Blog Post

IAVA Daily News Brief 08.01.12
Posted by Hallie Seegal on August 1 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) For-profit school officials strike back at critical report

As the negative press surrounding for-profit universities and underserved student veterans mounts, officials from those schools are pushing back to defend their business model as a valuable and unfairly maligned option for nontraditional students. The response comes days after IAVA launched our new “Defend the New GI Bill” national campaign to educate and protect student veterans against abuses by predatory for-profit schools looking to cash-in on their GI Bill benefits. Watch the PSA here.

2) Home of the Brave 5: Nick Colgin Survived ‘Hell On Earth’

Best friends Nick and Jeff joined the Army together. In Afghanistan and Iraq, they'd both encountered the horrors of war. One would be seriously wounded and awarded the Bronze Star for saving a man’s life. The other wouldn't make it home to see his friend again. Watch their story of service and sacrifice here.

3) Dogs: A Medicine For Mental Health Problems?

Sgt. Charles Hernandez suffered from traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries whilst in Iraq and returned to the U.S. with seizures, trouble walking and post-traumatic stress disorder. Now, he has a new physician, and his name is Valor. He’s a half labrador retriever, half great dane, and he accompanies the retired National Guardsmen everywhere. Hernandez is now one of a growing number of Americans receiving treatment from a psychiatric service animal. 

AFGHANISTAN

• South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s husband Michael Haley is preparing for a one-year deployment to Afghanistan set to start in January. Michael is a first lieutenant in the state’s National Guard.
• Afghan truckers carrying supplies for NATO troops worry about what will happen when forces leave the country, as the Taliban now labels them as infidels.

IRAQ

• July was Iraq’s deadliest month in two years, with 325 people killed nationwide.
• Iraq exported 2.52 million barrels of oil a day in July, generating sales of $7.5 billion.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

• The number of worldwide terror attacks fell to 10,283 last year, down from 11,641 in 2010 and the lowest since 2005, the State Department reported. What’s made the difference? State cites the May 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda members killed last year.
• An Army sergeant was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in prison, a demotion and docked a month's pay for his role in the alleged racial hazing of a fellow soldier Pvt. Danny Chen who later committed suicide.

THE NEW GREATEST GENERATION

• Army Sgt. Vince Hancock became the first American man to defend an Olympic gold medal in skeet shooting by winning the event Tuesday afternoon at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
• NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg opened the newest addition to the city's employment aid service Tuesday devoted to helping returning veterans transition from combat to career. The new Workforce1 center, located at Madison Avenue and 26th Street, will have employment experts, who are also vets, help job seekers with improving their interview skills, adapt their armed service skills and find open positions.
• The first opera about the Iraq war reaches out to veterans suffering from PTSD.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

• A veterans bill providing VA medical care to people who worked on Camp Lejeune from 1956 to 1987 is on its way to the president after passing the House and the Senate. Up to 750,000 veterans and their families may be eligible for care due to  illnesses or conditions stemming from exposure to contaminated drinking water at Lejeune during that time.
• An op-ed in the Sacramento Bee discusses the series of “unfounded and arbitrary downgrades” that low-wage VA employees have been subjected to over the past two years. The writer takes particular offense to these demotions as many of these employees are veterans themselves.

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.

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) For-profit school officials strike back at critical report

As the negative press surrounding for-profit universities and underserved student veterans mounts, officials from those schools are pushing back to defend their business model as a valuable and unfairly maligned option for nontraditional students. The response comes days after IAVA launched our new “Defend the New GI Bill” national campaign to educate and protect student veterans against abuses by predatory for-profit schools looking to cash-in on their GI Bill benefits. Watch the PSA here.

2) Home of the Brave 5: Nick Colgin Survived ‘Hell On Earth’

Best friends Nick and Jeff joined the Army together. In Afghanistan and Iraq, they'd both encountered the horrors of war. One would be seriously wounded and awarded the Bronze Star for saving a man’s life. The other wouldn't make it home to see his friend again. Watch their story of service and sacrifice here.

3) Dogs: A Medicine For Mental Health Problems?

Sgt. Charles Hernandez suffered from traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries whilst in Iraq and returned to the U.S. with seizures, trouble walking and post-traumatic stress disorder. Now, he has a new physician, and his name is Valor. He’s a half labrador retriever, half great dane, and he accompanies the retired National Guardsmen everywhere. Hernandez is now one of a growing number of Americans receiving treatment from a psychiatric service animal. 

AFGHANISTAN

• South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s husband Michael Haley is preparing for a one-year deployment to Afghanistan set to start in January. Michael is a first lieutenant in the state’s National Guard.
• Afghan truckers carrying supplies for NATO troops worry about what will happen when forces leave the country, as the Taliban now labels them as infidels.

IRAQ

• July was Iraq’s deadliest month in two years, with 325 people killed nationwide.
• Iraq exported 2.52 million barrels of oil a day in July, generating sales of $7.5 billion.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

• The number of worldwide terror attacks fell to 10,283 last year, down from 11,641 in 2010 and the lowest since 2005, the State Department reported. What’s made the difference? State cites the May 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda members killed last year.
• An Army sergeant was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in prison, a demotion and docked a month's pay for his role in the alleged racial hazing of a fellow soldier Pvt. Danny Chen who later committed suicide.

THE NEW GREATEST GENERATION

• Army Sgt. Vince Hancock became the first American man to defend an Olympic gold medal in skeet shooting by winning the event Tuesday afternoon at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
• NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg opened the newest addition to the city's employment aid service Tuesday devoted to helping returning veterans transition from combat to career. The new Workforce1 center, located at Madison Avenue and 26th Street, will have employment experts, who are also vets, help job seekers with improving their interview skills, adapt their armed service skills and find open positions.
• The first opera about the Iraq war reaches out to veterans suffering from PTSD.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

• A veterans bill providing VA medical care to people who worked on Camp Lejeune from 1956 to 1987 is on its way to the president after passing the House and the Senate. Up to 750,000 veterans and their families may be eligible for care due to  illnesses or conditions stemming from exposure to contaminated drinking water at Lejeune during that time.
• An op-ed in the Sacramento Bee discusses the series of “unfounded and arbitrary downgrades” that low-wage VA employees have been subjected to over the past two years. The writer takes particular offense to these demotions as many of these employees are veterans themselves.

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.

  Share:
 del.icio.us  digg  reddit  facebook  newsvine myspace twitter