NOVEMBER 17, 2009
VA Working With New Veterans Courts.
USA
Today (11/24) reports, "Special courts aimed at
helping veterans with legal problems are emerging around the country
as service members return from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, spurring
efforts to help them and others who served in the military." The
courts coordinate with the VA and other service providers to allow
veterans charged with minor infractions to "opt into services such
as drug treatment or job training to avoid jail or fines and
ultimately have their cases dismissed." VA Secretary Eric Shinseki
"directed every veterans center to designate a staff member to work
with the courts to ensure veterans in the criminal justice system
can tap into VA services, says Jim McGuire, who manages the agency's
Health Care for Re-entry Veterans program." Sean Clark, national
coordinator for Veterans Justice Outreach at the VA, said, "The VA
in the past hasn't been as aggressive about reaching out to the
courts. We want to ramp that up."
Impact:
Veterans, criminal justice system
Medal Of Honor Recipient Died.
NBC
Nightly News
(11/23)
reported, "America has lost another recipient of the Medal of Honor.
Alejandro Ruiz has died. He was 85. The son of Mexican immigrants,
he fought in Okinawa, walking through withering fire and grenades to
take out a pill box and single-handedly killed 12 enemy soldiers. As
a result, President Truman awarded him with the medal in 1946. ...
His death leaves 92 living recipients of the Medal of Honor."
Impact:
Medal of Honor
New Disability Evaluation System Expected To Shrink Waiting Time.
Olympia
(WA) Olympian (11/23) reported that the Disability
Evaluation System, which is designed to reduce the waiting time for
veterans' disability claims," will expand to Fort Lewis and five
other military installations. It "aligns the disjointed processes
for filing medical claims with the Department of Defense and U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs." Seattle VA Regional Office external
affairs manager Rob Hard said that "it now takes about five months
to complete a claim...but the new program should lead to new claims
being "completed at, or very close to, the service member's date of
discharge from military service." Improvements include "a single
disability rating used by both the military and VA."
Impact:
Disability evaluations, Seattle
VARO