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Veterans
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
WASHINGTON, DC – On Monday, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) and Larry Seaton from the Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier announced that the Korean War Unknown was presented with the Korean Ambassador for Peace Medal. This medal is awarded by the Korean government to American veterans who fought in the Korean War.
“Our brave men and women in uniform fought in Korea to preserve the ideals of freedom and justice for a people they had never met but for values we all cherish. Far too many of those veterans were not honored when they returned home and the Korean Ambassador for Peace Medal is designed to recognize their service and sacrifice so many years ago,” said Thompson. “So it is only fitting that we present this medal to the Korean Unknown at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, honoring all those who served in the Korean War and preserve their legacy for generations to come. I want to thank my constituent, Larry Seaton, for bringing this issue to my attention and for his service to the Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.”
“Since 1921, The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has symbolized our nation's appreciation for those military personnel who have served our country and were unaccounted for, either interred as “Unknown” or listed as MIA,” said Seaton. “The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency currently lists 7,676 unaccounted for from the Korean War, 592 of those listed are from California. Recovery and identification of newly discovered remains from previous wars and conflicts is still underway in locations throughout the world”.
One of the more than 36,000 troops killed in the Korean War rests at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, representing all those who fought on those battlefields. Seaton, who is from Napa, contacted Thompson’s office with the idea that the Korean War Unknown should be symbolically honored with this recognition and Thompson contacted and worked with the Korean government.
Additional information on the Korean War can be found on the Society of the Honor Guard’s Web site at www.tombguard.org.
Congressman Mike Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
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- Written by: Department of Veterans Affairs
Beginning in 2017, President Trump proclaimed November Veterans and Military Families Month, marking the first time America celebrated Veterans and military families for the entire month and not just on Veterans Day, in keeping with the President’s strong focus on improving care and benefits to our nation’s heroes.
That tradition continues again this year, with more than 300 events at VA hospitals, benefits offices and cemeteries across the country, including: Senior leader visits to VA facilities, open houses, town halls, benefits claims clinics, volunteer recognitions, homeless veteran initiative events, suicide-prevention events, faith-based community events and flag planting tributes at national cemeteries.
In addition to the local and regional events across the country, VA is conducting a number of national events, including:
– The annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery and leadership breakfast at the National Press Club.
– White House hosting Veterans state and local leadership event Nov. 15.
– Expansion of the ChooseVA branding campaign.
– Legal Services Week during the first week of November, providing free legal services to Veterans in need.
– VetTalkX events in nine locations, which are TEDx-type local activities featuring key Veterans sharing their stories of post-military life and connecting Veterans with their communities, all to help bridge the civilian-military divide.
This year’s celebration of Veterans and Military Families Month caps an unprecedented period of improvement for VA, as the department has made groundbreaking progress over the last two years in the areas of accountability, transparency and efficiency across the department while enjoying an important series of legislative successes.
“At VA, veterans and their families are at the center of everything we do,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “Veterans and Military Families Month is an opportunity for us to honor the service of these patriots while educating communities about VA benefits and services and our commitment to customer service improvement.”
The full list of national events for Veterans and Military Families month is available at this link.
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- Written by: Department of Veterans Affairs
“Caregivers make tremendous sacrifices to address the daily needs of veterans who served our nation,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “These mothers, wives, fathers, husbands and other loved ones deserve our recognition and support for all they do to care for veterans.”
Caregivers provide a valuable service to veterans by assisting them beyond the walls of VA medical facilities with much-needed support, such as accessing the health care system, providing emotional and physical support and enabling many injured veterans to stay in their homes, rather than living their lives in an institutional setting.
The recent passage of the VA MISSION Act of 2018 will expand eligibility for VA’s Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers to veterans of all eras of service – fulfilling President Trump’s commitment to help veterans and their families live healthy and fulfilling lives.
The expansion will occur in two phases, starting with eligible veterans who incurred or aggravated a serious injury in the line of duty on or before May 7, 1975, with further expansion to follow.
Currently, VA is developing an implementation plan for the MISSION Act and encourages all caregivers and veterans to learn about the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers, as well as the many additional resources already available to all caregivers by visiting http://www.caregiver.va.gov or by calling the Caregiver Support Line toll free at 855-260-3274.
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- Written by: Mendocino College
The resource fair will feature college departments and local agencies that support veterans and their families.
Participants will include the Employment Development Department, VA Outpatient Clinic, Mendocino County Veterans Services, North Bay Veteran Resource Center, Wreaths Across America, the Mendocino College Disability Resource and Native American Resource Centers, and more.
The Veteran Resource Center, located in room 735 of the Lowery Student Center, will be open throughout the day on Nov. 8, and all are encouraged to visit the center to learn more about available services and enjoy free coffee and sweet treats.
The free lunch will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and will be catered by the Mendocino College Culinary Arts department.
For more information about this event please contact Anastasia Simpson-Logg at 707-468-3102.
The Mendocino College Admissions and Records office and the Veteran Resource Center will again be hosting Heroes’ Trees Nov. 1 through 30. Trees will be available in the lobby outside of Admissions and Records and in the Lowery Student Center outside of the Veteran Resource Center.
This project provides an opportunity to honor veterans by creating a remembrance ornament which shares a photograph or story of a veteran and is displayed on a tree throughout the month of November. All are welcome to create an ornament and place it on a tree.
Supplies for this purpose will be available at Admissions and Records and the Veteran Resource Center and a table with supplies will be available during the Veterans Day Resource Fair. To learn more about this project, please visit: http://www.ourheroestree.com/welcome/.
The Mendocino College Ukiah campus is located at 1000 Hensley Creek Road.
For more information about this event, contact Marianna Cooper at 707-468-3104. For information on other campus events please visit www.mendocino.edu .
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- Written by: Department of Veterans Affairs
MSEP is a career program connecting military spouses with more than 390 affiliated employers who have committed to recruit, hire, promote and retain military spouses in portable careers.
“By developing skills, knowledge, and abilities that can be used in high-demand industry sectors, military spouses – especially those who face frequent relocations – can achieve employment continuity and increased opportunities for upward career mobility,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “BVA is committed to delivering better services to veterans and their families, and we understand that military spouses offer unique perspectives that can help us deliver on our promise to care for veterans.”
The board’s mission is to conduct hearings and decide appeals properly and in a timely manner.
The MSEP is part of the DOD’s broader Spouse Education and Career Opportunities, or SECO, program, which seeks to reduce the 23 percent unemployment rate experienced by military spouses and 25 percent wage gap experienced by military wives.
SECO provides education and career guidance to military spouses worldwide and offers free, comprehensive resources and tools related to career exploration; education; training and licensing; employment readiness; and career connections. SECO also offers free career-coaching services six days a week.
To learn more about SECO, visit Military OneSource or call 800-342-9647 to speak to a SECO career coach.
For more information on the MSEP and the 350,327 active job postings for military spouses, visit https://msepjobs.militaryonesource.mil .
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- Written by: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
“The team at the DMC has enhanced services to our Veterans,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “It’s our mission to take care of our veterans, no matter what their needs are. DMC is in concert with our priority of improving customer service and will continue to gather customer feedback through direct feedback, surveys and outreach in FY19 to further enhance the veterans’ experience.”
For the past three years, DMC received around 1 million calls annually with an average call wait time of about 21 minutes. In FY 2017, DMC launched a series of internal efficiencies and process improvements to enhance contact center capabilities.
Initiatives included enhancing staffing levels to meet demand, enhancing contact center technology, focusing on employee development and engagement, and implementing an automated 12-month payment plan.
These veteran-focused initiatives represent a 79 percent reduction over two years to the average time for waiting and a 40 percent increase of actual calls taken. These are all indicators of successful initiatives providing a better experience for veterans and VA employees.
The DMC’s inbound contact center serves as the central point for veterans and their family members to make payment arrangements, or receive guidance regarding the collection process on overpayments which could include debts created from education or pension payments.
Debt counselors at the DMC work with callers in a professional and service-oriented manner to help them understand their options to address overpayments with veterans either through extended repayment plans, the dispute process, compromise process or waiver process
DMC’s contact center provides debt counseling for the Veterans Benefits Administration, and consolidated collection services of non-health care debt for Veterans Health Administration and National Cemetery Administration, enabling these entities to focus resources on accomplishing their core missions.
DMC has provided centralized debt collection programs of veteran benefit overpayments since 1975 and became a fee-for-service Enterprise Center in 1996.
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- Written by: Department of Veterans Affairs
Signed by Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and VA Secretary Robert Wilkie, the joint statement reinforces both departments’ commitment to ensuring the successful transition from a legacy patient-data system to a modernized one that will continue to support active-duty service members, veterans and their families.
“The joint statement between DOD and VA represents tangible evidence of our commitment to change how we deliver veteran-focused, provider-friendly care,” Wilkie said. “The new EHR system will be interoperable with DOD, while also improving VA’s ability to collaborate and share information with community care providers. This will ease the burden on service members as they transition from military careers and will be supported by multiple medical providers throughout their lives.”
VA signed a contract with Cerner Corp. May 17 to replace VA’s 40-year-old legacy Veterans Integrated System Technology Architecture (VistA) health care records technology over the next 10 years with the new Cerner system, which is in the pilot phase at DOD.
Collaborating with DOD will ensure that VA: understands the challenges encountered as DOD deploys its EHR system called Military Health System GENESIS (MHS GENESIS); adapts an approach by applying lessons learned to anticipate and mitigate known issues; assesses prospective efficiencies to help deploy faster; and delivers an EHR that is fully interoperable.
"We are committed to partnering with the VA to support the lifetime care of our service members, Veterans and their families," Mattis said. "This modern electronic health record will ensure those who serve our nation have quality health care as they transition from service member to Veteran."
“The EHR will give health care providers a full picture of patient medical history, driving better clinical outcomes,” Wilkie said. “It will also help us identify veterans proactively who are at higher risk for issues, such as opioid addiction and suicide, so health care providers can intervene earlier and save lives.”
For more information about VA’s Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization, go to www.ehrm.va.gov.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Lt. Col. Nehring, 44, of Fresno, died Oct. 16 in a training flight crash in the Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine.
He was deployed to Ukraine to support a joint and multinational exercise known as Clear Sky 2018. He was a member of the 194th Fighter Squadron, 144th Fighter Wing, California Air National Guard, based in Fresno.
In memorial, Gov. Brown ordered that flags be flown at half-staff over the State Capitol. Lt. Col. Nehring's family will receive a letter of condolence from the governor.
The governor and first lady extend their deepest condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time.
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- Written by: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
“Bringing on additional judges means the board will be better staffed to conduct hearings and decide appeals properly in a timely manner,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “Combined with procedural changes under the Appeals Modernization and Improvement Act of 2017 [AMA] and the hiring of more than 200 additional Board attorneys, this translates into better and faster service for Veterans.”
Veterans law judges are presidential appointees and go through a thorough vetting process. After an initial screening, the chairman of the board recommends a list of candidates to the Secretary of the VA. If agreed to, the list of selectees is forwarded to the White House for final approval. Once approved, the selectees are notified by the chairman and officially sworn in.
The following veterans law judges will assume their roles Oct. 14, and will begin holding hearings and signing decisions for Veterans and other appellants: Lauren Cryan, Evan Deichert, William Donnelly and Cynthia Skow.
In fiscal year 2018, the board issued a historic 85,288 decisions to veterans – 61.6 percent more than 2017. Expanding the roster of veterans law judges will allow the board to continue issuing more decisions for veterans, as VA prepares for full implementation of the AMA.
This law transforms a complex appeals process into one that is simplified, timely and transparent by providing veterans with increased choice and control. The AMA will go into effect on Feb. 14.
For more information about the board and its progress on appeals modernization, visit https://www.bva.va.gov.