Air Force Times Some IDs invalid at stateside Air Force bases
Beginning Aug. 15, identification cards or driver’s licenses issued by Minnesota, Missouri, Washington state or American Samoa will no longer get people past the gate at Air Force installations.
Washington Post Why the Zika travel warning in Florida is so narrow. And what it means for rest of U.S.
A one-square-mile area north of downtown Miami, marked by three streets and a highway, is a Zika hot zone that public health officials say pregnant women
should avoid. Many people don’t understand how those boundaries were picked as part of an unprecedented travel advisory from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. And they want to know why the advisory isn’t broader.
Politico Justice Department orders more ethics training for lawyers.
The Justice Department has ordered a large swath of its attorneys to undergo additional ethics training in response to a judge’s findings that he was misled by federal government lawyers handling a high-profile lawsuit over President Barack Obama’s immigration policies.
Military Times Two more companies protest Tricare contract awards worth billions.
Two companies have joined UnitedHealthcare in protesting military contract awards worth up to $58 billion to manage the Tricare health program, including one of the winning bidders, Government Accountability Office officials said Monday.
Time What the U.S. Is Learning From How Israel Treats Transgender Soldiers .
The two forces face different challenges; Israel has a conscript army, in which every man and woman is expected to serve a period of time in the military, while the U.S. has a volunteer army. But many of the issues are similar.
Navy Times Sailors, Marines will be able to declare transgender status this fall .
Following the Defense Department’s lifting of the ban on transgender service members in June, the Navy Department is preparing to provide medical and administrative support for transitioning sailors and Marines, train personnel on the particulars of serving in a transgender-inclusive force and, by next summer, accept transgender recruits into boot camp.
ABC News ‘Finish the Job‘: More Than 1 in 3 Western Anti-ISIS Volunteer Fighters Are American, Many Vets. A new report estimates that over 100 Americans, almost all male and many military veterans, have joined up with militia groups in Iraq or Syria to fight ISIS, accounting for more than one-third of all anti-ISIS Western volunteer fighters.
USA Today Move ’em out? Service members can face relocation issues. Summer is prime moving season for members of the U.S. armed forces, heading to new units and assignments before fall comes and the kids head back to school. But when it comes to the costs that crop up when relocating, many service members say they are caught off guard.
Times Herald–Record West Point’s Class of 2020 makes it through ‘Beast Barracks’ They survived the initial test. Now it’s on to four more years of learning how to be a soldier in today’s Army.
USNI News Interview: CMC Neller Lays Out Path To Future U.S. Marine Corps. Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller said the service has a lot to be proud of today: amid flat funding levels, the Marines are building back readiness, deploying forces at as high a tempo as any time in recent memory, and
replacing nearly all its types of aircraft and some ground vehicles with newer and more capable platforms.
Stars and Stripes Marine commandant: Corps must be modified for modern warfare. The U.S. Marine Corps will adjust its force structure in the near future as it identifies gaps in capability and technology that it could face in a battle with a modern enemy, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said Tuesday.
Navy Times Osprey continues to prove itself in Navy carrier tests . It’s been a big summer for the CMV-22B Osprey, the tilt-rotor aircraft preparing to replace the Navy’s decades-old C-2 Greyhound as the transport vehicle of choice to underway aircraft carriers.
Air Force Times Enlisted drone pilots won’t become warrant officers, but they may fly Reapers .The Air Force is not planning on bringing back warrant officers anytime soon, including for enlisted airmen flying remotely piloted aircraft, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James told Air Force Times Aug. 3.
Task and Purpose Quiz: How Well Do You Know The US Coast Guard?
Take our quiz to find out.
The Washington Times: Watchdog says VA has wasted millions on solar-energy projects. Under a mandate to increase its use of renewable energy, the Department of Veterans Affairs has spent more than $408 million on solar panels over five years, despite significant delays and some projects not being operational years after construction began. The agency’s inspector general found that 11 of 15 solar projects awarded between fiscal 2010 and 2013 under the VA’s “green management program” were still in progress as of May 2015, with only two systems completed.
Health Data Management: VA leverages IT to fix scheduling deficiencies . A survey conducted by The Joint Commission finds that the Department of Veterans Affairs is making progress in improving access to healthcare for veterans, including the use of emerging technology such as a new smartphone app and enhanced website, according to the VA. “The Joint Commission is one of the most widely respected healthcare organizations in the industry,” said David Shulkin, MD, the VA’s Under Secretary for Health.
KRIS (NBC-6, Video): Shortage of doctors for Veterans leads to long waits for appointments . Health care continues to be a big concern for veterans. Dozens of local vets came together during a round table meeting Tuesday to express their concerns and look for solutions. Many disabled or aging veterans voiced concerns at the meeting, but one was repeated over and over: appointments with a doctor at local Veterans Affairs clinics are crucial, but not easy to get.
“Some of them wait for years and still don’t see anybody. Some of them die
waiting to see somebody,” said Curtis Ford, a World War II veteran.
Task and Purpose How To Talk To Your Doctor About PTSD. Talking to your doctor about your mental health can be stressful, but here are some tips to make it a little easier.
Task and Purpose Taya Kyle On Grief:
‘You Can’t Avoid It, And You Can’t Outrun It’. Taya Kyle was married to “American Sniper” Chris Kyle. Here’s how she is doing three years after his death.
NJBIZ: Shulkin: VA inroads in treatment of opioid abuse could be example for NJ elsewhere. Shulkin spoke on a panel that included Booker and Menendez (both D-N.J.), as well as U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy at an event focused on the opioid crisis Monday at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. “Some wonder, ‘Why the VA? What does the VA with all its problems have to do with the addiction issue?'” Shulkin, a former president of Morristown Medical Center, said.
The Washington Times: The invisible wounds of war, Service Dogs can heal Veterans suffering with PTSD, Analysis/Opinion . On National Purple Heart Day, observed on Aug. 7, the nation paused to honor the decorated men and women wounded in combat while serving our country. But as we reflect on these noble sacrifices, Americans should remember to also recognize the veterans grappling with the invisible wounds of war who are ineligible for the Purple Heart and often overlooked or forgotten.
Military.com: PAVE Program Assists Veterans On Campus.The University of Michigan Health System and the Student Veterans of America have developed a peer-to-peer program to assist veterans with campus support. The Peer Advisors for Veteran Education (PAVE) program was developed in Michigan and has been fully implemented at 12 schools across the country. This fall 30 more schools nationwide will be joining the program. PAVE has also partnered with the VA to expand VA’s campus outreach and assistance programs.
Colorado Springs Gazette One-stop shop for veterans: Colorado Springs center with ‘no wrong door’ brings help. Lost amid the clamor of the presidential election campaign trail was the recent grand opening of a help center in Colorado Springs that has already assisted 950 veterans in getting their lives on track.
The Hill Wounded Warrior Project CEO to focus less on events, more on long-term care . The Wounded Warrior Project is about to get more low-key, but more effective, for veterans, said its new CEO, retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Linnington.
Stars and Stripes Frederick, Md.Visitors imbibe Civil War history on pub crawl . Most Civil War history buffs know about Frederick’s role rehabilitating soldiers during that era, but not too many know about its history as a “party town.” Soldiers stole horses, a popular crime to go to jail for was drunkenness, and drunken horse races took place in the streets.
Reuters Cuba blames U.S. open door for migrant surge. Havana on Sunday blamed Washington for a surge of Cubans trying to reach the United States by land and sea, accusing the Obama administration of encouraging illegal and unsafe immigration.
Military Times Spooked by obesity trends, the U.S. military is redefining its basic fitness standards . For the first time in 14 years, the military is rewriting its body composition standards and the methods used to determine whether troops are too fat to serve.
Military Times 5 years on, military spending caps haven’t brought the total disaster so many predicted. When Congress passed the Budget Control Act in 2011, defense leaders warned the spending caps could have disastrous consequences for military programs and planning.
Marine Corps Times This guy dropped 150 pounds to be a Marine, and he still thinks the standards are too easy Like many in his generation, Pvt. Richard Faler was once considered unfit to serve in the military.
The Brunswick News Enlisted Women Train for Duty on Kings Bay Sub. The U.S. Navy is currently training 38 women to be among the first enlisted women to serve aboard a submarine at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia.
Defense News US Air Force Boss: Faster F-35 Buy Rate Might Not Be Possible. The head of Air Combat Command wants to see the US Air Force build up its inventory of F-35s quicker than planned, but its civilian head signaled Wednesday that it might not be feasible in the current fiscal climate.
FEDweek: VA Secretary Addresses Accountability VA Secretary Robert McDonald, under continued fire from Capitol Hill-mostly, but not exclusively, on a partisan basis-for failing to hold poorly performing or misbehaving employees accountable, has reaffirmed his past statements that firing more people does not necessarily make for better management.
Government Executive: Surprise Inspections Show VA Health Care Improvement Since Phoenix Scandal. The Veterans Health Administration has improved the quality of and access to health care for vets over the past two years, but the agency’s continuing struggle with hiring and retaining employees is undermining its mission, according to a newly-released report from an outside organization. “Staffing shortages significantly impacted the organization’s ability to meet veterans’ needs and led to delays in care,” said a Joint Commission survey.
The News-Gazette: Those Who Served: In Vietnam, ‘they came to die, You want to live’. Only recently, with the help of counselors at the Veterans Affairs Illiana Health Care System in Danville, has Hyche come to grips with his panic attacks and his suppressed terrors that wife Sharon heard him muttering about in his sleep. His enlistment ran from 1969 to 1973; the hardest of it was his time in Vietnam in 1970-71.
NJ.com: Combat Vets now fighting a new war: Pain pill addiction. The result is a group of people especially vulnerable to pain pill addiction, said David Shulkin, the undersecretary of health for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Shulkin – who moved to the VA from his earlier post as the head of Morristown Medical Center – returned to the state Monday to join the U.S. Surgeon General and both New Jersey senators to talk about the crisis of opioid addiction.
Ashbury Park Press (Video): WATCH: Surgeon General: Doctors must help stop opioid crisis. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has toured the country with the message that more money is needed to treat opioid addiction, given a treatment gap that deprives about a million Americans of the help they need. On Monday, Murthy stopped in New Jersey, this time focusing on the role clinicians can play to keep the epidemic at bay, from prescribing opioids for pain more cautiously to speaking out to legislators.
Health Data Management: Patient e-Referrals produce few adverse outcomes. “Historically, especially in the pre-EHR era, primary care physicians referred patients to specialty providers by filling out a piece of paper and faxing it somewhere. It was in no way closed-loop communication, so you never knew what happened with a referral,” says Erika Leemann Price, MD, hospitalist at San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and primary author of the study.
NJTV (Video): Turn the Tide Tour Visits NJ to Prevent Opioid Addiction “When I was in medical training I was taught that opioids were not addictive so long as you gave them to someone who had legitimate pain,” said U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. The nation’s top doctor told this standing room only audience at St. Barnabas Medical Center that’s a huge part of what’s led to America’s addiction crisis. He said diagnosing for addiction should be as commonplace as measuring blood pressure.
U.S. Medicine: Inferior VA End-of-Life Care Reported for Some Non-cancer Conditions. Although most patients in the United States die of another condition, cancer is the focus of most end-of-life care studies. The result, according to new VA-led research, is that families reported better quality of end-of-life care for
veterans with cancer-and for dementia-than for those with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), cardiopulmonary failure or frailty.
Washington Free Beacon VA Drops Millions on Delayed Solar Power Projects, VA has spent over $408 million on solar panels since 2010 The Department of Veterans Affairs has spent more than $408 million to install solar panels on its medical facilities in recent years, despite many of the projects experiencing significant delays and some of the systems not becoming operational at all. The VA has failed to effectively plan and manage these solar panel projects, resulting in significant delays and additional costs, according to a report released by the agency’s inspector general last week.
U.S. News & World Report: U.S. Still Paying a Civil War Pension, A North Carolina woman is the daughter of a Civil War Veteran, and still collects his benefits. The Civil War ended more than 150 years ago, but the U.S. government is still paying a veteran’s pension from that conflict. “One beneficiary from the Civil War [is] still alive and receiving benefits,” Randy Noller of the Department of Veterans Affairs confirms. “VA has an obligation to take care of our nation’s veterans no matter how long. It is an honor to serve and care for those who served our country,” Noller explained in an email to U.S. News.
WEBB (Westwood One-98.5): Togus VA in Chelsea, Maine is celebrating its 150th anniversary come November! Togus has not only been around for 150 years, but was actually the nation’s first Veterans Home ever established. According to Maine’s VA history, Togus admitted their very first veteran on November 10, 1866. Prior to becoming Togus Veterans Administration, the area was known as Togus Springs – a hotel resort.
Fayetteville Observer Group to recognize Korean War veterans The Fayetteville Korean American Association is hoping to celebrate its homeland and honor local veterans during an event later this month.
Task & Purpose This Navy Veteran Calls Himself The ‘Caretaker’ Of The Vietnam Moving Wall. Navy vet Paul Chen says his home is wherever the wall takes him.
Stars and Stripes Purple Heart recipients tell stories of sacrifice Created by George Washington in 1782, the Purple Heart – awarded to soldiers wounded or killed in combat – is the United States’ oldest existing military honor and has been awarded an estimated 1.8 million times.
Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation – List of Job Fairs.Updated every quarter. Sent in by our fellow Veteran, Jorge Cruz, Maryland, DLLR, U.S. Army (Ret).