FW: VFW Action Corps Weekly

Thank You

Robert Serge

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Blog Master

To all my fellow veterans friends and family my we all remember 

From: tmorris@vfw.org
Date: Fri, 23 May 2014 15:12:02 -0400

VFW Action Corps Weekly May 23, 2014 In This Issue: 1. VA Secretary Writes Letter to Veterans 2. House Clears NDAA 3. Senate Defense Bill Update 4. New Medal of Honor Recipient Named 5. Memorial Day 2014 6. Korean War MIA Identified 1. VA Secretary Writes Letter to Veterans: In an effort to help restore the faith all veterans should have in their VA healthcare system, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki released an open letter to veterans yesterday to address current allegations and discuss the way forward. "Allegations of VA employees' misconduct have surfaced over the last several weeks, beginning with scheduling delays at the Phoenix VA Health Care System," he wrote. "I take any allegations about patient safety or employee misconduct very seriously." And so does the VFW, which wants whatever is broken to be fixed, for people to be held appropriately accountable to the fullest extent of the law, and for veterans to have their faith restored in their VA healthcare system. "Veterans dying as the result of access to care issues is 100 percent unacceptable," said VFW National Commander Bill Thien, "but we must wait for the results of the IG report to separate truth from conjecture and discover what really occurred." Read the secretary's letter at http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2543. 2. House Clears NDAA: On Thursday, the House passed by a vote of 325-98 the FY 2015 National Defense bill. H.R. 4435 authorizes $592 billion for defense programs, $2.7 billion less than the president's request, and includes $79.4 billion to support overseas contingency operations in Afghanistan. The legislation provides a 1.8-percent pay increase and rejects Pentagon-backed increases to TRICARE enrollment fees and copayments, reduced housing allowances, and other reductions to benefits provided to service members and their families. Other provisions included in the bill aim to improve DOD's Sexual Assault and Response Program and strengthen reforms and protections for victims. It also requires the Pentagon to provide a detailed report to Congress on implementation of all sexual assault provisions enacted into law since 2012. For complete coverage, visit the HASC website at http://armedservices.house.gov/. 3. Senate Defense Bill Update: The Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee cleared their section of the annual defense bill this week. Among the $166.8 billion mark were several cost-cutting measures proposed by the Defense Department. They include a one percent pay raise for troops, and a proposal that would freeze flag officer pay, and limit housing allowance increases to below the rate of inflation. The subcommittee also agreed to increase pharmacy co-pays for prescriptions filled outside of military treatment facilities. The bill included several provisions that would expand on many of the policies contained in the fiscal 2014 NDAA regarding sexual assault in the military. The Senate is expected to take up the complete bill after the Memorial Day recess. The VFW supports provisions in the House-passed version that will provide a 1.8 percent increase in pay, and no changes to the TRICARE healthcare system or housing allowance. We look to the Senate to mirror the House-passed bill, which rejected fees and other provisions that ask our service members and their families to shoulder the burden of budget cuts. 4. New Medal of Honor Recipient Named: The president will present the Medal of Honor to retired Marine Corps Cpl. William "Kyle" Carpenter in a White House ceremony on June 19. Carpenter was medically retired due to wounds received covering a grenade on Nov. 21, 2010, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Company F, 2d Battalion, 9th Marines, and will become the eighth living and 15th overall recipient of the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. The 24-year-old is currently a full-time student at the University of South Carolina. Read more at http://www.stripes.com/news/marine-corps/former-marine-cpl-kyle-carpenter-to-be-awarded-the-medal-of-honor-1.283944. 5. Memorial Day 2014: National Commander Bill Thien will be representing the VFW in the White House Monday morning as well as participating in Memorial Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Locally, many of our 7,000 VFW Posts will be having similar ceremonies to honor our fallen. As we gather to remember the more than one million Americans who died in our nation's conflicts going back to the Revolutionary War, please remember to keep our 83,000 missing and unaccounted-for servicemen—and their families—in your thoughts. As of today, there are 73,624 missing from World War II; 7,883 from the Korean War; 1,642 from the Vietnam War; 126 from the Cold War; and 6 from post-Vietnam wars and conflicts. More information, plus loss statistics, are available at the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/summary_statistics/. 6. Korean War MIA Identified: The Defense POW/MIA Office announced the identification of remains belonging to Army Pfc. James R. Holmes, 18, of Warren, Ohio, who will be buried May 29 in Arlington National Cemetery. On Dec. 1, 1950, Holmes was declared missing in action as his unit, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, pushed through North Korea to the Yalu River. As part of a 1953 prisoner exchange, returning U.S. service members reported that Holmes had been captured by the Chinese, but died in captivity in 1951. Read more about his story and those of others at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/news/news_releases/. To sign up new veterans' advocates, click here: http://capwiz.com/vfw/mlm/signup.htm. As always, we want to share your advocacy stories on the VFW Capitol Hill blog. To share your stories either fill out our online form by clicking here, http://www.vfw.org/Forms/Capitol-Hill-Blog-Submissions/, or simply email photos and stories directly to vfwac@vfw.org.

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