Veteran Issues Digest Number 1729

[admin]

1. Bill would clear vets' estates of VA debt, File this one under WTF

Posted by: "Colonel Dan" colonel-dan@sbcglobal.net coloneldan1

Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:19 am (PST)



_____

From: James [mailto:starjm50@yahoo. com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 7:35 PM
To: Jim
Subject: As Katie Costos, 'Nam Guadian Angel says: File this one under WTF
were they thinkingþ

Kathies site: <http://www.namguard ianangel. org/>
http://www.namguard ianangel. org/ , you can find her post about this here:
http://sanchopress. com/showDiary. do?diaryId= 160

Bill would clear vets’ estates of VA debt

By <mailto:rmaze@atpco. com?subject=Question from ArmyTimes.com reader> Rick
Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jan 22, 2008 17:26:38 EST
http://www.armytime s.com/news/ 2008/01/military _veteransestates _080122w/

A bill that would block the Department of Veterans Affairs from trying to
collect money from the estates of service members who die in combat was
introduced Tuesday by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.
Her bill, S 2536, applies only to debts to the VA, and not to money owed to
private-sector creditors or other federal agencies, such as the Internal
Revenue Service.
Hutchison is asking Senate leaders for quick passage of the bill, hoping to
bypass the normal process in which new bills are sent to committee for
consideration.
She could get high-level support. VA Secretary Dr. James Peake is expected
to write a letter to the Senate endorsing her call for expedited passage of
the bill, according to Senate sources.
VA officials said they supported the bill but did not confirm that Peake
would write a letter.
Waiving normal procedures would require the Senate Veterans’ Affairs
Committee, on which Hutchison serves, to allow the bill to proceed without
its involvement. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, the veterans’ affairs
committee chairman, would have to approve the move. Akaka aides said the
committee staff would study the measure first.
Few people die owing VA money, but Hutchison aides found that VA has
collected more than $56,000 from the families of 22 deceased soldiers,
mostly National Guard and reserve members called to active duty who received
overpayments of GI Bill education benefits.
Her bill would be retroactive to Sept. 11, 2001, allowing families or
estates that paid a debt to VA to receive a refund of any payment made since
that date.
Hutchison spokesman Matt Mackowiak said few people may be affected, but
Hutchison considers it improper for any family of a service member who dies
in combat to be contacted with a demand for money.
Current law requires contacting a family or estate if there is any
outstanding debt to VA at the time of death. A family has 180 days to file a
grievance, with the VA secretary permitted to waive the debts.
“This bill is about honoring our fallen heroes by treating the families they
left behind with dignity and by showing them we mean it when we tell them
our nation is truly grateful,” Hutchison said in a statement. “The fact that
VA is forced to collect a few hundred dollars from bereaved mothers and
fathers for something as simple as a small debt for education benefits is
ludicrous.”
Of the 22 cases, three involved Texans, Hutchison aides said. One was an
Army soldier killed by a sniper while on his third tour to Iraq whose family
repaid the government for a $389 overpayment of GI Bill benefits.
The family of another Army soldier was billed for $2,282 in outstanding
loans after the sergeant, who was married with four children, was killed in
an explosion on his second tour in Iraq. The third Texas case involved a
Marine Reservist killed by an explosion in Iraq who owed VA $845.
Hutchison aides said their review found similar cases in California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan,
Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington and
Wisconsin.

Is 'Funding' Really For Troops?
What Happened To Funding and Oversite For Military/Veteran Care In Previous
Congresses?

_____

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2. NC, local law firm hopes to continue pairing attorneys with veterans

Posted by: "Colonel Dan" colonel-dan@sbcglobal.net coloneldan1

Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:32 am (PST)


http://www.news- record.com/ apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20080122/ NRSTAFF/81438
8311.
contact: attorney firm at http://www.wcsr. com/ contact:
Veterans@wcsr. com

Need a veteran's attorney In Michigan.. contact: rpwalsh@sbcglobal. net

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
----
Article published Jan 22, 2008
Vets get free legal advice for filing claims

A local law firm hopes to continue pairing attorneys with veterans during
workshops.

By Jennifer Fernandez
Staff Writer

WINSTON-SALEM - James Gaither says he spent four years in the Air Force in
Vietnam, running covert missions out of nearby countries.

Forty years later, he says he's struggling with the effects of Agent Orange.
The chemical was used to clear brush that enemy forces used for cover. It
has been blamed for various medical issues in Vietnam veterans.

Gaither, 62, was among about 40 veterans, some from as far away as Virginia,
who sought help last week with filing disability claims at Winston-Salem' s
Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. The law firm, in collaboration with the
Young Lawyers Division of the N.C. Bar Association, provided free legal
advice as part of its new "When Duty Calls" program. Clinics were first held
last year in Raleigh and Washington.

Veterans each spent about an hour with an attorney and legal assistants,
said Tim McClain, an attorney with Womble Carlyle and former general counsel
for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

"More of these clinics need to happen," he said. "Because there is a real
need there to assist veterans."
Veterans Affairs will receive more than 800,000 claims this year, McClain
said.
According to the agency, 2.8 million veterans were receiving disability
compensation as of September 2007.

In 2006, Veterans Affairs spent more than $2.3 billion in North Carolina to
care for more than 756,000 veterans here.

That same year, 138,379 N.C. veterans and survivors received disability
benefits, pension payments or some type of compensation, the agency
reported.

Veterans can file claims on their own, but it is a complicated process,
McClain said.

Gaither said he recently has been denied a pension and has been trying for
seven or eight years to increase his disability payments. He said he needs
the help because he is now on several medications, which he blames on his
exposure to Agent Orange.

Womble welcomed him and everyone was very nice, Gaither said.

About 30 of Womble's employees volunteered their time for the workshop.

Help also came from about 25 local law students and 10 attorneys from other
area firms.

"I got the feeling that they're really going to help me," Gaither said.

The law firm plans to offer workshops in Atlanta and Charlotte later this
year. And other law firms are replicating the program in their areas, said
Tripp Greason, director of the firm's free legal programs.

"We're trying to expand this," McClain said. "We'd love for this sort of
thing to go nationwide."
Greason hopes the law firm will build the reputation and expertise so that
veterans know to "just come to us."

Law Office contacts:
Atlanta
Galvin Devore (404) 872-7000

Baltimore
Dede Fowler (410) 545-5800

Charlotte
Charlie Allison (704) 331-4946

Greensboro
Melissa Weaver (336) 574-8033

Greenville
Barbara Fountain (864) 239-5997

Raleigh
John Turlington (919) 755-2117
Research Triangle Park
Mia Pizzagalli (919) 484-2302

Tysons Corner
Cheri Edwards (703) 790-4688

Washington, DC
Deborah Kowal (202) 857-4414

Wilmington
Marie Swyka (302) 252-4350

Winston-Salem
Keith Tedrow (336) 721-3594


-----Original Message-----
From: Robert P. Walsh [mailto:rpwalsh@sbcglobal. net]
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 4:35 PM
To: Costello, Margaret
Cc: tammymk1@aol. com
Subject: Emailing: article

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:

Shortcut to:
http://www.news- record.com/ apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20080122/ NRSTAFF/81438
8311



3. Senate passes defense authorization bill

Posted by: "Colonel Dan" colonel-dan@sbcglobal.net coloneldan1

Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:40 am (PST)


Senate passes defense authorization bill

By Anne Flaherty - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 22, 2008 22:10:49 EST
http://www.examiner .com/a-1173420~ Senate_Passes_ Defense_Bill. html

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to approve a revised defense bill
authorizing a 3.5 percent pay raise for troops while sidestepping a veto
showdown with President Bush.

The 91-3 vote sends the $696 billion measure to Bush for his expected
signature.

The president had rejected an earlier version of the bill because of a
provision that would have guaranteed that victims of state-sponsored abuse
can sue foreign governments in court and collect judgments by seizing its
assets inside the United States. Bush said that would have exposed Iraq to
high-dollar lawsuits over abuse during the Saddam Hussein era at a time when
the country is struggling to rebuild its infrastructure.

The administration estimated that Iraq had more than $25 billion of assets
invested in the U.S. that could be tied up in litigation.

Democrats reluctantly revised the measure to allow Bush to grant immunity to
Iraq, so long as he determines that doing so promotes Iraqi reconstruction
and that Baghdad remains a "reliable ally" in the war on terror.

The House passed the new bill last week by a 369-46 vote.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who sponsored the provision on abuse
lawsuits, said the final bill still achieved his goal of "providing justice
for American victims of terrorism at the hands of terrorist states like Iran
and Libya."

"I will not rest until all American victims of terrorism get the justice
they deserve," he added.

The revised bill also makes the 3.5 percent pay raise retroactive to Jan. 1.

The decision to change the bill without trying to challenge Bush's rejection
reflects the difficulty Democrats have had in challenging the president on
even minor issues. Democrats lack the two-thirds majority needed to override
a presidential veto.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Bush's veto was a "terrible mistake"
because it delayed implementation of the various benefit programs for troops
included in the bill, including the pay raise.

The bill does not include a provision to bring troops home, as Democrats
want. But they say they will try again this year with legislation aimed at
giving soldiers and Marines more rest between combat tours, as well as
measures intended to curb contracting abuse.

"Most Republicans chose to stuck with the president on Iraq, and it
devastated our armed forces," said Reid, D-Nev.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he hopes Democrats will give
up trying to bring troops home by a certain date.

"It was wrong to tempt fate when our progress in Iraq was uncertain," said
McConnell, R-Ky. "It would be foolish to do so when progress is undeniable."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Bush is expected to sign the revised
measure.


4.
VA taps experience, aids homeless, VA should put every homeless vets

Posted by: "Colonel Dan" colonel-dan@sbcglobal.net coloneldan1

Wed Jan 23, 2008 9:14 am (PST)

Note: A big cause of homelessness is lack of progress in getting a VA claim
thru.. claim pending, denied, appeal, deny, meanwhile the veteran has no
money,
is depressed, frustrated, nobody hears him, feels nobody cares, VA pushes
pills at him. If you are homeless very long, you gain mental health
problems, even
more than you may have had.. they have no social intercourse with anyone
except a VA Pysch Dr from outer mongolia, who doesn't have a clue....
being unable to work, get along, and having no money causes homelessness.
VA should put every homeless vets claim on FAST TRACK.
Every Veteran service org, should devote majority of their charity..funds. .
to homeless veterans & ptograms in their area.
Take a good look at all the good causes these orgs contribute to... how
little of it goes to veteran's or veteran issues, and even less to Vet
homelessnes.
(s) Dan Cedusky


Monday, January 21, 2008
http://www.courier- journal.com/ apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20080121/ NEWS01/80
1210426

Veterans help other vets
VA taps experience, aids homeless

By Marcus Green
<mailto:magreen@courier- journal.com> magreen@courier- journal.com
The Courier-Journal, Louisville KY

In a tiny office sheltered from the din of the St. John Center, Tony Cobbin
leans closer to the homeless man in a wheelchair and listens to a familiar
story.

Darrell Briggs, a 53-year-old Army veteran, tells Cobbin that he is once
again trying to get sober.

It's a story that Cobbin, a counselor with the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs, knows well.

He was homeless before seeking help for drug and alcohol problems more than
six years ago. Now the former Army medic works with homeless veterans as
part of a national initiative the VA launched two years ago.

Sitting across from Briggs, Cobbin relates how treatment helped him after
several failed attempts. He talks about how his life changed when he entered
a program at Interlink Counseling. He says he's been sober since June 16,
2001.

"All I'm doing is passing on information that was given to me," Cobbin says.
"I'm just passing it to you because I know it worked for me, and I hope you
can see that it worked for me."

"Oh, I can see that," Briggs says.

"And," Cobbin says, "I hope it is something in me that you see that will
inspire you, man."

A new approach

The Veterans Affairs Department took an unusual step to help homeless
veterans two years ago: It began hiring people who know the situation
firsthand.

Nationwide, the department budgeted $5.9 million for about 124 full-time
peer counseling positions in 2007, according to the VA.

The government created the program in part because of a successful
initiative in Boston that pairs formerly homeless veterans with veterans
looking to get off the streets and into housing, said Paul Smits, a VA
consultant on homelessness issues.

"It's been so helpful," Smits said of the Boston program. "We've had such
good feedback from veterans who've been able to benefit from it."

That's the goal of officials in Louisville.

"Sometimes the bottom line is somebody who has actually been there and can
speak to that -- homelessness and the recovery process," said Todd Dedas, a
VA healthcare coordinator.

Cobbin speaks openly about his experience on the streets.

He grew up in Flint, Mich., and joined the Army at 18. He served from 1979
to 1990, he says, and drugs contributed to a demotion from sergeant to
specialist that eventually resulted in an honorable discharge.

Cobbin had used alcohol, hashish, heroin and other drugs, but he said his
spiral into drug addiction accelerated in September 1987, when he was
introduced to crack cocaine. He had arrived at a friend's house at Fort Sam
Houston in Texas for training after being stationed in Europe.

"I walked into his house and he shook my hand with one hand and gave me that
pipe with the other hand, and my life kind of went downhill from that point
on," he says.

Once he left the Army, Cobbin worked as a firefighter in Flint during most
of the 1990s, but his drug use continued. He used "whatever I could get my
hands on."

During his Army career, Cobbin had been stationed at Fort Knox. After
hearing from his ex-wife about a treatment program in Louisville, he boarded
a bus from Michigan with a gym bag and $20.

From there he went to Interlink, and then to a halfway house.

Skip forward a few years to a day last month. Cobbin is imploring Briggs to
seek treatment at Interlink.

"If I can do this, man, you can do it," Cobbin says.

Briggs agrees: "I can't keep doing what I'm doing." With his background,
Cobbin believes he's able to relate to homeless veterans. He just doesn't
know yet if he's making a difference.

But when Cobbin recently spoke at a mental health event at Louisville's VA
hospital, he was approached by a man grateful for a new outlook inspired by
Cobbin.

"To me that's what it's all about," Cobbin says.

Vet homelessness drops

Advocates for homeless veterans say little research has been done to gauge
the results of such peer counseling, although a Baltimore study on housing
assistance is to be completed this year.

"The idea that there is research being done . on the effectiveness of
one-on-one mentoring or counseling -- we know that that has to be better
than no help at all," said John Driscoll, vice president of operations and
programs for the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

Nationwide, programs designed to help homeless veterans appear to be
working. A VA survey reported that an estimated 195,827 homeless veterans
used its facilities each night in 2006, which Driscoll said is down from
more than 300,000 in 2003.

But the National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that the number of
homeless veterans rose slightly from 2005 to 2006.

The news was better for Kentucky, where an estimated 425 veterans were
homeless in 2006, down 56 percent from the year before. In Indiana, the
number of homeless veterans dropped by about 100, to 1,200. The national
drop is due to expanded care through counseling centers, VA staff who work
closely with homeless veterans and an increase in locally based services,
Driscoll said.

Most services for homeless veterans emerged after the end of the Vietnam
War, and it took soldiers from that era about a decade to request help, he
said. Now, there are hundreds more places where homeless veterans can get
help.

For that reason, and because veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan
are getting early mental health assessments, "there is reason to think that
the impact is not going to be as severe as it was after Vietnam," Driscoll
said.

The vast majority of veterans who served in those wars have not experienced
homelessness, according to the coalition, but Driscoll expects the numbers
will rise in the years to come.

The reasons veterans become homeless are complex and can't necessarily be
traced to their military or combat experiences, including post-traumatic
stress.

A study funded by the VA shows that about 12 percent of homeless veterans
were homeless before enlisting or had problems associated with homelessness,
such as poverty, Driscoll said.

"In an all-volunteer force a lot of people do go into the military because
it is the way out of poverty or out of compromised family situations. . For
the great, great majority of people that go that route, the military is
their salvation," he said.

Victory can be elusive

During a typical week, Cobbin sees a stream of homeless veterans. Some are
looking to get warm. Others, like Briggs, want help getting identification
cards.

Whatever the reason, Cobbin tries to find out why they are homeless and,
when needed, prod them to seek treatment. He says the two most common causes
of homelessness are substance abuse and mental illness.

When they spoke in December, Briggs said he struggled with drugs and alcohol
and became homeless about 10 years ago after his mother died. He couldn't
pay the mortgage because of his crack habit.

Briggs said he'd been to Interlink twice but hadn't completed the program.

"So this time I want to do what it takes to get my life back together," he
said. "I can't take this no more."

But a month after talking to him, Cobbin hadn't seen Briggs.

"We don't know where he's at," he said. "We don't have a clue."

Reporter Marcus Green can be reached at (502) 582-4675.