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IAVA Daily News Brief 09.30.09
Posted by Michelle McCarthy on September 30 2009

Here are some of today's top stories and happenings at IAVA.  Prefer to receive real-time updates about major stories and legislation that IAVA is tracking?  Sign-up to receive the IAVA Daily News Brief in your inbox each morning or follow us on Twitter @IAVAPressRoom.

MUST READS

1) Obama in New Round of Meetings on Afghanistan

President Obama opened a new round of meetings on Afghanistan strategy on Tuesday, beginning with a White House session with the new NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who remained noncommittal about the idea of sending more troops to the region.  "I agree with President Obama in his approach - strategy first, then resources," Rasmussen said. "The first thing is not numbers. It is to find and fine-tune the right approach to implement the strategy already laid down."  President Obama also sat down Tuesday with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, but a scheduled meeting with his entire national security team to discuss Afghanistan was put off until Wednesday afternoon.

2) Military Homeowner Assistance Program Begins Today

A program to help military homeowners caught in the downturn of the housing market will start processing applications on Wednesday. About 4,300 homeowners have already applied for assistance under the expanded Homeowners Assistance Program, which was signed into law Feb. 17 with $555 million in funding. Permanent change-of-station orders, wounded warriors, surviving spouses and those affected by base realignment and closure actions will be eligible for the program.  Click here to read IAVA's 2009 Issue Report Coming Home: The Housing Crisis and Homelessness Threaten New Veterans.

3) VA Bars Release of Long-Term Care, Nursing Home Reports

Facing congressional scrutiny over details revealed in a review of care given to veterans at one of its Pennsylvania facilities, the Department of Veterans Affairs has issued a directive preventing the release of similar reports nationwide.  In a directive dated Sept. 25, VA officials in Washington informed local agency officials that inspection reports like one disclosed about a VA nursing home in Philadelphia are not to be released to the public.  The directive comes less than a week after the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review disclosed details of a 2008 report on the VA's Philadelphia nursing home that concluded the VA "failed to provide a safe and sanitary environment for their residents."  According to the directive, such reports from the Long Term Care Institute -- which the VA hired to inspect its facilities -- are considered "protected" documents under the provisions of a federal law designed to promote improved quality.

4)  OPINION: Media Lose Interest in War Caskets

Columnist Byron York notes in a new editorial that media coverage of the flag-covered caskets of fallen soldiers arriving at Dover Air Force Base from Iraq and Afghanistan has fallen off significantly since the Obama administration's April decision to lift a press ban.  "It's really fallen off," said Lt. Joe Winter, spokesman for the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center at Dover, where all war dead are received. "The flurry of interest has subsided."  The media ban had been in place since the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

AFGHANISTAN

A U.S service member was killed Wednesday in a suicide attack in Khost province in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said.  Deputy Provincial Gov. Tahir Khan Sabari said the attacker rammed a car laden with explosives into a convoy of American military vehicles in Mandozai district near the Pakistan border.

London will host a trio of military commanders and senior officials working on Afghanistan this week, with pressure building on the White House to decide on a new strategy for the eight-year conflict. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, is expected to deliver a speech to military experts including NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and NATO's top commander in Europe Admiral James Stavridis.

Ahead of White House meetings to review U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, analysts and Pakistani officials expressed concern Tuesday about what would happen if the U.S. pulls out of the region early, while others are condemned talks of escalating strikes deeper into Pakistan.

IRAQ

Gen. Ray Odierno, the top general in Iraq, said Tuesday the U.S. military will send home thousands more U.S. troops by the end of October as the the U.S pulls back from the six-year war. Odierno said in congressional testimony Tuesday that the number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq will total about 120,000 over the next month. He said that will mean about 4,000 fewer troops than are in Iraq now -- about the size of an Army brigade.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

U.S. military troops will begin getting required swine flu shots in the next week to 10 days, with active duty forces deploying to war zones and other critical areas going to the front of the vaccine line.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, along with the National Military Family Association and the National Association of School Nurses, will launch an online educational campaign Wednesday to encourage military families to talk about substance abuse with their children.  The organizations will provide guidance and scripts online to the parents of military kids about good ways to bring up what the teens are going through, particularly those who have experienced multiple transitions as their parents mobilize for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

While ceding some ground to President Obama on high-profile weapons cuts, lawmakers are reportedly cutting money for training and spare parts to pay for other weapons the President doesn't want and their own pet projects.  The earmark debate is playing out within a massive, $626 billion funding bill for the Pentagon that is being negotiated on the Senate floor.  Currently, bill denies President Obama about $4 billion he sought for operations and maintenance accounts while providing $2.5 billion for C-17 cargo jets and $2.7 billion worth of pet projects sought by lawmakers.

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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