IAVA Daily Brief 7.20.10

IAVA Daily Brief 7.20.10
Posted by Blake Henderson [1] on July 20 [2] 2010

arnoldfisher_headshot.jpg [3]

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?  Follow us on Twitter @IAVAPressRoom [4] or subscribe at www.IAVA.org/DailyNewsBrief [5].

MUST READS

1) A hidden world, growing beyond control [6]
 
The first installment of findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post on the "top-secret world the government created" in response to the September 11th terrorist attacks were unveiled Monday.  The investigation ultimately concluded that, "the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine."
 
2) Vet snub shocks families [7]
 
IAVA Board Member Leslie H. Gelb wrote about the National Intrepid Center of Excellence [8] (NICoE), where White House officials, Cabinet members, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and members of Congress sparsely attended the opening ceremony for the new treatment facility for active-duty soldiers and veterans with PTSD and TBI.  Their absence was noted by the thousands of servicemembers and their families looking for support from the leaders whose decisions resulted in their needing the facility in the first place.

3) Honoring the service of soldiers who commit suicide [9]
 
The Pentagon doesn't tell units how to mourn soldiers who commit suicide in combat, but it makes distinctions between suicides and other war deaths. The families of those who die of combat wounds or in noncombat accidents receive condolence letters from the president. The families of suicide victims do not.
 
AFGHANISTAN

• In an effort to make communication smoother [10] and to help build the Afghan air force, an English language lab in Kabul has been opened.  The program pairs recruits with NATO air advisors and trains pilots in English as well as technical flying skills.
• Despite American promises to restore and build much of the Afghan infrastructure, most Afghans still lack power [11] - and those who do have it have trouble paying for it.
• Afghanistan's Finance Minister spoke in favor of giving Afghans more control over the aid money [12] that comes to the country and encouraged international donors to spend less money on the drug war.

IRAQ

• Iyad Allawi, the former Iraqi prime minister whose Iraqiya coalition won 91 seats in the country's March parliamentary election, has sought support [13] to form a government from Moqtada al-Sadr - once bitter rivals.
• Through a partnership with the U.S. Navy and industry designed to help bolster Iraq's maritime security [14], 50 Iraqi Sailors graduated from patrol boat training during a ceremony at the Swiftships Shipbuilding facility in Morgan City, Louisiana.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

• The Army owes 120,000 veterans, whose service was extended under Stop Loss Authority [15] between September 11, 2001 and September 30, 2008, extra pay of about $500 per month of extra service. To receive this benefit, those who served under Stop Loss must submit a claim by Oct. 21, 2010.
• The VA has still not fixed the problems with living stipends [16] being paid to veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill, some of whom continue to be underpaid by hundreds of dollars a month.
• The Army has changed its rules for the applicants to Officer Candidate School [17], making it a requirement to have a four-year college degree and tightening other selection requirements.
• For National Guard and reserve component members who have earned retirement benefits but are not yet eligible for health care or retired pay because they have not reached retirement age, getting their Tricare health benefits [18] has been harder than expected.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

• The Senate Judiciary Committee [19] will vote Tuesday on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.

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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