[poochee]

VA won't pay benefits to Marine whose injuries came from vaccine
By David Goldstein | McClatchy Newspapers

It was an injection into his arm before his unit left the states.

The then 20-year-old Marine from Springfield, Mo., suffered a rare adverse reaction to the smallpox vaccine. While the vaccine isn't mandatory, the military strongly encourages troops to take it.

However, it left Lopez in a coma, unable for a time to breathe on his own and paralyzed for weeks. Now he can walk, but with a limp. He has to wear a urine bag constantly, has short-term memory loss and must swallow 15 pills daily to control leg spasms and other ailments.

And even though his medical problems wouldn't have occurred if he hadn't been deployed, Lopez doesn't qualify for a special government benefit of as much as $100,000 for troops who suffer traumatic injuries.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat and a member of the Armed Services Committee, drafted a bill named after Lopez to widen the program to include vaccine-related injuries.


Excerpts from: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/74566.html

[poochee]

Posted on Friday, September 4, 2009
Defense Dept. funding study pairing dogs and troops with PTSD
By Alan Bavley | The Kansas City Star

So the Defense Department is financing a $300,000 study that will pair troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with dogs trained to sense when their masters are about to have a panic attack and give them a calming nudge or nuzzle.

These psychiatric service dogs have been assisting people with a variety of mental illnesses since the late 1990s. About 10,000 such dogs are now in use.

Excerpts from: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/74886.html

[poochee]

Oldest Medal of Honor recipient, 100, downplays 'hero' talk
Larry Shaughnessy
CNN

Story Highlights
•In Pearl Harbor attack, John Finn was wounded in head and limbs but fought on
•Finn's medal citation states he continued to "return the enemy's fire vigorously"
•Congressional Medal of Honor Society Convention is in Chicago this week

PINE VALLEY, California (CNN) -- Dozens of America's greatest military heroes are gathered in Chicago, Illinois, possibly the last large gathering of living Medal of Honor recipients.

Among the men with light blue ribbons holding a star around their necks signifying uncommon bravery, will be John Finn.

Finn, who received the nation's highest medal for valor for his actions during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, turned 100 this summer, the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient.


http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/15/fin...nor/index.html

[eggplant43]

A scam aimed at veterans:


http://www.esthervilledailynews.com/....html?nav=5003

[eggplant43]

Playing ratings games with our vets?:



http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?s...&article=64706

[poochee]

Originally Posted by eggplant43

Playing ratings games with our vets?:

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?s...&article=64706

[poochee]

Originally Posted by eggplant43

A scam aimed at veterans:

http://www.esthervilledailynews.com/....html?nav=5003

[poochee]

Rescued dogs train to serve war veterans
By Cynthia Hubert
Published: Thursday, Sep. 17, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 5B

Perhaps Sonny the miniature schnauzer was nervous about his new assignment.

Perhaps he just craved a little freedom.

Minutes after he was introduced Wednesday as a future service dog who would be trained to help a war veteran cope with the anxieties of civilian life, Sonny made a run for it. He dashed across the grass at Mather Community Campus, eluding a posse of volunteers before one of them corralled him. Then Sonny and eight other dogs, most of them rescued from death row at the Sacramento city animal shelter, met their new caretakers and began their serious careers.

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2188631.html

[poochee]

Bill salutes Vietnam vets
!By Jim Sanders
Published: Monday, Sep. 21, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 3A

Thirty-six years after the United States completed the pullout of combat troops from Vietnam, California is on the verge of officially welcoming them home.

Legislation to declare an annual "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day" was passed by the Legislature this month, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign it.

Recognition by the nation's most populous state is expected to add momentum to campaigns nationwide to salute Vietnam veterans.

"It's not about the war," said Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley. "It's about the individuals who fought the war and paid the price."

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2196942.html

[poochee]

Huffpost - Congress challenges bonuses at Veterans Affairs
KIMBERLY HEFLING | 09/23/09 01:11 PM | AP

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on Wednesday questioned whether millions of dollars in bonuses were appropriately awarded to employees at the Veterans Affairs Department.

The VA has nearly one million claims to process and has faced criticism in areas of quality control because of issues such as endoscopic procedure problems at three Southeast hospitals that potentially exposed thousands of veterans to infections. The problems make it even more relevant to review the awarding of bonuses, Mitchell said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wires/...ws_296350.html

[poochee]

Poisoned patriots? Stricken Marines seek help with illnesses
updated 6:26 p.m. EDT, Fri September 25, 2009
By Abbie Boudreau and Scott Bronstein
CNN Special Investigations Unit
Editor's note: This report is part two of a two-part series

Story Highlights
•Marines, Camp Lejeune residents seek $34 billion in compensation for health woes
•They allege drinking water at the base was contaminated in 1960s through 1980s
•Experts in 1980 concluded some base tap water was "highly contaminated"
•VA won't cover costs of illness; "I feel like I've been betrayed," ex-drill instructor says

All 20 fear that water contaminated with high levels of toxic chemicals may have caused their illnesses, but the Marine Corps says no link has been found between the contamination and their diseases. Without that link, the men are denied treatment by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which says it can't treat them for a condition that hasn't been shown to have been "service-related." Watch "That's when I was shocked" »

Kelly was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998, 16 years after he served at Camp Lejeune. Now a single father of a 7-year-old boy and without health insurance, he filed a claim with the VA to help pay his medical bills.

Kelly said his VA representative told him, "It's not the VA's problem, it's the Marine Corps' problem."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/25...olo/index.html

[eggplant43]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richar..._b_300614.html

[poochee]

Originally Posted by eggplant43

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richar..._b_300614.html

Hope this trend continues.

[eggplant43]

ANVILLE – John P. Wright was a volunteer extraordinaire with the Veterans Affairs Illiana Health Care System. Before his death in March 2008 at age 74, he had logged 49,668 hours at the facility over nearly 40 years.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/loc...es_va_hospital

[poochee]

Originally Posted by eggplant43

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/loc...es_va_hospital

Beautiful story. RIP John.