Archive for February, 2007
February 28, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Military News, News
An unarmed helicopter pilot who flew through a hail of bullets to rescue 70 wounded Americans in one of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam War was awarded the Medal of Honor on Monday, 41 years later. Retired Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall, 74, received the nation’s highest military honor from President Bush in the White House East Room. The medal recognizes Crandall for his valor in repeatedly flying into enemy fire to bring in ammunition and supplies and evacuate the wounded.
Read more at Newsvine.com
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February 27, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Military News, Veteran Benefits
There’s a new front in the president’s global war on terrorism.
It’s not a conflict in the streets of Fallujah or the hills of Afghanistan, but a hometown war of information between military recruiters and counter-recruiting activists who hope to end the war by keeping teenagers out of military uniforms.
Led nationally by groups such as the American Friends Service Committee and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, the counter-recruitment effort also is growing on the local level. Though their numbers still are relatively small, counter-recruitment groups are at work in Fresno, Visalia and Reedley.
Read more at FresnoBee.com
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By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Military News, News
CHICAGO – Jared Perry was headed toward a college degree when a military call-up to Iraq interrupted his junior year.
“I figured my education would be set back,” said Perry, who was part of the Illinois National Guard’s 1544th Transportation Company. “After all, you can’t be thousands of miles away in war and still go to school.”
Then he found a way.
Within months of landing in Baghdad in 2004, Perry, a specialist in the U.S. Army, was taking online classes from the University of Illinois at Springfield – the same classes he would have taken if he had stayed at home.
Read more at KansasCity.com
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February 25, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Veteran Benefits
‘It could cost the VA at least $350 billion to provide disability compensation and health care to Afghanistan and Iraq veterans, according to a Harvard University researcher’s conservative estimate. Those costs could climb as high as $663 billion, if many troops remain at war much longer and health care costs inflate. . . Veterans groups worry that escalating costs could lead the agency to ration resources by delaying or limiting access to health care and by taking longer to process disability claims.’
Found here.
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February 23, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Military News
Check out Danger Room, Wired Magazine’s new blog “about what’s next in law enforcement, homeland security, and the military”. There is plenty of gear related news but the blog says it will also “look at new strategies, new thinking, and new tactics in national security, as well. And we’ll follow the personalities and politics surrounding these developments.”
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February 22, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Military News
FORT HOOD, Texas – A soldier who fled before his second deployment to Iraq pleaded guilty Thursday to desertion as part of a plea deal that will send him to military prison for less than a year. “I quit the Army, I quit my unit, and I did not show up when I needed to,” Spc. Mark Wilkerson told a military judge during his sentencing hearing. As part of his plea bargain, the judge will sentence Wilkerson to no more than 10 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to desertion and missing troop movement, Wilkerson’s lawyer Michael J. Duncan said.
Read more at Chron.com
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By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in News, Veteran Benefits
‘In the November issue of the VFW magazine came an article that said, “From an outdated system a little more than a decade ago, VA’s 154 hospitals and 875 clinics now annually outperform those in the private sector.
“For the sixth consecutive year, the University of Michigan’s Customer Satisfaction Index rated VA hospitals higher than private facilities. Using patient surveys it scored VA care at 83 out of a 100. Private care scored 71.”‘
Read more at the Pennsylvania Times Leader.
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February 21, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in News, Veteran Benefits
‘Concerned that soldiers battling in Iraq wind up fighting their own government for adequate medical care when they return home, two Democratic senators said today they’re joining together on reform legislation. Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and freshman Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said they are working on legislation to improve veterans’ care, including reforms to how they are treated as outpatients while still active military members.
The legislation would require more frequent hospital inspections, establish timelines for repairs to facilities that don’t meet standards and improve access to psychological counseling, Obama’s office said in a statement.’
Found here.
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By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in News
‘THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION recently issued a warning about a scam aimed at veterans of the military. The warning says to be on the alert for telephone calls from anyone claiming to be from the “VA pharmacy.”. . .According to the VA, these bogus callers have claimed that they need personal information such as Social Security numbers and medications that were prescribed because of “new co-pay regulations.” . . . Be on the alert, veterans, because the VA stresses that there has been no such changes in regulations and that it does not contact patients by telephone seeking prescription renewals or personal information.’
Found here.
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February 20, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Veteran Benefits
‘The Bush administration’s budget assumes cuts to funding for veterans’ health care two years from now. . . Bush is using the cuts, critics say, to help fulfill his pledge to balance the budget by 2012. But even administration allies say the numbers are not real and are being used to make the overall budget picture look better. After an increase sought for next year, the Bush budget would turn current trends on their head. Even though the cost of providing medical care to veterans has been growing rapidly – by more than 10 percent in many years – White House budget documents assume consecutive cutbacks in 2009 and 2010 and a freeze thereafter.’
Found here.
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