signs of being suicidal before shooting himself in the head, the guardsman's father, Jeffrey Sexton of Farmland, said. "We just need to watch these boys and the girls coming back home. Something's just not right. Too much is happening," Jeffrey Sexton told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. Muncie police said Jacob Sexton had argued with theater employees on Monday night over having to show identification to see the R-rated horror comedy "Zombieland." Twenty minutes into the film, a friend handed Sexton a 9 mm handgun, at the guardsman's request, and he then shot himself in the head, police said. Sgt. Mike Engle told The Star Press that witnesses told officers that an employee at the Muncie theater asked Sexton for ID and that he replied that he had killed 18 people while in the military. Engle said it appeared Sexton and some of his companions had been drinking. About eight other people were in the theater at the time of the shooting. No one else was hurt, police said. The guardsman's father said the shooting wasn't an accident. He said Sexton's younger brothers, also at the theater, said the guardsman told a friend to duck, and when the friend hesitated, Sexton pushed the friend's head down before the shooting. Jeffrey Sexton said he and his wife, Barbara, had not noticed any signs of stress. "This all came as a complete surprise to us. He'd been happy since the day he joined. He was planning on re-enlisting," Jeffrey Sexton said. Indiana National Guard officials said Jacob Sexton was home on a 15-day leave and was scheduled to return to Afghanistan at the beginning of next week. He was serving with the Indiana National Guard's Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 151st Infantry Regiment. The unit responds to attacks on military installations or convoys near the Kabul area, said Lt. Col. Deedra Thombleson, a guard spokeswoman. Sexton had spent three months in Iraq in 2006-07, she said. First Sgt. Steven Bishop said Sexton was a "great kid" who volunteered to go to Afghanistan. He let other guard members in the unit select their leave dates before choosing his so that everyone else could get their first pick, Bishop said. "He was always smiling - always joking," Bishop said. "He was always making the best out of any situation and never complained. It's really a shock for all of us. This would have been the last thing in the world we would have expected from him." |