By Debbie Gregory. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is urging Congress to act quickly to temporarily extend a troubled program aimed at widening Veterans’ access to private-sector health care. Secretary Shulkin pointed to the growing demand for medical treatment outside the Department of Veterans Affairs. Shulkin intends to test new screening criteria over the next […]
By Debbie Gregory. The number of military facilities that are so poorly maintained that they now meet the Pentagon’s definition of “failing” has steadily been on the rise. The maintenance backlog for Army facilities alone has grown substantially, rising from approximately $7 billion to $10.8 billion in just the last year. Army experts guestimate that it […]
By Debbie Gregory. A coalition of retired admirals and generals are protesting “irresponsible and dangerous” legislation they say that would put mentally ill veterans in harm’s way by providing them easy access to firearms. The United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 1181, the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act, sponsored by Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN), Chairman of […]
By Debbie Gregory. Immigrants serving in the United States military have deep historical roots. Non-citizens have fought with the United States Armed forces since the Revolutionary War, and offer greater racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity than citizen recruits. This diversity is particularly valuable given the military’s increasingly global agenda. But now, the futures of […]
By Debbie Gregory. National Guard veteran Amie Muller succumbed to pancreatic cancer last month. She believed it was a result of deployments to Iraq and exposure to burn pits. Burn pits produced billowing toxic smoke night and day at an air base in northern Iraq. After returning to Minnesota, she began experiencing health problems usually […]
By Debbie Gregory. Former service members exposed to contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune over a 35-year period can now apply for Veterans Disability Benefits, under a new federal rule. For decades, complaints blamed on the water at Lejeune, including serious ailments such as cancers, infertility, neurobehavioral effects, and deaths, have plagued the […]
By Debbie Gregory. Defense Secretary James Mattis has withdrawn retired senior diplomat Anne Patterson as his choice for Undersecretary of Defense for Policy after the White House indicated unwillingness to fight what it said would be a battle for Senate confirmation. Mattis did so after Senators Ted Cruz (R-Tex ) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark), two […]
By Debbie Gregory. More than a half-million Veterans with other-than-honorable discharges will begin receiving mental health care services through the Department of Veterans Affairs. “We are going to go and start providing mental health care to those with other-than-honorable discharges,” VA Secretary David Shulkin testified to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. “I don’t want […]
By Debbie Gregory. A large group of active-duty Marines are under investigation for sharing nude photos of female troops without their consent. And as the scandal widens, the Marine Corps’ commandant has stepped in with an official statement, calling on the victims to come forward. “These allegations themselves, they undermine everything that we stand for […]
By Debbie Gregory. Meeting the unknown challenges of the 21st century depends more on the creativity of those in uniform to see new connections and opportunities than it does on any killer app or new technology. And this smart-city technology could be coming to a military base near you. The use of artificial intelligence, analytics, […]
