News

The Senate passed two amendments to the Republican budget Tuesday aimed at helping veterans.

Senators passed by voice vote an amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would create a deficit neutral fund to bolster the Veterans Affairs Department (VA), allow for the VA to hire additional mental health care workers and ensure veterans get timely access to care.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter plans to push a series of proposals, including a 401(k)-style pension plan and incentives for cyber warriors, aimed at attracting and retaining troops with the skills needed to fight modern wars.

Carter, who took office last month, intends to move quickly to enact changes before the Obama administration leaves the White House in early 2017, according to a senior aide who was not authorized to speak publicly. Carter has identified building a new force capable of dealing with new threats and retaining top performers as a key priority.

We're still reminded to never forget those missing in action or any prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict, but there's one other issue that still stands out.

Senator Richard Marcellais has been wearing orange to bring awareness to the need for more funding for Vietnam veterans exposed to agent orange during the war. He says there are approximately 15,000 veterans of that war in North Dakota, including himself, who served there from 1968 to 1969.

FARGO -- A 94-year-old Fargo man and World War II Army veteran will soon descend with extended family on a tiny town in the western Arizona desert for an overdue dedication.

In the early 1940s, Henry "Hank" Leintz trained with the 748th Tank Battalion at the remote Camp Bouse on a top-secret war weapon--a lighting device affixed to tanks that were designed to temporarily blind and confuse the enemy.

“You won’t be punished for your anger. You will be punished by your anger.”

A new online course developed for and by ‪#‎Veterans‬ to help Veterans to understand and combat their anger triggers is available at http://www.veterantraining.va.gov/AIMS. 

By Patricia Murphy, KUOW Radio, Seattle
December 4, 2014

A federal audit of a 24-hour national hotline for homeless veterans found that callers didn’t always receive assistance or access to needed services.

The Office of the Inspector General said lapses in management and oversight at the call center led to more than 40,000 missed opportunities to help.

By Leo Shane III
Military Times Staff writer
Oct. 23, 2014 - 12:03PM

Only about one in 25 veterans offered free credit monitoring in the wake of Veterans Affairs Department security breaches has signed up for the service, a figure that VA officials call disappointingly low.

Nearly 1 million veterans have had their personal information potentially compromised over the last seven years, a total that officials call upsetting but insist sits well below comparable private-sector security breaches.

The Red River Valley Writing Project is offering a six-week workshop called "Warrior Words" for veterans of any U.S. war. The workshop is funded by a North Dakota Humanities Council grant, received by the Greater Grand Forks Community Theater. The goal of the workshop is to provide support for veterans to write a monologue about their experiences and share that monologue with the public. RRVWP teacher Lori Koenig, will lead the workshop. Meetings will take place in the Dawson Conference Room of the Fargo Public Library, Main branch, from 10-11:30am.

By Tom Philpott
Special to Stars and Stripes
Published: July 31, 2014 

Note: In addition to the $15 billion, the Congressional Budget Office reported Thursday a measure in the bill calling for leases on 27 new medical centers in 15 states and Puerto Rico would cost about $1.27 billion.

Veterans reading only headlines, hearing only sound bites, might have a few misconceptions about how Congress and the VA plan to use non-VA healthcare providers to ensure more timely and convenient access to care.