IAVA Daily Brief 06.29.09

MUST READS

(1) Senate Panel Votes to Adopt State's Model for Treating PTSD [2]

Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) announced late Friday that the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee voted unanimously in favor of an amendment to the defense authorization bill that would require adoption of a Montana model for assessing returning combat vets for post-traumatic stress disorder.  The Post-Deployment Health Assessment Act (S.711) would require person-to-person assessments of all returning combat vets — active-duty, National Guard and Reserves — for the first two years after their return.  Currently, each state has different mental health assessment procedures for returning combat troops; only Montana conducts face-to-face screenings for two years after deployment, then adds a mental health component to the physical exam given to each soldier each year.

"Every minute we wait to improve mental-health care for troops has a human cost," said IAVA's Chief Legislative Counsel Patrick Campbell. "Already, we've lost as many soldiers to suicide this year as in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.  We need to identify those most in need of mental-health care before it's too late.  Mandatory mental-health screenings have been a top priority for IAVA, and we applaud Senator Baucus for (his) hard work on this critical legislation."  Click here [3] to read IAVA's 2009 Issue Report "Invisible Wounds: Psychological and Neurological Injuries Confront a New Generation of Veterans" and learn more about our support for mandatory mental health screenings for returning troops and veterans.

(2) Doctor in Philadelphia VA prostate controversy takes leave, Scheduled to Testify at Hearing Monday [4]

The University of Pennsylvania confirmed Friday that Dr. Gary D. Kao, the radiation oncologist accused of botching an estimated 100 prostate cancer treatments at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, has taken a leave from Penn's medical school.  According to his lawyer, Kao will voluntarily attend a hearing hosted by Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) at the Philadelphia VA hospital at 10 a.m. on Monday to answer questions about his brachytherapy treatments.  So far, ongoing investigations by the VA and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have found that 57 veterans participating in the treatments were underdosed. An additional 35 received excessive radiation to tissue and other organs.  Kao's procedures occurred from the program's start in 2002 to its suspension in mid-2008.

(3) Unease Mounts as U.S. Troops Leave Iraq's Cities [5]

The Wall Street Journal reports today that American commanders and Iraqi officials and residents are watching with growing unease as U.S. combat forces end their duty in Iraq's urban areas on Tuesday, amid almost daily reports of violence.  In the last 10 days, at least 200 Iraqis have been killed leading up to the June 30th deadline.  Of particular concern for officials is Khadra, a largely Sunni, middle-class neighborhood in Western Baghdad, which was once seen as a stronghold for al Qaeda in Iraq until U.S. troops set up bases there in 2007. The area west of Khadra is still believed to be an al Qaeda safe haven.

AFGHANISTAN

Richard Holbrooke, U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, confirmed Saturday that the U.S. is shifting its strategy against Afghanistan's drug trade [6], phasing out funding for opium eradication while boosting efforts to fight trafficking and promote alternate crops.  The aim of the new policy is to deprive the Taliban of the tens of millions of dollars in drug revenues that are fueling its insurgency.  "Eradication is a waste of money," Holbrooke said on the sidelines of a Group of Eight foreign ministers' meeting on Afghanistan, during which he briefed regional representatives on the new policy.  "It might destroy some acreage, but it didn't reduce the amount of money the Taliban got by one dollar. It just helped the Taliban. So we're going to phase out eradication."

The change in policy comes as military officials indicated over the weekend that the roughly 10,000 U.S. Marines [7] sent to Afghanistan by President Barack Obama to turn the table on Taliban insurgents are in position and ready for action.  With the influx of U.S. Marines and Army combat troops, Major General Mart de Kruif, NATO's Dutch commander for roughly 30,000 international troops in the area, said "significant operations" would be launched "in a very short time" in Helmand province and the city of Kandahar.

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Sunday offered a reward of more than half a million dollars for information leading to the capture, dead or alive, of local Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud [8]. Two national Urdu-language newspapers and local papers in the northwest city of Peshawar carried an advertisement offering 50 million rupees ($615,300) for Mehsud and lesser amounts for 10 other senior militants.  The U.S. currently has a $5 million bounty on Mehsud, who is thought to be holed up in the remote tribal regions along the Afghan border

IRAQ

A booby-trapped motorcycle exploded in a crowded bazaar Friday in Baghdad, killing at least 19 people, part of an apparent trend toward increased use of motorcycles [9] to thwart stepped up security measures ahead of U.S. troops withdrawal from Iraqi cities this Tuesday.

Despite over nine suicide bombings last week in and around Baghdad, workers in cranes are reportedly removing mile after mile of giant concrete slab walls [10] put up to prevent the slaughter of innocents in sectarian fighting.

In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," U.S. commander in Iraq General Ray Odierno [11] said most U.S. troops are already out of Iraq's major cities ahead of Tuesday's withdrawal deadline.  "We have already moved out of the cities," Odierno said. "We've been slowly doing it over the last eight months. And the final units have moved out of the cities over the last several weeks."

MILITARY AFFAIRS

The Department of Defense reportedly issued a directive June 25th requiring Army commands at all levels to use the term “behavioral health services” [12] when revising or updating policies, regulations, and documents relating to “mental” health services.  Issued by the Office of the Surgeon General and G-3, the directive is designed to reduce the stigma of seeking mental health care or entering a building known to house mental health services.  The change in terminology is one of several initiatives included in the Campaign Plan for Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention launched by the Army in May.

Separately, the Houston Chronicle reported over the weekend that the Houston VA regional office [13] is currently facing one of the worst claims backlogs in the country.  According to VA data, the number of claims received by the Houston VA have increased by 26 percent this year, a trend that represents more than twice the national average of 12 percent.  Nearly 18,000 veterans are waiting for the office to process their applications for disability benefits; and 26 percent of those claims have been pending for more than half a year, compared to 21 percent nationwide.  Additionally, Houston also currently has 11,389 claims in appeal, more than anywhere else in the country.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

The House Rules Committee [14] blocked consideration by the House of Representatives late last week of two amendments to the defense authorization bill that would have attempted to change the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.  The move prompted Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) to promise there will be hearings on the issue later in the year.  In the Senate, however, the Armed Services Committee's ranking Republican John McCain said Congress should not address the military’s policies on gays until service members are surveyed on their attitudes about serving alongside gays and lesbians.  McCain's comments came on the heels of a letter sent to President Obama by seventy-seven House members asking that he stop discharging people for homosexuality until Congress addresses the repeal. The White House said the administration intends to keep enforcing the law as long as it remains in effect.

CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

THE SENATE 

The Senate will reconvene at 2:00 pm on Monday, July 6, 2009

FUTURE COMMITTEE HEARINGS  of  INTEREST|X| 

• July 15, 2009 - SVAC will hold a hearing entitled, “Women Veterans: Bridging the Gaps in Care.”  9:30 a.m.; 418 Russell (Vasquez)
• July 29, 2009 - SVAC will hold a hearing entitled, "Review of Veterans' Disability Compensation: Forging a Path Forward."  9:30 a.m.; 418 Russell (Smith)

THE HOUSE of  REPRESENTATIVES 

The House will convene at TBA.

FUTURE  HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of  INTEREST       

• July 14, 2009 - Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Hearing: Examining the Progress of Electronic Health Record Interoperability Between VA and DoD  10:00 a.m.; 334 Cannon HOB
• July 30, 2009 - Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Hearing:  The Implications of VA’s Limited Scope of Gulf War Illness Research  10:00 a.m.; 334 Cannon HOB

IAVA IN THE NEWS

Outlet: Great Falls Tribune

Title: Panel votes to adopt state's model for treating PTSD [2]

Date: Friday, June 26th

Representative: Patrick Campbell

WHAT THE BLOGS ARE SAYING

Blog: Blue Star Voices

Title: INVISIBLE WOUNDS OF WAR by Saralyn Mark, MD [15]

Date: Sunday, June 28th

Representative: Patrick Campbell

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.