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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.


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July 2, 2014

WASHINGTON - Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Sloan Gibson met with the leadership of 26 Military and Veterans Service Organizations (MSOs and VSOs) to reaffirm his commitment to work together to address the unacceptable, systemic problems in accessing VA healthcare.


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By ANDY MEDICI
Federal Times
Jun. 2, 2014 - 12:24PM

The Veterans Affairs Department secretary would be able to fire senior executives and the agency would receive new hiring authorities and emergency funding under legislation announced June 1.


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April 24, 2014 6:00 am  •  By Brian Gehring

Last week I had an interesting conversation with a fellow from Maryland, a Vietnam vet named Ed Nicholson.

He called me to talk about fishing — more specifically, fly fishing.

Nicholson told me that about a dozen years ago, while he was in Walter Reed Medical Center undergoing treatment for cancer, he got to know quite a few injured military members and disabled veterans.


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Prairie Public Television is airing a three-part television series in May that addresses the concerns of many Veterans.  


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Categories: Financial


BY 

14,100. Sounds like a random number, doesn’t it? But to us, 14,100 represents the number of servicemembers, veterans and their family members whose stories have come to us through their consumer complaints.


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Categories: VA Health

By Terri Moon Cronk | American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2014

The Defense Department has made troops' health records electronically available to the Veterans Affairs Department to speed up the adjudication of disability claims, a DOD health information technology official said.


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Categories: Mental Health

Soldiers Share Experiences
January 12, 2014 6:00 am  •  By Brian Gehring

Stephen Herda didn’t think anything had changed, much less himself.

Even after he was wounded in a rocket attack in Iraq in 2007, Herda said, he considered himself to be the same man when he returned home to Mandan.

Others noticed a change.

“I’m pretty much an open book, if you want to read it,” Herda said.


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Categories: Appreciation

WASHINGTON — A handful of World War II veterans were the center of attention Wednesday at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the long, fierce Battle of Okinawa. At the National World War II Memorial in the nation’s capital, a wreath was presented to honor the 183,000 allied servicemembers who fought in the 82-day struggle on Okinawa that began April 1, 1945.


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The debut novel by Silver Star recipient Elliot Ackerman might be one of the first works of fiction about the Afghan war to be published by a veteran who fought in it — but he expects more will follow.