This message was sent to ##Email##
|
|
|
|
|
| |
ABC News
Memorial Day is typically left untarnished by politics but the president's tweet Monday morning, which suggested that fallen U.S. troops would be "very happy" with his administration's performance, quickly brought Washington into the mix.
Twitter backlash aside, and in some cases because of it, this Memorial Day brings more service members seeking office in the nation's capital than in years past. More than 300 former service members are running or have run for Congress in this year's midterms, according to With Honor, a "cross-partisan organization" that supports veterans.
READ MORE
PBS News Hour
President Donald Trump is again playing loose with the facts, claiming a drop in illegal border crossings that no longer exists while blasting a source in a news story who does.
He is also assailing investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election, falsely suggesting the probes have failed to yield any meaningful results and distorting reality in asserting they are simply intended to justify why Democrat Hillary Clinton did not win the presidency.
READ MORE
 |
|
Four month average turn around with the VA’s Pension with Aid and Attendance
|
|
Military Times
Congress is ready to give troops their biggest pay raise in nine years next January, a move that will mean almost $700 more annually for even the most junior service members.
Recently, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee's personnel panel advanced their section of the annual defense authorization bill, which includes a 2.6 percent pay raise and a host of other military specialty pay renewals for 2019.
READ MORE
Health Data Management
The Department of Veterans Affairs has finalized a rule allowing telehealth providers to administer care to veterans across state lines and outside of a federal facility. Previously, VA physicians could only waive state licensing requirements and provide telehealth treatment across state lines if both the veteran and the doctor were located in a federally owned facility. However, the new rule removes those barriers, effectively enabling virtual care regardless of where in the United States the provider or veteran are located.
READ MORE
Task & Purpose
A siren or alarm can trigger Sandra Ewing's reflexes, making her believe she is back in Afghanistan.
Her instinct is to run to an aid station as she would when she was overseas.
But she is at home in Janesville, Wisconsin, miles away from falling helicopters and enemy attacks. Her muscular Great Dane/German Shepherd mix, Arrow, constantly reminds her of that. Ewing was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after coming home from more than a four-year career as an Army medic. During that time, she spent nine months in Afghanistan.
READ MORE
| | THIS WEEK'S POLL QUESTION |
|
Veterans Association of America wants to know ...
Has anyone attempted to assist you navigate the murky waters of suicide prevention?
- No, I haven't received any assistance of what I've been searching for
- Yes, there are several program that help veterans sustain themselves
- I'm still looking for answers, and finding it frustrating
- The programs that are available require too much information even as a veteran
- My city and state haven't given me much in the way of hope and inclusion as a veteran.
Click here to provide Veterans Association of America your answer.
We assess all answers with the utmost of care and consideration. Survey results revealed in next week's VAA Dispatch.
|
|
|
Military.com
Are you a veteran who wants to be a pilot? The Department of Transportation has a new program just for you.
The Forces to Flyers program is a three-year research initiative led by the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) and its Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. This program is designed to help ease the critical shortage of commercial pilots.
READ MORE
The Associated Press via Military.com
Military veterans who were discharged for relatively minor offenses say they often can't get jobs, and they hope a recent warning to employers by the state of Connecticut will change that.
The state's human rights commission told employers last month they could be breaking the law if they discriminate against veterans with some types of less-than-honorable discharges. Blanket policies against hiring such veterans could be discriminatory, the commission said, because the military has issued them disproportionately to black, Latino, gay and disabled veterans.
READ MORE
Transport Topics
When Jeff Harris, vice president of maintenance at USA Truck Inc., first started as an apprentice truck mechanic 29 years ago, he had a trade school diploma, a basic set of tools, a couple of crusty old mechanics who took him under their wing and showed him the ropes, and a desire to learn. “I’ve always been a gear head, pretty good at turning a wrench and always liked the challenge of figuring out what was wrong with something and fixing it,” said Harris, who also serves as chairman of the Technology & Maintenance Council, a council of American Trucking Associations.
That was then. Today, having a mechanical aptitude, being good at working with your hands and possessing an intellectual curiosity about how to fix something remains important. What's dramatically different, however, is the path to becoming a diesel technician, as well as the job itself, the education needed and the skills required.
READ MORE
By Catherine Iste
 The amount of information available at our fingertips is amazing. At any given moment, we can accomplish more, quicker. We can connect with more people, easily. And we can capture data, ideas and potential issues, simply. In many ways, this accessibility has had positive effects on our productivity. However, there are well-documented, notable downsides like increased stress, negative impacts on sleep and strains on interpersonal interactions.
READ MORE
The Olympian
On Memorial Day Weekend, we take time to reflect on the sacrifices that men and women in uniform have made to protect our freedom. The military community has given so much to us and deserves our respect and support. Unfortunately, scammers often try to target and profit from our veterans and active duty military personnel.
To honor the fallen this Memorial Day, Better Business Bureau Northwest and Pacific is doing its part to protect their families and the service members and veterans still with us.
READ MORE
Military Times
After months of review, the Pentagon will allow cellphones to continue to be brought into the building, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had considered a ban on cellphones, smartphones and other wearable technology, such as FitBits, after the GPS reporting company Strava published a global heat map based on user exercise routes.
READ MORE
|
|
|
'Housing / Employment' Results
In the previous issues of VAA Dispatch, we asked, "What opportunities have been provided you for housing and or employment since leaving the military?"
Here's how our readers responded:
|
|
| | VAA RESOURCES — JOB SEARCH, GRANTS, RESEARCH |
 Get what you need with these resources available to veterans and family members.
|
|
|
|
7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063
|
