Congress Helps Families Harmed by Tainted at Camp Lejeune

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Team VCS

 

From Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — The day after Janey Ensminger would have celebrated her 36th birthday, the House of Representatives passed a historic bill in her honor that would help thousands of sick Marine veterans and their families who were exposed to contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

Legislation that has languished for years could soon be on the president’s desk after the House followed in the Senate’s footsteps and passed the measure under suspension of the rules by a voice vote.

Janey was just 9 when she died of a rare form of leukemia. Her family struggled for years to understand how, or why, she fell prey to the mysterious illness.

It was her father, Jerry Ensminger, who helped uncover that her daughter was one of as many as a million people who were exposed to contaminated drinking water at the Marine base near Jacksonville, N.C.

On Tuesday, the retired Marine said he felt pride for his daughter. He explained that a week before Janey’s death, she told her aunt that she didn’t want to die. She wanted to live longer because she hoped to make a difference in the world.

“Well, I know she’s watching,” Ensminger said. “And by God, she’s made more of a change in this world through her death than most people make in their entire lives.”

Leaders of the House and Senate veterans affairs committees called the episode “possibly the worst example of water contamination in our nation’s history.”

The Marine Corps did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ADVERTISEMENT

The bill provides health care to sick military personnel and their family members provided they had lived or worked at least 30 days on the base from 1957 to 1987. They also must have a condition listed within the bill that’s associated with exposure to the contaminating chemicals.

The bill could impact up to 750,000 Marine veterans and family members who may have been exposed to drinking water that was poisoned with trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride. Some medical experts have linked the contamination to birth defects, childhood leukemia and a variety of other cancers.

North Carolina lawmakers such as Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan, and Rep. Brad Miller have been pushing Congress for years to provide care to military families for what they say are decades of neglect by the Marines.

Burr, a Republican, introduced the Senate version of the bill. Miller, a Democrat, was the original sponsor of the Janey Ensminger Act, which was included in a modified version of Burr’s bill that passed in the House.

“This has been a long time coming,” Miller said. “I’m kind of torn between thinking that it should not have been this hard and thinking it’s remarkable that it’s happened. I think the Marines and the Navy have not behaved well through all of this. Their reluctance to admit the water was contaminated, and the health effects of the contamination, has been shameful.”

The families have faced decades of secrecy and cover-up while many suffered from cancers and other conditions as a result of their exposure, Burr said.

“We owe them nothing less than the care that this bill will provide,” he said, “and I am hopeful the president will do the right thing for these people by signing this bill into law as soon as possible.”

Ensminger, who led a relentless push to force the Marine Corps to atone for the death of his daughter and other sick families, said he’s not done yet. The votes are recognition by Congress that the families were wronged by the Marines, he said. But he said he won’t stop fighting until Marine Corps leaders are held accountable for covering up what they knew about the contaminated water.

“The Department of the Navy and the United States Marine Corps have to this day refused to release all of the information relating to this issue,” he said.

———

©2012 McClatchy Washington Bureau

Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau at www.mcclatchydc.com

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Tagged | Comments Off on Congress Helps Families Harmed by Tainted at Camp Lejeune

Army to stop using forensic psychiatrists to evaluate soldiers diagnosed with PTSD

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Team VCS

 

From The Seattle Time

By Hal Brenton

The Army no longer will use forensic psychiatrists to evaluate soldiers diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and under consideration for medical retirement, a change resulting from an investigation of a screening team at Madigan Army Medical Center.

“What we found is that the forensic methods are not the right ones for the United States Army disability evaluation system,” Gen. Lloyd Austin, the Army’s vice chief of staff, said in a statement Tuesday. “We learned MAMC (Madigan) officials acted in accordance with the standard of practice for civilian disability evaluations. But we also learned that while the evaluation may be fair and appropriate, it’s simply not optimal for the unique cases that the Army diagnoses and reviews. We’ve fixed that.”

The Army on Tuesday also reinstated Madigan’s commander, Col. Dallas Homas, who was suspended this year as the investigation got under way at the medical center on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Tacoma.

Austin said Homas, who came to Madigan in 2011, did not exert undue influence on PTSD diagnoses and is back on the job.

“Col. Homas began his tenure … at a critical juncture, as the hospital faced a massive deficit, declining numbers of patients served, and other organizational problems,” Austin said. “His leadership was important to improving (Madigan).”

The Army investigation of Madigan focused on the conduct of the forensic team, whose screening of patients under consideration for medical retirement once was touted by Madigan leaders as a “best practice.”

Forensic evaluations often are used in legal proceedings and typically include administering tests such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, which at Madigan was used sometimes to assess the severity of PTSD symptoms or whether a soldier might be feigning symptoms.

The Madigan forensic team ended up overturning the PTSD diagnoses of more than 300 service members who were under consideration for a retirement that would qualify them for a pension and other benefits.

The Madigan forensic team’s work triggered complaints from patients, some of whom were tagged as possible malingerers.

These complaints drew scrutiny from an Army Medical Command ombudsman. The ombudsman, in a memorandum, noted that a forensic team member gave a talk during which he cited the need to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars because a medical retirement provides up to $1.5 million in benefits over a soldier’s life.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who chairs the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, also fielded complaints from soldiers.

In February, the Army surgeon general, Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, announced an investigation of Madigan’s mental-health screening, suspending the forensic team from its evaluation duties and putting together a new group to re-evaluate the claims of patients whose PTSD diagnoses had been overturned.

Army investigators also were to examine why Madigan closed an intensive outpatient PTSD program.

The Seattle Times has requested a copy of the Madigan investigation of the forensic team under the federal Freedom of Information Act, as well as other investigations launched this year at Madigan.

The Army has not released these reports. A spokesman from Murray’s office said the senator has not obtained them.

The progress of the Madigan re-evaluations of patients also was not disclosed in the statement released Tuesday.

A source with knowledge of that review said the Army has completed 229 re-evaluations of patients screened by the forensic team and that more than 50 percent of those patients ended up receiving PTSD diagnoses.

Army officials have said Madigan was the only Army medical center to use a forensic team to screen PTSD patients. Murray pressed for a broader examination. In June, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced a review of PTSD diagnoses of all branches of the service in the post 9/11 era.

“I’m pleased the Army has put an end to the use of forensic psychiatry and the practices that were at the core of the misdiagnosis of hundreds of soldiers,” Murray said in a statement Tuesday. “… I also hope that it encourages more service members to come forward and seek help, knowing they won’t be treated unfairly or accused of lying about their symptoms.”

PTSD diagnoses long have been surrounded by controversy.

The Army has been waging a campaign to help reduce the stigma that some soldiers may feel if they seek treatment for PTSD.

But some medical professionals believe that PTSD is being overdiagnosed.

Since the passage of 2008 congressional legislation, a service member deemed unfit for duty due to PTSD generally qualifies for a medical retirement that offers a pension and other benefits.

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Tagged , | Comments Off on Army to stop using forensic psychiatrists to evaluate soldiers diagnosed with PTSD

POTUS Signs Veterans Skills to Jobs Act into Law

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Team VCS

Great news for veterans. Thanks Congressman Walz, former CSM, and USARNG Ret.

——–

From MinnPost.com

By Devin Henry

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama signed U.S. Rep. Tim Walz’s Veterans Skills to Jobs Act into law on Monday.

The House and Senate unanimously passed the bill earlier this month. Walz sponsored the bill with Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.). According to his office:

Rather than going through the process of redundant trainings for jobs they are already qualified for, the Walz/Denham legislation directs the head of each federal department and agency to treat relevant military training as sufficient to satisfy training or certification requirements for federal license. Veterans with the relevant training would be eligible to receive a federal license and get back to work immediately.

“We must do all we can to ensure our veterans are finding careers that give them the opportunity to utilize their skills, support their families, and have passion for their work,” Walz said in a statement. “This law will work to do just that.”

The unemployment rate for veterans was 7.4 percent in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, below the national average of 8.2 percent. But the unemployment rate for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was a full two points higher, at 9.5 percent.

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Tagged , | Comments Off on POTUS Signs Veterans Skills to Jobs Act into Law

Senate Committee Report on For-Profit Colleges Condemns Costs and Practices

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Team VCS

From the New York Times

By Tamar Lewin

 

Wrapping up a two-year investigation of for-profit colleges, SenatorTom Harkin will issue a final report on Monday — a voluminous, hard-hitting indictment of almost every aspect of the industry, filled with troubling statistics and anecdotes drawn from internal documents of the 30 companies investigated.

According to the report, which was posted online in advance, taxpayers spent $32 billion in the most recent year on companies that operate for-profit colleges, but the majority of students they enroll leave without a degree, half of those within four months.

“In this report, you will find overwhelming documentation of exorbitant tuition, aggressive recruiting practices, abysmal student outcomes, taxpayer dollars spent on marketing and pocketed as profit, and regulatory evasion and manipulation,” Mr. Harkin, an Iowa Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement on Sunday. “These practices are not the exception — they are the norm. They are systemic throughout the industry, with very few individual exceptions.”

In a statement on Sunday, the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, the leading trade group of for-profit colleges, called the report “the result of a flawed process that has unfairly targeted private-sector schools and their students.”

For-profit higher education has long been a politically divisive issue, with Democrats generally arguing that greater regulation is needed to prevent huge publicly traded colleges from plundering the Treasury for student financial aid while leaving students with crippling debt and credentials that are worthless in the job market. Many Republicans see such colleges as a healthy free-market alternative to overcrowded community colleges, offering useful vocational training and education to working adults who will not attend more traditional institutions.

The Republicans on the Senate committee criticized the Democrats’ investigation for including testimony from Steve Eisman, the hedge fund manager who was one of the first to compare for-profit colleges to the subprime mortgage industry; for making public the internal company documents that the committee gathered; for refusing to broaden the investigation to include abuses by nonprofit colleges; and for being what they said was a hostile partisan effort.

Over the last 15 years, enrollment and profits have skyrocketed in the industry. Until the 1990s, the sector was made up of small independent schools offering training in fields like air-conditioning repair and cosmetology. But from 1998 to 2008, enrollment more than tripled, to about 2.4 million students. Three-quarters are at colleges owned by huge publicly traded companies — and, more recently, private equity firms — offering a wide variety of programs.

Enrolling students, and getting their federal financial aid, is the heart of the business, and in 2010, the report found, the colleges studied had a total of 32,496 recruiters, compared with 3,512 career-services staff members.

Among the 30 companies, an average of 22.4 percent of revenue went to marketing and recruiting, 19.4 percent to profits and 17.7 percent to instruction.

Their chief executive officers were paid an average of $7.3 million, although Robert S. Silberman, the chief executive of Strayer Education, made $41 million in 2009, including stock options.

With the Department of Education seeking new regulations to ensure that for-profit programs provide training for “gainful employment,” the companies examined spent $8 million on lobbying in 2010, and another $8 million in the first nine months of 2011.

The bulk of the for-profit colleges’ revenue, more than 80 percent in most cases, comes from taxpayers. The report found that many for-profit colleges are working desperately to find new strategies to comply with the federal regulation that at least 10 percent of revenue must come from sources other than the Department of Education. Because veterans’ benefits count toward that 10 percent even though they come from the federal government, aggressive recruiting of students from the military has become the norm.

The amount of available federal student aid is large and growing. The Apollo Group, which operates the University of Phoenix, the largest for-profit college, got $1.2 billion in Pell grants in 2010-11, up from $24 million a decade earlier. Apollo got $210 million more in benefits under the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. And yet two-thirds of Apollo’s associate-degree students leave before earning their degree.

On Sunday, William Pepicello, president of the University of Phoenix, sent its 350,000 students a long e-mail warning of the criticism, and extolling the value of a Phoenix education.

On average, the Harkin report found, associate-degree and certificate programs at for-profit colleges cost about four times as much as those at community colleges and public universities.

And tuition decisions seem to be driven more by profit-seeking than instructional costs. An internal memo from the finance director of a Kaplan nursing program in Sacramento, for example, recommended an 8 percent increase in fees, saying that “with the new pricing, we can lose two students and still make the same profit.” Similarly, the chief financial officer at National American University wrote in an e-mail to executives that the university had not met its profit expectation for the summer quarter, so “as a result” it would need a midyear tuition increase.

Many of the for-profit colleges, the report found, set tuition at almost exactly what a student could expect in maximum federal aid, including Pell grants and Stafford loans. According to a Bridgepoint Education document, when a new $400 “digital materials fee” would make students pay more than would be available from federal aid, the chief executive frantically wrote an e-mail to the finance officer to complain that the change was going to cause a “shortfall.” And documents from Alta Colleges mention restructuring schedules “so we can grab more of the students’ Stafford.”

Furthermore, the report found, recruiters are often encouraged to avoid directly answering questions about costs and instead emphasize that with federal aid, student will pay little out of pocket. And costs are not easy for students to determine. A former Westwood College recruiter explained that prospective students were told that the cost was $4,800 per term, but not that there were five or six terms a year rather than the usual two or three.

At many schools, students learned only after the fact that their credits would not transfer to another college or university or qualify them for the professional licensing they sought.

Students at for-profit colleges make up 13 percent of the nation’s college enrollment, but account for about 47 percent of the defaults on loans. About 96 percent of students at for-profit schools take out loans, compared with about 13 percent at community colleges and 48 percent at four-year public universities.

Colleges with very high loan default rates in the two years after graduation (now changing to three years) lose their eligibility for federal student aid. As a result, the report found, many of the for-profit colleges try to move students having trouble with repayment into deferral or forbearance until they are past the years the government monitors.

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Tagged | Comments Off on Senate Committee Report on For-Profit Colleges Condemns Costs and Practices

Iraq And Afghanistan Veterans Urged Into Mental Health Treatment By Telephone Motivational Interviewing

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Team VCS

From Medical News Today

A brief therapeutic intervention called motivational interviewing, administered over the telephone, was significantly more effective than a simple “check-in” call in getting Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans with mental health diagnoses to begin treatment for their conditions, in a study led by a physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

Participants receiving telephone motivational interviewing also were significantly more likely to stay in therapy, and reported reductions in marijuana use and a decreased sense of stigma associated with mental health treatment.

The study was published electronically recently in General Hospital Psychiatry.

Lead author Karen Seal, MD, MPH, director of the Integrated Care Clinic at SFVAMC and an associate professor of medicine and psychiatry at UCSF, noted that 52 percent of the approximately half-million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans currently being seen by the VA have one or more mental health diagnoses, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression,anxiety or other related conditions.

“The VA has gone to extraordinary lengths to provide these veterans with state-of-the-art, evidence-based mental health treatment,” she said. “The irony is that they are not necessarily engaging in this treatment. This study was positioned to try to connect our veterans with the treatments that are available to them.”

Motivational interviewing, in which counselors encourage clients to explore and articulate discrepancies between their core values and their actual behaviors, has been used successfully as a psychotherapeutic intervention in other settings, said Seal.

“Articulating to the counselor how they want to change can motivate someone to make actual behavioral changes, such as engaging in treatment,” said Seal. “The counselor then supports the client’s perception that they can actually make these changes.”

For the study, 73 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who screened positive for one or more mental health diagnoses, and were not currently in treatment, were randomly assigned either to a group that received four motivational interviewing sessions or a control group that received four neutral check-in sessions over a period of eight weeks.

“We thought that using the telephone to conduct this intervention would be a really good idea because these veterans are young, they’re busy, they’re in school, they have families and they all carry cell phones,” Seal said.

By the end of the study, 62 percent of the motivational interviewing group had begun treatment, versus 26 percent of the control group. The motivational interviewing group was significantly more likely to stay in treatment, and also reported significantly decreased marijuana use and significantly less sense of stigma associated with mental health treatment than the control group.

The counselors who conducted the study intervention were not licensed clinicians, but “qualified people with masters’ degrees who were trained for about eight hours,” said Seal. “This means that the expense for personnel will not need to be huge if this becomes a routine procedure.”

Seal emphasized that the study was a first-time pilot trial designed to assess the potential efficacy of telephone motivational interviewing, and that more research is needed to test the technique among larger groups of veterans. To that end, Seal plans a follow-up implementation study involving veterans at VA outpatient clinics in rural communities. 

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Iraq And Afghanistan Veterans Urged Into Mental Health Treatment By Telephone Motivational Interviewing

Survey: Veterans valued but often misunderstood

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Team VCS

From the Spokesman-Review

by Chelsea Bannach

While Americans generally value and respect veterans, they also misunderstand them in some respects, a recently released survey found.

The nearly 2.4 million post-9/11 veterans are viewed as national assets who are lauded by the citizens they serve, but the public also believes – mistakenly – that most veterans suffer from psychological problems.

“One of the things we found is that veterans are actually in much better shape psychologically and emotionally, and much better educated,” than people perceive them to be, said Eric Greitens, a former Navy SEAL and founder and CEO of a veterans nonprofit organization, The Mission Continues.

Greitens married Ferris High School graduate Sheena Chestnut last summer and has family in Spokane. Last summer he visited the area promoting his book, “The Heart and the Fist.”

The survey of 801 adults was commissioned through a partnership between The Mission Continues and television and film production company Bad Robot. It was conducted by research team Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Public Opinion Strategies. Modeled in part after a 1979 survey, it found a marked increase in positive public perception of post-9/11 veterans compared with Vietnam veterans.

Compared to their nonveteran peers, the public believes veterans have more discipline, a stronger character and greater community involvement. However, many of those surveyed also describe veterans as angry or depressed and think the majority suffer from mental illness.

“Many people tend to think also that a majority of vets coming home have post-traumatic stress disorder,” Greitens said. “In fact, it’s a small minority of veterans.”

According to the survey, 53 percent of respondents think most veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD. While many might be overcoming post-traumatic stress, the number of veterans who have the disorder is roughly 2 in 10, Greitens said.

The public also incorrectly assumes that veterans have lower levels of education, Greitens said. They’re actually more likely to have obtained some college education and advanced degrees than their nonveteran peers.

The results of the survey came on the heels of an announcement by President Barack Obama that troops leaving the military will go through a five- to seven-day reverse boot camp called Transition Goals Planning Success that will cover budgeting, resume preparation and translating military skills into a civilian environment.

The survey found some misconceptions negatively impact veterans’ ability to reintegrate into civilian life and find employment.

“Right now, there is a higher unemployment rate among veterans than there is among the rest of the population,” Greitens said. “People respect veterans for what they’ve done, they respect the service they have provided, but they may not think that a veteran can be an asset to them in their company.”

However, he said, veterans are usually mission-focused, team players, inspiring in difficult situations, persistent, and knowledgeable about logistics and leadership.

“All of those things are skill sets and traits that are built in the U.S. military,” he said. “If people get to understand veterans better, we believe that everyone will begin to see them as assets.”

The study also found that 54 percent believe the country is not doing a good job assisting returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, especially when it comes to jobs.

But, Greitens said, “Our veterans tend to do very well in communities like Spokane where there’s a proud military tradition. Spokane is actually a wonderful example of a community that really tries its best to make sure every veteran coming home has a successful transition.”

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Survey: Veterans valued but often misunderstood

VCS Testifies Before DNC Platform Drafting Committee

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Team VCS

Cross-posted from disabledveterans.org

DNC Platform Drafting Committee and Testimony

As a part of our efforts to get veterans a square deal, this weekend we testified before this committee to make veteran’s concerns heard. We hope to make the same presentation to the RNC committee.  This is a list of the Platform Drafting Committee chairman and members in attendance at the conference held in Minneapolis July 27 & 28, 2012. Following the list is testimony VCS’s Ben Krause presented to the committee about veterans issues and the veteran vote.

Washington DC must realize that it is time to consult the veteran on a grassroots level in order to fix the system. Anything short of this is a waste of money and time. The political party with the strongest veteran platform will win this election.

DNC Platform Drafting Committee Chairman and Members

Chairman

Former Governor Ted Strickland, Ohio

Committee Members

Fmr. U.S. Rep. Tony Coelho, Washington, DC

Tino Cuellar, California

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, Massachusetts

DNC Secretary Alice Germond, West Virginia

Ex-Officio, Non-Voting Member

Donna Harris-Aikens, Virginia

NEA Policy Advisor

Colin Kahl, Washington, DC

Policy Advisor

Nancy Keenan, Virginia

President, NARAL

Heather Kendall Miller, Alaska

Thea Lee, Washington, DC

AFL-CIO Policy Director

U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, California

Susan Ness, Maryland

Mayor Michael Nutter, Pennsylvania

City of Philadelphia

Carlos Odic, Florida

Youth Representative

Governor Deval Patrick, Massachusetts

2008 Platform Committee Chair

Ex-Officio, Non-Voting Member

Fmr. U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, Florida

Tom Wheeler, Washington, DC

Ex-Officio, Non-Voting Member

Christen Young, Illinois

Policy Advisor

 Testimony before DNC Platform Drafting Committee

July 28, 2012 DNC VETERAN STATEMENT Veterans For Common Sense by Benjamin L. Krause www.disabledveterans.org

Thank you for inviting Veterans For Common Sense to speak about veterans and the veteran vote.

Veterans win when politicians understand the promise of a square deal has become a mere premise of one. What used to work doesn’t anymore, and soldiers are getting ambushed after discharge by a VA benefits system posing as allies.

It is as if we are asking, “Will you pretend with us that we will keep our promise to you?”

President Obama and Secretary Shinseki have begun the essential work of rebooting the VA system. Veterans are grateful for it and have asked me to ask you to continue the effort and to develop new thinking to solve the persistent problems of:

  1. Veteran suicide
  2. Veteran unemployment and homelessness
  3. Veteran college dropout rates
  4. Poor and demoralizing delivery of veteran benefits
  5. Under-utilization of veteran training and expertise in the American workplace

Every unemployed, homeless, or underserved veteran is a lost opportunity and a lost investment for this country.

American taxpayers have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars per veteran to train them in the most advanced technologies the world has ever seen, yet we relinquish that investment by letting them join the ranks of the jobless, the homeless, and the underserved.

By failing to solve these five lingering problems, it is as if we are asking, “May we use you, then drop you?”

It does not make economic sense. It does not make moral sense. It does not make future sense. It is a societal sin.

Americans admire their veterans. They greet uniformed soldiers in public places and thank them for their service. They put videos of their homecomings on YouTube and the national news. They want to believe veterans will receive what they need to live a bright after-service life. They are shocked, and feel helpless, when they find out the truth.

Every day, in VA offices around the country, veterans are denied benefits due them. Their disability claims get buried for years in the backlog of 900,000 claims. Veterans commit suicide while waiting for VA healthcare. Stigmas from the Vietnam era still keep new vets from jobs.

President Obama and Secretary Shinseki are among the political leaders who are out to change what’s true for veterans today. They have invested billions in upgrades to technology and policies. Still, recent choices are being made about sequestration that will threaten the progress that has been made.

This situation is complex, and fresh thinking is needed. New solutions about the Department of Veteran Affairs will be required to win the veteran’s vote in the upcoming election. Veterans and their families make up more than 25{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} of total voters. They will not tolerate further failure to deliver on the promise to fix the VA system.

Veterans want:

  1. New solutions that fit today’s realities.
  2. New leaders within the bureaucracy of the VA who will implement the existing and future policy changes.
  3. Improvements in how they receive and complete their educations. 88{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} of veterans drop out of college after the first year. Only 3{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} graduate.
  4. A grassroots voice in fixing the VA.
  5. Opportunities for veteran-owned businesses to compete for VA contracts. Veterans want you to know that nearly 10{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} of businesses are owned by veterans, generate over $1 trillion, and employ almost 6 million Americans.

We have an army of veteran-owned businesses ready to fix the VA and create jobs for vets. But, nearly 2/3 of the recent 7,200 veteran- owned businesses applying are being denied Veteran Owned Business status with the VA. This was caused by attempted fixes President Obama implemented in 2010.

Veterans win when politicians understand the real needs of all veterans, both those needing help and those delivering it as leaders of society.

One Minnesota veteran spent four years working on multi-million dollar avionics systems. After service, he had a decision to make: go to work or go to school. He chose school. This choice launched him into a draining battle for benefits. While the VA tried to stop him, he worked hard in college, received an Economics degree from Northwestern University, and will soon receive a law degree from the University of Minnesota. After ten years and an advanced legal education, this veteran finally won his disability benefits.I am that Minnesota Veteran.

  • How many veterans never have that chance?
  • How many veterans die before they get their benefits?
  • How many veterans simply give up?

I can tell you how many because I talk to thousands of them regularly on my blogs, vet guides, and presentations.

We, at Veterans For Common Sense, devote ourselves to helping other veterans secure their benefits and rights.

The struggle is real, the repair is colossal, and the solutions are possible. Every day I receive emails from veterans who have been denied benefits and were able to use my experience, and the experiences of others, to battle their way to what is theirs. A grass roots solution is the only way to fix the VA.

Veterans For Common Sense will not give up the fight until every veteran receives their square deal, that is, the care and opportunities they were promised.

Our nation, and our veterans, will thrive when we:

  1. Leverage the skills veterans have learned in the military to help solve what ails all Americans: a withering economy, chronic drug problems, urban blight, and social ills.
  2. Welcome veterans into our businesses, schools and organizations as the highly trained leaders they are.
  3. Train colleges and universities to acquire and retain veterans as students.
  4. Shift our country’s view of veterans to that of a resource rather than a problem.
  5. Create a VA that stops the blocks and walks the talk.

Veterans win when politicians understand it is time to make the premise the promise once again — when we ask the question, “May we help you?” and mean it.

We, at Veterans For Common Sense, are ready to be a part of the new solutions.

Thank you.

Posted in VA Claims Updates, Veterans for Common Sense News | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on VCS Testifies Before DNC Platform Drafting Committee

Jim Webb: Delays causing hardships for veteran-owned businesses

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Team VCS

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, called on Veteran Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki to take further steps to address ongoing delays and problems with the VA verification program for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

“In recent months, my office has received a significant number of letters from Virginia constituents expressing the problems they encounter during the re-verification process,” Sen. Webb wrote in a letter to Secretary Shinseki last week. “Specifically, individuals are experiencing lengthy processing times; concerns with the maintenance of supporting documents, including lost paperwork; and erroneous decisions.”

In 2011, VA awarded $3.2 billion in contracts to veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.  To compete for these contracts, small businesses must verify they are owned and operated by qualified veterans and meet other legal requirements. Since VA’s verification program began in 2008, many applicants have had trouble properly demonstrating that their company complies with the definition of a SDVOSB. Acknowledging problems with the program, VA recently extended the re-verification requirement from every year to every two years.

“I am sure you share my concern over the considerable and often devastating financial hardships such delays and problems cause a SDVOSB,” wrote Webb. “I encourage you to continue to evaluate the system to ensure the needs of our veterans are being served.”

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Tagged | Comments Off on Jim Webb: Delays causing hardships for veteran-owned businesses

President Obama announces overhaul for job help program

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Team VCS

By Rick Maze – Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Jul 24, 2012 13:20:21 EDT

The 22-year-old Transition Assistance Program is about to take a leap into the 21st century, with more help for separating service members to meet their personal post-military goals.

“Starting this year, they’ll get more personalized assistance as they plan their careers,” President Obama announced in remarks before the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno, Nev. “We’ll provide the training they need to find that job, or pursue that education, or start that business. And just as they’ve maintained their military readiness, we’ll have new standards of career readiness.”

Obama’s speech comes at time when the unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan era veterans appears to be falling, although it remains higher the national unemployment rate.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the June unemployment rate for veterans who left the military since 2001 was 9.5 percent, down from 13.3 percent in June 2011.

“More veterans are finding jobs,” Obama said. “Yes, it’s still too high, but it’s coming down, and now we’ve got to sustain that momentum.”

There will be more one-on-one counseling; separate tracks for those attending college, wanting to start their own businesses or to immediately convert their military-learned skill into a civilian job; more focus on the mechanics of getting a job; and more follow up, both at the end of the scheduled classes and after leaving the service, according to White House officials.

The change also spells the end of one of the most hated parts of the current Transition Assistance Program briefings, the 187-slide briefing offered as part of a Labor Department employment workshop that has gained the name of “Death by Powerpoint” for its mind-numbing qualities. It will be replaced to 49 slide and two videos, officials said, and a 270-page guide participants can take home with them to review details as they are needed.

A new name comes with the changes. Instead of being just TAP, it will now be TAP GPS, for “goals, planning and success,” which White House officials said is the new emphasis.

“We are moving away from the old ‘one-size fits all’ TAP,” said a senior White House official. “It is going to be a little more personalized, more individualized.”

It also will be a longer program. Instead of the current three days, including a three-hour mandatory class and an optional four-hour discussion of veterans benefits, 2.5-day employment workshop and two hours of discussion for those with service-connected disabilities, the revised training will be five to seven days.

Mandatory pre-separation counseling will be three to four hours, with a three-day employment workshop, two days to talk about financial planning family issues and to come up with a specific transition plan, two more days for the tracks on education, technical training and entrepreneurship, and a final review to verify service members have what they need.

White House officials said they intend for people to be able to attend more than one of the two-day career tracks, if that fits their needs.

About half of all separating service members have attended TAP classes and workshops in recent years. White House officials said they anticipate, once the redesigned training is widely available, that up to 140,000 additional people will take part, people who in the past were not interested in the help because they felt they had jobs lined up or were planning to attend college or vocational classes.

More attendance and more individualized attention may require more people to provide that help, but White House officials said there are no immediate plans to ask for more money.

Getting time off from duties has been one of the reasons why only about half of separating service members have attended TAP classes, so longer courses could create some difficulty. But White House officials said they expect the revised classes would have strong support from commanders, who would allow time off to attend except in unusual circumstances.

This will be the first major revision of transition training since it was created by Congress to help ease the transition to civilian life of service members whose military careers were cut short by the post-Cold War drawdown.

Since the 1990 launch, there were additions – such as more emphasis on résumé-writing and more discussion about how to apply for veterans’ disability compensation and other benefits – but no major overhaul, in part because of the problems getting agreement among the many federal agencies that have a piece of the program. Defense, Veterans Affairs, Labor departments, the Office of Personnel Management and Small Businesses Administration leaders have been working since August 2011 to revamp TAP.

Pilot projects have begun or will soon begin at seven locations, involving about 1,000 troops, to work out wrinkles, and will be in operation defense-wide by the end of calendar 2013, White House officials said.

The pilot sites are: Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Sill, Okla.; the Army National Guard site in Utica, N.Y., Naval Air Station Jacksonville, N.C.; Naval Air Station Norfolk, Va.; Randolph Air Force Bases, Texas; and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, Calif.

In addition to announcing the TAP changes, Obama also signed into law the Veteran Skills to Jobs Act on July 23, a bill directing federal agencies to treat military training as sufficient to receive a federal license or certification.

“If you are a young man that is in charge of a platoon or millions of dollars of equipment and are taking responsibility, or you’re a medic out in the field who is saving lives every single day, when you come home, you need to be credentialed and certified quickly so you can get on the job. People should understand how skilled you are, and there shouldn’t be bureaucrats or runarounds.”

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Tagged , | Comments Off on President Obama announces overhaul for job help program

July 31st Online Career Fair Will Bring Employers and Veterans Together in Real Time Worldwide

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Team VCS

CHICAGO, July 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Milicruit, the recognized leader in virtual career fairs for veterans and military spouses, today announced that the next virtual career fair for veterans and military spouses will take place on July 31st from 1:00 to 4:00 PM EDT at www.veteranscareerfair.com. The July career fair is sponsored by Hero 2 Hired (H2H). With more than 31,000 veterans and military spouses and forty three employers already committed to participating, it is sure to be one of the best Milicruit events to date.

The group of participating employers and groups to date include; Aetna, American Corporate Partners, American Red Cross, AOC Solutions, Arise Virtual Solutions Inc., Camping World and Good Sam, CBRE,CHSi Middle East, Citi, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Convergys, DaVita, Dell, Dish Network, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Fulcrum IT, General Motors, George Washington University Hospital, Graybar, IHG, IM Flash Technologies, Joining Forces, Lowe’s, Level 3 Communications Inc., MOAA, NCO Financial, Office of Personnel Management(OPM), Penske Truck Leasing, Pfizer, Philips, Progressive, Robert Half International, Sears, State Street Corporation, The SI Organization, TSA, Union Pacific, Waste Management, and Xerox Business Services.

“With the unemployment rate for younger veterans still at 9.5{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d}, we recognize both the private and public sectors need to do all they can to help those who have served and sacrificed for the country to at least have the opportunity to find gainful employment when they return. The virtual career fairs are an extremely effective and efficient way for the employers and veterans to meet in real time, from anywhere with a computer and internet access,” said Kevin O’Brien, VP, Business Development, Milicruit.

In March of this year, Milicruit and their employer partners launched the 10,000 Jobs for Veterans and Military Spouses Challenge. The goal was to find jobs for at least 10,000 veterans and military spouses by the end of 2013, and in just 4 months, the employers have already hired more than 5,800 veterans and military spouses.

“This is exactly the type of effort we hoped to see when the First Lady and Dr. Biden launched Joining Forces last year – the private sector stepping up in creative ways to connect veterans and military spouses with job opportunities throughout the country. We very much appreciate the good work by Milicruit in hosting the fair and are thankful to the companies who are participating,” said Captain Brad Cooper, Executive Director of the White House Joining Forces initiative.

The Milicruit virtual recruitment center is accessible to active duty, guard/reservists, veterans and military spouses. The website to register is www.veteranscareerfair.com. In addition to the monthly virtual career fairs, job seekers can search for all available positions in the jobs center by location, job title, keyword and military occupation specialty or code.

Employers who are interested in hiring more veterans to their workforce, can request additional information at info@milicruit.com

About Milicruit Milicruit is the recognized leader in virtual recruiting environments for military veterans.  Powered by UBM Studios, Milicruit brings employers who are committed to helping returning veterans find suitable employment together with job-seeking military veterans and their spouses.  Given the large number of veterans looking to reenter the civilian job market, Milicruit allows employers and job seekers to meet and interact in a convenient online setting.  For additional information on Milicruit or to purchase virtual career fair services, visit www.veteranscareerfair.com.

About UBMUBM plc is a leading global business media company. We inform markets and bring the world’s buyers and sellers together at events, online, in print and provide them with the information they need to do business successfully. We focus on serving professional commercial communities, from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewellery traders, from farmers to pharmacists around the world. Our 6,634 staff in more than 31 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

For more information, go to www.ubm.com; follow us at @UBM_plc to get the latest UBM news.

Contact: Erica Krutsch Milicruiterica.krutsch@ubm.com773-687-4315PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1iaiP)

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Tagged | Comments Off on July 31st Online Career Fair Will Bring Employers and Veterans Together in Real Time Worldwide