In the News: National Resource Directory

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a Vietnam Veteran and former war correspondent who now chairs the Senate panel that oversees military personnel policy, seemed to endorse the idea of letting troops in war zones drink alcohol as a way to relieve combat stress.

The Fisher House Foundation will receive $250,000 from President Obama, who is donating to charities the $1.4 million award that came with his Nobel peace prize, the White House announced March 11.

Bronze campaign stars recognizing the 2007-08 surge of U.S. troops into Iraq, as well as current stabilization efforts, have been authorized for wear on the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Pentagon announced Thursday.

Injured Service Members who receive morphine during trauma care are about half as likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as those who are not administered the drug, a Navy study has revealed.

As many as 14 Active-Duty soldiers killed themselves in February, a slight increase from the month before, the Army announced March 11.

The chance viewing of a segment on a television news program gave Don Niehart an idea that has enriched the golden years of 296 World War II Veterans from the southeastern third of Illinois.

Children with a strong nondeployed parent or caregiver and a solid support system have a better ability to cope with deployments, two recent studies have shown.

Alpine skier Heath Calhoun will carry the flag for the U.S. Paralympic Team at the opening ceremonies of the Paralympic Games.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is allocating $39 million to fund about 2,200 new transitional housing beds through grants to local providers.

The Department of Defense announced today the resumption of the Military Spouse Career Advancement Account 'MyCAA' program. Beginning March 13 at 12 p.m. EST, the 136,583 military spouses who are currently enrolled in the program will once again be able to receive tuition assistance.

Military family members who are ineligible for family and medical leave still could get time off for deployment-related issues under potentially controversial legislation pending before two congressional committees.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has given a sliver of hope to some disabled military retirees still waiting for the right to receive their full military retirement pay and veterans disability compensation.

The Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts program could start up again soon, a senior defense official said.

Defense Department officials expect to launch a new policy in the coming months that will make head-injury evaluations mandatory for all troops who suffer possible concussions, a senior official with the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury said.

More than 10 percent of medical evacuations from Iraq and Afghanistan over the past eight years have been for mental health reasons.

The number of Veterans homeless on a typical night has dropped 18 percent in the past two years, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs annual CHALENG report.

Same-sex teaching couples are eligible after all for joint job transfers this year at Department of Defense schools, officials said Wednesday.

An audit has found that military doctors were regularly performing breast augmentations, tummy tucks, liposuction and other purely cosmetic surgery without always charging patients as required.

An online survey that helps determine cost-of-living allowance rates is available to troops in Italy until March 31.

An uppercut here, a jab there, and block the pose. Veteran Roy Heathcoat is exhausted but he isn't about to stop boxing. A knockout would not hurt him physically, but his competitive nature would never allow defeat.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today an aggressive new initiative to solicit private-sector input on a proposed 'fast track' Veterans' claims process for service-connected presumptive illnesses due to Agent Orange exposure during the Vietnam War.

Servicemembers and Department of Defense civilians know they can turn to human resources professionals when it comes to setting their records straight - but who can HR personnel turn to in a bind?

Wounded by a roadside bomb more than three years ago, Lt. Col. Marc Hoffmeister has surmounted his injuries to tie for the National Geographic magazine's Reader's Choice Adventurer of the Year Award.

It's been about four months since an Air Force basic military training instructor boasted in a recruiting ad that airmen emerge from the program 'in better shape than most Marines are.'

U.S. troops are withdrawing from the shattered capital, leaving many Haitians anxious that the most visible portion of international aid is ending even as the city is still mired in misery and vulnerable to unrest.

Bolehkah anda bercakap Bahasa Melayu? Hablas espanol? Khun phnut phaasna thai ben mni?

A former Air Force sentry dog handler in Vietnam has one last mission

As Army drones reach 1 million flight hours in the two wars next month, the service envisions a future in which humans stay in the loop, said a lead Army official for unmanned aircraft systems.

Run a mile and a half. Do as many push-ups as you can in a minute. Ditto for sit-ups. And have your waist measured.

A pressing legal reality for the 'don't ask, don't tell? standard for gays serving in the military is that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has already struck down the way it?s practiced in much of the Western United States.

A search for prevention and treatment of injuries from explosive war zone blasts is at the top of the list for Col. Donald Gagliano, executive director of the DoD/VA Vision Center of Excellence (VCE).

The Arkansas National Guard now says 35,000 current and former soldiers are at risk of identity theft because of a missing computer hard drive.

The Department of Defense's leading organization for the treatment and research of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is heading a unified campaign to promote TBI prevention and awareness throughout the U.S. Armed Forces.

In a potential reversal, White House advisers are close to recommending that President Barack Obama opt for military tribunals for self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four of his alleged henchman, senior officials said.

Recommendations from a congressionally directed Defense Department disability review board have resulted in 61 percent of applicants having their status changed from a medical separation to retirement on the permanent disability list, the board president said.

The Defense Department is preparing to launch a militarywide effort to reduce the use of Social Security numbers to lower the chances of identity theft for military and civilian workers and contractors.

The recipient of the first hand transplant performed in a Defense Department facility said today she hopes her surgery provides hope for servicemembers wounded in combat.

The Military Health System recognizes March as Brain Injury Awareness Month and wants to provide all service members, retirees, veterans, and their families with information on these types of injuries.

The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness is seeking public input for the Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. A major component of the plan will address homelessness among veterans. The public can submit ideas and vote through an interactive website until March 15, 2010.

The Defense Department has launched a new program that offers servicemembers undergoing mental health treatment a bridge of support as they transition between health care systems or providers.

The views of the troops will be an integral part of the nearly year-long review of the ramifications of open military service by gays, according to the parameters of the study released Tuesday by the Pentagon.

An Iraq war veteran whose life fell apart after several friends died in combat and others, including his brother, killed themselves told a Senate committee that the Veterans Affairs Department's suicide prevention programs were 'not beneficial at all to me.'

Civilian victims of sexual assault are now able to confidentially report and seek medical care without triggering a criminal investigation as part of a six-month U.S. Army Europe pilot program aimed at encouraging more victims to seek help.

Every time a servicemember is killed or wounded in combat, it sets off a sweeping process aimed at identifying what happened, who perpetrated it and how it might have been prevented -- and instituting changes to reduce the likelihood of it being repeated.

An Army probe into allegations of verbal threats involving a base's food supply has revealed that none of the five soldiers detained was involved in any plot to poison food at the base, a congressman said Sunday.

The Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans recently concluded more than a year of exhaustive research, producing a comprehensive set of recommendations to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki titled, 'Changing the Culture: Placing Care Before Process.'

Users of unclassified .mil computers are now allowed to access social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, subject to local control if bandwidth demand or web integrity become issues.

Soldiers are getting to spend more time at home between combat deployments as the U.S. military draws down in Iraq and the Army grows in size, the service's chief of staff said Friday.

Female sailors will begin serving on submarines by the end of next year, with Naval Academy graduates leading the way, Navy leaders told a Senate committee yesterday.

Widows of Veterans and Service members continue to fight to overturn a law that won't allow surviving spouses to receive the retirement pay due them when their spouses die from a cause related to military service while at the same time collect the full annuity.

Only 13 percent of the Army veterans believed to be eligible for retroactive stop-loss pay have applied for the special entitlement program funded by Congress with $534 million last year.

By fall, 250 fighters will be in the boneyard and the 4,000 airmen who fly or fix them will have new jobs, according to an officer overseeing the aircraft drawdown.

The Army plans to spend about $71 billion on personnel programs next year, with more than one in seven of those dollars going toward a temporary increase of 22,000 soldiers.

The Air Force has its marching orders. Every four years, Congress requires the Defense Department to map out where the services will head in the coming four years.

The Disabled American Veterans and the other coauthors of The Independent Budget (IB) AMVETS, Paralyzed Veterans of America and Veterans of Foreign Wars who collectively represent millions of veterans are applauding the Administration's recently released Budget Request for FY 2011.

With a commitment to taking care of Airmen and their families, Air Force officials said they will maintain a focus on the prevention, mitigation and treatment of deployment-related post-traumatic stress disorder.

Seven current and former members of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program have earned spots on Team USA for the XXI Olympic Winter Games.

Army officials are trying to increase the resilience of soldiers and family members by increasing their physical, emotional, social, spiritual and family strengths.

The Army has been investigating allegations that soldiers' food at its largest basic training base in South Carolina was being poisoned, but no credible information to support the allegations has been found, an Army spokesman said Thursday.

Army Capt. Scott M. Smiley is the first blind officer to lead a company, as the commander of the Warrior Transition Unit at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

The goateed man was decked out in a formal Army uniform with a dozen medals pinned to his jacket and a Commander of the British Empire medallion hanging around his neck.

Qualified colonels and lieutenant colonels of the Army Medical Department branches, the Judge Advocate General's Corps and the Chaplain Corps will be considered for senior service college attendance by a board that meets March 30-April 9.

After spending $1 billion and 12 years of effort, Defense officials have pulled the plug on a hapless plan to bring the four military branches under a single payroll and personnel records system.

Fifteen months after banning thumb drives, the U.S. military says some drives can be used again. But they must be more secure drives, and users must follow stricter security measures, say industry sources.

The Defense Department will investigate complaints of substandard mental health care for Marines at Camp Lejeune, according to a North Carolina congressman Thursday who had asked for the probe amid reports of retaliation against a whistleblower.

The Department of Defense announced today that its National Resource Directory (NRD) Web site for wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans, their families and those who support them, recently received a comprehensive system upgrade to provide users with easier access.

The Defense Department would like you to remove that gritty lump of tobacco from your mouth and chuck it in the trash. If you do it Feb. 18, you'll have company.

The Defense Department will investigate complaints of substandard mental health care for Marines at Camp Lejeune, according to a North Carolina congressman Thursday who had asked for the probe amid reports of retaliation against a whistleblower.

A 1975 graduate of Lynchburg College has given $250,000 to his alma mater to create a scholarship fund for veterans.

On Wednesday, February 24, 2010, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Bob Filner conducted a hearing to explore the relationship between medication and Veteran suicide.

The GI Bill telephone hot line is once again open five days a week, after improvements were made to reduce the number of calls that do not go through, Veterans Affairs Department officials have announced.

Programs that help service members start applying for Veterans' disability compensation while they are still on active duty are shaving months off the waiting times for benefits, but limitations and a lack of strong military support prevent them from helping everyone.

Air Force doctors at the San Antonio Military Medical Center think they have found a way to help service members who suffer traumatic brain injuries: time in the hyperbaric chambers used to treat patients who suffer carbon monoxide poisoning and scuba divers who get the bends.

The oldest Canadian veteran of World War I has died at the age of 109.

Despite billions of additional dollars pumped into Veterans' benefits in recent years, many military personnel still leave service unaware of their VA benefits or of programs set up to help them transition to civilian life, a senior Defense official and Veteran advocates testified Wednesday.

The Defense Department has launched a free, online tutoring service for Service Members and their families. The site, www.tutor.com/military, offers round-the-clock professional tutors who can assist with homework, studying, test preparation, resume writing and more.

The United States is in the middle of a 'cultural transformation' in mental health treatment led by the Defense Department and the military services, the department's top mental health expert recently told a congressional panel.

Service Members and families can access the H&R Block at Home program by going to Military OneSource at http://www.militaryonesource.com/ and clicking on Tax Filing Services.

The Obama administration proposes to spend three percent more next year on support programs for war-strained military families. But officials are urging Congress to stop adding extra dollars to the military pay raise every January and find a way to raise Tricare fees for the first time in 15 years.

International cooperation is key to interrupting the trafficking of materials used to make weapons of mass destruction and stopping the proliferation of nuclear arms, a Department of Homeland Security official said.

It was stiff competition again this year for the Navy's surface fleet vying to earn the coveted Battle, 'E' award and bragging rights along the waterfront, for their performance in 2009.

Due to advances in modern medicine, many wounded Service Members are returning to the fight or transitioning their experience to civilian employment. Naval Sea Systems Command wants them on board.

After two years of testing, Navy uniform officials plan to vote on upgrades to both the dress white and the dress blue 'crackerjack' uniforms within the year, according to an officer on the Navy Uniform Board.

The new Vision Center of Excellence (VCE) is beginning to take flight since it was formed at the behest of Congress to track eye injuries emanating from the war theater and improve treatment outcomes across the services and VA.

The Defense Department's investigation into allegations of poor mental health care at Camp Lejeune will be independent of a Navy probe that accused the whistleblower of poor performance, a North Carolina congressman said Thursday.

Dr. Robert A. Petzel has taken the oath of office as the Under Secretary for Health within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), stepping up to lead the nation's largest integrated health care system.

Movie-goers have seen the concept play out time and time again on the big screen. Sinister Borg drones reconstitute missing digits and limbs before their eyes in the 'Star Trek' series. Alien Jack Jeebs in 'Men in Black' regrows his head after it's damaged or blown off.

As promised, the Pentagon has begun examining how the ban on gays serving openly could be eased and then repealed, but a complete repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy is probably years away.

The Army Reserve has too many young, new soldiers and not enough sergeants and staff sergeants, too many lieutenants and colonels, but not enough captains and majors. The Reserve is authorized 25 or 30 chaplain assistants, but it has 125.

A recent study published by DoD researchers in the American Journal of Epidemiology reports that service members who deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan are at no increased risk for developing chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma, chronic bronchitis or emphysema, as previously hypothesized.

At the VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C., (DCVAMC), Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki joined hundreds of volunteers in support of homeless Veterans in our Nation's capital.

Sen. Ron Wyden said Thursday that nearly 300 guardsmen from Oregon and other states need better health care benefits after they were exposed to a toxic chemical in Iraq.

Thousands more airmen, all in undermanned career fields, will qualify for retention bonuses next year if the Air Force gets its way.

The Department of Veterans Affairs selected 10 winners in a competition that solicited ideas from VA employees and co-located Veterans service organizations to improve claims processing and provide greater transparency to Veterans.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said he's making it a top priority this year to tackle the backlog of disability claims that has veterans waiting months - even years - to get financial compensation for their injuries.

Starting this summer, Soldiers sent to fight in Afghanistan will wear an Army Combat Uniform with the "MultiCam" pattern instead of the standard-issue universal camouflage pattern.

Elbert Rusty Coleman put in 23 years with the Army in various administrative positions, retired as a Sergeant First Class in 1989 and got on with his life, working and raising a family in West Melbourne, Fla.

Run a mile and a half. Do as many push-ups as you can in a minute. Ditto for sit-ups. And have your waist measured.

Army wives whose husbands deploy seek mental health services at a higher rate than others, and the longer the deployment, the greater the impact, according to a new study.

A Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP) initiative called Support, Equip and Empower provides wounded warriors with information about the available technology and then provides the right equipment for their needs.

The Navy and Marine Corps are performing at top level and maintaining high morale, but the high operational tempo is seriously overtaxing equipment and vehicles, service leaders told Congress this week.

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Samuel Rhodes speaks out about his struggles.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced a two-month, nationwide advertising campaign to assist student Veterans and Service Members applying for the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

On February 3, 2010, John Hall (D-NY), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, convened a hearing to assess the progress of implementing the Veteran's Benefits Improvement Act, P.L. 110-389. An omnibus measure, the law is primarily intended to modernize the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability claims processing system to ensure the accurate and timely delivery of benefits to veterans, their families, and survivors, and to transform the VBA into a 21st Century institution.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is beginning the process of recovering advance payments made available during the fall 2009 semester to Veterans and Service Members who applied for education benefits.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced the hiring of five new Federal Recovery Coordinators, bringing to 20 the number of professionals coordinating care for the most seriously injured service members.

The Health Information Technology (HIT) Innovation competition is now open through February 28 to all Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Office of Information & Technology (OI&T) government and contract employees. Join the more than 30,000 employees who are already contributing to ideas that are innovative and would improve Veterans? health and health care.

A Thursday hearing on funding for federal veterans program will focus on how much of an increase is enough.

The nation's largest organization of combat Veterans is demanding changes in the $15 billion jobs bill that passed the Senate on Wednesday because Veterans were left out of a package of tax credits and highway projects aimed at increasing employment.

Veterans seeking treatment for sexual trauma suffered in the military may have been improperly charged copayments by the Veterans Affairs Department, according to a new report from the VA Inspector General.

Some Vietnam Veterans have persuaded several state legislatures and dozens of cities to designate Vietnam Veterans Day and are lobbying others for a symbol of the gratitude and respect they believe they were denied when they came home from an unpopular war.

Military members who have combat burn injuries can suffer through some of the most intense and prolonged types of pain imaginable. Patients need daily care to clean the wound and daily physical therapy to stretch the newly healed skin.

Deanie Bishop Parrish wanted to fly, and she wanted to serve her country.

To expand health care to a record-number of Veterans, reduce the number of homeless Veterans and process a dramatically increased number of new disability compensation claims, the White House has announced a proposed $125 billion budget next year for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

inTransition is a new program designed to offer service members currently receiving mental health treatment a bridge of support between health care providers should they transfer to a new location or separate from active service.

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