Could The Economic Crises effect Veteran Benefits?

VA under fire over delays in new GI Bill

By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, September 26, 2008

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers angrily criticized Veterans Affairs officials Wednesday for possible delays in implementing the new GI Bill benefits by the August 2009 deadline, calling for more urgency and ingenuity by department leaders.

Keith Pedigo, assistant deputy undersecretary for veterans benefits administration, told members of the House that the VA does not have the technical expertise or manpower to handle the transition from the old education benefits system to a larger, more complex formula.

As a result, the department expects to contract out the work. But he said the 11-month window left to get that work done will create challenges for the program.

House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner, D-Calif., charged that officials aren’t working hard enough to find solutions.

"I could find a geek to do this stuff for $1 million," he said.

"We’ve got kids all over the country that could do this work. Maybe it’s a little more complicated than your normal computer work … but it’s not that conceptually difficult."

The new GI Bill benefits, passed by Congress in June, mandate a $1,000 monthly housing stipend and four years of tuition at any state university for all veterans who served at least three years on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001.

Under the old system, veterans received a flat rate for their education based on their contributions into the system. Veterans Affairs officials said the new system will be much more complicated, calculating different rates for every recipient based on how long they served, what school they attend and where they live.

"The difference between the concept and getting it so payments arrive on time is huge," said Stephen Warren, principal deputy assistant secretary for the Department’s information and technology office.

"It’s extremely complicated."

Representatives on the committee raised concerns about contracting out the work to a private company, asking what safeguards and contingency plans are in place if the new system is not ready in time.

Meanwhile, Defense Department officials said they’re confident the computer systems designed to share personnel records with Veterans Affairs will be ready by March of next year.

"Right now it’s just a question of format. We don’t know how the contractor or the VA is going to want the data," said Curtis Gilroy, director of accession policy for the DOD personnel office.

"Once that is determined, it will not be difficult."

Veterans groups told lawmakers they want assurances that if a contractor takes over the check-issuing responsibilities, Veterans Affairs officials will still be the final arbiters for questions surrounding benefits.

But most importantly, they want the system to be ready by the fall semester next year.

Patrick Campbell, chief legislative counsel for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said he worries that thousands of veterans could enroll for classes next summer only to discover a few months later their government-promised reimbursement isn’t coming.

"I don’t care how they do it," he said. "Veterans must get these benefits on time."

A Veterans Plea to Senate Armed Services Committee

I was recently contacted by Chris Williams he served in the 70th Ord Co.which was part of the same Artillery Group I was in Turkey back in 1990-91. We worked with DU there. He is having some health problems as have I. He sent me this letter he sent to SASC. If there is anyone who can help or has resources you might have or advice for him in filing his VA claim.contact me and I will forward it to him.

Dear Sir,



I regret to inform you that my hands shake as I write this letter.



ALS IN THE MILITARY

UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES OF

MILITARY SERVICE!!

Let's see…..OK my pain killers are still working. I just don't understand.

ALS OR DEPLETED URANIUM?

Symptoms could be construed as the same.

SOLDIER AND/OR FAMILY

Somehow take care of the Soldier or Take care of the Soldier and his family?

HARD CHOICE I BET!

I don't recall a unexpected consequence clause in my contract!

Sir, those soldiers who served still bleed for our Country. Just as the new Soldiers bleed for this Country today. My packet left the DAV for the VA on Sept. 16, 2008. You tell me which one it is because shuffling of doctors and hundreds of doctors visits have proved nothing.



CHRISTOPHER M. WILLIAMS
VILLA RICA, GA

Veteran's Voter Registration Bill Passes House

Week of September 22, 2008

Hundreds of thousands of veterans would have widespread and direct access to voter registration services through Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offices under a landmark bill that was passed by the House of Representatives yesterday, the Veterans Voting Support Act (H.R. 6625), introduced by Rep. Robert Brady. A companion bill sponsored by Senators Diane Feinstein and John Kerry (S. 3308) may be acted on by the Senate in coming days. The House and Senate bills would create new opportunities for the nation's 25 million veterans to register to vote at facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

How do you feel about this action? Let your public officials know how you feel!

VA Announces $36 Million in Grants for Homeless Programs


WASHINGTON (Sept. 23, 2008) - Homeless veterans in 35 states, the
District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will get more assistance, thanks to
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) grants providing $36.7 million to
community groups to create 1,526 beds for homeless veterans this year.

"These grants provide a helping hand to veterans who have served our
nation in uniform," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B.
Peake. "Our partnerships with community-based organizations provide
safe, temporary housing while these veterans return to productive
lives."

VA has identified public and community non-profit groups eligible to
receive payments for housing and supportive services to homeless
veterans, including 49 grants for vans that will transport homeless
veterans to health care and training programs.

The grants are part of VA's continuing efforts to reduce homelessness
among veterans. VA has the largest integrated network of homeless
assistance programs in the country. In many cities and rural areas, VA
social workers and other clinicians working with community and
faith-based partners conduct extensive outreach programs, clinical
assessments, medical treatments, alcohol and drug abuse counseling and
employment assistance.

VA's Grant and Per Diem program helped reduce the number of veterans who
are homeless on a typical night last year by 21 percent to about 154,000
veterans. VA also provides health care to about 100,000 homeless
veterans, compensation and assistance in obtaining foreclosed homes and
excess federal property, including clothes, footwear, blankets and other
items.

More information about VA's homeless programs is available on the
Internet at http://www.va.gov/homeless.

Gorbachev Reflects On What Went Wrong

Philadelphia Inquirer
September 21, 2008
He says the West kicked Russia when it was down.
By Trudy Rubin

On Thursday, Mikhail Gorbachev received the prestigious Liberty Medal at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center. The former Soviet president was praised for advancing the cause of liberty by introducing reforms that led to the peaceful breakup of the Soviet Union.

The same day, in a speech on U.S.-Russia relations in Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denounced Moscow's invasion of Georgia and warned that Russia had reverted to "paranoid, aggressive" behavior.

The disconnect between those two events could not have been more dramatic. Yet the Philadelphia ceremony was a reminder, as U.S.-Russian relations grow colder, of how closely our two nations cooperated under Gorbachev and George H.W. Bush.
Bush the elder was on stage with Gorbachev, and the emotional bond between the two was clear. "President Bush was my best partner . . . and made it possible to put an end to the Cold War," Gorbachev said. "We brought change to the point of no return where the clock could not be turned back."
So what went wrong?

I asked Gorbachev this question in an interview in Philadelphia. (For the record, Gorbachev has blamed the Georgians for provoking the Russian invasion by sending troops into the separatist enclave of South Ossetia. The story is much more complex: The Russians had troops poised on the Georgian border clearly looking for an excuse to cross it. The Georgians did, however, choose to march into a trap.)
"Does the current Russian government want to be part of the West, or not?" I also asked. Like most Russians, Gorbachev views the current tensions through a totally different prism than do most people here.

"Russia has been a European country always and wants to remain a European country," he insisted. "There is no longer an ideological division. Russia has no intention of fighting anyone."

He recalled the amazing days when he, as Soviet leader, gave the green light for Eastern Europe to choose its own future and Germany to reunite. Then, he said, there seemed a chance of getting rid of NATO as well as the communist Warsaw Pact. He repeated his plea, made since the 1990s, for a common security organization for all Europe.

Instead, he said, we see a "new struggle for spheres of influence" between NATO and Russia. He recalled the words of the first secretary general of NATO in the late 1940s, about the purpose of the transatlantic organization: "To Keep America in, keep Germany down and keep Russia out."

Of course, neither "Old Europe" nor, more so, the "New Europe" of ex-communist nations trusts Russian intentions sufficiently to want to dissolve NATO or to break security links with Washington. That mistrust has intensified because of the extensive Russian invasion of Georgia, even among Europeans who believe Georgia brought its troubles on itself.

But Gorbachev reflects an understandable Russian anger that the West betrayed promises it made to him in the early 1990s. "America took advantage of the breakup of the Soviet Union," he said with emotion, "and [it] rejected decisions taken and signed by the United States.

"Secretary [of State James] Baker said that NATO would not move to the East. Where is NATO today?" He referred to NATO's decision to invite former East European countries into its ranks and the pending decision about whether to admit Georgia and Ukraine.

There was bitterness in Gorbachev's voice as he recalled Western disrespect during the 1990s, when Russia was in a state of collapse. "We Russians didn't like it," he said. "I didn't hear words of sympathy from our Western partners. They came to applaud."

This sense of grievance clearly colors Russia's political decisions and thinking. Gorbachev says the Western press was "acting on instructions" because it did not report that the tragedy in Georgia was all the fault of Georgia's government.
It's unclear whether Russian behavior today would be different if the West had paid it more respect since 1990. Would former President Vladimir V. Putin have chosen not to reassert authoritarian rule and control of the press? Would he not have made threats against neighboring countries?

And would Putin have refrained from trying to monopolize control of pipelines carrying energy from Central Asia to Europe? Gorbachev described the ongoing pipeline battle in the Caucasus thus: "The name of the game is competition." But Russia's idea of competition seems to be to block the building of pipelines it cannot control - by any means.

And yet, Gorbachev raises valid questions about the best way to move forward with Russia. Escalation of public rhetoric boxes each side into a corner from which it's hard to escape.

While slamming Rice's remarks as "rash and irresponsible," Gorbachev pointed to the "somewhat different statements" of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in London, also on Thursday. Gates called for a united NATO strategy that would reassure Russia's neighbors, without provoking more hostilities. Russian leaders may now recognize they overreached in Georgia, frightening off foreign investors and alienating the European public. Their rhetoric is softening.

"We need to do a lot of work," Gorbachev says. His embrace of George H.W. Bush is a reminder of the cooperation that was once possible. Perhaps - if the West sets firm red lines but is judicious about NATO expansion - such cooperation may be possible again.

Burglars hit N.H. VFW, cut alarm wire

JAFFREY -- Because burglars cut the telephone lines to the Jaffrey Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5613 before breaking in on Monday, the security alarm monitoring center never received an alert.

Jaffrey Police Officer Chris Follomon said Tuesday that the break-in early Monday morning set off the alarm at the VFW on Hathorn Road, but ADT Security never received the alert because the system relies on the phone line, which had been severed.

Referring to the alarm system at the VFW, Follomon said, "It said trouble on the panel."

The time of the burglary is estimated to be at about 2:08 a.m. based on the alarm panel indicator, according to police reports.

VFW Manager Lonn Elliot said a cleaning person discovered the break-in later that morning and, according to police reports, Elliot reported the incident to police at 7:26 a.m.

"As far as I'm concerned, [ADT] should receive some kind of alert that the phone line's been cut," Elliot said.

He said he notified ADT of the burglary and an ADT representative suggested the VFW get a radio system back up that could send an alert through a satellite, instead of a phone line.

An ADT representative did not return messages left on Tuesday by press time yesterday.

Elliot said the person who cut the phone line knew what he or she was doing because only the phone line was cut, and no other cables.

"They actually climbed the telephone pole about 25 feet and cut it just as it comes into the conduit," he said.

The conduit, he said, runs from the pole in to the ground and then in to the building.

The burglars didn't get much, Elliot said, except for a few coins from a video game machine and 56 packs of cigarettes, which the VFW sells for $4.50 a pack.

"They tried to get into the safe, but they didn't get in," he said. "They had access to all the liquor too and they didn't take any of it."

The burglars, he said, did between $1,000 and $1,500 in damages to the building in gaining entry and tampering with the safe. "They broke the dial off the safe and broke the manual turn dial," he said.

The burglars used a crowbar or some other prying apparatus to open several doors. They opened other doors by breaking the door handles, he said.

The VFW, a lounge for veterans who are members and their relatives, remained open following the break-in, Elliot said.