Blog Post

IAVA Daily News Brief 06.21.12
Posted by Gretchen Andersen on June 21 2012

Here are some of today's top stories and happenings that IAVA is tracking. Prefer to receive real-time updates about major stories and legislation that IAVA is tracking? Follow us on Twitter @IAVAPressRoom and click here to get the News Brief delivered to your inbox every morning. 

MUST READS

1.) IAVA, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and VOWS Host Hiring Our Heroes Job Fair Today

IAVA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hosted a Hiring Our Heroes Job Fair today in New York City in partnership with Veterans on Wall Street (VOWS). The hiring fair - held from 8-1pm today on Wall Street - was free for vets and featured over 80 employers looking to hire veterans across various industries. IAVA had resume workshops and interview skills training on-site. For a complete list of employers that attended, click here.

2.) VA rushes to fix problem with vets job training program 

With just 10 days before a new education benefits is set to launch to help unemployed veterans learn a new skill, the VA has rushed to fix a problem that could have left community colleges in 18 states and Puerto Rico ineligible for participation. VA officials told Congress late Wednesday they were revising their eligibility criteria for community colleges to be part of the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program so that schools that offer a limited number of four-year bachelor degrees would not be left out.

3) For Combats Vets, Injury Symptoms Can Last for Years

Veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are still battling headaches, depression, dizziness and other symptoms up to eight years after their head injury occurred, researchers found. The study looked at 500 veterans who underwent general health and depression screenings between 2008 and 2011 at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center and were found to have symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury and post-concussion syndrome. 

AFGHANISTAN 

• Three U.S. troops, and an Afghan reporter are among the 21 people killed in a blast in eastern Afghanistan, American officials said Wednesday.

IRAQ 

• Turkish warplanes and attack helicopters struck Kurdish rebel targets inside Iraq after a rebel attack killed eight Turkish soldiers, Turkey’s military said Wednesday.

MILITARY AFFAIRS 

• Christof Heyns, the U.N.’s independent investigator on extrajudicial killings, accused the United States of sidestepping his questions on its use of armed drones to carry out targeted killings overseas. Heyns asked the United States to lay out the legal basis and accountability procedures for the use of armed drones and the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan.
• The Department of Labor is awarding $15 million in grants that it says will provide 8,600 homeless veterans with job training.

THE NEW GREATEST GENERATION 

• Former Army Ranger and Iraq veteran Peter Kassig, 24, helps treat wounded Syrians in Lebanon.
• Lidya Admounabdfany, a U.S. soldier born in Iraq, has regularly taken on combat missions and into the homes of Afghans to work with women.
• James E. Zumwalt will represent the fourth generation of his family to receive the Bronze Star.
• Bill Shephard, an Iraq war veteran, is selling a medal on eBay that he earned for his service in hopes of making money to support his wife and three children.
• Think you have what it takes? Go behind-the-scenes at summer “Hell Week” for new recruits into the U.S. Navy’s SEALs BUD/S program.
• NBC’s upcoming military-themed competition series Stars Earn Stripes has lined up a celebrity cast, including Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret.).

INSIDE WASHINGTON 

• Representative Bob Filner D-Calif. expressed his frustration with the V.A. on Tuesday. He noted with rising irritation that the V.A. has hired, by his count, more than 10,000 new employees in recent years, but has seen the backlog more than double, to over 900,000 pending claims.
• After some fiduciaries were found to be stealing benefits, failing to pay essential bills and even have criminal backgrounds, veterans advocates, Congress and the Veterans Affairs Department are making it a goal to improve the program, which covers 125,000 veterans that VA has determined are unable to handle their own finances

A wide-range of views, positions, and publications are represented in these articles. These views, positions and publications are not endorsed by nor do they necessarily represent the views of IAVA.

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