News

By HENRY C. JACKSON  Associated Press
January 08, 2014 - 5:47 pm EST

WASHINGTON — Sen. John Hoeven on Wednesday joined a push to restore cuts to the pensions of working-age U.S. military retirees that were included in last month's budget agreement.

Hoeven joined several other Republicans in seeking the payments be restored in a bill extending long-term unemployment benefits that the Senate is considering.

"Whether you talk to Republicans or Democrats ... there was a commitment to fix this," Hoeven said. "We should do it."

Decades after the end of the U.S. war in Vietnam, more than one in 10 American veterans from the conflict still experience at least some symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, according to a new study.

One third of veterans with PTSD also suffer from major depressive disorder, the research team reports in JAMA Psychiatry.

The number of Vietnam veterans affected by the chemical Agent Orange is astonishing. Roughly 300-thousand veterans have died from Agent Orange exposure -- that's almost five times as many as the 58-thousand who died in combat.

“Did it save lives? No doubt. Over there it did, but nobody knew it was going to be taking them later,” said Dan Stenvold, President of the North Dakota branch of the VVA.

The Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) define Agent Orange as a highly toxic herbicide used by the U.S. military to kill vegetation during the Vietnam War.

Posted 5:11 pm, January 20, 2015, by Tak Landrock, Updated at 10:31am, January 21, 2015

DENVER — Veterans Affairs executives in charge of four hospital projects currently over budget and years behind schedule were given bonuses, despite the administration admitting failures in their jobs.

By Grace Lyden on Nov 19, 2014 at 11:25 p.m.
Forum Reporter

MOORHEAD - After more than a year of living in motels, Melissa Rood has a home again.

It took that long because every time Rood, 53, applied for an apartment, landlords rejected her based on bad credit and a poor reference. A previous property owner claimed she owed rent and other fees, which she plans to dispute in court.

By Jennifer Hlad
Stars and Stripes
Published: September 15, 2014

SAN DIEGO — As part of the effort to eliminate the VA appointment backlog by the end of next year, Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald said Monday that he plans to increase the range of pay for VA doctors and nurses, among other changes.

Move America Forward has collected millions to send care packages to U.S. troops. But its appeals often rely on images and stories borrowed without permission, and its assets have been used to benefit political consulting firms and PACs.

by Kim Barker
ProPublica, Aug. 5, 2014, 5:45 a.m.

By: Anna Burleson, Forum News Service
Published June 20, 2014, 08:42 AM

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Sam Solberg attended the University of North Dakota for about a year and a half right out of high school. He had plans to go to medical school, was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity and liked playing indoor soccer, but in the fall of 2013 he decided college life just wasn’t for him and dropped out to join the military.

By Leo Shane III 
Military Times Staff writer
Jun. 5, 2014 - 05:32PM

Congress appears poised to adopt new legislation making it easier for veterans to get private medical care and harder for underperforming administrators to keep their jobs, under a deal announced by Senate leaders Thursday.

By Amy Jeter
The Virginian-Pilot

May 2, 2014

Starting this spring, more than 400,000 military retirees and senior dependents in the Tricare for Life program will owe the full amount for certain prescription refills if they use a retail pharmacy rather than a military pharmacy or a mail service.